I now had an office. It was normally Clarissa’s office when I wasn’t here, but for now it doubled as my office. The first person I was speaking to was Bob. He gave me a slight bow which I returned with a head nod. I didn’t get up from my chair.

He took a seat at the table across from me. “Do you know why you are here?” I asked.

“You want to make sure I am acceptable for the office of President.” At least he was clued into what was happening right now.

“Yes. The position’s main responsibility is to run the day-to-day operations of the city, maintain stability, help arrivals get oriented, and ensure I don’t have to intervene.”

“And the war?”

“What about it?”

“Can we win?”

“Everyone likes to ask me that.” I let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. “He is a tricky opponent. I can’t kill him, but he can’t kill me. But he can force me to retreat, which was shown in our last fight. I suspect he will attack Purgatory. It is only a matter of time.”

“I see.” I had no idea what he saw. “I am tempted to withdraw my nomination, but it isn’t like there is anywhere to run to.”

“No, there isn’t. Or at least nothing practical or simple.”

“Well, I won’t rock the boat if I am elected. But the drug business-“

“Is a strategic resource of Purgatory. While research is nominally under the President, crystal powder is very serious. Other drugs or alcohol, I don’t care about. As long as crime doesn’t plague the city and order is maintained. You don’t kill a cow when you milk it. You catch what I am saying?”

“Don’t cause problems.” I gave him a stare for a bit and then nodded.

“That is it. Unless you had questions?”

“Is there any way I can help you against the Ritualist?” That just earned Bob 100 Michael points.

“Ruth, or Nox as she is going by might have spies in the city. They can’t be allowed to live. I don’t care about trying to pass along false information. Just kill them all. I know you are working with Clarissa. Don’t create a mess I have to deal with.”

“Simple enough. I will follow up with various people and make sure no one has any remaining ties.”

“Thank you, Bob.” He left my office. The next candidate was a woman named Elizabeth.

She entered my office and held out her hand. I just stared at her. She slowly lowered it. “Making any kind of hand gesture at me, could be considered an attack. Don’t do it again.”

“My apologies Champion Michael.” I gave her a nod and she sat down.

“Do you know why you are here?” I asked.

“You wanted to speak with the candidates for President.” That was a simple non-answer. It showed she didn’t understand the power and position I currently held. I controlled this city. If she was elected, she would answer to me. Bob clearly understood that.

I kept staring at her, but she didn’t say any more. I let out a small sigh, disappointing. “You are being assessed for your suitability.”

“That wasn’t in the Constitution.” I stared at her some more until she spoke up again. “Ah. I get it now.”

“Hopefully you do. There will be no expanding the office or the scope of the office. The position of President is to keep headaches from reaching me and to maintain order in Purgatory.”

“So, my platform of universal healthcare isn’t going to happen.”

“It is illegal. We are also in a state of war.”

“That is why we need restorations available for people injured in attacks.”

“And who is paying for those restorations?”

“I am going to say taxes, and then you are going to say they are needed for city defenses,” Elizabeth said.

“Exactly. The upgrades are far more important than any lives. While most people don’t want to discuss this, did you know there is a cost value assigned to people’s lives and limited resources. Insurance companies did it all the time on Earth. Here in the Systemic Lands, I am doing the same. Right now, people are mostly worthless, since more keep showing up and will for a long time. City upgrades provide for defense on an ongoing basis.”

She was silent and I waited for her response. “I understand, but I don’t accept that.”

“Then I am ordering you to withdraw your nomination. I will have your promise in that regard now.”

“If I refuse.”

“You won’t be leaving alive. If you go back on your word or spread stories, you won’t be staying alive.” There was a look of anger on her face. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times without saying anything, clearly biting back whatever she wanted to say.

“Very well. I will be withdrawing my nomination. You have my promise.” I nodded and she left. The only thing worse than a Karen was a Karen who thought they were doing the right thing. I couldn’t afford any sentimentality in my government. Kindness and forgiveness were the purview of the rich and powerful.

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Here in the Systemic Lands, being rich equated to being powerful. No matter how powerful I was the Ritualist had put me in my place. If it was the time before the Ritualist, I might have allowed someone soft like this to run for office. But now even the ideas she brought up could lead to the diversion of funds.

People kept asking me if we would win the war. It was a coin flip right now. Anything could happen in a life-or-death fight. While I could reduce the variables, we had clashed three times directly. The first time the Ritualist was left for dead, and I made a critical mistake. A mistake I was never making again. No trusting other people with strangulations or having them kill my personal enemies in front of me. I would melt their heads myself regardless of the situation.

The second time I was lured into a trap and gravely injured, but the Ritualist fled from me. The most recent third fight between us, he had forced me to retreat, which I considered a loss. The Ritualist could force me to move. The fights were going worse and worse.

I wanted to think out of the box, but it wasn’t simple. Nothing about the Ritualist was simple. He had discovered an entire aspect of the Almighty System completely unknown to anyone else. That kind of genius and intuitive leap was something I couldn’t beat. I could use experience, historical examples, and guesswork.

But the true genius of discovering something new, would be an area I would struggle in. He had to have had several intuitive leaps while also gathering power. If I had been in his position, I don’t think I could have done nearly as well, while people could have been in my place a dime a dozen. I wasn’t special, he was.

Admitting that was hard but put into perspective the fight so far and the fight to come. I couldn’t outthink or out maneuver. What I could do was out grind. I could grind with the best of them. Then I could brute force my way to victory. I was almost at the point of ignoring his low-level monsters. Just a bit more stats and his numbers would no longer matter.

Clarissa let the last candidate in. It was Rick, Ken’s pick for the convention. He gave me a slight bow which I returned with a head nod, and he took his seat.

“Do you know why you are here?”

“To assess my suitability for the office of President.” He got it and understood what I was doing.

“And what is the role of the President?”

“As Ken would say, to keep things from bothering you and handling all the grunt work at keeping this place from burning down.” I nodded at that.

“At least you understand that much. If I have to get involved, no one will be happy. Now, what plans do you have if you are elected?”

“Creating a more streamlined system for grinding the surrounding area. Also grinding out level 2 areas. Figure out something that works and have people grind. Work with Laura of the Union and Gerold to defend the city in your absence.”

“Hmm, a good first part. Maybe a bit of overreach on the second. Still organizing grinding more efficiently to maximize taxes is important.” Bob thought of enriching himself and helping me. He was a people person. This Rick was looking at the big picture more. It was an interesting contrast in priorities. I honestly didn’t know who I preferred. Rick would probably be more of a headache but would bring needed stability.

I would leave it to the people to decide. Both were within the expectations I had for the office of President. Leaving it to chance was one less decision I would have to make and give people confidence in the process. Having two candidates was good enough.

“I have no more questions for you,” I finally said after having thought over his reply.

“Thank you for your time, Champion Michael.” Rick got up and left. Clarissa entered after he left.

“The good doctor wishes to speak to you.” I let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling.

“Send him in.” Doctor Katz entered the room. He gave me a small bow. Clarissa went and sat on a chair to the side while he took the seat across from me.

“You wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes Champion Michael. Clarissa informed me of the new research requirements.” I just stared at him. “Testing drugs on humans and working out summoning will take time.” I was silent and just kept staring at him. You are just saying useless things, get to the point.

He looked at Clarissa and then back at me as I kept up the silence. A minute passed. Then another minute. I finally spoke up since he didn’t appear to have anything more to say which was disappointing. “Doctor. You seem to be operating under some kind of delusion. The city of Purgatory is in a state of total war against the Ritualist. Failure is not just death, but transformation into a monster.” I held up a hand and he closed his mouth as I continued.

“I don’t care if I need to stack up corpses to get results, yours included. But I will have results. You took the position, choosing not to hunt monsters. You remember the only people who have the right to challenge my decisions?”

“Only those who have gained 1,000 stats and killed a level 4 monster.” Good he wasn’t stupid and could remember things I talked about.

“You clearly remember that. So, what gives you the idea you can question me?”

“Human dignity.” I almost burst out into laughter at that. Human dignity was worth less than piss in this place.

“Is worthless. I respect you, but my patience extends only so far.” We went back to the silent staring contest.

“Human test subjects? Is there no other way?”

“Why did you take the position?”

“My medical knowledge and to help people.”

“Then help people by sacrificing a few to save many. Doctor, let me ask you something people have been asking me. How do you think the war is going?”

“If you brought it up, badly, is my guess.”

“This doesn’t leave this room.” He nodded at that, and I looked at Clarissa as well who nodded also.

“Catastrophic. The Ritualist can now force me back. If he invades this city right now, even with me present, I can’t guarantee there will be anyone left alive in the city. I will most likely be forced to retreat. If I am forced back, there will be no one else with significant combat ability to counter him.”

“If you have another way to counter the Ritualist, tell me. Because I am out of ideas besides grinding up and praying the city can hold the gates in the event of an attack. Even then he could siege us and starve the city to death.”

“So, if you don’t want to do human experimentation with crystal powder, looking at every possible angle, then I will find someone less capable who will. The circumstances are that dire. It is do or die.”

“I won’t leave alive then.” He was really being stubborn. This is why I hated leadership. The most competent people were the most stubborn.

“I will give you my word as Champion Michael, if you don’t want to go down this route and do everything in your power then you can leave here alive, and I will send no one after you. As long as I have your word you won’t research crystal powder or discuss it with anyone.” There was silence. The good doctor’s face went through a variety of expressions as he thought over what I said. Finally he let out a sigh and spoke up.

“Informed consent. I will also need the manufacturing process for crystal powder.” I looked at Clarissa.

“We have kept the knowledge top secret. The researchers have only been granted the old powder that was left behind from before.” I nodded at that. Good, people were taking information security seriously.

“Clarissa you can inform the good doctor, and also keep a close eye on how many crystals he is using. There will be no discrepancies on the same scope that happened with the Ritualist.”

“Assistants?” Clarissa asked.

“That is fine, but they are under the same restrictions. You can sort it out?” I asked Clarissa.

“Yes. There are two other researchers.”

“Keep an eye on them all. I want every single crystal accounted for. No loose ends.” I wasn’t about to have another Ritualist rise up under my nose. One was more than enough.

“I understand,” Clarissa said, and I nodded at that. One problem sorted out. A million more I had to figure out.