“No monsters,” the guard said at the entrance, while looking at Michelle’s summons.

“The monsters stay,” Fiyaz said. Good man, not backing down, just like I wanted. Let’s stir things up a bit and see what kind of turd rises up from this cess poll of a city. There was even a smell in the air, a smell! That shouldn’t be with how the Almighty System removed stuff.

There was a stare off at the door, as people gave crystals, for a tiny bit of food at a shop stall to the side. “Now, now. Let’s not scare our guests away,” an older Indian man came out from the door while stroking his white beard. His English was a bit rough, but I could tell he was using English to welcome us.

“I am Fiyaz, and I speak on behalf of my team,” he said. The man nodded.

“I am Raji Gupta. A sultan of this city,” he replied. “Please, follow me. I will take responsibility,” he told the guard at the entrance who just nodded. I was looking at his stats. They were on par with one of my soldiers. Which meant he wasn’t the one truly in charge. “You come from the South?”

“Yes, we came in on the South road,” Fiyaz said.

“Ah, I mean the city to the South or the East. New Delhi is to the East, of the intersection. To the South is Num Mumbai,” there was a touch of wistfulness as he spoke.

“The East, from New Delhi,” Fiyaz said. Be careful, don’t give too much away.

“That makes sense. Based on your ethnicities. American?” he asked.

“Something like that,” Fiyaz replied. Raji Gupta let out a light chuckle as we exited from inside the passage through the building on a street. The buildings were painted nicely. The people walking around were in nice clothes. There clearly was a separation of people controlling the store and people not controlling the store.

“Welcome to the inner city of Meech. Not the best name, but it was the compromise we came to with the remaining demons.” I instantly paid attention at that. Demons, like actual demons? “Ah, that was the name of our old enemies on the Russian side of the conflict.” I instantly deflated at that. Then realized, that the conflict caused what we had seen.

“I was wondering why cities were empty?” Fiyaz asked.

“A long story, filled with idiots on both sides of the conflict. We screwed ourselves over as well,” Raji Gupta let out a long sigh at that. “Well there will be time for talk and questions. But I am sure you are tired. You can stay in my home for the night. But you aren’t allowed to leave,” he said.

“Prisoners?” Fiyaz asked.

“Honored guests. But I don’t want to alarm people. Do you need to purchase directly from the store?” he asked.

“Some supplies when we depart, but that is it,” Fiyaz said.

“Well, that is no problem, as long as you pay for your supplies yourself,” Raji Gupta said and Fiyaz agreed with him. I kept looking about, and trying to sus out if anyone was a hidden dragon or crouching tiger. From what I could tell, Raji Gupta, was one of the highest stat people around here.

“Thank you for your hospitality. I would ask for at most two rooms,” Fiyaz said.

“That is fine. I don’t have enough to accommodate all of you. We don’t get many visitors. It is too late to schedule a celebration dinner. But I will arrange for one tomorrow. Until then, you can relax and be guaranteed your safety by me,” Raji Gupta said.

He was being way too nice. There was obviously a plot of some kind. It could be as simple as our help dealing with that monster, taking him with us, or a plot to murder us all. If it was the last one, this entire place would be in for a rude awakening.

There was a range of outfits, but everyone was dressed cleanly, and unlike on the way here, there was no smell in the air. It really was a city within the system generated city. We were taken to a home and given two rooms. Extra beds were brought in.

“I think staying with the buddy system is important,” I said out loud.

“That does seem like a good idea,” Captain Francis added.

“Then let’s stick to that. No going out alone, and we will stay in these rooms until we are collected. No individual trips,” he said. I spent time scanning the walls and everything else.

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“Want me to sneak out?” Fiyaz whispered to me, while it was our turn with the shower.

“Not a good idea. Trade questions. We are a regular team,” I said and he nodded. A late night cooked meal was served to us with no issues. Each room had one person stay up on guard in addition to me while the rest slept. I could go a bit longer without sleep, and I wasn’t about to go to sleep in a place like this, that just felt weird.

My danger sense wasn’t triggering, but these people lived in bliss to the suffering outside. I had thought I had seen everything I could in the Systemic Lands, but this was a new form of governance. Ignoring the outside world to live in your own little bubble.

The next day, Raji Gupta came back as we were all togeather waiting in his living room after waking up and getting chopped fruit. The servants were all silent and kept their heads down. That wasn’t a good sign. Also, the fact that they were all females was also concerning. But I was going to hold off on calling out any generalities until, I was sure. I had seen men and women walking about when we entered this closed off portion of the city.

It really was a neat trick to use buildings to make fake walls, to create a city within a city. Clarissa thought of it first in my mind, no matter what anyone might say. “I have arranged a small get togeather with some of the other sultans, you will be our honored guests,” Raji Gupta said with a smile.

“I was hoping we could ask some questions,” Fiyaz said.

“In due time, don’t worry,” Raji Gupta replied. “Now follow me.” We made our way to the roof top, where there was more food and servants moving things about.

“So, these are your guests?” A man said in a thick Russian accent.

“Indeed, Rurik, this is Fiyaz, and the rest…” Raji trailed off. Fiyaz introduced all of us without our titles. There was a glance at the nearby summoned monsters off to the sides, but no one said anything about them.

Other people began showing up very quickly after that. Soon, we were all seated at a large table. My group on one side, and these Council members on the other. There were eight of them, and I gathered that there were another twelve who weren’t attending today.

Wine was poured and I was a bit impressed they actually had wine. That took a lot of work to make. Looking at these people, they were probably making it by the barrel full in the inner part of Meech.

“Please tell us a story of your adventures,” Fiyaz told them about a random level 5 monster. He had done his preparation well, for a range of cover stories. I kept scanning the crowd as there was light chatter, trying to spot the person in charge and to see if anyone was hiding their energy. The giveaway was if it was too static.

“So, what do you all do on your team?” Rurik asked.

“We have different roles. From support, to attack, to summoning. Issues with the empty city?” Fiyaz asked. Everyone began to get quiet at that direct question. Rurik let out a sigh and sagged in his chair.

“A mistake from long ago, that we can’t escape,” he muttered.

“Well perhaps, our guests would enjoy a brief history lesson,” Raji Gupta said. Fiyaz gave an affirmative at that question and the man continued.

“Long ago, years, and years. There was a man of singular vision and power. Gregorovich. He wanted to unite all the cities, with his demon forces. The name he gave his elite soldiers.” Raji Gupta gave a nod towards Rurik. He didn’t seem that elite. He had fairly high stats, but nothing impressive in my mind.

“Unfortunately, he wasn’t willing to compromise at all. That is when, we made the first mistake. I am not too proud to admit it,” Raji Gupta said.

“A disaster of epic proportions that set everything in motion,” Rurik countered.

“Call it what you wish, but there is no sense in arguing who is responsible for all the fall out now. A powerful sword was crafted. The idea behind it, was a weapon that could defeat Gregorovich and all challenges.” How did they create something powerful? My guess was meta-points.

“Over time, the weapon grew more powerful, just as Gregorovich was gaining power, and pushing us on all fronts. We held on, with the hope he would one may be defeated. But the fourth wielder of the sword, and the first to confront him, died.”

“It was a foolish thing to create such a weapon,” Rurik muttered.

“Perhaps, but it was created, regardless,” Raji Gupta replied with a shake of his head. I could sense the regret rolling off all these people in waves.

“Gregorovich either disappeared or transformed. We don’t know which,” Raji Gupta began to say but Rurik cut him off.

“You skipped over a key point. The fifth holder of the sword pressured Gregorovich quite a bit, and when he was confronted on the massive push to take all his cities and territories, he vanished,” Rurik explained.

“Regardless. The man unleashed a monster upon us. No one alive has seen it. The monster patrols the old territory we used to control. And the three cities to the West, well they are a mess. We agreed to close off the border between each other. While there is occasional contact, they don’t want to talk to anyone about anything,” Raji Gupta said.

“Just call it like it is. Al Qaeda took charge of a city. But there is constant infighting, between them and the other two. The border is sealed since we don’t want instability,” Rurik said.

“Indeed. Now before we keep going, I think it would be nice to hear exactly where all of you are from,” Raji Gupta said. Fiyaz nodded at that and took a sip of wine.

“That is fair. We are an exploratory team from the Empire of Purgatory. Seeking out new lands and people. The Empire triumphed recently over the other aggressor nations. And yes, they were the aggressors.” Fiyaz then talked about how the Divine Empress liked turning people into furniture and listening to them scream.

Nothing about the time frame, or the governmental structure. There was an Emperor, who was shy, but powerful, since he upgraded a city to level 6. I had to stop myself from bursting out from breaking into a grin at some points. It wasn’t that I wanted to pull the wool over all these people’s eyes, but I needed answers, and while their story was interesting, I still didn’t have them. I also didn’t know who the strongest person was. That needed to be clarified and soon.