I clenched my fist as I looked over the map of Gravia. A tingle of happiness trickled down my bones causing me to mutter, “First the district, then the state, then all of Gravia!”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a confused fat boy scratching his butt. Lard squinted his eyes at me then asked, “Are you guys still working? It’s really late, you know?”

“The undead don’t sleep.” I shrugged.

Lard turned his eyes to the person next to me and continued, “And what about her? Is she an undead now?”

Sitting next to me was my apprentice, Kendra, reading some new necromancer tomes. Kendra rolled her eyes before replying, “Indeed. I have been transformed into a lich!”

Lard’s eyes suddenly popped up and he screamed, “WHAT?! WHY DON’T I, VAKASA OF THE DARKNESS, GET TO BE-”

“Relax, tubby, it’s a joke,” Kendra interrupted.

“Bah! It’s hard to think when it’s this late. I, Vakasa of the Darkness, am off to sleep again!” Lard gave his farewell then left.

With Lard out of the way, I went back to concentrating on the strategy table. Turning to my lieutenant, Thyros, I asked him, “So, where did that incident happen anyway?”

“What?” Thyros asked.

“You said one of the part-timers managed to attract a massive crowd, and now I have a large supporter base in the city?”

The old lich laughed then rasped, “Ah, right, Boss! At the biggest park. One of the new hired hands… uh… we didn’t get his name, but he managed to cause quite a stir. If he keeps this up, you’ll get quite a lot of votes!”

“Great! This campaign is as good as over!” I declared.

“BUT!” Thyros continued loudly.

“But what?”

“Well, it won’t be enough to win the elections.”

“What?! But why?! This voting thing…It just needs me to get as many people to vote for me as possible, right?!”

Thyros nodded, then shook his head. “That’s how this weird democracy thing works, but because the undead are, well, obviously immortal, quite a few groups had consolidated a lot of sway over the public. I said you got quite a lot of voters, but these influential figures still hold the majority of the required supporters.”

“So they oppose me?!”

“They don’t oppose you… technically. They just don’t support you yet. You’ll have to convince them one way or another to get the majority votes for election,” Thyros explained. “Ah, also, ‘convincing’ has a free definition in Gravia.”

I massaged the side of my skull then stamped my fist against the table. “Such a vile and corrupted place and system…. I LOVE DEMOCRACY! So who are these suckers?! Are they the underground criminal heads?! Are we going to whack some fools?!”

“No.”

“Oh.” I looked at the old lich for a while before adding, “That’s unexpected.”

“They’re key members of Gravia so you can’t kill them without turning yourself into the city’s most wanted. Anyway, most of them are based in here, in the Undying City, so you just have to arrange a meeting here,” Thyros explained. “In fact, we’ve already arranged a meeting with one of the major heads of Gravia.”

“What? Already?”

“Indeed. They hold sway over the skeleton populace and the city enforcers.”

I pulled my head back in confusion then said, “I’ve already met the Head Commissioner.”

Thyros waved his hand in dismissal. “No, Boss. The Head Commissioner is the leader of the police of Gravia, but in this specific state and city, the one who’s leading the local constables is the Undying City’s Police Chief. It’s complicated. Think of the Head Commissioner as emperor-level while the police chief as king-level.”

“So I have to go straight for the king, huh,” I muttered while scratching my chin.

“Aye. While they’re fellow skeletons, they’re… peculiar. It’s hard to explain, we don’t have much information about them…” Thyros sighed.

“But I do!” Out of nowhere, someone else joined the conversation. A misty figure slowly came out of my shadow before slowly revealing her entire body. A short, thin woman bowed her head low towards me and said, “As your consort, it is my duty to support your quest in ascending me! Ergo, it brings me great joy to assist you in closing the gaps in your cultural knowledge about the undead.”

“The undead have culture?” I asked.

“Of course. Not every undead is like us sophisticated vampires, some are more barbaric than others,” the woman boasted.

“Lady Ellysa! I am glad you managed to slip through the barrier safely. It seems that Boss is craftier than he looks,” Thyros praised. “But how did you get her here, Boss? I thought the barrier around Gravia was used to repel vampires, especially powerful ones like a vampire queen.”

“It requires complex thinking and a fat boy, so I’d rather not delve into it. Right now, I’ve got a meeting to conclude!” I declared as I stood up. “I’m going!”

“Wait, Boss! The meeting is in a few days, and you don’t even know where it is!” Thyros pointed out loudly as I left.

*

*

*

The city enforcers. These elite law enforcers held the crucial role of keeping the security and order in the Undying City. Their existence was so concrete to the foundation of Gravia that not even the Head Commissioner, the Former God of Death, dared to interfere with their affairs. Getting the support of the enforcers would mean getting a major group to back me in the upcoming elections.

I should’ve expected this is going to be an uphill battle, but I didn’t expect this!

I sat in a dark room surrounded by skeletons in heavy armor. They were all armed with crossbows, and for some reason, they also wore black suits over their armor. Instead of helmets, they wore a rounded black cap over their heads.

Sitting opposite me, mostly wrapped in shadows, was the Undying City Police Chief. No words were spoken since I was brought into this dark room until one of the policemen spoke up, “Hey, schmuck! If you’re going to want to talk to the Don Giannico, you’re going to have to introduce yourself, see?”

The chief, or as his minions called him, Don Giannico, raised his hand and spoke up, “Relax, consigliere. This man could be the next paycheck hander, see?”

“N’yeah,” the entire room replied.

“Now, let’s start this over, see? I am Chief Giannico Tommasinno. Or as my fahimilia would call, Don Giannico Tommasinno.”

I leaned closer to Ellysa who was sitting next to me and whispered, “What’s a fahimilia?”

“It means family in Old Eastern Dead. It’s an old language spoken by the original inhabitants of the Lycan lands who got driven away,” Ellysa whispered. “He’s the Don, which means that he is the godfather of the enforcers. It’s crucial you make a good first impression to him so that swaying the rest of the enforcers would be easier.”

I turned back to Don Giannico and introduced, “I am Archlich Boss. Pleased to meet you all.”

Don Giannico leaned closer, picked up a large cigar from the table, and offered, “Cigar?”

“No, thanks,” I replied.

The old skeleton’s skull looked very shiny and well-maintained for someone who was the leader of the city police for centuries. He tucked his cigar between two ring-filled fingers before lighting it with a spell. With a huff, he said, “Let’s make this clear. You’re running for election, and you need our support, see?”

“Yeah, I see,” I nodded.

“But you’ve got to understand, the other candidate also needs our support, and we’ve known them for longer. So you’ll need to prove to us why we need you, cafeesh?”

“Cafeesh?” I asked Ellysa.

“Understand or ‘you get what I mean?’ in Old Eastern Dead.”

I leaned back in my chair and watched as the old skeleton smoked his cigar. I could feel the penetrating gazes of the skeleton minions, all eagerly waiting for an answer.

I pressed my fingers together then called out, “Don Giannico.”

“N’yeah?” he replied.

“You really don’t know who you’re dealing with, see?” I exclaimed. “So I’ll have to speak in the same language as you, cafeesh?”

“Hmm?”

This time, I leaned closer to the light and brought my head slightly lower. “I’m going to give you an offer you can’t refuse.”

Don Giannico froze for a moment before pressing his cigar against the ashtray. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Let’s hear it, amnicius.”

I tried to reach for my sleeve, but the minions around panicked and pointed their strange-looking crossbows at me, some of them even had their handcuffs out. Luckily for them, Don Giannico raised his hand to stop them. I fished out a gem out of my sleeve before placing it onto the table. Using my strength, I used my index finger to crush it until the small gem was nothing but dust.

With a snap of my finger, a bright glowing screen appeared, momentarily showing a lich locked inside a prison cell. “I’m well aware that you’re in a friendly rivalry with the Head Commissioner, see? He and his boys nabbed one of the four Godfathers and you got none. That ain’t looking too good for you or your fahimilia,” I pointed out. “These criminal scumbags have been mocking the law for years and who gets to kick them in the face? The Head Commissioner and the state police. Not you. Them.”

Don Giannico sat silently in the dark for a while before replying, “N’yeah.”

“I can get one of the Godfathers whacked for you, you know?” I said while rubbing my index finger and thumb together.

“Godfather, you can’t expect this schmuck to do what you’ve been doing for the past few decades, right?” one of Don Giannico’s minions spoke up again.

“You dare speak when I didn’t give you permission?” Don Giannico’s voice was low but his rage was clearly building up. The room froze metaphorically and literally as ice shards started to form up in the corners of the room.

“Wait, Don, please, I didn’t mean to…” the insubordinate minion begged as he fell to his knees.

“Disrespect to me is disrespect to fahimilia. And disrespect is paid back in full, see?” Don Giannico continued.

“Please, Don! I beg of you!” the minion cried as he clasped his hands together.

“Consigliere Plattone, your weekend is hereby revoked. You will be working the documents over the weekends,” Don Giannico declared.

“NOOOO! GODFATHER! PLEASE! I PROMISED MY WIFE I WOULD TAKE HER TO SEE THE PRINCESS’ ARRIVAL!” the minion bawled out. He tried to get closer but two other policemen grabbed him by the shoulders.

With a wave of his finger, Don Giannico ordered, “Take him away.”

As the minion was dragged away, the other policemen whispered amongst themselves.

“His wife’s going to unkill him.”

“A fate worse than death.”

“No mercy to those who disrespect the Don.”

Don Giannico turned to me and nodded. “You have confidence slathered all over your words, and I expect to see your confidence backed, cafeesh?”

“Cafeesh,” I replied heartily.

“Then the deal is struck. Go and whack me a Godfather,” Don Giannico said.