Jim stood in front of Fort Home's hospital with a face full of anxiety as he stared up at the large medicinal cross sign hanging over the building's entrance. The cross had a root-slayer shovel pictured behind it instead of the usual twin serpents coiling around a rod.

Jim liked the new rendition of the traditional symbol of healing, honestly. It was very fitting given who the ruler of the kingdom was.

Speaking of the hospital, it was only a week old. The owner of Fort Skip's make-shift clinic-slash-infirmary - Mave Werthers - had finally made the decision to invest her merit points into having an actual sanctuary of healing constructed.

Jim thought it was hilarious how much of a process it had been for the tiny woman to pay for all of the materials and then actually convince Foreman Sandy to build the place with that skill of his which turned whatever he built into a system sanctioned building.

Some of his titles under his rare achievement system boosted the abilities of buildings he created, so he was in high demand all across the kingdom even if he never left Fort Home due to his efforts with rebuilding the city.

Sandy felt it wasn't very wise to humour Mave's request given that no one was particularly injured and in need of a real hospital right now. Rimmy's Restorative Aura worked perfectly fine.

Mave had only won that very public argument when she brought up the terrorist attack that he'd prevented from killing anyone.

Honestly, Jim could have thought about this or a million other subjects for hours, and he likely would have if he wasn't interrupted.

"James?" Harriot asked as she opened one of the two wooden double doors of the hospital's main entrance.

"Ah." Jim felt his mind go blank.

He'd prepared lines for this. He'd prepared for over a damned month, but right now, right this moment, no words came to mind. He just stared at his big sister with his mouth open like some dumb fool.

Harriot closed her eyes and sighed while shaking her head. "Are you going to stand out here all day like some creep or do you have something else to do?"

"I, uh, um... I returned your luck!" he spat out as he tried his best to not have a nervous breakdown.

Harriot shot him a funny look. "I know. His Majesty told me that the cursed part of my status description was gone over 30 days ago. What took you so long to tell me yourself?"

"I... didn't know what to say," Jim admitted as he glued his eyes to the steps which led up to the doors. He didn't dare meet his gaze with Harriot's.

"Well, you've told me now. Leave me alone, I'm at work. Unlike you, I'm actually helping rebuild society by being helpful. Just go and gamble or something, James. I don't want to speak to you," Harriot coldly stated before she closed the door, leaving Jim by himself.

Jim would have cried were he younger and he'd have probably gone into a fit of rage if he was still the same man he was back in Las Vegas.

His brief time with Daz had changed him. Watching a man almost 10-years his junior fearlessly threatening to take on an entire city alone and actually living through the fallout of doing as such had put things into perspective for him.

If he kept using his power to unequivocally steal luck as he had been doing for his whole life then he would undoubtedly get him killed sooner or later in this changed world.

That was why he had willingly accepted Daz's condition; use Debt of Fortune ever again without Daz's permission then suffer a penalty of death.

All he had to do to live and stay fed and clothed was phone Daz once a week at 10PM every Sunday and say he hadn't used his esper power. If he lied, Daz had sworn to kill him within a minute of the call happening.

After what he'd seen in both Las Vegas and Los Angeles, he wasn't going to take chances. Jim was a betting man but he wasn't a stupid man.

"Hahaha! What a hoot!" a booming voice practically yelled.

Turning to face its owner, Jim paled. "C-Crusher..."

"The one and only," the massive 8-foot-tall woman grinned. "Seems you've gone and fucked things with your family, eh? Happens to the best of us."

"T-Thank you for your kind words, I, uh, have somewhere else to be..." Jim tried to wander off, but, of course, once Crusher had decided on something it was nigh-impossible to escape if her ideas involved you in any way, shape or form.

"Oi, you ain't goin' nowhere. Your sis wants you to stop being a useless cunt, yeah? Well, lucky you. I just so happen to need a useless cunt or two," Crusher's smile made Jim deeply question some of his recent life choices.

'I should have fought Daz more seriously in Vegas. Maybe he'd have actually killed me. Who knows? Maybe the afterlife is the bomb,' Jim contemplated as he hoped his remaining luck would be enough to help him survive whatever the mad Titan had in store for him.

"C'mon, Xing. Admit it. This place rocks now, right?" Samantha asked as she elbowed the young Asian man.

Blushing faintly, Xing reluctantly nodded. "I... I was wrong about Daz. Okay, there? Happy I said it?"

Samantha grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Oh, is that so?" Sarcasm oozed from her sweet and sultry voice. "I don't know what you mean! Could you please explain in more detail for me?"

Rolling his eyes and sighing deeply, Xing muttered, "Okay, fine, whatever. He's a bit totalitarian, but yeah, every law he makes or action he takes seem to be in the interest of everyone. Are you happy now?"

"Very!" Samantha laughed before getting up on her tiptoes and kissing his cheek. "A reward for being a good boy."

"You damned vixen... Ronny had better hurry up and file that quest for us. I'd rather be out there killing monsters for money than playing on your hand like some sort of puppet," Xing complained.

"Aw, but I'm the only girl in our group now since Ben and Trish chose a civilian life working at the hospital. You should savour my flirting. With your face, honestly, I don't see many others jumping at the chance to tease you despite how utterly delightful it is..." Samantha said in a very serious tone.

Xing's expression turned grim. "I hate you."

Sasha balanced her pencil atop her upper lip as she pouted.

'He never brought me back to Las Vegas... I really wanted to see the pretty lights again... Stupid king! He's a liar!' the young girl thought as her pout intensified.

Her teacher, Miss Jesabelle, shook her head. She was a wise old woman who'd lived through the decades meeting all sorts of people.

She'd be a fool to not see the upset little girl in the back of her classroom. What made it worse was that she could tell why Sasha was upset, and honestly, she agreed with the girl.

'He'd better get off his ass and bring the girl at least once before she hits puberty. Kids're fickle. Only God knows if she'll hold this little white lie of his against him for the rest of her life,' Jessabelle sighed internally before she resumed her lesson.

"For the thousandth time, ye insufferable little shit, I will not be buildin' any luxury buildings until I've finished buildin' this city's integral infrastructure!" Sandy yelled right into Lyle's face.

A few of his worker's giggled at the display, Ellie and Idris included.

Lyle took out a handkerchief from the jacket of his suit's left pocket and used it to clean his face of the spit littering it. "I understand that the new sewer system is important. It needs to be properly fortified to support more citizens as well as to keep it free from the risk of monsters moving in and making it a breeding ground, yes, all I am asking, however, is that you add a few entertainment facilities to your to-do-list. Is that so much to ask for?" Lyle inquired.

"Yeah, it is," Sandy fired back as he leaned back down into his stool and pulled out his pipe. "Go ask King Daz if you want a fuckin' casino or brothel or whatever the fuck else added to Fort Home. It's not my job. My job is to fuckin' make this city work, not to make it fun!"

He took a big drag of his pipe after lighting it then heaved a massive sigh. "I don't need this shit. I've got enough food on my plate to last me until two winters from now. The last thing that I need is you adding a few more pointless servings. Get King Daz to do it or just drop the idea."

"Unfortunately, His Majesty seldom spends his merit points. I don't know why, but he only buys buildings for the city when the mood strikes him," Lyle responded as he helplessly shrugged his shoulders.

Ellie laughed. "And that's his right. We're building infrastructure on Daz's orders. If you really need these entertainment facilities, convince Daz to get us to make them. That or outsource the job to other citizens and live without the system boosts Sandy gets."

Idris nodded. "What Ellie spoke. Me too mind same."

"We need to work more on your English lessons, Idris. You still suck," Ellie said, forcing a sorry smile to surface on the African man's expression.

"Cut him some slack," Carl - Sandy's unofficial apprentice - said. "The guy's trying."

Lyle gave Ellie a rather sharp look. "... Very well. By the way, Miss Richie, it is 'King Daz' or 'His Majesty'. Few have the right to address him so informally."

Sandy scoffed. "Oh, come off it, you stuck up asshole. The kid doesn't mind what we call him. You don't speak for him."

"... No. No, I do not. Good day," Lyle replied before leaving.

"Christ, he's insufferable," Sandy snorted as he took another drag of his pipe.

As she did every day that Daz wasn't home, Madison stared out over the outer walls while she silently pondered.

'I miss him,' she thought.

It had only been yesterday morning that he and Mu had left. Daz hadn't even said goodbye to her, which annoyed her a bit.

She understood that he was in a hurry to go to El Dorado then he immediately needed to help New York, but would it have killed him to give her a few minutes, a hug, and maybe a kiss?

She pouted with her eyes as she squeezed Mr Barrier. "Daz, idiot."

Of course, she knew he loved her like no other and that when he could, he would shower her in love and affection.

In fact, just before he had decided to train with Mu, of late, before going to bed he would ask her what sort of things she liked.

Madison had a very strong suspicion that he was preparing for her 19th birthday which wasn't even happening for another 4 months. Still, it warmed her heart even if he never stayed to sleep with her nearly as much as he used to.

As soon as she drifted off he'd crawl out of bed and get back to work. She understood that he was busy working with Rose, Lyle and Crosius during the day and then he tirelessly toiled away through the night preparing to essentially invade and take control of two more local states and one foreign one for his semester goal.

Plans didn't come overnight. Madison understood that. Still... she was allowed to be a bit selfish, wasn't she?

"Hmm?" her sulking was put to a pause when she sensed a very strong lingering taste of death in the air.

"Mu?" Her eyes lit up. "If, Mu, then, Daz."

She tightened her grip on her little blue companion once more before jumping off of the high walls and then she sprinted towards Mu's home.

If they had returned then Daz would surely drop his friend off at his house first, right? 'As soon as I see him, he's getting punished!'