Hate, for a brief single instant, hate is all there is in the mayor’s expression. It’s gone before anyone else notices, but he can’t get rid of the hints of hate in his gaze. After a moment I notice he was also slightly surprised.

His speech was nothing special, but when he ended and landed eyes on me it’s clear he learned something. Pausing his step, he tries to speak normally but ends up speaking through his teeth in my direction.

“Hi explorer, I would like to invite you to the town hall.”

Those words greatly surprise me. Did my title grant me entry into the town hall? I nod my head and the crowd parts for my passing. This was the first time he has addressed someone directly and everyone is staring disbelievingly.

What will I learn, what rewards do I get, why me and not one of the scouts. I have a thousand questions in my mind, but I quietly follow him in the town hall. I cross the gates, wondering what is beyond. Nobody has even peek inside. The mayor was adamant in his efforts not to let anyone get even close to the door, whenever it was open.

The inside of the town hall is richly furnished. Every single table and frame on the walls are very well made. Solid wood treated with oil and so smooth only a master craftsman must have worked on them.

Fresh plants in vases and paintings on the walls. The ground is covered in the most expensive-looking carpet I ever saw. After a moment, I consciously ignore all that and pay attention to the Mayor. By now, it looks as if he has composed himself.

His demeanor indicates he has come with terms with whatever he learned. I’m still unsure of what it was. My best guess, we gained access to the town hall much earlier than expected. He stops my musings with his words:

“So, you have been granted entry to the town hall. Here you will have access to a few new functions including the Map.”

After a few seconds of walking in the corridor, we enter the first room and I see the map he referenced.

“This map shows basic information depending on how much the scouts have explored. You have done great and gained access quite fast.”

Looking at the map I notice the detail from around our village. I see Every village I passed through and everything inside my track. The map is on a table and the only part-filled is this. A small piece is filled and all the rest is clear paper.

“As we explore more the map will fill up?”

“Are you sure this is your question?” At those words my senses are raised, this is a trap. The mayor tried to make it as nonchalantly as possible, but the wording is very specific. I’m not sure if this will be my only question, but I’m pretty sure there is a hard limit. I shake my head and think for a few moments. I try not to be too greedy, but I take a chance.

“I want the answer to what would you chose in my place?” Depending on how this will work out, I could have wasted a valuable chance, but seeing the gears turning in the head of Glenwood, I’m reassured a little. Squirming a little he answers:

“I would choose to know the mechanics of access to the town hall.”

With a nagging in my mind, I don’t let his answer faze me. I nod and ask:

“And those are?”

“You already had your question answered.”

Summoning every bit of my will and honesty I say:

“No, I didn’t. You told the what you would ask, not the answer to your question, I was quite clear in my request.”

I see him mashing his teeth and balling his fists. Letting most of his real feelings out he speaking.

“You…. uuurrgh. Why couldn’t have you gone to some other village? Why mine, now my spotless record will be marred by one of you overachievers.”

“What do you mean?” I play the innocent.

“Don’t bullshit me. We both know very well what the game is. I wanted my cozy post after I finished with you, but you screwed it up.”

“You didn’t tell us anything the council restricts.”

His defeatist attitude is gone in an instant, and he slowly regains his confidence.

“You don’t know the mechanics behind anything. And you still have a chance to screw it up. A monster attack could wipe the village out; I still can get a bonus for that.”

Squinting my eyes a little disbelieving, I just say:

“Ok, you really hate us, I get it. Now the answer, please.”

He starts with a chuckle: “I don’t hate you, you have your interests, I have mine. They just are near opposites of each other.” He continues in a monotone to convey as little information as possible:

“You have unlocked the access to the town hall following 2 mechanics. The village is advanced enough it unlock the option. And you have explored enough the map was unlocked.”

I try to prompt him to continue. “And?”

He smiles and I feel the bottom drop from my stomach. I don’t understand why and in a few moments he starts to speak again.

“I don’t have to answer that. Now I have told you all I’m required to, and I will leave you here. You can come to look at the map anytime, but do not try to let other people accompany you. And don’t attempt to enter rooms.”

At those words, he retreats faster then I could. His whole demeanor was different, he walked faster than I could have run before the system. He was standing, and then he was accelerating faster than I thought possible. He must have his agility at least in the 50s to do that. And skills, I’m certain he would need skills.

I ignore how fast he left and focus on the information I do have. Was he screwing with me? His reaction was probably genuine at first, but as soon as he started to talk about a monster attack, he was trying to get into my head.

The problem is, I don’t know if the way I asked for more information could have screwed things for him. It may not have passed a threshold that would impact him immediately. He might just want to pass me the impression I screwed up. Every little interaction was important in figuring out how the system’s mechanics worked.

I mash my teeth frustrated. I hate this shit, all this political intrigue. I go over every single word again and leave to talk with Charlie briefly.

Passing the door to the courtyard, the noise hits me. The crowd is wild and Charlie tries to calm everyone.

“People, people, please, let me talk with Nash first.”

Before heading for Charlie, I talk to the closest person with blank pages in hand: “Quick, write down what I’m about to say.” At those words, even the murmuring from the crowd is gone. I dictate every single word of the conversation as well as I can remember. I go over everything again and ask the guy to add notes to all the lines describing both my demeanor and my impressions of the Mayor.

It only takes me a few minutes and I head inside again. I only know what I told them. To continue sating time outside would be stupid.

Back in the room, I pay attention to the details of the map. A big paper sheet glued to a 7 foot round table. That means we can’t remove the map from the room without taking the table as well. I would guess that is a really bad idea.

I use the paper sheets to trace every single line from the map. After a moment I climb on the large table to get a closer look. My elbows slide slightly and the most strange thing happens. The whole map zooms in.

It is no longer 5 inches wide, and the rest blank. In disbelieve, I stare at the foot wide map. After a moment of experimentation, I have the strangest feeling. Dragging fingers in a paper should not produce this effect.

I zoom in until the other villages are at the corners of the table. Trying to get over the amazement much greater than seeing an e-reader for the first time, I continue to copy everything.

There is so much information. I can see over a hundred marked locations. There are mines, sources of vegetation, the delineation of monster areas, and more. After drawing and writing the legend on another page, I take a closer look at the map.

I zoom in as close as I can in our village. The quality starts to get grainy when I can see the individual buildings and I see a few people as blobs. Even if it doesn’t have great detail, an army on the march would be pretty easy to spot.

I try taping on buildings and a few other actions, but further information shows up. All I see are the legends, such as “Your village.” Or, “Copper mine.”

After another minute I zoom in on another village. The resulting image is so grainy and defocussed I can barely distinguish the town square from the buildings around it. I can see the general shape of a village but I can not distinguish a single building.

Going over other points, I discover the quality of the image increases the closer I get to our village, with the best picture being from the village itself.

Half an hour later as I’m finishing things up, I notice a discrepancy. Looking over the map again, I zoom in the farthest tendril. Paying close attention, I see the line slowly extending.

It starts in Sarah’s village. Given the direction and distance, I’m pretty sure this is a scout heading for the other village she mentioned. Given I’m pretty sure this is real-time, that meant we could get some information back much faster. For anything beyond what the map would tell us, we would not need to wait for the scouts to return.

I leave to find only a few people waiting for me on the platform. Charlie and a few of the guild members are hard in discussion and my arrival interrupts them. Approaching, I start to speak.

“Yeah, there are a few things very important to discuss. Here...” I present the two pages to one of them by the side. “This is a copy of the map. I discovered a few things about it. Besides the basic information I copied, the map is like a satellite photo. Zoom in enough, and you can see the rough outlines of the houses in our village.”

Charlie interrupts me excitedly.

“How much detail does that give us, how far is the range?”

Not minding the interruption, I continue:

“The closer to our village the better the image, For our village, we can see a single person as a slightly darker or lighter spot. As far as the other villages, we can’t make individual buildings from them, only the rough outline. As for range, we can see a couple of miles beyond the track I made and a tendril extending to a new village from Sarah’s village.”

“We send a pair of people to Sarah’s village and they will be introduced to the other village. I guess they already left.”

Someone else volunteers:

“You know what this means right?” At everyone’s glance, he continues: “We don’t need the scouts to return for a good while. We have a good amount of info instantly at our disposal. That means we would know the locations of mines, raw resources, and other villages. We don’t need to wait for them to come back. We can send people from here.”

The commander asks me:

“I assume you can visibly see the track they make when they are outside the explored zone?” At my nod, he continues. “We could come up with a cipher. As long as they are covering new ground they could send short, coded messages. Maybe Morse code or something like was used in ships. Come up with a list for common messages and they only send the code in the list.”

I volunteer. “Something in between would be best, they have the flexibility to send any message, with enough time. But in an emergence, they can send a basic message like, ‘enemy pursuit’. Maybe even subdivide it in who is the enemy, someone new, someone we thought an ally, monster, unknown.”

The discussion picks up after that. We spend a while talking, but a group of scouts finds us. They all look ready to set out for a long journey. Three pairs of tall and lean people. Each only equipped with the very basics for an extended track. Though they lack what most would have taken, a tent. Only rope and a small bag with what I guess to be similar supplies to what I bought. Charlie stops our talks and speaks to them.

“You all will leave in pairs. One of you will repeat the same track that Nash made.” Charlie says as he points to my map and traces the path I made. “The second group will go out assuming there are villages in these positions,” Charlie says pointing to three neighboring villages 200 miles away. “And then you come right back. Who will take these two assignments?” After a brief moment two of the pairs step forward and he Charlie says:

“Here. 50 copper coins for each of you to buy supplies, should you need it. You can go ahead.”

The four scouts leave together and the last one just stands there. They look to be a higher level and more experienced people. In a moment, Charlie continues.

“I will want you for a harder and longer job.” They just stand there, not surprised at all. Seeing their nods Charlie continues: “ I want you guys to make the track on all the villages in a 200 miles radius. If you don’t find the villages, don’t worry, just run through, the important part is to expand the reach of the map, and as far as we can tell, this is the best method.”

“Ok, about our budget and payment?” At those words, I get ready to say something, but Charlie speaks first.

“You will have a 1 silver budget each, plus…” I interrupt him and volunteer.

“Plus, the first inscribed items when I start to make them.” I use a slightly questioning tone. Charlie nods at my suggestion and speaks.

“Yes, that should be enough compensation.”

Hearing those words the scouts think for a moment, but finally, answer:

“What about the money we will need for the end of the month? We will probably need about a week to make this track?” They ask, trying to extract more. After seeing Charlie hesitate for a moment I jump in again.

“I hope I’m not stepping on any toes here, but it is only a silver coin. By the end of the month, should the economy not have picked up enough yet, do you think you would be the last to receive any help? You are amongst the best of our scouts.”

Hearing those words they agree and leave in a few minutes. The commander takes then to the side. He goes over how the map works and a couple of simple messages if they need to inform us of something. The messages we agreed on already are very basic but should be good enough for this first effort.

After they leave we all quickly break up to take care of our affairs. I head to the guild with Charlie to copy my book and add a few thoughts. I have so much to do.

The tasks however don't seem overwhelming, they are instead welcomed. My goals were lofty, so much we would soon be making. With thoughts of the grand things we will make in mind, I let my task consume my attention and the world fades away.