Not much changed in the month after bringing Martin and Fiona back to Saint June, at least for me. Martin had managed to make a name for himself across the town and as I expected he was well-liked. Elections hadn’t been held yet and nobody wanted to go the route of declaring that they were now the new city lord.

The new barge was completed and I trained an older gentleman that used to be a train conductor to operate it. His level was a bit on the low side so it required that I pair him up with an assistant that could help charge the mana hearts. It was probably a good idea to have two people anyway in case something happened. I would have to find someone to help Maria as well when she returned. Not that she needed it, but I knew that being alone and dwelling on your darker thoughts was not a healthy way to live.

Ska had joined the town guard along with Fiona. Although, I did take Fiona out with me to try and level her up.

Ska had finally tipped over into level twenty. I was a bit surprised at the second class he had chosen.

Ska | Grimalkin Hunter/Warden | 20/2

At first, I thought it was a forest-related class but it turned out to be more a defender-type class. It did give him a pretty good skill that slowly boosted his endurance the more he suffered while protecting others. Considering the Grimalkins major disadvantage of only getting a free skill slot every five levels, Ska would never become like Tatiana or Hegar. They were able to take full advantage of their class and all the skills provided.

It felt like a real shit move by the system but Ska didn’t seem to care. He liked simple.

As for my month, I watched the shield towers go up and I topped them off with the runic emitters. I also took it upon myself to make the ground below the city safe. There would be no repeat of what happened in Houston, happening in Saint June. Compressing the ground or enchanting it was simply out of the question in the short term as there was too much area to cover. But… I already had sensors. I just had to adjust what they could sense. I still made an effort to place hidden runes that made the ground more durable.

I also didn’t want to have to monitor the sensors all the time so I built all of the control and interface systems into the central tower and a backup that only Martin and I knew about. Assuming he won the election, he could notify Kurt. I felt a bit bad about not notifying Kurt but the less I had to interact with the man, the better. I didn’t think he would purposely divulge this information, but I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t talk outside of the protections I had in place in my warehouse. For now, it needed to remain a secret.

That went doubly for what I was currently working on. Spread across multiple benches was one of my new projects. Despite what that Stygian Order agent had said, they were an enemy and I was done playing defensive. The pieces of the device in front of me had been the most complicated runic work I had built to date. Far outstripping the Fortress, my hand, or even my armor.

The main section was a flat disk with mithril inlay that ran around in simple concentric circles. Four curved struts were positioned on the benches and these contained the bulk of the rune work. Nothing was active yet as I had one piece yet to create. This wasn’t a typical teleportation pad. Once active it would lock onto an outbound teleport and allow the user standing inside the disk to piggyback on their location.

I had tried making it larger but I didn’t have enough available mithril and mana hearts to power a larger unit. So at most one person could go. Or in my case, Fiona and I, when I got around to telling her my plan.

While the Enchanter’s Guild might become the biggest thorn in my side, I wasn’t yet at war with them. That didn’t hold true for the Stygian Order and their meddling and attempts to kill or get rid of me and my friends.

They needed to pay for their actions, even if I couldn’t destroy all of them.

***

Lord Vik’t stepped out of the portal of the Bazaar and into the dusty town of Houston. Traveling by portal across the same planet was cheaper than crossing into a new world but the convenience alone was worth the cost.

His retainers glanced around at the men sent to greet them and gave disapproving looks. Lord Vik’t kept silent, reading the possibilities of conversation based on his most prized possession. He loved to unsettle people by mimicking a mind reader. It wasn’t the case but his highly enchanted robe came close to allowing it.

The reason for his visit to this godforsaken hell hole of a town that smelled of shit, piss, and unwashed bodies was for one simple reason, information. The man that called himself the Mayor had reached out to another representative of the Guild and had come to an agreement. Lord Vik’t assumed it was a standard agreement. Only authorized members of the Guild were allowed to sell magical gear or enchanted items within the area of control. All non-Guild members were forced to join and pay their dues or be barred from sales.

Usually, this was enough to discourage most people. The few that attempted to circumvent this law were dealt with very harshly. Killing someone was the last resort as losing a talented enchanter was a great loss.

The local Guild representative bowed deeply. “Lord Vik’t, had I been given more notice of your arrival we could have prepared an acceptable reception for one such as yourself.”

“If I had wanted you to know I was arriving, I would have informed you. I am here based on disturbing rumors.”

The man audibly gulped, knowing that if these rumors were true it meant he was doing a poor job of curtailing non-sanctioned enchanting.

“I can assure you, Lord Vik’t, that we are taking the rumors very seriously. I have yet to find any indication that they are true, however. I have learned that the man in question, along with his friends have all fled the town, prior to our dealings with the Mayor, a-”

“Mr. Rosewill,” Lord Vik’t finished for the man, making him pale even further under his scrutinizing gaze. “Well, don’t make me stand here all day, take me to this man.”

“At once, Lord Vik’t, please, follow me,” the man sputtered out, bowing a few times before he turned to lead the way.

***

“Fiona,” I yelled, waving to the woman as I jogged toward her. She stopped and turned, when she spotted me she waved back and waited for me to catch up.

“What brings you out of your cave?” she asked with a hint of amusement.

I just rolled my eyes. “You know how it gets, too much to do not enough time to do it. How are Martin and Ska doing?”

“They are settling in fine. You know Martin, he already has big plans on how to improve the city, even though he isn’t Mayor yet. Ska is doing good as well, he is keeping busy hunting the elementals and keeping the peace. While Saint June isn’t as crowded as Houston was, there have been some scuffles.”

“Well, I’m sure he can handle himself. And who knows someday Saint June will eclipse what now remains of Houston. The Plateau is far larger than the walled-off section of Houston. I don’t see why it couldn’t grow to be a massive city.

She nodded thoughtfully. “It does remind me a lot of my hometown back in the Asharon Kingdom. Although, that town was only situated along a river.”

“Does it make you miss home?” I asked.

“Sometimes I get a pang of homesickness. I miss my parents and still haven’t gathered the courage to send them a missive. But in all honesty, peasants, or simple folk are treated far better here than they ever were back in my world. It still surprises me sometimes.”

“I’m sure there are some places on Earth that make your world seem like a dream in comparison. Not every country here was as open and tolerant, not that we didn’t have our issues, because we did. But I like to think most people were ok.”

“Such a stunning endorsement,” she replied drolly.

I chuckled. “I actually came to ask you something.”

“Oh?”

“I can’t really talk about it here, when you get some time, come to the warehouse.”

“I can come tonight, should I gather the others?”

“No, this is really something only you can do.”

She nodded, “Fair enough, I will see you then.”

***

“So, what’s so important you can only talk about it in here?” Fiona asked, gesturing to the walls of the warehouse.

“It’s about the Stygian Order and my plan to finally get them off our backs.”

“Oh, well, I can see the need for secrecy then. Do tell.”

“Well, first we need to locate their spies within the city. I have a rough guess that there are around six currently within the city.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“I haven’t told anyone this so don’t go spreading it around. I came up with a way to track incoming portals. With that information, I was able to determine how many people came and went through the portals.”

“Really?” she asked in surprise. “That’s a major advantage then.”

I nodded. “I have been keeping track of their comings and goings for about two months now. They mainly follow me around, but they always leave a few within the city. The problem is while I can tell where the portals appear, I can’t get there before the spies vanish into the population. What I need from you, is to get eyes on the spies and a good description of each so I can track them with Reaper.”

“Ok, but won’t they just portal out as soon as you confront them?”

“Yup, that’s where the second part of the mission comes in. Once we know about all the spies, we get the city guard in place to capture them. Of course, they will run as soon as they know they are compromised. That’s where this lovely device comes in,” I gestured to the items spread across the tables.

Fiona glanced at the items in doubt, “and what monstrosity have you built this time?”

“I only create items of wonder,” I replied with feigned indignation. “This mess of components will create a one-man teleportation platform, capable of locking on and following an outbound teleport.”

“That will?” she said, picking up the thin pad and examining it. “It doesn’t look like much, but I suppose the runes are hidden.”

I nodded. “Well, in theory, that’s what it will do, not like I can test it beforehand.

She set the item back on the table. “I suppose you’re going to do something risky and life-threatening by using it yourself then?”

“I tried making it larger but the cost was too prohibitive. But, you should be able to teleport along with me if you hide inside my body.”

She snorted, “as fun as that sounds, won’t my presence harm you?”

I held out my hand, “Give it a try.”

She shook her head ruefully before passing her ghostly hand through my arm. It felt like being dunked in a tank of cold water and I shivered but it wasn’t nearly as achingly cold as she used to feel. The feeling passed as she retracted her arm.

“You ok?” she asked.

I nodded, “Yeah, feels like a dip in an icy pool but I can survive, the damage was minimal. We can practice some more and once we are ready we can time it so you only have to remain inside for a short period of time.”

She didn’t look entirely convinced but she eventually agreed to help me with my plan and keep quiet on the items I created.