Due to the annoying quirk of the Schema’s Teleportation Circles, I couldn’t travel directly to Veyrir Town.

It was a convoluted, infuriating process. I was finally so close—I built a fucking city!—and my city was also the geographically closest city to Veyrier Town, but it was impossible to travel directly from a Region City to a town in another Region. To leave my Region, I would need to travel to another Region City.

Fortunately, the Region that contained Veyrier Town did have a city.

Montreal (Quebec)

I made sure to equip the Alias Ring, and created an unassuming character sheet for myself that I would share with the Teleportation Circle before appearing in Montreal.

I also took the time to equip myself with F-rank items. It was best to travel without drawing attention to myself.

Before leaving, I took one last glance around Nova City. I would be leaving the city unmanned in a hostile Region, so I had bought some defenses. Every city came with a Mana Shield that was capable of completely sealing off the city. I upgraded the city shield to a D-rank shield, for 10 million coins. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough—every shield needed a power source. For most towns and cities, a Mana Shard might suffice, but there was no point in upgrading a shield and then powering it with an insufficient power source.

So, I had to spend an additional 5 million coins so that the Mana Shield would come with a Mana Crystal—an exorbitant price, but I didn’t want to lose the city I had dedicated so much time to building. My last purchase was an option that would automatically notify me—as long as I was on Earth—that my City was under attack.

Convinced I was leaving everything in the best state I could, I sent in a teleportation request to Montreal.

Then I waited as my teleportation request was marked as pending.

Once I hit the minute mark, I grew increasingly nervous. Could they see through my alias? Was something suspicious?

The teleportation magic activated after a two-minute wait, and I appeared in a warehouse-like building, facing a dozen men and women armed with E and F-ranked equipment. An archer stood in each corner of the building, with arrows nocked and pointed towards me.

I tried to not look threatening, and I did my best to hide my impatience. “Hello? I’m here to teleport to a different town. How do I do that?”

A woman who was clearly the leader of the security team stepped forward, but stayed about 10 feet away. She looked to be about forty years old, had short brown hair, and in addition to a full set of E-ranked leather armor, she held a D-rank sword—pointing down.

“Jay Renson,” she said. “We apologize for the delay.” As she spoke, I realized that she was speaking in French. At the same time, I realized that I could understand her.

It was a weird, slightly dissonant feeling, hearing an unfamiliar language but having it artificially translated in my own brain by the Polyglot skill.

Perhaps the woman noticed my confused look, because she suddenly switched to English. “My name is Lea Morin, Quebec Region Lord. There are just some anomalies in your teleportation request that we wanted to clear up, and then you can be on your way. Our security didn’t recognize the location you came from. Could you clarify your origin?”

I felt a sigh of relief. It did make sense, in retrospect. A new Region would be a big deal. “Nova City,” I said.

“And what Region does Nova City represent?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I’m not sure,” I said.

Lea frowned at me. “Let me ask again. What Old World towns or cities were there, in your Region?”

I was tempted to try to bribe everyone here. A million coins per person, just to get back to the Veyrier Mines.

Samantha hadn’t wanted me to mention that I had a secret Region under my control, but I didn’t want to be unreasonable.

“The Region I’m coming from did not have any Old World towns or cities,” I replied. “It is a secret Region.”

The head of security arched an eyebrow. “And what is a secret Region?”

“It’s a Region that is not mapped to the Old World,” I responded.

“How did you find the secret Region?” the woman pressed. “And who killed the Region Lord? What forces do you represent?”

I was running out of patience. “Jarek Novak killed the Region Lord,” I said. “I’m running an errand for him. Do you know him? The one who killed the Zone Lord? He will not be pleased that I am delayed.”

Lea offered a clip nod. “How long have you known Jarek Novak?”

With every question, I felt like a noose was tightening around my neck. “I met him yesterday,” I said.

“What do you know of the Crucible?” she asked, again.

I shrugged. “Never heard of it.”

In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the most believable lie, since the Crucible had never exactly hidden itself.

She stared at me, not content with my answer, but I stared back at her.

She abruptly changed topics. “You said you were here to transfer to a local town. What town are you traveling to?”

“Veyrier Town,” I said, shifting impatiently.

“Veyrier Town does not appear on our list of towns…” Lea said, trailing off.

As the Mayor of the Veyrier Town, I had access to the town interface. I had been planning to make it appear the moment I needed it.

“It should appear any minute now,” I said, feigning confusion.

“Well then it looks like I don’t need to worry about holding you up,” Lea said. “While we’re waiting, why don’t you tell me about Veyrier Town. Why is Jarek Novak interested in a town I’ve never heard of in my own Region?”

“His reasons are his own,” I said, selecting the option in my own interface to make Veyrier Town’s name appear in local teleportation lists. It was still private, of course, so I didn’t need to worry about anybody teleporting in.

“That might be true, in somebody else’s Region. But I’ve heard unfortunate rumors of kidnapping and slave labor in my own Region, so forgive me for being particularly cautious when I’m given the chance. I don’t suppose you know anything about the recent missing persons cases?”

“No,” I said.

“Alright, we can talk about something else. Tell me about yourself, Jay. Where did you say you grew up?”

It felt like she was intentionally getting under my skin.

A little help? I asked Samantha. I’d been trying to get through this whole thing by myself, but it didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere. I knew next to nothing about Canadian geography, and I was speaking English, so I could just tell the truth and say that I grew up in L.A. But then how would I explain knowing about the mines in Canada?

Samantha said.

“Do you see Veyrier Town yet?” I shot back.

“Not yet,” Lea shook her head. “Where did you say you were from, again?”

I felt my face twist in annoyance, and I didn’t bother hiding it. After a day and a half suffering through mines, defeating monsters, now I had to put up with this.

I waved my hand over my Interdimensional Pouch, and everyone tensed.

“Hands up!” the man behind Lea barked, and I could hear someone starting to chant a spell.

The carcass of the wyvern, bleeding from the underbelly, a hulking night-black creature over seventy feet long, appeared in front of me.

“My name is Jarek Novak,” I said, letting my rage power my voice.

Somebody loosed an arrow, which I side-stepped easily.

“Hold!” Lea called, sharply.

I took out a handful of Mana Beads and tossed them towards Lea.

“Stop testing my patience,” I said. “I need to get to Veyrier Town.”

Samantha said.

“You and your men can come with me, if you’d like,” I said. “Veyrier Town was the base of the kidnappers. I killed most of them, and I still have one in custody if you’d like to question him. There are probably a few former prisoners who could use aid, and the more you drag this out, the more dangerous their condition becomes.” I was laying it on a little thick, but I was tired of wasting time.

“You should have started with that,” Lea said.

After a few minutes of Lea dealing with logistics—“If I don’t return, then blame Jarek”—we were finally ready.

I teleported with Lea and six of her guards to Veyrier Town, gut clenched and nervous as hell.