I thought that it was hot before—back when I was summoned into Hell.

As it turned out, I knew nothing about what it meant to be hot. Not only that, but the red and black color palette of Hell was nothing in comparison to my new surroundings.

The first thing I thought of was Enna in her suit. She had to be uncomfortable. “You might want to take some layers off,” I told her.

“A-ah, this is fine. But, thank you for your concern!” Enna replied, feeling comfortable enough to talk now that were no longer in front of Satan himself.

“How are you not burning up?”

“Oh, this is nothing compared to where I grew up. Our apartment was in an industrial district kept hot by all the machinery, and it was impossible to see far ahead of you due to the constant smog… and we couldn’t afford air conditioning in our apartment, so… this is rather nice compared to that!”

“Even demons can struggle to pay the bills, huh?”

“Unfortunately…”

Sara got between us and looked up at me. “Are you two done yet? We have to take this seriously. There’s no time to waste talking.”

“Listen, Sara,” I said. “One of—”

“Sara? Do not shorten my name as if you are familiar with me.”

“—America’s greatest gifts to the world was freedom of speech. I’m allowed to say, and I will say, whatever I want, whenever I want. That includes making small talk after being teleported to a place that makes Hell look like a beach resort in comparison to it. Understand?”

“You still don’t understand who you are talking to, do you?”

“And I don’t care, either.” Considering that the game officially began, I figured I was officially in charge. That meant I didn’t have to worry about her using magic or whatever it was to mess with my body. At least, it was a bet I was willing to make.

I walked around to get a better look at the place after putting her in her place.

I felt like I was really in Hell after that.

The most striking sight was the lake of lava surrounding the small peninsula we were on. Spires of black rock with veins of magma flowing through them pushed up through some of the lava on one side of the peninsula. On the other side of the peninsula, it looked like there were geysers within the lake spewing lava far into the air above.

I was probably mixing up my words—lava and magma. I knew that one was underground and the other was exposed to air.

I also knew that I didn’t care enough to correct myself, so I chose to use whichever one sounded nicer in the situation.

As for the peninsula we stood on, I first thought I was standing on some kind of sandy beach. I was wrong. What we actually stood on was ash. All of the ground surrounding us was covered in ash, but it wasn’t so thick that what looked like fertile soil couldn’t be seen underneath it.

That was good. Food was always a valuable resource in the early game for 4Xs. The more food, the faster the population grew, the more workers you’d get. Though, the layer of ash probably meant that the land wouldn’t be as fertile as it would be had all the ash been weathered. I knew that land around volcanos tended to be more fertile, especially after eruptions, but that was after all the ash was weathered to have its nutrients absorbed by the soil.

But considering that we were in what looked like a volcanic biome, I doubted we were going to get better land to grow with than the ash-covered soil.

Across the lava was what looked like hard, rocky terrain with hills. It looked dead with zero vegetation, though it also looked like there were some sort of animals or monsters in the distance. I wasn’t able to tell what they were.

At the far end of the rocky terrain was the only other notable feature of the area: a volcano. It didn’t reach too high up nor was it very wide, but it was very active going by the sheer amount of lava flowing from it. The lava broke into three different rivers that ran across the rocky terrain to feed the lake surrounding us.

Well, what really surrounded us was what looked like a thick blanket of white fog in every direction. At least there was no fog when I looked up at the sky. Instead, there were dark clouds that managed to roll in from beyond the fog only to disappear into it upon reaching the other side.

It was obvious what the fog was supposed to be.

“Guess they decided to take fog of war literally,” I said before crouching down and running my hand through some of the ash. I then pushed enough ash away to reveal a patch of black soil underneath it which I dug my hand into and pulled upward.

I held the dirt in front of my face. Worms with orange stripes that matched the color of the lava lake writhed around within the soil. I set them back where I took them from and gave Sara a pat on her shoulder to get the dirt off my hand.

“You… you really are trying to push your luck, aren’t you?” Sara asked, looking only seconds away from snapping.

“You better get used to being dirty fast. There won’t be room for slackers here,” I explained.

“I’m not here for dirty work. Do you really think that a daughter of—”

“Yes. Moving on. Enna.”

Enna jumped when I called out her name. “Y-yes!”

“If this is like a game, is there a system that I can use, or are we doing things the ultra-realistic way?”

“Ah, you—”

“Do you really think,” Sara continued, “that I am going to stand for such insolence?” She placed herself between me and Enna again, looking into my eyes with her own eyes full of fiery defiance.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether you stand or sit for it,” I said. “But if you expect me to respect you because of your position, I come from a nation where farmers overthrew tyrants for morning exercise. I won’t—”

Sara slapped me across my face. It stung, too.

So, I slapped her back.

Everybody around went silent as they watched us.

Meanwhile, Sara stood there staring up at me in disbelief as she wore a reddened mark on the side of her face from my hand. “You… you—”

“One,” I said, “who you are doesn’t matter. You could be the creator of all reality for all I care, and I still wouldn’t care. Only your actions and how you treat those around you matter to me, and you’re failing to impress at either of those. Two, I believe in absolute equality. I won’t hesitate to hit you if you hit me back, and everybody else has permission to do anything that you do to them back to you. Three, I won’t tolerate slackers. You’re welcome to leave if you don’t want to pull your own weight around here, but you’re not welcome to stay if you won’t. Do I make myself clear?”

Sara turned her head to look away before mumbling something under her breath.

“I didn’t hear you. Yes or no, do I make myself clear?”

She glared at me for a few seconds before leaving without a word.

With her dealt with, I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “I guess demons aren’t spared from daddy issues, either.”

“S-sir?” Enna said. “Daddy issues?”

“I’ve already got her figured out, but that’s not important right now. Back to this ‘game’ we’re in.”

“Right! Hold your right hand out in front of you and say, ‘Menu.’”

I followed her instructions and said, “Menu.”

A floating screen popped up in front of me that looked like it was straight out of a video game. It was just like the others that popped up but colored to match our surroundings. Or maybe it was colored to match our faction considering that I was supposed to be leading Hell’s forces.

I was more curious about how the map would look than anything else, so I checked on that first by clicking where it said [Map View].

The screen then changed shape and size to properly show me the map.

The top-down, hex grid map reminded me of various 4X games I played before. It was a pretty classic style for them. Assuming that the circle was where we were, it looked like the volcano was to our east, those geysers were to our south, the spires to the north, and our only way to get over to the rocky terrain was via the north, too.

I was curious about what those asterisks were supposed to represent, so I clicked the tile to our south.

Alright. Then what about the one to our west?

The good news was that it looked like we had a pretty nice source of food there. The bad news was that labor, which I was assuming was important in building things quickly, was horrible in that spot. The lava lake actually had what looked like a nice amount of labor in comparison, plus it provided some food, but how was I supposed to take advantage of that? Unless…

“Enna, when founding a new settlement, does it only gain the benefit of the tile it’s on or the surrounding tiles as well?” I asked. It could go either way in games.

Enna looked glad to be of service. “You gain the benefit of the tile you colonize and all tiles adjacent to it! So, seven tiles in total!”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

Enna smiled and nodded before stepping back to let me focus on the screen again.

That’s perfect. If we were to settle on the tile to our east, we could get five lava lake tiles, two ash fields, and that terrain feature. I’m guessing that one must be those towers sticking out of the lake. Let’s see…

Time to ask Enna another question. “What can you tell me about influence?”

Enna smiled every time I asked her a question. “Influence is needed for a lot of different areas, but it’s most important use early on is spending it to claim more tiles.”

“I see. So, I’ll get the tile I settle and the six tiles around it. Then I have to spend influence to claim more tiles? How many will I get at a time?”

“Only one.”

“And I’m assuming that influence is something mainly gained through buildings in a city, same with science?”

“You really do know a lot about this despite not being an ascended race! A-ah! Sorry! I—that might have sounded like an insult, but I only meant it as praise!”

“Don’t worry about it. How does economy work? I haven’t seen any tiles offering anything like gold yet.”

“Economy is something that doesn’t really matter until later. We are currently only in the primitive stage of things, so people who are only just figuring out how to hunt and farm don’t have much need for economy yet. But economy will become incredibly important later on and what tiles offer bonuses to it will depend on what we adopt as our main currency!”

“We’ll have different options for currency?”

“Right!”

“What’s going to happen when two factions want to make a trade and they use different currencies?”

“That depends on what the leaders decide to do. It is also possible to create a currency so accessible and influential that the people of other empires may decide to use it over what their leader decides.”

That definitely sounded interesting, but it also sounded like something we didn’t need to worry about anytime soon. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

I returned my attention to the map and checked out the tile with a feature to the northwest.

All I had to do was look at Enna and she smiled, ready to answer my next question. “I’m guessing that if a tile that provides happiness is connected to the settlement, it’s going to make everybody there happier?”

“Right!” Enna answered. “But it has to be directly connected. Being adjacent doesn’t matter, but being connected does.”

“While we’re on that topic, am I able to claim tiles that aren’t directly adjacent to the tiles I already have?”

“You are! But those will be more expensive to claim—they will cost more influence.”

“Makes sense. Thanks.”

I looked at the screen again only for Enna to speak up and grab my attention back. “A-ah! Um, I—never mind. Sorry.”

“What? Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I… I don’t want to bother you. It’s nothing. I apologize for distracting you.”

“I’m not going to pressure you to tell me something you don’t really want to tell me, but I want you to understand that you can talk to me without worrying about status, and you never have to apologize for wanting to say something. Got that?”

A hint of red colored Enna’s cheeks as she looked away, adjusted her glasses, and then looked back at me. “Thank you… it’s just that—you have already thanked me more in the short time we have been together than I can recall being thanked in… my entire life.”

“And I’ll keep thanking you for as long as you continue doing a good job. Understand?”

“Yes!” She showed me a bright smile that made me want to try and make her smile grow even wider. I had to admit that I was a sucker for seeing others smile. Not for seeing false smiles, but happy, genuine smiles. There were few things greater in life than an individual’s happiness.

Such as property rights, bourbon, and steak. Actually, there were a lot more than that. I was going to have to create a proper list sometime of the most important things in life. Maybe some sort of pyramid of greatness.

That aside, I returned my attention to the map. I noticed that there were two tiles at the tip of the plateau over the lava lake that looked… foggy? At least, from the map view, describing it as foggy was the only way I could think of describing it.

I checked it out.

Considering that the danger was listed as extreme, I figured it would probably be a good idea to avoid that area for the time being. There was also something I was curious about after reading enough quotes. “You have any idea who these quotes are from?”

Enna tilted her head a little and asked, “Do you mean the quotes for the terrain descriptions?”

“Unless there are other quotes I’ve been missing somehow, they’re the only ones around.”

“Ri-right. They are quotes from Explorer.”

“Explorer?”

Enna nodded. “He explores every world created for our games to assign names, descriptions, and stats to everything. He is the only one who has more knowledge of this world than the rest of us.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

“You—you don’t have to thank me every time.”

“I asked you a question. You answered it. I thank people for their work and cooperation. Only those who see themselves as superior don’t thank others, and anybody who sees themselves as superior to others can get tossed in the harbor along with their tea.”

“Tossed… in the harbor with their tea?”

“Sounds like you need a history lesson on the greatest country to ever exist.”

“Maybe…?”

“I’ll give you your first lesson tonight.”

While Enna blushed and looked like she was trying to process what I just said, making it clear that there was some sort of misunderstanding given her reaction, I returned my attention to the map.

She looked cute when she was confused. I figured I’d let her stay like that for a little.

I had a good idea of where I wanted to settle down. The tile directly above the one with the volcanic soil feature would give me access to six ash field tiles with the volcanic soil included and one basalt plains tile. If we settled there, I’d be able to claim the territory adjacent to it to grab the hot springs tile. Not to mention I would be able to continue expanding our territory to the north to get the rest of those features.

Then again, what type of “game” we were in mattered.

Some games benefitted more from focusing on food in the early game. Others benefitted from production. Endless Empires III’s meta changed entirely based off the individual player’s faction choice and preferred style, so there was on clear answer there. Considering the stakes of the game I was now a part of, though, I figured it would be best to try and min-max if possible.

“Enna, what would you say is more important? Food or labor?” I asked.

Enna forced herself to get over her flustered confusion by shaking her head and adjusting her glasses. “I’m not sure. Food is important for growing the population which you need for workers and military units, but higher labor will make constructing buildings that boost everything easier which can make up for lower starting food.”

I already knew all of that and was hoping for a less basic answer, but then I remembered that I probably had far more experience with such games than her. Unless she made a habit out of studying such games, she probably wouldn’t be of much help in that regard.

But she still did her best to answer my question. “Thanks,” I said.

Now, figuring out which was better usually included knowing how the game worked. Especially when it came to population growth curves. It was common for games to make it so that the higher the population grew, the more food was needed in order to continue growing it, whereas production was more or less always the same. Buildings always cost the same amount to produce unlike the population.

Considering that my go-to strategy was to play tall, though, that meant boosting my population as much as possible. Snowballing with food as soon as possible was important for me. Of course, that didn’t mean I could neglect labor.

Moving one tile to the east of that spot I considered would still get me five ash fields including the volcanic soil, get me a basalt plain one tile away from claiming the hot springs, and it would get me a lava lake tile. I’d be losing one food but gaining three labor from claiming the lava lake tile instead of a sixth ash field. Not to mention that it was closer which might be important.

From what I could tell, our entire force was a single unit at the moment. There were other demons like Enna around, some of which wielded basic spears with ragged clothes while others carried what looked like oversized backpacks on their backs.

Logic said that those with spears were starting military units while those with the backpacks were our colonists.

I clicked our icon on the map to see if that would open up a detailed view of our unit. Surely enough, it did.

I was immediately annoyed.

“Enna,” I said, “explain something.”

“Y-yes? You… you sound upset,” Enna replied.

“Are we in an actual game, or a real world behaving like a game?”

“The latter.”

“Then everybody here is a living being, right? It’s not like one of those stories where we’re actually inside of virtual reality or anything. Everybody around us is a living being with emotions, dreams, sentience, and so on.”

“That’s right.”

“Then why are they all referred to as lesser demons?”

“Well… because we are. Within Hell’s social stratum, ‘lesser demon’ refers to both weak demons and those with mixed blood. There are many different races of demons that match those qualifications, but we all ultimately fall under the ‘lesser demon’ categorization. It has always been like that.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me.”

“Which—which part?”

“All of it. None of you are lesser for simply being born a different way.”

I looked around at the other demons with us. There was an even balance of men and women from what I could tell, but the assortment of races was far more than what I expected to fall under a single group. Some had pale skin while others had darker skin, but there was more in skin color than what humans had. Some had pink skin while others had red skin. Some were blue and some were green.

But their differences went beyond simple skin color.

Comparing them to video game demons since that was what I was most familiar with, some of them looked like imps who hovered over the ground with short bodies and small wings while others looked like hybrids of goats and humans. Some had parts of their bodies covered in patches of fur while others featured patches of scales. Some had horns and tails while others had wings and multiple eyes.

They were all different. All unique.

Yet they were all classified under the same category.

Lesser demons.

“Give me a quick history lesson,” I told Enna. “Have your people ever tried to rebel? To change the status quo? Or have you always been submissive servants to those who put you down as lesser?”

“There… there have been a few attempts in the past,” Enna answered, “but nothing recent. There is no point. Lucifer is one of the universe’s all-powerful beings. As a member of the Divine Pantheon… he could wipe us out at any moment.”

“But your people have tried to rebel before.”

“Yes.”

“Good. That means they’ve got the American spirit in them. I can respect that.”

“I apologize if I am stepping out of line, but why are you ask—”

I stepped away from the group to stand in front of them before shouting, “Listen up!”

Enna and the rest of the demons had all of their eyes on me.

“Nobody is lesser under my command. I don’t care what anybody else says. I don’t care how many generations you’ve been degraded as lesser for. Whether you’re red or green, short or tall, whether you have fur or scales or horns or wings, I don’t care. The only thing that matters to me is that we all respect each other and treat one another as equals. We’re in this together, understand? I can’t do this without all of you. You can’t do this without me. We need each other. Just because I’m in command does not make me better than you. Just because you follow my orders does not make you lesser than me.”

The demons looked at each other and whispered to one another. Most of them looked confused. Some looked worried.

Enna ran up to me and whispered into my ear, “Lu-Lucifer is probably watching right now… and any who die here will be sent back to Hell where they may face punishment for—”

I looked up at the sky and held out my middle finger to it. “Fuck you, Lucy. I don’t care who you are, how powerful you are, or anything else. You split your population up and treat them like shit, and I’m going to treat you like shit.” I looked back at the demons. “I have no tolerance for bullshit. The greatest piece of paper to ever exist says that all men are created equal, and that we all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Working hard is all that you need to prove yourself and make a life for yourself. That’s the American dream, and now it’s going to be the dream for everybody here. No, that’s bullshit, too. It’s not going to be some dream. It’s going to be our reality. It is our undeniable truth.”

Some of the demons who looked worried stepped farther away, clearly putting distance between themselves and me.

“Unless you have no intention of ever rising to your greatest heights. Unless you have no issue with submissively kneeling to those who think they’re better than you just because of how they were born. If you’re really that weak, there’s nothing I can do about it. You’re going to be taken advantage of until the day you die and nobody will remember you. You’ll be nothing more than a statistic to those in power. If that’s the life you want to live—if you’re so happy to be called ‘lesser’ beings, then so be it. But if you want to fight for your place in this world—if you want to prove that you’re just as capable as everybody else, all you have to do is take a step forward. No freedom has ever been achieved without taking that first step. While others step back in fear, those brave few with the necessary spirit will step forward. They will be the ones who history remembers. They will be the ones remembered as patriots who fought for their natural rights. And if you don’t believe in yourself, then believe in me. To copy from one of the greatest fictional characters to ever be created, don’t believe in yourself! Believe in me! Believe in the me who believes in you! That’s all you need to do until you’ve gained the confidence to believe in yourselves. When you need a push on the back to keep you going, I’ll be there to push you. And when the times comes where I need a push, I know you’ll be there to push me.”

Total silence. That was what came after my speech.

But there didn’t need to be anything else.

Whether there was silence or cheering, I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest as I stared at the group in front of me.

I believed in them.

And that belief was repaid by Enna walking away from me, only to turn around and kneel while lowering her head to me.

“Stand,” I ordered. “I’m no king. Kings only exist to be dethroned.”

Enna stood up with a gentle smile on her face. “I—I am not sure what I should do then.”

“All you have to do is stand by my side as my equal.”

A hint of blush colored her cheeks, but that didn’t stop her from returning to my side and facing the group with me. “Like this?”

“Perfect,” I answered, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her against my side. “The rest of you are welcome to join us. Those who don’t are welcome to do whatever they want. I have no interest in working with those who don’t want to help themselves. Even if me and Enna are the only two with any balls here, we’ll make it work.”

Another moment of silence passed before somebody else finally stepped forward. The tallest of the demons—a muscular man with red skin, ripped with muscles, and a single horn that looked broken—broke free from the crowd and approached me with his head held high. He was even taller than me which was something I wasn’t used to. Considering that I was six feet two, he was probably around six feet five or so.

I was a pretty muscular guy, too. I worked out on a regular basis whenever I wasn’t playing games. Even so, I looked scrawny compared to him.

And as soon as he was in front of me, I held my hand out for a shake. “Welcome to the side of the free,” I said.

He smiled, showing off one fang among his teeth far larger than the rest of them, and took my hand within his own for a nice, firm shake. “I can’t imagine this ending well, but being proud of myself for once sounds nice.”

“Damn straight. What’s your name?”

“Thagamand.”

“How about Thad? Names longer than four letters are for French pastries.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I like you, so I’ll take your word for it. Thad works fine.”

“Then I’m glad to have you with us, Thad.”

Thad nodded and took up the position next to my free side.

Then, one by one at first, more demons stepped forward. Then two by two. Three by three. When it came to the last of the demons, they all stepped forward together, not wanting to be left behind.

I made sure to shake the hand and learn the name of every single demon who stepped forward. They all deserved that.

The only one who was nowhere to be found was Sara, not that I expected her to come back.

I returned my attention to the map once introductions were over. With a movement speed of three tiles per day, we had enough to make it to the latest tile I thought of settling with one point of movement left over. So, I chose the movement option and then the tile I wanted them to go to.

Everybody knew what to do without me even having to say anything. All it took was an order via the menu to send them toward the tile I selected. That was… concerning. There was no verbal command. No explaining what I wanted them to do. Seemingly no ability for them to decline the order. All I did was input the command and they moved.

I asked Enna about it while we walked. “Do they have ability to refuse orders?”

“Not really,” Enna answered. “Any commands you give us through the system are commands we have to follow. If you try to command us without the system, we can’t do anything that would have an impact on the game. The only way to hypothetically refuse orders would be if you let happiness or morale drop so low that an event occurs which causes us to turn against you. But even if that happens, somebody else will become the leader and they would have total control.”

“So, I did all that talking about freedom and choosing their own path, but they ultimately have to obey my every command.”

“That’s correct. I’m sorry.”

“I wouldn’t care if this was an actual game and they were all NPCs, but these are real people we’re talking about. It’s not right for them to have all agency removed like this.”

“That’s… just how it is. It’s how it has always been. But not too many mind because, in most cases, those who come here are volunteers and they know that their lives are in no real danger. Even should they die, they will return to their world in the same condition that they were in when they left it. But now that you have made the declarations you have… it may be hard to find volunteers. And those who do volunteer may be at risk upon return.”

“How does that work? The volunteering?”

“It’s how population growth works. You will see once we found our first settlement, but… basically, because it would take too long for everybody to actually have kids who grow up into working adults, population growth comes in the form of new volunteers arriving through a portal.”

“I see. So, anybody who comes here will know what they’re getting into at least.”

“Right. So, please don’t feel bad about us having to obey you.”

“I’m assuming—hoping, that obeying me only applies to commands relevant to the game. I can’t order you to strip down and force you to do it, right?”

That example caused her cheeks to turn a bright shade of red. “Of—of course not! That—that sort of thing would never be allowed!”

“Good. I don’t want to imagine how others might abuse that if it was the case.”

“Geez… what an example to think of. But, you really are worried about everybody, aren’t you?”

I didn’t mean to, but I let out a sigh. “Well, I’ve got the fate of all of humanity on my back. What’s worrying about everybody else in this game, too?”

“I think that’s the softest I’ve heard your voice yet. Are you… afraid of what might happen?”

“Of course I am. Only liars don’t feel fear.”

“And only politicians and Europeans tell lies, right?”

“Right. You’ve learned quickly.”

“I’ve learned from the best!”

I reached over to ruffle up her hair a little before checking in on everybody else. There wasn’t anything better to be doing, so I figured I would get to know everybody.

When we finally arrived, I gave the order for everybody to take a break and rest. We had food and water carried in some satchels and backpacks to start with, so they dug into our supplies while I brought up the army screen again.

I chose the Settlers unit.

Settle came next.

It was either move one more tile north and settle to get the hot springs, which only provided a happiness bonus that I doubted I would need at the beginning, or take a few more days to move even farther north and to the east for the other special features while making only a fraction of the food.

I chose yes.

It was time to lay the foundation for what would become my most important city out of any 4x game I’ve ever played.