Authors Note: So as you may have noticed the story slowed down a bit, this is important as there is a lot going on here that is needed to move the story forward. The next few chapter will be setting up the future events, so please bear with me here.

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Chapter 19 Independence

Morning arrived fast. The smell off eggs and bacon wafted thru out the Cafeteria. My stomach grumbled. I felt Cindy and Julie stirring as I moved involuntarily, my arms numb once again, not that I am complaining. I look at each of their beautiful faces and smile.

“Time to wake up ladies” I say softly. I feel great! Then I see I have a tent going, but it can not be helped. It is the morning after all.

“Mmmmm, a little longer Scott? Just a few more minutes ok?” Julie complains.

Cindy opens her sleepy eyes and smiles. Then she looks down at my tent and giggles. Julie hears the giggle and opens her eyes,” huh what is so funny this morning”, she groans sleepily and looks at Cindy.

Her eyes follow to where Cindy is staring and giggling and lets out an involuntary giggle as well with a snort.

I sigh and pull my arms away from the two and get the circulation flowing again, I grumble, “Every man has this problem in the morning you know.”

Cindy leans in close to my ear pulling the blankets up to her neck keeping herself covered from prying yes and whispers,” too bad it is day time.......”

I sigh”Equip Preset 1” and then I am covered in my Advanced Marine Armor, including helmet.”There problem taken care of you, two can stop giggling now”.

Julie and Cindy both sigh and lay back into the bed staying covered.

“I need to get out of bed girls so someone needs to let me out “I complain lightly.

“Fine party pooper, equip preset 1” Cindy says with a hit of sadness leans in and kisses me on the cheek.

“Argh! It is too early, Equip Preset 1”, Julie complains.

With that, we all get out of bed, to the astonished looks of observers. I see the teenage boy from last night and I put my fingers to my eyes then motion them towards him, letting him know I am watching him. He becomes visibly pale and looks away. Julie puts the bed away into her inventory.

I stretch with a very loud yawn. Cindy slaps the back of my head “behave you brute”. Julie snickers.

We head over to the tables which are already set. I guess we slept in today. Have not had a good nights sleep in three days and it showed. Most everyone had already eaten, so not many people were at the tables. We grab our meals from the assembly line and head for the tables. Scrambled eggs that came from powder, 2 slices of bacon, 2 pieces of toast, some grits, a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee.

The Sheriff joins us as do Cortez and Foutz. The Sheriff has an eagerness to him as he approaches,”Mind if we join you?”

“No, by all means have a seat” Cindy says pleasantly pointing at the empty seats across from us. As usual Cindy on my left, Julie on my right.

“Well I came to a decision last night, was up practically the entire night. But I think I got a profession”,The Sheriff declares proudly.

“I see, so what did you come up with”, I ask curiously and interested.

“Actually it was not me, but those kids over there” he points at the gathering of teenagers one of which was the kid from last night, all talking and looking hesitantly our way,

“They seem to be experts in those online gaming things they called it. MMM or something or another, in any case they said what you described was just like it. So we talked for a while and they gave me some ideas.” He says drawing it out. hoping to set the suspense.

“And....” I ask now getting slightly irritated.

“Paladin!” He explains with pride,” it is perfect for me, they do good, they take care of the people, vanquish evil, heal the sick, avenge the fallen.”

“Can you even visualize a Paladin Rick?” I ask now not believing he can even attempt to pull it off.

He now looks a little embarrassed, “well that is the thing I may have oopsed”

“ooppsed?” asks Julie

“No way you didn't.......” Cindy starts to snicker.

I groan out loud,” let me see it” I sigh in regret.

The Sheriff stands up and steps back from the table“Equip Paladin Armor” The Sheriff says boldly.

There in all his Gory is the Sheriff, a Knight in bright silver shining armor with a long sword and shield equipped. I can see his face thru the slits of the face mask of his shiny helmet that has a huge plume coming out of it. He looks like the real Knight in Shining armor with no exception.

I begin to laugh, I can not help it. It is so sad it is too funny. Cindy and Julie begin to laugh hysterically as well, then Cortez and Foutz double over in laughter. The Sheriff raises his face plate and is fully red in with embarrassment. We all laugh a few more minute, then finally are able to calm down.

“Ok well then, now that you have become a Paladin, what can you do?” I ask

“Well I can lay hands and heal someone it seems. Tho it is minor from the sounds of it, and I can turn the undead it says or even destroy them outright if my belief is strong enough. I can also use this sword and shield. Supposedly it does extra damage to evil stuff. Then I can also hit things really hard, much like you can Scott, without hurting myself” with that he smiles.

“Well as long as you are happy with it and can move around in that tin bucket of your, I have no objections And you now have access to your inventory!, I smile with the last comment..

“Ahh yes about that” the Sheriff begins looking embarrassed again” It seem I can not appropriate stuff to carry in my inventory”.

“WHAT??” I ask not believing this,” what does it say?

Are you fucking kidding me????? I think to myself in disbelief.

"Ermm, well it says that as a Paladin of Lawful nature, I may not obtain items not belonging to me and place them in my inventory, if I knowingly know that they are not obtained by me in a legal manner, no matter the circumstances.” He says with a sigh.

“Is commandeering for the greater good of the community in time of emergencies, not a legal right of the police?” I ask not understanding now.

“Well yes and no, you see to legally commandeer stuff we have to get permission, we can not just go out and take what we think is right.” he says again with a resigned sigh.

“So it is a technicality that prevents you from doing it right?” I ask now trying to find a way out.

“Who would you normally get permission from?” Asks Cindy

“Well the mayor and the council.” He says looking at us curiously.

“So all you need is the Mayors approval?” I ask pushing the issue

“Well technically yes.”. He says slowly,” but the mayor is not here, so there is no way to do that right now.” He finishes quickly with a dejected look.

“For all we know the mayor is dead, right?” I say to him leading him with my line of questioning.

“Yeah that would be the most likely scenario if he is not here” The Sheriff answers with a tilt of the head,” what are you getting at Scott?”

“We hold an election right now and get us a new mayor, one who can give you permission, and be recognized as the authority around here,” I finally say.

“That would be unprecedented, we do not even know if any other survivors are out there or if the mayor is really dead or not, it would not be a legal election.” he states as if countering my proposal.

“These are extreme circumstances Sheriff, we have to adapt quickly and move forward, and establishing a working form of leadership is the first step. If the mayor does show up we will revert back to the old system, but if he is dead, we will have established a working system which will be in place now and we can move forward.” I say explaining my thought processes.

"Technically we are establishing a new community,” says Julie in thought,” As such we would have the right to establish our own form of leadership outside of the current system, the question is whether the current system will recognize us or not, which I think is irrelevant. We simply declare our independence.”

"Woah now you are going too far there. Independence? Argh, I do not know, but we do have to do something “ the Sheriff begins to scratch the back of his neck.

“And just who did you have in mind as the mayor?The Sheriff asks looking at me with uncertainty.

“Scott of course” Cindy chimes in,” You said it yourself, if Scott had not shown up, you all would be still without any guidance at all. In just one day look what he has done already.” she smiles at the Sheriff.

“Hold on a minute! Me the mayor? I was thinking of the Sheriff, he can give authority to himself and the inventory issue would be solved,” I interject.

“Actually that would make sense, many of the people, tho scared of you, also have said they feel safer now that you are here, and the Deputies all see you as a figure of authority, even with respect,” Cortez speaks up,” I know I would feel better having Mr Smith in charge.”

We all stop what we are doing and look at Deputy Cortez in surprise. She spoke! And what a voice, she needs to talk more often I think to myself, but once again I feel a pinch to my side and boy it hurt, I jump yelping “Ow!” I hear an angry “Ahem” coming from Cindy. Can she read my mind?

The discussion goes on pros and cons, but in the end the Sheriff gives in finally and agrees with the analysis, and also agrees I should be the mayor, which I am not happy with by the way, but I have been overruled by all present. Their argument is I have already assumed the leadership spot when I arrived like a whirlwind, and it is only natural for me to step up.

Resigned I agree. The Sheriff quickly calls for a general assembly of everyone no exceptions. Everyone gathers in minutes stopping what they are doing.

“Folks sorry to call you all together like this on short notice, but we have a situation that needs to be addressed. As you all know the mayor is not here and most likely did not make it from the looks of it. We have no contact with the rest of the world, No new news or information.” He starts off,” due to some technical and legal issues we have decided to elect a new Mayor for now, a temp if you will till the real mayor shows up or we determine with certainty he is not with us anymore.”

The people begin to talk among themselves in wonder and a confusion.

“Ahh Sheriff, and who will this new mayor be?”, someone calls out from the crowd.

“Well I was thinking of having Scott Smith here take the role” Th Sheriff replies, but quickly adds rasing both hands forward, ” Before you ask, let me explain and be honest here, up until yesterday we were in a bad situation, we had no way of fighting those things, and food was running out. And lets be honest, we were going to starve before setting foot out there again.”

Then with conviction and resolve” When Scott showed up, I did not know what to think, and after his little displays he scared the hell out of me and I am sure many of you too. But he has only helped us since his arrival. This morning I heard laughter and saw people talking and joking. We have not had that in the past 3 days. Everyone one of us was scared out of our minds till Scott showed up including me.”

“I believe with all my heart, to move forward we need to recognize that, and not only work together, but follow Scott's leadership. I really feel this is important to our future survival as a community and for the well being of all. I hope you all can agree with me on this and select him as our new Mayor! Scott care to say a few words?” The Sheriff steps aside and looks at me with an expectant look.

I move to where he stood,” Well this is a sudden turn of events” I joke with a smile,” I am not going to lie to you folks, I do not have all the answers. Only by working together, you bringing me your ideas, helping to improve upon other peoples thoughts can we survive. I will do my utmost to to not only lead by example, but to ensure your safety as well. It is not going to be an easy road, but we have a chance if we all work together as one. It will be up to all of us to make this work.” I say gaining confidence with my speech.

I scan the audience and see many peoples faces begin to light up, the fear that was in their eyes before was gone, confidence replaced it. Is my Leadership ability kicking in? “I hope each of you will give me your trust and allow me to lead you.” I finally say.

There are a few claps, then the room erupts in clapping.

“Hear hear!” I hear. Someone call.

“Yeah!” another one answers.

A few whistles sound off as well. The clapping dies down the Sheriff steps back up.

“So with that, We will hold a simple election, all in Favor raise your hand and say Aye!”, The Sheriff proclaims.

As one the entire room all raise their hands and yell “Aye”, all for one it seems, Mark. I spot Mark and he is looking at me with disdain and annoyance on his face. Sigh oh boy he is the jealous type huh?

“All who oppose please raise your hand and say NAY!”, The Sheriff calls out, looking around the room,. People in the crowd all look around to see if anyone will say nay. No one does.

The Sheriff turns to me offering his hand in a handshake, and smiles, “Congratulations Mayor Smith!”

I take his hand when suddenly:

Lordship Title Awarded: BaronCongratulations! You have been awarded the Title of Baron!

You have been elected by the people to lead them into a new Era!

As a Baron, you have established a Barony, the lands 5KM surrounding you have

fallen under your Jurisdiction:

Benefit: No monsters may spawn within your Jurisdiction, however they can wander

into your territory, so you must be vigilant and dispatch them to protect your citizenry.

Once Creatures have been eliminated from your current lands no more will spawn.

As the established lord you may set the tax rate to provide income to your Barony.

Tax rate now at 0%

As a new Barony, you will now have access to NPC's who will wander in to establish

homes and businesses, who seek employment and safety within your lands.

NPC's may give quests and other information depending on their levels.

Once you have established your Headquarters you will be assigned personal guards

to protect your Headquarters. These Guards and the Headquarters can be upgraded

over time, with money and leveling. No creatures will spawn

within your Headquarters nor shall they attempt to enter as the guards will ward them off.

NPC guard only protect the Headquarters and will not leave the facility. NPC Guards have

a protective auro that wards off creatures, however they can be killed by other people.

This is to provide a safe place for the citizens to gather, as well as establish a recognized

Landmark of leadership of the lands.

Keep in mind when an NPC dies they are gone forever. New NPC's can be hired for a price.

Protect your lands well, for others may eye them with envy and attempt to take it way from you.

Fame +5000, all Stats +25

300000 Experience has been awarded for this title

Leadership +50 Are of Effect Fear Resistance +50% Party group size now increased to 12 slots.

Note this Title can only be awarded to the person elected, party members not effected.

Do you wish to establish your current location as your Headquarters? Yes or No?

NPC's???

NOTICE!Level gained

NOTICE!Level gained

NOTICE!Level gained

NOTICE!Level gained

NOTICE!You are now level 40