Everyone had finished their desserts, Hefarian called over the waitress for the bill in which she left and came back with it. Hefarian then pulled out a pouch from his pants which contained the currency used in the city.

I felt bad for having Hefarian treat us to a...very sweet time so I offered to pay.

“No no don’t worry about it! You are our guests in the city, there’s no way I would make it let you pay out of your own pocket, also I have plenty to spare so don’t worry about it.”

I pulled out multiple bags of golden coins, this shocked Hefarian and his family, even in this city full of luxury not everyone had such wealth.

“You have quite the wealth, Antonio.”

“I sure do, so much that paying for desserts wouldn’t mean much.”

“How did you even come to achieve such wealth? What do you do for a living?”

Ooo...now that’s something I can’t say I'm sure mob bosses in this world is as illegal as in the other. And there are existing members of my gang within this city as well, so if I rat myself out it’s not gonna be pretty for me and whoever is in it.

“Uh...in-investments!”

“Investments? You sure do earn quite a bit in investing, especially if the thing you invested your money to is successful.”

“So we all agree that I’ll pay right?”

“Not so fast, as mayor, I use my authority over you to allow me to pay for my guests!”

“What!?!? That’s isn’t fair at all!!!”

Hefarian smiled and took out a couple of gold coins, if he makes an order using his authority to back it up there’s no way I could defy it, especially when I’m probably illegally here, a mob boss, and to the residents of the city, a random person that no one knows exists. And so there was nothing I could have done to prevent Hefarian from paying for everyone's desserts.

“Now then, show we get going?” Said Hefarian slowly rising from his seat.

“Well, I think this is where we will part ways, nice meeting you Hefarian, and your family.”

“End? I don't think so, we’re just getting started!”

“Wait...what do you mean getting started?”

“Oh, I plan on inviting you to my office!”

“Eh?”

Me, Robbert, Alexandria, Elizabeth, and Maizasha stared at him in a daze, our minds were denying the words that had come out of Hefarians mouth and what they heard coming out of his mouth. The mayor, a well-respected man of authority inviting some random schmucks into his office, a place in which people wait days before making an appointment with him. I responded with a normal answer that almost everyone would say when faced with such a situation.

“No no no no no, there's no need to honestly! We’re just random people who just got to this city we really have no right to just barge into your office! And to top it all off we’re not even citizens!”

“Random people! Don't be absurd! I see you as my friends!”

“What??? From just one outing at a dessert shop and that’s enough time spent together for you to call us friends?”

“Yeah! I’m known for having a great ability to judge someone’s personality, and with the time spent with you you’ve got a great personality!”

That’s...a dangerous way of going about things.

“Well, nonetheless it would feel wrong for us to intrude into your office.”

“Don’t make me use my authority again.” Said Hefarian with a stern tone.

Here we go again.

And so we left the dessert cafe after Hefarian paid for everything. We went into the sidewalk and even more people gathered, they had notepads and pens in their hands and they were shouting out Hefarians name.

“Maybe we could give the press a little of what they want.”

“Wait what?”

Hefarian spoke loudly towards the press, he spoke with his chest up resembling that of a dignified leader. He was speaking his native language so none of us could understand him.

Hefarian was in a dangerous situation, one little slip of the tongue and the press could use it against him, either by the press themselves or by political opponents.

Every word Hefarian spoke it was written down on a little notepad with their quiver pens, they had a tube with black ink in which they would dip their quiver pens into it. Each person wore it on their belt at their waists.

Then one of them walked up to me, this spelled disaster since there was gonna be an obvious language barrier. The man then asked a question that was only recognizable by the tone of his voice. I didn’t understand what he had said so I looked to Hefarian for an answer.

Hefarian places his arm around me and said something in his native language, he didn’t say anything hostile or negative, going off of by the tone of his voice.

The interviewer nodded his head and wrote it on his notepad. He had the “I see” expression and he slowly backed away staring me down, which made me uncomfortable, it was like he had caught onto something that I hadn’t realized yet.

Maybe he quickly found out that I was a foreigner from another country, or that I’m a mob boss that runes a prominent gang across the country...or even that I come from another world! The last outcome was highly unlikely but the others were definitely plausible especially when I can’t speak the language.

The mayor after answering a couple of questions once again shooed the press away.

“So what’d he say to me?”

“Oh! He was lashing who you were and I answered that you were my friend!”

“You really shouldn’t be saying that to the public.”

“Don’t worry about it!”

“If you say so…”

Suddenly the clicking of armor could be heard, it got louder indicating it was getting close. I turned my head towards the sound and I see a man in a full suit of armor running as fast as he could towards our direction, Hefarian picked up on the sound as well and too turned to it.

“Hefarian sir! Urgent news!” Yelled the knight who was out of breath from running his lungs out.

Once he got close he bent forward supporting himself by holding onto his knees and breathed heavily.

“What’s the matter?” Asked Hefarian.

“You must go to the front entrance of the city! There’s a man calling himself Ezekiel, apparently he is a man of high authority in the monster empire that’s under Human empire occupation!”

Hefarian glances at me, I gave him an uncomfortable look, the same look could be seen on everyone else. Hefarian understanding the discomfort we’d experience if we were to follow him to the front entrance told us to, once they had gotten close to the entrance they could hide nearby.

We generally agreed on the idea and so we rushed towards the city entrance, Hefarian had told the out of breath knight to just stay there until he had caught his breath and so we lightly jogged on the sidewalks.

After a minute or two of jogging, we were nearing the city entrance, it had many guards on top of the wall and on the ground all wearing a full suit of armor with various weapons that included, swords, spears, and war hammers.

We hid behind a nearby building, we were far enough that Ezekiel wouldn’t be able to see us but close enough so that we could hear what was going on.

There were slight clinking signs of armor that could be heard from outside the city, this probably meant that Ezekiel had brought some soldiers with him, which could seem like a hostile move towards this city.

“Hello! You must be the mayor of this city! My name is Ezekiel!”

“Welcome to Xrggsht I am indeed the mayor of this city, Hefarian, and you are Ezekiel, I’ve heard a bit about you.”

“A bit? I hope it’s positive things about me.”

“So what brings you here? And with such a large army?”

“Ah yes, it seems that some criminals from the monster Empire have escaped and are now currently missing...you wouldn’t know of any...such people.”

“No, I don’t recall seeing anyone of the criminal demeanor.”

“It isn’t just one person, it’s multiple.” Replied Ezekiel.

Uh oh, any more descriptions about us and we’re for sure screwed!

“Hmm...maybe I’ve come to the wrong place then?”

“You sure have.”

“Well then I’ll be leaving, do notify me whenever you see a couple of distinctive people who may be criminals.”

“I will, safe trip back.”

Phewww….it almost went bad for us just there, I really don’t want to think about what would have happened if Ezekiel started describing us one by one...and what Hefarian, who had called us his friends, would do if he found out.

The marching of soldiers away from the city could be heard, Hefarian then walked towards us and we then walked towards him shortening the distance between us.

“You are right Antonio, Ezekiel does seem like trouble.”

“I know right?”

I was glad that as we conversed nothing had changed between the two of us which meant that Hefarian still felt that we were still his friends. At this point, I’d rather Hefarian be a friend than a foe.

“So Antonio, let's head to my office it shouldn’t be that far from here.”

I agreed and Hefarian lead the way to his office, it took another minute or two of walking until we reached the center building that stood taller than the rest. The guards standing in front of the two large wooden doors opened them so that we could go in.

Once inside the building was a spiral staircase which led to the second floor, we climbed the stairs up which lead to another door which too was also guarded. The guard opened the door to reveal a large room decorated with paintings and artifacts.

The paintings were of people wearing the same type of outfit as Hefarian, so that meant that they were probably previous mayors who were in office at one point.

“Darling, would you give us some privacy?” Said Hefarian.

Hefarians wife left the room with a guard, Hefarian, Maisazha, Robbert, Elizabeth, and I were the only ones in the room, there was an awkward silence.

I started to sweat, the atmosphere became really serious and that was something they haven't experienced with Hefarian yet.

“Antonio, I am still your friend.”

“Y-Yeah…”

“So don’t take this personal, I do like you.”

“O-Ok…”

“So he honest with me.”

“S-Sure.”

I became tense, cold sweat slid down the sides of my face and I pinched the sides of my pants. My gaze started to wander, I just now found out why we were in this room alone, why he wanted to talk in private, and why the atmosphere was so tense. At first, I didn’t want to believe it, but the more I thought about it the more I understand that this mayor isn’t a dumb man, in fact, he is very intelligent, to the point where he could easily fit small pieces of a large puzzle together and even though it wasn’t finished he already knew what the picture was.

“Are you people the people Ezekiel was asking for? Tell me about this, and tell me who you are exactly, Antonio.”

And so the jig was up.