“It’s not a purse, it’s … a bag of holding.” Ben waved his fist at his friend in mock outrage.

  “You truly have a bag of holding? That was always a dream of mine… I have read a lot of fantasy stories…” the young woman laughed.

  Ben proudly showed her how his whole backpack fit into the messenger-sized bag. “This is the first of its kind that one of our crafters created. For preserving books from a monastery in the Himalayas we got a Tome of Spatial Enchanting from the systems and she managed to teach herself just with that book.”

  She scrunched up her face. “You know I really want to believe you… but anyway. Let’s assume what you are saying is right, you might also want to go to Keiling. That’s where our engineering and natural sciences departments are.”

  “Thank you, that’s where we were yesterday, we scanned the full library and the archive. This morning we already were at the city library as well.”

  “Really. Are my colleagues still working over there as well?”

  Ben bit his lips, “I am afraid not. The whole neighborhood seemed deserted and we had to take out a couple of nasty Energy-born creatures as well. I am sorry to say, but it is unlikely that there are many people left there.”

  She covered her mouth with a hand, shoulders sinking. After a few moments she shook herself, “let’s just hope that they all relocated to safer places.

  “Anyway, I don’t think there is much downside for me to show you the archive we have here as well. It is much smaller than the one in Keiling, but if you can truly preserve these works, it would be criminal not to do so.”

  With that she got up and led Ben and Jamal to a staircase on the side of the lobby and took them to two floors of shelves. A lot of the books looked much older than the ones that were in the public space.

  The woman, who had introduced herself as Shelly by now, looked with interest as Ben walked along the corridors with the scanner, which pulsed regularly, held chest-high.

  The others had been waiting for a while when they returned to the lobby.

  Ben turned to Shelly and thanked her for her support. “If you ever want to leave the city, we are open to anyone who wants to contribute. We are trying to come to Simonston every other week, if we are not there, we will try to make it two weeks later. You can meet us at Brickham’s, the private school, parking lot. That’s where we are heading now.”

  With a wave they parted company, heading towards their last stop in the city.

  ***

  Ben had promised himself not to have any expectations on the number of people waiting for them at Brickham’s, so when they turned the last corner and he saw more than sixty people waiting for them, he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it.

  On the one hand, he felt like they were already growing quite quickly, on the other, they needed to reach a population of 10,000 within the next 10 and a half months. A number that seemed outlandishly large to him, and that he had no idea how to achieve. At the current rate of adding 200 people in 1.5 months, they would end up barely over 1,500 at the end of the year.

  He shrugged, so far the systems hadn’t indicated that he was failing, and he had to assume that they would help somehow along the way.

  As they closed in, a couple of people stood out from the group, he thought he recognized some of Deepika’s students, noticed the school’s principal, and lastly saw some of Julia’s friends and colleagues milling around.

  Before they could enter the parking lot proper, three people, wearing the blue and gold outfits of the so-called Church of Energy approached him.

  The apparent leader, a man in his early thirties, small and slight in build, addressed Ben, “Friend, according to my sister-in-faith,” he waved to the woman besides him. Ben couldn’t be quite sure but she might have been the one that had sounded quite deranged during their last visit. “you are Ben, the self-proclaimed evangelist of the systems. I would ask that you listen to our message.”

  Ben was taken aback and struggled to find the right response for a moment. Long enough for the man to continue, “we have come here today, to save you. Save you from the clutches of the systems. You might not know this, but the systems are spirits of incarceration, spirits of deception, spirits of seduction.

  “They incarcerate the only true power in the universe: Energy, trying to channel it for their nefarious purposes. They deceive us, by talking about the need to control Energy, when all it does is bless us with its strength. You can see, they even claim the Energy’s colors, the heavenly blue and gold, for themselves. They seduce us with their pitiful perks, when the Energy’s power is ours to grab freely.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Ben felt how much passion the man had for his message. How compelling it really seemed, had he not been seduced by the [Knight Protector] perk. There was no telling how much…

  He felt something steering in him, his mind churning, a battle of wills happening… as if blindfolds were torn away from him, he felt himself again. Adrenaline flowing through his veins, “What is that perk called you just used on me? [Compulsion]? [Indoctrination]?” he growled.

  Jamal drew his weapon, stepping between Ben and the trio.

  “I do not have need of a filthy perk! You are a stain on humanity, an insult to Energy. Not just a collaborator, but an evangelist. Repent! Repent or…”

  He was interrupted by a dagger held to his neck by Michael, “piss off.”

  “We came to save you, and this is how you thank us! The Church stands ready to defend Energy against those who undermine it, those that attack it and its faithful. Whatever happens is on you!”

  With that the man and his two followers turned and left.

  “That was next level insanity,” Anne chuckled.

  “Dangerous,” was Michael’s comment as his eyes followed the colorfully clad people down the street.

  “Maybe,” Ben mused, “just another reason to limit our time down here. His perk was quite vicious; I was close to believing him. If my Mind attribute was a bit lower, I don’t know what would have happened.”

  The others frowned deeply; few had an attribute at 15—quite the opposite.

  Another group moved to intercept them. This time there two women and a man and it was not quite clear who the leader was, until the youngest of them, all of them well into middle age, if not beyond, addressed them. “Good afternoon, I am Councilwoman Amherst, and these are my colleagues, Councilwoman Metcalf, and Councilman Stemberger. As the mayor is… indisposed, we are part of the group that leads Simonston. We have heard rumors about you, and we thought it would be good to get to know our neighbors.”

  She had a slight smile on her lips; Ben did not get a good sense from her one way or another. The other two were similar, though the vibes he picked up from Stemberger felt slightly slimy beneath his benevolent smile.

  “Thank you for welcoming us. Good relationships with our neighbors is definitely valuable. May I ask what kind of rumor you have heard about us?”

  The other woman, who had gray hair in a tight bun, and whose dress hang loosely on her, as if she had lost a lot of weight recently, answered, “well, we heard about your inspiring speech here last month, for once. Of course, we heard the tale about magical buildings rising from the ground in the middle of the forest. There was also something about an incident at the hospital with the Warriors.”

  Ben’s heightened perception caught Stemberger’s smile momentarily freezing at the mentioning of the hospital incident.

  Amherst picked back up, “It is certainly a fascinating mix, and now, seeing you in person, with all these impressive fellows, armor, weapons, and this logo on your chest, makes a lot of this more believable.

  “Let me be blunt, we are struggling. Whether it is with the Warriors, the Church, which you just had the ‘pleasure’ of interacting with, or simply feeding our people, we are in a difficult position. If there is something you can do to help us, with your apparent direct line to the systems, we are not above begging.”

  Nothing seemed less likely than this calm, intelligent woman begging him or anybody for anything, but Ben still believed in her sincerity regarding the problems they faced.

  “I am afraid I must disappoint you. We don’t have a direct line to the systems. It is true that we have a settlement, but we are few, and while we might be producing a small food surplus right now, it would really just be a drop in the bucket for you, and it’s also incredibly time-consuming and dangerous to bring it here.” He pointed at his team and their weapons.

  “There is certainly no love lost with the Warriors, or any group that seeks to extort the weak, especially in times like these, but we are not a police force, so I am not quite sure how we could help.”

  Councilwoman Metcalf apparently was truly not above begging, “any bit of food that you can spare would help us. We have so many mouths to feed. We have set up patrols that help keep the paths to the surrounding farms secure, but there is only so much to go around…”

  Ben grimaced, “I can promise you that we will bring what we can the next time we come to town, but it will be kilos, not tons. You have to remember, we need to carry these things for two days through the forest, while remaining mobile enough to defend ourselves.”

  Anne leaned to him, “maybe Deepika can work some magic?” she whispered.

  Ben nodded, it was worth asking.

  The Councilwomen nodded gratefully, understanding the issue. It was Stemberger, who stepped forward with a broad smile. “Thank you so much. You are a real-world hero! I was wondering, would it be possible to visit your settlement? It sounds so exciting and maybe there is something we can learn from it. I have visited many cities in the pursuit of knowledge and have always taking something valuable away from it.”

  Amherst raised her eyebrow slightly but remained silent.

  “I am not sure that these are the right times for visits. Also, the trip is quite dangerous and we don’t have the capacity to guard you in both directions. Unless you were planning to join us permanently?”

  “No, no,” Stemberger laughed, “I am fully committed to Simonston,” he said with a glance to his fellow councilors. “And you don’t need to worry about my protection. I am sure I can convince some of my friends to accompany me on this hike. It will do us good to get out of the city for a few days, maybe we can even forage a bit and bring food back to the city.”

  Ben shrugged, “in that case, sure, you are welcome to visit, if you climb the mountain to the east, the system will guide you once you are close.”

  After a few more pleasantries, including information on where to find them, the councilors left them, which allowed Ben and team to finally talk with the people on the parking lot.

  Patricia Whiterose, the principal of Brickham’s, whom Ben did not remember fondly, was present and pointed towards a few families, 19 people in total, that had decided to leave town and would like to join them. After having made the introduction, she left as well.

  That left them with a small group of nine, who comprised the three graduate students that they had delivered letters from Deepika to with some of their friends and partners, as well as a big group of 25 people, including quite a few kids, that originated from the hospital, including Doctor Tauber and his brother’s family. Finally, they had a small group of five, who were Liz’s and Zack’s friends.

  In total 58 new potential citizens. Ben had to give another speech, but much shorter and more focused on getting people to leave large luggage behind. Only 20 minutes after the councilors’ departure, they began the trek back home.