A white ring of swirling energy opened outside of Saint June and three men stepped out.

One of the men looked around in disdain with a cloth over his mouth to block out the dust that was kicked up by an errant gust of wind.

“Pu’v, why did we arrive outside of the walls?” Lord Vik’t asked in an accusatory tone.

A shorter man scuttled over and knelt, “I am unsure my Lord, my spell should have brought us well inside the walls and near the government residence going by the information we collected.”

“Ugh, useless,” Lord Vik’t said, shoving the man aside and heading toward the gate in the distance. His guard and Pu’v the teleporter expert followed in his wake.

He would have replaced Pu’v with someone more competent but he was his sister's kid and keeping him around ensured that his sister would owe him a favor.

Their arrival had not gone unnoticed and the large gate slammed shut at their approach with hard-looking men watching them from the top of the wall. Lord Vik’t had confidence that if he wanted to he could destroy the wall and crush everyone within the town using his enchanted items but now was not the time for violence. First, he would try diplomacy. It was always much easier just to buy cooperation than to subjugate cities.

Lord Vik’t stopped well short of spell distance and yelled, “My name is Lord Vik’t, I wish to speak with your leader, please convey that a representative of the Enchanters guild is here.”

None of the guards replied to him but he did see one take out a small device, he recognized as a radio, and speak into it. Seeing as he got his point across he walked back fifty feet and had Pu’v and his guard Ashlam set up a meeting table.

Nothing simple would do for Lord Vik’t so everything from the carpet to the canopy was magical. The carpet reduced ambient noise to make it easier to speak, while the canopy blocked the harsh wind and weather making it seem like you had stepped inside a thick stone-walled building. The table was a favorite of his, made out of a massive piece of ivory and inlaid with gold and silver, it preserved any food and drink left atop it at the correct temperature. The chairs were self-adjusting and allowed him to always sit just slightly higher than anyone else, focusing the attention on him.

When everything was set down and prepared, he waited. And waited. After two hours he grew increasingly angry at being made to wait and was about to demand what was taking so long when the gate opened and two men walked out from the city.

Lord Vik’t had been studying Earth culture and recognized the lawman style hat one of the men wore. He assumed it was the leader of the guards or some such position. The other blonde-haired man was dressed in a flowery shirt and shorts, with sandals. Lord Vik’t bristled at the disrespect of being greeted by someone dressed so casually but he forced those feeling aside and took on the air of a Lord.

***

“You sure you didn’t want to change before meeting this man?” Kurt asked Martin as they reached the gate.

“How long did you say he's been waiting?”

“A few hours, nobody knew where you were so it took some time to find you.”

“Sorry about that,” Martin replied, “I’ll notify my secretary the next time I decide to take a day off.”

“You don’t have a secretary,” Kurt replied flatly, ignoring the sarcasm from Martin’s last reply.

“Hmm, maybe I should get one. But no, we made the man wait long enough. Paul said he might show up eventually. I had hoped those two would have returned by now but they must have found something interesting to pursue. In the meantime, we can see what this man wants. I imagine it isn’t anything we would give him anyway.”

“Then why bother meeting with him in the first place?”

“Appearance, and it never hurts to find out what your enemy wants. Now come on, I can almost feel the man’s anger from here.”

Kurt grunted as the gate opened to let them exit the city.

The two of them approached the three men, the one seated was obviously this Lord and one looked like a guard. It was easy to tell by the way the man's eyes took in everything. The third one he wasn’t sure about. He seemed, disinterested in the affairs as he scribbled in a notebook.

Martin used Identify on the three of them, he knew it was rude but he wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with.

Lord Vik’t | High Mage/Enchanter | 25/15

Ashlam | Relegant Champion/ Titan of Amorlan | 21/15

Pu’v | Enchanter | 15

Martin sighed internally, he had expected the man sitting down to be dual classed and above twenty but not for the guard to be as well, but it made sense. Martin kicked himself mentally for ignoring his own leveling for so long, he had only just recently broken through to level nineteen and Kurt had just hit level seventeen. A respectable level by any measure, but woefully short of facing off against either one of these two. He would have brought Ska along but the Grimalkin was more likely to start a fight than sit by quietly and observe. No, he would have to rely on his charm to get through this encounter.

Martin walked up to the table and bowed. “Greetings, my name is Martin and I am the Mayor of Saint June. To what do I owe the pleasure of a Guild visit and from someone who must have more important things to do such as yourself?” he asked.

When Martin straightened he saw the wisp of a frown disappearing on the sitting man’s face. Martin wanted to smile, knowing that Paul had called it correctly. It seemed he had been right in deducing the man didn’t possess powers to read minds but some item that granted him a similar ability. With the ring, Martin was wearing, it made any attempt to do so a fruitless effort.

The ring strengthened your mental resistance but also put out a disruptive field. It was similar to the items Paul had made to fight the Jackals but was much stronger. Kurt also wore one but only for this meeting.

Lord Vik’t didn’t seem too flustered about the issue as he gestured to the seat across from him. “Please have a seat, I believe we have a few things to discuss and an offer I would like to make.”

Martin nodded and took the offered seat, not that he expected to accept the offer but he would listen anyway.

“I see you are familiar with the Guild,” Lord Vik’t replied, “I must admit I am surprised at such a remote town hearing about us.”

Martin smiled. “I wasn’t always Mayor. I traveled quite a bit before settling down here, hard not to hear about the Enchanters Guild from one place or another. But now I must admit my surprise as to what you could want in our small city. As far as I know, your organization is more concerned with cities that contain Bazaars.”

“That is true in most cases, but sometimes we find our interest drawn farther afield. One of my main reasons for coming here was to meet with a man named Paul Fuller. Do you know him by any chance?”

“I am aware of the man, but I am surprised, Lord Vik’t, that you do not remember meeting him yourself?”

The man tilted his head, “what do you mean?”

“You met with him earlier this year,” Martin stated, “he came to Biloxi looking for a fugitive.”

“Hmm, Biloxi, fugitive… Oh, that Michael fellow that we captured. I recall now. So you’re saying that man with the feline kin was this Paul. And how did you know about this exchange?” Lord Vik’t asked in curiosity.

“My home town was Arman, it was the town wiped out by Michael and his group prior to them attacking Biloxi.”

“I thought your accent was familiar. A terrible shame that whole mess, was that situation finally resolved?”

Martin just nodded.

“Good, good. It's never a good idea to let problems fester.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Martin replied, “so… why are you here to meet Paul?”

“Straight to business then,” Lord Vik’t smiled, “I can respect that. I would like to meet this Paul, and perhaps offer to purchase your city?”

Martin leaned back in his chair like he was thinking about the offer. Paul and Fiona had been gone for over a month and he didn’t know when to expect them back. So he wouldn’t have to lie about that at least. As for the city, the only reason he could think of for the man’s interest in the city was Paul’s runic enchantments. And he wasn’t about to let the man get his hands on those.

“Mr. Fuller hasn’t been around for some time. I don’t know when or if he will return. As for the city, I am not interested in your offer, I’m sorry.”

Martin made to get up but Lord Vik’t held up his hand. “I can guarantee that my offer would make everyone within the city beyond rich and they could spend the rest of their lives living in luxury.”

“I’m sure your offer is more than generous, but as I said, I am not interested,” Martin added as he finished standing. “I’m sorry you have come all this way for nothing.”

Martin turned and heard steel being drawn.

“My Lord did not excuse you,” the guard said.

Martin turned to face the guard, “is there a problem here?”

The man made to take a step forward but Lord Vik’t held up a finger and the man stopped. “No, my guard is overzealous at times. Perhaps he was just taken aback at having my generous offer refused?”

Over a dozen targeting lasers passed over the table, aimed at the three individuals. Martin held his hand up to stop the guards at the wall from firing.

Martin stepped back toward the table. “Do not mistake our hospitality for weakness. We have heard your offer and refused it. Perhaps you should learn to take no for an answer. Now control your man before I have my guards put him down.”

Lord Vik’t smiled and gave a wave and his guard stepped back and sheathed his sword. “Apologies for the misunderstanding, I will make sure to reprimand him when we return home.”

Martin gave the man a cold glare.

***

Lord Vik’t’s eyes flashed toward the top of the wall and spotted at least a dozen weapons that resembled mana cannons, all aimed his way. He didn’t know how these peasants had gotten ahold of the weapons but he knew when to step back and reassess the situation.

“Very well, Mayor Martin. I see we aren’t going to reach an agreement here. My men and I will be on our way, sorry for disturbing you and your city,” he replied, controlling his raging emotions as he bowed slightly.

“As long as we have an understanding,” the Mayor replied, before turning and heading back toward their city.

When they were out of sight, Lord Vik’t spoke in a low growl, “assemble our forces. Take the city at all costs. I want that man captured and find out where Paul Fuller ran off to.”

“At once my Lord,” Ashlam said with a bow.

“Pu’v get a gate open and get us out of here.”

The younger man nodded frantically as he prepared a gate enchantment while Ashlam quickly stored the items away. Lord Vik’t ground his teeth, these damn humans were stubborn but they would learn their place eventually, just like the ones in Biloxi when he took over. A few examples would have to be made but people would step into line quickly.

**

“That went well,” Kurt said with sarcasm.

“It went as well as could be expected. That man sees us as nothing but a resource to be bought and sold at his whim. We would never be equals to a man like that and playing to his ego any longer would be a fruitless endeavor. I learned what I needed to and that is all that matters.”

“Oh, and what is that if you don’t mind my asking?”

“They know Paul is headquartered here, which means someone leaked that information. And we know what he is after and that’s the enchantments that Paul has created. So while he may attack us, they probably won’t want to damage the town too much in order to acquire anything he’s made,” Martin replied.

“We don’t have an army, how are we supposed to fight off one of the strongest organizations in the Multiverse?” Kurt demanded.

“We won’t have to. We only have to keep them out of the city until Paul returns. I’m sure by then he will have come up with or will come up with a way to fight them off.”

“I don’t like this,” Kurt replied.

“You don’t have to. I trust the defenses we have in place and so should you.”

The man grumbled but seemed to accept the truth of the matter. Martin wasn’t so sure he did and would keep an eye on the man.