Ben stands up with a red face, but in the end can’t really get anything out and so collapses back into his seat. “They beat me, what do you want me to do?”

Jim rolls his eyes, “You let them beat you. Democracy is all fine and good, but your settlement doesn’t run on it. All those grayed out options? You can just take back the rights you gave out. What happened wasn’t you giving away the rights, it was you delegating the ability to make those decisions. The options being grayed out is just to show you’ve done that.”

Jeremy nods, “Besides, even if you did give them the rights, all it would take to get them back is to strong arm them. I respect that you dream of the ideal of pre-system government. However, you’re being blinded by that ideal to what the current situation actually is. That council is more like a feudalistic council than a modern one. None of them got voted in and they don’t care about what the people actually want.”

Ben snorts, “Maybe they didn’t vote them in, but the council has popular support. Besides, I really have to question your thoughts on the whole army thing. Those guys had physical training before the nonsense and it isn’t like the army was small. There should be a bunch of them around.”

Jim and Jeremy share a look before Jim sighs, “You do realize that any extra strength or skill they might have gotten before the system came will have quickly been overshadowed? Have you actually tried to lift something heavy recently? Because any pre-system weights are now basically useless to anyone at all focused on Strength.”

Jeremy follows up, “And even if the army did roll up with all of their pre-system might, one magic user would likely be enough to block them. Like we said, you’ve only been facing the weak monsters. It might take a little more work than not to make your body immune to bullets, but most defensive skills will stop pre-system weapons dead in their tracks.

“With that in mind, let me tell you a little test Jim and Ace had me do. Me and my wife picked up a few pre-system gardening tools from the cities and took them out into the forest. There was quite a variety from old-fashioned push mowers to the fanciest of hedge clippers. All stuff that I’ve seen used a hundred times and some that I’ve even used myself.

“None of them worked like they should have. The push mower couldn’t cut grass and the nippers struggled with it! Then I used some tools one of our wood carvers made. It wasn’t fancy, just a basic scythe with a wood blade. That scythe cut the grass exactly how you would expect it to. In fact, if I’m being honest it probably worked better than it should.”

Jim nods, “I double checked their results on my own time and I’m sure Ace had others try it as well. We already knew this would be the case, but the sheer difference between pre-system items and grass with only a wisp of magic in it, is shocking! Your guns are working right now likely through a mix of physics still being a thing and skills. If the wolves that had attacked our town instead targeted your town? None of you would have survived with how you’re acting.”

Ben hangs his head, “And what am I supposed to do about it? We send people to the dungeon.The night watch uses most of our power generation to keep the few flood lights we have going. Maybe at the start I could have rallied the people, but everyone is just fine with how things are!

“Look at me! I’m cowering in a broken down building. The people who still follow me are forced to either lie about it or are marginalized. Even the regular people who barely have a handful of levels to their name laugh at me!”

Jim sighs, “I hate to say it, but the rot has set in deep. You could try and pull a reverse of what we did over at Wolf’s Rest, though that will involve a lot more deaths.”

Ben looks up, “A reverse of? What are you even talking about? I don’t have any monster horde in my back pocket and I’m not going to cause the death of people on purpose.”

Tess rolls her eyes and steps forward, “They’re talking about how most of the people left when the wolves were on their way. There isn’t any obvious threat to your settlement right now so of course the council won’t pick up and move. You, on the other hand should at least see what is coming! We did just lay out how we believe things will play out and it isn’t like you have anything holding you here.

“If anything, sticking around is just asking to die. Eventually, one of those old guys in the council will figure out a way to claim ownership of the settlement and kill you for it. So gather your trusted people and come back with us to Wolf’s Rest. It might take a while, but eventually this place’s hubris will come down on them and Ace doesn’t want you to end up being a metaphorical pillar of salt.”

Bill nods, “Like my Girlfriend said, come with us back to Wolf’s Rest. Even if they don’t end up being wiped off the map, the only people this settlement is sending to the dungeon are farmers harvesting the first floor for goat meat. If you put some effort in, all of your people could end up strong enough to just come back and take over no matter how things pan out.”

Ben closes his eyes and makes a pained face, “I need to warn them about the danger! I protected these people and even if they’ve turned their back on me right now, they’re still mine.”

Jim snorts, “Still yours? What happened to the benevolent leader? All I can see is someone who felt how the wind was blowing but couldn’t let himself adjust. You took control once, you can do it again. However, all those people out there under the council’s rule? They aren’t your people anymore.

“Since they weren’t slaves, they can choose to follow a new master of their own free will. So, don’t try to pull that nonsense. As for warning them? You think we haven’t? Their damn council is still delaying over whether to see us or not. I’ve even written out similar predictions of doom and gloom.

“Do you know their response? It was to delay even more because they wanted to discuss it more. Sounds reasonable enough until you hear what the secretary added on. She laughed at our original message and told us none of the council believed our nonsense. They fully believe in the power of their hot weapons.

“Mind you, I’m not saying guns can’t work. It is just that the guns and ammo we currently have available to use won’t work. If you want a proper gun now, you’re going to need an actual gunsmith to craft you one piece by piece. Maybe more advanced civilizations will have figured out ways to mass produce stuff of decent quality, but for now the best weapons you can get are ones worked by highly skilled people with the correct paths.

“But! And it is a big one, I don’t trust your reasons. What is actually holding you back? I’ve seen all your close subordinates. What do they have on you?”

Ben freezes and one of the supporters steps forward, “We aren’t hiding anything! We could leave anytime we wanted to.”

Ben lets out a breath and gestures to the supporter to step back. “The council doesn’t have anything on me.”

The supporter that just stepped back looks smug, “See!”

Ben shakes his head, “Let me talk. Anyway, they don’t have anything on me, but something is holding me back. At the moment, I’m pretty strong. Maybe not as strong as you guys, but compared to anyone else? Heads and shoulders above them. While I’m here.

“My path is to grow this town. My power, in turn is supported by the town. The reason I’ve barely left this place is because once I leave the settlement, I lose that support. Train in the dungeon? Even the goats on the first floor can probably take me one on one. If I lose this place, I don’t know what will become of me!”

Kelly nods, “I thought something was odd. Let me guess, you also get stronger the more people are in the settlement as well, right?”

Ben nods and then sinks further into his chair.

Jim rolls his eyes at this, “So? Even without the buff, you are still stronger than an average person pre-system. Yes, you will lose a lot of strength if the town loses most of the people and to be honest? I don’t really want to see all these people die for no reason either. However, you should have realized how important this settlement is going to be.

“This place is going to be a major crossroads as something like five other settlements all have relatively easy paths to here. Nevermind the fact that you’re between the other places and our dungeon. While a little cold, the people in the town right now are too weak to live in the current time.

“Maybe if they had been born in a hundred or so years, we would have stabilized enough that people could choose to be weak. That, however, isn’t a luxury anyone can afford right now. Over in Wolf’s Rest, even our crafters can make it to the boss floor and Ace has plans to get everyone that survived the wolves to beat the floor. Did you know that the sixth floor is packed with cattle? Everyone is playing around with the goats and those of us who stuck to it are eating power rich beef.

“We don’t even bother picking up things dropped before the fifth floor anymore because it isn’t worth it. About the only thing of worth to use from those floors are the rare equipment drops, but even then, most of us could be fully decked out in bronze and leather gear. We’ve just been throwing all that loot to our enchanter to practice on instead. Each piece can get him five to ten attempts before the equipment falls apart.”

Ben squints at Jim, “When have you been getting loot? I’ve kept my ear to the ground and none of the people from here ever see any. Plus, some of you are wearing what is obviously loot, so what is up with that?”

Jeremy shrugs, “We have our ways of bringing the stuff out without notice. It just takes the right kind of bag. As for what we are wearing? Those pieces all came from actual stressful situations and we felt like we earned them. The rest of the stuff comes from when we are running through the early floors. Getting a new helmet for killing a goat in passing doesn’t really have much meaning.”

Ben breathes heavily out through his nose, “No, if you’re trying to claim that magically infused gear is so important, why aren’t you wearing it? I would presume that gear from the fifth floor will protect you better than gear from the first floor?”

Jeremy gestures to Kelly who nods. “Technically, that is true. It is hard to get any sort of worthwhile loot from the first floor, mostly because of your settlement’s people over-delving it. However, we did manage to test a helmet from the first and fourth floor. While we don’t have any of the fancy pre-system tools to test the resistance, it was possible to get a feel for it.

“So yes, they are stronger, but no it doesn’t matter as much. I’m sure there is a point at which the difference really shows up again, but for now the big breaking point is pre and post-system stuff. That of going from basically none to even just a little. There is a qualitative change between the two states in a similar way to how water turns into ice when you chill it enough. The water will be able to eventually wear away at the ice, but it is going to take a whole lot more of it.”

Akhier

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