Cain is woken up by a notification.
[Remote use of Summon Epic Demon is requested] Y/N
Half awake he simply agrees and wraps Misha in his arms to get a few more minutes sleep. That's all he manages because his brain starts waking up and realizes what the interface just asked him.
Who wanted the Oath Breakers, and where did they Summon them to?
Reluctantly, he gets up and gets dressed, a heavier than usual outfit, even putting on his coat to go outside because Montauk seems to be significantly cooler than the warm forge air he's become used to in Graska, or the almost tropical forest environment of Sunnybrook. Looking out the front window as he heads for the stairs and finds a large number of people are in the street out front, in the street between the Guild House and Martha's.
The group finder is doing a brisk trade, and Cain realizes he never did put out a raid sheet, or check on the group from last night who he promised to send summons to assist. Some responsible City Councilor he is.
Breakfast is the most important thing, so Cain heads down to the kitchen, finding it empty. There definitely were people here though, because there is still warm breakfast food on the stove. Cain grabs a stack of pancakes and bacon to fuel himself up while making plans and mentally preparing himself to face the day and not simply go back to bed, as good as that doubts right now.
Stepping out onto the front porch, he finds Kone in the street out front with Martha, helping wrangle transfers into organized parties. They're doing a pretty efficient job, calling names five at a time to gather an assigned group and the crowd is slowly clearing.
"Hey Martha, sorry for forgetting about the groups last night, nobody was out front when I got home and it slipped my mind." Cain apologized when he reached the old woman.
"No troubles dear, they found a pair of healers just after you left and went as a raid group." Well that's a relief, he didn't just leave them hanging.
"How is the group finder going? Looks like you'll need a full time assistant."
"I've got one coming for tomorrow, my granddaughter is available, but she was out of town this morning, looking for herbs. The shop sold out of something she wanted to use for our dinner tonight, but if I knew it would be this busy I'd have kept her here and sent someone else."
The transfers gathered around all laugh at her explanation as they mill about waiting for their group to be called. Martha and Kone sent out the partially arranged parties first, as they were easiest to fill. So what remains are the less frequent dungeon explorers or the lower geared ones that always get picked last.
"Have you seen Vala? Or even Nemu or Laura?" Cain asks Kone.
"They went to the dungeon. Something about finding more books for the library." Kone shrugs, sorting party applications.
Cain reluctantly opens his summons list again, information filling his line of sight. They are indeed in the Demon Raid, in two separate parties, and they've got the Oath Breakers with them. Cain isn't sure when they gained the ability to request a Summon be cast at their location, but they seem to be enjoying themselves. Plus, he's getting a huge amount of experience.
He must have leveled up while he was sleeping, because he's now level 102 and it's steadily climbing.
The crowd is almost cleared now and Martha sends Kone home, saying she's got the rest. Kone smiles back at the kind old pawnshop owner as they head back inside, finding everyone returned and the whole Guild discussing what they'll do today. Most want to return to their crafting, while others want to explore the city before heading home. The hangovers have determined that nobody wants to actually do any work today.
First on Cain's to do list is heading back to Graska, to see if the portal can be used without completing the quest first. The transfer is smooth, but Cain gets a handful of notifications when he steps out.
[Entering Restricted Area]
[Strength limited to level 99]
[Some items may become unusable in this zone]
So he can easily access the Beginner's Valley, but he still doesn't get around the essential restrictions that make it the Beginner's Zone.
Cain briefly wonders if that was something determined by the system, or if it was cast by a high level mage type some time in the past.
Good news now secured, Cain returns with a smile, letting everyone know that even if they level out of the valley, their homes are secure and they can just go back through the Guild House Portal. That's a massive relief to them all, especially those getting close to the cap who have loyal customers for their products back in the valley.
The City Council arrives while they're all discussing their plans for the day, intending to spend much of the day meeting, as they want to build a new tax structure, reform infrastructure and set up new city services. As usual they have decided to meet at the Darklight Host Guild House, largely out of habit ingrained in them during the previous Guild's reign.
To start, they need to decide what the revenue source should be. The actual amount needed is surprisingly low in Cain's mind, the city doesn't really maintain or provide much. They don't even have a city guard to do law enforcement. That's going to have to change eventually, unless they're going to continue to let a Guild rule them.
The decision is that they should have 30 guards total, which seems low, but the city doesn't really have a crime problem. They look over what everyone has been paying already and realize that it's way more than what they're spending, because AllNatty was skimming off the top. They cut the tax for shops in half, cut the tax per house in half and leave the trade tariff alone. That brings them to about twice what they're currently spending.
The maintenence group is doing a fine job, so that remains unchanged. A small fee is agreed to pay Martha and her assistants to run the Party Finder. Then they're basically out of ideas. The place is getting cleaned and fixed, what more could people want, right?
After looking through the suggestions citizens have left, the answer is apparently "A Lot".
Everything from a weekly grocery allowance, city funds for residents to go on vacation, city run daycares to go with the existing city run schools, Universal income so everyone would get a wage whether they worked or not. The list is endless and endlessly expensive.
One they do decide to add, in reflection of their old worlds, is a City fund to hire a couple Clerics. They can do weddings and heal those who need it. In a city full of adventurers a full on hospital isn't really a necessity, but having a Healer who will be in a set location, next to the apothecary, is bound to come in useful. Not everything can be cured with a healing spell, but nobody is perfect.
A whole day was spent, and in the end it feels like they only agreed to stop gouging people and hire a couple city workers. Still, they post the announcement all over town, and set the changes in the Mayor's city controls. It's actually a physical object in the City Hall that people can go see, but only the one declared as Mayor can change the settings.
If you have an interface, the taxes will come out automatically. If you don't, the city treasurer will come around to collect once a month. Everybody hates the unfortunate guy for his job, but they never did give him too much trouble. Hopefully that continues.
With that out of the way, Cain starts to wonder just exactly where all his companions went.
Seriously, it's been all day. They usually finish a Raid in two hours or less unless it's particularly long. The interface shows they're still in the dungeon though, and he hasn't gotten any mental communications from them, or seen any of them die, so they must still be busy. Likely they went in more than once, trying to get a book to test the theory on.
Or simply competing with their clones. That possibility can't be ruled out.
Cain returns to Graska that night to sleep in his old bed and enjoy the meaty goodness of Dwarven cuisine, and it's not until the small hours of the morning when he finally gets a mental communication from Laura wondering where he is.
They bought cake from a late night vendor and left some in the ice box for him in Montauk. They're headed back to the raid again, because they're tied at two points each. She doesn't elaborate on the scoring system, but it's enough to at least know what they're up to.
They're not the only ones up late that night, after finding out that Cain will be sleeping in Graska tonight, Lickity and Cixelcid commandeer Cain's room in Montauk to make use of some of the more 'specialized' features, bringing the furniture Misha removed with them.
