Joe and Zoe had made their way down to the guardhouse just a few hours after the incident, as the sun began to rise and cast its warm orange glow over the town. To Zoe’s surprise, the nearest guardhouse was underground, so Joe took Zoe on a walk to the staircase leading down beneath the earth. It was quite a grand construction — very wide stairs, with a gentle slope on either side that wound back and forth to keep up with the much steeper stairs.

  Wooden railings were set up along the steps, with a tall wooden wall separating the slope — to stop carriages or the like from falling onto the pedestrians in an accident, Zoe supposed? The first floor, descending into the ground beneath Foizo was about thirty feet down. Further than Zoe expected, but it seemed that people still wanted to have two or even three story buildings beneath the ground.

  Rather than being a network of tunnels though, the first floor seemed to be like an entire city of its own. Tall buildings reached up to the stone ceiling, with columns in areas the buildings didn’t quite reach, supporting the massive cavern from collapsing.

  The stairs continued down to the next floor, but Joe took Zoe off to the side and into the first floor to a nearby two story building lit with hanging gems that glowed with a bright white light. Inside was an unassuming front office with a few counters, a couple tables and a handful of jail cells, with further rooms behind a locked door that Zoe couldn’t see through without her Cosmic Vision — and chose not to peep without permission.

  One of the guards at the door nodded to Joe and Zoe as they entered. “Mornin’ Joe.” They said.

  “Morning Laurel. How’s Marge doing?" Joe asked.

  “Great as always, Joe. Everything alright today?” Laurel asked.

  “Ahhh,” Joe sighed. “I’ve been dealing with a bit of a bother, I’m afraid. Somebody around I could talk to about it?"

  “Sure, yeah. Jenna over there should be free in a moment.” Laurel said, pointing to one of the younger looking guards cleaning up some papers scattered about on a table. She looked up and smiled, with a hint of anxiety breaking through her fa?ade as she tried to clean up the papers a bit quicker.

  “It’s no worry,” Joe said. “Take your time.”

  “Oh I’ll just be a moment, sorry.” Jenna said.

  She finished tidying up the table and gestured for Joe and Zoe to come over, which they did. “What seems to be the problem today?"

  “There’s this fellow who’s been coming by my inn recently and harassing some of my staff. He hasn’t done anything yet, but it’s made them more than a little uncomfortable. I was wondering if you could send somebody to check up on him, make sure he’s not getting into trouble.” Joe said.

  “Sure, yeah. Do you have a description of this man?” Jenna asked.

  Joe nodded to Zoe. “She saw him earlier.”

  “Oh. Uh, lets see. He was maybe forty? Early fifties at the oldest, I’d say. Dark hair, starting to gray. Bit of a scruffy beard. He had a scar below his left eye I think. Or was it right eye? He had a scar on his face, under one of his eyes. Wore some shoddy leather armour, and honestly, acted like a bit of a dick.” Zoe said.

  Jenna nodded. “Mhm. I think I’ve heard somebody else mentioning him before, too. I’ll let the rest know to keep an eye out for him. Thanks.”

  “Yeah, be best if he could stop coming by the inn and pestering my staff. I’d really rather it not turn into more than it needs to be, hopefully he’s just a bit down on his luck.” Joe said.

  Jenna nodded again. “Hopefully. Thanks for letting us know. Anything else I can help you with today?”

  “Nope, that’s all. Thanks again. You have a nice day, now.” Joe said.

  “You too, Joe.” Jenna said.

  Joe and Zoe left to make their way back to the inn and chatted on the way. “You visit them much?"

  “Of course. I’m not the one in charge of the guards, but we all try to do our part. Make sure nobody misses something obvious, at least. I do my rounds in the area around my inn at least, make sure nothing seems awry.” Joe said.

  “That’s gotta be a lot, now that Foizo’s so big too. And deep. How do you manage it all?" Zoe asked.

  “More people, really. Council’s a lot bigger than it used to be now, you know? When we started we only had a few of us. When you last spoke with the council, I think we were eight? Nine? Now we’re a council of forty. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder at what point we don’t just need to shrink it and delegate tasks, but I’ll save you the boring details.” Joe rambled.

  “No, no. It’s interesting, honestly. Back home, I lived in a democracy. We voted our leaders in, instead of just having the leaders pick other people who are probably good for it. No offense, it seems to be working here and I was never an expert on it so what do I know. But usually we’d have a mayor and then a separate leader for education, and health, and so on. And then each of those would have their own staff to help them out, and some of those would even be voted on. It was a whole process, really. I didn’t really understand it after a point, if I’m being honest.” Zoe rambled back.

  Joe nodded. “Yeah you’ve spoken about that before. We have some democracies here too, but we’re not fully one.”

  “Do you think that’s good?” Zoe asked.

  “I do.” Joe nodded. “I think that people tend to not know what’s best for them. We get a lot of requests for things that just aren’t possible. Things that would lead the city to ruin. Lots of people wanting us to dig even deeper, to expand the walls for entirely unnecessary reasons. Who want dangerous events, or less regulation on harmful skills. Quite a few people who ask for lower taxes, as though that’s even a thing that we could do. With lower taxes, we lose the royal support. We lose our walls, our protection.

  “It’s nice to think about. The power to the people. But at the end of the day, somebody’s got to decide what’s good and what’s not. Without strong leaders, you don’t have the structure that people rely on for their comfortable, normal routine lives. And besides, it’s not like we’re just doing whatever we want. We still need the people here, in the city. We need their taxes, to protect ourselves and our people.

  “We need to make a city that people want to live in, and we’ve done that. And generally, when we need somebody new on the council, we find somebody who’s well respected by the people already. Though, with all that said, it’s not as though people in those other countries are unhappy. I guess it’s just what I know. As long as the people are happy, I think we’re doing well enough.” Joe answered.

  “Fair enough. I guess the main difference is that when the people aren’t happy, in a democracy they have an option to get rid of you. But here, if they don’t like what you’re doing their options are a little more decisive.” Zoe said.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Joe chuckled. “I guess, yeah. We’re not monsters, though. If the people are unhappy with one of us, we’ll try and sort out the problems or at the worst case replace them. We take feedback and we adjust what we’re doing if we can. We just don’t have, uh.. Elections? Are they called?”

  Zoe nodded. “Yeah. I guess you’re halfway between a democracy and a dictatorship, then. I dunno. I was never an expert on politics. Stuff’s all confusing to me. I used to vote in multiple elections basically every year, though.”

  “Sounds tedious.” Joe said.

  “Eh. Yes and no. Sometimes it would be a little passionate, but I always enjoyed voting. It was my civic duty, and I got to contribute my little part to society. Always felt good, personally.” Zoe said.

  Joe shrugged. “As long as the people are mostly happy, whatever’s being done is good enough, I think.”

  “I can get behind that.” Zoe agreed.

  The two got back to Joe’s inn, and Joe sorted out his storage ring full of bowls of soup and brul for Zoe before heading back up to his room to continue his council work. Zoe got back to her spot behind the bar, leaned up against the wall and rubbed her fingers along the edge of the planks as she looked out at the inn.

  It looked quite nice with the morning sun, Zoe thought. With the warm orange light shining in through the windows, pushing away the dark shadows of night. It looked open and inviting, contrasted to the somewhat eerie ambience of her own enchanted gems that lit the inn at night.

  Zoe summoned her todo list and added in a note to make some more lights for Joe’s inn at some point. She was half tempted to just walk around enchanting things on her own, but held off since it would be Joe’s decision.

  The older lady was the first to get up in the morning, unless somebody had left while Zoe wasn’t there. She staggered down the stairs on her cane and hobbled her way over to the bar.

  “Good morning, deary.” She said. “You wouldn’t happen to have some breakfast for this old lady, would you?"

  “I would!” Zoe smiled, summoning a pot of soup and a chunk of brul for the woman. “It’s quite nice, if I do say so myself.”

  Zoe had helped herself to a small bowl before they left for the guardhouse. The soup was perfect with a nice chunk of crusty brul to dip into it and scoop out the tender herb filled soup. A bit of melted cheese on the brul would do wonders, but Joe didn’t happen to have any on hand, to Zoe’s dismay.

  “Mmm, smells simply divine.” The woman said, ripping off a piece of brul and dipping it into the soup. She shivered as she swallowed it, with a bright smile on her face. “Delicious.” She said.

  “What brings you here?" Zoe asked.

  “Me? Oh, nothing much.” She laughed. “My granddaughter lives here, simply enthralled by the dungeon. I thought I’d come pay her a visit.”

  “She doesn’t have a spare room?" Zoe asked.

  “Oh my, no.” The woman giggled. “I couldn’t get between her and her husband like that. You know the youngins and what they get up to.”

  Zoe smiled. “Sure.”

  “And besides, an inn’s a much nicer place to meet people, after all. Would have never met you if I stayed with her, you know?” The woman smiled at Zoe, with soft eyes and a peaceful emotion filling Zoe’s Empathy.

  “I’m Zoe.” Zoe said.

  “Wickett,” The woman replied.

  “Nice to meet you, Wickett.” Zoe said.

  “And you too. What brings you to town, young lady? I haven’t seen you around before.” Wickett asked.

  “I got my sixth class.” Zoe pointed above her head. “Wanted to come back home and share it with Joe, and then decided it’d be fun to stick around and work at his inn for a bit again.”

  “And?” Wickett asked.

  Zoe shrugged. “Yeah, it’s been fun. Met you. Met that other guy. It’s relaxing here. Good food, too.”

  Wickett giggled. “The best food in Foizo, in my opinion.”

  “You’ve been around?” Zoe asked.

  “Oh my yes. While Debra’s off in the dungeon I do my very best to sample all the restaurants.” Wickett answered.

  “And Joe’s is the best?” Zoe asked.

  Wickett nodded. “The very best.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Zoe smiled.

  Wickett finished the rest of her soup and sighed. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat deary, but Debra and Igor say they have big plans for me today, and I’d hate to keep them waiting.”

  Zoe smiled. “Have fun, Wickett. Say hi for me.”

  “Oh I will.” Wickett said, waving her cane as she hobbled out the door.

  The younger man was the next to come down, about an hour later. He looked around the inn as he walked down the stairs, then made his way over to Zoe.

  “No Sue?" He asked.

  “Nope. You two friends?" Zoe asked.

  “Something like that. She’s cute.” He said.

  “Does she think you’re cute?” Zoe asked.

  “I sure hope so.” He laughed.

  “Breakfast?” Zoe asked.

  He shook his head and waved his hand. “Nope, I’m alright. Gonna go visit a friend and steal some of their food, I think.”

  Zoe chuckled. “Sure, you have fun with that then.”

  “I think I just might.” He said as he left.

  The rest of the morning passed without another soul stopping by, Zoe’s lone accompaniment the odd noise from Joe working upstairs. An occasional thump, or a scrape as a chair dragged along the wooden floor. As the sun peaked in the sky, Joe came down the stairs and smiled at Zoe.

  “Everything alright down here?" He asked.

  “Right as rain.” Zoe replied. “Hey, do you want more lights? I noticed it was a little dim last night, honestly.”

  Joe thought on it for a moment before he nodded. “Sure, yeah. Some more lights would be nice, thanks.”

  “And is that young man being creepy, or do he and Sue actually get along?" Zoe asked.

  Joe laughed. “Yeah, they get along.”

  “Alright. I was a little worried, for a bit.” Zoe said. “I’ll get to making some more lights for you.”

  “Sure, thanks again Zoe. Let me know if you need anything.” Joe said.

  “Will do, Joe.” Zoe said, forming a small wooden lantern and placing a blue gem into a recess formed in the middle. She prepared one of her Enchanted Mirrors with Light, Meditation, Enchanting and Cosmic Familiar, then filled the gem with her mana and flashed the enchantment onto it.

  The gem was a different colour from the rest of the lights hanging in Joe’s inn since she didn’t have any of the yellow ones left, but she hoped Joe wouldn’t mind. Zoe spent the rest of the afternoon building more of the lanterns and wandering around the inn trying to find the best place to hang them.

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