Mary was surprised how easy it was to drive off the mercenaries, but she shouldn't have been. Her family had worked with mercenaries in the past. Knight's eyebrows, some of the mercenaries her family liked to employ might have been here, at this battle. Then again, no one had seemed to be gunning for her specifically.

  The point was, once there was no one driving them forward and reminding them they were getting paid, the mercs were more than happy to run from the scary lady with guns and the crazy lady with the twinblade.

  “Well, that was fun, wasn't it?” Anna said, as she pulled her sword out of a man's back. Red mist seeped out of him and sank into the ground. She looked at the retreating mercenaries with a wolfish grin on her face. “I don't suppose we can run after them?”

  “No,” Mary said without hesitation. “We need to make sure the monsters are taken care of. 'sides, they could be luring us into an ambush or somesuch.”

  “If you say so.” Anna wiped her blades off and started walking back to town. “I suspect your boyfriends have already cleaned up over there, though.”

  “None of them are my boyfriends,” Mary corrected tiredly. At this point, she was certain that Anna knew that. She was just needling her for sport. Anna was like that. “But yeah, the explosions have stopped. Let's see what's up.”

  The mercenaries hadn't managed to breach the walls on the side Mary and Anna were defending, so there was relatively minimal damage. After Mary spoke with some of the villagers to make sure cleanup was being taken care of, she felt comfortable moving on.

  The other battlefield was a much bigger mess. Trees were already starting to sprout from monster corpses, making it harder to get around and recover the human bodies. The breach in the wall had gotten bigger, and was still smoking at the blackened edges. It was big enough to drive a fleet of cars through.

  Mary found Josh, Ruth, and Darius not far from the breach. Josh sat on the ground, dull-eyed, receiving a lecture from Sarah the Alchemist.

  “Glad I'm not the one being yelled at for once,” Anna said quietly.

  Not quietly enough, it seemed, because Sarah's head snapped up and she glared at both of them.

  “You two!” she called. “How could you let this idiot get into a fight in his condition? It's a miracle his heart didn't pop like a balloon!”

  Mary held up her hands in a tired defense. “Oi, I wasn't here.” Not that she would have made much of an attempt to stop him anyway. “Besides, it was a double-sided siege. Not exactly the time to forget about our best fighter, yeah?”

  “He's a non-combat class,” Sarah hissed. “That alone should be enough to keep him off the front lines, never mind the fact that he was suffering from potion sickness! He shouldn't have been doing anything strenuous at all!”

  Josh gave her a bloody-mouthed grin. That made Mary do a double-take. “Hey, you had worse potion sickness than I did.”

  “I didn't fight against two entire armies!” Sarah yelled. “Which is why I am going to recover far faster than you will! You're completely useless for a week, at least! What happens if that orc comes back?”

  Ruth coughed awkwardly. She had been quiet, and she had the look of someone who wanted to be literally anywhere else in the world. “I don't think he will? Or at least, not any time soon? I think my aunt retreated, and Josh cut off his hand. I think they're done, at least for a time.”

  Mary perked up. “What's this? You cut off his hand?”

  Josh smirked, though it was weak. “Needed his storage ring, didn't I?”

  Mary cackled. “Oh, that's a good one. What'd we get?”

  Ruth shrugged. “Besides the Mechanist bloodstone? Nothing really interesting. A few minor magic items, like low-tier shrouds and the like.” She reached into thin air, and Mary finally realized she was acting with feigned nonchalance. “I guess you might want this, though?”

  Then she tossed out a large gun that glowed with magical power.

  Mary caught it instinctively, too stunned to do anything else. It was a rifle—no, a shotgun. A semi-automatic shotgun with a large magazine, clearly designed for actual combat instead of hunting or simple home defense. The entire gun was smooth black metal, and Mary was in love the second she felt the cool surface. She scanned it almost absently, just running her hands over it.

  [Shotgun: Two-handed, firearm. Enchanted. Allows you to push extra mana into your shots using your Power score, at a corresponding decrease in range. Level requirement: Level 32. Norinco Type 97 18.4mm Riot Gun Series, Fireworld. A variable shotgun designed by a Fireworlder empire for security and defense. Boasts excellent utility and is widely used across the world. This particular shotgun comes with an Overpowered enchantment. Expect close range combat. Warning! Your class is specialized in pistols. Not all your class abilities will work for this weapon.]

  “I know it's a bit below your level,” Ruth said in a teasing tone. “And since you specialized in pistols, maybe you can't use it at all. In fact, yeah, why don't you give it back—”

  “No!” Mary flinched, protecting the gun in her arms like a newborn baby. “She's mine, and I'm never giving her up!”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Oh, God,” Josh muttered under his breath. “Please don't name it.”

  “I think I'm going with Norinco,” Mary said proudly. “That kind of sounds like a girl's name, right?”

  Josh's eyes went distant as he scanned the gun's information. “I think that's the company that manufactured it. Not sure that's...” He blinked, then scowled. “And the system already changed the name. Of course.”

  After a bit more bickering, they managed to drag Josh into the mayor's office to rest. Thankfully, the fighting hadn't gotten that far into the town. A few shops and residences had been destroyed, but nothing that couldn't be replaced. Everyone had already evacuated by the time the wall was breached.

  That didn't mean there were no casualties, just no civilian casualties. Mary watched Josh's face as Baara gave him the numbers. He hid it well, but he took those deaths seriously. Like each and every one was his fault.

  When Mary had first met Josh, in that stupid ruin, he had insisted he was no one important. That he was no leader or hero. Then, when they got back to the City, he had used the money his sister gave him to gather followers practically overnight. He had lost them almost as quickly, because the second he realized his own people were getting hurt, he ran away. Josh would do a lot to avoid seeing people he cared about getting hurt.

  Mary could see what was coming next.

  “In conclusion, Mister Mayor,” Baara said brightly, “we weathered the attack, and are well on the way to recovery!”

  Josh nodded. “Good. I'm leaving you in charge.”

  The girl's smile disappeared. “W-what?” She reached over to the Pyrolance she had inherited from her father, as if she thought another attack might come right this moment. She stopped herself, though, and Mary figured it was just a nervous gesture for comfort. “You're leaving? Where? When? Why?”

  Mary, Darius, and Ruth had nothing to say. They just stood there, watching.

  Josh gave her a sad smile. “How about we go in reverse order? I'd think the why is obvious.” He waved a hand broadly, as if to indicate the entire village. “Why do you think this all happened? Hou Zheng attacked because we were here. Mayor Hawkins helped him because he was mad at me, specifically. As long as we are here, this village is a target.”

  Baara opened her mouth to complain. “That's not—”

  “When, likewise, is easy,” he interrupted. “As soon as possible. Tomorrow, or maybe the day after. We'll leave obviously and publicly, so that everyone can confirm it. We want to make sure that our enemies have no reason to attack this village.” He smiled sadly. “Abraham and I have been working on a nice big showy vehicle, it should be done by then.” Well, it should be done now, Mary knew. They just needed to make sure they had enough fuel for all the engines they had looted from the cars.

  Her face fell. “I—I suppose that makes sense.”

  “As for the where...” He sighed and leaned back against the wall. “I'm not sure. There's not really much out here. Salinas is down south, or it was when I checked a few years ago. Maybe we can just go west? There's always something on the coast.”

  Baara took a deep breath. “I don't suppose arguing with you more will help?”

  He shook his head sadly.

  “Yes, I can see that you are decided.” She looked over the others. Mary, Darius, and Ruth all met her gaze without fear. “I suppose you are all of the same mind.”

  They all nodded.

  “Hey there! I know you didn't forget me.”

  Mary's head snapped to Anna. “What? You want to come? Why?”

  Anna chuckled. “You're a fun one, that's why.”

  Her sister glared at her. “Anna. You have responsibilities here. You cannot simply leave for a piece of tail.”

  “Oi,” Mary snapped. “What'd I ever do to you?”

  Sarah didn't even look at her. She just continued glaring at Anna.

  It didn't seem to have much of an effect. She just shrugged. “I've wanted to go exploring forever and a day, you know that. It's why I came to this place at all. It's been fun, but I'm happy to grab the chance to move on.”

  “Your responsibilities—”

  “Oh, pish posh.” Anna waved the complaint away. “The town's scavengers and hunters can survive without me. They're all independent and such. Actually, I might be able to convince someone else to come, too. Besides, I've got a couple understudies who know how to whip them into shape if need be.” She nodded at Baara. “They've been working with our new mayor on the regular.”

  Baara spluttered. “I'm not—I wouldn't call myself—”

  “You're the new mayor,” Josh said firmly. “It's all pretty and official. I don't think anyone will disagree.” He shrugged. “If you don't believe me, then set up a vote. Wait until things settle down a bit, though. No need to make a mess right now.”

  She still looked embarrassed and confused, but sighed and nodded. “All right,” she said. “I'll... get the paperwork sorted out. We'll want to make sure everything is as clean as possible, make sure we don't miss anything.” She thought for a moment. “Bloodstones. Did you ever get those bloodstones from the orc?”

  “Yep.” Josh grinned, then deposited a single red gem, glowing like a dying coal, into her hand. “Just the one, but it's a good one. Mechanist. We have at least a few unclassed kids left, right? I want that stone copied as soon as possible.”

  Baara nodded. “Agreed. And I'll see if someone official can write you up a letter of introduction for Salinas. I heard good things about that place from my parents.”

  “Actually, maybe we should go farther,” Ruth said, speaking up for the first time. “Josh, you're worried about causing problems for people around here, right? Maybe we should just keep driving, get as far away from here as possible.”

  “And what do you suggest, we camp out in the wilds?” Darius asked with a raised eyebrow. “We do need some semblance of civilization and infrastructure to work. Josh will need metal and magic items if he ever wants to make hibernation pods, and neither is common outside of settlements.” He considered a moment. “Though draining the energy from that slaver collar will help...”

  Ruth grinned. “I think I know a place we can go.”