There was a warmth and kinship here, all of these people day by day, surviving as a group in a world that had few laws outside their new home.
Jimmy was dragged off pretty much immediately. Work to do healing—there were injuries from a construction team putting up new homes for the people here. Though they’d only been here a week, New Nashville had found something like sixty new citizens to add to its ranks. Now, Colt understood that those people might not have all come as willing as others.
Was there something wrong with taking territory and pushing out other people competing to survive in the same location?
The group made their way to a little restaurant—a diner named Freedom Pancakes, whose painted wooden board on the front of it had red, white, and blue pancakes. It was a pretty kitsch place, but as their logo said, ‘We have the freedom to fling pancakes all day long.’ They also had the freedom to fling pancakes with alcohol, which made it double as a pancake bar later at night.
Yeah. Predictably, in a place like it, it was understandably a hit.
The place was always busy, even now, a little past dinner. Yet they had a table pretty fast, a good way to unwind after all that happened and talk. A waiter—about fourteen years old, one of the number of kids that had no choice but to stay in New Nashville took their order, along with a round of beer, paid for by Nick, and they were off.
Colt rested a hand on the table as he looked at everyone. Their faces were tense, well aside from Julia, who looked like she couldn’t care less. This was a talk that needed to happen.
He was about to start the conversation when a notification filled his vision.
———
Icon Quest Received: Good Ol’ Rivalry
Rank: D(?), C(?)
Goal: Hey Colt.
It’s Nike.
Betcha didn’t know I could use the system to do this, right? Ha. Well, get used to it. I’ve been tracking your progress since you took my Icon on. Athena was pissed, by the way, but she’s calmed down some. This is about as good an opportunity as any to reach out.
Frankly, a good ol’ rivalry is just the thing to push you harder, to make you stronger, and to show the world that you are a victor. Especially this new little city of yours, they’re in need of a strong show of force, and not just anyone can do that.
My little icon holder. You’re going to be their champion.
But first, you’ve got to deal with that pesky Mayor. Your rival. Oh, and I don’t think he doesn’t know it either; if the feeling wasn’t mutual, I wouldn’t be able to issue this quest.
Oh, the system isn’t happy I added that. It’s all complaining about the rank classification.
Oh well! Defeat Mayor Denny. Win the prize. Train hard and work hard because it doesn’t look like it’ll be easy.
Reward: A nifty little toy to pick up a nifty new Edict.
- Eager to see how you do, gladiator.
———
His eyes just about fell out of his head as he went over the text. So, Nike could abuse the system to send personal messages? Reading through it gave him a headache. This quest was an absolute mess of both formatting and description. But she just flat-out threw information in there that he probably shouldn’t have.
“Icons are powerful,” Colt said, rubbing his eyes.
“You look like you saw a ghost, you okay, man?” Nick asked.
“Nick, I need to know where you stand with this town.” Colt dodged the question and looked away from Nate and Sarah’s curiosity.
Nick worked his jaw.
“I spent weeks here, man. The people here are good. What we saw on that rooftop? I don’t know. Do we know all the facts? Even with the fact… I told you before I wanna be free. I want these people to be safe. With that guy—y’know? I’m not sure it’ll always look as ‘free’ as I have in my head.”
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“So you don’t approve of Denny.” Colt pressed forward, seeing Nate and Sarah about to say something.
“No. Not anymore. I aint too sure he’s going to do good things for us.”
Colt leaned back in his chair and looked around. People were chatting, drinking, and playing music, like in any bar in New Nashville. They had their space to discuss.
“Alright then. After what we saw, I don’t quite think Denny is a good man. His idea of justice is crushing anyone who doesn’t fold. I’m not the type to fold under him anymore, and neither are you. So, eventually, we’ll have a problem. New Nashville isn’t free. They just aren’t aware they have someone sitting at the top with aims to control them all.” Colt laid it out, his voice low, his eyes meeting Nick’s. The guy was of like-mind, so he said it how he was.
There was no freedom under a want-to-be tyrant. And the days before they arrived into full-blown dictatorship were limited.
“He’s working on his military.” Nate said, also leaning in and lowering his voice, “They approached me just yesterday for a job. Given my background, they tried to flag me as a soldier—I’ve spoken with some of his guards. Soldiers. Law enforcement. The type of people you might expect to take on that kind of position, when possible. They went over the rule of the law and the necessity to keep things calm in chaotic times… Of course, I said no. This group is my family, and diving into dungeons and closing off the danger seems far more important. Though, I think he’s also trying to convince those with useful classes, from what people have been talking about.”
Colt took in that information.
“Alright. I got a quest. Nike told me to defeat him.” Colt said, not wanting to directly say he was supposed to go and kill Denny.
Sarah whistled.
Julia rubbed her eyes. “I’m getting jealous. Why does it keep giving the NPC important information? Well, we were always meant to take over this town and fight the big bad boss. Otherwise, what is the point?”
Sarah nudged her with an elbow and frowned. “What did we say about using the word NPC?”
“That they are ‘real people,’ and saying this is ‘offensive.’ Computer programs getting their code hurt. Yeah, yeah,” Julia waved her off and shook her head, going off into coo-coo land.
Colt shuffled and rubbed the back of his head as he stared at the girl. It felt bad to drag her along, but well, her magic was powerful and he saw a lot of potential there. She was also loyal. Calling them her ‘companions,’ lately, and saying she would reward them richly in the future when she killed a bunch of dragons.
The girl was crazy, but she had a good heart. Maybe they could somehow get her back to reality.
Nate and Sarah asked about the details of his Icon quest—both of them were curious about what an Icon was, even. How they could obtain one… Considering this was the first time his Icon had come into play since getting it a week ago, Colt was curious, too.
The talk was interrupted when the pancakes arrived. Colt got a ‘tower of blue,’ which was about three generous pancakes stacked with blueberries—in fact, almost all of their pancakes had blueberries. This place had recently sent its employees to raid a supermarket for fresh ingredients and had rapidly begun to make ‘seasonal menu items’ to keep up with what they had and what was going to go bad. Frozen stuff was king right now.
Figuring out farmland and fresh food in the future was an immediate concern for this restaurant, but they were stockpiling and doing business. Like anything, people were concerned with the now, and the normalcy of this kept them steady.
Colt ate his pancakes while the rest of the group talked and planned. Nothing concrete. Nothing actionable. Not here. They all had to think.
And more than that, they had to grow. Skills. Levels. Edicts—anything that would give them an edge.
The blueberries tasted sweet and tart; the pancakes were fluffy and balanced. The beer was sour and had an edge to it. As the music played, Colt went through the quest from Nike again and thought.
Training and information would get him closer to this goal. If Denny was to be his rival, then he needed to know everything about him. Victory was as much in preparation as it was in action.
Thank you, Nike.
As ominous as a quest like this was, he also saw it as a warning.
Things would get worse in New Nashville before it got better, and now he could prepare for that. As dinner finished, they made their plans—training in the morning, followed by a dungeon in the afternoon. Nate had been speaking to some of the scouts and had flagged down a dungeon, which, by all appearances, seemed promising. A nice F+ ranked—true this time. It didn’t mean many levels for Colt, but maybe it would have rewards, or he could focus on honing skills.
Whatever strengthened the team strengthened them all.
With that, they split their ways. Nate and Sarah headed off to another bar since the two wanted to talk—Nick was going to escort Julia home, which left Colt alone to deal with his thoughts and enjoy a pleasant walk home.
The night was crisp, and with a stomach full of pancakes, he reflected on the day. The brutal way in which Denny dispatched three men was… Well.
It bothered him in that it wasn’t his definition of justice. He himself had executed Bill—and death now was more common than it was before. New Nashville had maybe four hundred or five hundred people. Out of all of Nashville?
How many people were still stuck in their tutorial dungeon a month afterward?
Colt walked with his hands tucked away, weaving through the thinning crowd of folk. They tended to center at the bars, this time of night, and he took a wide walk around on the way back to their house, wanting to let his thoughts circle and develop.
Then, about ten minutes into his walk, he realized he was being followed.
Colt took some twists and turns, wanting to be sure.
A trio of figures kept pace behind him.
Colt ran a hand through his hair and worked his shoulders, his eyes scanning the nearby buildings and picking where he wanted to do this. If others wanted to pick a fight with him, well, then he wasn’t a stranger to fighting. This new life had revealed a lot about himself to himself. Watching someone die wasn’t what bothered Colt about earlier. No. It was the way that Denny decided they would die that is what bothered him. If these people wished him ill-will… Well. So be it.