I should have learned by now not to say such things.

The Marshals, it turns out, were not happy with the story supplied to them. I found out through Herbert that no fewer than three Marshals had shown up asking questions. Sheriff Swan was panicking, but my allies were supporting him in town.

I had no visitors, but I had warned my Hunters that if they showed up to look around, we would not be engaging with them. Bringing more attention would be disastrous for New Midian.

Early September was a tense time.

We waited days, passing slowly. Tension is a constant companion.

By the middle of the month, the Marshals withdrew, but they were neither happy with what they had discovered nor with what they had failed to find.

I was happy that they were gone.

The top of the spatial bubble continued to provide me with a clear view of the area. I was waiting for the next visitors. Things had quietened down. The weather was changing, and the trees were starting to turn around the walls. But today I had business at the gates.

I had several visits from Elenor and Senior Ahmed. They kept me updated on their group's actions. The Way was making progress, producing oil in small amounts. By 1900, they would have a massive production machine online. Contracts had been agreed upon, and many companies were preparing to accept the oil and petroleum products. Looking over the material, I wondered how they were financing this industrial investment. As for the Daughters, they were moving forward more slowly, growing their influence in the national media. Money was being used, but they were also seeking to use marriage as another means to gain access to the owners and shareholders.

Give both groups a few years, and they would see significant returns on their investments.

Elenor was at the gates talking about the Daughters of Medusa's work.

"We have established significant control within the Crossway Chronicle, as you know." She seemed happy with this small victory. "With your advice, we are expanding into other publications in all the major cities."

"New York and Washington, D.C. should be first. But remember to pay attention to the Californian publications."

My word stopped her train of thought.

"California? Why should we concentrate our efforts there?" She was confused and understood why. California was going to be a significant factor in their plans going forward, but they were not yet aware of this.

It was time to explain what was coming and get them in place to benefit from it.

"Very soon, two new means of mass communication media are going to appear. One of them will be focused heavily on California. Positioning yourselves now would be of great benefit to you in the long run. Los Angeles is the city to keep an eye on."

"Los Angeles? I am not aware of that city." I could see her thinking about the state, and from her accent, I could tell she was from the East Coast and did not know much about it.

"Tell your sisters to start looking towards the technologies of radio and moving picture films. Today, they are still in their infancy, but soon they will start to change the world in ways that you cannot understand. Controlling them will allow you to influence culture and ideas to an extent that has never been seen before."

I could see that she was very interested in what I was saying, but did not understand the technologies I was referring to. She would definitely go off and start to seek out more information on them, as well as inform her sisters of my words.

I had already warned Senior Ahmed of the upcoming World War, and it was time I started paying my debt to the Daughters of Medusa for their recent actions in helping cover up the death of Marshal Stone.

I also knew keeping them focused on other projects would stop them from harassing me too much.

I cannot recall when these two technologies first emerged, but I knew it was around this time. Even if I were a bit advanced in their development, the Daughters of Medusa would keep an eye out for them and help with their development.

"Why would the city of Los Angeles be so important?" Eleanor asked me, thinking about what I had been saying to her.

"An excellent question. The local environment will allow filming of moving picture films to be more efficient due to the longer days and almost guaranteed sunny days there."

She still did not understand, but I could see that she was taking all my words on board.

"Go and find out about the technologies. Discover how and where they are being utilised. I know both should be appearing about now, so helping them along would be of great benefit to your sisters."

She could tell that was me politely telling her to end this conversation, and she bit her goodbyes and departed. I watched her right away, smiling at the odd way she was sitting on the horse. As a lady in a full dress, she was sitting with her legs not on either side of the horse but hanging over one side.

"How impractical."

I said to myself as I dismissed my avatar.

September passed into October, and things entered their usual routine.

I was still receiving papers from Herbert and his son. Senior Ahmed and Eleanor had stopped visiting as often. When they did, they kept me updated on Sheriff Swan and his increasing confidence in his new position.

It helped that several members of the town council are now actively working on my behalf through my allies.

I kept abreast of global events, but little was happening that caught my attention.

At the end of September, I found an interesting article in the Portland Times that originated from China. The Chinese Emperor had defeated an attempted coup, and his reforms continued, aiming to close the gap between his nation and the Western powers encircling it.

It was the middle of the month that things changed dramatically in Europe, which would ultimately have ramifications around the world.

German Kaiser Wilhelm II was visiting the gravely ill Otto von Bismarck at his country home. Somehow, several anarchists had access to the property by pretending to be staff and assassinated both men.

The Kaiser's guards gun down the anarchists, but the damage was already done.

The Kaiser's 16-year-old son was immediately elevated to be the Emperor of the German people. But until you reach the age of maturity, a region would step in and run the government for you.

The death of these two men sent massive shock waves through Germany and Europe. Unfortunately, over the next few weeks, this seemed to inspire other anarchists to strike out at the European nobility. Several minor lords and dukes were killed across Europe, with another major member of the nobility, the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, being killed. It seemed that the European anarchists had become organised and were working together. The irony of such an idea was not lost on me at all.

Britain was spared this wave of anarchist attacks after an attempt on the Queen's life several years ago, which claimed the prime minister had led the British police force to be far more proactive in hunting down anarchist cells.

The other European nations, however, were not as proactive and were suffering as a result.

This led to a massive backlash against more fringe extremist groups across Europe and Russia. It was framed as an attempt to restore order and drive back the forces of anarchy, but I could tell it was only hard for those more radical members, and it made them more violent in their ideology.

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My main question was how this would affect the world going forward.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was a very militant leader of the German Empire. Otto von Bismarck had clearly tempered him in his early reign, but these last few years, the man had been visibly declining at the age of 83. Now both were dead, and I wondered how the new German Kaiser would handle his throne when he came of age in two years.

I had been thinking about this for the next few days as October drew to a close. Autumn had arrived in full force, and the leaves were falling from the trees. The weather is raining more now and the wind is stronger.

I was at the top of my spatial bubble, and from my position, I noticed two riders approaching.

I shifted down to the gates to get a better look at who was approaching.

Looking at the two men over it was clear that they were treasure hunters; they had that rough look that reeked of desperation. Paying attention to them was not high on my list at the moment, as I was trying to factor in the death of the Kaiser to my predictions of the future.

The powderkeg that was Europe was still there. However, I remembered that it was Kaiser Wilhelm II whose actions and policies laid the groundwork for much of what was to come. That did not mean that the other nations were innocent either, as all had their own roles to play in the unfolding tragedy.

I ignore the message telling me that they were intruders, not challengers, still thinking about how the future will now unfold.

They turned south and started walking into the graveyard. I vaguely followed them, not paying attention at all to their conversation.

The European nations were building up their militaries, with these deaths slowing them down or increasing the pace? What would this do to the Three Emperor alliance? Let alone factoring in the French entente—so many questions.

Roberson chose to take both men in. I watched, not really paying attention, as he came out of the shadows next to a large tomb. The men had passed him without paying attention, and they suffered for it. The first died quickly with Roberson's butcher blade buried in his neck.

[A Hunter has made a Kill.]

His companion reacted fast, pulling out a pistol and shooting at Roberson. The bullet grazed his arm, ripping through his coat, but did not stop my Hunter. Roberson jumped on the second man and used his teeth to rip out his throat.

[A Hunter has made a Kill.]

The second notification I got drew my attention back to what was happening.

[Hunter: Atticus Roberson, Level up!]

Roberson stood triumphant, his kills evident. He was grinning widely with blood and chunks of flesh still in its teeth. More blood was running down his chin and covered the front of his shirt.

"Well done, Roberson."

"Thank you, Keeper." He spoke to the air. "I will deal with these bodies and then go about my transformation."

"Very good. I will let you get on with it."

I left my Hunter to his work. Out of all of them, I found it funny that only Roberson was, in general, the best and easiest to get on with. Sure, Rigger was definitely the most loyal, but Roberson was the one they actually thought about what he was doing, what he needed to do, instead of me prompting him all the time.

That's why I trusted him with delivering horses to Herbert - no fuss, no muss, just getting in, completing the job, and coming back.

I settled back at the top of the spatial bubble and awaited the next day to see if Roberson would emerge.

He did.

The last few level-ups my Hunter's gone through had taken more like 48 hours to happen, but it seemed that Roberson was far faster.

Before looking over his character sheet, I took a look at the Hunter himself. He had emerged from his lair and informed me of his willingness to discuss the matter. I summoned my avatar and examined it before him.

His height and size had changed. His skin was still charcoal black, but his eyes were now completely blood red. I could not see any pupils or iris. His eyes were now just a solid red. His teeth were now more like a shark's, and he gave me a big toothy smile when he saw me.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hungry, Keeper." He tapped at his stomach when he spoke. "Got some meat to cover me, but I need to keep an eye on my supplies."

What did that mean?

"Good to know. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, Keeper. Everything is good. You have to excuse me, I have work to attend to." He indicated back to his lair.

"Of course I will speak to you later."

He left me there and dismissed my avatar. I didn't go, but instead, I opened his character sheet.

Hunter Name

Atticus Roberson

Level

4

Kills

0/18

Skills

 

Loyalty

Loyal

Blades. V

 

Handguns. IV

 

Rifles. IV

 

Stealth. III

 

Tracking. II

 

Explosives. III

 

Corpse Harvesting. II

 

Dark Traits

 

Cannibal

 

Relentless Hunger

 

I noticed the improvement in his loyalty straightaway. He had gone from good to loyal, which was a surprise, as I didn't think I had done anything to endear him to me more. Evidently, I had done something, or the change would not have happened.

"Relentless Hunger."

A new dark trait, which I think fuelled his change. But what did it do?

Relentless Hunger.

This Hunter has developed a taste for something and will always hunt for it. Once the hunger takes hold, it drives the Hunter into a frenzy. The Hunter becomes faster and stronger, but loses the ability to plan, as they see nothing but the hunger.

I strongly suspected what his hunger was, as his first dark trait was cannibalism. He constantly desired parts of some of the kills, and I knew he was consuming them within his lair. He was a bit of a fussy eater, actually, not always taking from every Kill he made, but only selecting the most choice cuts, it seemed.

I stopped myself at that thought and shuddered mentally. It was not a good sign of my continuing connection to my humanity that I could calmly think about such things and not be distressed.

I retreated to the top of the spatial bubble and decided to review my own thought processes, trying to reconnect with my humanity, no matter how distant it seemed now.

1898 was an election year for the House of Representatives in the United States. Twenty-five of the states also had governors and state legislatures up for grabs.

I had been seeing the increasing election talk as we approach the month of November. As I could not affect it anyway right now, I had largely ignored it. But now that we were at the time of the election, I was forced to pay attention to what was happening.

The states voting for governors and state legislators fell along the partisan lines. It was the House of Representatives that underwent a significant shakeup, which would make the next few years very interesting.

The Democratic Party was becoming more conservative in its outlook and pro-business. This trend has only intensified over the last 20 years, and they gained control of large sections of the South, as well as several other states, when the votes were counted. The Republicans were becoming more radicalised by socialist elements within their ranks, and they secured many others. When it was finally resolved and the counts finished, the Republicans held the House by a mere three seats.

The Democrats were not happy, but the Republicans would face a greater challenge, as many of their members were not always in full support of the party's stance. I wondered if this would lead to too much internal division within the party, thereby hindering effective governance.

In the aftermath of the election, I found a very rarely seen story in the Crossway Chronicle which spoke of racially based violence in the South. South Carolina was going through several separate hotspots of racial violence. In response, the Marshall service announced that it was deploying in force to these areas to quell the violence and restore law and order. The threat of military force backed this if the situation was not resolved.

Wilmington, South Carolina, was the site of the largest of the Marshal's actions. The local Democratic party attempted to launch a local coup against the Republican mayor and force him and his supporters from the city. The marshals swept in and arrested the group leaders, who were subsequently charged extensively under US law. The new story indicated that the locals did not go quietly, and there were reports of several armed engagements between the marshals and the locals.

Further south, the United Central States of America was now a fully operational political, economic, and military entity. There had been several flare-ups of civil protest and even a minor revolution, which were handily dealt with by the local military forces.

The new unified government declared itself a force for positive change in the region, and many looked on, interested to see what they could achieve.

At New Midian, I was preparing for winter. December was upon us once again.

The distant snow line was moving, and I knew I would be cut off again soon.

Around me, the forest was now bare as all the leaves had fallen from those few stubborn evergreens.

One of the last papers I received from Portland had a small story that caught my interest: the Chancellor of Germany had recently opened a new session of the Reichstag and was asking for no increases in military spending. He announced that they would hold most of the planned changes until the new Kaiser takes the throne and approves them.

That was the first visible sign I had seen of the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. I had no idea if that was historically precedented or not. What little I remembered of pre-World War I politics and economics was that the German military was continuously expanding right up until the war.

As the snow was threatening, I found myself thinking about the possible roles this world might take.

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