You take the opportunity to learn about this city from Elijah since he had been here before.

After resting for a while, you and Brittany dressed up, return her to the room she is staying at the moment and heading out to meet Elijah at his room.

Once there, you begin to ask him about Axeman City's political structure since he had most likely been here before you on multiple occasions. And not to your surprise, he had been here before for real on multiple occasions.

Elijah informed you that at the top of the city's society are Sullivan family, the Gionderi family, the Iseva family, the Armas family and the Delvar family. Immediately beneath them are the complex of networks of alliances of other wealthy families that are not as rich or powerful as them but living good lives with thriving businesses by allying themselves with one of the aforementioned major five families, either often through marriage alliances or drafting contracts.

Below these wealthy merchants are those who served them such as lawyers, accountants, priests, scholars and the security forces that functioned as both the police and the military forces of the city. And while they are not rich, they definitely have some powerful backing by working for the families of wealthy merchants due to the aforementioned complex networks of alliances within the city's social fabric. Even lower than them are just ordinary people who are living with little to no connections about them at all such as the normal employees who worked at their shops or craftsmen who operated the forges they owned. Ordinary workers, peasants, miners... They live in slums. But there are also lower social groups. And the lowest of them are obviously slaves, who have only a few opportunities in this cruel world.

However, there is a silver lining if one knows where and when to look. It is possible to climb the social ladder! There are no laws against the slaves to buy freedoms for themselves if they have enough money or for them to become successful merchants later on after they regained their freedoms.

"So what businesses do they do? The members of the Circle of Five, of course." You asked Elijah after you gained information about the city's political structure while sitting in one of the chairs in the room.

"As you already know, the Sullivan family dealt with transporting goods and peoples, freemen and slaves alike.

They also conducted businesses in producing most of the city's strong liquor and sell it profitably. The drunks in the area are very grateful to them! Heh! You should try some of the local cognac! Heh! Heh!

The Gionderi family dealt with food production. Veggies, fruits, meats, dairy products, all sorts of rations, all types of rices they know and products made from such as noodles, pastas and breads, they dominated them all.

So... And patronage of many brothels is also part of their sphere of influence...

The Iseva family dealt with banking and mining and also owned some of the most famous casinos in the city…

As for the Armas family, they sold both **** and medicines.

There are also some rumors... Rumors that these guys organize fist fights in the slums, accompanied by money bets... Dirty business... But law and order in this city belongs to the one who pays...

And finally, the Delvar family is in charge of crafting weapons and ammunition...

Also, these guys, more than any other powerful family, sponsor and train mercenary groups. To guard caravans. To explore ancient ruins in search of something valuable... And for all sorts of other things that are dangerous to ask about..." - Elijah said, informing you what businesses made these five families so powerful in the city.

"And the currency? Where do they even have metals to produce copper coins and bottle caps that I saw back at Port Williams anyway?" You asked him back, wondering how did they acquire the metals to produce such currency at all.

"The Iseva family have explorers to search for the sources of metals and miners to mine them in their services. And in exchange, the metals are brought to the forges owned by the Delvar family, where they will be crafted as weapons, ammunition and other objects that can be sold in the markets." Elijah said as he's beginning to lie down on his bed.

"It sounded as if that the Iseva family and the Delvar family have partnership when listened to it like that." You said after you thought about it in such a way.

"Well, I heard that they often have their sons and daughters marrying each other to maintain this partnership on equal footing. The latest one is one of the sons of the Delvar family ended up marrying one of the Iseva's family daughters." Elijah said as he turned to look at you.

And upon hearing that, something clicked in your brain!

"Could that be why the Sullivan family took such a risk and invest in the alliance between the Orange Kingdom and Port Williams?!" - You think to yourself after you heard about this from the ghoul.

"Tell me this, Elijah. How much powerful the Iseva family and the Delvar family are when they are each other's ally?" You asked him after you came to such a conclusion in your head.

"I wished I knew. According to what the public knows, they can influenced the city's certain policies and even overturn them on occasions when working to obtain the common goals. In fact, I even heard of them using the joint influence to pardon some criminals in the city so that they can used them for their own interests later on." Elijah said as he's placing his hands behind the back of his head as he's lying on his bed.

"So... tell me this. When was this city established and how did you got here in the first place?" You asked him, wondering how Axeman City was founded and why people forgot about Abraham Lincoln already.

"How was Axeman-City founded? I don't know... I have a theory - that several large gangs somehow united hundreds of years ago and went from a nomadic life of marauders to a settled life in this settlement... When I look at the rich representatives of the families from the Circle of Five, I kind of laugh at their arrogance... Ha! Perhaps three or four hundred years ago their distant ancestors were bloodthirsty and dirty savages!

By the time I learned about this city, it was already a well-established city-state. As for when I first got here, that was after I slain one of the sons of the gang's leader three hundred years ago after being hired by the leader of the rival gang to rescue his daughter from them. Poor girl, she was **** by so many people in that tent to the point that finding out who the father of her child is would be like finding a needle in haystack..." - Elijah said as he's looking at you with his own functional eye.

"So you have **** but to take refuge here." You replied after Elijah recounted his tale.

"Yeah, took me a few weeks to escape them with that young lady I rescued. But in the end, I prevailed and got handsome reward after delivering her back to her father." Elijah said as he's raising his right hand up and look at it.

After hearing that, you cannot helped but feeling bad for the young lady he rescued despite the fact that it had been three hundreds years already. So you decided to change the subject.

"And Abraham Lincoln? How come the people appeared to no longer know who he is?" You asked Elijah back in an attempt to change the subject.

"It is depending on who you asked, Professor Blake. Some scholarly people do cared but most of the ordinary folks don't because they wanted to focus on making money and live. Some even outright hated him and Ulysses Grant and branded them as villains like those white supremacists in Jackson Fortress while hailing those like Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Davis as heroes." Elijah said with a spat, clearly showing his disdain toward the inhabitants of Jackson Fortress that you can deduced to be named after President Andrew Jackson.

Believing you have enough information for one day, you simply get up and bid him goodbye for now and return to your room to rest for the rest of the day.

By evening, your belly begins to growl a little. And so, you decided to take something out to eat from your own supplies such as some oatcakes. Not long after you eaten your dinner, you fall asleep on the bed.