Chapter 139 - Deal With The Major

"Men!" The major shouted. "Stand down!" he ordered with a stern voice, clearly dissatisfied with their actions. Yet, although he showed an unhappy face, Tom could see through how fake it was. 

Yet, despite the major clearly trying to hide his real feelings, Tom actually smiled. 

'Well, there is nothing wrong with one being happy to have competent followers,' he thought, feeling how his dire situation stopped weighing him down for a short moment. 

Sadly, it was just that. A short moment. Before the major could say another word, Tom's soul returned to its previous self, burdened by all the things that were on his mind. 

"First off, there is no need for violence," the major said, caressing the long beard that made him look like some kind of eastern cultivator from the novels Tom used to read in his childhood years. "Still, if you ask me to submit to you, even if I personally would like to do it, I cannot make such a hasty decision. Not as the representative of the people of this town," he said, raising his eyes directly at Tom's face. 

'Not bad,' Tom thought. Even though the man refused to instantly submit, it wasn't the reason to turn furious yet. Even though Tom was set on solving the matter of taking over the town as quickly as possible, it wasn't some kind of simple process that he could achieve without a second thought. 

After all, if he were to take power by the sheer force of his strength, it would be nothing but a fake and unstable situation. By antagonizing everyone in the city, he wouldn't be able to make them truly follow his orders but would push them into guerilla-style warfare instead. 

"What do you want to know, then?" Tom asked, lowering his spear. This was as far as he was willing to go right now. Given the recent experience of being assaulted all out of nowhere, he couldn't discount the possibility that the major wasn't trying to solve the situation peacefully but was trying to lower his guard instead. 

"First off, what happened at the adventurer's guild?" The major asked, looking at Tom with curiosity. 

"The guild master raised her hand against me and seriously injured one of my people," Tom said, introducing a bit of false into his revelation. 

Hearing those words, the Major's face turned still for a moment before a wide smile suddenly made its way onto his lips. 

"Am I right to assume that this bitch is dead?" he asked, managing to take Tom by surprise. 

"And why do you think so?" Tom asked, leaning his head over his shoulder. "Don't you think that a quick death would be too little of a punishment for her?" he asked. 

"Come on," Major replied, shaking his head only to roll his eyes. "I knew her well enough. Also, I heard how you managed to topple over the strongest party that still resides in this town," the major added, proving that he wasn't as clueless about the situation in the town as he initially appeared. "This alone is enough to prove that you were stronger than her. And in that situation, she would resort only to a few possible tricks to attack you. Judging from how you admitted that she got one of your people..." The major said, only to cut his sentence short. 

"Quite smart, aren't you?" Tom asked. "Anyway, yeah, you are right on the money. She's dead," he admitted, moving his eyes away from the Major's face and sending a glance over to his bodyguards. 

'He is a politician, so he should be able to keep his face straight. But I doubt the same could be said about his people,' he thought, keen to find any hint that could help him judge the truth about the situation. 

And to Tom's actual surprise, instead of looks of distress, sadness, or just pure anger, some of them allowed a smirk to grow up on their faces!

"That means you are most likely from the same place that this man came from, right?" Major asked only to release a deep sigh a moment later. "I mean, don't take me wrong, it's not like I will hate you because of it... But that brings us to the one thing I need you to promise if you wish for my cooperation," the major said. At the same time, his face lost all the signs of amusement or happiness from before, turning completely serious. 

"And what this might be?" Tom asked, tightening his grip over his spear. 

"That you won't bring this town into a war," the Major said without even a moment of hesitation. 

"If you are so smart, then you should know that this is no longer possible," Tom replied, unable to be bothered to hide his intentions. What's more, he wasn't in the mood of trying to lie his way out, only to betray the man's expectations later on. 

For Tom, this was still an unknown world. The means that the guild master used to defeat him proved that he had no idea what else could be out there. 'I don't know if he isn't using some kind of oath magic or something right now,' he thought, unwilling to fall into a potential trap. 

"Let me explain exactly what I mean,' the major said, clicking his tongue at Tom's instant denial. "For as long as you don't involve this town in a war, I'm willing to help you out. That means you can organize your force, train them in the dungeon, treat this place as a base of operation. But once you will be all ready to actually join the war, you and all your people will need to leave," the major said.

For a moment, Tom thought over this option. Needless to say, having someone like the current Major of the town on his side would make taking over the town a far easier job than he initially expected. 

'No, I shouldn't agree to it too easily,' Tom thought, trying to push back against the incentives offered by the man. Because from what he just heard, the Major offered him exactly what he wanted, with the caveat that all of those advantages would be lost once Tom was ready for the real action. 'Then, let's see what he will say to this,' he thought as a small smirk appeared on his lips. 

"Excuse me, help me to understand one thing. Right now, I'm more than capable of killing every last person opposing me in this city. What's more, I'm quite certain that most of them would lose their will to fight once enough corpses would pile up," Tom said, tightening his grip over his spear. 

While he said that, the young man was perfectly aware that doing something like that... Was actually impossible. 

Not because he wasn't capable of doing so, but because his family would disinherit, banish and then execute him upon learning of such a story. It would be a whole different story if everyone in the city ganged up against him, but killing civilians just because they refused to involve themselves in the war?

Tom's group was created by the veterans that survived the bloodiest war in the history of humanity. They saw what real horrors the war had to offer. As such, it would be already problematic to ask them to join the war to help Tom find his father. Making them join the side that started its history by an onslaught? That would be plain out impossible. 

"If you need some details or more concrete pledges from me, then just say so," the Major replied with a deep sigh. "I don't think you are stupid enough to be ignorant about what would happen if you were to kill every last person of importance in this town," he added, shaking his head in displeasure. 

"Humour me," Tom said as a small smile returned to his lips. "What exactly is it that you can do for me?" he asked. 

"Outside of the Magistrate, there are four... No, five groups or factions that you need to take care of," the major said, already proving that Ulster's information was incomplete. 

'That, or he is trying to dupe me in by talking bullshit,' Tom thought, taking note of such possibility. 

"And I'm willing to help you deal with two of them," the Major said, putting out a hand with two of his fingers erected in the sign commonly understood as a victory. 

"Which ones, exactly?" Tom asked, unwilling to let such an ambiguous answer settle the deal. 

"First off, the magistrate, but that's obvious and a term by default," the Major replied, shaking his shoulders. "The adventurer's guild is already taken care of, so I can pacify the merchant's guild and the alchemy guild," he said before lowering his hand and looking Tom directly in the eyes. "The blacksmiths, you will have to take care of yourself. What's more, I'm powerless to do anything against the lord that governs the fortress at the border," he added, revealing a piece of information that Tom heard for the first time. 

'A fortress by the border?' he thought only to shake his head. 'No, I will think about it later. For now...' Tom thought, raising his eyes at the major. And then, as soon as he came to a decision, he threw his spear to his left hand, alerting the guards with that, only to push his empty right hand forward. 

"Deal," he said only to notice a look of surprise and confusion on the Major's face. "Where I come from, shaking one's hand means sealing the deal," he explained, catching up the crux of the problem right away. 

'If I can be troubled by not understanding their common sense, so can they be troubled by the habits of my world,' he thought. 

"Fine," the Major nodded his head before reaching forth and clasping his hand with Tom.. "By tomorrow, the city will be yours."