Chapter 171: Prep For War; Camping

I never would have expected the clouted and venerated Mayor of Demme to be a man so…short.

He's several heads shorter than me, I can see the middle of his grey covered head, and the urge to pat it like he's a kid has not left me since his appearance.

Perhaps it's simply because he's old? Yes, it could be that this man was at an average height for a man back in his prime before turning old and getting so short.

I struggle not to ask and I don't, instead I put my hand out for him and wear a kindly smile as I begin to introduce myself, "I'm Asher, Lord and Mayor of Aste."

"Ho! Ho! HO!" he lets out a hearty chuckle, one that quickly alleviates the mean faces that are scattered in the crowd of warriors behind him.

"Lord and Mayor?" He asks, still not taking my hand, "You must be quite a youngin to think anyone aside from the King and the Synagogue are Lords of anything, Aste can be taken out from your buttocks just as swiftly as you have taken if from someone else's."

At this point I think it best to withdraw my hand to avoid further embarrassment. As soon as I begin to his hand shoots out and latches on with a firm, giant grip.

I can't help but gasp at the sudden action, I find him looking up at me with wrinkled but fiery spirited eyes.

"Welcome to Demme, child, what do you seek with my people?"

Snatching my hand away and flexing it once free, I don't bother hiding the frown that mares my face now.

"You've certainly got a way of greeting people, Mayor…"

"Alric, I am Alric, Mayor of Demme."

"Right, Alric…I'm here, because I AM Lord to two Cities and I intend to be Lord to this village as well."

This statement bristles many of the monster armoured folk, but not the Mayor, I supposed the man is old and wise enough to realize I would have said such a thing.

"And how do you intend to do that? If my scouts, whom you still have hostage by the way, have not told you yet then surely your Marshal, Juri was it? Yes, surely he would have."

As he says this his eyes have never once left me, but he somehow manages to have identified Juri in the far back with the rest of my fifty soldiers.

"Yes, I have been given a fair briefing on your Monster problem, and frankly I find that I have the confidence to help rid you of the Monster plague."

He sneers; not the reaction I was expecting.

The Warriors behind him seem to have better heads on their shoulders as a great many let out heavy sighs of relief and gasps of surprise and inevitably, hope.

"More lies from Aste it seems." He spits, "First Trever unleashes this madness and now you say you want to relief us of it? HA! Even the Marquess doesn't disturb a hair on her head for such purposes. Don't come here and speak such rubbish!"

He's very angry. His stout figure bounces up and down several times in that rant and his nostrils flare at every glance he passed at me.

I sigh, "I am not only here for Demme, I am also here for two runaways that entered the village, you must know about them surely? You're the Mayor after all."

"Changing the subject to matters with little consequence, caught in your lies, are you?"

Narrowing my eyes into a glare I clarify, "I make an effort not to lie when the truth will work just as well, and as I have seen it, there's less and less a reason to lie when you have power, your power speaks for you and it's the only truth you need to speak."

At this point I think it best to stop addressing him but rather the people behind him, the warriors who have been fighting the battles with these monsters, risking their lives every day.

"I can guarantee that you won't have to fight one more monster out of that forest if you just accept me as the ruler of this village and hand me the man and woman I've come for, they are still in the village even as I speak."

I close my eyes and share vision with Shaco for a bit, "In fact, I see them within the basement of some building, they're eating something…watery."

I shake my head and release the spell, "A great many of you are malnourished and haven't seen a good meal in a long time, much like Piol and his comrades here, the fatest of you are the ones who perform in battle, who attain kills on the monsters."

Waving my hand across the solid line of Monster Armoured warriors, I shout at the top of my lungs, "These are the men and women who get to eat, they are the ones who protect and as such deserve all the food. That may have seemed necessary all but an hour ago but with me here, with Aste and Frozia on your side, you can once again eat a good, full meal."

Quite frankly I think I've managed to convince them, they listened to me quietly and over their Mayor's growls as well.

Now I look to the man himself, "What do you say, Alric, give your people a better life once more by joining me?"

There's a stretched, tentative silence. 

There are several mumbles and I can faintly make out the words 'aste' 'frozia' and most encouraging of all 'food'

Yes, they're starting to see things my way, if I can get them to see it all my way then, I doubt I'll need the old man.

It'll be a waste to discard a Mage of his undoubted skill but…he seems far too stubborn to be someone I work with.

As expected, Alric raises his head so his eyes meet mine and with a tremendous voice, he pronounces, "THE BENEFACTOR PROVIDES!" With this scream he pumps his open palm, presenting it to the sky.

"THE BENEFACTOR PROVIDES!" another person screams, their hands, this time cupped as though truly expecting grains of rice to pour down from the heavens is shot out.

"The benefactor provides!"

More and more they chant this, this nonsense and shoot out their cupped hands in the air, expectant of provisions.

I wonder if it's also a trait that every place I try to liberate be fanatics to some code or whatnot that they have to have a chant. This is just the Elven North all over again.

Alric looks to me as the chanting continues, his wrinkled eyes still holding the flames of defiance and resistance from before.

"There's your answer."