Visiting the (ex)Mayor

And so, we exit the inn and into the street, following our young guide. He brings us through the bustling streets, and we see beastman and human coexisting with each other as we pass them by. I am hardly surprised by the sight anymore, so I manage to keep my face neutral throughout our relatively short walk to the mayor's house.

The mayor's residence is quite large, a bit larger than most of the houses surrounding it, but it looks a bit... no, very unkempt. The small front yard is full with weeds, eating at the flower shrubberies that used to decorate the place. Remnants of said flowers could still be seen here and there. Dirty windows obscure the view of the house's interior, some were even broken or cracked. Finally, there seem to be pieces of broken bottles strewn along the pathway leading to the front door.

"This is the mayor's home, sir," Naoki says then.

I frown slightly, trying to not look disappointed with the current state of this residence. I can see Lillias also looking displeased, the bridge of her nose wrinkled. She glances at me, and I nod at her.

"Naoki," my assistant says, "I'm going to knock on the door. You can wait here with Victor."

"Um, okay..." Naoki replies hesitantly, knowing that the two of us won't be deterred with mere words.

As much as I want to be the one talking with the mayor, I know Lillias is better suited for the job. After all, she's the one with a more gentle and friendly demeanor and thus easily approachable, at least on a superficial level. If something goes wrong, I should be able to jump in to support her with some magic. But I don't think that would be necessary as Lillias is also a capable mage, so I'm not terribly worried about her safety.

My assistant walks towards the door and knocks on it. There is no response, so she repeats the knockings several times until finally we hear a crashing sound of glass breaking. All of the windows, what's left of them, were intact, so it must have come from the inside. Moments later, angry, muffled grumbles can be faintly heard even by me. Then, the sound of locks being fumbled clicks from beyond the door, before it swings open.

A man is standing before Lillias. I'm guessing that he is in his late 60s, but seeing the way he lives I wouldn’t be surprised if he is actually younger than he looks . The mayor's hair is disheveled and he looks unkempt in general, with stained shirt and all. He probably stinks as well, good thing I'm only looking at him from a distance.

The old man glares at the uninvited visitor at his door, but upon seeing Lillias, the rage on his face seems to have subsided a little. He is probably surprised at the sight of someone completely foreign to him.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing on my doorstep?!" he finally yells loudly, eyes droopy and words slurred, "Don't you know what time it is?! I need my sleep!"

'It's halfway into midday already, old man,' I want to say. But I keep silent while Lillias is explaining our presence to him.

"Apologies for disturbing you, Mayor. I am one of the representatives from the capital city," she bows slightly before continuing, "We are tasked with inspecting your town for emergency aid, sir. And we would like to speak with you as the leader of Thresford."

The mayor blinks a few times, as if forcing his rotting brain to process what the blonde woman in front of him just said. He then bursts into laughter, throwing his head back as he cackles. After some theatrical laugh, he finally replied to Lillias.

"Hah! That's the funniest shit I've ever heard! The capital city never gave a fuck about us aside from squeezing us dry as a tax source, and now you want me to believe they want to help?!" he lashes out, spittle flying out from his mouth as he speaks.

Lillias keeps a straight face and simply stares at the drunken man. She is unfazed by his crude reaction. She then proceeds to lean forward, getting her face a bit closer to the mayor. I can't really see nor hear it from this distance, but it seems she's whispering something to him. That surprisingly works somehow, since the mayor is quiet and listening intently to her. After a while, his eyes widen, and his jaw drops a little. He looks over beyond Lillias, towards Naoki and I, his eyes glaring daggers. His face is contorted into an ugly scowl as he grunts angrily. I return his glare with a neutral expression, maintaining eye contact with him. Eventually, he turns to face Lillias and mumbles something, before turning back and returning inside.

Lillias then walks back to us, saying, "He has agreed to talk with us inside."

"What did you say to him?"

"I will explain later, but I don't think he'll let Naoki follow us."

"T-that's okay. I'm not keen on meeting with the mayor anyway," Naoki interjects before I can reply.

"Alright then. Let's go, Lillias"

Lillias and I enter the house, leaving Naoki outside. The hallway is quite dim and gloomy, not a lot of light comes through the dirty windows. Dust settles on the furniture, the floor is littered with books, and the air is stale. There's also a repulsive scent of **** mixed with decomposing leftover food that I immediately noticed the moment I entered, and it is only getting stronger as we pass the living room. Thankfully, our destination smells slightly better, and we stop at the room that serves, or used to serve, as the mayor's office. The mayor sits on an armchair within, surrounded by empty bottles of beers and wine that are strewn about. The mayor motions us to sit on two chairs positioned across from his sitting spot, and he waits for us to comply before speaking.

"Now, speak up," he asks gruffly, "What was that about a secret mission?"

Raising an eyebrow, I look at Lillias questioningly. Why would she tell him that? It's called 'secret mission' for a reason! My assistant clearly knows I'm staring at her but decides to ignore me and answers the mayor, still with her pleasant smile.

"Not so loud, please. We don't want the beastman outside to eavesdrop on our conversation."

"...Right right, sorry," the mayor replies, still with a grumpy tone but much quieter now.

...Color me surprised, it actually works. Lillias somehow made the mayor less hostile to us. It seems Lillias is using the beastmen as leverage to negotiate with this man. Perhaps he hates them as much as I do. That's good, we might be able to gain more info from him, provided Lillias manages to butter him up even more.

"So, as I said," Lillias continues, "you are correct in thinking that the kingdom giving aid is just a cover story. But technically, we were not lying. It's just that the kind of aid we offer is not what the people of Threshold might be thinking."

"That's so?" the mayor replies as he strokes his beard, "What is it, then?"

"Yes, well, before I tell you, I'd like to ask a question first. Am I correct in assuming that you are one of those who wish to see the beastmen gone from Thresford?"

"Hmph, of course I do! They're a bunch of scummy bastards who think they're above us!" he replies, his face contorting into anger again, "I was a respected mayor once, but it all went to shit ever since they selfishly moved here, without my permission."

I nod in understanding. It seems there are still some people who care about this town and want to protect it from the beastmen's influence. I then decide to join the conversation.

"I assure you sir, my assistant and I share your sentiment. In fact, the objective of our mission is to make sure the beastmen's tyranny over Threshold ends."

The mayor squints his eyes at me, his red and watery eyes staring at me in excitement. His yellow teeth gleam, showing a malicious grin as he clenches his fist.

"Really? Are you serious?! You really gonna kick those beasts' asses?!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, almost shouting again.

I quickly hold up a hand and say, "Sir, please. Contain your excitement, we really can't afford to be overheard. Besides, my assistant and I mostly function as scouts instead of executioners, so we can't promise anything yet. However, we want to gather info regarding the beastmen living in this town to report to the capital so that they may bring an appropriate response."

It seems my effort to calm him down is moot, as the mayor stands up from his armchair and starts pacing around. He is smiling widely like he has just won a lottery. He then grabs a bottle from his shelf, and starts chugging its contents. He loudly burps and sighs in satisfaction after drinking half of it down.

"Of course! Of course! Anything you want! Ask me any questions, I'll answer them all!" The mayor has a manic grin now. I'm a little taken aback by his behavior, honestly, as I've never mingled with people who act like this before. But, we need his help if we want to achieve our goal in this town, so I'll have to bear it for now.

"Thank you, mayor," I nod politely at him, "How about you tell me how all of this started? Since when did those beastmen occupy your town?"

"It started suddenly about 3 years ago. They just suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a big group, asking if they could relocate here. We refused them of course, like hell we were going to let those beasts live among us. Just because some of my citizens were foolish enough to do trades with them the year prior, they thought they would be welcome here. Hah! Fucking idiot barbarians! That's what they are!" the mayor rants, taking a swig of beer every few sentences, "My people used to be sane back then. We all banded together and shoo them off. But look at them now! They call me crazy for resisting those beasts till the bitter end!"

The story seems consistent with Akemi's entry in her diary that I read. The beastmen came here without any advanced notice and just assumed the people of Threshold would accept them as neighbors with open arms. I will have to ask more details on that one.

"And what happened after that?"

"Well, they refused to leave and set up camp near our town. And they just keep coming and coming in droves. By the time they stopped coming, their numbers were already greater than our own. Can you imagine that? A horde of beastmen, much stronger than ordinary men, larger in number than our own, just casually hanging out next to us?! We lived in fear of being attacked at any moment!"

Lillias gasps, "Did they actually attack the town?"

The mayor scoffs, "That might have been a better outcome. No, they didn't attack us directly. Instead, they fooled my people with their sweet act and promises of safety. And they ate it up, like the gullible idiots they are. Before I knew it, there's a sudden influx of beastmen living in my town!"

His rant seems to go on and on, and he gets more and more agitated as he talks. He's already on his second bottle now. I try to steer the conversation elsewhere to gain more information before he's too drunk to give anything credible.

"Can you tell me about Akemi? The one they call the priestess?"

"Oh, that fox bitch? Yeah, she's the worst out of all of them. She acts all high and mighty, calling herself a priestess and convincing everyone she's some great leader! I was the one running this town with a firm hand, dammit! Who gave that stuck up slut the right to take over?" the mayor complains, downing another gulp of his drink, "They're all under her control now. Like fucking mindless zombies they are, being told what to do. Do this, do that, whatever the fuck she says. Fuck them all, I say."

Ah, it's no good. He's almost too drunk to properly answer my question. Still, this is very important info. If what the mayor said is true, then the beastmen here are being controlled by Akemi with her status as a priestess. Although, that's a fact that I can use to my full advantage. Using her body, I can talk to the beastmen, or rather, command them, in her name. Purposely destroying Akemi's reputation crossed my mind once, but that seems to be a foolish action whose demerit outweighs the benefit. I'd rather use her body and position to gather intel for the kingdom and secretly sabotage the beastmen's nefarious deeds.

I am about to ask the mayor one more question, but Lillias holds my shoulder before I can. She shakes her head slowly when I look at her. In the short time while I muse on the information, the mayor has fallen asleep drunkenly on his chair, still mumbling nonsense under his breath. Well, that should be enough for now, I have enough information from him. Honestly, I'm glad it is over. Dealing with someone like him is kind of tiring, he's like a walking headache. I get up from my seat and nudge Lillias to do the same.

"Let's go, Lillias," I whispered, "let's continue our tour."

"Yes, Victor."