As I entered the town hall I called out, “Anyone home?”
“Yes. Just come to my office.” The voice was high-pitched, like that of a songbird.
I walked up the wide set of stairs that split the town hall. Although impressive, they paled in comparison to those found in true bastions of humanity.
After cresting the stairs I was greeted by another pair of doors similar in style to those at the front of the building. I opened the door revealing a moderately sized office. In fact under further examination it was quite spacious. It only appeared cramped due to the sheer volume of bookshelves and organized piles of papers scattered across the floor.
But mostly it seemed cramped due to the large, impressive desk made of that same wood that was so prevalent within town. The desk was beautifully made out of one piece of lumber and must have been at least 10 feet long and 4 feet wide.
“Just a moment I gotta finish this report.”
The man who spoke looked to be in his early 30s, probably not much older than I. He had matte black dreads pulled into a bun. A set of thick, wire-frame glasses perched on his nose. He had a wiry frame, not from sickness or malnutrition but from a lack of exercise. This, complemented by his unblemished dark skin, told me that the man did not leave his office very often. Finally, the most shocking fact was his cultivation. He was in the 7th or 8th stage of the novice realm. But before I could ruminate on his lack of physical prowess and cultivation my thoughts were derailed.
Peering up from his desk the man quickly readjusted his glasses and spoke.
“Ohh… do I know you?”
“No, I would hope not; we've never met.”
I quickly walked over and offered my hand to the man. He took it and gave me a handshake.
“My name is Alexander. A letter should have come around a month or two ago hailing my arrival. I bought some land outside of town”
“Ohhhh…so sorry.” The man quickly stood out from his chair. “Yes, I did receive your letter. And sorry for forgetting -- things have been a little bit crazy around here.”
“Don't worry about it, life happens.”
The man, who had yet to tell me his name, walked over to one of many filing cabinets and started thumbing through it.
“Alexander…Alexander…Alexander. No,not you. I know I put you in here somewhere…ah there it is!”
The man triumphantly held up a letter, a seal and a map.
“Alexander, ok I need to see a seal from Baroness Luna, just to make sure you are in fact…you.”
I put the wolf down and then started to rummage through my bag
“Sorry if I'm being rude but I never caught your name?”
“Oh heavens! I forgot again -- Sarah's going to kill me if she finds out! Anyways, sorry for that. My name is Gilbert, Gilbert Longriver”
“Well Gilbert, nice to meet you and here you go.” I passed over the seal with Baroness Luna's crest along with a certificate of authentication for my land.
Gilbert took the seal. As he grabbed it I felt a small trickle of Mana from Gilbert. After a second or two the Mana entered the seal. Gilbert nodded and quickly double-checked my certificate.
“All right everything checks out. You just follow the map down the road and in a couple of miles, you'll come across your land. If you need anything just come by the Town Hall and I will either help you or get you to somebody who can.”
I grabbed the map. “Thanks.”
I started walking towards the door but before I could leave my foot bumped against the wolf carcass. I quickly weighed my options but decided to ask the mayor for help. If Akira spread the story of me and the wolf and the mayor didn't know I would probably be in some hot water.
“There might be one thing you can help me with…”
‘And what would that be?”
“**Cough** Just this…”
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With one arm I hoisted up the wolf's carcass and presented it to Gilbert.
“Well I can certainly take a…is that what I think it is?!”
Suddenly Gilbert's demeanor turned to ice.
“This had better be some sort of prank.”
“Oh no, he's the real deal: Blackfang in the flesh.”
I quickly gave a recap of how I “found” the wolf making sure to tell the same story to GIlbert as I had to Akira. After all, I didn't want any false trails to be spread from this.
“So, the problem really lies in the fact that I didn't kill him but I have the body and have no idea what to do with it.”
“I see. That is certainly a unique situation.”
After several minutes of silence, and several glances from both me and Gilbert to the wolf, Gilbert finally broke the silence.
“Okay, here's what we're going to do, Alexander. I'm going to take the wolf. I am going to send it to Whitecrest where Baroness Luna can look over the thing and verify that it is in fact Blackfang. Not that I doubt you, mind, but you can't be too careful. But as you give us, first, information and, second, the body of a thing, you will be rewarded.”
“Oh no; that's not necessary. I didn't really…”
“I would shut your fucking trap if you want the situation to blow over quietly.”
I was taken back by his comment but then quickly realized he was on to me.
“You may not have killed the thing, but you didn't just find it either. You're hiding something; now, that's none of my business, but whatever shit you're caught up in, keep it away from my town.”
There was another long minute of silence before I spoke.
“**Sigh** Sorry for how I came across. I don't mean to seem mysterious or elusive. And no, none of the shit I left behind will follow me here, I promise.”
“You’d best keep good on that. Anyways back to a reward…”
“Fine, fine.”
“First of all, if I could I would honor your request to forego a reward, but I'm bound to give an appropriate reward for services rendered to both the village and the province as a whole. So…” After slight pause he continued talking, “You will receive all of the land stretching from the edge of yours to the edge of the Barrier mountains to the North, West, and East .
“I can't accept…”
Before I could finish my sentence he cut me off.
“You ARE going to. You don't have a choice. It’s your land now, do with it as you please I don't care. You're taking it because otherwise this little lie that you told will become a much bigger problem.”
I mull over my options. I could press it but doing so would likely sour my already damaged relationship with Gilbert as well as probably get me nowhere. Although he could not do anything more substantial than a small amount of blackmail. He could almost certainly make my life more difficult.
“Very well.”
“Good. Second, we're going to pretend like this meeting never happened. What we're going to do is just say you bought all of that Land from the start. It will be a secret between me and you. And maybe the Baroness; it depends if she cares or not.”
“Fine fine.”
As Gilbert spoke he made quotation marks: “Does anybody else know that you ‘found’ Blackfang?”
I rubbed my hand against the back of my neck.
“Well old man Akira gave me a ride into town and…”
Under his breath Gilbert cursed. “Shit, that old bastard isn't going to give up that kind of information without a fight.”
My improved hearing definitely picked up something I wasn't supposed to. But I just filed it away for later and shut my trap like a good soldier.
“All right, thanks.”
Pushing the rim of his glasses up he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Now, if you would please get out of my office.”
I started to move towards the exit but stopped.
I turned to Gilbert and did a shallow bow. “Thank you. I know I didn't put an easy thing on your plate. I hope that we can put this behind us and have a positive relationship moving forward.
“**Sigh** It's fine; well, it's not, but yes, let's just start over.’”
“Alright.” And with a smile I closed the door behind me.
----------------------------------------
Gilbert was now alone in his office again. Running his hand through his hair he sat back down. The office was empty apart from Gilbert and his mountains of paperwork, he was left alone with his thoughts.
The man that had just exited his office was surprising in multiple ways. The most odd thing, and the thing that made Gilbert most wary of him, was his bearing. It was as if he had power behind every minute movement of his body. This of course indicated either someone of a politically important position or a cultivator.
He couldn't be a cultivator due to the fact that Gilbert detected very weak mana emanating from the man. This in turn might suggest some sort of noble lineage or high society functionary but this too did not track. He was straightforward and blunt and from all interactions did not look down upon him or the village. Additionally, a man of such a position would not dare to come to this barony.
And unless he was an excellent actor, which Gilbert doubted after his weak tale about Blackfang, then he was definitely not of noble birth.
Trying to figure out some sort of alternative, he pored over everything he knew of the man. Physically he was well built with a surprising amount of muscle underneath his baggy clothing. His hair and skin were both perfectly clear, which indicated some form of wealth. But his demeanor and clothing presented him as a normal man, likely in his early to mid-20s, probably not too much younger than Gilbert himself.
Gilbert began to search through his files, hoping they might yield some more information on the new arrival.
“All right, let's take a look. Alexander Snow, age 26, officially moving to the north of Rendfire purchased a large plot of land….”
Regrettably, Alexander's file ended there leaving Gilbert wanting more information on the strange man.
Gilbert looked out his window and across his village. As the sun began to disappear beyond the tall mountains he watched one man walk out of the village. It was small and sparsely populated, but it was his. Being mayor wasn't easy all of the time; in fact, at this very moment he wanted to pull his hair out. But it was rewarding seeing the people smile. It was the small things that mattered. He just hoped that he hadn't made an enemy of a powerful man.
“Alexander Snow, I hope you make good on your promise and you don't bring any shit you're involved into my village…”