Stirring The Pot

Chapter 184

I didn’t do a lot of walking normally, but I decided to stroll up to the Lepusan’s camp on foot. The evening was a pretty one, the sky clear as the sun set and the first hint of stars appeared. I arrived during a tense exchange and waited on the road, not wanting to intrude.

“Bet on it?” Gretch asked. She’d invited me and fully believed I’d come. Smart lady.

“Sure, whatever you want,” Artem said, agreeing to the bet.

I hadn’t been looking for a dramatic entrance, but when handed one, who was I to say no?

“The lady wins,” I called out.

When Gretch had invited me up to the camp, I’d thought it was for an informal hello. A chance to show my face to some of the Lepusan who I hadn’t seen yet. Going by the way they were all sitting around the fire and looking at me tensely, that clearly wasn’t what happened.

“How the fuck is someone your size that quiet!?” one of them demanded. I laughed at that, a snorting undignified kind of laugh.

“Very sorry, he’ll be punished,” Jalla offered.

“For what? It's fine,” I said, waving it off.

“That's kind of you,” Ban said, bowing a bit to me. I wasn’t the biggest fan of that. Not because of the gesture itself, just that it seemed to be something he only really did around me.

“I don’t enjoy being insulted or rude behavior, but you don’t need to tiptoe around me. That cuffing was punishment enough,” I offered. That got me looks of confusion.

I supposed that in a normal hierarchy a mayor was someone to be careful of. I wasn’t interested in using power for asinine reasons like ego, but they didn’t know that. It was something I’d have to prove through my actions rather than simply my words.

“Right, uhm… Thank you,” Ban said. He looked as awkward as I felt.

“So, you all have questions?” I asked.

“Well,” Ban hesitated. It seemed like they hadn’t had enough time to talk amongst themselves.

“We certainly do,” Artem said hotly, voice dripping with annoyance.

“Alright. I’m Deux, the mayor, who might you be?” I asked. He was one of the elders who I’d only seen at a distance when observing the encampment. He hadn’t come down into the valley even once. Introductions were in order.

“Artem,” Artem said stiffly. He stood up but still had to crane his neck to look me in the eyes properly. “I don’t trust you and it's foolish to stay here.”

I waited for a beat as a heavy silence descended in the wake of those words. Everyone around us seemed to hold their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

“Well, that was a statement, not a question. To reply, very well to your first point. We’ve only just met, it would be strange if you trusted me much. To the second, I disagree,” I offered. Pockets of laughter bubbled up at that before spreading. It didn’t last long, but there was a palpable relief of tension in the camp.

“That's not a real answer!” Artem said, visibly annoyed.

“You still haven’t asked a question,” Ban offered and the laughter renewed for a moment. Artem looked like he was going to say something, but Jalla tugged on his arm. He glared at her, but she glared back and he lost the staring contest after a moment and sat down.

“You planin to stop us if we go exploring the mountain?” one of the younger bucks called out. I hadn’t caught his name and as others sitting near him echoed the question I decided against asking.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“No, though I’m curious why it interests you,” I said honestly. I didn’t own all of it yet, but I was working on it. The parts nearest the valley were difficult to climb, and I planned to make them a bit more difficult once I did. I liked making sure the valley’s more natural looking defenses were top notch.

“None of your business,” Artem said sharply. Gretch gave him a thump on the arm with her stick.

“We want to find a way across, into the wilderness,” Attun said. I recalled the young buck having been rude to Henry, but he’d paid for it at the time. It also seemed like he’d taken the general lesson to heart. Artem shot him a glare but he didn’t seem to mind.

“That was a plan being discussed, for later,” Ban confirmed.

I mulled that over in my head for a moment. I honestly didn’t know much about the other side of the mountain myself.

“Well, I’m not saying you can't explore the mountain if you want to, but if it's just getting to the other side that interests you, there's a passage,” I admitted.

“Really?” Ban asked, clearly shocked.

“Yeah, that's where the farms we get most of the food for the valley are. We can grow some things here, but not that much honestly,” I explained. We could grow more in the valley than we should have been able to, but I hadn’t felt like pushing plausibility too far.

“I thought you used magic,” Tella said. The doe was too surprised to be nervous for a moment.

“It has limits,” I countered, but not unkindly. Interestingly most of the Lepusan I could see seemed rather relieved to hear that.

A murmur of conversation started up and I didn’t try to stop it or insert myself. They’d just learned some rather important things in a very short span.

“How much to do you know about it? The other side of the mountain I mean,” Ban asked.

“Not much. We’ve never encountered anyone who lives there that wasn’t a transplant from the valley. It's just forest as far as the eye can see beyond the farms and I don’t know how seriously to take the old maps,” I explained.

“Old maps?” Ban asked, clearly intrigued.

“They aren’t particularly accurate and call this mountain range the shield and the lands beyond it the demon kingdom,” I explained. No such map existed but it was true that the area was designated as such in the system.

All conversation died and Ban looked at me in wide eyed shock.

“The demon kingdom?” Ban asked.

“Like I said, I don’t know if they should be taken seriously,” I reminded him. I knew nothing much about demons other than they existed and Demon Lord had been a job choice open to me. They might be like any other people with shades of gray and normal objectives.

Demons might also be more like dungeon creatures serving their Demon Lord. Or some blend of the two. I really didn’t know and was reluctant to say more.

More murmuring went up and I just waited for the band to talk it out.

“If any of that is true, then show us the way through,” Artem demanded.

“In the morning I’ll gladly do so,” I offered. I could have taken them immediately using light stones to navigate, but it seemed like a bad idea to me. Having them wandering about in a strange place in the dark would invite trouble.

“Getting back to the main question. I’ve no objection to anyone leaving, though I’d suggest caution and that you bring more of your people with you,” I offered.

“Surviving on the run, this was a large group, but if you mean to settle in a foreign land you're going to need numbers,” I added.

It had been difficult for them, smaller groups were more agile and less resource intensive. Still, relocating somewhere undeveloped would require manpower. Even factoring that they were stronger than humans and could dig burrows, they likely would need more hands to really make a new settlement work in the long term.

“In the meantime, you're welcome here,” I finished. There was a drumming of feet in agreement or approval of that. Everyone started talking amongst themselves again, but the tone was different, more upbeat. Ban also left his spot and came over to me.

“I think we're going to need to discuss this for a while,” Ban said, casting an amused look at the rest of the band.

“Makes sense,” I replied, unbothered.

“May I walk you back?” Ban asked. I almost laughed, it was a nice gesture but I was pretty sure he just didn’t want me to add fuel to the fire with more unexpected revelations. I couldn’t blame him though, they already had a lot to think about.

“Certainly,” I agreed. The full moon was enough light to see by and the path was clear so we were making good time, but neither of us was in a hurry.

“Deux, about earlier, I actually don’t plan to go into the wilderness. Hari and I will be staying with Gretch,” Ban said after a while.

“You're welcome to do so,” I said. I wanted numbers but I’d have been lying if I said there weren’t Lepusan that I particularly wanted to stay. He was familiar and level headed in my experience.

“I thought you might say that, but I wanted to let you know,” Ban offered. We were coming up on the town proper.

“Noted, and here is good. I’ll be fine the rest of the way,” I said. I didn’t mind the walk but I’d be teleporting back to the dungeon once I was alone.

“Goodnight then, Deux, and thank you,” Ban said, giving me a small bow. I returned it and watched him head back up the path into the foothills. With a thought I was back in my palace of shadows and finally allowed myself a happy dance. I had confirmed residents.