After closing the door, Eissen stepped up and eyed us suspiciously. First, he fixated on Tomar behind the desk, then briefly looked at me, and finally at Berla. He had an unusual glint in his eyes as he looked her up and down.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Lilly,” I said, trying to get his attention. He seemed reluctant to focus on me, but he finally pried his eyes away from Berla’s missing leg.
“I know,” he said emotionlessly. “You’re the reason my men decided to commit treason.”
He wasn’t wrong. When the guards in the main square decided to go with the flow and chose us over the previous administration, and even going as far as arresting them at my asking, they did kind of betray their king. With the citizens ready to throw him under the bus, however, and with all the guards who were already intrigued about the future we promised, it was no wonder they chose this path.
“Can you blame them?” I asked.
“I can, but it would be a pointless exercise with the level of support you’ve gathered.”
I had been fairly optimistic that most guards would be on our side, based on the reactions I had seen in the square and from what our guards Bren and Brie had been able to tell me about their colleagues’ opinions about us. It was nice to get confirmation though. Eissen sounded like he would’ve never betrayed his king, but he figured it would be pointless to stand against us. Apparently too many were on our side. If that was the case even among the guards, we would be on a good way. Had there been any issues though, Reurig would’ve naturally come back immediately to notify us, and we would’ve had to deal with it.
“I’ve heard about your fight with Grym,” Eissen continued. “Apparently it was impressive.”
A hint of frustration in his voice... It couldn’t have been good for morale that a strong guard lost to me in a fair fight. At least not among those who thought about standing up against us after the crowd dispersed.
“I’m not keen on violence,” I said, “but I couldn’t let him think that I would not be able to protect this town. A little demonstration was necessary.”
“I see. Have you fought a lot of people?” he asked, while briefly glancing at Tomar.
Guards didn’t typically train to fight humans, because it was rarely necessary. Not only was the major threat in this world the beasts, Fighters were also so strong that in most cases only other Fighters were able to keep up with them. As long as no guards went rogue, trying to take over the town or something, it was more important to practice how to fight beasts. Going by that logic, he might’ve assumed that we must’ve fought humans to gain enough experience to beat someone like Bren’s dad, and he certainly knew that Tomar had gone through a few guards to escape town.
“The gods have blessed me with abilities that allowed me to prevail, albeit my lack of experience. To be perfectly honest, I was impressed by Grym. He is very capable.”
The way he asked questions reminded me of our first encounter with Berla, and how she and Tomar had tried to get information out of each other. Maybe it was a coincidence, but Eissen seemed to be doing the same thing, to a point where I had to wonder whether Fighters were trained to interrogate people like this. I questioned the effectiveness of probing suspects for suspicious responses, but maybe that was just the first step. After all, Berla had given up pretty quickly back then. Captain Lera hadn’t been as accommodating back when we were in prison, but at that point we had already been “found guilty.” I’m not really in the mood to be interrogated though.
“I see. Say, what—” Eissen started, but I interrupted him.
“If I may, I’d like to quickly discuss a topic of importance with you, before this long day can come to an end.”
He looked at me with a bit of annoyance, but eventually nodded and said “Alright.”
“I’m well aware that not all guards are quite on board with the gods’ plans yet, and it’s only natural that you, the last line of defense for this town, are considering ways to drive away an unknown force.”
A hint of surprise and suspicion flickered across his face. Maybe it was my current outward appearance of an innocent, young woman, and a wannabe-priestess who didn’t know anything about the world, but he had apparently not thought that I was expecting at least a faction of the Fighters to be plotting to take us down.
“You are loyal, I can appreciate that,” I said, “but I also believe that you want what’s best for this town, and that’s us. You might not think so now, but I promise you, you will in the not so distant future. To get there, however, I will need the citizens’ support, and that includes you and your men.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Eissen listened patiently with a neutral expression. He was most definitely not on our side yet, and he didn’t appear like someone who would pivot easily, but on the other hand, he did listen to what I had to say, and he did seem to accept the majority decision of his men to stand with us.
“You have heard about my little match with Grym, so maybe you have heard about our bet as well. I asked him to give us six months if I won, to show everyone what we can do for this town. Just a few months, after which I’m certain that we will have convinced you. Or, in the unlikely case that does not come to pass, things will go back to how they were. I would like to ask you for this as well. What do you think?”
He stared at me for several seconds, seemingly thinking my words over. If Alarna still had its entire force, we would’ve never had such an easy time taking over. Even getting into town would’ve been trickier, as they would’ve had the men to guard every single entrance and street if they knew that we were coming. This lack of guards also meant that fighting us now would create a lot of problems. There was a new threat out there that the town had to prepare for, someone also had to travel to Cerus again, and Alarna still needed to be patrolled as well. If they could take us down and restore the status quo fast enough, there might be a chance to simply go back to the previous administration, but they couldn’t afford any drawn out fights right now. Not to mention that they couldn’t even be sure to be able to beat us. No guard or agent had been able to stop us so far after all.
“You’re still asking people to commit treason,” he finally said.
Is that your big argument? “Who are you really betraying? It’s the king’s job to keep this town and its people safe, and to see to its prosperity. That is his role. Say someone were able to do a better job at that, shouldn’t it be in everyone’s interest to change the leadership? Granted, the king might not yet see it like that, but he most of all should come to accept this decision of his people. For the good of Alarna. Because you are most certainly not betraying your hometown.”
I hoped he would see the logic in my argument and at least give us a chance. The guards were actually in a pretty unique situation, because even if the king got his power back one day, and even if he was out for revenge, he wouldn’t be able to seriously punish them. He would need them. Especially if you assumed that, with the divine messenger gone, the beasts might come back in full force. In a way, they would be able to give it a try without too many consequences. At least for the majority of them.
Eissen looked around the room once more, seemingly contemplating his options. “Six months?” he said after a few moments.
At that moment, I realized I had said six months to both Grym and Eissen, meaning to say half a year in earth time, but a year in this world had only eight months, so it would be more like three-quarters of a year. At the same time, days were shorter here, however, so that span of time would actually be less than half a year on earth. I guess I’m not entirely used to this date and time system yet... It would look weird to go back on that statement now though, and it should still be enough time.
“That’s right,” I said, confirming the six months.
“Very well, I will give you your time.”
That’s it? I thought. I had expected him to give me some kind of ultimatum for what would happen if I couldn’t deliver, or that he would try to negotiate for a shorter trial period, but he simply accepted. That was good, but it still weirded me out how easily these people were accepting us and our proposals.
“Thank you,” I said. “In that case, please keep doing what you’ve been doing and report to Reurig for now. We’ll meet again in a day or two to discuss in detail what we’re planning to change around here. Also, if you haven’t yet, please adjust the guard patrols, to focus on spotting beasts approaching the town, as these would most likely be the new kind.”
“Understood. I will take my leave then,” Eissen said. He threw one last glance at Berla before turning around and leaving the room without another word or waiting for me to say anything. Unlike Grym, he had not really shown me any respect, but as long as he listened and did his job, I didn’t care much. Those glances at Berla irked me for some reason though. What was that about? Maybe her history? Oh well, it doesn’t matter I guess.
As soon as Eissen had left, I sat down on the sofa again. As I leaned back and closed my eyes, I let out a sigh of relief. “Finally done for the day.”
“It won’t get better, you know?” Berla said from beside me. “I thought you knew that going into this.”
“Heh, yea. But I did say that I wouldn’t want to be the one at the top forever. Speaking of which... there is one more thing we should probably talk about.”
Lilana and I had discussed that she would take over the temple, but that she would stay in her lane and not actually try to rule over the town in any capacity, unlike the High Priest. She had no aspirations in that regard anyway, however, and mostly cared about the believers and Worshippers. Even if it might have in part been my prejudice against religions and gods, I didn’t believe that people should be ruled by a religious institution that made decisions based on beings, stories, and rules that were at the very least partially made up.
“What is it?” Berla asked.
I wanted to see a neutral leader at the helm. Ideally, they would trust us, but also be able to make good decisions on their own. They should be smart, know the town well, and their name should not be Tomar or Miles, so I wouldn’t have to bother with all of that. Naturally, Riala wasn’t an option, and Reurig wanted his freedom. That didn’t leave us with too many options. Luckily, I thought that the one remaining option was a very logical one, and not only because of recent revelations.
“Would you like to be queen?”
“... What!?”