SCENE: Inside of MELTY’s room. MYNE is sitting on MELTY’s bed. MELTY is sitting on the table that had been dragged pushed in between the bed and the room’s windows. Both are drinking wine. FULANA JEN is leaning against the door.
MYNE: When do you think Mother is coming back?
MELTY shrugs.
MELTY: In a month, two at most. She was already finishing up by the time I left.
MYNE shakes her head.
MYNE: That is going to be a nightmare. God, I still can’t believe she sent you over alone.
MELTY: What did you expect to happen? Her to ignore what you were doing? You weren’t exactly subtle.
MYNE: I expected her to read the writing on the wall and leave you well alone.
MELTY snorts.
MELTY: When had you ever seen our Mother bend the knee to someone else?
MYNE purses her lips and takes a sip of wine.
MYNE: You know I am right. What she did, it doesn’t make sense.
MELTY shrugs.
MELTY: You will have plenty of fun debating her when she comes back.
MYNE grimaces.
MYNE: That’s your forte, not mine - I have already been dreading it for the past week. It was bad enough in the capital before we left, but then we ran head first into these plants…
MYNE shakes her head.
MYNE: I just wanted to relax, and now we are stuck here.
MELTY: You’ve never told me about the count before.
MYNE: He is a very distant friend, if that, but he has - had, now - some of the best hunting grounds in Melromarc. I also didn’t expect…whatever is going on in his head now. He wasn’t so bad before.
MELTY: So if I sideline him from power, you wouldn’t object?
MYNE’s eyebrows rise.
MYNE: You? Starting a power play? Did someone switch out my sister?
MELTY kicks MYNE in the knee playfully.
MELTY: Answer the question, Myne.
MYNE: Sure, go ahead. It’s just… strange to see you do something this proactive.
MELTY raises an eyebrow.
MELTY: What is that supposed to mean?
MYNE shrugs, and sips her wine again.
MYNE: I thought you would try to get the count to conscript more troops, and then leave everything else to him.
MELTY: You know that wouldn’t be enough. It would risk the lives of the whole town.
MYNE: But not your own life, not as long as you have me and a couple Heroes to rely on. This is… very direct.
MELTY: I love to argue. How am I not a direct person?
MYNE: You argue up in the clouds, you don’t deal with people. At least you didn’t used to. I suppose crises change people.
MELTY sips her own glass.
MELTY: You didn’t use to try to coup our mother.
MYNE laughs.
MYNE: Coup? Please.
MELTY: Whatever you want to call it.
MYNE: Definitely not that. Well, I like the new you, sister.
MELTY: Mmm, don’t be so hasty. I want to arm the demihumans too.
MYNE scowls.
MYNE: What?!
MELTY: Oh you heard me fine.
MYNE: Why would you want to do something like that?!
MYNE narrows her eyes.
MYNE: Did that Shield “Hero” put this nonsense in your head?
MELTY snorts.
MELTY: This “nonsense” is in my head because it makes sense. We need every person who can hold a weapon we can get - human, demihuman, trained filofial, I don’t care.
MYNE folds her hands on her chest.
MYNE: Plenty of humans to go around.
MELTY: And when we run out of them? Trying to draw lines here would be the worst kind of half-measure.
MYNE: Half-measure? You give weapons to demis, they will stab you in the stomach, turn around on the spot and flee into the forest!
MELTY: Now who doesn’t want to deal with people.
MYNE: What does that have to do with anything?!
MELTY purses her lips.
MELTY: Everything? Demihumans are people, they are moved by the same things as all the rest, best as I can tell. They wouldn’t flee for no reason, and Naofumi has a plan for how to organize them.
MYNE: You actually trust that man?
MELTY: When it comes to demihumans, yes. Not in general.
MYNE: Melty please, listen to me, you can’t -
MELTY: I can’t?
MELTY scowls slightly, exhaling slowly through her clenched teeth.
MELTY: I am so tired of this. Every fucking time there is a simple, correct solution up on the table some nonsense always comes up and makes people go off track. It happened in the capital, it happened with Naofumi, and now it’s happening with you. Why can’t you just see that I am right? I know you are intelligent, unlike the count. Is it that this is too sudden?
MYNE looks away. MELTY downs her glass in one go, and slams it down on the table.
MELTY: You said I don’t deal with people, and you know what? You are right. I don’t want to. I wanted to stay in Faubrey. But mother came, twisted my hand and sent me over here to deal with your soft coup. But now I am here, and I swear to God I will drag all of you to the finish line if that’s what it takes.
MELTY points at MYNE with her finger. MYNE is still looking away.
MELTY: We need the demihumans. This is a fact. Naofumi and Fredalia have a plan for how to get them on our side. That is another fact. They are good at what they do - good enough to keep me alive, despite the assassins. This is a third fact. It’s time to open both of our eyes and really look at the problems ahead of us - and the ways to solve them - as opposed to shutting down, hoping for the best, and running head first to our doom.
MELTY reaches for her glass without looking at it and brings it to her lips only to find it empty. She frowns in disappointment, puts it back down, and reaches for the bottle to refill it. She waits quietly for MYNE to answer. Finally, MYNE sighs.
MYNE: I am sorry that mother sent you here.
MELTY: What is done is done.
MYNE sighs, stands up and paces around the room. MELTY watches her carefully.
MYNE: Do you not blame her for it?
MELTY: It’s irrelevant what I think. And besides, she isn’t here.
MYNE looks at MELTY.
MYNE: You really have changed.
MELTY: Crises change people.
MYNE: I don’t know. This is a lot. It’s like you are a different person entirely.
MYNE looks towards the door.
MYNE: It’s late. I need to get to sleep.
MELTY: Hey, wait.
MELTY hops off the table and strolls over to MYNE, offering her a hug. MYNE is notably more distant than last time.
MELTY: You know that even if I am harsh, you are still my sister, right?
MYNE sighs.
MYNE: I don’t feel like a very good sister.
MELTY pats her on the back.
MELTY: Come now, don’t be like that.
They hold the hug for a bit, then MYNE separates and heads for the door. FULANA JEN steps aside, and MYNE pauses with her hand on the door handle.
MYNE: This is a mistake, Melty, but I guess it’s not really my place to talk about that. I’ll support you.
MELTY: Thank you.
MYNE opens the door.
MELTY: Oh, I almost forgot.
MYNE: Yes?
MYNE gives MELTY a tired look. MELTY fingers the folded piece of paper within her pocket, but doesn’t take it out. She smiles at MYNE.
MELTY: Nevermind, it’s nothing important. Go get some sleep.
----------------------------------------
SCENE: MELTY enters a room similar to her own, carrying a stack of papers and an inkwell. NAOFUMI and RAPHTALIA are sleeping on the wide bed under separate blankets. CONSTANCE has her revolver disassembled on the table, cleaning it. FILO has turned the curtains on a window into a crude hammock, and is sleeping there. As MELTY enters the room, FILO raises her head and opens one of her eyes blearily.
MELTY: You are all asleep already?
CONSTANCE: We figured we should catch up on sleep while we still can. I was going to do the same as soon as I was done cleaning.
MELTY: Bad time for it, we need to act now. Let’s wake them up.
MELTY and CONSTANCE wake the others up. RAPHTALIA is the first to open her eyes, and yawns widely.
RAPHTALIA: Why does the specter of monarchism haunt our bedroom?
MELTY: I want to talk strategy.
RAPHTALIA: Strategic sleep deprivation…
MELTY tries to pull the blanket away from RAPHTALIA, but loses the fight. NAOFUMI quickly dresses. CONSTANCE reassembles her revolver, slotting a small bottle into the handle. RAPHTALIA remains sitting on the bed, wrapped in her blanket, fighting to keep her eyes open.
RAPHTALIA: Is there a reason why this couldn’t wait until morning? We’ve been on our feet for a good forty hours.
MELTY: I want you to go and pick a fight with the guards.
FILO raises her head from her nest curiously. NAOFUMI and CONSTANCE throw MELTY a confused glance. RAPHTALIA opens her eyes fully, frowns, and pinches herself.
RAPHTALIA: Say that again? I could swear you just said -
MELTY: That I want you to get into a fight with the guards?
RAPHTALIA: Yeah, that. Except you would never say that, so I must still be dreaming.
MELTY snorts dismissively.
MELTY: Adorable, but at least it woke you up. There is a strategic reason for it, but we’ll get to it later.
MELTY motions to CONSTANCE, and together they bring the table over to the bed, spreading the documents MELTY brought on it.
MELTY: I don’t know how the count will react to what I said during our dinner today, but there is a good chance he took it personally. Ideally, I want him blindsided, defanged, marginalized as far as is feasible and with us in full control of the situation before he knows what happened.
CONSTANCE: That’s quite a change from your earlier position.
MELTY: You and Naofumi can celebrate changing my mind in your free time.
RAPHTALIA edges her way closer to the table, and the others take their places around it.
MELTY: Myne told me that the count goes to bed early and rises late. This means we have this evening and tomorrow morning to get ahead of him. Our biggest problem is that we are relative unknowns in this town: even I am not recognised on sight. We’ll need to find a way to manufacture a fracture point between the count and the rest of the town, and then use that to leverage his forces away from him, and I think making ourselves seem like a competent and disciplined force in contrast to the count’s guard would be a key part of it.
RAPHTALIA: Which somehow involves me punching guards in the face?
MELTY: Yes. Be patient.
MELTY turns to NAOFUMI.
MELTY: How quickly can you train demihumans into a combat force?
NAOFUMI shrugs.
NAOFUMI: Hard to say until we try. Those plant monsters were pretty high level, and they are easy to find here - at a guess, I would say we could pull between four and eight demihumans per hour to level eight, which is about where the local guards are right now.
MELTY nods and turns back to RAPHTALIA.
MELTY: The guards defend the walls in shifts, and from what Myne told me, the next shift tends to stay in that Seven Soldiers tavern you told me about. If they were to be beaten up and couldn’t do their jobs, then the rest - and the count specifically - would be forced to accept help from the demihumans we would train up at the same time.
NAOFUMI: Assuming he is rational, which you know for a fact he is not.
MELTY: It’s irrelevant what he personally decides. If he tries to sacrifice the town on the altar of his own ego, then I couldn’t ask for a better fracture point between him and his people. They have families here, and it’s their own lives at stake - even the strongest oaths are shaken in the face of suicidal risk. Wherever he plays to our tune or against it, we win.
NAOFUMI: You seriously want to sabotage the town’s defenses like this? Didn’t you shout at me a mere day ago about doing the very same thing?
RAPHTALIA: I don’t know Naofumi, I think she has a point with this punching guards thing. Maybe monarchs aren’t so bad after all.
FILO: Yeah, it sounds very smart, we should definitely do it.
NAOFUMI smacks RAPHTALIA on the back of the head, and she cackles at him. MELTY crosses her arms.
MELTY: It would be temporary, for a day at most if the rate of training you claim turns out to be correct. Short term sacrifices are necessary in the face of greater strategic goals: if our forces could be seen as an active part of the town defense - or better yet, if they could reconquer a part of the town from the plants - then it would all be worthwhile.
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NAOFUMI shrugs. CONSTANCE leans against one of the bedposts, frowning in thought.
CONSTANCE: You would need to do it carefully, so that they do not simply put the blame on us for it. I assume you thought this through?
MELTY nods, and takes out a recording orb from her bag, and hands it to RAPHTALIA. RAPHTALIA raises an eyebrow at her.
RAPHTALIA: Do you just bring these with you everywhere you go?
MELTY rolls her eyes.
MELTY: Yes, obviously, I use them to record experiments. Here is my plan: you’ll use this orb to quickly go around the town’s border together with Filo, filming the current conditions of the barricades. Then, you’ll “forget” to turn it off, and visit this “Seven Soldiers” tavern for a drink, where you’ll end up in a bar fight. This orb does not record sound, so as long as the recording doesn’t show you making the first swing, it will give me the footage to work with. I’ll spin it into a story about how the count guards are so weak and cowardly from the count’s mismanagement that they first started and then lost a fight with two women - I trust that you would win?
RAPHTALIA nods.
RAPHTALIA: So I get to beat up as many racists as I want? It’s like you are giving me a present.
CONSTANCE: Is Myne aware of your plans?
MELTY: I kept her away from the details, but she knows we’ll be going against the count and training demihumans. She isn’t happy but she won’t interfere - she wants to be done with this as soon as possible.
CONSTANCE: That is good. How about Motoyasu? With him on our side, our position would be a lot stronger.
MELTY: He is still not back from his hunt. Myne said he had been trying to destroy the giant plant stalks in the town all on his own - to no real effect, as we can see.
NAOFUMI scratches his head.
NAOFUMI: It’s not…the worst idea, I suppose.
RAPHTALIA leans forwards, looking at NAOFUMI.
RAPHTALIA: And, if like you say the fascists base their ideology on feeling superior to demihumans, then seeing me and Filo beat these “warriors” up would crack this idea in half, right? Surely it would start to pull the other townsfolk away from the count.
NAOFUMI grimaces.
NAOFUMI: Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Predicting the reactions of people is all but impossible without knowing more about the situation, which we don’t. There is a significant risk of blowback, worsening the tensions between the humans and demihumans instead, with the guards rallying around the count.
MELTY: You don’t like the plan. Do you have better thoughts?
NAOFUMI’s grimace widens.
NAOFUMI: I don’t have thoughts because I barely know anything about the situation. Guessing an ideology is one thing, but organizing a schism amongst a community? That takes local knowledge, talking to people, in other words time which we haven’t spent. We don’t even have a sociogram, for crying out loud.
RAPHTALIA: What’s a sociogram?
NAOFUMI: Diagram of social relationships. Who talks to whom and how, who follows whose orders, where do they meet, whatever. It’s useful for planning organizing, and for making sure you know what you know and what you don’t. But to make one you need a lot of talks with people. Raphtalia and Fredalia talked to some of the demihuman community, but if you want to create a schism among the guards then you should be talking to the guards, and none of us have done that yet.
MELTY: We don’t have the time for that - neither the plants nor the count will give us the luxury of moving slowly.
NAOFUMI shrugs.
NAOFUMI: All I am saying is that we can’t know. This means we can’t predict the consequences of this direct action, and that’s the bad kind of unpredictability to have when doing an organizing campaign. It would instantly put us on the radar of the count while the benefits remain uncertain - generally, you want to remain concealed for as long as possible.
NAOFUMI looks at the others.
NAOFUMI: But no, I don’t have a better plan, given our time constraints. At least it would break up the efforts of the guards to organize against us, if most of them will be busy on the front lines and the rest won’t have a good and safe central point for meet ups.
MELTY: So you overall agree?
NAOFUMI shrugs.
NAOFUMI: I suppose. You are right that it may be worse to let the count get ahead of us on this. We would need to start asking demihumans which humans we can bring on board quickly, but otherwise, it’s a path forwards.
A couple seconds pass in silence. CONSTANCE turns to MELTY.
CONSTANCE: Out of curiosity, how do you plan to frame this demihuman recruitment drive from a legal perspective? You don’t have power of conscription within Dornuromarc, and slaves cannot be conscripted in any case.
MELTY: The only ones in this town with enough knowledge about the relevant laws to even have an opinion on this topic are me, you and Myne, as well as the count, whose opinion is irrelevant.
CONSTANCE: Of course, but I am thinking long term. When we go back to Melromarc, what do you want the legal story to be?
MELTY sighs and fixes her hair.
MELTY: Fine. As the chairlady of the Grand Council I have decided this situation is covered by section seven of the wave defense act, which allows me to requisition property within an active crisis zone for the duration of the crisis, which of course includes the slaves. That they would stop being slaves after the fact is, from my perspective, completely irrelevant, it’s no different to a wooden wall that needed to be broken in the fighting. It’s not perfect, but it will hold up to casual scrutiny, and by the time more than casual scrutiny arrives I will have something else in place. Forming them into combat units falls under section 5.
CONSTANCE raises an eyebrow.
CONSTANCE: The…collective forces provision? It’s intended for donating personal ducal forces for specific operations, not for conscripting new ones.
MELTY gives her a smug grin.
MELTY: I am not conscripting anyone. I am helping some people form volunteer mercenary companies, who then voluntarily agree to join the wave defense forces, which just happen to fall under my command.
MELTY throws a glance at NAOFUMI.
MELTY: Thank you for distracting the other dukes with the nonsense about wherever slaves should be counted as people, by the way.
RAPHTALIA: Nonsense?
MELTY sighs exasperatedly.
MELTY: You know what I mean. They’ve spent so much time bickering over the money that they have entirely missed the fact that I wrote myself a blank check to expand the forces under my command as much as I want, bypassing all limitations and reporting requirements put on me as a duchess of Melromarc, ones meant to keep individual ducal forces mostly on par. With how patchy their agent networks are right now, it will be months before they catch the first signs of my plans. Admittedly I didn’t expect to be starting with demihumans, but soldiers are soldiers.
NAOFUMI: You planned this?
MELTY: If Melromarc is to become more centralized, then the dukes’ hands would have had to be twisted sooner or later.
NAOFUMI: You could have at least told us about it.
MELTY scowls at NAOFUMI.
MELTY: You could have told me about the murders.
CONSTANCE puts her arms in between them.
CONSTANCE: Come now, there is no need to re-litigate this. I think we have more or less settled on a plan?
MELTY, NAOFUMI and RAPHTALIA nod.
MELTY: To summarize. Raph, you and Filo will go to the Seven Soldiers. Meanwhile, me and Naofumi will go visit the demihumans and tell them we’ll be freeing all of them conditional on being conscripted for the duration of this crisis.
CONSTANCE: They already expect something of that nature, after we talked to them.
MELTY: I assume me confirming they will be free has to count for something.
RAPHTALIA: Less than you think. Why would they trust your word?
MELTY purses her lips.
MELTY: I will do it, and if it turns out to be worth nothing, then so be it. Finally, Fredalia, you and Fulana will begin gathering more information. I think finding the financial books for the estate would be a good first step -
CONSTANCE reaches into her bag and tosses several thick books on the table.
CONSTANCE: Already have them.
MELTY gives her a questioning look.
RAPHTALIA: I nicked them while you two were having dinner.
MELTY nods. With a groan, RAPHTALIA falls out of her bed and begins dressing up. MELTY waits until she is at the door before opening her mouth again.
MELTY: Oh, and one more thing.
NAOFUMI: Which is?
MELTY leans against the side of a window.
MELTY: Oh, you aren’t going to like it. We talked about fracture points when it comes to the guards, but the same principle applies on a country-wide scale. Specifically, I want a ten year moratorium on you attacking any slavers in the south.
RAPHTALIA snorts and turns towards the doors. CONSTANCE looks thoughtful.
RAPHTALIA: No, we told you already. It’s ridiculous to ask this.
MELTY: It’s necessary, is what it is. You have no broader strategic picture to strive towards, and that is starting to hamper your planning.
NAOFUMI: We don’t have it because strategy can’t be developed in a vacuum, isolated from the question of what kinds of resources you have access to. Our numbers are simply not that high, and until very recently we were still dealing with very basic organizational questions, like where to get finances.
MELTY: It’s time to start thinking of it then, especially if you want my support! People will notice you going around freeing the slaves eventually - really, it’s a miracle they do not suspect you already. I can spin it into a story about the incompetence of the northern slaveholders, but only if such a story isn’t undermined by southerners dropping dead at the same rates. Your only alternative would be to fight the entire country at once.
RAPHTALIA: Then we’ll fight the whole country?
MELTY rolls her eyes.
MELTY: Idealistic blindness. Divide and conquer is a basic cornerstone of strategic thinking, ignoring it isn’t righteous, it is stupid.
RAPHTALIA: It’s only stupid if what you want is troops for your “centralisation”, as opposed to freeing people.
MELTY shakes her head sadly.
NAOFUMI: How do you imagine this working? We do not control the demihumans of this country. If some of them in the south shank their slaveholder, will you consider this a breach on our part?
MELTY: They will hardly vanish without a trace without your involvement.
NAOFUMI: They just might, if another hero helps them. I can’t know how the others would react to a situation of that nature, but neither of the three is truly pro-slavery.
MELTY: Perhaps. In any case, what I want is for you to agree with the blindingly obvious fact that this is necessary, not for you to give me a throwaway verbal agreement.
NAOFUMI: And that’s all you want? Just no - well really, just less - violence in the south? We’ll still train demihumans, still get to spread class consciousness?
MELTY: I want to sound out your opinions on strategy in general, but this seemed like quite a sticking point.
CONSTANCE: There is good sense in it.
RAPHTALIA turns to CONSTANCE with a betrayed look on her face.
RAPHTALIA: You are seriously considering this? She obviously just wants to take us for a ride.
CONSTANCE shrugs and sighs.
CONSTANCE: Raphtalia, I am old. I’ve never expected to be here, doing what we are doing. It is good, but the scope of our task is massive, and I have to ask myself wherever I will live long enough to see the end of it. Melty’s plan of building up demihuman power through the wave defense forces… It wasn’t my idea of how to do it, and I don’t think it was Naofumi’s, but if this is what Melty needs to help us, then I wouldn’t stand on principle.
RAPHTALIA: You want to compromise on this? On letting slavers go?
CONSTANCE: I suppose you could call it that, but what are we really compromising? We will have our hands full with the north as it is. Ten years will pass in a blink of an eye. Of course, in return I trust that Melty would keep some of Naofumi’s more radical ideas hidden, especially from Myne and her Majesty?
MELTY shrugs.
MELTY: There is no point in revealing them.
RAPHTALIA turns to NAOFUMI, looking for support. NAOFUMI scratches his chin.
NAOFUMI: If it’s a strategic question of trying to keep factions of nobility fighting each other until we have enough power to make them irrelevant, then I don’t see a big problem. Such an agreement could obviously be cut short if the situation changes.
RAPHTALIA: Oh come on, really? You too? You won’t have a movement left by the time she’ll be done with it!
FILO: Nah, Melty’s fine.
MELTY throws a surprised glance at FILO, before looking back at RAPHTALIA. NAOFUMI scratches his head.
NAOFUMI: Far be it for me to say there is no precedent for that happening, but I don’t see an immediate danger. At worst, we’ll need to make sure Melty doesn’t sweet talk our people into starting to outright support monarchy with her liberal stance on slavery.
RAPHTALIA is fuming.
MELTY: It seems that your compatriots don’t agree with your enmity towards me.
RAPHTALIA: And if I don’t agree with them?
MELTY shrugs, looking straight at RAPHTALIA.
MELTY: Then you might as well kill me right now. I came here so we could settle on a broad strategy and cut off the recent mutual sabotage at the root. If we can’t even agree on something this simple, then we would inevitably come to blows in the future, and we might as well save the time.
MELTY fixes her hair casually.
MELTY: Of course if you do that, then Fulana Jen is under orders to deliver a letter I wrote outlining everything I know to Myne, my mother, every other hero, as well as to the heads of every known government on the continent. She is very good at staying hidden when she needs to, so I doubt you could find her. But perhaps you are willing to risk it.
RAPHTALIA narrows her eyes.
RAPHTALIA: So you are threatening us?
MELTY: I do no such thing. My argument makes perfect sense, and your compatriots agree. But recent events have taught me not to underestimate the depths of human idiocy, so I thought it prudent to prepare a countermeasure.
RAPHTALIA closes her eyes and breathes in deeply.
RAPHTALIA: Fine, I can see when I am outvoted. Come on, Filo. I need a drink.
RAPHTALIA and FILO leave the room.
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SCENE: Tavern. All the CUSTOMERS in the tavern are humans, sitting around, drinking and talking. Many are recently wounded, with visible bandages, as well as an occasional crutch or a hand stump. Most of the CUSTOMERS look quite richly dressed for the townsfolk, but a good third appear in much cheaper clothes. Light music is being played by a BARD with a guitar. In one corner of the tavern, several CUSTOMERS are playing cards. INNKEEPER is busy behind the counter, pouring drinks and cleaning cutlery.
Singing can be heard from outside the tavern, getting louder. Suddenly the door to the tavern bangs open, revealing RAPHTALIA and FILO. RAPHTALIA’s leg is raised: she has clearly kicked the door in. They are supporting each other with one arm over the shoulders of each other, singing “The Preacher and the Slave” together. RAPHTALIA doesn’t have her sword with her.
The door bounces off the wall on the side and rebounds, closing in RAPHTALIA’s face. RAPHTALIA curses from behind the door and kicks it in again, harder. The door bangs open and hits the wall hard enough to crack one of the door hinges. It remains open as RAPHTALIA and FILO march inside, singing.
Music in the tavern stops. Everyone looks at the doors.
RAPHTALIA’s gaze sweeps the tavern, and she and FILO march over to the tavern counter and plop down on chairs right in front of the INNKEEPER. INNKEEPER is openly scowling at them. FILO leans over to the INNKEEPER.
FILO: A pint of beer for me and Raph, will you?
INNKEEPER: This ain’t the place for ya’ll. Clean out ‘fore I throw you out!
RAPHTALIA frowns theatrically.
RAPHTALIA: Oh yeah? How so?
INNKEEPER reaches behind the counter and slams a large bat down on the counter.
INNKEEPER: We don’t serve no demis. Fuck off to the pigstry where you belong.
RAPHTALIA laughs. Several other CUSTOMERS reach for various weapons, and otherwise shift around aggressively. A large MAN behind RAPHTALIA and FILO stands up and approaches them slowly.
RAPHTALIA: You don’t serve demihumans? But there are so many demihumans in here!
INNKEEPER: The fuck are you on about?
RAPHTALIA turns away from the INNKEEPER and starts pointing at random CUSTOMERS. As she does this, her other hand grabs a cleaning rag left on the counter by the INNKEEPER.
RAPHTALIA: Well look, there, there, there, and there -
RAPHTALIA turns back to the INNKEEPER.
RAPHTALIA: In fact, even you! All I see around me are just pig demihumans.
INNKEEPER’s eye twitches in rage and she grabs the bat, swinging it at RAPHTALIA. MAN behind RAPHTALIA and FILO jumps at them.
INNKEEPER: You whore!
RAPHTALIA leans back just enough that the bat passes in front of her face, and blindly whips the cleaning rag behind herself, hitting the MAN in the eyes. FILO hooks one of her legs under the bar stool she was sitting on and, in one smooth motion, swings it around in a wide arc, hitting the MAN in the back of the head. RAPHTALIA steps aside as the knocked out MAN flies over the counter and into the face of the INNKEEPER, knocking her off her feet. FILO cheers loudly.
FILO: Bar fight!
Chaotic bar fight begins.
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SCENE: The bar after the bar fight. Tables are overturned, chairs are broken, bottles are smashed. CUSTOMERS are laying all over the place, groaning in pain. INNKEEPER is laying in the middle of the room, clutching their bruised head with both hands.
In one corner of the bar, FILO is leaning over a CUSTOMER who is clutching a broken arm. FILO looks ruffled and with scrapes here and there, but otherwise unharmed. A dagger is stuck into the table right beside them. FILO has one foot pressed against the CUSTOMER’s hurt shoulder. She punctuates her speech by leaning a bit more on the shoulder with each word, and CUSTOMER winces each time.
FILO: Who pulls out a dagger during a bar fight? You don’t do that, got it?
RAPHTALIA is holding a bottle of wine to a large bruise she has under her eye. She grabs a chair from the floor with her other hand and approaches the door. She closes it, and lodges the chair under the handle, keeping it closed. She looks over the fallen CUSTOMERS, then picks up a second chair and drags it over to the INNKEEPER, sitting down on it backwards.
RAPHTALIA: I really needed this, thanks for allowing me to let the steam off. Where were we? Right, you were telling me how you aren’t demihuman.
INNKEEPER: Fuck you.
RAPHTALIA: What? Just because you don’t look it, that doesn’t mean anything. You could just be halfbloods.
INNKEEPER closes her eyes, trying to block RAPHTALIA out. RAPHTALIA scratches her head.
RAPHTALIA: Don’t you guys say you are the purest crop of the human race, inborn warriors, or some such bullshit? Why are you all so weak then? Entire bar can’t beat up two women?
INNKEEPER: Wait until we catch you in an alley, we’ll show you weak!
RAPHTALIA: Trust me, that would go way worse for you. Maybe it’s not inborn, but inbred? Eh, whatever.
RAPHTALIA leans forwards over the back of her chair.
RAPHTALIA: Alright, just answer me this one question, and we’ll leave you lot alone.
INNKEEPER stares at RAPHTALIA with an eye full of hatred.
INNKEEPER: What?
RAPHTALIA leans down from her chair, talking in a stage whisper, loudly enough that the entire tavern can hear her.
RAPHTALIA: If you ain’t demihuman, why aren’t you in the castle?
INNKEEPER’s stare changes to one of confusion.
INNKEEPER: What?
RAPHTALIA: That big, stone building, middle of the town? You know, when those plant creatures break through your barricades, they won’t look at what kind of ears you have, they will just go for your throat. And you all live about as far away from the barricades as we demihumans do. The only ones that’d be safer are those in the castle, under that magic dome - your lord, his personal guards and the princess. If you live in the same pigstry as the pigs, doesn’t that make you a pig? If you will die together with demihumans, doesn’t that make you demihuman?
RAPHTALIA scratches her chin.
RAPHTALIA: In fact, I also sleep in the castle. And I am stronger than you, more of a “warrior”. Doesn’t that make me more “human” than you are? Perhaps you should be the one bringing me slippers.
RAPHTALIA glances down at the INNKEPER. INNKEEPER is clearly befuddled.
RAPHTALIA: Bah, you are probably too contused to answer this. Well, whatever, my goal wasn’t to convince you personally.
RAPHTALIA gets up and motions to FILO.
RAPHTALIA: Since we’ve established there is no real difference between any of you and demihumans, I guess you only have two paths from here. You can either decide that demihumans are worthless animals, and thus you are a worthless animal, and I dunno, sell yourself into slavery. Or you can decide that you aren't worthless, and then maybe we could fight together to protect each other.
RAPHTALIA turns around at the door.
RAPHTALIA: Ultimately, I don't really care what any of you decide, as long as you don't get in our way. If you want, you can even keep whining about how you are the master race, in which case I guess we'll just keep punching your faces in. But think it over, eh?
RAPHTALIA and FILO leave the bar.
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
NAOFUMI IWATANI, THE SHIELD HERO. One of the socialists. Protagonist. Suspected traitor to the revolution.
PRINCESS MELTY Q. MELROMAC. First heir to the throne of Melromarc. Mad and active. Suspected traitor to the revolution.
PRINCESS MYNE Q. MELROMARC. Second heir to the throne of Melromarc.
RAPHTALIA. One of the socialists. Novice bar preacher. Suspected traitor to the revolution.
CONSTANCE VON MARUKIEVICH / FREDALIA. Secretly demihuman. Suspected traitor to the revolution.
FILO. Experienced bar fighter. Antifa is fully armed. The only 100% pure socialist.
FULANA JEN, SHADOW. Head of MELTY’s SHADOWs. Secret service.