Chapter 142
A New Boss, A New Beginning
The night on the day of the sudden end of Mayor Hordin’s tyranny, the town slept. Giddy and uncertain of what the new boss of the place may bring.
On the larger scale of things, however, it was an event unworthy of note. Safe for the one who oversaw the whole thing.
Up upon the top of the Belltower for the local Junnaveil church, Henri-Artur Pelletier watched the town breathe with a sardonic smile.
“Ah, I see that this girl is not the type for subtlety. From how Sid described her, I thought she’s going to take it slow,” she spoke with a playful voice. “Instead, she made a spectacle of it. Taking over the Towns’ Guards and taking down the Mayor within a day. Not something sane men would do.”
The Laughing Beast. Le Fou. Unlike the other four of her fellows, her title inspired little understanding of what she does. But she understood that to be a Fool, one must be smarter than others. To dance the line between the hearts of men without being affected by them.
For a Fool is a fool not because she achieves her goal by being powerful. She achieves her goal by nudging things along. Love and hate. Pity and arrogance. These were her playthings. “But this girl is not someone to be taken lightly. She is a sword that cuts both ways.”
She walked across the roof with great poise and balance, shedding off the coat that she was wearing. She raised her arms and spoke with a language foreign to Grea.
“Vous! Qui souillez par le sang le visage de Junnaveil!! Quelle arrogance! Quelle impitoyable!!” She then paused, her gaze turning towards the direction of the moon. “This is why I cannot stop loving this world! Both its beauty and its ugliness!
She jumped into the air and landed lightly on the edge of the roof, her back arched like a cat. “But the play is not yet done, Hero Killer. The wolf is there, still among the flock of sheep. What will you do next?”
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The next morning, Connie woke up lazily, awakened by the morning sun. She had no taste for the gaudy mess that was Hordin’s mansion and chose instead to be hosted by Harrison – who, with great confusion and pride – hosted her and her companions as much as he could.
Harrison’s companion, Lydia, a single mother of two, was a great woman with a vivacious personality and would never let anyone in her house without proper feeding. Connie could still feel last night’s kidney pie still stuck in her ribs.
Illumca helped her wash up before she took her breakfast, a serving of porridge and bacon, fried to perfect crisps. And thick sausages bursting with fat and blood. Heavy enough to last her through the day.
She was in a great mood until Harrison came from the door, saluted, and spoke. “The preparations are done, Your Ladyship. The townspeople are waiting for you to make the official announcement as you ordered.”
Connie stabbed her fork into the sausage and took a large bite. It was something she needed to do, to give clarity to the people. That did not mean she had to like it.
“Gah, politics.”
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In the town square, hardly half of the townspeople were gathered in front of a makeshift stage that had been prepared for just the occasion. Akula was very handy with her hands and was able to finish the foundation within half a day. Of course, being able to lift heavy wooden logs alone was something of an advantage.
Connie took the stage and introduced herself formally as the Lady of Arlaine. The townspeople, in return, gave her a lukewarm response.
Martell could smell the uncertainty coming off the townspeople. The distrust and fear that had been sown by the tyranny of the former Mayor and the Town’s Guards had sunk deep into their minds. To them, even a change of their ruler would not change a thing.
Connie too could sense this. She wanted to give them a speech about what she was going to do, about how things were going to change with her here.
No, these people are too spent. Too spent and tired. She pondered for a bit and smirked. Alright, change of plans.
Connie shed off her robe and threw it at Illumca, who was standing next to the stage. She grabbed it mid-air and wondered what she was going to do.
And then, Connie flew.
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With one step, Connie leaped into the air and descended in the middle of the people, who quickly gave her a wide berth. Creating a circle about three meters wide with her in the center.
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Connie then started to speak. “I could give you a speech, with carefully crafted words to ease your pain. But I think…no, that’s not what I’m here to do. You’re not here because you see a good future for you and your family. You’re here because you don’t know what the future will bring.”
She walked around and looked at each of them in the eyes. Then she stopped and pointed at a teenager with short hair and a badly spun coat.
“You, what’s your name?”
“B – Ben, Your L - ladyship.”
“You can all just call me Cornelia. Okay, Ben. Do you love this town?”
“Y-Yes?” the young man said, unsure of what to say. He had never been so close to a Noble.
“Of course, you do. You’ve lived here your whole life. But me? I’ve only been here for a day and one night, and I spent a good half of that day being jailed.”
She then proceeded to point at two more people and asked them about their family and their lives. The last one, a young girl, braved herself to tell him about her, missing her father. Her mother quickly covered her protectively and asking for forgiveness profusely with eyes full of fear.
“You don’t have to fear for her words. Speaking the truth is not supposed to be rewarded with punishment. It should simply be rewarded,” Connie took out a piece of sugar candy, a luxury thing for the common people. Chen popped out from his hair, grabbed it with a tentacle, and dropped it onto the girl’s hands. The girl, amused and curious, tried to touch him. The mother, for fear of the monster, almost slapped him away. But Chen dodged her hand, nuzzled the girl’s cheek fondly, and returned inside Connie’s hair.
“Yes. You all love this town, and that’s why you don’t trust me. Because you don’t know me.”
Or maybe because of the mess you made. The men are still picking bits out of the wall. Nick thought but kept it for himself.
“But most of all, you don’t trust me because you’ve had that trust trampled for too many times. You seek help from the people who were supposed to protect you, and they turned you away! You seek guidance from the man who was supposed to have your best interest at heart, and he took your trust and threw it away to be eaten by the dogs and the crows!” Connie began to see some of the people trembling as she made her way back onto the stage. Not out of the cold, biting wind, but from the heat of their bubbling emotion.
“You’re angry. And tired. And you don’t know what to do. You’ve spent your days not knowing what to do with those feelings and now you’re numb. Numb to the pain and to the people around you.”
Nick saw Connie’s raised arm from the middle of the crowd and quickly called out. “Bring them!”
Quickly, two men in chains were brought to the stage by Davis and Harrison. The prisoners were all clothed In plain clothes reserved for death row inmates. Connie did not address the men, instead, she introduced the plain-looking young man who had donned the Captain’s uniform for this day.
“You know this young man, I’m sure. You’ve seen him patrolling the town, doing his job. An honest man trying to do his best for his town,” she said as she put her hand on his shoulder. Though she was shorter than him by a head, he did not dare to look down at her and kept his gaze straight to the crowd.
She then put her other hand on Harrison’s shoulder. Who gazed at the crowd with a look of pride.
“And this is the brave man who had taken up arms to resist the tyranny of the former Mayor. I am sure most of you have heard his name. Harrison Stillbrook, the man who led the Resistance,” as he was introduced, some of the members of the Resistance in the crowd cheered. For their efforts were being acknowledged. However, these were just a few, making it almost pitiful in the larger sense of scale.
“As for our Davis here, he wanted to uphold justice but was punished for his honesty with having to sit underground, watching iron bars days on end. All thanks to this man to my left.”
Connie looked at the crowd and asked. “Is this fair?!”
“N…no…” some people started to speak. Their voices were low and stuttered. But that did not matter, the clogs in their throat had started to give way.
“I ask you again! Is this fair?!”
“N…NO!” More voices joined in.
“And then there is this man,” she walked over behind Hordin and kicked him, so he fell over with his butt in the air. “While all of you are trying your best to eke out an honest living, this man took money that was supposed to be used for the town and used it to make himself a mansion of gold and precious stones. Is this fair?!”
“NO!!”
Yes. Burn.
“What do you think I should do with them?!”
“Hang them!! Hang them!!” The chants quickly grow as more and more people who heard the voices could not resist their curiosity and joined in.
“Then so be it! In my name as the Lady of Arlaine, I sentence Jeremy Hills and James Hordin to a hanging. A week from now.”
“S-spare me!!”
“NO!!”
The prisoners were quickly dragged down the stage, as their presences were no longer of use. Yet even as they were dragged away, the chants did not go away.
Connie let them unload their anger for a while before gesturing to them for silence. Her presence, now a beacon of change in the minds of the crowd, made them obey.
“But know this. Their deaths are not the end,” She began. “This is a new beginning! There are many things that still need to change in Greyvault. The rats that still plague our town. The men who preyed on the weak and disabled. They need to go!”
Connie watched the fire that now burned in their eye with satisfaction. “But! For that to happen, I will need your help! Join me! Join me so that we can bring change!”
“Join me! And we…!” Connie let the pause linger for a few moments and made a conspiratorially wink with a shushing gesture as if whispering a secret. “We…will not be gentle in our actions.”
At this, the crowd began to chant her name. The chanting grew until every corner of the town could hear her name.
“Lady Cornelia! Long live Lady Cornelia!!!”
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The next few days came in a blur. Connie told Captain Davis to start recruiting people into the Town’s Guards. As for the Resistance, with nothing to resist against, it was quickly disbanded. Most of the former members of the latter with able bodies came to join the newly reformed Town’s Guards at the behest of their former leader.
Akula was told to train them until they were decent.
Unfortunately, sticking true to the nature of most Calendian, there were some grumbles about their instructor being a Centaur. However, after being told that they were free to complain about her race to her face, none came to her. Or perhaps it was the weeklong Centaur-led training.
At the same time, Nick was told to lead daily patrols to catch the Greyrats operating at night.
Martell was given the task of interrogating the former Mayor and the former Captain, to squeeze as much information that he could get. From them or Greyrats that would be caught during the operations. At first, Nick complained about the ethics of letting someone as young as him do something like that. However, when he saw him taking out books about it with an expectant smile, he just smiled awkwardly and rescinded his objection.
After a private talk with Connie, no one had seen Illumca for days. When asked, Connie just said that she was on a secret mission.
As for the administrative side, Connie appointed Harrison to be the interim Mayor to take over as she did not have the time for such things. For she had something much more complex and urgent to take care of.
Curing the Daydreamers.