Town Square

The cavern that Ritzy had chosen to use when performing his summoning rituals wasn't very far from the town, mostly because he didn't want to walk too far. So, with Ritzy and Talia hurrying along, they quickly made their way back to town.

The town of Vestor wasn't very large or populous. It wasn't a poor town, but it didn't have any real attractions that could bring in new settlers. So, when old people died and young people left, the population dwindled.

And that trend was strikingly obvious when most of the inhabitants that were in town during the day gathered in the town square following the ruckus caused by Michmond arresting Gerhart.

Since Michmond had brought Gerhart to the square instead of throwing him into the dungeons, the only thing that could happen was a public execution. Some people around the town found the sentence a little unjustified, but they didn't know what Gerhart had done to provoke Michmond, and they weren't going to stick up to the feudal lord for the sake of some troublesome orphan.

Talia frowned as she listened to the chatter of the few people they ran past on the way to the square.

Having lived in the town her entire life, she was more than used to the attitudes of the ordinary residents. But it had only grown worse since the orphanage director died. They hadn't even had time to process his belongings before the inhabitants of Vestor switched up their attitudes.

A few shopkeeps and vendors were still nice enough not to hike up their prices too much. But it was abundantly clear that practically no one in town wanted Ritzy, Talia, and Gerhart to stick around. Michmond getting a reason to go after one of them was probably something many had waited for.

Ritzy and Talia made their way to the square while ignoring the looks and words they got from the residents lazing about on the streets doing nothing useful.

Talia wanted to knock their teeth out, and it showed on her face, which kept the words to whispers and the looks to glances. Since she knew it wouldn't do her any good in the long run, she had always held back and usually didn't let the townspeople's words get to her.

But the stress of Michmond dragging Gerhart to the chopping block made her more susceptible to her anger.

"So, what's the plan?"

Instead of letting Talia stew in her anger, Ritzy spoke up to distract her.

"Save Gerhart."

"Is the damage spreading to your ears now? I said 'plan,' not goal."

"What fucking damage?"

"Your brain damage, of course. Are you so far gone you've forgotten that as well?"

"This is no time for jokes, Ritzy."

Talia glared at Ritzy for a moment before she looked forward to try and see over the crowd that blocked their path.

"Whatever you say. But you should really look into getting a healer to check it out."

Ritzy shrugged and followed Talia as she bulldozed her way through the crowd.

With Talia and her bone club leading the way, they quickly arrived at the front of the crowd and saw a tied-up Gerhart being held down by one of Michmond's armored knights. Being tied up and held down would have seemed a little overkill if it weren't for the fact that the knight was still struggling to keep the tall Gerhart still.

There were a few other armored knights, one of which was holding a heavy, black executioner's axe.

"Oh! That's a cool axe! Do you think he'll give it to me in exchange for this thing?"

Ritzy tapped his bag with the skeleton in it as he looked at Talia with wide eyes.

"Probably not. It looks like it's worth a lot more than that piece of garbage.

"Hey! Maya is not garbage. She is priceless!"

"You named it? How do you even know it's a she?"

"Just look at her beautiful cheekbones and sockets. Her slender arms and waist. Her dainty feet and thin legs. Of course, it's a her, and she's beautiful. You know, thinking about it, maybe that guy will try to take her from me before I can even ask-"

"People of Veltor!"

Before Talia could stop Ritzy from speaking further, the snobbish noble, who had been surrounded by his guards up till now, stepped up to the front of the stage, where Gerhart was going to get executed, and spoke to the crowd.

Michmond's nasal voice shouldn't have been strong enough to reach everyone in the square, especially considering the clamor. But that was where the money his father gave him came in. With the help of a ridiculously overpriced and mostly useless magic tool, Michmond managed to project his voice to the entire square.

"This young man you see here is guilty of a most heinous crime and will today be met with his just desserts! To pay for his crime, this leech will be publicly executed in front of you all!"

"By the way, and this came to mind just now, but how did you afford all the bone chalk for your summoning rings when you're the poorest of us?"

Seeing Michmond show off his wealth, power, and authority made Talia think about a certain other event related to Ritzy, money, and Gerhart.

"Oh, you know, just used some of my savings I stored elsewhere so you wouldn't take them."

"This storage… It doesn't happen to be Michmond's purse, right?"

"Damn. I knew I should have chosen a better place for my savings."

Talia whipped her head toward Ritzy after he practically admitted to having used Michmond's money as his own.

"Ritzy, you fucking idiot. You're the reason Gerhart's up there."

"No way-"

"And so, unless anyone has any objections, this parentless, thieving leech shall now die. Although, even if anyone has any objections, our streets will still be cleaner. Guard, off with his head!"

"Wait!"

Before the armored knight could even lift the axe above his hip to swing it down on Gerhart's neck, whose head was held down by a rope, Ritzy shouted and managed to grab everyone's attention. And he did it without using a voice-amplifying magic tool.

"If you like heads, I have on for you right here!"

Ritzy grabbed the skull and held it up high as he walked toward the stage so that he could climb up and face Michmond directly.

"How about it? If you give me Gerry's body, I'll give you this skull. Now, before you say no, just look at these soft curves and this smooth, shiny surface. Doesn't it just make you drool?"

"No. Guard, take this guy's head as well. It seems like he doesn't need it."

"Excuse you. I do need my head. Quite a lot, actually. How else would I have thought of this!"

As he shouted, Ritzy threw the skull at Michmond.

However, in contrast to the vigor behind Ritzy's voice, nothing spectacular happened.

The flying skull was blocked by one of Michmond's guards and dropped to the floor with a soft thump before it rocked back and forth with a hollow sound. The anticlimactic chain of events managed to silence the crowd when not even Michmond had managed to do that.