The Mayor’s Plan

Lia and Frankie followed Eldric as the latter stormed out of the room, face full of fury, and headed towards the study. She had never been so afraid of him since they met, but facing this kind of wrath, Lia felt like she wanted to stay away from the man. But she wanted to see what was going to happen, so she tagged along. At least the fury was not directed at her.

As they shuffled inside the room, Frankie whispered to her, "I'm sorry."

Lia smiled a bit and shook her head. "It's fine. Don't worry."

Frankie seemed to want to reply, but they got startled with a loud shriek coming from the mayor. He, along with his staff, was in the room, their hands tied behind them. The staff looked afraid, and only the mayor looked indignant.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the mayor bellowed at Eldric, all traces of pretense dropped. Eldric did not seem to be surprised and bothered. He was just calm. Too calm, it was scary. It was as if the Ed she knew and the Eldric she was talking with earlier was a different person than this Eldric in front of them right.

"What is the meaning of this," Eldric placed the tray on the table beside the mayor.

The mayor scanned the area and immediately flew to Lia in rage. "You!"

Eldric blocked the mayor's attack and hid Lia behind his back, "What, surprised that she's alive?" Eldric smirked. "Pray tell me, what are you trying to do?"

"I was only helping you! I can help you be promoted to a general! This is for the country! For the king! Aren't you a loyal follower of the king too? Then you should kill that witch and not just treat her as a guest! In my own home! I gave her what she deserved!"

Eldric waved him off. "Don't worry. It won't be your home for long." He took out his sword from the scabbard. Lia flinched behind Eldric. She poked her head to the side, just in time to see Eldric use his sword to lift the mayor's chin. The mayor visibly shivered. "You didn't answer my question. What are you going to accomplish for killing her?"

The mayor gulped.

Eldric chuckled which lowered the already low temperature in the room, "Ah, should I tell you instead? You're going to sacrifice her to appease the villagers and then give them a temporary antidote so the people would still follow you." He lowered his voice as he tightened his grip on his sword. "Such rotten officials."

"You! You don't know w-what you're saying. You don't have evidence. I don't have that antidote."

"Evidence, you say." Eldric withdrew his sword as Tim handed a thick stack of files and casually flipped it, "where should we start… ah! Bribery, extortion, even selling in the black market to the neighboring countries and now, distributing crates of alcoholic drinks."

The mayor, who was just calming his nerves, shivered where he heard of the accusations and cried as he clung to Eldric's leg, "General, my good general! That's not true! Please believe this humble servant of the king."

Eldric took his leg away and stared coldly. "You are not qualified to serve my king. I'm done listening to your excuses." He turned to his soldiers, "Tear down all the shelves, he's hiding the gin behind one of those."