Bring your coat, please! part 3

Rudd examined Ryu's products and he made sure the butcher got it delivered to the tavern, since this time Ryu didn't want the money but the furs and fangs. Because of this the butcher was entitled to a part of the loot or a fair price, once Rudd finished negotiating with the butcher they left the store.

"Where are you heading now?"

Rudd asked trying to act natural

"To the mayor's house, we need to sort something out"

Ryu replied as he offered his arm to Rina, who took it without blinking since it was too cold for her revealing attire. She was wearing the tavern's uniform out of habit, and though it did provide proper insulation it left too much skin exposed, if it wasn't for the fur coat she borrowed from Anne she would be frozen right now. The only problem was that Anne was lacking where Rina had to spare, making her wish she asked Helena's coat instead.

But Rudd misunderstood the situation, he froze on the spot and looked pale as a ghost. There was only one person capable of marrying a couple in the whole town, and that was the mayor. All his hopes of being together with Rina were destroyed that instant.

"Rina... you..."

Was all he managed to say before Rina burst in laughter.

"What!? No! hahaha, geez you're such a muscle head! We are not getting married"

Rina explained to Rudd what was going on, making him sigh in relief.

"In that case, let me accompany you. I can help you solve this and also get the chance to say hi to father"

He was so relieved that Rina was not getting married he could even hug Ryu.

When they got to the mayor's house the maid greeted them with respect and lead them to the office.

"Hi Kaya, how are things going?"

"Good evening young master, there's a young boy with your father but he should be able to see you anyway"

"Don't let Dylan hear you, he's a bit sensitive over his age"

Rudd chuckled as he got into the office.

"Good evening father"

Rudd said in a polite manner with his back and puffing his chest out. He usually looks like a thug, but seeing him like that he really does look like the son of the most important person in town.

"Good evening Rudd, so you finally decided to honor me with your visit"

The mayor scoffed at him.

"You know how it is, I keep busy this days. I see you're busy, should I come back some other time? I came with visitors. Mister Ryu, miss Rina, come inside please."

"Nonsense, have a seat please"

Everyone sat down and Kaya retreated after bowing respectfully.

"I'm guessing you came for the same reason mister Dylan here did"

Dylan was standing in front of the mayor's desk, after he saw Ryu he couldn't hide his embarrassment and wished only for a quick death. The others instead were sitting on the couch since they were honored guests. The mayor couldn't deny that Ryu has provided wealth and prosperity to the town, and even in the face of danger his group managed to save many people.

He wasn't like the rest who thought Ryu was a mere cook, He could tell there was something special about him, but no matter how much thought he put into it he couldn't put his finger on it.

The only thing he was certain was that he must not underestimate him under any circumstances, which is why he decided to treat him with respect. He was even thinking on convicting Dylan for his assault with the harshest punishment just to gain some of Ryu's favor.

"I think so"

Ryu nodded.

"I wish to have Dylan free of all charges"

He continued.

"Are you sure? he confessed the assault and regrets it immensely. If you don't let him pay for his crime, how can he atone for what he did to you?"

"It wasn't a crime at all, so he doesn't need to atone for anything. Everything that happened was a ruse to lure madame Bianca into a trap"

Everyone in the room was astonished, even Dylan, and the mayor didn't fail to notice it.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way but mister Dylan seems as surprised as I am about your statement, leading me to think that you're not telling the truth"

The mayor argued.

"On the contrary, the fact that he didn't know doesn't mean he didn't accomplish his role. If you allow me to explain everything will become clear"

The mayor nodded in silence recovering his usual poker face.

"As you surely know, madame Bianca is conspiring to enslave a great number of citizens after causing a famine that will lead this town to collapse"

"Those are some serious accusations you're making! you can't possibly believe that one of our biggest benefactors could possibly..."

The mayor started to lose his conviction with every word that came out of his mind until he remained in silence, which Ryu took it as his queue to continue.

"She's been selling slaves for a long time, while claiming that she's just trying to give them a better life. I understand why would someone would be desperate enough to sell themselves as slaves, they may not get any compensation since slaves don't have the right to hold any wealth but at least their families are paid enough to survive, and if they are lucky enough they can buy their loved ones back.

Everyone seems to agree on this and I'm not one to judge, but what she's been doing behind the scene is impoverishing the town enough for people to starve and become desperate. She is, in fact, twisting their arms into slavery, instead of helping the ones in need as she claims.

There's plenty of evidence to all of her deeds, most of it comes from her own slaves, which she keeps working at the brothel. But, since that may not be enough for you to pass judgement we kept quiet about it"

Everyone was so shocked to hear all this they remained in complete silence the whole time. Only the mayor nodded from time to time as if he was unraveling the mystery himself.

"She's been hoarding all the food and as soon as she notices that the stores are starting to get empty she just raises the prices and people fall into her trap. She doesn't need to get her own hands dirty, as long as she claims that she has a low amount of food and is forced to raise the price because of this, no one can argue with her.

Even if the food spoils, it doesn't matter to her, because she'll get plenty of coin after selling the slaves at bigger cities"

"What you're saying does make sense mister Ryu, but what does it all have to do with what happened at your tavern?"

After everything Ryu said, even without proof, he couldn't deny that it was a possibility, because the town he's been working so hard to keep afloat has been struggling more and more every passing year.

"I made an agreement with Hiraku, all we needed was to start a fight at the tavern and leave me unconscious and madame Bianca would start backing him up to take us out of business. The only reason why Dylan was surprised was because it was an agreement between me and Hiraku's group and nobody else knew, it had to be believable. Luke was supposed to beat me, but he and Anne got into a real fight before he could do it, so if anything I need to thank Dylan"

"Let's say you're right, why are you telling me all this? do you know that what you did can be considered a felony?"

"You don't have to believe my words, but if she does, it means that she's not interested in money but in controlling the town's supplies.

All I ask is that, if madame Bianca associates with Hiraku and attempt to take us over, you allow us to raid her manor and recover the food she's been hoarding. I assure you that you won't have to take any action whatsoever.

Not only that, I would only raid her place if she claims that she ran out of food and starts raising the prices. So if I raid her place and don't find anything it means that she's innocent and as long as I don't get caught there won't be an incident"

Time flew by as everyone threw bits of information and they all tried to fit all the pieces together. The mayor was consternated to say the least, but he decided to not take any action against Ryu because if he was right, he was the only one with enough freedom to act on his own and maybe, just maybe the hopes of Ironwoods rested on his shoulders.

The last straw was when the mayor heard from Ryu that Luke had informed him that madame Bianca bribed the caravan so they didn't come this year. He was so mad that he stood up and shook Ryu's hand without saying a word, dropping the hint that he was in, but he couldn't say it because it was against his own law to conspire against a free person.