The Recuperation - Part 3

Sunlight hit them right in the eyes as they headed out of the building and bore witness to the village that was until recently, closed off to her. Lyrika had journeyed around it a fair bit but didn't really have time to see the sights given that she was trying to find the chief.

As they walked out, there were stares from the many villagers around her. Some showed curiosity, and a few were hostile. Whether it was because of what she was or just from the episode yesterday she didn't know and didn't really want to ask.

Teagan seeing this stepped out in front of her and held his hands up to placate everyone. He made sure to tell them that she would not cause them any harm, and for them to get on with their day. For the most part, it worked. Pretty much everyone got on with their lives.

A few did remain just looking at her. Mainly these were people that were just too stunned to even realise their chief had said anything. But, as she looked around, she was sure she spotted someone with what could only be described as a lustful face.

It was only for a split second, as when she turned back to look again, they had already moved on and she couldn't spot them anymore.

'That was…weird.'

She wondered if maybe she was just mistaken about what she saw. It was a very quick glance, so that may have been the case.

Moving on from the villagers, she looked around at all the buildings and saw the same thing that Lyrika had from her time in the village, where they were all tightly packed together. The architecture was similar to Lyrika's village, them all being stone and wooden houses, it was just the space between them that was different.

"Let me give you a quick tour of the village and then we can talk about what you came here for."

With a quick agreement, he then took them to what was essentially the marketplace of the village, passing by many houses in the process. There were various stalls in the centre of the area and surrounding them were permanent buildings which were a variety of shops.

"We have what you would expect in a village of this size. You have the butchers, fishmongers and general stores over there which all deal with your basic necessities. On the other side are some more specialised buildings such as an apothecary and the blacksmith to name a few. There are a few Inns in the village, the nearest being just down that path," He said as he pointed in the direction, "It's not far from here and like you have seen with some of the shops, it's made up for a few houses connected together. If you do choose to stay here, I can speak with them about accommodations for you two. Other than that, there are stalls in the centre where we have local produce, fabrics and other goods that the people have made. By the looks of it, there are also a couple of merchants from other villages which have set up stalls of their own."

Looking around, she could see the many different stalls in the centre, as well as signboards on each of the buildings giving a good idea as to what they were. They would need to check these places out and grab some new supplies with the money they had.

"Other than that, if you wish to send letters to anyone, that can be done from my house. We have runners that will take them to their location, within reason. Oh, that reminds me. This came for you while you were asleep." Teagan said as he procured a pouch and handed it to Olivia. "It's from Teagan who said it was payment for the bandits you helped deal with."

"Ah thank you." Olivia quickly said pocketing the pouch.

"Now, the day is still early, so if you would be so kind, I would like to get this business with the…other chief, out of the way. Please follow me to my home."

…

It didn't take long to reach his house, being just on the other side of the marketplace, and this time Lyrika was thankful she didn't have to wait in the waiting room as she had done before. Passing through the hall, they eventually came to his office where he took a seat behind his desk and requested they sit as well.

"I have read through Yoban's letter and I must say it was hard to believe. First is how you are half Orc and Half Goblin, and not an aggressive monster like both races usually are. But, having met you and given that no one was seriously hurt in the incident yesterday, I am inclined to believe him. It is just…very odd."

He quickly pulled out a bottle and poured himself a glass of some sort of alcohol before taking a swig of the stuff.

"The next part is what concerns me more deeply." *sigh* "When that chief came to us, telling us how he would help make beast-kin better, bringing the communities together, strengthening their bonds, many readily jumped on his bandwagon. A good number of the guards and villagers went with him to travel and join him in achieving his goal, one of which…was my wife."

"…"

"…"

Neither Lyrika nor Olivia knew what to say there, and Teagan could easily see that by the gaping jaws they had.

"There is no need to think too hard about this or feel sorry for me. My wife and I have been together for a few years, but it was more a political marriage than anything. Neither of us had feelings for the other, so when this man came along spouting all those lines about making dreams come true and looking to form an alliance through marriage, my wife was all for it. She saw it as a way to get a nice new younger man in her life and to see the world with him."

He leaned back and sighed again after this.

"I do of course care that my 'wife' and the other women with him are being abused, do not get me wrong, I just do not have much of a vested interest in seeing her come back to me. She wasn't a very nice person. I will still help in any way that I can get save those girls, and it also pains me that the people who left our village either know what he is like and are with him willingly, or they are being deceived and do not know. Either way, something needs to be done about it, and you have my full support going forward. If Yoban trusts you, so do I."

Both of the girls now sighed as they heard this.

"Thank you. That is good to hear.", "Yes thank you." where Olivia and Lyrika's replies.

Teagan however raised a hand to stop them from talking as he continued.

"The only problem I have is what your plan is. Sure, I'm glad you got to me and told me this, but is that what you plan to do going forward? Just visit each of the villages the new chief visited before. What will that accomplish? All it does is cost you time having to travel to each of them, all to learn, probably, the same information."

"Some of the villages may have more information than others." Olivia decided to bring this up in hopes to prove that their plan wasn't as…flawed as he had stated.

"Sure that may be so, but do you really need to travel to each of them, one by one? There are people that work as messengers to do just that so you don't have to." He said as he looked at Olivia who was about to open her mouth. "Yes, any one of these messengers may be in league with the chief or end up attacked and captured by his men. But what I'm guessing you didn't learn from Yoban, is that village chiefs don't use people as messengers. They use communication orbs."

Olivia's mind just flashed back to the conversations from the Orb yesterday and had to rub her head at the thought of the flashing light.

"I'm guessing Yoban was dealing with a lot, or his Orbs got smashed, but each chief has a set of orbs and spares for emergencies, which means I can get a message to all of the chiefs quite quickly. That will stop you from needing to go to each one. I can let them know the situation and ask for information on him and what he plans to do. Does that sound agreeable?"

Olivia looked over at Lyrika and she did the same where they had a quick discussion about it. They spoke about whether there were any problems with it, whether it would tip off the horrible chief, and what could go wrong.

They realised that it was a gamble. For each chief they inform, there was the possibility that they wouldn't believe it and would inform the man himself of the 'lies' being posted. But the more they thought about it, that could just as easily happen with each village they go to by themselves. Besides, the message coming from one of the respected village chiefs would likely hold more weight than from a 'monster'.

Going to each village themselves was the only plan they had at the time, as they had no help or anyone else they could turn to. How long would it take to visit each? Likely way too long. But now that they had help, why not use it?

Aside from Teagan possibly being in league with the new chief, which she was fairly sure wasn't the case, the only other problem that Olivia could see was how they would know what villages to send the message to. Sure, all the places the new chief had been to were where they wanted to send the message, but how do they know which ones they are? There was the possibility that they might send a message to one he hasn't visited yet. If they tell the chief there what he plans to do, the chief of that village might fight back against him, which could lead to a massacre given the numbers he had.

It was a horrible thought, and even more so when that meant the only way to stop that, was to not tell villages he hadn't visited what he planned to.

"Ok, that sounds fine. But what about the villages he hasn't been to yet? If we end up informing them they might try and fight back against him. Who knows how many people might die if that happened."

"You make a good point. Well, why not just ask them then? I can send a message asking if they have joined with the alliance, along with some pap about communicating with each other more and how joyous things are. Then we just wait for the responses and then let the right people know. There is no reason for the other chiefs to lie if they have or not, and many who haven't been visited already know he's coming to see them. That should solve the problem."

Olivia again could pick out some problems with it, but it did solve one problem itself. And like he said, why would any of the chiefs lie about joining the new chief? So, in lieu of another plan, they decided to jump on the bandwagon for now, and confirm which villages have joined the alliance.