Chapter 24 - Shore Break
So we get a bit of fame from that. Unfortunately, that still doesn't mean we have people clamoring to give us work, which still sucked. What it did mean though was that people now trusted that we were the kind of guys who would get things done, even if it meant getting our hands dirty. I mean what they probably didn't realize was that nearly all the work we could do pretty much revolved around getting our hands dirty, but it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that we got a sweet bodyguard job for a caravan. And it was a really high profile one too. Nearly fifty merchants, along with their retainers, their goods, and the other guards they hired. We'd honestly not really seen anything this big before. They weren't exactly upfront about where they were delivering to, but they showed us the goods and none of it seemed particularly suspicious so we knew that it was probably private and we didn't intrude. And really, even if we had found out the truth, that being that they were going to this big wedding between a formal lord and some hot-shot monster chick that would unite the clans or whatever, we probably wouldn't have backed out. I mean we might have done some shady stuff, or at least I would have, but we wouldn't have refused the job just based on that alone. Of course turns out that this would be… Well, you know. This was our last mission. It's the one where I became… This. Screwed me over big time. And it turns out that the reason it was our last mission? We got a bounty on our head, made by one of the Demon Lord's children. Yeah, bet you didn't know that. Oh, one of the older ones. Drilla or something. Real bitch when we met a few months later. But that doesn't really matter. What matters is that she set up an ambush with some real big and scary monsters. I'm saying Dragons. Like, three of 'em. Plus an undead one, though I have no idea how the normal Dragons could stand being near it. Plus there were some others as well. Manticores, both Ogres, Red and Blue Oni, and even some Ushi-Oni. There was even an Atlach-Nacha. They really didn't pull any punches. Of course, neither did we. There was a REASON we were feared by the monsters you know. Er, even though I only found that fact out a few years later.
"Is everyone present?" The Mayor asked, though he didn't expect an answer. The seven people, him included, that were sitting inside the meeting room weren't in any mood to talk, and even if they were there wasn't anything they could say that would make the day seem any better. The Mayor stayed silent for a few seconds before continuing, silently hoping that someone would say something to lighten the mood.
"Alright then. The first order of business is this. Captain, what are the casualty figures?"
The man didn't respond however, his eyes blank.
"Captain. Captain!"
"Wh-What?" the man shook himself out of his daze, "I'm sorry sir, could you repeat the question?"
"What are the casualty figures? Start with the civilians."
"Right sir, I apologize," the Captain pulled out a small strange looking chalkboard and began looking at the figures splayed across it. "Civilian fatalities are as follows. Twenty eight civilians killed in combat and or in the panic. Six critically injured, with little hope for recovery. Fifty with minor wounds that are expected to either all be healed within two weeks, or are not otherwise directly life threatening."
The whole Council felt a mixture of anger and sadness at the news, but all of them buried it. They had all heard of the deaths of the citizens before, though it was previously due to the sickness that had been spreading. This was different, but that didn't mean they couldn't quash their emotions around it any less effectively than usual.
The numbers were still intimidating.
"And there were also three citizens that had to be put down due to corruption." the man finished. The fact that he did so without flinching was noticed by those around him but they made no move to question him about it. They had already heard what he had been forced to do, and they were loath to bring it up again.
"I see," said The Mayor, "and what about the guard?"
"Guard casualties are as follows. Four guards killed in combat and or in the panic. None critically injured." A few of the council members' eyebrows rose in surprise at this, but they weren't any happier than before. "Ten guards with minor wounds that are expected to heal within the next two weeks, or are not directly life threatening. And there were also eleven guards that had to be put down due to corruption."
The final line sent most of the gathered Council members sharply breathing in in surprise.
"...How did this happen?" the Botanist asked with a scared tone.
"During the retreat from the docks," the Captain began, his voice sounding smooth and unworried despite the news he was delivering, "a large group of soldiers were apparently grabbed and taken by a large group of monsters. Despite the protection field around the city some Demonic Energy was still able to enter their bodies, and we predicted that they had at most two days before it began feeding on their Spirit Energy. As long as we are within the barrier, simple ambient Demonic Energy is no threat to us, but an actual monster inside the barrier can transfer the energy into another's body though it cannot create more and will slowly dissipate outside of a host."
Some of the Council members had questions, but they didn't voice them. Talking about what Demonic Energy did to the human body, mind, and soul was a taboo topic. And with the current situation, and the fates of those who had been infected, they didn't want to think more about it anyway, even if it might help.
The Mayor took a deep breath. "Alright then. I'll have the Sis-" he paused for a moment, remembering something, before continuing. "I'll hold a funeral service for the families of the dead. Give them a proper send-off. Should help them with their fears. But on that topic, I think we need to move onto another matter. One that, I'm sorry Captain, must be brought up."
The Captain simply nodded in silence, something that had the rest of the Council looking at each other nervously. They had already figured out what was going to be said, but why wasn't he reacting? It was by his hand that it had happened after all. But The Mayor didn't pay attention to the other five Council members' worries, and continued speaking.
"We need someone to take care of the daily sermons. Now, more than ever, we need something for the populace to believe in. Something to put their hopes and dreams in. If we let things stand as they are, with the people wandering around purposeless, then things are only going to get worse. So, who here is up for the job?"
"Me." "I'll do it!"
The Botanist and Accountant looked at each other first in surprise, then annoyance. The Accountant got the first word in after that however.
"Look, I know you're excited, but the fact of the matter is you've already got a job! You're going to be busy."
"Yeah, but unlike you I actually care about the people. You were the one to put forward the idea of leaving people to die outside the walls!"
"Yeah, I did. And if you'd notice, I was right. If we had just let them stay out there, we wouldn't be down the only person who actually knew how to properly run a church now would we? You on the other hand were all for letting in the Demons."
"Better someone who is willing to take risks to save people than someone who'll let people die to keep yourself alive."
"Yeah, and if we'd stopped them from coming in, THE SISTER WOULD STILL BE ALIVE! It's because you're so goddam self righteous that she's dead! We shouldn't be helping other people, it's us first! Things are NOT going to be okay, you understand? And I refuse to let you fill other people's heads with stuff that's just going to get more people killed like YOU ALREADY HAVE!"
Instead of responding, the Botanist snarled like an animal and leapt out of her chair at the Accountant who could only flinch. However, she never reached him.
"Please stop struggling ma'am," the Captain said, his voice still steady and calm despite everyone else, including The Mayor, being completely shocked at the sudden turn of events.
"What in God's name was that?" the Accountant panted, not taking his eyes off of the Botanist as she soon calmed down but didn't stop giving him a death glare.
"That," The Mayor said with a slightly shaky voice, "is something we're wondering ourselves. We've had a few outbreaks of… you could call it feral behaviour, but if we restrained the people or knocked them out they'd calm down. But I don't know if it's going to stop, and there's no pattern to who gets afflicted with it. No one's come down with it twice, but then again we haven't exactly tried to replicate the event. Especially now that we're down a medical specialist."
The Council stayed silent, even as the Botanist's breathing finally slowed into deep breaths and the madness in her eyes began to leave. The Captain didn't release her for another thirty seconds, but after he did she didn't move from her position slumped over the table, so he was forced to put her back in an upright position where she awkwardly sat with her eyes glazed over. Her body may have calmed down, but her mind was clearly still quite foggy and she would need some time to recover.
"...Well, I suppose you get the job then," The Mayor gestured to the Accountant, "because she is definitely not fit for duty. Captain, please bring her to her room so she can get some rest. But, uh, don't let anyone inside if they aren't trained, alright?"
The Captain simply nodded, the blank look on his face not leaving, and the nearly unconscious woman and Guard Captain left the room.
"Well then, I think we can move onto the next order of business. Dockmaster, how goes the food situation?"
"Good sir," the Dockmaster reported, "we have the entire city helping take apart the monsters. Honestly, people seem to have stopped caring about eating the more human-looking bits now. They're still only eating what we've pointed out they actually can eat, but other than that we actually had to separate the, uh, human corpses from the monster ones. The last thing we want to do is end up committing acts of cannibalism. Though, to be honest, the viciousness that some of the citizens have shown in taking apart the monster's bodies has been quite unnerving. They're really taking a savage glee in it. It's made me a bit nervous."
To that The Mayor could only shrug in response. "Frankly, I don't think we can do much about it. I mean, what are we to say? That they shouldn't hate the monsters for killing their friends and family? For corrupting the bodies of eleven of their defenders? I'd be surprised if they weren't channeling their anger into that kind of thing. I don't like it, but I'm not surprised. Maybe if we had something or someone to actually help them, we could get through this without them getting so viscous. But we don't. I'm sorry Dockmaster, but you're just going to have to put up with it."
"No, don't worry. I understand. I'm just a bit worried about them is all."
"That's fine," The Mayor said, "I don't expect it to really affect their work. And hopefully the monsters won't throw anything else at us for a while. A break would really do us good. Might get people to calm down a bit and give them a chance to unwind. How's the food situation anyway? Have the monster corpses helped out any?" That finally got a smile out of the Dockmaster, and brought a slight bit of levity to the table as he began speaking.
A moment after he began speaking, the Captain silently returned and went back to his seat while nodding to The Mayor.
"Oh, definitely sir. There were over a hundred monster corpses in all. More than enough to feed the citizens. Plus, with all the salt we've been saving up for the past couple of months from the evaporation pools we can basically preserve all of it with no problem if needed. I'm guessing we just bought ourselves a week and a halfs worth of food just with that."
"Actually, it'd be two weeks," the Quartermaster interjected with a slight frown on his face. Everyone turned to him. He didn't talk much, but when he did everyone knew it was important. "See, I've been running the numbers. Made up a little formula to check how long we'll last even, thanks to the Accountant over there."
"Wait, that's what you were asking me for?"
"Yep. Anyway, with the recent loss of consumers, we're actually going to be able to last longer than before. With how the calculations have panned out, it looks like we would actually last longer the smaller the population we had. Only until about fifty people or so, but until that point we're actually going to be able to survive for longer despite not having more people to work."
Just as the Headmaster could speak, the Quartermaster put up a hand to stop him.
"Yes, I know what it sounds like. That it'd technically mean that the more people we lost the longer the survivors would, you know, survive. But it's the truth. The safety margin is about seventy to ninety people if we count sickness and injuries. Now I'm not going to advocate for that thing you think I might be saying we should do. I'm just laying the facts out there."
The room fell silent. His words were resonating in the Council members' minds. It was a malicious thing. 'If the weak die, then the rest can live.' was something that many had thought of in desperate situations all through history and everywhere around the world. It was a flawed idea in many ways, but in the situation they were in the Council couldn't simply throw the idea away. After all, if it was life or death situation, they weren't sure if they wouldn't do something drastic. 'For the good of the whole' could be stretched to cover quite a few things, and that scenario was one of them.
"I think…" The Mayor said, "that we need to take a break. I'm sure you all have work to do. Quartermaster, until the Botanist gets better could you handle the maintenance of the algae pools?
"Yeah, in my spare time I can do that. I know the basics."
"Good. The rest of you are dismissed. Ah, but Captain? Mind staying back for a bit?"
"Of course sir. What're your orders?"
The Mayor waited until everyone had left the room before speaking.
"The monsters will be wary of coming back since they won't be hearing from their comrades, and we can't have that. So I have a small job for you…"