Day 11 - Eleven pipers piping

The only thing we could think of was the story of the pied piper, so here's a TeniPuri version. This is set in the 1200s, but it's not quite Germany. Enjoy~ -Rin

Kamio Akira was looking for work. He had travelled to the town of Fudomine to seek his fortune, but so far, he hadn't found a single yen.

Everyone here, or, rather, everyone he saw seemed to be either beating on someone or *being* beaten on. He wondered...maybe he could use his...talents to help this little town. For a fee, of course.

Akira asked around and eventually located the mayor, Tachibana Kippei. Tachibana wanted nothing more than to see the town cleaned up, and promised Akira that the honest townspeople would pay him well for getting rid of the undesirable gang.

With the promise of good, solid money and a job that wouldn't leave a bad taste in his mouth, Akira went to work. He went all the way to the far end of the town and raised his pipe to his lips. Within seconds, a sprightly tune lilted through the streets, inexplicably drawing every gang member to follow the sound.

He made them feel the rhythm, leading them out of town and towards the nearest port. People stared as they passed, but Akira drew the gang onto a ship about to depart, continuing to play from the dock until it was out of hearing range.

It was amusing-more so than it would be good to admit-to think about them raging and cursing on the boat after realizing what had happened. But an even sweeter thought was how much money he was going to have. If everyone left in the town gave him just five hundred yen...why, he'd have quite a lot, then, wouldn't he? He hurried back, ready for his pockets to be heavy and his every step to jingle with coin.

Tachibana thanked him earnestly, but some of the other townspeople didn't want to pay up. They said he couldn't prove he was responsible for the gang leaving, maybe they had all wandered away on their own. Obviously this was ridiculous, but they wouldn't give him a crust of bread, much less money.

This made Akira angry. They couldn't just make an agreement with him and then break their end of the deal. So he posed to the townspeople an ultimatum. "Until you pay me, not one of your precious children-the very ones who you wished me to help protect-will return. They leave tonight." With this threat, he left the town hall to the jeering of disbelieving adults. No youth of his stature could possibly possess that kind of power, they argued. They'd change their tune soon enough.

He went out into the middle of the street and began playing again. The doors of houses up and down the street opened and children came outside. Unnoticed by Akira, one boy stuck his head out of his window to see what was going on, but didn't follow.

This little boy, an odd child by the name of Shinji, had a habit of muttering to himself. Luckily for him, he just so happened to be far enough away that his muttering drowned out Akira's magical tune, and he could simply bear witness. "Why are they all following him? Don't they know they oughtn't follow a stranger? It's dangerous, they're going to get themselves hurt..." His constant monologue went on and on as he watched the piper lead the children away. Perhaps he ought to tell an adult... Although it seemed too late now, the piper was far out of sight.

When the adults finally realized what had happened, the children were long gone, taken to a remote cave for the time being. Eventually someone pointed out that Shinji hadn't been taken, and they asked him what had happened to the others.

"They left, followed that piper right out of town. They must have forgotten that they aren't supposed to follow strangers, but I remembered..." The adults now all looked very worried, ignoring Shinji and the rest of his mutterings. They decided that the piper really was telling the truth and they ought to have paid him in the first place, like they'd agreed to.

When Akira came strolling back into town the next day, they begged to have their children back, trying to force upon him the money they owed him. But he wouldn't hear of it. For their dishonesty, they would have to be punished. He would accept nothing less than seven times the original amount promised to him.

Of course, for each individual person to pay thirty-five hundred yen (considering that this town was a rather prosperous one) wasn't a terribly out-of-reach goal. However, the townspeople weren't happy with the deal. They complained that it was far too much money to demand, that their first price was at least reasonable. This made Akira even angrier. "You'd break your deal with me and then accuse me of cheating you?!"

Tachibana managed to calm everyone down, persuading them to meet halfway. The fee should be raised to punish the people, but not quite so high, he said. Reluctantly, both parties agreed.

The village would pay three times the original fee, and Akira would return every single child with not a single hair harmed. So that night, Akira went back to the cave and played his pipe again, bringing the children back home.

Every parent in town rejoiced, and Akira went on his merry way, whistling to himself and counting his money. After he was satisfied that he'd decided the full amount, he thought about the past two days. Maybe he could see if his services were needed in other towns. Hopefully they'd pay when they were supposed to, but if they didn't, he knew what to do.