Chapter 5: Landfill Market

Two days later, after this heated debate in the market, the campaign manager and Faiza's campaign volunteers convene in a new early morning council in order to decide the actions of the day. Earlier in the day, there were posters with Faiza's coat of arms plastered all over the city, reproduced with a moving type. With seven white stars on an arc, amid a black field, using black ink sufficed to craft what amounted to dozens of posters, since Faiza wanted the majority of the signposts in the city to have one of these wooden posters.

"We must go to the prison camp where the sanitation authority is headquartered. The prison camp is home to a landfill where the sewage of the city is held. Right now the sewage is becoming expensive for the city. Then we will make an announcement in the campaign, some promise pertaining to sanitation"

"That's a bold move, Faiza. No one would expect a future mayor to go to the Landfill to make a promise" Jaid reported.

"I know that the Landfill is a smelly place; the prisoners that clean up the sewage of the city do so at night, where the stench is not that intense. Because what gives the sewage a pungent odor is, in fact, more pungent as the temperature increases within the range of temperatures experienced here in Thabes"

"Other cities burned their sewage, Khadein being the largest; is that what you plan to do with the sewage?" Melda asked.

"I could see some glassblowers and some blacksmiths burning sewage as a source of heat. But that will not be the only use of the sewage. I will tell you what other uses there is to that sewage once we get to the landfill"

And so, the campaign team departs the fort of the XI regiment, located on the southern city limit, for the prison camp, located on the western city limit. The team has to walk under the hot sun, scorching their skin and uniforms in the process. But, at the same time, some female Thabes resident asked Faiza a question about her life and her family; that question caught her off-guard, since she expected questions about how to implement an electoral promise, be it educational, accountability, or security-related instead.

"Milady, is it true that your husband died in combat?"

"No, but it is true, however, that he is not stationed in Thabes. He is simply recovering from his injuries sustained in battle. He is the one that raises all our children away from home"

"Milady, how do you intend to reconcile with your parents? They will want to reconcile with you at some point, if you are elected. After all, you will then become the mayor of a major city"

"You knew my parents wanted to send me off to some magic school, the very magic school that trained the heroes of centuries past… but I fled from home to serve in the army, with the result we both know"

That magic school in question is an elite magic school in Khadein; if, somehow, Faiza gets elected as Mayor of Thabes, she will become one of the most famous people to have turned down a spot at the school. Alumni of that school Faiza spoke of that went on to serve in military operations are Ellerean, Merric… perhaps Faiza could have served in the Marmotord army as a mage had she followed her parents' advice. Yet, they continue their way to the Landfill while answering more natural questions, about sanitation, about education, about public security. And, once they arrive at that stench of an area called the Landfill… which really deserved its name because of the sewage that filled a large crater, which was the destination of years and years of accumulated sewage produced by the city.

"I am here today to announce that, if elected, I will put the contents of the Landfill up for sale, subject to the same trade regulations as any other merchandise manufactured in this city, be it as a fertilizer or as fuel!"

"Dear daughter, I just can't see who would even want to purchase sewage…"

"Dad, I can see some farmers who would purchase sewage if they feel they need fertilizer and that they do not have access to livestock; there are regions whose soil is suitable for orchards but that are not for livestock; this way we can sell our sewage and put it to use, and the proceeds will allow us to raise revenue without having to raise the taxes"

"This is going to threaten public health for miles and miles, milady…" a prisoner objected.

"In fact, sewage transportation in carts is no more dangerous than transporting livestock. Both materials carry similar health risks; after all, one's trash is another's treasure or, more accurately, tools in this context"

There is a reason why the Landfill is outside the main roads; prisoners had to be kept away from the city. But, again, the sanitation crews, manned by prisoners, were doing their patrols at night, since their work was very smelly due to the fact that they emptied cesspools. One of the prisoners asked a question about how the operation of the sewage market would affect the condition of the roads leading to the Landfill, none of them being paved.

"I fear that we are going to require a new road leading from the main pass leading to the northwest to this pit filled with sewage if this market was to be established…"

"No fear, prisoners! Even convicts can still have some legitimate say in how their city is run. I will promise that, in future elections, prisoners will still be able to vote as if they were legally residing in the Outer City."

The Outer City. A barren wasteland, where only a handful of white stone cabins are to be found, and the main tract of settled land is the Landfill, housing 1,500 convicts brought in from a radius of about five to ten leagues from Thabes. The prisoners that worked at night were not otherwise mistreated. And the Landfill was also known as being the largest prison camp in the world. So Faiza is making a bold gamble by allowing criminals to vote, and even allowing them to elect what amounts to being their own city councillor. Yet, somehow, she knew that not all of them were to live the remainder of their lives in the Landfill.

"Milady, this is madness! You're taking a major risk to let prisoners vote for their own city councillor; what if the city councillor they elect was a henchman of a crime lord? Campaigning among criminals is a dangerous business!" a security guard protested.

"But this is a right they will have once they have served their sentence. Court records show that only 99 of these convicts are serving life sentences"

"Milady, you're playing with fire. You're making one bold promise after another; Kerson and Grace will both reject this plan", Jaid pointed out.

"How much cash can you expect the city to raise with the sale of sewage?" Melda asked.

"Sewage goes for 150 gold coins a ton on the market; I could expect several million gold coins collected this way. Just about enough to cover the costs of running the prison camp…"