Annoyance

As soon as the sun revealed itself over the gigantic mountains of the Fontechien mountain range, Enkel stood up and got himself his warm and comfy fur coat, put on some boots, and went outside towards the marketplace. He let himself be protected by none other than the inconsiderate guard who seemed to really be annoyed by having to protect Enkel.

They walked onto the still dark and empty marketplace and over to the small wooden platform. Apparently, no one seemed to be there. Not surprising, as Enkel had expected to not encounter anyone else. It was quite early after all.

To his surprise though, not long after their arrival, a group of five people showed up, all of which having a Galver on their respective backs. They all seemed familiar to Enkel, and after he thought for a bit, he remembered them being the people protecting the 2 participants when they were holding their weird speeches. Two of the men were carrying a bag with them which looked pretty heavy, another one was carrying some sort of rope around his shoulder. There were also two other men that were carefully observing their surroundings. At a closer look, Enkel could make out who they were exactly as they seemed to all be clothed in the same brown coat which was issued by the town guard.

"Why in god's holy name is the town guard protecting them and carrying their stuff!?" Enkel angrily mumbled to his annoyed-looking bodyguard. The bodyguard looked at him and gave a short shrug, he didn't know what the town guard was up to after all. Enkel ignored his anger and crossed his arms in front of his chest, then continued to observe what the men were doing.

The men carrying the bag walked onto the wooden platform and sat the heavy looking bag down, then the other one threw the rope next to it. Shortly thereafter the other two men came around, being followed by the two participants that just entered the election about one and a half weeks ago.

Enkel saw that the two participants were talking about something but couldn't make out what. The only things he could pick up on were their attitudes and actions. The two of them seemed to walk a pretty proud stride, while the one on the right who held a stick in one of his hands constantly scratched his weird-looking beard. The other guy on the left looked a bit younger than the one on the right but nonetheless displayed a thoughtful expression when talking to the man on his right.

Enkel was still confused about who exactly those two were. He knew that the one on the left clearly stemmed from Fontechia, as he had grey hair, which was only known to be found in the town of Fontechia. The one on the right, however, gave no clear indication of origin nor did he look like he belonged here. He wore a weird-looking leather jacket which was completely black, indicating that he may be someone rich from Galvie, but Enkel never heard of a man like him in the northern region.

The participant with the grey hair seemed to notice Enkel as he looked over to him, leading the participant to exchange a few words with the man beside him and after that, he slowly started to approach Enkel.

Enkel began sweating again, something he had done many times the last few days. What was it the grey-haired man wanted to do to him? Was he going to try and bribe him out of the election? If so, maybe he is supported by Galvie, or maybe, the weird man he was talking to was the man who tried and get this village. What would he even do with this village then? was he interested in the sulfur? Well, those questions were irrelevant right now as the man got closer with every passing second.

The guard beside Enkel looked like it didn't really want to do anything, but it still remembered that it was his job to at least protect the man. He went over to the grey-haired man and quickly exchanged a few words with him, after that the gray-haired man looked at Enkel, gave a smirk and chuckled to himself in a disbelieving manner, then turned around and walked back towards his waiting companion.

The annoyed guard looked quite impressed for a bit which was rare for him, then he scratched his hair and returned to the impatient Enkel who was nervously tapping his feet to the ground. The guard came over, cleared his throat, and said "The man didn't mean any harm, he just wanted to say something to you, but I told him that I would give the message to you sir" Enkels feet increased in their tapping speed while he quietly asked, "And what would that be?".

The guard looked Enkel straight in the eyes and said "He said: Tell our Mr. Mayor that his days of forgetting the villagers and living the highlife are counted".

Enkel furiously balled his hands into a fist, trying to contain his anger. Who do they think they are?! do they think they can be cocky with me just because they have a few people that watch them talk!? How funny! He thought. If the two participants were serious about what they said, they would run into problems with the Galvie nobility. Not only would they Galvie make sure Enkel was in power, but they could also make sure that his son was the next in line.

If those idiots managed to get elected, they would have more problems then just Galvie. How would they manage the town guard? They had no experience in dealing with those guys!

Just as Enkel's rant in his head began to get worse, the man with the weird beard talked to one of his accomplices which looked to be the town guard named Heinrich. Enkel strictly remembered the look of this man ash he was one of the most accomplished in the guard. Enkel's worries seemed to increase by the minute.

The man who talked to Heinrich then seemed to point in a direction while explaining something. Heinrich seemed to ask something in return to which the other man just smiled and gave a quick answer. Heinrich didn't look all too pleased but then yelled over to one of his men in a loud voice which was even audible for Enkel, "Come! We'll get that thing from the carpenter!".

The other guy jogged over to Heinrich and both of them left to go towards the direction of the carpenter. Enkel's confusion seemed to hit critical mass, as all of the actions the weird two participants made were so unconventional.

It didn't take to long before the sun completely shower the town in its warm sunlight, which was almost like a blessing in the cold months before the harsh winter for the people living in Fontechia.

A crowd slowly began to form in front of the wooden platform which appeared a few weeks before. The two people always talking to the crowd already started doing just that while waiting for the crowd to get a bit bigger. This time, however, they had something with them. A bag lay on the platform next to a big iron pipe that looked to have some kind of rope sticking out of it. It also seemed to have some wooden part at the bottom, which looked like a block of wood to hold it with.

Enkel saw how they carried the weird iron piece onto the platform, including the weird wooden block they had carried with it. Said wooden block already stood on the platform, just a bit away from the two talking men. The two men had been talking for quite a while, in a way that was addressing everyone in the crowd an actively engaged in conversation with them. It was incredible as Enkel had to regretfully realize.

The crowd slowly got even bigger then what Enkel remembered from yesterday, probably reaching about 500 or maybe even 600. The two men looked at each other and stayed quiet, making the whole crowd silent. Then the foreign man took a step forward and loudly asked, "I have a question for you all, what is your biggest fear?".

The crowd after that quickly turned to themselves, letting the marketplace be filled with confused rambling. It took the crowd quite some time to quieten themselves. Enkel himself didn't even need to think about the question the man posed as the answer was obvious for him. He feared the abandoning of their tradition and the annexation of their town. What else did they have in their little town except for the tradition?

A few men in the crowd stepped forward and loudly announced "The beasts are attacking more frequently for a few years!" Another chimed in from the side "What is our town guard supposed to do against those beasts!?" the next said, "We even have to hire foreign help! Those Galvie bastards won't even spare 10 men!".

The marketplace once again filled itself with the chattering from the crowd. But this time, The young-looking grey-haired man stepped forward to quieten down the crowd. He looked over the crowd and then told them to look towards the left part of the platform. There stood the wooden block Enkel already noted.

Shortly thereafter one of the town guards picked up an iron tube that looked to be three baskets long. It had some weird rope sticking out of the end of it, but it wasn't really long as you could grab the whole thing with just one hand. Then, the grey-haired man walked towards the big tube and opened the bag which stood next to it. He took some black powder out of it and then fill it into the tube. Then, another man came over with a long stick in his hand and firstly put a small ball inside the iron pipe, then shortly after putting the stick inside the tube and hammered into the pipe.

The man holding the iron pipe looked unsure of something, so did pretty much everyone else on the stage except for the foreign man. Just mentioned man then walked over towards the weird pipe and held a strange device below the rope.

The crowd slowly began to chatter again, although it held itself in moderation as most people wanted to know what was going on on the weird stage. As the man did something at the rope, flames suddenly developed at the end of the rope, slowly making its way towards the tube.

Now the crowd was completely silent again, as was Enkel. What were those weird people up to?

As the flaming rope disappeared into the pipe, a loud bang suddenly made its way through the marketplace, leading Enkel and the other people in the crowd to cover their ears in pain. A loud commotion broke out, with random screams coming from the said crowd. It wasn't anything different than when the giant tree fell, but this time, the bang wasn't as loud as it was back then. A few people who were already accustomed to the sound due to being present when the tree fell stood still in silence and looked towards the wooden block the pipe was pointing at.

Not only to Enkels but everyone's shock, the thick wooden block, which could have easily been used for sword training, lay on the ground with smoke coming out of its front. It looked as if 4 people simultaneously struck it full force with their swords. The people on stage looked just as shocked as the crowd. The man holding the pipe was thrown to the ground, not only by the recoil but also by the excitement he had just experienced. It felt as if he was the most powerful person there was for a moment. The grey-haired man's face was just as shocked as the others, but he quickly recovered, slowly walking over to the wooden block which lay on the ground.

He picked up the smoking wooden block, which looked completely shattered, and held it up for the crowd to see. A 12mm thick hole leads from one side of the block to the other.

The crowd was mute. Not a single tone came from anyone. Not the ones who had experienced the explosion, nor the ones who had experienced the bang for the first time. Enkel was no exception.

What is this? How could this be? The wooden block was so thick... this is impossible. He didn't know how to cope with the scene before him. He was no unreasonable man, he knew exactly that what he saw was real, but it was just too incomprehensible to acknowledge. How did they do it? wasn't that just a bit of powder and fire with some small ball? How could it penetrate something as strong as the wood of the great pines?

It took about one minute before the foreign man took a step forward and loudly said, "There is the answer to your fear"