Threat

Enkel quickly ran back towards the town hall. His breathing was as rapid as one could imagine, as he saw was almost unbelievable. He closed in on the door and ripped it open, then quickly threw it back to a close. He tried to catch his breath as soon as he set foot in the entrance as the shock he had experienced about two minutes ago was still haunting him.

Enkel got his hands off his knees to straighten up, then looked over to the guards that were looking at him in the entrance hall and gave a command with his hand to indicate to them that leaving him alone would be the best option they had right now. The guards quickly followed suit unlike they normally do, they probably saw what was going on in the marketplace as well.

Enkel walked over to the stairs, wanting to spend some time in his office. He had to have space where he could argue over what happened with himself. Every time Enkel couldn't comprehend something, he had to spend some time alone to argue with himself in his head. It was pretty weird, but as he was the mayor, people didn't question him.

He sat down on his chair and leaned back, shooting an empty gaze towards the door.

Some time passed. He still didn't know what to think about everything he saw. Then, the door to his office opened, surprising Enkel who jumped in his chair.

An older looking man entered the office, clothed in the guard uniform that was usual in the town hall. The guard quickly threw a glance over to the tired-looking Enkel, then took a few steps into the direction Enkel sat.

"Oh... you. What is it, now?" Enkel muttered a clear sense of destaining could be felt coming from his voice. The other man shook his head so as to deny the question posed by Enkel, then he opened his mouth to answer "Are you going to make use of us and get rid of the competition?". His voice sounded monotonous and his eyes looked as if they were completely clouded. Enkel knew who the weird man was, and he also knew exactly that the uniform he wore wasn't more than a clever ruse.

Enkel's disdain only became more clear in his voice, "No... not yet. Winter hasn't set in yet, and the election will be held at the start of Winter. I will make sure that you and your Galvie bunch won't have to do anything..."

It was quiet for some time before Enkel slowly stood up to look out of the window behind him and lightly added "Even if they do indeed win the vote, we won't need your "help" anyway".

The Galvie guards face shortly displayed an expression of annoyance, but that expression quickly hid when he answered, "If you need it or not isn't important. If the new Mayors will accept the continuation of our deal we won't have any need for you. The demonstration those two folks gave on the marketplace was indeed... hmm how do I put this... interesting? well, they seem to rapidly gain the attention of this run down dump called Fontechia".

Enkel didn't answer, he kept looking out of the window after the dialog was over. The guard from Galvie also didn't seem to have an urge to leave without being told to, so he just stood behind Enkel looking at the old man.

Not only was that exact old man 4 years the "Mayor" as they called it here, but he was also something of a puppet for Galvie. The guard knew very well that Enkel couldn't really do anything against his disrespectful demeanor. After all, he belonged to one of the top knight groups in the entire northern dukedom. He worked directly under the duke of the northern region and even met him multiple times.

He was extremely mad when he first heard that he and 3 of his colleagues would be sent to this backward place which wasn't even accessible during winter.

The guard decided it was time for him to do something else, as he had already relayed the most important information he had for the Mayor, but on his way out, he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"I will win this election, and I won't accept you killing anyone over this. Be it me or my rivals. I might not like them, but I also do not wish death upon them. You and your bunch are a rotten breed, thinking you are somehow superior to us, but I can assure you that if I lose this election, those two won't agree to your deal".

The guard was startled at this and tried to retort, but was quickly interrupted by Enkel.

"I am no brave man, neither do I know much about how to manage this place, but I can say you one thing that is as sure as death. You will walk over my corpse before ever seeing the possibility of looking down upon us" He looked the guard straight in his clouded eyes "The history of this place is more important to me then you and your rotten Galvie. If those two were to come to power instead of me it would probably be better than any more of your meddling here".

The guard now looked to be quite angry, answering with a louder voice to the old man's comments "Oh yeah? Don't think so highly of yourself Ralph Enkel. If those two do indeed choose the dumbest choice they could and refuse the deal this town will completely stay under the dukes rule. Do you think we need you for anything? Remember that the nobility in Galvie is already spoiling you and your backwater here, do you actually think you have ink of importance in this? If both you and those two idiots stand against us then we'll simply implement a better leadership here. This goddamn "election" system is such a joke". Enkel responded agitated "This is our tradition! It is superior to your rotten lineage system by miles! What does your so-called duke even care about us?! He would just implement some low baron in this place that would ruin everyone's already harsh life!" His face now got slightly red. "And you want to have your son in power anyway when you die one day? aren't you quite the hypocrite you old man" The guard quickly shot back.

Enkel grit his teeth, now his anger slowly turned into a rage while he slowly answered "He is the only one who can recognize the importance of our history". The guard didn't let the statement hold for long when he decisively answered "This is no matter of belive! Didn't you say that this system was better than the blood lineage because the people could decide what brought them a better chance at a good life? Then shouldn't you tolerate when those people think that they want something that breaks the tradition of this place?". Enkel balled his hands into a fist, not counting how many times he had done this in the last few days, answering "The people don't know what they want" in a slow voice.

"Hypocrite! This is the definition of hypocrisy! I'll leave you and your conflicting beliefs alone now Sir. Enkel". The guard opened the office door and walked out of it, quickly closing it behind him and leaving the furious Enkel standing.

"Damn it!" He punched his desk, making a loud noise in his office that could be heard to the floor.

The problems just seemed to increase for Enkel, and he had to stand by and watch. He seemed to get pushed into a corner at a slowly increasing speed. First, the two weird participants joined the election and then his supposed "guards" that Galvie had sent him were getting out of control. He had no idea what had happened to the gigantic tree that still burned outside his window, nor had he any idea how the two participants managed to completely destroy a solid block pf great pine wood with an iron pipe and rope.

Suddenly, Enkel felt the urge to visit his house again. He hadn't been there for a while and wondered how his family was doing. He normally switched between his house and the town hall weekly so as to have a good mix of work and free time, but in the last few weeks, he had constantly stayed in the town hall because of what happened.

He needed to get his head out of all the weird things going on so he took his coat from the chair he sat on and walked towards the door.

Just as he set foot outside the office, a hand harshly grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.

Then, a familiar voice whispered something into his ear.

"You'll better win this election, or you can kiss your family the last goodbye".

Enkel stole there in utter shock, slowly turning his head to the direction of the familiar voice. As he recognized the face, his face got as white as snow while the cold sweat flowed over his face and shaking hands.

It was none other than the Galvie guard, whos clouded eyes now stared a whole into those of Enkel. Just then, steps could be heard from down to hallway while talking was also audible. The guard took the hand of Enkels shaking shoulder and looked at him one last time with the coldest gaze he could muster. Then he turned around and walked into the opposite direction of the approaching guards.

When the two guards that came around the corner looked at the shaking Enkel, they approached him while clearly showing their uninterest in him. It was just their job to look after him, not to care for him.

"Sir. Enkel, are you alright?" one of the two guards asked. Enkel just stared at the wall in front of him while still shaking violently. He noticed the two guards asking him if he was alright, so he answered quietly "hmm?... oh... yeah y-yeah, all good". The two guards shortly looked at each other, clearly noticing that not everything was alright, but they figured it was something private so they both paid their respect and continued their patrol.

Enkel tried to walk, but his body just wouldn't move. He knew very well that the threats the Galvie guard made were never empty. He remembered them threatening his only rival in the election for years ago. The only thing that was known about him was that he had never been seen ever again.

Now, his situation had just worsened again. He asked himself if things could even get worse for him than they already were. His family was extremely important to Enkel, and he knew the only way he could probably still win the election at this rate was to get rid of his 2 rivals and just letting Pete, the town guard captain, run against him. The only problem was that he just couldn't do it. He wouldn't accept killing someone over the election. He always tried to tell himself that he would do it in the worst case, but what he also had to acknowledge was that he was a hypocrite. He even lied to himself. His beliefs conflicted with one another and his identity slowly seemed to dissolve in the conflict. He just couldn't figure out what option he had left. He bragged to the Galvie guard to walk over his corpse before doing anything, but could he himself actually even be sure that he would be ready to die? He couldn't even trust himself, nor could he trust the Galvie guards or his own guards. They all despised him.

Was he wrong about protecting the tradition? Was the Galvie guard actually speaking the truth?...

Enkel slowly started to walk back into his office, closing the door behind him. He sat down on his chair and looked at the documents that lay before him. He had to write another letter to Galvie, reporting how much sulfur he would be exporting.

What should he even write down? could he do anything in this situation? If he were to "desert" the Galvie nobility, they would replace him with a baron and let the people suffer. He only heard horror stories of the barons in the northern dukedom, which was also one of the reasons ve thought the Galvie deal would have been beneficial to the town. The northern dukedom actually only had 8 settlements, but 2 of those were inaccessible to most people due to their position behind the Fontechien mountain range. There were only about 3 settlements with actual nobility, the main one being Galvie. There were two others but those weren't of importance as they only had some small nobility. It was there where Enkel had heard the rumors from, with the people being used like animals that work the fields.

Enkel had come to the conclusion that the best he could do at the moment, was to just write what he had to, that being the amount of sulfur they would export in that month.