Chapter 25: Who’s the Mayor?

I expected to relax for days after all that fighting with Agaphonet yesterday. Now I was forced to fight again.

I ain’t negotiating out of this shit. The only thing capable of relieving this swirling anger in my chest was seeing someone’s blood splattered.

“We have some people to kill today,” I said as I strode out of the smithy.

“M-Master! It’s the mayor, he—”

“Horeln, if you don’t wanna come along just stay. Sae, Rulof, you’re in on this or not?”

“Am with ‘ya, sire. But I ain’t fightin’ golems!”

I turned to Sae. She shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ve been wondering how landers fight on land.”

Horeln groaned. “Spare me the depths, I will come along but don’t expect anything!”

We marched towards the mayor’s mansion. When everyone saw us pass, they shut the windows and barred their doors. A group of swashbucklers blocked the path.

“You’re not—”

With a single flick of her wrist, Sae launched the group aside with a block of ice.

“Impressive,” Horeln said.

Anyone else that dared block our way stepped aside after seeing Sae, saying words like “I’m not fighting a magician!”

After a few minutes of marching we finally reached the mansion. It was built on top of a hill led by steep stone stairs. A group of men fortified themselves at the top, aiming their borestaves in our direction.

I raised an earthen wall to block the volley of shots. After collapsing it, Sae returned the gesture with tens of icicles that impaled the marksmen. They all rolled down the floor, dead.

We walked towards the mansion door without further obstacles. I kicked it as hard as I could, sending splinters of wood inward. The large mansion hall came into view.

The mayor, a man who looked the typical British colonial lord, looked down at us from the loft. He wore a fine outfit – a fancy feathered blue tricorn and a long, clean coat. But his looks didn’t match his outfit. He was chunky, wrinkly, and his beard was thick and unkempt.

Next to the mayor was Aesel. She was in her dark gothic attire except she wore a dark veil over her face, further covering half of it with a fan.

Below the loft were ten swashbucklers. One of which was the familiar boarman whose ass I beat back in the tavern.

“You really did expect a fight, did you, fuckface?” I said.

The mayor fumed. “You disrespectful foreigner! I am Ivanoi Ostivi, the most powerful man in this island! And everything in this island is mine!”

“I don’t give a shit about who you are, fuckface. I’ll kill you and your boys then fuck your wife in front of your corpse!”

Horeln, Rulof, and Sae stared at me with bewildered expressions. Aesel raised her eyebrows as she began fanning herself. I was gonna ignore everyone but the silence became awkward.

"It’s called a threat, okay?"

The mayor screamed. “Enough! Just because you handled some half-fish monsters doesn’t mean you can win everything else!”

With a single clap from his plump hands, the ground trembled. Huge, gray boulders emerged from the ground, sprouting two arms and legs. There were six of them standing in front of the goons.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. Of all the things they could summon it had to be golems made of rock. Of earth. My earthmold was laughing with me right now.

“Six boulders with arms and legs? That’s all you can do?”

Heavy booms echoed behind us. When we turned around, four more golems walked through the walls. We were surrounded.

The mayor laughed. “Ten boulders with arms and legs!”

“Arlenil save me,” Horeln chanted repeatedly.

“I, uh, I’ll handle Jord, milord,” Rulof said.

Sae materialized ice shivs. “I’ll take care of anyone that comes close.”

“Just help Rulof deal with the meatbags, Sae. I’ll take care of everything else.”

A golem slammed from behind. I dodged forward. I twisted my body and launched the golem back with earthmold, sending it rolling downstairs. I raised a wall and pushed the three remaining golems out, carving a strip from the mansion’s wall.

“Impossible!” Aesel yelled.

I turned around. The battle was ongoing. Rulof exchanged swings with the swashbucklers while Sae supported him by shooting ice shivs. Horeln was nowhere to be seen.

A golem got too close to Sae. I shattered it with a rock spike from below, blowing its fragmented pieces everywhere.

Rulof was finally able to strike down Jord, but the golems gathered around him.

“Step back!” I yelled.

Rulof dashed away. I stomped the ground, shooting multiple spikes that filled the hall. The golems shattered on impact. Those unlucky ruffians were either impaled or lodged between the spikes.

I dissolved the spikes. No one was left standing aside from us. As for Horeln, he appeared from the furniture at the corner.

“Just fucking give up, fuckface!”

“Oh the fight isn’t over yet.”

The floor rumbled. Rocks began to move, and the golems I shattered quickly reformed. This time they looked more humanoid, but tankier and slightly larger. Even the four golems I pushed out returned.

“Of course they regenerate!”

The golems all rushed at us. Sae froze their legs, bring them to a dead halt. The ice spears I shot shattered against their hard bodies.

“Fucking damn it! Step away, everyone!”

I elevated the floor in one quick, violent push, pressing the golems against the ceiling. Before they hit the ground, I froze them mid-air followed by punches of earthen spikes. They shattered.

“They’re regenerating again!” Horeln said, pointing towards the rumbling stones.

I looked back at the loft. The captain was laughing and Aesel simply watched.

“They won’t stop while you’re still alive, right?” I told the mayor. His face paled. “Sae, take care of the golems.”

“I got it.”

As soon as the golems reformed, Sae froze the air. The temperature dropped. Thousands of ice crystals hovered in the air. Upon clasping her hands, the ice crystals rushed towards the golem, turning them all into blocks of ice.

I raised a stair and dashed towards the mayor. Then I leapt, aiming my knee to his face. Before he could withdraw his borestaff, I changed my mind and swung my fist into his nose. He fell back and slammed against the wall.

I found myself standing next to Aesel.

“Hey beautiful.”

She raised an eyebrow.

A sharp whistle whooshed behind me. I ducked, barely dodging a slash aimed on my beck.

“Fight me like a man, foreigner!”

I searched around for weapons, but found none. The mayor kept on swinging manically, slashing the walls and chopping the baluster. I punched his guts and he stepped back. He vomited whatever he ate this morning.

“Catch!” Aesel said, tossing me a cutlass. I was astonished.

I brandished the blade. The sensation felt so familiar in my hand as if I’d practiced swordsmanship for years.

“So about fighting man to man…”

The mayor charged. I parried his swing, twisted around and pummeled his back with the hilt. He stumbled forward but quickly turned around. He forcefully pushed Aesel back.

“You traitorous wench!”

“Oh you don’t dare do that to my crush!”

I charged forward. He anticipated for a swing and readied a counterattack. But I feigned my attack and slammed my elbow against his jaw.

Before he fell I caught him and launched him into the room far behind me. I failed to control my strength, shooting him straight into the door that splintered into little sticks. I stood waiting for him, but no response. He just groaned pathetically.

I helped Aesel up.

“I guess that’s it,” I said.

The ice bergs shattered and the golems were moving once again. I shot a glance at the mayor but he was passed out. Who the hell controlled those?

Then, my attention fell to Aesel. She wouldn’t be here with the mayor if she was useless in a fight.

“You’re the one controlling the golems?”

Aesel simply glared at me. I grabbed her hand, spun her around and cupped her within my arm. Then, I gazed into her eyes.

“I like you, so do me a favor and shut them down, will you?”

“How about you kill that filthy excuse of a human first?”

“Who?”

[Ironbody(Apprentice)] activated.

Why the hell did that skill—

A gunshot rang. I felt an painful dull ache on my side. I quickly dropped Aesel and inspected my body. There was a piece of metal ball lodged into my skin, but no blood.

The mayor was standing by the doorway with his borestaff aimed at me, smoke rolling from the barrel.

“You fucking shot me, dude!”

“And I will do it again!”

He withdrew his second borestaff. Before he could shoot, I used telekinesis to disarm him. Then, I pushed him closer with earthmold. As soon as he was within range, I swung my blade in a full 360. The blade crossed cleanly through his neck. His head bounced away when he hit the ground, pooling his blood.

The golems below resumed their attack. Sae froze them again, but they were quick to recover.

“Aesel, just fucking stop them, will you?”

Aesel sighed and snapped her fingers. Just like that, the golems crumbled.

The battle was finally over. It had gone quiet but I still felt the rush of blood in my veins. The pain on my waist was still there, though. So, I kicked the mayor’s head like a soccer ball, flying out of the mansion.

I turned to Aesel. “So where’s my blacksteel?”

Another rumble again. This time, the whole mansion was vibrating. I shot Aesel a glare.

“What the hell are you doing now?”

“Nothing!”

“Master,” Horeln said, staring down, “there’s something wrong with the floor.”

“This dwelling is about to fall,” Sae said.

Sae was quick to retreat. I pushed Aesel further into the mansion and used earthmold to throw both Rulof and Horeln inward. That probably hurt but it was better than dying.

In just a few seconds, a sinkhole swallowed half of the mansion. The roof crashed down and tugged the loft with it. I hugged Aesel to cover her from all the debris and dust that sprayed.

The ground shook for a moment and I feared the remaining half would end up collapsing too. Thankfully nothing else happened.

Once the dust settled I checked Aesel’s safety.

“Are you okay?”

“What does that mean?”

"It means—” I coughed from the dust I inhaled. “Nevermind.”

As soon as the dust cleared out the whole town came into view, revealing the beautiful azure sea on the horizon. I knew it, the sea wasn’t as calm as it used to be. But it was still beautiful, and the islands on the horizon made it better. I took a moment to appreciate the scenery.

The three emerged from below. Rulof was limping. Well, it was better than being crushed to death.

The dust cloud also revealed a ten-meter-deep hole where the front half of the mansion collapsed into.

The mayor’s corpse was nowhere to be seen. Damn that fuckface, he didn’t deserve such a badass burial.

“So… do I have to pay for all this?” I said.

Aesel coughed as she walked closer to me. “You just have to build a new one.”

“Excuse me?”

She picked up the mayor’s tricorn that was miraculously saved from the collapse and topped it on my head.

“You’re the new mayor of Farisle now.”

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