No one moved. No one knew what to do. This silver-haired boy was still a stranger to them, and all they knew of him was that he could cut down men like they were wheat. An awkward silence hung in the air.
"King Jon!" Sarabella exclaimed! "You've defeated the bandits in righteous combat! The prophecy was true!! Great and good things are happening in this land!!"
The crowd was suddenly reminded of the prophecy! That's right! If Jon was their King, then what happened was right and just! He was protecting his people, as he should! There was no reason to fear him, only adore and trust in him!
What was before just a funny fantasy suddenly morphed into a crystal clear reality! With a king like Jon, they would never need to fear someone like Reek again! The possibilities of a kingdom entered their heads and filled them with a bubbling excitement!
"I knew it! I knew it! You are our KING! And now you're going to lead us to save our loved ones! Hail King Jon!" Sarabella shouted.
"Hail King Jon!" the crowd chanted! Laughter filled the air as the awkwardness vanished like a cloud of smoke.
Jon shook his head. This was turning out to be a headache. These people didn't even have the first clue of how a kingdom worked, or how to address or interact with their king. He had the feeling he was more the jester at a feast than the regal king that commanded respect.
"Let's make sure to take all of of Reek's ill-gotten goods! We can use it to start up a glorious kingdom! For King Jon!" Sarabella shouted once more. Jon was beginning to notice this Sarabella was leading the crowd quite well…
"I'm going to get a cart! Reek has taken enough of my things I'd need a whole wagon to bring it back!" A particularly excited citizen shouted and ran off before Jon could stop him, and it triggered an exodus of the crowd as well! There were many others excited to finally see their loved ones again, or to be part of the heroic founding of a kingdom.
"Umm… sire? …" Davius cautiously tried out a polite address. He was older and more experienced, and wasn't originally from here. He had some inkling of how to behave, but he himself had never had to interact with a king. He didn't even know if Jon wanted to become a king, so he was awkward about the whole thing.
"Davius. You can call me Jon. I'm not your king. I am nobody's king."
"Umm… I see… Well, how about you go inside, and eat something. You must be tired after... " Looking at the dead corpses in front of Jon, Davius was grasping for the most tactful language. "After what just happened. I'll organize a few folks to clean up, and I'll come talk to you when I'm done."
Jon considered the proposal for a moment. It had been a difficult day, and he could use a meal, and a break. He still had a lot of questions, but he could put that aside for now as his mouth salivated a little at the thought of a meal. Being young again meant he had a young man's appetite, which was insatiable to his recollection.
Jon walked in and sat in the middle of the tavern, where he had been before. Sarabella skipped around, ladling meat stew into a wooden bowl, grabbing a loaf of bread and pulling a tankard of water at Jon's request. She dropped off the food with a mysterious smile and left again before Jon could start up a conversation. Jon wondered where she went, but after the first taste of the soup, began wondering what kind of meat the stew was instead.
He ate it all, since he had never been picky. He had eaten worse during his long years in service to the crown, and there was a simple homey charm to this place. Sarabella came out of nowhere with a second helping, and left just as quickly the moment he was done.
Davius came in at this time, looking a little pale. Jon felt a little bad for having left such a gruesome task to the man. He had thought Davius might have been a little hardier, with his years of experience, but it seemed not.
"Sir Jon, the townsfolk should be ready to depart in a few minutes. If you'd like, we can speak along the way." Davius said. Jon finished up his big meal with a few big bites, and left the tavern. He wasn't sure what he was going to do in the grand scheme of things, but he was sure he was at least going see this through. Jon was never one to leave things unfinished.
Much of the town had come out to form this caravan to Reek's hideout. It had a festive air, and people were genuinely happy. Jon's recent pain and suffering was slightly soothed by the mood around him. On the way, he spoke with the village chief more, learning more about the area and his situation.
Jon was in a region called the outlands, bordering on the opposite side of the Tulin Empire from the Ryka Kingdom. It seems that King Horus had put him in a place as far away as possible. It seemed near impossible for him to have been travelled these distances in a mere 2 months time. There had to be some unknown magic involved for him to have traversed the whole Tulin Empire.
There were 4 villages in this region, at least that they knew of. They were all along a road that led to the Tulin Empire, as a minor trade route had been established. All of them were still villages of low population, and none of them were remarkable.
The Four-Leaf Village was the furthest from the Empire, and situated near a dungeon. It was so named because the villagers often harvested the Perisoothe plant that only grew near the dungeon. It had the odd property of only ever growing four leaves at a time. The only reason merchants ever came out here was to buy this plant and sell it back in the Tulin Empire as an ingredient for a minor healing potion. The dungeon itself was relatively unexplored. The village didn't have any of the necessary services to attract freelance dungeon adventurers, like an apothecary or a good weapons dealer. And they didn't have a dedicated military to send into the dungeon either. Without the necessary capital, they couldn't even begin to take advantage of the dungeon, and so it had just stayed there, unexplored. It was a place that only had three hundred or so residents, including farmers, hunters and woodsman that lived outside of the village itself.
Goodwood Village was the next one down the road. It had a lumber mill, and a group of carpenters that were the main source of general products people needed. It seemed there wasn't a stonemason or a blacksmith in the outlands, so most things were made of wood and clay, even the buildings. In fact, the tavern and inn run by Davius was considered one of the most prestigious buildings in the outlands just because it has a stone and mortar foundation.
Fairsummer Village and Gatestone Village were the next two villages along the trade route, but in Davius' opinion, they were fairly unremarkable. There was just some minor farming operations in those area, and some minor textiles. They also generally the source of cattle and meat in the outlands, since there were fewer monsters in those areas that would attack the ranches.
Gatestone was the closest village to the Tulin Empire and it was two days away. Otherwise the other villages were spaced a day's travel away from each other.
By the time that Davius had explained the details of the region to Jon, they had come upon Dagger Reek's 'fortress'. It was a simple compound with wooden poles for walls. It was clearly in disrepair, but what wasn't in this place. Jon stopped the procession, and had one of the men approach the fortress while carrying a wooden board. He was wary of archers, but expected there would be little resistance. They had brought all three of Dagger Reek's horses, and they were pretty recognizable.
Soon, the door to the fortress was open. It turned out there had been even less resistance than Jon had thought. For Reek to enter deep into a village, he had to bring his whole gang to assure his safety. They would be greatly outnumbered after all, and he had to dissuade the villagers from taking action. They had threatened various ill consequences on loved ones and the villages if the girls ran away, so it seemed that they had been fairly confident nothing bad would happen.
As Jon entered the fortress, he was even more disgusted by Reek's men. There were about 30 women, from 14 to 30 years old. A good many of them sported bruises and signs of abuse. About 12 of them were crying joyous tears to be reunited their families who had come for them. The others were celebrating amongst themselves, glad for their nightmare to be over.
Davius began to make plans on how to get every girl to their homes, planning to have them sleep in the tavern for the night. It was a good choice, and the girls were happy to leave this place of nightmares for them.
The other villagers began to load up the supplies of food and furniture in the place. There weren't many valuable things to take, just a lot of things. Of the useful things that caught Jon's interest, there were a few tents and sheets of canvas, some building materials for repairs, some axes and a map of the region. Jon was surprised to see a map, as it was a difficult skill to acquire, but once he looked at it, he realized it must've been taken off of a merchant Reek had robbed.
The procession began to return to Four-Leaf village, and during this time, Davius was negotiating and settling disputes about who would take what from Reek's stash.
"Everything here should be set aside for the foundation of the new kingdom!" Sarabella interrupted. Those making pleas with the village chief turned in surprise, their faces souring a little.
Jon had been expected this bit of chicanery from Sarabella, and had a suitable response for her this time.
"No. The victims of Dagger Reek will need some compensation to resume their lives. For the peace of the region, Davius will hear all grievances, and will decide how to distribute what we've taken. I trust that these women will be taken care of first, and that Davius can fairly distribute everything once he understands everyone's situation." Jon declared, with a loud booming voice. Though he didn't want to be a king, he had been a leader for much of his life, and giving out orders came naturally to him.
Sarabella pouted, but she didn't oppose his will. Jon smirked, wondering what she would be up to next.
Davius told everyone that he'd hear their stories tomorrow, and then he'd travel to the other villages to talk to the people there. They had to return the other girls back to their families anyway.
By the time everyone had returned to Four-Leaf village, it was turning to dusk. People left their carts and things in the village centre, the large open area where most events took place. There were still blood stains on the ground from the fights and executions, but it was soon obscured by all the things piled up in the centre.
Davius had offered a room for Jon, while the girls would stay on the tavern floor. Glad to have a quiet night, Jon accepted the gracious kindness.
"Sara, can you bring Sir Jon to his room? I have to make sure the goods are covered in case it rains." Davius said to Sarabella.
"Of course! Anything for my new king! Follow me!" She responded cheerfully.
Jon left the horses to Davius, and followed Sarabella. Up the stairs of the tavern, Jon was impressed. It was the first place he had seen that was well maintained. The stair railings were smooth and sanded, the floors were varnished and the windows had glass panes in them.
As Sarabella opened the door to Jon's room, Jon looked around to make sure they were alone.
"Okay. Let's stop the games. What does he want from me?" Jon asked Sarabella. It was a cryptic sentence, but he suspected she understood. If there was any doubt in Jon's mind, it didn't show on his face at all.
"What do you mean? Who's he?" Sarabella smiled sweetly at him, seemingly confused.
"Don't play dumb. He wouldn't have left me where I was without having plans. And you have been far too active today to believe you aren't involved." Jon's face remained stony and confident, not convinced in the slightest.
"Ahh. I was that easy to see through, was I? Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you…" Sarabella laughed, and her mask of innocence was shed entirely. In front of Jon now was a shrewd, sly woman that was full of secrets. It was a very different contrast from the young, enthusiastic dreamer she had pretended to moments before.
"As you've probably figured out, the King wants you to start up a kingdom here, to distract the Tulin Empire. Our intelligence sources indicate that the Tulin Empire was responsible for your darling prince's assassination, and tried to frame it as a casualty of war. So, if a new kingdom pops up on Tulin's borders, hopefully it will become a permanent distraction that them down."
Jon was taken aback by the news, but he couldn't let it show. He had expected he was actually being setup as a king, but he didn't expect the Tulin Empire's involvement. He quickly continued to conversation to hide his surprise.
"That's quite a lot to ask of me. What makes you think the Tulins won't just wipe me off the map?"
"You're the legendary Mithril Knight. I'm sure at the very least, you'll make it VERY costly for them." Sarabella smiled.
"And what card do you have to make me play along with this plan of yours? You know I don't have a fond relationship with Horus anymore." Jon by contrast, wasn't smiling in the slightest.
"It's simple. We'll kill everyone. In this village, and any other village you visit. And if you never visit a village again, we'll kill people and leave their corpses at your doorstep. You'll never find peace again." Sarabella suddenly turned grim and dark. Her demeanor showed she utterly lacked any compassion or hesitation. She would do exactly what she said, and she wouldn't care a whit about the consequences.
"You Unseen scum." Jon cursed at her.
"Thank you! Good night, my new King." Laughing, she slipped by him to descend the stairs, back to her chirpy, bouncy self. It was disgusting.