“Done”.
My voice rings through the courthouse, sharply and plainly. As everyone gathered hears and registers what I said, the crowd is audibly surprised. I hear gasps from my entourage and a few of the ladies in my presence collapse. Even the advisor and the elder are shocked. “ On one condition. If I am to carry out a deed of such weight, then I hope your people would understand the weight of the deed themselves. I would ask your town to produce for me, the bodies of one million animals. Birds, squirrels, rabbits and the like. I suppose larger prey would suffice but it would require more effort on your part. Any one of you may add to the pile, and with any means you have at your disposal. I will give you unlimited time. Oh, and I need someone to keep count. Are these terms acceptable?”
Rapid murmuring, then the elder accepts. “Then I will take my leave”. I sashay out of the courtroom, my own party following me.
“My lady! You can’t possibly be willing to accept their terms?” One asks.
“Do you trust me?”
“With my life”.
“Then I ask you to trust me now. I have other business, but I want some of you to keep an eye on the town. We need to know if they start taking drastic measures like burning wilderness or the like. And to give me updates on their progress”. I assign a few to live nearby, and depart.
---
A year passes without word from any of my advisors. In the spring, I send word of my plans to visit. When I arrive, I am not greeted by the advisor or any of the council, but a band of women. \
“Lady Rinelda, we beg of you to lift our requirement. It’s impossible!”
“May I see what kind of progress you have made? And who am I speaking to?”
“We’ll show you if you wish, but it’s rather unsightly. My name is Cassie, my lady”.
“Miss Cassie”, I say with a kind smile, “It seems you and your companions are greatly distressed. Would you explain to me how you went about the task I set for you?”
“Oh it was like a party at first. Every man and boy was out hunting, boys who’d never even been allowed were now recruited, they brought in hundreds of animals in the first few months. We”, she gestured to the women with her, “all resolved to count them and keep track. But as they gathered more, the bodies began to smell”, she shuddered and seemed unable to continue. Another spoke up.
“We got the young ones with us, started hunting mice and bugs and frogs. Weren’t even sure if they were valid, but we had to throw more of the older corpses out. We ran out of space. Then Fall came and we had to start preparing for winter. Harvesting crops, saving the meat. I think we got up to about a thousand corpses at the peak of the hunt. Then our count plummeted. Heh. At least no one was hungry that year”.
“And then I came calling and you must have realized what it was going to take to reach the total?” I asked calmly. They nodded. “Is there anyone else still hunting or trying to increase the total?”
“The advisor is on our case every day. Some of the boys are still out hunting while they can, but many of us have given up. I wish someone could tell that old coot what’s what”.
“I believe I might be able to help you with that”, I replied.
As everyone gathered back into the courthouse, I relayed their story to the audience, many of the townspeople assenting to the futility of the task. The advisor was not happy.
“There’s no way we’ll get to our total if you ladies can’t pull your own weight!” He fumed.
“Sir”, I said shortly, “I have already heard from these fine women that they were holding this foolish little demand on their backs. Organizing and managing the bodies as they were brought in, disposing of the bad ones, keeping a total? How many did you produce? Barely a thousand animal bodies? As was my intention, the task I set before you was blatantly foolish. Entirely unsustainable. Do you really still wish for so many mamono to be executed?”
“Of course! The demand still stands, as part of your terms for acceptance of mamono within Accreton!” The advisor spat out the words, though no one seemed quite as supportive as before.
“Really? After all the work your people went to try and match your own demand? After a few hundred bodies, animals much smaller than mamono, your town was unable to store them. Long before you reached a million mamono, the bodies would choke out the town and perhaps even the country. More to the point, humans and monsters of the previous age killed each other by the thousands. For every human family or village snuffed out, armies marched to execute entire nations of monsters. At times the humans even gained a foothold against monsters and came close to wiping them out. I think more than enough blood has been shed by now. That was why my mother took power. To end it!”
“You cannot know the despair we felt for generations, hundreds of our people sent off to die to protect even some of us, or taken from their homes during raids!”
“Then tell me, how will I accomplish my task? Shall I snatch women and children from their homes and bring them before you? Shall I rain fire and fury across the land until the Demon Lord herself is forced to intervene? And what will we do for the grief of the people who have lost their own family to your cruel and pointless demand? The husbands and the children and the families of those mamono whom I executed?” I allow the final question to hang in the air. Some of the people stepped forward.
“Lady Rinelda, please forgive us for such demands. Many of us have had time to think about the benefits of mamono living in our city. We’ve already come to accept your offer”.
“And what about your advisor and leaders?”
“They are old, and they still remember the days before the current Demon Lord”.
“Well then, perhaps there are times when old ideas should be questioned, and people should be given a chance to speak their mind”.
---
The proceedings are far smoother from there. The people were quite amicable to mamono, and I put no more terms on their integration. The people had suffered enough. Leaving my delegation to handle the finer points, I returned home after ensuring that the agreement was made proper.
I will write my report tomorrow. A single town of barely two thousand people. I hope that more towns in the area could be easier to persuade. And be assured, I will not be visiting Accreton again, at least not until the old advisor, and the council, are laid to rest.
His words still sicken me.