“By the Silver Moon, it is an honor to have you grace Qinghe Town with your presence. Please forgive me for not welcoming you sooner. I am Eleanor of the Casti Family, widow of the former mayor, Ohm.”
Her tone remained steady as she mentioned the “former mayor,” her eyelashes not even fluttering once.
Wu Yao sat still, twirling the fork between her fingertips as her gaze lingered on Eleanor’s face.
A beauty of this caliber was a pleasure just to look at, simply by standing there.
Eleanor was not deterred by her silence and continued, “I would like to strike a deal with you.”
“Speak,” Wu Yao said, admiring her faintly glowing emerald-like eyes.
Eleanor breathed a sigh of relief. Before coming here, her greatest fear was that the other party wouldn't even give her a chance to speak.
After all, according to her servant’s report, this sorceress had not hesitated for a single second when she killed Ohm.
“I know everything about Qinghe Town like the back of my hand.”
She drew a roll of parchment from her sleeve and spread it across the table.
It was densely filled with clear annotations: the ownership of every plot of farmland, the property rights of the shops, the paths of the water canals...
Benita’s eyes shifted as she looked at the map. With this in hand, she could launch her plans much faster.
“How do you have this?!”
Tax Collector Hawkley, who had leaned closer, looked utterly shocked. He would bet that Mayor Ohm himself didn't possess such a detailed map!
“Because I was the one managing everything in Qinghe Town, of course.”
Eleanor turned her head and swept a glance over him. The blatant coldness and warning in her eyes caused cold sweat to break out all over Hawkley.
Eleanor looked back at Wu Yao and stated flatly, “Ohm only cared about collecting money. I was the one who made all the actual decisions.”
Wu Yao turned her head, propping up her chin as she looked at Benita. “Mayor, get to work.”
Eleanor followed Wu Yao’s gaze to Benita. Though she was dressed neatly, she was clearly a commoner, with rough skin, prominent finger joints, and the unmistakable marks of a life spent weathering the elements.
She didn't seem like anything special, yet the sorceress called her “Mayor.”
This title prompted Eleanor to readjust her assessment of the situation in her mind.
Benita’s originally anxious heart instantly settled. Her gaze stopped drifting as she stood up to meet Eleanor’s scrutinizing look.
Having lived in the Holy City, she was no stranger to the rules of the nobility. She stared back at Eleanor with a steady gaze.
“Lady Eleanor, I am Benita. Trusted by Lady Wu Yao, I am currently serving as the acting mayor of Qinghe Town. May I ask what you hope to gain?”
Eleanor fell silent for a moment.
The silence was just long enough for her to make a decision, but not so long that the atmosphere grew stagnant.
“I want to continue managing all of this.”
Wu Yao raised an eyebrow, not at all surprised, and cast a teasing glance at Benita.
Benita pursed her lips and did not speak immediately. However, she showed no signs of backing down; instead, she looked as though she was rapidly digesting the other woman’s terms.
The two men behind Eleanor, however, were far more anxious than she was. This was not what they had agreed upon!
Half an hour ago, they were still huddled in the side parlor of the town hall, pacing around in a panic.
When the news arrived, the two had been sitting in the parlor, sipping black tea and eating shortbread, happily calculating how much extra tax money they could skim off this month.
Who could have guessed that a sorceress would actually appear in a godforsaken border town? These days, not even parents used sorceresses to scare children anymore.
After all, sorceresses had been missing for so many years that even the ghost stories made up about them had grown stale. Why did they have to be the ones to run into one?
“The sorceress killed the mayor!” Hawkley lowered his voice to a whisper, slapping his fat palm against the table. The teacup lid rattled and jumped. “Just like that! With a single Fireball!”
His tone was less angry and more incredulous.
Mayor Ohm was his distant cousin. He had only secured the lucrative position of tax collector through brown-nosed sycophancy, and he had lined his pockets handsomely alongside the mayor over the years.
Now that his backer had fallen, if he didn't plan for his own future quickly, he would not only lose his job, but he might also be skinned alive by this sorceress!
“She even dared to lay a hand on mages. Killing a mayor was just a casual afterthought for her,” Administrator Pelham said with a bitter face. He had no real skills; climbing to this position was purely a stroke of good luck because his sister had become the mayor’s mistress, and the mayor had promoted him as a favor.
“We’re in this mess, and you still can't say anything useful!” Hawkley roared at Pelham.
He had always looked down on Pelham. Although Hawkley himself had also relied on connections to get his position, he prided himself on having some actual capability.
Unlike Pelham, who could barely read and was utterly useless at anything besides admiring flowers, raising birds, and tending to potted plants. Even though they had both risen through nepotism, Hawkley felt he had relied on ability, while Pelham had relied purely on thick skin.
Being yelled at like that made Pelham feel a bit embarrassed. Although he didn't know much, his fear of death was not a single bit less than Hawkley's.
The newcomer was a ruthless figure who had killed three mages the moment she arrived!
What kind of grand display had those mages put on when they first arrived in Qinghe Town?
Yet those arrogant mages hadn't even lasted the time it took to drink a cup of tea against this sorceress.
They had no capability to oppose her.
But once the news of the mages being killed by the sorceress reached back, the Mage Association would definitely not let the matter rest. When that time came, anyone associated with the sorceress would be treated as her accomplice and disposed of.
Pelham felt cold sweat break out on his back again at the thought.
“We can't beat her,” he squeezed out.
Hawkley hadn't expected Pelham to come up with any ideas anyway. If this useless fool could make a decision, pigs could fly.
He slumped back into his chair, making it creak loudly under his weight.
“We can't anger her,” Hawkley said, licking his dry, cracked lips. “As long as we can stall for some time and wait for the Mage Association people to arrive, we can survive.”
“But if the Mage Association finds out we worked for her, they'll kill us too.”
Pelham was actually quick to react this time.
He had not forgotten how those mages conducted themselves. If mages were truly reasonable, Ohm wouldn't have served them like a dog.
Both of them fell into silence. Hawkley’s hand trembled as he tried to pour himself a cup of tea.
Just then, the door was pushed open.
Hawkley shuddered violently, accidentally dropping and shattering his precious teapot. Ignoring the heartbreak over his lost treasure, he raised his head in panic.
Pelham recognized the newcomer first and cried out in surprise, “Lady Morceau?”
Morceau was indeed Mayor Ohm's surname. He was the heir of the Morceau family, a titled Baron whose fief was Qinghe Town, which was why he had been appointed mayor by the Empire.
Hawkley had never met this lady, whose relationship with the mayor was far from sweet. She rarely attended town banquets, and on the rare occasions she did appear, she only stood far off in a corner, like a misplaced statue.
He had no idea what she was doing here now. He could only silently pray that this lady was sensible and wouldn't come crying and screaming for them to risk their lives fighting the sorceress.
Rate on N.U.
