Chapter 134: Your Holy Majesty!
"Agh, I can"t believe it is over already…"
Stretching my arms high in the air, I released a long sigh. My strange behaviours instantly earned me a weirded-out glance from my bodyguard to the side.
"Sir, did you expect more… troubles? Like, I still can"t figure out why I was needed here in the first place…"
As the expert of the second level, this man was clearly someone busy. Using his services to achieve certain missions was already so expensive, that he started to value even his free time accordingly. For him, acting like a bodyguard, was nothing more than a waste of his skills, and a waste of the money required to hire him in the first place!
"Troubles? Ah, no. That"s not what I meant by that."
To see through the intention hidden in that expert"s question was a simple task. Since he was told to act as my bodyguard, anyone could expect for some fighting to occur. But that wasn"t his role from the very beginning.
"You see, just by having you standing on my side and being as vigilant as you were, I sent a proper message to the mayor. If you want to mess with me, you will need to go through the expert behind my back first. And if I can dish out someone as powerful as you just for a nice, diplomatic meeting…"
Even though there was no need for me to educate that man, leading the discussion in a way that would make them answer their own doubts themselves was just a habit of mine. And if my words were to grant him some enlightenment to grow even stronger, the power of my faction would only grow!
Not like I had any clue what could induce breakthroughs in the people of his power though.
"So it"s not like you wanted to threaten him… But make him figure out what kind of power was backing you in the shadows, right?"
Finally catching up, the bodyguard released an annoyed sigh before slapping his face with an open palm of his.
"To think it was something so simple… And here I was wondering whether we came here to declare war or if that mayor was actually a monster in disguise…"
Hearing the rant of my bodyguard I felt my lips curving upwards. If that were the expectations that he had, I could only attempt to imagine what was going through the local mayor"s head.
"Let"s sit down for a moment. I need to make a call."
With how beautiful the weather today was, I couldn"t help but get lazy. As we just moved out of the town"s hall, we were still in the direct centre of the city. Thanks to that, locating a set of benches in a long stride of greenery wasn"t a hard task.
Sitting down and pulling out my phone, I pressed a single number before dialling up. Ever since I organised my contacts, there were only six people in my entire faction that had the privilege of being saved in my insta-call list.
"h.e.l.lo, Jeff? Can you hear me?"
Starting with a standard greeting, I quickly changed my narration when the static threatened to hurt my hearing. Only after a while did the connection stabilised.
"Good… Good…"
Nodding my head as I listened to the older Baskar"s words, I waited for him to finish speaking.
"Yeah. I"m done here. You can start your part now."
Finishing the call a single moment later, I stretched my arms once again.
"Now we wait."
The weather was simply too nice. Too nice for me to bother moving away from the bench. After all, the mayor was about to come running from his town"s hall at any moment now, so there was no point in moving somewhere else.
At first, nothing happened. People were going about their days as usual. Shopping, chatting, laughing… Even though this city was even smaller than the one where I grew up in, its town"s centre was still bustling with life and activities.
"Sir… What are we waiting for?"
After several moments pa.s.sed with nothing extraordinary happening, my bodyguard started to get anxious. To say that he was worried would be a huge overstatement, given how the results of my actions had little to no importance for him. Rather than that, he seemed to be thinking that he got the rare chance to watch how one of the plans of the leader of the entire faction would fall apart.
"Ah, you will see in a moment. Actually…"
After a second of thought, I pulled my phone again. With just a few clicks I opened the radio app, before tuning it in to the local transmission. And just as expected, rather than music, someone"s solemn voice was spreading through the air.
"... confirmed that the dungeons can pose a great threat to the civilian population. After consulting this matter with experts, the national council came to an agreement to establish a decentralised force that will take care of maintaining those places. But while they will be responsible for taking care of this potential danger, we, the citizens of this beautiful country, can"t just ask them to do it for free!"
My lips curved even more. If someone from my cult were to see me right now, their faith would definitely shake due to the devious expression that I currently wore. But even with the risk of someone local recognising me here, I couldn"t stop myself from smiling like that.
"Sir?"
Putting down the radio app on my phone, I raised my eyes at the bustling street. What I opened up was just a radio, a medium that rarely anyone used in the modern age. But from a single look at the gla.s.s windows of the nearby electronics shop, this kind of transmission was all over the place.
The screens displayed in that shop transmitted the very same speech of the local mayor. The only difference between the TV and radio broadcast laid in the lack of images in the former.
Taking a look at my phone, even the automatic news feed already updated this story to its crown spot. From the small count by the side of its header t.i.tle, I could see how rapidly its views were increasing.
Raising my head once again, I finally saw my actions taking some effects on the locals. One by one, groups and solo people alike were stopping, either to look at the TV in the shop or directly scrolling through their phones.
In less than five minutes, the entire town exploded with voices of surprise, rage, happiness and annoyance. But it was only to be expected. While some were scared about the potential appearance of the monsters, others enjoyed the fact that this threat was already taken care of. While some were angry at the prospect of a new tax burdening them, others rejoiced that they were spared the duty of dealing with the dungeons themselves.
Introducing a new tax was never an easy feat to achieve, even back before the apocalypse when the ruling party could implement a great-scale of propaganda action. Yet, with my means not coming even close to that of the government of the past, I managed to force not only the local communities to accept the new reality, but from the looks of it, the rest of both the country and the world at large would be inclined to follow my example!
"Sir, the mayor has appeared."
Even though he had a huge understanding of what was going on, my bodyguard ultimately couldn"t really care less. Whether the tax would be implemented or not, he would never have any trouble finding an employer who would be capable of paying the steep price of his service. Whether my faction would manage to obtain this marvellous source of founding or not, was of little importance for him.
Yet, a hint of astonishment was still clearly visible in his eyes.
"Just as planned."
Smiling internally, I forced my lips to back down into a single, tight line. Using the short moment that the fat mayor took to reach the two of us, I forced all the emotions out of my body, leaving just a rational, cold sh.e.l.l behind.
"Your excellency!"
Even though we were sitting barely a few steps away from the town"s hall entrance, the fatso already reached the limit of his physical abilities. Panting heavily as he fought to regain his breath, he couldn"t even continue with his plea.
At the same time, some of the locals looked up from the screens of their phones only to notice their very own mayor almost kneeling in front of two random people. As peculiar as this sight had to be for them, it was only the beginning of the show.
"Didn"t you just chase us out? What other matters do you have to discuss with me?"
Moving my eyes on top of the sweaty fate of the fatty, I allowed a shred of my disgust to appear in my pupils.
"Once again, I"m sorry. There seems to be something wrong with me in the recent days…"
Instantly falling on his knees, the mayor disregarded how the few people who watched the proceedings now turned into an entire crowd, he struck his head against the hard concrete of the park"s road.
"You already insulted us twice. The first one I could generously forgive, attributing it to your stupidity and recklessness. Why would I forgive you twice? Do you take me for some kind of naive fool that you only need to apologise to in order to earn forgiveness?"
Barely bothered to cast a single glance at the pitiful man in front of me, I moved my eyes back to the screen of my phone. From how quickly more and more news continued to appear in my feed, Jeff really did his job properly.
"Sir, your excellency…"
Muttering both of the ways in which he should refer to me, the mayor took a moment to regain his breath after this strenuous exercise. Raising his head up while remaining plastered on his knees to the ground, he showed me his bloodied and sweaty face.
It seemed that while he kowtowed to me, his forehead actually didn"t manage to come out unscathed from the first-degree meeting with concrete it had.
"Your majesty!" Finally settling on the way in which he should refer to me, the mayor tensed his lips before gathering his wits and uttering those few words that seemed to be stuck in his throat.
"The town"s hall agrees to all the terms that you have proposed! And what"s more…"
Reaching behind to the back pocket of his pants, the fatso pulled out a thick envelope.
"Here is my personal token of grat.i.tude, and compensation for my behaviour unbefitting the position I"m wielding. I hope your holy majesty will find it in your merciful heart to forgive me!"