Chapter 119: Chapter 112 – Council Meeting

"If I may, Scarlet."

"Yes?"

The moment we were outside the tannery and the door closed, Elli turned to me.

"If you have some time, I would like you to meet with some of the others before you return."

"Ah, I guess that's fine."

And with that, Elli lead me further through the town.

The sun was finally starting its daily retreat from the skies. It was only a matter of time before the stars would be shining in their full glory.

Like every day.

But that little detail was of little concern to me. It was still the best time of the day to me.

The crimson skies blanketed the town in its light as people made their way around. The sounds of talk and laughter growing more numerous with every step we took. Smoke rose up from fires made out in outdoor fire pits or the chimneys from many of the buildings.

The scent of meat being roasted and soups being boiled reached my nose, though the smells were quite plain. It seemed like they weren't really using any spices or herbs to liven up the flavour.

(Is that because their food culture is that simple, or because they don't have the resources yet to indulge in more complex meals?)

As I pondered about the scents that I detected, Elli stopped in front of a large building.

It was one of the restored structures, its walls made of solid bricks smoothed out evenly, and its roof complete with fired clay tiles. This building was also larger than most others. Even the front door was bigger. It was easily twice as high as I was tall, and probably a bit more as well. There were some fancy inlays splitting the doors up into six partitions, an emblem on each one. As to what the emblems stood for, I had trouble guessing, but there seemed to be some anatomy connected to them. Finally, the walls sported tall yet narrow windows that stretched out just a bit shy of the roof. They were closed however, the shutters blocking any view of the inside.

Without bothering to knock, Elli opened the huge doors and went in. Not wanting to be left behind I followed. The door closed behind just as I cleared it, and I was treated to the view inside.

There was a short hallway with another door of equal size.

It felt a little like I was being teased somehow, but we quickly went through the second door, ignoring whatever purpose the hallway was made for.

The interior of the building turned out to be quite simple, at least from an architectural standpoint. After the hallway was a large circular room with a large podium near the middle. Along the far wall was a row of seats with desks, each one of a different size and decorated with different things. One had an ornately decorated leather sheet covering the table, another had chains made from gold and silver dangling from the edge. Yet another had its lip covered with a dense row of fangs from various monsters, and yet another had what looked like random stuff laying precariously across the desk, much of it overhung carelessly. One more was covered in a folded cloth mat with bead covered threads dangling over the edge, and the last was completely undecorated, but was painted bright red for some reason.

Each desk aside from two had someone behind it of a different race. Not just their race, but their build and demeanour were all far apart from each other. Not even their age seemed consistent, as some looked quite a bit younger than the others.

"Scarlet, I would like to introduce you to the leaders of the town. Starting from the right, is Alvaldi, he is the titan elder."

A literal giant of a man sat there with his arms crossed. Even sitting he looked to be twice her height, making him probably closer to triple my own. His head might have touched the high ceiling. He was probably the entire reason why the building and its features was so tall. Despite a heavy beard which fell loosely down his chest, his extremely strong jaw line was still visible. It was linked together with very prominent cheeks, as if he had spent every day of his life doing nothing but laughing. The way his lips were in a permanent upturn suggested maybe he really did live like that. His grey, almost white hair on top flared out before sagging at the end, like a sad mad scientist, though I could only suspect with how there were some leaves in his hair, that hair style wasn't intentional and he just had some poor hygiene habits.

He was wearing some sort of leather vest, but due to his beard I couldn't see much details. Otherwise from what I could see, only metals rings of various materials at key points along his upper arms and almost entirely covering his forearms.

He sat behind the desk decorated with overhanging chains.

"Next to him is Frigg, she is the demon elder."

An elderly looking lady with dull red skin nodded. Together with the raised platform her seat was on and her inherent height, I was forced to look up to meet the elder's strong gaze. Her well chiselled features were almost overshadowed by weariness as if the burden of age had almost overtaken her. But even then, there was clearness in her eyes and her back was held pretty straight with dignity. Her long white hair was tightly weaved into box braids together with some sort of black threads, then hung over her right shoulder in a loose braid. Her head was topped off with a pair of black horns that stuck out of her forehead and went up and back over her head. She wore sleeveless robes made of small quilted together sheets of leather from a wide variety of creatures, each a slightly different colour and texture from the next, and overlapping to create quite a few layers.

I couldn't quite tell if it was hot or cool wearing such a thing, but perhaps there was more meaning to her garb than was obvious at first glance.

Her desk was the one with the heavily decorated leather on it.

"Beside him is Harja, she is the chieftain of the dragonkin."

Even taller than Frigg, but still not even comparable to Alvaldi, was probably a relatively young woman sporting what looked like a permanent scowl. The woman's figure was similar to Magni, but a more lithe figure, yet she had distinct curves in all the most important places. In addition, she clearly looked taller than him as well. She had a sharp chin and even sharper looking eyes that looked like was sizing me up as if I was some sort of prey. Her skin was a darkened ashen pink, but her scales were akin to polished obsidian. The dragonkin wore a leather vest covered in metal loops and studs. There were small imprints akin to the shape of rounded bars all over its surface, but it didn't look like it was part of its aesthetics, but caused by a series of something hard underneath. Her arms were also covered in similar types of armour, with the cylindrical rods running the full length of her upper arms and forearms, ending in a leather plate over the back of her hands with large claws covering her fingers.

The desk she sat behind was the one covered in various fangs.

"Finally is Geirskogul, he is the chieftain of the imps."

Skipping an empty desk, the red one, was a figure with blue skin hovering rather than sitting there. He had the appearance of a young child, maybe two or three years old, but the size and proportion of one no more than a single year. He had faded blue skin, stubby horns sticking out of his short but wild hair, and stubby bat wings sticking out of his back. His large, inquisitive eyes stared at me as his round cheeks rose up in interest. His clothes were of a simple leather shirt and pants, roughly cut and covered in decorations, half of which looked like were stuck on with nothing more than spittle.

His childish expression quickly turned to boredom as he yawned and he started to play with one of the random things on his overcrowded desk.

"Umm, what about the last two?"

I couldn't help but ask about the empty seats, but my question was quickly answered in part by Elli moving over to the last one.

"The last seat is my own. I am the elder of the dokkalfar."

Hardly a surprise considering how that was how I was introduced to her.

Elli sat down at the seat with the desk covered in the layered beaded cloth.

"Then the last one...?"

"That one is the seat of Lord Scarlet. Even with what had happened, we had decided she deserved her seat to be preserved, in honour of her contributions in founding the original town."

[Master! They really know what to say! Quickly! You must take your seat!]

[Not now Claret. That's for the previous Scarlet, not for me.]

[I don't understand, Master. How is that different?]

[...It just is. If you don't understand, then don't worry about it.]

After all this time, I had no idea how to just explain it in a way which she could accept it. One day I should probably just accept her version of things, but until I achieved things which was equal to my predecessor, that felt like simply cheating.

"So? Why did you beg for this emergency meeting?"

The dragonkin chieftain, Harja, started.

"Before that, allow me to introduce everyone. This is Scarlet, the owner of the territory of Hourai Mountain."

"The owner?"

Along with Harja's skeptical question, the others stirred at the sudden declaration.

"That is right. This young vampire had arrived when she discovered some of our hunters intruding upon her domain. Thankfully she had agreed to discuss our usage of part of her territory."

"Haa? Why should we listen to such a weak looking girl?"

The dragonkin chieftain got up and made her way over to me. She leaned down as she tried to peer through my hood, though entirely unsuccessful due to how it covered my upper face.

On the other hand, I did my best to keep my back straight. This had already turned into negotiations, and showing signs of weakness would quickly become fatal. That much was obvious due to how she was so blatantly trying to intimidate me.

Or rather, successfully intimidate me. It took quite a lot just to stop myself from backing off.

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out before peeking out from under my hood and glared back at the woman.

"I'll forgive you since you hadn't heard before, but this area had become my territory for the last several years. Due to its size, I going to allow your people to settle here, but if I'm to be met with hostility rather than gratitude, then maybe I should just change my mind?"

"Oh? You think you can force us, force me away?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

I bared my fangs. It was already impossible to back off now, despite the pounding that reverberated from my chest.

This was my home. I didn't mind neighbours. They didn't even need to pay me anything, as long as they got along and didn't cause me trouble. But if they were going to be hostile, in a place where I had to hold on to no matter what so I would have a safe place to raise Alicia in, I couldn't afford to back down.\

I wasn't going to live my life raising a child scared of my identity being revealed, constantly on the run from people who wanted me dead. That was no way to live with a family.

Alicia deserved stability, she needed it.

But before I knew it, a sharp pain struck my face, then two more dull impacts on the back of my head and back.

For a few moments, I was simply staring at stone and wood, unsure what had happened. Shock more than pain had stunned me.

(That's the ceiling.)

It took me a few more moments to realize that, which was when I moved to sit back up.

I was lying on the floor, past the broken doors and in the hallway leading to the large audience chamber. Harja stood there, in a pose which blatantly spoke of the punch she had just used to send me flying.

[I'll kill her!]

[Wait! Stop, Claret! Heel!]

My ever loyal familiar untangled herself from my back and was just about to rush the chieftain when I called her to stop.

[That was a test. There's no need to kill her over a test.]

[But...]

[I said it's fine. Don't worry about it.]

[Yes Master.]

I got up and my overly protective spirit wrapped her arms around my shoulders like she usually did, and rubbed her cheek against my own in an attempt to sooth me as well as herself.

Even though it was probably meaningless, I was still thankful that Claret hadn't used [Materialize]. Thanks to that, she had phased through the heavy door and the floor when I collided with them, and hence she was gone without getting hurt.

"Is that all you're capable of?"

Wiping off the line of blood that ran down from my nose, I internally swore at the fact that I would have to clean my robes and hoped that the blood could be washed out. In a handful of steps, I was standing in front of the dragonkin again, glaring back at her from under my hood.

"Bwahahahaha! I like this one! She's got guts!"

Behind the chieftain, Alvaldi laughed loudly as he slapped his knee. Elli was simply sighing in exasperation while Geirskogul was 'ooh'ing and leaning forward in interest. Frigg on the other hand had closed her eyes and had an expression of disinterest on her face.

"Hey, hey? Can I try next?"

Surprisingly, that line came from the imp chieftain. The tone was quite similar to how the fairies often talked, but the context was completely different.

"Leave it. Or we won't get anywhere."

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Finally, the demon chieftain spoke. Despite opening her eyes once again, she was still going on with her poker face.

"Hmph!"

The dragonkin chieftain spat on the ground beside me, but obediently returned to her seat and once again crossed her arms.

[Ignore it.]

I had to preempt Claret with the little warning. In response, her tensed muscles relaxed again, though not quite to the same degree as usual.

Once everyone was seated again, I started once more.

"The Hourai Mountain and its immediate surroundings are the territory I had claimed several years ago. While I had heard you have settled here once long ago, it is also true that you had abandoned it until recently. Perhaps a few months ago at the most? That makes my claim legitimate, though I won't ignore your claim entirely. As long as you recognize that this is still my territory, and adhere to a few ground rules, I will allow you to use this part of the land and the dungeon within reason."

I took in a deep breath, giving everyone time to absorb what I had said.

"And? What is it you want? Taxes?"

While it was true that death and taxes were the two constants of life, there was no way I had any use for taking taxes from these people.

"No. I'm not demanding taxes from you."

My eyes met the demon who suggested the idea as I asserted myself the best I could.

"You will acknowledge me as an authority here, and you will accept anyone else I allow to live around the mountain the same as one of your own."

The first demand was to ensure a certain degree of power. If they didn't respect me properly, these people could easily cause trouble for me. Getting involved in politics was far from what I wanted, but ignoring it entirely was bound to bring endless trouble in the future. As long as they respected that I had a say and that my opinion mattered here, if something did happen, I would have the authority to do something about it.

The second was obviously for the fairies benefit. While they did seem to be pretty strong, if the two sides were constantly fighting against each other then there would be no way for either communities to thrive as they continuously fought for resources. It was possible that they could find some sort of hostile equilibrium, but the thought of the lives lost before such a thing could happen threatened to make me shiver.

Compared to that, if they could start having a cordial relationship with each other, then the benefits that each side could bring would be countless. Despite how much I had been told about the endless wars between the dark and light sides, it was hard for me to really understand it.

I might have lived through a few wars back on Earth, but they were all so disconnected from my everyday life that it was hard to really connect with any of that. If I stopped watching the news during that time, then it was easily possible that I wouldn't have even been aware that those wars had even happened. It was kinda sad when I thought about it.

But looking at it from a slightly different perspective, it was all so I could have peace of mind for myself. In truth, that was my goal. Having a certain amount of control meant that I could prevent or at least deal with troublesome issues in the future, and if my two neighbour groups were friendly with each other and at peace, they'd have no reason to bug me about anything. I'd be able to go anywhere I wanted in the dungeon, farm up anything I wanted, and even use the services from both settlements if I found the need.

While I didn't really need much at the moment past what I had already ordered, that could change at any moment the more I learned about both settlements. Who knew what the future held in store, so if the grounds for a brighter future could be set here, then that was what I preferred.

As long as things were peaceful around me, the environment would be better conducive for me to concentrate on the things that I personally cared about most.

"An authority huh? While we might have retained our customs and traditions, we are the ones who had abandoned the idea of the demon lord. If that's the sort of thing you want..."

The titan left his words hanging as he stared hard at me.

Though he didn't know it, that sort of thing was more beneficial to me than not. The demon lord seemed to be an existence which promoted strife with the light races. Though depending on what their status entailed, it would be harder to create and maintain peace by becoming one.

That, and by becoming the settlement's highest authority, I'd be burdened with way too much stuff.

(Running a city state's too much work! I dun wanna!)

"I only need as much authority as one of you. I presume each of you are the leaders of your own race?"

"That is indeed correct."

Elli quickly answered my question.

"In that case, I only need to be the leader of the vampires. We are one of the dark races after all."

"There aren't any vampires here!"

The words of Geirskogul was like music to my ears.

"Then I'd be a leader with no people to lead. As long as the five of you recognize me as your equal and am included on discussions about any major topics regarding this settlement and region, that's enough for me."

Hopefully there wouldn't be that many occasions for such meetings though.

Each of the leaders studied me, likely trying to figure out my angle, though since my angle was to reduce my own burden as much as possible, there really wasn't much for them to figure out.

Personally, this arrangement was almost entirely nothing but benefits to them. There were limits to my influence as one voice of six, and by conceding this point along with one other, they would be allowed quite a lot of freedom to exploit this land where there is no other real competition. Presuming that the fairies didn't turn into competition, but aside from Elli, they didn't even know about their existence yet.

A few of the leaders softly spoke to another, but in the end they each nodded to the others.

"We have no issues with this request. About your other request..."

Frigg took the lead with their response, but also reworded what I had asked. It felt like she was trying to more strongly establish the power dynamic between us. Something like that I didn't really mind once we had established each other as allies, or even comrades, but until then, it was practically an attack.

"Regarding allowing others you accept to live here alongside us, is that because you have already accepted another settlement in the area?"

(She's sharp!)

I figured at most she would have thought that I had plans to bring people here, but for her to realize that there was already a settlement here that I was trying to merge with this one...

The fear of being played in the palm of her hand started to rise, but I pushed it back down. Even if I was being manipulated by her, as long as the things I wanted came to pass, it wouldn't be an issue.

It shouldn't, right?

"T, that's right. To the south, there is already a settlement which I had established relations with, and I have recognized as inhabitants of my territory."

"So, you already have your own people, and now you want some power over us as well?"

Alvaldi frowned. As much as his perpetually jolly face could manage at least.

"They're not my people. I'm not their leader or anything."

"Then what are you to them?"

"I'm..."

(What am I to them?)

"I'm...their patissier?"

"A patissier? ...What's that?"

The huge titan directed his question to the others, but they all just shook their heads.

"What sort of leader is a pata...patissier?"

In the end Elli was the one to ask.

"It's not a type of leader. A patissier is someone who makes desserts."

"You...make desserts for these people?"

I nodded to Frigg.

"You? A vampire?"

I nodded again.

"Some sort of blood dessert?"

I shook my head.

"No, made with honey and eggs usually."

"You are a vampire...who can cook?"

Even Elli looked stunned at the revelation.

Though it wasn't like I couldn't understand, their level of disbelief was starting to feel pretty insulting.

"I can. It's' true that my diet entirely consisted of blood, and that I'm unable to taste my own creations, and that even trying forces me to throw up, and..."

The more I said it, the more I got depressed, and in the end I squatted down, holding my knees as I did my best to avoid letting any tears from spilling out. Blood tasted good. It tasted amazing, and even better than any food I had in my previous life. But even then, I missed the food I couldn't eat anymore. Even if it was just a cheap cup noodle, I'd travel to the ends of the world and scale mountains just to be able to experience it again.

It was frustrating. I thought I had managed to forget the taste of food, but the truth was I hadn't even gotten close. I could still remember what it was like to have that terrible soupy mac and cheese my coworker once made for the staff at work. That time my mom had made lasagna but forgot to take it out of the oven because of a poorly timed phone call, and we ate it despite the top had turned nearly black. Or when I left some frozen pizza in the oven while I was playing a game and forgot about it, and was forced to eat nothing but burnt toppings for lunch because the crust had turned into plywood.

Somehow only the terrible meals throughout my life rose up in my memories, yet I missed all of it.

It was weird and stupid, and the thought that Alicia would suffer the same thing terrified me. She had said that she was fine with it, but I wasn't sure she really understood. Or maybe because she was so young that she could better adapt than me. I had lived with solid foods for three decades before being forced to switch. Alicia had less than one.

...

After a minute of my sulking to myself, I forced myself back up.

"Well, at least I can smell it. I think my sense of smell is similar to everyone else at least. So it's not impossible. And as they say, the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

I tried my best to smile as I turned it all into a joke. It was still painful, but it was better than sulking over spilt milk. Something else I could never taste again, even though I never really liked milk in the first place.

"My mother used to say that as well. It seems despite the difference to our diets, there are quite a few similarities between us, is there not?"

Elli's words that came with a chuckle were a bit surprising.

Though the wonder at how long ago her mother had said those words rose up in my mind, I didn't dare to actually ask them.

"I believe this all sounds fine. It is all within reason, though there are details that need to be discussed, I believe that can be left for a later date when we meet with these other people. Do you all not agree?"

And with that, the discussion quickly came to a close and the conclusion was that they had a tentative agreement to my demands.

Anything further wouldn't happen until they they've properly met with the leaders of the other settlement and a treaty was made with them directly. For me, that was ideal, as I had no real power over the fairy settlement in the first place.

Very soon, I'd be relieved of all these troublesome matters and I can concentrate on the matters related to Alicia and powering myself up.

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