“Welcome,” the guild master said as they arrived the next day, already in the main hall and waiting for them. “Thank you both for coming so soon after the quest was sent out.”
“It’s no problem,” Thera told him. “We just need the specific details of what we’re doing and then we can start. We weren’t given much information before being sent out.”
“Ah, I see. Well, it’s probably about what you can expect for a construction request, though probably on a bigger scale than you were prepared for. Just due to geography and where we sit among a few other major cities and nations, we’re actually quite a safe location and as a result, getting more refugees than most other places, as I understand it, so we’re looking at getting all of them housed as soon as possible.”
“We’ll work as quick as we can. In that case, if you or someone else would lead us to where we’re building, we can get started.”
With a nod, the guild master took on that role, walking them through the streets and giving the two a better idea of the city than when they’d first arrived. When they’d gotten there the night before, it was dark and they’d gone directly from the gate to the guild and then finally to their hotel, but in the light of the morning and on a grander path, it was easier to see the city’s circumstances. People going about their days, sure, but also plenty sitting in the streets, looking bleak, with many of their minds revealing them to be people who’d lost their homes and were in wait for somewhere new, along with whatever work they could find to support themselves.
A bit different from the city with the j?tunn, Ben couldn’t help but note. Even with the issues that group’s arrival had caused, they’d still all been housed from the start, only needing to wait for better accommodations than what they were able to receive at the time, in contrast to that one which was leaving people on the streets. But I guess if they’re really getting as many refugees as it sounds like, they might not have had the space to keep up.
With that feeling seemingly confirmed when they left the city’s edge, finding what looked like thousands of tents set up as far as they could see, stretching out into the distance with people trying to make the best of it and leading him to speak up as they kept walking.
“We’re expanding on the city, right? Is this not the general area?”
“Ah, no, specifically it’s more like building a different city beside us,” the guild master explained, a quick flash of shame passing through his eyes. “We’ve given up some land to the west, where-”
He didn’t get to say more, Ben had gone directly into his head to see what they issue was and found himself in enough disbelief that without a word he’d picked the three of them up with his power and propelled them to just where they were expected to build, leaving a frown on Thera’s face as well when she saw it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“This is a swamp.”
A big one too, stretching out beyond their line of sight and, if the guild master’s thoughts were to be believed, went on for a few miles, while the man who’d brought them there continued to try and hide both his expression, along with his real thoughts on it.
“Unfortunately, it’s all we had to give.”
“Listen, I get you don’t have any power in deciding where these people will go, but that doesn’t mean you get to lie to us,” Ben told him sharply enough that the other stepped back. “As far as I could see, In all of the land surrounding this city, this is the worst by far, so we’re going to cut the crap and I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen. We’re all going to go to your mayor and then we’re ever so politely going to tell him that this is ridiculous.”
“Knock knock,” Ben said as they arrived at city hall, ignoring any attempt at proper procedure despite the pleas of the guild master he’d dragged along and instead pushed through what had very much been a pull door to the mayor’s office, placing it to the side while the man within looked like he was struggling to figure out how to react as his eyes turned to the guild master before Ben brought them back squarely on him.
“Hello there, Ben and Thera, first rank adventurers brought here to specifically build a settlement for all of the refugees that have ended up in your city and specifically here right now to ask why the hell you think you can try and make us complicit in getting anyone to live in what looks like some largely uninhabitable swampland?”
“Well, if you’re unhappy, then good news,” the man said, trying to maintain the proper air for his station. “For this little display, you no longer have the job, so get out before I have the city guards brought in.”
“Hmm, interesting thought,” Ben said as he closed the distance between them, rendering the desk the mayor sat behind into nothing but dust and effortlessly picked up the man by his collar. “A few serious mistakes in it though. One, despite not even wanting this stupid job in the first place, I don’t want to see people in a rough spot being treated like that either, and you don’t have the authority to fire us. Two, I can and am honestly kind of inclined to break a couple of your bones before anyone with the power to try might be able to get here and stop me, and three, even if they wanted to, they couldn’t. You’re not talking to someone with the authority of a first rank alone, you’re talking to a third tier, and considering the sort of ways I've seen others get away with abusing that level of power, I can tell you that even if I do give in and hurt you a bit, I’m not going to see any repercussions for it. Now, knowing all of that, convince me to calm down.”
He stared in the other man’s eyes the entire time he said it for what bit of intimidation it would add and felt his squirm, even if his thoughts betrayed him in the end. He was already thinking of how he could get out of things without having to change his decision.
“You don’t understand, the thing is-”
“Stop,” Ben said, dropping him on the ground and leaving him there, already able to see there was no point trying to talk to someone like that. “You don’t want them added to your city because you think a bunch of people with nothing moving in like that would be bad for this place in the long run, completely ignoring what they’ve gone through to end up like that in the first place, and while I undeniably think someone should hit you a few times, you’re in luck because I have an actual solution for this that you’re going to end up hating even more. Thera, sorry, this might take a day longer than we were expecting, so we should get started.”
And I’ll make this guy and everyone who agreed with him see what a bad idea trying to just toss people away in front of me was.
