Chapter 896 896 - Missing enforcement
Asha didn't respond immediately. She looked at her hand in disbelief, then back at the door, then back at her hand again. It took her a moment to come to terms with what just happened, but then she frowned and turned to look at Erik.
"I… need you to be clear here, my lord. You are giving this place to me?" she asked, extremely serious now. "I have no doubt that I've already ruined my relationship with the Kamau family irreparably, but if I'm going to piss them off even more by taking over one of their buildings, I need to know I have the law behind me." She shrugged and added softly: "For so much as law still exists, anyway..."
Rather than answer her immediately, Erik raised an eyebrow, hands still resting in his pocket. "Explain that last comment for me. Ankhur had basic laws in place, and I've added to them since incorporating the kingdom. I made sure they were spread to every corner of the kingdom."
Asha looked at him silently for a moment, her expression unreadable. Finally, she nodded. "Right… Yes, of course, my lord. About my questi—"
"Don't pussy out now, Asha," Erik chuckled, rolling his eyes as he interrupted her. "You wanted me to hear that, and now I want to know what you meant. Just speak openly. I'm new to rulership and open to respectful criticism."
They were still outside the store, and plenty of people remained gathered in the area. Most Runebound could barely overhear the conversation, and nearly every sentence was followed by a burst of murmurs among the crowd.
The young woman sighed, smirking helplessly. "Well…" she began, trying to find the words for a moment as she scratched her head, sending tremors through her dreadlocks. "Honestly, this isn't a new problem. It was this way before you came around as well."
At this point, Asha glanced at Leila, who stood just behind Erik, listening curiously. When she noticed Asha's look, she shrugged indifferently. "Don't look at me. Matters of state were never my thing. My biological assholes made sure of that."
Asha's eyebrow lifted at Leila's crude description of the former king and queen… but then she grinned approvingly and turned back to Erik.
"The thing is, neither they nor you ever assigned people to actively enforce those laws," she shrugged, inspecting Erik's face curiously. "The army keeps order, and I've recently heard some particularly bad troublemakers disappearing without a trace, but… that's the extent of it. Normal citizens don't have a reliable way to report issues, and no one actively investigates."
Erik looked at her with surprise. He immediately suspected Nora's church as the reason for the disappearing troublemakers, but that did not relieve how embarrassed he felt for forgetting such a simple issue. "Elora…?" he muttered in his mind. Though he wasn't blaming her, it was usually Elora who thought of these things.
Before the fairy could answer, Asha was nervously chuckling and taking a step back. "Heh, n-not that I don't understand! I mean, the army is busy protecting us from outside threats! I know second-rank monsters are getting out of control, and there's third-rank monsters popping up, and of course, there's the recent war we barely survived, and our relationship with the Packlands has never been good, s- so…"
Inside Erik's soul, the fairy sighed and shrugged. "Well… I've been busy, you know? Even I can't think of everything…"
Hearing her answer, Erik then looked over to Leila. She looked equally embarrassed and helpless. "I mean… When we were still a small, somewhat hidden village before the awakening, we had a handful of people who enforced the law, and they were under direct control of the ruler. That group later grew into the army… then we expanded… then the hunters attacked…"
She shrugged. "I mean, ruling such a large territory isn't just new to you, you know? My biological assholes only ever ruled a village of a few thousand, and so did my brother until the awakening."
Hearing her answer, Erik turned back to the nervous Asha with a sigh. "Alright, Asha… Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll make sure it's taken care of," he promised, his tone solemn and determined. "As for your question: yes, you have the law behind you. I'll inform the Kamau that I've taken this building as compensation for Hanna's disrespect. And now I'm giving the building to you."
Perhaps Asha hadn't expected such a genuine response, so she was a little taken aback for a moment. She gulped. Setting aside the law enforcement, she was far more interested in his final promise. "Just like that…? For free?" she asked, her tone suspicious. She was obviously not dumb, but also confident in her own ability enough not to reject a suspicious gift out of hand.
A small grin spread across Erik's lips. Shoving the enforcement matter for when he was done here, he went back to what he had planned for this Asha. "Sort of…" He extended a hand toward the door. "Why don't you let us in and sell me those gifts I mentioned? We can talk more inside."
Immediately, Asha narrowed her eyes a little. She glanced at the gathered crowd. Though confident and not one to shy away from opportunity, she also realised her own weakness compared to Erik, as well as her pretty face and body.
Erik grinned at her. "I get it, but sometimes you have to take a chance. I can see you're smart, and you have courage… but are you too careful to grab opportunity when it knocks on your door? The building is yours either way, even if you refuse to hear me out or sell me anything now."
That caused her eyebrows to rise. He made it sound like there was more for her to gain by letting him in…
In the end, greed won out. Without a word, she turned and opened the door to walk inside, leaving the door open in a clear invitation.
Erik glanced at Leila, lips curled up. "Come on, Leila. This trip has become more interesting than I previously suspected, and I have you to thank for it. I'll reward you for being a good girl later." With that, he turned and entered.
"Hehe," Leila giggled and immediately ran after him. "You're welcome, Daddy!" she purred cutely.
Behind them, the crowd could barely believe that, among the three of these people, Erik was the youngest, and Leila the oldest. Still, with the show over, most of them started going back to their lives, spreading whispers of what happened throughout the city.