Chapter 157: Intervention in the Alley
Kellar opened his eyes, breaking the aerial connection of [Eyes of the Tribe Lord], and set off with steady steps toward the rear warehouse area. The perspective from above had given him the exact location of the altercation, and he had no intention of letting his first opportunity to enforce the new discipline slip through his fingers.
As he rounded the corner of the main granary, the sound of shouts and hurried footsteps became obvious. The young man, a skinny boy from the former slaves, tripped and fell face-first into the thick mud. The bundle he had clutched against his chest unraveled, spilling his few hastily wrapped clothes.
"Catch that coward!" shouted the woman leading the chase, a sturdy tanner nicknamed Nomre the insatiable bear, known for being the main culprit behind recent trouble in the settlement. "Trying to run off after wasting our time!"
Three other women pounced on the boy before he could get up. One of them kicked him in the ribs, while Nomre grabbed him by the collar of his tunic with a grotesque grin.
The boy had drawn her attention that afternoon. As a former slave, he kept a low profile, doubted the Great Shaman’s truthfulness, and had not enlisted as a soldier or to learn the new words. He was simply waiting for the right moment to escape, but Nomre had lured him to her workshop under false pretenses to rape him.
"Please, let me go!" the youth pleaded through gasps, trying to cover his face with his arms.
"We’ll teach you to obey, you wretch!" roared Nomre, raising her fist.
"Enough," Kellar’s voice echoed.
The air in the alley seemed to freeze instantly. Nomre stopped with her fist mid-air, and the other women stood frozen, turning pale upon noticing the Great Shaman’s imposing figure walking toward them.
Kellar stopped a couple of meters away, looking down at the scattered clothes in the mud before fixing his gaze on Nomre.
"Great Shaman..." Nomre whispered, letting go of the boy’s collar but keeping an upright stance. Instead of submitting, she grit her teeth with haughtiness and looked at him with resentment. "It isn’t fair! You have several women in your hut all to yourself and you don’t understand what us women in the village suffer without men by our side. We were just taking what belongs to us!"
At that precise moment, the sound of hurried boots echoed at the entrance of the alley. Four armed security guards burst onto the scene with weapons ready, followed by Mentz, who arrived at a quick pace.
Kellar did not break his cold expression, forming a dark smile as he looked at Nomre.
"So you are that desperate for a cock..." said Kellar. "I will oblige you. Take her to the barracks; she will be the regiment’s pet. Tell the boys not to hold back with her."
Nomre turned pale and took a step back as the guards seized her arms.
"And as for the rest," Kellar continued, raising his voice so everyone could hear. "If any rebellious woman doesn’t reform, send her straight to the mines. If they don’t want to act like ladies, we will make them be bitches. And if they can’t even be that, then let them stay underground."
The guards dragged Nomre and her followers out of the alley amid cries of protest. Once the area fell silent, Kellar turned to Mentz and the armed officers, crossing his arms with a stern glare.
"I am disappointed with your reaction times," said Kellar. "You took too long to respond to a disturbance in broad daylight."
"My apologies, Great Shaman," said Mentz in a firm yet submissive tone. "It won’t happen again; I will adjust the guard patrol routes. The leaving of half the officers left vacancies in the patrol rounds, but that does not justify such negligence."
Kellar did not break his rigid posture, keeping his eyes fixed on Mentz while the young slave still trembled behind him.
"Excuses are useless if a single man in this settlement is assaulted under my nose," said Kellar in a low, calculating voice. "I want you to double the rounds in the warehouse and workshop sectors. If an officer takes more than three minutes to respond to an assault again, I will send them on foot patrol to the Red Forest borders alongside the recruits."
"Understood, Great Shaman, it will be executed immediately," said Mentz, bowed deep, turned to the guards, and gave his orders.
Meanwhile, in the adjacent street, officers were dragging the group toward the small wooden and stone cells built near the headquarters. Nomre thrashed, freed one arm, and drove an elbow into the female officer’s face and ran off toward the main avenue.
However, upon bursting out of the alley, she nearly collided with the ore transport convoy returning from the mountain. An army soldier posted at the vanguard pulled his rifle and fired a shot into the air. The dry report echoed between the buildings, causing bystanders to duck and forcing Nomre to a dead halt.
"Get on the ground!" ordered the soldier, aiming straight at her chest with the smoking barrel.
Nomre grit her teeth, spitting onto the dirt with rage as she looked him up and down.
"Do you feel like a big man behind your pretty metal cannon?" shouted Nomre. "You’re a piece of shit! Why don’t you use your real meat cannon to see if you’re capable of subduing me, you damned rat?!"
The soldier let out a cold laugh while the village guard rushed to surround her.
"The weapons don’t protect me, they protect you," said the soldier with a mocking grin, keeping the tip of his rifle fixed on the woman’s chest. "Calm down already."
At that moment, the village police officers came running up behind her. One of the female officers covered her face with a hand, but fresh blood trickled between her fingers, staining the neck of her tunic from the elbow strike Nomre had dealt her moments earlier.
The soldier looked at the injured officer and then turned his gaze back to Nomre, lightly tightening his finger on the trigger without firing.
"The Shaman’s rules are very clear," said the soldier in a cold voice. "If anyone attacks tribe members like this, it’s the death penalty, you know?"