They moved into the town's center with the two married chiefs. It was a risky move, the Hayes family argued, but Ellis doubted that any adventurer would really kill any of the townspeople. Even if they seemed intolerable, they just found this quest as an excuse to horse around.
After playing by the rules for so long, it's only natural that adventurers would run wild when everything felt free. But it wasn't for long, like Ellis said, that new rules were being implemented.
Mave inhaled and shouted loud, gathering the attention of nearby adventurers and echoing through the homes of the town. Michael never knew her voice could reach such volume but given she had come from a noble background, he didn't want to imagine what a day in her own house felt like.
After a half an hour of murmuring and buzzing that came from the coming crowd of people, they felt affirmed after seeing the town's chief. Michael could easily tell which group of people were adventurers and were the natural residents. It must have taken them a lot of courage to walk outside their homes after how wrecked the adventurers left it.
Mrs. Hayes stepped on the podium after watching the crowd grow in a wave of confusion. She looked sort of intimidated looking at the groups of adventurers below her. Their shining armor and weapons ready at the arms, she had every reason to detest what they've done to her town.
"Welcome to Almore," she said hesitantly. "I greet you all, citizens and adventurers, your presence—what…oh, okay, that's fine."
Ellis took over the podium. "Greetings!"
The crowd snickered. They couldn't take him seriously because of how short he looked.
Ellis ignored all of that. "People of Almore, adventurers of the Adventuring guild, I wish the two of us could reach a compromise for the benefit of Wilmere. As you can already tell, we are assigned to protect this land. I have already apologized and exempted your past behavior to this town. It is still a shame that no work has been done when I arrived."
"You're just an adventurer!" someone shouted. "Why are you talking like you're better than us?"
"Because I'm up here and you're not." Ellis shouted back. "It really is that simple, right?"
"We won't listen to someone like you—"
Stefan jumped down from the podium, facing the crowd.
"Any complaints, he will handle it," Ellis continued. "I'm here for the same reason as you, to be paid in hard gold. We won't reach that premise unless we can work together like a normal guild."
They stepped away from Stefan. Some completely apprehensive from watching what unfolded at the tavern and also did not like the idea of being bossed around by someone that was practically half their height.
"You listen to him," Stefan pointed at Ellis. "And we can all get along."
"You think we can just follow you that easily?" someone sprouted from the crowd. "You stick with your party and we stick with ours, wasn't that always the deal?"
"This quest isn't ordinary like you know," Ellis answered. "We're preparing for an attack from Falden. We won't be able to defend against them if we're broken apart by our selfishness."
"Falden?" someone else murmured. "Why are we fighting against—"
"Listen, everyone!" Ellis shouted louder. "There isn't room for your ego anymore! We stick together as one from now on! Aren't you told to represent the Adventuring guild and somehow I find you all here, completely wasted like trash without any care in the world! You're being paid to protect this town and its people, not terrorize it and set it up for failure!"
Stefan nodded to someone in the crowd. "You got a problem?"
"I'm not taking orders from you, Stefan…" he reluctantly moved forward. "There ain't no part of me able to follow someone like you."
Ellis pointed at him. "Right there, you can be our first example."
"What—"
Stefan moved forward and pulled him from the crowd. He dragged the adventurer's wriggling body to the center so everybody could see and raised his fist in the air.
"If you don't want to follow," Ellis shouted. "We don't need dead weight in our quest!"
Stefan struck him in the face, again and again, just like how Michael witnessed in the tavern.
Ellis gestured to the Hayes like it was totally normal for other adventurers to beat each other.
The adventurer pleaded Stefan to stop, groping against his arm.
Stefan tossed him aside, watching him miserably crawl back into the crowd.
"I see we have all reached some sort of understanding," Ellis shouted. "If you don't follow, you—"
"We get beaten." someone else said. It was a female adventurer with almost the same physique as Mave except she was just a few inches shorter.
"I wouldn't say you are beaten," Ellis said back. "I would call it…corrected. People who choose to stay ignorant will be corrected in the right way."
"And what exactly is the right way?"
"To play your duties. Protect this town, protect its people, and honor the Adventuring guild like you're supposed to. You weren't sent here to paradise like a fool and getting yourselves drunk. Something terrible is coming, I can guarantee you that, and we can prevent the deaths of many innocent lives. If you want to play the fool, then Stefan has no issue giving you the same treatment you saw now."
"Who are you, again?"
"Ellis Winslow, and I'm not letting none of you have your pleasures in this town again."
She scoffed. "There's no medal for you once you get back, Winslow."
"I don't care about no medals. I'm only concerned with the same goal as yours, to get paid for my work. And we're not going to be paid if this town is in ruins and burned to the ground. That is why I need all of us to work together, don't you see?"
The crowd murmured to themselves. Some still object to the idea of following behind Stefan but others understood the situation. They were sent here with a quest and decided to run wild because it was a town far away from any laws of Wilmere. But once Ellis showed up, and presented them with the real meaning of the quest, they had no other choice. If they were to run away and abandon the quest, their license would be at risk.
If this quest was real just like Ellis said, they all imagined how great the pay would be once they've completed it.
Ellis turned around, nodding to Mrs. Hayes to group with her own people and spread the message that they were safe. All it took was discipline to make the adventurers stay in order.
Stefan looked at the crowd, presenting himself. "Anybody else? Does anybody feel smart enough to talk back?"
They were silent. The looks on their faces as they understood what Ellis was trying to convey.
"Alright!" Ellis climbed down from the podium. "Let's all greet each other, shall we?"
Michael thought that was a horrible idea but Mave followed behind him so there wasn't really much of a choice. Now actually seeing how short Ellis was compared to them, it was almost unbelievable.
Stefan suddenly grabbed Michael aside. "Here we go, nice and sound."
Michael was moving through the crowd of adventurers. "What are you doing—"
They stopped before a small group, it must have been another party. Though, Michael recognized one of them that he hoped he wouldn't meet again.