Displaced

Chapter 78

"...and we should hopefully have the new mine operational in no more than ten days," concluded Martis Tievais, Blake's Minister of the Interior.

"Excellent, well done," Blake replied. It was times like this that he wished he didn't always need to wear his masked helmet as part of his 'Lord Ferros' persona. It kept his subordinates from seeing his encouraging smiles. Still, it was important that he be 'Lord Ferros' to these people. The only people who followed him, with the possible exception of Simona and Leo, did so out of fear. The public only obeyed to the extent that they did out of fear. Fear was what kept him alive. If people were to find out that beneath the daunting mask of Lord Ferros stood some schlub named 'Blake Myers'...

Blake stopped that train of thought before it could get too far out of the station. He didn't want to think about that now, or ever.

"Moving on, any update on the elf?" Blake asked Leo. "Has he actually done anything worth noting yet or is he still just, like... sitting around?"

Leo nodded to Gunta Izkapts, the Minister of Justice.

"The Elsel- the elf has largely behaved himself, but an incident occurred last night" Gunta explained. "It seems that an altercation broke out between him and two citizens. He was roughed up somewhat, but his two opponents are much worse for wear. There are conflicting accounts about who caused the incident. As of now, we have all three of them in custody."

"Let the elf go," Blake ordered. "He didn't do anything."

"B-but it is still undetermined if he is the culprit in this matter!" the Minister objected.

"Give me a break. He's all alone in a country that hates people like him. Do you really think he's going to go around picking fights with people? Let him go. As for the others, I want you to make sure that they're punished as fully and as publicly as possible."

"My Lord, I don't think-"

"Gunta, you know full well how I feel about Otharians attacking other people just for being from someplace else," Blake stated, his tone laced with warning. "I want it made clear to everybody just how little tolerance I have for this shit. I want you to come down hard on them. As hard as you can within the limits for this sort of thing."

"...as you wish," Minister Izkapts conceded with a resigned nod.

"But while we're on the subject, double—no—triple the surveillance on the elf. I don't trust him either. If he's anything like those other two, then-"

"BLAKE MYERS!!! GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

Speak of the devil...

The room went silent as everybody turned to stare at the door where the furious but unmistakable voice of Sofie Ramaut had come from. Blake, in particular, went white as he realized what she'd just done.

"STOP HIDING AND COME OUT, YOU COWARD!!!" the woman hollered from behind the metal panel.

"Everybody out, meeting adjourned. We'll handle the rest tomorrow," the engineer-turned-despot commanded, trying his best to keep his voice sounding as calm and composed as possible. He wasn't sure just how well he did, but at least he kept his voice from wavering. "Use the other door. I'll deal with this myself."

Once the others had filed out, Blake, ever so reluctantly, opened the door and an enraged Sofie barged in, her expression looking like she was ready to murder him. Without saying a word, she swung something long and thin at his head, which Blake managed to barely block with his arm.

"Hey! What the fuck are you..." he protested as he finally got a good look at the 'weapon' she brandished. "Is that a stick?!"

"Shut up, you fucking prick!" she snarled as she swung the thick tree branch at his head again. "Every single time I think I see some shred of humanity remaining inside of you, every time I have hope that maybe there's a decent person hidden beneath that fucking mask of yours, you prove me wrong! I swear-"