Chapter 141: I Won’t Dance to Your Tune

The strange music continued, and I heard a gravelly male voice.

“Rzucę Ciebie rzucę nas

Nie chcę tańczyć tak jak grasz

Rzucę Ciebie rzucę nas”

I peeked out of the door and saw there was a tall, muscular man with a big beard singing barefoot in the middle of the street.

”I'll throw you away, I'll throw us away

I won't dance to your tune

I'll throw you away, I'll throw us away”

The man looked like he was wrestling some kind of curious box-like reverse-backpack thing, pulling it apart and pushing it back together, the middle section stretching and contracting. On one side it had a bunch of keys, on the other it had dozens of buttons. The instrument almost sounded like it was breathing, some kind of chorus of harmonicas. I’d never heard or seen anything like it.

When he noticed me, he stopped singing and gave me a charming smile. “Ah! People! I was wondering where everyone was.”

I stepped outside, and the rest followed.

I gave him a little wave. “Hi there! We were all just… having lunch. I mean, that’s how it started. For me, not for them.” I gestured behind me. “You notice any strzygi around here?”

“Besides the corpses everywhere?”

“Besides the corpses, yeah.”

“Oh, yes. Two of them tried to attack me, but that’s alright.”

“You killed them?”

“Unfortunately, they left me no choice.”

That might mean all strzygi were now gone, and the infestation had been stopped. Perfect.

“Yeah, they tend to be that way.” I nodded at the curious box on his chest. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. What is it?”

“This?” He patted the thing. ”This is an accordion. It’s my favorite instrument. It has a soul of its own.”

He squinted and looked up. “Now may I ask you a question?” He pointed up, a few feet over my head. “What’s that thing?”

I glanced back at where he was pointing, but didn’t see anything. “Huh?”

“That floating black, purplish thing with the—never mind.”

I frowned. I didn’t see anything. There was nothing. Maybe he was imagining things. I decided to use [Soul Index], just to make sure he wasn’t some kind of crazy person.

[Street Musician]

Status: Calm

So he probably wasn’t crazy, just a bard-type class, possibly an eccentric. Artistic types always saw everything differently from the rest of us. It was like they could see right into the soul of not just people, but the world itself. I glanced back up one more time. Still nothing. I shrugged it off and turned back to the man.

“So what brings a [Street Musician] all the way up the mountain?” I pointed at his feet. “You might want to put on some boots. It can get pretty cold at night. Especially this high up.”

He let out a booming laugh. “I never wear shoes. Where I’m from no one wears shoes if they don’t have to. How can you connect to nature when you’re wearing shoes? I take strength from the earth. It cleanses me and gives me power.”

“Some type of skill, then?”

“And my feet get hot.”

I mean, my feet got hot sometimes too, but I’d rather have hot feet than step on a nail or even worse, in some poop. That being said, if the earth did cleanse him and give him strength I could understand why he wouldn’t want to wear them. Especially if it cleansed the poop right off. It would still be disgusting, but only for a moment. The strength gains probably made up for it.

I noticed he was still squinting above me. I looked again, but there really was nothing there. Even [Mēnē’s Watchful Eye] didn’t detect anything. What a curious guy. Maybe he ate the wrong mushrooms on the way up here.

He turned his attention back to me and grinned. “You’re very pretty.” He noticed Kasia and laughed. “And so are you.”

Kasia turned red and looked at her feet. That made him laugh again.

“Uh, thanks,” I said. “Really, though, why are you here? Playing for an empty street.”

“It’s not empty now.”

“You got me there.”

“I’m Vitek.” He held out his hand.

Igor stepped in front of me. “You dare touch Lady Aurelia?”

Vitek grabbed Igor’s hand and shook it instead. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Vitek.”

Igor, not knowing how to respond to that simply shook his hand back. “I’m Igor?”

Vitek snorted. “I don’t know? Are you? You look like you might be.”

Igor stared at his hand, then back up at Vitek. He looked like he was having an identity crisis.

“Yes, that’s Igor,” I said, gently pushing Igor aside. “Over there is my sister, Kasia. My name is Aurelia.”

Vitek cocked his head. “If you say so.”

“What?”

He raised his hands in defense. “Nothing. Aurelia is a nice name. I just expected something different.”

“Different how?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Oh, you know. Something exotic.”

“Do I look exotic to you?”

He shrugged. “You don’t look like you’re from around here. Sound like it. But don’t look like it. Though I’m sure a young woman such as yourself has plenty of reasons not to share her true name with a man she’s just met. I meant no offense, Lady… Aurelia.”

Did this guy just instantly see through my carefully crafted disguise? What good was a disguise when the first guy I met didn’t even buy it? Maybe I was simply too majestic for Silesia and even looking like an actual Silesian couldn’t fool someone whose whole thing it was to see through people and sing songs about them. As a [Street Musician] he’d probably seen more people than most. Of course my disguise wouldn’t fool anyone when I carried myself with such grace and dignity, so unlike real Silesians. I also hadn’t insulted anyone yet, which might have tipped him off as well. A real Silesian would have probably been rude from the start.

“What do you want, Vitek?”

“I just want to be free and make music.”

“Free from what?”

“Just free.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alright. Have fun being free. I won’t stop you. Enjoy my town. Stay as long as you like.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Your town?”

Hubert joined my side. He pushed up his spectacles. “Yes. Lady Aurelia is the new mayor of Viswa. Due to the unfortunate departure of Viswa’s entire populace the town has been left empty. Lady Aurelia has graciously accepted to take on the burden of governing Viswa and ensuring its continued safety and prosperity.”

Vitek raised both his eyebrows.

“I didn’t kill them,” I said. “I tried to save them, but I was too late. I was in time to get these guys out, though. It was pretty bad in there. There were a lot of strzygi. Emphasis on were. Because they’re taken care of.”

He scratched his beard. “And that made you decide to just take over the town?”

“It’s not really taking over when there’s no one to take over from. Just look at the views. Would be a shame to let the whole town wither and rot just because everyone got slurped up by a bunch of demons. Imagine walking barefoot through these mountains, drinking that fresh Vistula water, hugging some cute beavers.”

“Beavers?” His expression shifted from skeptical to excited. He took an eager step towards me. “There are beavers here?!”

“Gosh, so many beavers! Can’t go anywhere without tripping over one of our adorable furry friends.”

“Man, I love beavers.”

I nodded appreciatively. “We all do, Vitek. We all do.”

A beaver scurried past. “Look!” I said pointing at it.

Vitek excitedly chased it for a few feet, shouting “Bóbr! Bóbr!” then ran back to me. “Magnificent creatures.”

“That they are,” I agreed.

“But tell me, Mayor Lady Aurelia, how does one govern a beaver?”

“What? You don’t. You just let them be.”

“Aha!” He pointed at me. “Exactly. And how do you govern man?”

I put my hand on my hip. “Look, Vitek, I feel like you’re trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what you’re trying to say. I’m not looking to ‘govern’ anyone or anything. I just want to live peacefully in this nice town and enjoy the views. The only reason I was forced to become mayor is so no one else comes along and ruins it or tells me what to do.”

“So you don’t like it when people tell you what to do?”

“Does anyone?”

Hubert raised his hand. “I do.”

“And that’s what I love about you,” I replied, causing his cheeks to flush. “But yeah. Not me. It’s just not for me. So if you’re about to tell me what to do, I’m afraid I’m going to have to politely ask you to leave, Vitek. No offense. No one tells me what to do.”

Vitek slowly nodded, then locked eyes with me. “Not even the Church of Stvora, right, Hecate?”