Chapter 106: The First Mayor

Note: Took a bit longer than we thought due to the naming of the town. But huge thank you to everyone who made their suggestions - we added a couple of them in this chapter.

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Arthur ran down to the beach, not because he needed to, but because running was easier and faster than it had ever been back on Earth. With his improved vitality, he could jog pretty much indefinitely without running out of breath. He could run at a sprint for miles, and his dexterity made sure he didn’t trip or fall. It wasn’t like Karbo’s abilities, which made the infernal a superhuman, but Arthur was happy to be like a highly trained athlete, especially since he didn’t have to do a single thing to maintain that level of performance.

It’s nice. I could probably pole vault if I wanted. I don’t want to, but I probably could.

The valley was long, but it still only took a few minutes to make it down to the beach. And there, as he had been almost the entire time, was Skal.

“Hey there!” Arthur yelled from far enough away that he wouldn’t startle the old snake demon. “Dinner’s almost on. I thought I’d come get you.”

Skal turned around and smiled, revealing an incomplete set of teeth. “That so? Well, I won’t say no to a meal. And for once, I think I can contribute.”

“Really? You figured it out?” Arthur jogged the rest of the way down. “I was wondering when you’d make progress.”

“Yup. A whole string of them.” The old demon reached into the water and pulled up a thin metal chain that had five medium-sized fish on it. “Wouldn’t take any bait at all. Not worms, not bread, not nothin’. Turns out there’s a kind of shelled thing in the sand here. Had to dig around for them in the surf to find them. It was cold as hell, but the fish went after them like they were a warm bath and a strong drink.”

Everybody in the new town was young, and that was by design. The demon government wanted new towns to develop in new ways, and that meant letting younger demons have control. Old people weren’t banned, though, and Skal was about as old as they came. He still moved around all right, and assured everyone he had plenty of useful years left in him. But there was no mistaking that he was the oldest demon Arthur had ever seen.

“Wanted to thank you again for giving me the time to figure it out.” Skal lifted the string of fish higher, tossing them into a sack on the sand as he stowed his rod and reel in his hut. “And building this shack all the way out here for me. I’m not much good at much else besides fishing. But now that I know about bait, I can help out with food. More once we get a dock and a boat, but no hurry there.”

Arthur held position until the old man could catch up to him, only to be waved off.

“No use waiting around for me. I’ll be up soon enough.” Skal glanced up at the walls that lined the valley. “And as forgetful as I might be, not much chance of me getting lost here. I’ll wander in eventually.”

Arthur nodded and jogged back to camp. He liked the old man. Even though he never told anyone, the idea of someone older joining them as they built their town made him uncomfortable. He should have been okay with that, but it was one of those irrational fears that wouldn’t be defeated by logic. Those worries had been shattered when Skal showed utter disinterest in governing anything and, in fact, was almost bored by anything that wasn’t fishing.

And now that he’s actually catching fish? He’s a jackpot.

Arthur got back to the fireplace in record time, taking control of his spoons and spatulas again. Kout had managed to find some tubers and wild vegetables while helping Milo out, and those were now seething in a pot with the nearly stripped bones of the game Lith had brought in. Arthur had a separate kettle with water boiling for tea, and began granting refills to anyone who wanted one, juiced with majicka for warmth, comfort, and relaxation.

The old man shuffled in soon enough, and Arthur added grilled fish to the menu. There was far more food than they actually needed for dinner, but the group of young demons would make short work of any leftovers before the night was done. And for what he had planned, a feast was the only thing that would do.

“Okay, food’s ready.” Arthur watched as everyone heaped their plates and bowls high with food, then replenished everyone’s tea. As they started to dig in, he stood on the far side of the fire. He had been told, by everyone, that it was his job to officiate tonight’s ceremony. And he wanted to make sure that everyone remembered the night as perfect as it could be, which meant a big fire, lots of jokes, full bellies, and warm hearts.

“Alright, are you guys ready?” Arthur said. “Because I think it’s about time we name this place.”

A cheer went up around the fire, muffled only a little by the sheer amount of food that everyone was working through. Spiky came up to Arthur with a slip of paper, handing it off.

“Now, I haven’t seen these either, but it shouldn’t matter. This is a simple vote. I’ll read off the names you all suggested. We can debate and talk all night if we need to, but the name with the most votes gets chosen, with no hard feelings. Is everyone okay with that?”

Everyone was. Arthur was confident they weren’t lying, either. Demons were nice like that.

“OK, the first suggestion is Kout’s. He wants Sagacity, which I think is really nice.” Arthur looked down one place on the list, then laughed. “Milo, is this serious? Cliff Bar?”

“Yeah?” Milo looked around, confused. “There are cliffs and a sandbar, and… why is this weird for you?”

“It’s hard to explain. Earth stuff.” Arthur realized he was crapping on Milo’s choice for a reason that only applied to him. “Don’t pay attention to me. I’m carrying around weird linguistic baggage, but that’s on me, not you all. It’s a nice idea, Milo.”

The rest of the suggestions were nice, too. Arthur was partial to Mizu’s Cape Blue Star, but he was fairly biased in that regard. He tried to keep his officiating fair and unbiased as he worked through other suggestions, like Spiky’s Abhaile and Rhodia’s Erosion's End. Lily had a lot of good ideas, and Arthur was glad to see her choice of Hygge. Arthur’s own suggestion started with Towny, and he quickly realized that it wasn’t the right place for such a thing.

Even outside of Mizu’s clear favorite, Arthur found himself with favorites among the suggestions. But mostly, he was content to let the others battle it out. He got his own food off the cooking stone and watched the banter go down, laughing as he chewed on meat, fish, and surprisingly good stew.

“I think I’m coming around on Erosion's End,” Milo said. “I don’t think I even like Cliff Bar anymore. Not even because Arthur ruined it.”

“I don’t know.” Rhodia said. “I appreciate the support. But did you hear Skal’s? He didn’t put it on the paper but I think it’s pretty good. Coldbrook. There’s a certain ring to it. Like a bell.”

Almost nobody stayed loyal to their own choice after they heard the suggestions the others had made. Arthur leaned towards Lily and whispered in her ear. “Do they realize they can just ask you what the best choice is? Because of your new skill?”

“I don’t think it works like that. The skill says that all of the names are good ideas. Except Cliff Bar, for some reason. What is that, anyway?”

“A kind of candy and energy bar. It’s hard to explain. It wouldn’t bother anyone but me.”

“Well, the system clearly doesn’t want the town’s name to ruin everything. You shouldn’t either. You have to live here too, you know.”

“She’s right,” Mizu said. “Mine is going to win, of course. But you have to be fine with that because I’m your girlfriend.”

“Not just because of that. It’s a good idea. I like good ideas.” Arthur leaned down and kissed her forehead. “But especially when they come from my girlfriend, yes.”

“Good answer.”

The debate went on for a while, only slowing as the food gradually dwindled down to nothing, leaving the assembled people more and more sleepy as time went on. Arthur let it happen for a while before he finally stood up and took back the floor.

“Okay, so it’s time. Do you want to do the vote in secret?” Arthur said, and got about a dozen fishy looks in return. “Okay, no secrets. Let’s do this, then.”

The voting didn’t take long. And, to the credit of everyone there, it didn’t stir up any bad feelings or even much disappointment that one option was getting more votes than the others by far. By the time they got around to Arthur, his own vote didn’t count for much. He didn’t mind getting nullified in that way at all. This was a good place, regardless of what it was called. And whatever it was named, he knew he’d come to love the name because of the life he would build in this place.

“That’s settled then. Thanks, everyone. Next time, someone else can officiate. You don’t have to put up with my lack of panache forever.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Milo stood up. “Same plan, guys?”

Arthur felt a mild sense of alarm as everyone around the fire nodded almost as one, looking self-satisfied in their own way. Even Skal seemed to be in on whatever this was, which somehow made it that much worse.

“Okay, good. Let's get this going, then. Time to do our second vote of the night.”

—

The door to Arthur’s hut slammed shut behind him, caught in the wind. The momentum lifted the primitive latch and secured the door against the weather. Arthur stripped down to his thick underclothes and shimmied into his bedroll, setting his room-heating apparatus into action as he did.

Tomorrow, everyone had agreed, would be a building day. Skal would fish and Rhodia would work on her bricks, but everyone else would be working on getting Slapstone out of the ground and to the village. It would be set on freshly stamped soil as the foundation for new buildings.

And he’d oversee it all because that was what was decided by the unanimous vote of every not-Arthur person in town. He had woken up Arthur Teamaster of Earth, and was now falling asleep after a hard day’s work as Arthur Teamaster of Earth, the first mayor of Coldbrook.