46 Change
The old man Sam, with his dozens of ropes tied around his body, had arrived with the ointment at some point and heard their conversation.
‘How much did he hear?’ Bradley wondered.
The old man increased his pace and quickly closed the door. “Are you going to be the next mayor?” the man asked as if it were a urgent question.
“Uhh… no, it’s not certain yet,” Bradley explained. “I’m just a candidate for now, sir.”
“I see,” the old man said. “Then, I suggest you don’t become one. Give up.”
“Huh?” Both the brothers were surprised by what they were hearing.
“Why do you say that?” Bradley asked curiously. As someone who had lived so long, Old man Sam was bound to have a lot of wisdom. 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩
The old man looked at Bradley and sighed. “When you become the mayor, your personality will change drastically to the point you will become unrecognizable.”
“It’s alright if you were alone and without family,” the old man said. “But since you have a brother here, I don’t think you will want that.”
“Unrecognizable? What do you mean by that, sir?” Stanley asked.
“I mean…” the old man turned toward Bradley. “Do you know what is going to happen when you become the Mayor? Has Damien explained yet the process of becoming the next Mayor?”
Stanley looked at his brother to see if he would explain what the old man meant. Bradley seemed to know what was going to happen and felt a little conflicted about it.
He nodded slowly to affirm that he indeed knew what was going to happen.
“What is the process, brother? Is it dangerous?” Stanley asked. “I don’t want you to do it if its dangerous.”
“It’s not dangerous,” Bradley said.
“No, It’s not,” the old man said as well. “But it definitely isn’t something one can decide so simply either.”
He narrowed his eyes and glared at Bradley as he spoke. “Are you prepared to lose it?” he asked. “Your powers.”
“I…” Bradley didn’t have an answer just yet. He was still in the process of deciding in the first place.
“Lose your powers? What does he mean by that, brother?” Stanley asked. “Why would you lose your powers just to become a mayor? How is it even possible lose your powers?”
“Because he’s going to get a new one,” the old man Sam said. “He’s going to get the mayor’s healing power and become the mayor himself.”
“What?!” Stanley shouted unintentionally at the words that came out of the old man’s mouth. “Is this true? Are you really going to get the mayor’s healing powers?”
Bradley sighed. “Only if I’m chosen,” he said.
“That’s amazing,” Stanley said. “Isn’t that great?”
“Are you listening?” the old man suddenly sounded angry. “If he gets the healing powers, he will lose his own powers. On top of that, he will also lose his current personality. In a year’s time, he won’t even think of you as a brother anymore.”
“Oh…” Stanley’s excitement disappeared immediately. “So you have to give up your own powers to inherit the Mayor’s healing powers?”
Bradley nodded. “The mayor’s healing power is one that is transfered through the many mayors before him,” he explained.
“Damien’s powers had to do with sound. He could see the world through his ears just by the sounds he heard,” the old man explained. “He wasn’t fit for fighting directly, but he was still a capable Defender.”
“He and I were both in the same scenario due to our lack of offensive capabilities,” the old man said. “We were both chosen by the previous mayor as candidates too.”
“What? You were a mayor candidate?” Bradley was surprised.
“Yes, I was,” the old man said. “Me, Damien, and one other person that died many years ago were the candidates. I was certain I would be chosen, but in the end, Damien became the mayor.”
“When it was confirmed that he would be the mayor, I was quite happy. No matter who became the mayor, we had made a deal to let the other one stay in the mansion with them,” the old man said.
“However, after becoming the mayor, Damien’s personality changed. He, who was once an honorable man, went back on our deal. He started ignoring me openly. When he did talk, it would be when he was giving me an order,” the man said.
“As you can see, I have too keep these things on me all the time to let them fester in my power-negating power. I wanted to stay in the mansion in some part so that I could rush down to any place that needed me. However, that damn Damien didn’t even care about it. His personality changed to become the worst.”
“If you want your personality to change in such a drastic way too, then you can become the mayor. But, if you care about caring things you care about currently, be careful as to what you choose,” the old man said.
Bradley could only sit there and accept what the old man had told him. Was his personality going to change? He didn’t believe so, but who was to tell?
If a power replacing another power was possible, then a shift in personality was also possible. Even so, he couldn’t imagine not caring about things he cared about now.
The mayor hadn’t become a heartless person after his personality switch. The only thing that had changed was what he cared about. That was to say he now cared about town as a whole rather than just a person.
Stanley started thinking about his future where his brother would be the Mayor. Would he also live in the mansion with his brother? Or would his brother become cold and force him to find a way on his own.
Or maybe he was over thinking it.
The old man started treating Bradley wound finally. He applied the ointment as well as he could and wrapped his arm with a fresh piece of cloth. He did the same to Stanley as well, even if his wound was much, much smaller now.
Just as he finished treating them, someone knocked on the door.
The Defenders were finally here to ask the two brothers about what had transpired earlier than evening.