Summary:
When Ed and Al arrive in the border town of Youswell to inspect the coal mines there, they meet a young boy named Khayal, who directs them to an inn owned by his father, Halling, the mine foreman and village chief. While there, the Elrics are stunned to find that due to the village’s low income, it will cost them two hundred thousand cents a night to stay, but they are able to lower the price by performing free alchemy for the grateful townspeople. But when it is revealed that Edward is the state alchemist, public sentiment turns against him and he is fired for being “a military dog, although Alphonse is able to stay behind due to his civilian status. Interrogating Khayal and the others, Al discovers that the people of Youswell’s dislike of the military stems from the fact that the land on which the town and mines are built belongs to Lieutenant Yoki, a military officer who cuts miners’ wages and keeps raising taxes. to fill their own coffers and bribe their superiors so that they are not punished. Additionally, Halling notes that his opposition to the state alchemists lies in their refusal of the alchemical code to work for the people in exchange for government funding and authority. Bringing Ed some food out Al tells his brother all this, just as Lt. Yoki himself arrives at the inn with a couple of soldiers and demands a refund of the taxes. When Khayal insults the lieutenant, he orders one of his soldiers to disk strap the child, but Edward intercedes and protects the boy with his automatic mail arm.Edward introduces himself to Yoki as the state alchemist, and the corrupt lieutenant condescendingly escorts Fullmetal to his own mansion for the night. While there, Yoki bribes Edward to grease the wheels of his own promotion and increase his supplies in Central City, but as he goes to sleep, Edward overhears the lieutenant ordering his men to burn down Halling’s inn. In the morning, he investigates to find that the inn has been destroyed, but when he suggests that the townspeople move elsewhere, Halling explains that their own personal ties to their home will not allow them to leave, Ed decides to help. Secretly turning a large amount of mining waste into gold bars, Edward approaches Yoki and asks the lieutenant to sell him a deed to the city and the mines, advising him to document the purchase as a gift to keep their money exchange off the government’s radar. Fullmetal returns to the ruins of Halling’s inn with the deed and trades it to the warden for a night’s lodging, proving that despite being the state alchemist he still serves the people. Yoki arrives shortly after, enraged that the gold bars have turned to dust and pebbles because Edward transformed them all before leaving the mansion, and demands the deed back as it was fraudulently purchased. But when Edward reminds him that he got the deed as a gift, Yoki is helpless. As the miners take out their frustration on Yoki and his men, Edward declares that he will report the lieutenant’s corrupt actions to central command.