"This is quite the dilemma," said Sunstar. Li could begin to feel heart starting to emanate from Sunstar. His musclebound figure, already shining golden under his bodysuit, began to grow even brighter, the exposed skin on his face becoming so bright that it was almost white.
The hero"s muscles started to tense and grow, filling out with power. Spots of the wooden door behind him began to blacken, the solid, dense oak breaking apart into brittle and black carbon. Wisps of smoke curled up from the black spots, filling the air with the acrid smell of burning wood.
Li began to raise a hand, and as his mind began to formulate the best means of eliminating the hero, his magical energy surged. An aura of shimmering green emerged from Li as his mana expanded outwards.
Winds, gentle at first, began to push out from him, scattering little pebbles and other debris around. Then the winds grew stronger, louder, until their quiet whispers became howls that whipped all about like a vortex, tossing the unconscious bodies of the guards several meters away.
Li and Sunstar met eyes, and their rapidly increasing power clashed. Sunstar"s radiance of heat and light intensified and flowed outwards, meeting the colossal output of Li"s verdant green mana. The actor"s guild began to shake as the respective auras clashed, and splitting sounds echoed out as cracks began to line the rear wall, casting ugly, deep lines over the faces carved into it.
Li took a step forward, and Sunstar had to float backwards, back to the door. The green of Li"s aura was like a pillar of fire, roaring and raging like a raging beast, hungrily eating away at Sunstar"s ever dimming light. In any other circ.u.mstance, Li would have cast spells intended to fight instead of merely showing how much he outcla.s.sed the hero, but Old Thane was right behind him, and they were in the middle of the city.
If the hero was as righteous as he claimed, then he would back down, knowing that fighting was both futile and a risk to the city he was meant to protect.
In an instant, Sunstar floated downwards, the rays of light emanating from his body fading. Seeing the hero admit defeat, Li retracted his magical energy.
Still smiling, Sunstar said, "It can"t be helped then. Raising our hands against each other in the middle of the street would be unbecoming of fine men such as ourselves, would you not agree?"
Sunstar stepped aside and motioned to the door. By now, the double doors had swung wide back, swinging loosely at its broken hinges. There were small flickers of fire eating away at it while webworks of cracks lined its body.
"I will not hinder your pa.s.sage, but I have a feeling that you will not see much."
"That"s for me to decide," said Li. He called out to Old Thane. "Old man, follow me. We"re going in."
"What is the meaning of this madness!?"
Before Li had made even a single step into the guild, he heard the d.u.c.h.ess"s voice ring out.
The d.u.c.h.ess"s figure emerged from a corridor. Her hands were at her skirt, holding them slightly up so that the elaborate and lengthy fabric would not get in the way of her legs. One of her hands held her golden, jewel-studded crown dangling lazily at the wrist like an armband.
"Oh, the foreigner?" The d.u.c.h.ess nodded at Li, and then glanced at Sunstar before her gaze drifted to the battered and burning door. "My, when did the door get into such shambles? It seems quite the accident has flared up." She called behind herself. "Dear adventurers, please do be careful. An incident seems to have occurred outside the guild. I will have my knights escort you immediately."
Sylvie and Jeanne appeared from the corridor as well.
A woman followed behind them. A slender, athletically built woman dressed in a black leotard and wearing a strange hat with a brim so broad that it covered her face and cast a shadow all around her.
Li narrowed his eyes as he looked at them, and to his surprise, they were no worse for wear. Sylvie saw that Li was a.s.sessing their states and gave him a nod to indicate she was fine, but Jeanne was in less of an agreeable mood, her head and eyes down as she followed behind Sylvie.
Sunstar scratched his head as he bowed his head to the d.u.c.h.ess. "Your men, too, have fallen victmi to this...accident. They lie limp but yet living outside."
He floated to the d.u.c.h.ess"s side. He utterly dwarfed the woman in size and width, and yet it felt like he belonged there by the d.u.c.h.ess as more an accessory than man.
"Truly? I hope they are not injured," said the d.u.c.h.ess, worry tinging her voice as she clasped her hands in concern. She smiled at Sunstar, and he smiled at her, the two exchanging the most artificial smiles in existence. "And did you happen to catch the source of all this chaos?"
Sunstar shook his head. "I"m afraid not."
Li raised a brow. Both were acting as if nothing had happened. Sunstar knew that it was Li that had mostly provoked and caused the damage, but he swept it under the rug, and the d.u.c.h.ess was no fool either: she knew and was playing along.
Likely, Li thought, they simply did not want to challenge him, but there were any manner of ulterior motives for wanting that, the most obvious of all being that they very much wanted to still stay alive.
"I"m not here to take any of your time. It would have been better off had I never seen you again," said Li as he pointed to Sylvie and Jeanne. "I"m here for them."
The d.u.c.h.ess c.o.c.ked her head. "Oh, then will you do the pleasure of escorting them back? I fear the danger that has wrought such damage to the guild has yet to pa.s.s. I would have Sunstar escort them, but alas he must protect me."
"I can do it," said the woman in black. Her words came out almost in staccato, as if each individual word had to be uttered as its own sentence.
"Your power is unsuited to the task, Meld, though I truly appreciate your willingness to help," said the d.u.c.h.ess.
"Wait just a second, this isn"t ending so soon," said Li. "What were you doing in here? What were you talking about?"
"I would like to tell, but I am afraid some of the information would be too sensitive to reveal to the public," said the d.u.c.h.ess as she nervously bit her lip, though that nervous part of the whole act was conjured up as well. "And we are in all too public a s.p.a.ce, exposed to many a prying ear."
Sylvie walked past the d.u.c.h.ess, leading Jeanne by hand behind her, and said to Li, "I"ll fill you in, but can we get to the cottage first? I feel this is not the right place to talk."
Her eyes darted to the d.u.c.h.ess and Sunstar, and Li understood she did not want them around. Li looked at Sylvie and found her eyes and mannerisms to be lucid enough. It was not as if he was familiar with the mind controlling abilities that one of the d.u.c.h.ess"s heroes supposedly had, but he was sure that with his perception, he could at least tell when someone was acting off.
Sylvie seemed instead to be concerned but distinctly lucid, and she, unlike her teammates thought through her actions and words. He could trust her judgement.
Li nodded and he, Sylvie, Jeanne, and Old Thane gathered outside the battered door. Sunstar and the d.u.c.h.ess remained within, their figures framed by a beaten doorway of cracked and smoking stone.
The d.u.c.h.ess nodded to Li. "So, you are within their circle of confidence. Then I am certain you will keep any sensitive information to yourself." She curtsied again as a farewell, and Sunstar waved a goodbye. "It has been a pleasure to meet you again, dear foreigner."
"Can"t say the same," said Li as he led everyone back.
__________________________
The cottage fireplace flickered again, stoked up in preparation for a serious talk. Valery and his drivers had been kind enough to take all of them back to the cottage again, and after many bows, had left to come by next week when another harvest would hopefully have grown.
Li and Old Thane sat side by side on stools while Jeanne, Sylvie, and Azhar sat on the ground atop a few piled skins. Sylvie and Azhar sat on either side of Jeanne, putting a comforting hand to her shoulder. Jeanne sat hugging the Lerneas egg for comfort, snuggling it close to her body.
Old Thane scratched his beard in wonder, and Li nodded as he digested the information.
Sylvie had snuck into the actor"s guild but had been easily caught by Meld. However, the d.u.c.h.ess recognized Sylvie and brought her to Jeanne in a private, closed off area of the guild. There, all three had shared a conversation.
Before the procession, the d.u.c.h.ess had talked to Jeanne and brought up the prospect of the hero moving on from being an adventurer and instead joining the coveted ranks of the Ascendant Order, an agency that worked directly in the capitol. Its ranks only held powerful heroes whose abilities, far outmatching adventurers, were revered as the pinnacle of natural human potential and power, with Sunstar himself at its head.
With the offer came a lifetime of wealth, prestige, and a platform upon which Jeanne could use her ideals to do as much good as she wanted with the crown"s backing.
Of course, Jeanne had refused as politely as she could, wishing to stay with Triple Threat who had stayed with her since they were all friendless orphans in a chaotic world reeling from demonic invasions and the political turmoil of secession.
"She must have tried to present a stronger case for joining after the ceremony," said Li. "No other reason why she would bring Jeanne back in for another round of talks."
"Yes," said Sylvie. She glanced at Jeanne and sighed. "The d.u.c.h.ess"s final piece proved to be quite... personal. She says that Jeanne"s father is Sunstar, the great hero and the avatar of light himself, which would in turn make Jeanne a Child of Light, someone to be revered and worshipped by the very temple she is ordained to.
The true reason they had come to Riviera was because they had finally found Jeanne after so very many years, and that Sunstar wished to connect with her again, to bring her into the fold of revered heroes where she rightfully belongs with her father."