Re: Level 100 Farmer

Li narrowed his eyes as he watched Meld step to the front of the square. Sylvie was standing next to him with bated breath. She had come down from the barrels to rush to Jeanne when the hero had changed the speech, but Li had convinced Sylvie to stop. Sylvie would have never made it to the square in time anyway.

But what made Li wary was this new hero. He had only caught glimpses of her when the duchess had come to Riviera beforehand, so he had no clear idea of what she was like. She, however, manifested seemingly out of nowhere on the stage, escaping even Li's attention.

Granted, Li had not cranked up his senses as he did not think himself in a combat related situation, but even so, it was truly odd how Meld had simply just appeared like that. Sylvie had mentioned before that Meld could easily sneak up on her despite Sylvie herself being an accomplished assassin, so Li figured that Meld had a superpower related to stealth. 

"Good Rivierans!" called out Meld. 

In contrast to her rather sinister appearance, Meld's voice was surprisingly normal. Powerful and projective, much like Jeanne's, though a fair bit deeper. It was not the voice of someone that lurked in the shadows as her appearance would suggest. 

"I am here to tell you to trust in Jeanne, the shining new sun of Riviera, for her words ring true, as true as the golden blood of heroes that flows within her." Meld clapped her hands with superhuman force, ringing out a peal that echoed throughout the square.

A thunderbolt flashed from behind the square, landing in a secluded alleyway out of everyone's vision. From there, a man arose, his chiseled and musclebound figure soaring high into the air. A white bodysuit clung to his figure tightly, and golden thunderbolt designs were etched into the arms and legs. A cape of crackling electricity flowed from his back. 

The flying hero came over to the square, landing beside Meld. His appearance drew forth more cheers and applause from the crowd.

Li could pick out some threads of conversation from the crowd. 

"Oy, ain't that Thunderstrike?" 

"Hells, you're right. What I'd give to have him sign me sword. Not every day you get to witness a dragonslayer in the flesh." 

"Seems pretty famous. Who is that?" said Li to Sylvie.

"Thunderstrike, a famed member of the Ascendant Order. One of the Ten Rays, the absolute elite of the order." Sylvie cocked her head, confused. "But why are two of the ten rays here? In this peaceful city? Most of them should be up north, near the border, or down in Duvin where beasts and faeries of the Wonderjungles still pose a threat to human settlement."

"Guess we'll find out." Li took a look at Thunderstrike, getting a general impression of him.

In contrast to Sunstar, Thunderstrike did not smile. Instead, he kept on a cool and composed expression. He crossed his arms, and in general, his posture seemed steely. There was a thunderbolt shaped scar that ran down the side of his face, and perhaps it was because of his serious expression, but he seemed rather old, nearing his late thirties. 

"Thunderstrike and I have laid low in Riviera ever since the duchess graced her presence here," said Meld. "And it is because of what Jeanne has said. We were investigating hints of a foul trade, of slavery that the good duchess has made clear to ban. 

But so far, such villainy has escaped our sharp sights, and we could not find a true culprit. But now, Jeanne, with the guidance of the Light and the might of heroes inherent within her, has found that which had eluded us so."

Meld smiled and cast her hand out, addressing all the people. "So, dear people of Riviera, let your belief in the duchess's justice burn, but do not fear. We shall tackle this villainy immediately. We shall face crime so that you, the good people, may rest.

Go to your homes, your hearths, your trades, and rest well knowing that we shall keep this city clean and safe."

Li watched as the crowd cheered before beginning to disperse, happy and confident now that they knew the heroes and the duchess had sanctioned all of this. He knew the purpose of Meld's speech: it was to suppress the crowd from turning into a mob. 

In fact, Meld had worded herself to maximally disperse the crowd, snuffing out any fire of action that Jeanne had stoked in them.

Li tapped Sylvie's shoulder. "Let's go. I need to know what these heroes' intentions are."

Sylvie nodded. "And I do not wish to leave Jeanne alone with them. Let us hurry."

Li and Sylvie saw them behind the square.

Initially, the crowd had tried to crowd around Thunderstrike, but he had told them sternly that he was on official business, and his words carried a certain weight to them that made the crowd fall back rather quickly. 

As the crowd filed out, Li exerted some pressure, making sure that as he went forwards and the townspeople went back, that they subconsciously avoided him and did not block his way.

At the back of the square, standing in front of stone building of the Actor's guild, the very place that Li had almost had a scuffle with Sunstar with, were Jeanne, Meld, and Thunderstrike. Azhar had the two beastwomen behind him, wary as they were of the presence of heroes.

Aside from them, though, they were alone, and Li could not sense any other presences nearby. 

When Jeanne saw Sylvie, she ran past the two heroes and gave her a hug. 

"Oh, Sylv, I'm so sorry," said Jeanne with a sigh.

Sylvie leaned into the hug and patted Jeanne's back. "It's fine, Jeanne. You did well. I didn't think of what those words would mean to you. That they would make you be someone you weren't. If anyone has to apologize, it's me."

"Ah, Sylvie, yes?" said Meld. She bowed slightly, her oversized black hat almost looking like it was going to tip over. It stayed on her head with an almost unnatural balance, though. "It is a shame that we could not meet on better terms before. I thought you an intruder at first and apprehended you as such. I extend my deepest apologies for that."

Sylvie broke from Jeanne's hug and eyed Meld with a wary expression. "You were only doing your duty. There is nothing to apologize for."

"Speaking of duty," said Li as he walked forwards. As he did so, he could immediately feel Thunderstrike's attention focus on him. "What's this about investigating Chevrette?"

"We are heroes. We uphold justice," said Thunderstrike simply. His words came out surprisingly soft spoken. 

"There is a reason the duchess brought us to Riviera when she came to award Jeanne," said Meld. "It was not only for her highness's security, but also to probe the nature of the slave trade running amok here."

"What about him?" Li pointed to Thunderstrike. "Did he come with you? Was he hiding back then?"

Meld nodded. She sounded agreeable, but her expression remained neutral, and the fact that she wore a blindfold made it even harder to parse what she was feeling. "It is so. You must excuse our discretion – it is simply that Thunderstrike and I are the most suited among the ten rays for more quiet missions."

Li glanced at Thunderstrike's imposing build, his cape of raw, crackling electricity, and said, "Him? He doesn't strike me as the sneaking type."

"If upholding justice means I must crawl through the shadows, then I shall," said Thunderstrike.

"You'd be surprised," said Meld. "He can blend in when he wants to."

Sylvie spoke up. "I do not mean to question your role as heroes, but why did you drive the people back home? With their aid, you could have captured Chevrette immediately. The power of numbers is the strongest to force authority to answer to justice."

Meld shook her head. "A crowd is difficult to tame, nor is it right for them to concern themselves with upholding the law. The people should not burden themselves with such dark matters. That is why we have kept them in the dark for the investigation. They should only revel in the end result, when the villains have been purged. We heroes exist so that the people may live free of worries, after all."

"Doesn't seem like you two have been doing much, though," said Li. "It's been a while since the duchess, and by extension, you two came. You mean to say you haven't done anything at all during that time? Especially with the powers you've been blessed with?"

Meld shook her head. "Our investigations have not been fruitless. We have identified the main centers from which the slaves come and go, but beyond that, we were in the dark. This trade has escaped the duchess's grasp precisely because it is elaborately proofed against justice.

It has been difficult to find suspects. Considering the dark magics used on both slaves and traders, we believed a cult of the dark ways has resurfaced, but no such mage has ever shown his face, nor can such a marginalized group drum up the coin and manpower to initiate an operation of this scale." 

"But is that not evidence enough to act with?" said Jeanne. "You could have helped all those affected by this trade immediately. The farmers and the beastwomen both."

Meld cocked her head. "Farmers? I know of no such farmers enslaved. However, it is true that there are humans also entrapped within the confines of this forbidden trade, and as such, it has become even more of a pressing issue to tackle, hence why we are here."

Li interrupted. "You mentioned slave holding centers? Where exactly would these be?"

"Three locations. A warehouse in lowertown. Two buildings in uppertown. That is where we can pinpoint the movement of the slaves."

"If you knew, then could you not have undergone immediate action? Perhaps with the knights of Lys?" said Jeanne. 

"Seizing the facilities without knowing the mastermind behind the operation would have been meaningless. The ringleader could simply move and restart his ventures elsewhere. Capturing some of the personnel and interrogating them proved useless as their minds were corrupted with forbidden magic. No, we simply had to wait and observe, hoping that the ringleader would appear. But he did not."

"I see." Li realized that these people did not know of the farmers, meaning that Chevrette kept the slaves circulating through the farmers' properties extra secret. It was also interesting to note that though Chevrette made personal appearances at the farmers' houses, it seemed he never made any to his other slave holding facilities. "But now you know who the culprit is, courtesy of our own efforts. So what will you do now?"

"You think we will not act on justice?" said Thunderstrike, his quiet voice gaining a solid edge to it.

Meld waved him down. 

"Now that the people have been informed, we must certainly act. I will order the knights of Lys to immediately encircle the Chevrette estate and put the nobleman into house arrest," said Meld.

"We will continue our investigations until sufficient proof is established that Chevrette is truly the one behind this. It is not that we do not believe your words, but the law has a due process that must be observed, and obtaining secure evidence is part of it, particularly in high profile cases such as this."

"Basically, you're acting because we forced you to with this public reveal. If we hadn't come out to the public with this, you would have kept quiet. You can understand why I would be a little suspicious of how genuine your sudden actions are now. Seems like you're just giving Chevrette time to weasel out of this, maybe book a ticket out of here," said Li. 

"Certainly not so. We heroes do not take cases such as this lightly. The house arrest will be under affect by sunset this very day, and in the morrow, we will undertake a raid of the facilities in search of evidence establishing Chevrette's ties to them. 

I shall say that even this talk is eating up precious time, and I do not see why we cannot work together. All of us wish to see the city for the better, no?"

Meld smiled, her posture easing and becoming welcoming. 

"Why do we not set our questions aside and instead come together? Will you take part in our raids against Chevrette tomorrow? It seems you have valuable information regarding this case, as do we. Justice will be far better served if we complement our strengths. If you so wish, you can see to it that our house arrest is done adequately as well to ease any suspicions."