Li could begin to feel heart starting to emanate from Sunstar. His musclebound figure, already s.h.i.+ning 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 s.h.i.+mmering 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 and 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 quite the brutish thing to do, as I am sure you 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, it seems that quite an unfortunate accident has happened! Dear adventurers, please do be careful. 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.

"Your men are unconscious, no doubt due to the same accident," said Sunstar as 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 a man.

"Truly? I hope they are not injured," said the d.u.c.h.ess. She smiled at Sunstar, and he smiled at her, the two exchanging the most artificial smiles in existence. "Did you happen to see what caused this…incident?"

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.

"I'm here for them," said Li as he pointed to Sylvie and Jeanne.

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 protect 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.

"Now hold up, you're not ending this that easily," said Li. "What were you doing in here?"

"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.

Sylvie walked past the d.u.c.h.ess, leading Jeanne by hand behind her, and said to Li, "I'll tell you, but can we leave to the cottage? 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. I do trust adventurers with how n.o.ble and honorable they are, but I must implore you to keep what you hear to yourself." She curtsied again as a farewell. "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, wis.h.i.+ng 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. She stated that 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 heroes where she rightfully belonged with her father."