Re: Level 100 Farmer

Chapter 72 - Impasse

Li cut through the crowd like a hot knife through butter. He was taller than most, but his lanky build meant that people were not moving aside for him because he was some intimidating ball of mass.

No, it was because when he set his eyes on the square, directly at Old Thane, and focused, all the regular humans around him felt chills run through their spines, spreading all throughout their bodies, drawing out gooseflesh and shivers that made them, at a primordial, instinctive level, evade Li as much as possible without even knowing why.

Sylvie moved much more discretely. She had to face the crowd directly, but she weaved through it with expert ease. It almost seemed as if she were a shadow, something immaterial, flitting across people with such agility it almost felt like she was phasing through them. 

While Li went directly to the square, Sylvie went around it, attempting to sneak towards the back. When he came right up the front of the square, he found himself facing an upraised platform of wood perched atop smoothened stone. Upon the stone were etched the names of those who had fallen in the demon wars of 1000.

Though there were stairs leading up to the square at its back, there was no such convenience at its front, so Li had to jump up and reach his hand up, grasping the top of the square, the tips of his fingers digging into sanded and varnished wood, and hoisted himself up in one single and fluid pull.

By now, the crowd had begun to disperse, no doubt finding themselves strangely spooked, and filed out the square and back to their homes and workplaces with quiet murmurs between them. Li looked as they left with a nod. The less commotion there was, the more comfortable it would be for Old Thane. He appraised the square, seeing if there were any threats.

The square itself was simple in design, created more to be decorated than to look inherently appealing. The floor of the platform was simple wood and there were four poles rising from its corners where bards could string up advertising flags and decorations.

At the back, Li could spot stairs leading down to a cobblestone path that fed into a sizable stone building marked all around with colorful flags which he recognized to be the actor's guild, which made sense as they routinely rented out the square for large-scale performances.

But as for threats, there were none. The duchess's band had all filed back into the actor's guild, leaving the square largely empty.

Li homed in on Old Thane who stood by one of the decorative poles. Beside him stood Sunstar, his cape fluttering even though there was not a single breeze to be found.

"Woah now," said Sunstar as he saw Li approaching. He pointed his gloved hands to the countless magically conjured petals scattered across the wooden floor of the square. "The square is off-limits until the cleaners finish their job. Their work is honest, and it would not do good for us to interfere."

Li ignored Sunstar and kept walking forwards.

"You wish an audience with me?" said Sunstar as he watched Li approach him. He shrugged, his rounded shoulder muscles straining against his golden bodysuit. "I am afraid my time is limited, but I can make an exception for a foreign guest such as yourself."

Li did not spare a glance to the hero as he walked straight past Sunstar and put a comforting arm around Old Thane's shoulder. "Let's get outta here, old man."

Sunstar extended a friendly hand towards Li. "Will the elderly model citizen require assistance? I can quite easily fly him down the square. I am afraid the back stairs are closed off to the public for now."

Li led Old Thane to the edge of the square. "Alright old man, here's the jump. Show me what you got."

Old Thane smiled. "Aye, lad." He cocked his head towards the ground, making sure there were no errant footsteps that would indicate potential people to collide with. He then pushed off, dropping several meters, and landed solidly on the stony ground, his knees bent to absorb the impact.

Li also jumped off and patted the old man on the back. "You know, there's plenty of old folk out there whose knees would have just busted with that big of a jump."

"But they are not the Bloodfist, eh?" said Old Thane as he clenched his fist, veins visible across his forearm as the muscles tensed.

"Yeah, yeah," said Li with a smile. He had learned by now to let Old Thane manage himself, and seeing the old man quite literally flex his glory days let Li know he was happy.

As Li left the square with the old man, he noted that Sunstar did not say anything or move at all. Li not only felt like snubbing the hero, but he also wanted to see what it took to provoke the man, just to get a read on his personality. From what Li could garner, though, the man was unnaturally composed, and it was difficult to tell whether that was due to an act or genuine distance from his emotions.

They did not go home.

Instead, Li took Old Thane on a roundabout route to the back entrance of the actor's guild where he figured Sylvie had gone as that was where the duchess and Jeanne had gone into after the ceremony. While they made the walk, he told the old man what Sylvie had said, that there was something wrong with Jeanne, and the old man had agreed to investigate the matter with Li.

The actor's guild managed to rent out such a large and lavishly decorated building because it was directly funded by the crown, and, as a result, provided most of its patronage for the duchess.

Whenever Li saw or read about a play or performance, he could clearly draw connections to government propaganda. All the plays talked about were the glory of dying for kingdom, of self-sacrifice for the crown, of humanity first and foremost, their heroes held up as evidence of that they were blessed by the gods.

The actor's guild's rear entrance was equally as impressive as its front, and yet it held quite a different air about it. Unlike most of the buildings of brick and wood in Riviera, the guild was fashioned mostly of carved stone and marble, and the back wall had rows of faces all frozen in different emotional states, some with mouths open in fear, others in joy and laughter, others in shock, carved into its breadth. 

A large double door of solid oak stood tall at the center of the wall, each of its halves painted with a white mask.

Four burly knights in full armor stood guard, halberds in hand. Their stances were stalwart and ready for combat, and their armor, lined with enchanted gold that glittered under the sun, indicated magical equipment far beyond the means of regular knights. Golden plumes streaked from the top of their helms, indicating they were the elite guard of Soleil.

Which meant that Li was in the right place. He walked up to them, Old Thane following close behind.

Li adopted a casual, almost stroll-like walk, and the knights, confused but wary, lowered their halberds.

"What business do you have here?" said one of the knights in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Whatever it is, it's none of your business," said Li as he waved his hand, casting [Highvision Spore].

Little rainbow-colored mushrooms grew through the cobblestone floor under the knights' feet, their fleshy heads cracking through the rock. They exploded, bursting out a hazy cloud of spores that reflected the sunlight in iridescent rays, almost seeming to put the knights under a rainbow-colored spotlight.

The knights dropped straight to the floor, their armor clanking on the cobblestone. [Highvision Spore] usually afflicted those in its range with extremely distorted vision signaled by blurs and saturated shades of rainbow flashing everywhere, and it was meant to throw off ranged DPS from aiming. However, against targets at a low enough level, it just flat out disabled them for a while but did not damage them. 

Li motioned for Old Thane to stay back until the cloud dissipated, and he reached out to open the doors.

However, Li found himself stepping back as the doors opened by themselves.

Sunstar stood there, or rather, floated slightly above the ground.

"I thought my super hearing picked something up," he said. His golden eyes flashed as he looked down at the unconscious knights, then at the cloud of spores starting to accumulate around him. "Dear me, what is this?"

Sunstar stared at the rainbow cloud in front of him. He sniffed once and nodded. He took in a massive breath, the entire spore cloud rushing into his mouth. He floated outside and tilted his head up before exhaling forcefully, blowing the cloud several dozens of meters in the air where they scattered away.

"A public hazard, that is what it was, but good thing I took care of it, as I always do." Sunstar looked at Li with a smile, and now that Li had seen the man more than once, he could tell that this smile was mechanical.

Most people had different ranges of smiles for different situations, but Sunstar's smile stayed the same. It was constant, opened just enough to let his pearly white teeth flash, and bursting with seemingly genuine friendliness, and yet, this was the same smile he wore every single moment of his life, no matter the situation or how he felt.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?" said Sunstar, still smiling, his tone ever friendly, to Li.

"Beats me." Li motioned for Sunstar to step aside. "I have business with the duchess."

"It saddens me to deny you entrance, but such are my orders," said Sunstar. "I am terribly sorry for creating this...complicated situation, but I simply cannot disobey them."

Li narrowed his eyes. "You seem to be mistaken in thinking I was asking you to move. No, this situation is actually quite simple. You move."