72 Impasse (2/2)

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 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 meant to throw off ranged DPS from aiming, but against targets at a low enough level, it just flat out disabled them for a while, but did not kill 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.”