130 Heroes (2/2)

”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?

Why do we not set our questions aside and instead come together? Will you take part in our raids against Chevrette tomorrow? If you so wish, you can see to it that our house arrest is done adequately as well.”