163 Royal Talk I (1/2)

Li ran back to the farlmands at the pace of the farm boy so as not to tire him out further. Beside him ran Sylvie and Jeanne, though to thoroughly conditioned adventures such as them, this pace was nothing too hard. They did not even break a sweat whereas the farm boy huffed and puffed as he tried his hardest to lead Li back to the farms as soon as possible.

”I thought something of this sort would happen,” said Sylvie in between paces. Her voice came out clear and unexhausted, the running not at all affecting her breathing.

”Hm?” asked Li, curious what she had been thinking.

”You are correct that the temple of Light will not trade blows with you, but they have been entrenched in this land for centuries and have woven their way into the ranks of authority. The duchess has separated temples and state with her rule, but even so, the temples still hold some sway over the lordship here.”

”So you're theorizing that instead of confronting me head on, the temple has tried to appeal to the ruling body here? Lord Lys?” said Li. He was unsurprised. He knew this was an obvious conclusion to make, but he had already thought of this and was largely not concerned.

Li had pushed and prodded the boundaries of how much leeway the state would grant him already. First with his talks to the duchess and then with his interactions with Meld. It became very apparent that the duchess was very much aware that he was not to be trifled with and as such, went out of her way to accommodate him.

Knowing that Lord Lys was the duchess's lapdog from Alexei further cemented in Li's mind that even if the priesthood of light clamored over to the lord, then he would not dare to oppose Li over the sake of a few irrational zealots.

But of course, nothing was set in stone. If it did come to be that Lys was threatening Li, then the situation would become quite ugly, to say the least. Ugly for the lord, of course.

”Yes.” Sylvie had concern lettered all over her face. ”I know that Lord Lys is no adept statesman. He is no man of strong will, either. I fear that he may stumble and submit to the strong will of the priests.”

”That is true,” said Jeanne, her head cocked. ”I thought the temple sworn never to interfere with the state, but it does not seem beneath the high priests to do something such as this.”

”Really, Jeanne, sometimes you are far too innocent,” said Sylvie.

Jeanne's eyes flitted down for a second. ”Well, I do try and believe in the best of people and their words. I must admit that many times, it does not work out, but I cannot help myself.”

Li remembered the duchess. At her absolute unreadability and level headedness that spoke of a will far stronger and stabler than anything impulsive zealotry could muster up. At the least, if Lys were to be pressured by both priests and the duchess, he knew who he would submit to first.

”It's nothing,” said Sylvie as she upped her running pace to pull ahead.

”And she's one to talk about innocence,” commented Jeanne with a smile.

Li half nodded to Jeanne as he looked at Sylvie. This situation, this liking she held for him, he would deal with too, when things were calmer.