Once inside Riviera, Li's group and everyone else split off. Leonid and his blood legionnaires marched to the western side of Rivera where the great lake was. By the lake side, a massive military encampment had been erected, their war tents packed together with countless torches lit between.
Normally, Riviera's lakeside was the epitome of calm and peaceful. Sunlit waves shimmering at the gentle call of slow winds. The perfect scene for a romantic getaway, and that was what it was mainly used for, various benches and tables set along the water's edge with food carts nearby.
Now, though, all those signs of peacetime were gone, the grassy lakeside completely bereft of everything but tents, racks for weapons, and mana crystals linked to the lake's magic rich waters for mages to draw from to recharge their reserves and form mana crystals with which they could consume on the battlefield.
Triple Threat went to the encampment as well, for they, as a gold ranked team, was considered a national military force. With them was one of the five platinum ranked teams in Soleil. A team called the Twin Winds consisting of just two identical siblings, one male and one female, and Bulwark and Sword and Staff, the two silver ranked teams in Riviera.
Other silver and gold ranked teams were coming from nearby villages, cities, and the four cardinal cities, but they would take a while to gather to Riviera. The bronze adventurers, it was decided, would stay behind because they would essentially be useless in the higher leveled plains of the Hinterlands and against stronger demons.
All of this information, Li had gotten from a brief conversation with Leonid and Devaux before they split off to the lakeside encampment, and now, Li himself was heading to the city's center where he would touch base with this people in the Farmer's Guild.
"Sleepy, and hungry," said Tia, rubbing her eyes atop Li's shoulder.
"I know, Tia, but we can wait a little longer, can't we? There are some important things father has to deal with."
Li was near the Farmer's Guild by now, walking up the long series of steps that led to the city center where the city hall stood and where the other important guilds and halls would be. Of which, of course, was now included the Farmer's Guild.
"Okay, papa," said Tia with a slight and sleepy nod.
And yet, as Li reached the end of the stairs, finding himself in the sprawling city center dotted with fiery torch lights where important buildings like the city hall reached high, he felt Tia's comparatively small frame resting on him, and he decided to make a slight detour.
He made his way through the city center, finding is nearly completely deserted. There was a smaller marketplace here, one that paled in comparison to the fish market near the docks or the official marketplace on the northern side of the city, but usually, people still packed the place, looking for foodstuffs and tradesman services that were not expensive as they were on the north side and still better than the cost cutting cheapness of the dockside markets.
Tonight, though, there was nary a soul moving about. Every shop had closed, which was unfortunate, because Li had wanted to find some food to buy Tia. He still looked around, and eventually, the bolted door to a baker's store opened.
"Hail, good Easterner," said the baker, a short man who Li could tell usually smiled but now had a permanent air of nervousness about him. "There is a curfew in place. Demons, I hear, that may be prowling right outside the city's walls."
"An exaggeration," said Li. "And I am sure this city will make an exception for a man looking for food for his daughter."
The baker looked to Li, and then to Tia, who had fallen fast asleep on Li's shoulder, though she was mouthing the word for 'food' in her sleep.
The baker nodded and disappeared for a few seconds, retreating into his store. He returned with several square shaped pieces of bread that looked soft and yellow like a sponge. They were still warm, and a sweet, milky scent emanated from them that brought Tia out of her sleep.
She slowly opened her eyes, bringing her clawed hands to them to rub them out of her sleepy stupor.
"How much?" said Li. "I would be willing to pay extra for disturbing your store at this hour."
The baker smiled and shook his head, handing the bread to Tia. She grabbed the bread hungrily and began eating it.
Li jolted his shoulder where she sat and said, "Tia, you know what to say."
"Oh?" Tia looked to the baker and then remembered. She smiled and nodded, saying, "Thank you!" before proceeding to devour the bread in no time flat. Though she liked eating the raw flesh of prey she hunted, she had a strangely developed sweet tooth, no doubt influenced from the fact that Jeanne and Sylvie had brought her so many sweets when she was even smaller.
"I need no coin," said the baker with a faint smile. He bowed his head to Li. "I only ask, good Easterner, that your might and your followers may stand in defense of Riviera, and, if it so may please you, to share some of the grain that you have grown."
It made sense. Li knew that Riviera's walls, if they matched the hype that their tales told of them, were thoroughly impenetrable. But that did not mean Riviera itself was invincible. An extended siege would easily lay them low, and to survive that, grain was more important than gold.
"All of you are lives welcome in my garden," said Li. "So long as you appreciate and understand our wills, then we will not do anything so petty as to hoard grain for ourselves. You have no need to fear for hunger."
The baker bowed his head in a gesture of appreciation, and Li left, finally making his way into the Farmer's Guild.
"Nice human," said Tia with a nod as she nibbled up breadcrumbs from her hand.
"Nice human, hm?��� said Li. Tia had an instinctive understanding that she was distinctly a separate entity from humans, and as of now, largely due to Li's teachings, she did not consider that a reason to look down on humans as something lesser and inferior.
But still, sometimes it did worry him about what that would mean for her empathy.
"Most humans by themselves tend to be nice, Tia, or at the least, that is what I would like to believe. But when they get into big groups, it becomes so easy to sway them to terrible causes."
"Is that why papa lead humans?" said Tia, c.o.c.king her head. "Lead human for better cause? Make all humans as nice as papa?"
Li thought about that question for a second. He smiled. "Yes, Tia, in a way, you can think of it like that. To make all humans as nice as father. That is a good way to put it."
"But sometimes, humans mean," noted Tia. "What if they mean to papa? Don't like him?"
"Then it is simply their loss," said Li. "I am sure that if they see that I use my resources and powers to nurture them, they will find their way into my garden regardless of what they once thought."
Once inside Riviera, Li's group and everyone else split off. Leonid and his blood legionnaires marched to the western side of Rivera where the great lake was. By the lake side, a massive military encampment had been erected, their war tents packed together with countless torches lit between.
Normally, Riviera's lakeside was the epitome of calm and peaceful. Sunlit waves shimmering at the gentle call of slow winds. The perfect scene for a romantic getaway, and that was what it was mainly used for, various benches and tables set along the water's edge with food carts nearby.
Now, though, all those signs of peacetime were gone, the grassy lakeside completely bereft of everything but tents, racks for weapons, and mana crystals linked to the lake's magic rich waters for mages to draw from to recharge their reserves and form mana crystals with which they could consume on the battlefield.
Triple Threat went to the encampment as well, for they, as a gold ranked team, was considered a national military force. With them was one of the five platinum ranked teams in Soleil. A team called the Twin Winds consisting of just two identical siblings, one male and one female, and Bulwark and Sword and Staff, the two silver ranked teams in Riviera.
Other silver and gold ranked teams were coming from nearby villages, cities, and the four cardinal cities, but they would take a while to gather to Riviera. The bronze adventurers, it was decided, would stay behind because they would essentially be useless in the higher leveled plains of the Hinterlands and against stronger demons.
All of this information, Li had gotten from a brief conversation with Leonid and Devaux before they split off to the lakeside encampment, and now, Li himself was heading to the city's center where he would touch base with this people in the Farmer's Guild.
"Sleepy, and hungry," said Tia, rubbing her eyes atop Li's shoulder.
"I know, Tia, but we can wait a little longer, can't we? There are some important things father has to deal with."
Li was near the Farmer's Guild by now, walking up the long series of steps that led to the city center where the city hall stood and where the other important guilds and halls would be. Of which, of course, was now included the Farmer's Guild.
"Okay, papa," said Tia with a slight and sleepy nod.
And yet, as Li reached the end of the stairs, finding himself in the sprawling city center dotted with fiery torch lights where important buildings like the city hall reached high, he felt Tia's comparatively small frame resting on him, and he decided to make a slight detour.
He made his way through the city center, finding is nearly completely deserted. There was a smaller marketplace here, one that paled in comparison to the fish market near the docks or the official marketplace on the northern side of the city, but usually, people still packed the place, looking for foodstuffs and tradesman services that were not expensive as they were on the north side and still better than the cost cutting cheapness of the dockside markets.
Tonight, though, there was nary a soul moving about. Every shop had closed, which was unfortunate, because Li had wanted to find some food to buy Tia. He still looked around, and eventually, the bolted door to a baker's store opened.
"Hail, good Easterner," said the baker, a short man who Li could tell usually smiled but now had a permanent air of nervousness about him. "There is a curfew in place. Demons, I hear, that may be prowling right outside the city's walls."
"An exaggeration," said Li. "And I am sure this city will make an exception for a man looking for food for his daughter."
The baker looked to Li, and then to Tia, who had fallen fast asleep on Li's shoulder, though she was mouthing the word for 'food' in her sleep.
The baker nodded and disappeared for a few seconds, retreating into his store. He returned with several square shaped pieces of bread that looked soft and yellow like a sponge. They were still warm, and a sweet, milky scent emanated from them that brought Tia out of her sleep.
She slowly opened her eyes, bringing her clawed hands to them to rub them out of her sleepy stupor.
"How much?" said Li. "I would be willing to pay extra for disturbing your store at this hour."
The baker smiled and shook his head, handing the bread to Tia. She grabbed the bread hungrily and began eating it.
Li jolted his shoulder where she sat and said, "Tia, you know what to say."
"Oh?" Tia looked to the baker and then remembered. She smiled and nodded, saying, "Thank you!" before proceeding to devour the bread in no time flat. Though she liked eating the raw flesh of prey she hunted, she had a strangely developed sweet tooth, no doubt influenced from the fact that Jeanne and Sylvie had brought her so many sweets when she was even smaller.
"I need no coin," said the baker with a faint smile. He bowed his head to Li. "I only ask, good Easterner, that your might and your followers may stand in defense of Riviera, and, if it so may please you, to share some of the grain that you have grown."
It made sense. Li knew that Riviera's walls, if they matched the hype that their tales told of them, were thoroughly impenetrable. But that did not mean Riviera itself was invincible. An extended siege would easily lay them low, and to survive that, grain was more important than gold.
"All of you are lives welcome in my garden," said Li. "So long as you appreciate and understand our wills, then we will not do anything so petty as to hoard grain for ourselves. You have no need to fear for hunger."
The baker bowed his head in a gesture of appreciation, and Li left, finally making his way into the Farmer's Guild.
"Nice human," said Tia with a nod as she nibbled up breadcrumbs from her hand.
"Nice human, hm?��� said Li. Tia had an instinctive understanding that she was distinctly a separate entity from humans, and as of now, largely due to Li's teachings, she did not consider that a reason to look down on humans as something lesser and inferior.
But still, sometimes it did worry him about what that would mean for her empathy.
"Most humans by themselves tend to be nice, Tia, or at the least, that is what I would like to believe. But when they get into big groups, it becomes so easy to sway them to terrible causes."
"Is that why papa lead humans?" said Tia, c.o.c.king her head. "Lead human for better cause? Make all humans as nice as papa?"
Li thought about that question for a second. He smiled. "Yes, Tia, in a way, you can think of it like that. To make all humans as nice as father. That is a good way to put it."
"But sometimes, humans mean," noted Tia. "What if they mean to papa? Don't like him?"
"Then it is simply their loss," said Li. "I am sure that if they see that I use my resources and powers to nurture them, they will find their way into my garden regardless of what they once thought."
