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.

"We'll have to see. I personally have more hope for the lord here," said Li. "But Sylvie, thank you for your concern. I've forgotten to mention so far, but even back at the Chevrette mansion, the first thing you're always worried about is me."

"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.

===============

It did not take long before the knights the farmboy was talking about came into view. They were at the main road, nearby Li's own cottage, and they formed a formidable crowd. They were in neat rectangular formation by the road, a mass of glinting silver and fluttering white banners emblazoned with blue doves.

"That's not the whole order," came Sylvie's immediate observation.

"It ain't?" wheezed out the farmboy, who by now had been well and thoroughly exhausted.

"Eyeballing it, I'd say about a hundred men?" said Li. "If I recall correctly, 120 men is the standard number for a squadron of knights, and that's what it seems like to me. I can understand where the confusion comes from if you haven't been used to seeing large groups of people, though, but this is a far cry from the ten squadrons I was expecting."

"More a very highly secure guard, I should say," said Sylvie.

"All the more reason to believe that this isn't anything too serious," said Li. He walked forwards, and as he did so, he recognized the squadron captain standing at the front of the formation. It was the very same one that had worked with him on the Chevrette case.

The captain nodded, the white plume atop his helm shaking with the movement, and Li nodded back in understanding. 

"I should assume that Lord Lys wishes to see me?" called out Li approached. 

"You are correct. Men!" the captain shouted. "Stand aside for the Easterner!"

The knights broke rank and made a path for Li to their center where Lord Lys's large and sturdy carriage was. Unlike the color scheme of the knights, the carriage was made of sleek black metal and pulled by magical horses. Li immediately recognized this as one of the carriages from Black Securities, which was not much of a surprise considering that Lord Lys and Alexei were supposedly rather good friends.

And as Li passed through the ranks of knights, he realized the driver of the carriage was Valery, the vampire knight whom Alexei usually assigned to tasks regarding Li. 

Valery put a hand to his hat and tipped it, and Li ever so slightly nodded. So Alexei was in on this and was overseeing what was happening. Then, it was as Li thought. There was nothing to worry for. 

Li stepped up to the door of the carriage and swung it open. It was heavy and it opened with a click as magical enchantments came temporarily undone. Inside, he found seated at one end the portly figure of Lord Lys and right beside him, a little uncomfortably squished to the side due to Lys's bulk, was a younger man in a blue and white bodysuit.

A hero.