Li put a wooden hand to his skull-white head.

What to do?

Lady Zhen's inopportune rampage had driven this whole case upside down. Li had wanted to settle things quietly and within the boundaries of man's laws, but now, there were too a number of problems he had to solve. He could, if he spent some time to think about it, likely come to a reasonable way to solve them all, but

First was explaining Chevrette's death. There was the matter of the daughter seeing him, but she had only seen his more monstrous forms. To be more specific, she had only clearly seen his Howling Ursine form too. Regardless, she had seen him, and that was the important part. The appearance of the Howling Ursine had to be explained.

Then there was the matter of the farmers – the main reason why he had undertaken this venture in the very first place. Li had wanted to criminally indict Chevrette and then have his assets transition over to one of Count Alexei's pawns who would then destroy the contracts accordingly. But there had been no indictment.

That also brought up how the beastwomen were to be treated. Li had intended them to participate in the case even if their testimonies were not truly needed. If Chevrette had gotten desperate and used the armed forces in his employ, then he would have given the beastwomen a chance to fight and use that as leverage to free them as elsewise, the heroes would simply argue for detaining them because they were threats to the crown.

Finally, Li had to explain what his human form was presumably doing this whole time, especially because he had decided to split up from going to the Golden Flagon.

Li stopped beating his wings and flared them out, letting the wind glide past them and wafting him down to Riviera. He directed himself towards the Chevrette estate, and as he glided down, he thought about what to do.

To be sure, Li was confident he could come to a solution. It was just that he was not too confident he could come up with a perfect one. After all, it was not like he had gotten super intellect from gaining his new form. He was still himself for now.

Li's superhuman sight honed in on the estate and he saw that it was surrounded by Knights of Lys oncemore. There was also the very same carriage that the heroes and adventurers had used earlier in the day.

Though, Li figured, the reason why he could now commit to a plan with so little hesitation even if it was not perfect was because he knew that there could be imperfections. He was a meticulous person most times, but when there were too many variables like this, he knew when to be realistic and commit to a path even if the road was not clear.

Go with the flow, as the old adage went.

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

"It's a massacre, honored hero," said a knight of Lys. His voice had a youthful timbre to it, and there was a shaking undertone of shock and fear beneath. "Lord Chevrette is dead. His servants are dead. My brothers in arms are dead. All dead."

Meld looked at the Chevrette mansion, her head tilting up to the shattered roof and the blasted apart front doors in descending order. She nodded and patted the knight on the shoulder. "How old are you, good knight?"

"Me?" the knight said in momentary confusion before shaking his head, remembering to answer and not question. "I am twenty-two, honored hero."

"Only twenty-two and bearing witness to such slaughter." Meld tapped the knight's shoulder plate once more, this time with a more comforting touch. "Take leave of your duties for the night and rest. You will be compensated by the crown for any missed work."

The knight nodded and saluted. "Thank you, honored hero."

As the knight left, Meld crossed her arms and drew close to the destroyed double doors leading into the Chevrette estate. The very same doors she had stood in front of just the last day.

"Look how that fool quivers in his greaves," said Thunderstrike as he floated behind her. "A little pup he is, and yet he has a white plume trembling atop his helm. Do the Knights of Lys have no shame, promoting cowards to their officing ranks?"

"Now is a time of peace. That standards are lax is a sign that the people are comfortable, and that alone should make you, a hero, happy," said Meld calmly.

Thunderstrike grunted. "Were these human pups to know of the dangers brewing north, they would not be so comfortable being so weak."

Meld sighed. "There is no shame in weakness, and that we have power alone does not make us heroes. How we use it is what separates us from monsters. You would do well to remember that."

"I should have expected such words from the weakest among the Order," said Thunderstrike. When he saw that Meld ignored him, he continued with the task at hand. "What do you make of this situation?"

Meld crouched down, her head tilting up and down and scanning the destroyed entrance to the mansion.

"Forced entry-," said Meld.

"Obviously," scoffed Thunderstrike.

"-With explosive force," continued Meld. "The warped shards of the door indicate they bent inwards in concussive impact before shattering. A single explosion. No traces of mana. Non-magical force. Explosion occurred approximately one and a half hours ago considering the amount of fading there is in the color of the runes that were etched into the frame."

"And?" said Thunderstrike impatiently.

Meld began rattling off her hypotheses. "The perpetrator was not a mage. Likely not a human, either. No normal human possesses a natural ability to project such force. Potentially could be one possessing of the heroic mutagen."

Thunderstrike raised a brow. "But we would know about any rogue hero. Mindeye has a tab on every active hero in the entire duchy."

"There are those that escape her vision." Meld tilted her head backwards, her blindfolded eyes angling towards Triple Threat. The three adventurers were busy talking with knights themselves a little way off, near the gates. She took a cursory look at Jeanne before swiveling her head forwards again. "But yes, the possibility is unlikely. A monster, perhaps."

"A monster not spotted by any manner of guard? One that could scale the powerful magical defenses erected around the noble estates? This does not sound ridiculous to you?"

Meld continued to analyze the floor, not sparing a look at Thunderstrike.

"The point of this type of work is to find clues, then the answer. If you wish for a more straightforward task, then I will gladly have you transferred back over to the north," she said, voice as calm and pleasant as ever. "Perhaps the elves will grace you with a matching scar over your other eye."

"You are lucky that you are favored by the duchess, elsewise I would smite you down with the strength of a thousand storms," said Thunderstrike.

"There is no such thing as luck in our line of work," said Meld as she ignored the threat and decided to step inside the mansion. There were other knights still surveying the area, but she wanted to get a personal feel into the situation as well.

"Wait!"

Meld and Thunderstrike turned around to see Sylvie and Azhar running up to them. Jeanne had stayed back at the gates where weary knights were gathering around her, thanking her for her service, for showing up to aid them, and no doubt, there were a few of them wanting to see if they could have a more private meeting later.

"Good adventurers," said Meld. "Have you heard anything of noteworth from the other knights?"

Sylvie shook her head. By now, she was feeling a bit tired, her pale red eyes underlined with dark bags from not having slept in almost an entire day working on the case. "I wished to ask you the same. We have only heard tell of the deaths and their gruesome nature, but nothing that would bring us closer to a suspect."

"I thought as much. The front party of knights found nothing either," said Meld. She held out her hand. "I was about to investigate myself. Would you like to join us?"

Sylvie nodded and fell into a walking pace behind Meld. Behind them, Azhar and Thunderstrike exchanged routine glares at each other.

Meld turned her head from side to side as she got a read on the insides of the mansion. Extremely well ordered with the exception of the corpses which now lay with black sheets covering them, as if someone or something had surgically assassinated every single living being here without touching a single piece of furniture in the whole mansion.

As she surveyed the situation, she said to Sylvie quietly, "I apologize for my comrade's prior anger at the Flagon."

"No, I do understand where his thinking lies," said Sylvie. "It would be natural in his position to believe that the beastwomen would know something of what transpired here and have them locked away before they could escape. I would have liked to try and get him to see my way of thinking, but unfortunately, Azhar devolved the talk into a shouting match."

"No talk would have gotten through to Thunderstrike." Meld smiled. "A shouting match was perhaps the best way to pass through that thick skull of his."

Sylvie widened her eyes a bit.

"Oh, pardon me. A hero insulting another hero is unfathomable is what you think, yes?" Meld shook her head. "Heroes are humans too, my dear. I like to believe I have the luxury of liking and disliking whomever I want."

"I suppose so."

"I sense you are guarded around me." Meld cocked her head, her broad hat somehow defying physics and staying on despite its precarious angle. "I will not pry into your reasons, but know that as a hero, I am forever your ally."

Sylvie nodded slowly. She hid her guardedness incredibly well, but not well enough for Meld to not pick up on it. "I understand."

A commotion rang through the mansion. It came from the kitchen, and immediately, the group rushed towards it.

Bursting out of the kitchen's marble rimmed entrance were several knights guarding and holding up Ella, Chevrette's daughter. The sole survivor of this attack.

Perhaps with her, thought both Sylvie and Meld, there would be answers.