They Are In Every Respect Superior To The Characteristics Of Modern City Residents
It was. To begin, the city had an artificial nature. There had always been a settlement of some size there, of course. The usefulness of a harbor near the mouth of the Chawbnoipt River that ran through Swadvanchdeu and Drastlif on its way to the ocean ensured that. Then again, that river did run through Swadvanchdeu, which had lost control of the coast but recently in historical terms and could invade again at any time, provided Noiswawau promised credibly not to conquer it during the southward campaign. In other words, not soon.
The story went that it was for that very reason, added to its relatively central location, that the statesmen responsible for united Drastlif chose it to be the capital. When the Permissive Council and the Restricted Council sat, they ought to feel the breath of the Dvanjchtliv on them and not simply breezes stirred by servants with their gentle fans. Such was the conviction of the founders, and the oligarchs who followed them so far had refrained from removing the seat of government power to a safer city of greater economic significance such as Vigit Pikilif , Torani Ves, or Geimif.
The construction boom required by that policy turned Dubwasef into a more modern and, to the thinking of foreigners, more Drastlifan city. Though built on the same general ideas as in Vigit, buildings rose two or three stories, or even more in a few exceptional cases, and the non-round type which signaled religious, commercial, or governmental activity was common. The subtle signs of old styles disappeared.
“If you look for scalloping on that windowsill,” Onerid said while her fan flipped upward to indicate a feature high above, “failure is assured, but pay attention to those bends, or slanted stripes. Some are painted in a different color, and many are a dissimilar material inserted to add interest via juxtaposition. Careful examination of the roofs would reveal many are made from two to four types of wood. You will see the same internally. A round table of imported oak with a belt of marble where dishes are placed, for example.” She sounded less like a lecturer burdened with bored students and more like the owner of a house who, driven to relocate by circumstances, guides prospective buyers about the premises and hopes in secret they will not find it necessary to alter the decor too much after the deal is concluded.
“Are you feeling more at home?” Takki asked upon recognition of Onerid's evident good spirits.
“This is the Drastlif I remember,” she acknowledged.
The Stadeskosken cohort plus Takki had disembarked from the Oskid for the final time, unless the ship happened to be available to ferry Dirant back to Ilstehost after he judged the local branch's Ritualists to be thoroughly instructed. Stansolt Gaomat was with them of course, and if he said nothing about his doings in Vigit, only Dirant and Takki had reason to suspect them to be anything unusual. Desabas Aesyo and her people had gone a different way in order to seek out a forward base from which to launch an assault on the bureaucracy.
City planners had made Dubwasef's streets wide and straight to accommodate modern conveyances. Loaded carts and carriages ornamented to a degree proportional with the repute of their occupants took full advantage. So did pedestrians, who included some of the Survyaian and Yumin minority of the country little seen in Vigit Pikilif. Those citizens bore not a single shield among them unless it was on a servant's stole.
Onkallant laughed when his companions mentioned it. “The postern gate is open! They are more honest is all. Most shields you see are unofficial, but we're allowed to overlook it so long as the field is plain azure. Because the sea is for everyone.”
“I see it now. The blue ones are a little shabbier. Not morally at all! Only the quality of the material is what I mean.” The others agreed with Banfol after a few minutes of inspection. That careful consideration revealed some minor differences in fashion there compared to Vigit. What stood out to the Adabans was that many men cultivated longer sideburns. It made them think of home.
The influence of the long, fruitful relations between Drastlif and the GE went beyond a little extra hair. Brick was used in the occasional building, for example. Perhaps that was the only example. Still, those edifices stood out. The Stadeskosken people paused to examine one such. The arched roof was of wood yet, which gave the place an uncanny look, as if a Distorter's unpredictable powers had cursed a random house to be forever partially Adabanish. A plaque near the entrance indicated its function.
“'Dependable Banking,'” Onerid read. “That is not so strange then. Temples are entrusted with many financial functions we count on banks to perform, each one backed by one or more prominent families so that losses can usually be recovered to a degree. Separate institutions with unconvincing names like this one here are set up for the convenience of outsiders, who have no patron family or know which god is which. Ah! I feel a chill.”
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Onerid pulled her arms around herself. It was not because of a sudden remembrance of some embarrassing incident from her past. The actual, non-emotional temperature had dropped. What was more, a fog spread along the street and over the bank, reducing the building to a shadow and the people to blobs.
Blobs that shouted and screamed. Some had read about it or heard stories from agitated relatives. A few had been present themselves. All recognized the crime cloud, an icy fog conjured by a Sleet Master or Hail Master as a veil to cover unsightly felonies. The brawniest Brawny Knight and the most accurate Pinpointer could punish visible perpetrators only, and the cold made it harder still to act. The partners of Tiger Knights especially suffered. Meanwhile, the robbers had naturally bundled themselves up, put on goggles, and been blessed by the Hail or Sleet Master responsible with a slight resistance against the sort of thing those classes did.
Standing at the edge of the unnatural cloud as he was, Dirant was still able to see the person he wanted to ask something before, and the changed circumstances only added to the salience of the question. “Miss Onerid, is that bank not used by the Stadeskosken branch here? I recall some such from my instructions, though perhaps I am confused.”
“Ah! It is!” Perhaps a kinder fog would have expanded a little more. As it was, people were still able to make out Onerid's panicked, purposeless movements. “Are we to do something? Can we do something?”
“You are the senior employee,” Dirant reminded her, though he regretted doing so when she reacted by panicking harder. After all, she was not being asked to schedule a meeting or even to leap into action herself to rescue a prospective client from the river. An aggressive intervention meant asking her fellow employees to risk their safety, a serious matter if they complied and complete humiliation if they did not. None of them had experience in that, not even if they had conquered a city or two, unless Stansolt did. Speaking of whom. “And so it falls upon you to instruct Mr. Stansolt to take what actions he judges appropriate, for all that we decline to put 'security' in his job description on the advice of our lawyers.”
“Yes, all you say is undoubtedly correct, Mr. Dirant. Mr. Stansolt, is there some action you believe feasible which will minimize company losses? You may act on your initiative without consulting me in the eventuality promptness is required.”
Stansolt already had his sword out of its scabbard, but he appreciated the official support. “Miss Onerid, my advice is for you to order the present personnel aside from me to move out of the fog and spread out so they can provide details for later pursuit. Do not engage the robbers.” His voice rose during the speech since he ran to the scene during it and wanted to be heard. A similar course was pursued by his fellow Battler, Millim Takki Atsa, when Dirant quietly suggested she do whatever she wanted while Onerid was giving Stansolt his instructions. Takki had refrained from interfering until then out of deference to her Stadeskosken shipmates, though there was no chance she would not have interfered eventually.
Onkallant and Banfol were already repositioning themselves in accordance with Stansolt's recommendation before Onerid ordered them to do so, though they appreciated that she did regardless. Because of that, they could not later be blamed by upper management for either putting themselves in danger or failing to put themselves in enough danger, depending on the outcome.
They saw quite a few escapees from their observation positions, none of whom tarried to declare whether they had just robbed a bank or not. There was one indication of their innocence insofar as they were not being pursued by any eager Battlers, the one class that retained its full Discernment regardless of whatever party tricks Sleet and Hail Masters pulled out.
No, the robbers had not yet made good their escape, and the noises proved it as they changed from anguished yells of civilians soon to be impoverished to pleas from robbers in every language they could remember to stop hitting them, they give up, please, it was society that was to blame.
For all the Battler advantages such as unimpairable Discernment, accelerated weapon training, and instant perception of enemy weaknesses, each one possessed but two hands at most. Tiger Knights and Symbol Knights could improve recruitment for their own classes by emphasizing the comparison in their advertising, if they wished. That shortcoming permitted a single masked man to make it through a window of the building that had become the worst kind of prison and run unimpeded through the unnatural mist. He met a small difficulty outside of it however when he encountered a clumsy Sportsman, something not previously believed to exist.
“How can I ever be forgiven, no matter what is said about forgiveness being a boon to both parties? What can I say to apologize?” Onkallant reached to help the man he had accidentally stumbled into, though the flailing of the latter caused the situation to become even worse for both. Soon they were tangled up irretrievably unless an Arbiter with a dedicated team happened along. The spectacle reminded Dirant, who had time to consider the scene after he hurried over and realized any effort he might offer in correcting the situation to be contrary to his colleague's authentic intentions, of a symbolic entity called a Tripper. Symbol Knights were able to bring those into the world but preferred not to; he wondered what Onkallant's parents thought of him. Probably quite a bit. All the while, Onkallant made excuses in Drastlimez, a language not spoken by the foreign robbers as was discovered later. Their unfamiliarity explained why they went after a bank instead of a juicy temple.
The crime-concealing cloud soon dispersed. Its creator, whichever of the daring fortune-seekers that happened to be, was in no position to renew it on account of being sat on by a Battler, an Onkallant, or a Banfol, who had been brought in to make up the numbers at Stansolt Gaomat's request. He also recommended they drag their prisoners together to demoralize them; apart, they might rely on the prospect of rescue by an escaped brother in iniquity.