Lidia sat down on the simple leather chair just behind her work desk, resting her elbows on it, hands linked together just under her face. The short, brown-haired woman wore an elegant suit bearing her city's official colors, those being black and gold. The harvests have been terrible this year. I'll have to move funds from somewhere else to import even more. As Golden Lake's mayor, Lidia was in charge of directing it and leading it forward. Sometimes I wish I could just lie down and never wake up again. Naturally, the large city of over ten million residents would struggle without her, so she powered through. She looked at the stack of papers on her desk, starting to read them one by one. Her Effortless Paperwork skill allowed her to complete this type of labor much faster than usual, so the intimidating stack of paper disappeared in less than two minutes, neatly piled up on the corner where her assistant would retrieve them and bring them to their necessary destination.
She got up, and walked around the office with her hands behind her back, thinking to herself, Rumors have been spreading about a certain noble from another city that obliterated a group of people in his residence. The details aren't clear, but some sources say that his daughter had been extremely sick before that.
Lidia understood well the danger of such a rumor, as the citizens needed to think that the nobles were mentally sane and wouldn't kill everyone. The difference in power between low-class citizens and high-class ones was staggering, so a delicate balance needed to be maintained. Finally, the door opened to reveal her personal assistant, Marcus, walking in with a massive stack of documents in his arms. The young man had a short, cured brown beard with long hair. His brown eyes resembled an eagle's eyes, giving her assistant a fierce look. A simple black and gold suit adorned his body, resembling the one she was wearing herself.
"Lidia, we got a problem." Said the man at once.
She sighed and covered her face with her hands, already knowing the news was going to be terrible. Marcus never says there's a problem unless it's something massive. She sighed and said, "What is it now?"
"Accurate reports have still to come in, but the western part of Golden Lake has..." Marcus' face strained, his usually relaxed face twisted in a visage of frustration and disbelief, "Been destroyed." Finished the man quickly. Lidia's eyes froze in place, thoughts rapidly spinning in her head, Has the Monster Army attacked us? An anomaly? There are too many possibilities. Unfortunately, events of mass destruction were very common around the world, but that didn't make the loss any less difficult to deal with. "How many died?" Lidia asked, words struggling to exit her throat.
"The numbers are rising, but the estimates float around a million. The attack was sudden and immediate, and our Soul-detectors didn't reveal anything. Witnesses outside the blast zone report a massive lighting strike, bigger than anything we have ever seen. I talked with some experts, and they believe it was a Tribulation. I already sent the Rescue teams, as well as every Guard and Soldier we could spare."
"Well done...well done," Lidia sat down, breathing heavily. At least a tenth of the city had been destroyed. "The wall?" Asked the woman in a hopeful tone. Their defensive wall was the only thing preventing hordes of savage monsters from ravaging their city and killing everyone within.
Marcus sighed heavily, which greatly worried Lidia. The wall couldn't fall. Their lives depended on it. Naturally, higher-tier people might survive the monsters by just escaping to another city, but that wasn't an option for everyone. People had lands and property here, and they couldn't afford to leave it all behind. "The wall has been breached. We can see it from here, too. Technicians have already been sent to repair them, but It's going to take months. What should we do?"
Lidia looked at the clock on the wall, seeing how there were many hours left until the Unsafe Hours, which allowed her to enact her plan. "We need to make sure chaos doesn't spread around the city, first of all. I will personally go and assist with the rescue mission. Maybe someone survived. Please take care of things here, Marcus."
Without another word, Golen Lake's mayor exited her office and walked outside, passing by many clerks who were giving various reports about the city's current situation. She gave short and concise replies to each one before quickening her pace to the exit, until one of the workers gave her the worst possible news, "Mayor, the Soul lamps of the Color Rangers have broken!"
Lidia gritted her teeth, continuing her stride outside, Fuck! Shit! Why is everything going wrong?! Why can't anything go well for once?! The Rangers were a great loss, not because of their strength, as it was quite low, but because of their effect on the population. Having heroes to root for does wonders for people's sanity, weirdly enough. She instructed the clerk to begin training for a substitute team, while Lidia finally got out of the office building, glancing sideways, studying the people's expressions. Most of them wore nervous faces, but none were outright scared, as Lidia was on the opposite side of the one that had been attacked. As a public official, her build consisted of Social Skills, protection Skills, and long-range movement. Additionally, she knew the sixth-tier Soul technique [Sky Steps], which allowed her to essentially fly and accelerate through the air, allowing her to reach her destination in just a couple of minutes.
From the sky she could already see the gigantic breach in the massive wall, slowly being repaired by hundreds of Technicians. Lidia focused on the damage, which boggled her mind. An abyss too deep to see the end of opened up just next to the breach, surrounded by rubble for kilometers around it. Nothing had been spared, houses had been reduced to ash and dust, despite being made of enchanted stone. Before Lidia could get overwhelmed, she ran around trying to find the Manager of the rescue team, her gaze settling on a point in the distance. A tall, balding man stood upright with his arms crossed, overlooking the rescue operation.
As soon as she approached, his face tensed up, before he greeted her with the sign of respect in the Iulan kingdom. Two fists placed against each other in front of his chest. No one else had greeted her that way in the office as she made sure to get rid of those formalities, but the same couldn't be said about the Rescue Manager.
"Greetings, mayor. How may I be of assistance, today?" Behind the polite tone, Lidia could sense a hint of irritation. Doesn't matter. "How is the search going? How many survivors are there?" She asked, hoping she would get some good news for once.
"It's not good, major. We haven't found a single survivor under the rubble. Not one. it's a miracle if we find an intact corpse, and even then, it's never in good condition. Plus, we've seen a line of dead people distant from here, and our Doctors and Nurses have analyzed that their Souls have been cut up and separated, apparently. I've never seen anything like this, mayor."
Lidia frowned, nodding at the man. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked kindly, hoping to make a difference. The man shook his head, clicking his tongue, "I don't believe you have any Soul techniques to bring back the dead, do you?" She shook her head, naturally. "Then your assistance is not required here, mayor. Please go back to your paperwork in your warm and comfortable office."
She nodded and walked away, moving to the edge of the blast radius, where some houses were still intact. Many injured people were being brought out and attended to by Doctors and Nurses. Despair and terror were the most prevalent emotions present. Lidia's guts tightened at the miserable sight, which intensified upon seeing an old woman clutching the half-charred corpse of a younger man, possibly her son.
She flew down at the woman, who was trying her hardest to hold her tears in. The tears won, flowing down her face like a broken dam. "Hi," Was all that Lidia could think of saying. What else do I say to a grieving mother? The old woman raised her eyes at the mayor, red veins bulging them up. "My son died." Was all she said, before continuing, "I can't even recognize his face."
Lidia bit her lower lip, thinking of what to say. I can't just say 'I'm sorry ma'am, have a nice day!'. I've never been good at consoling people. goddamnit. She finally decided on her response, and said, "Please take this as reparation. I know it's not much, but please accept it." Lidia removed her necklace, which was enchanted with various effects. The woman could sell it for a considerable chunk of money, or use it for herself. The old mother took the heavy necklace without trouble and looked at Lidia, bewildered, "Is this a joke? this.." The mother stood up, face getting redder, "This won't...won't bring him back." Upon hearing those words, Lidia lowered her eyes, ashamed of her action. "He had so many businesses, and he sent me money each month to live comfortably..." Explained the mother with a low voice. "This won't last even a year." She said while raising the necklace. Lidia sighed before removing her enchanted rings and other pieces of jewelry, giving them all to the old woman.
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The kneeling woman took it all, but the tears didn't stop, and neither did her sobbing voice, "Don't think you're doing me a favor, you privileged brat!" Shouted the mother as Lidia began walking away, embarrassed by the confrontation. I can't deal with this...I hate this... before she could fly up in the sky again, a small child ran up to her, a teddy bear in her hand.
"Excuse me, miss, do you know where my mommy is?" Asked the small girl, not older than six.
Lidia put on a fabricated smile for her and lowered herself, replying, "I'm sorry, I don't know where your mommy is. Can you tell me what she looks like?"
"She is the most beautiful woman in the world! Her hair is golden and her eyes are blue and her dress is green, and, and..." The little girl continued to list every trait about her mom, which Lidia tried to remember as much as possible. "How about we start looking for her together?" Asked the woman, relieved at having the opportunity to ignore her duties for once.
The little girl nodded happily and took her hand, dragging Lidia to the kid's house first. It was undamaged and empty, so they went onward. "Do you remember the last place where you saw her?"
"Mm, before the earthquake happened she went to buy some food." Said the girl while puffing up her cheeks trying to remember.
"Perfect, let's go look for her in the marketplace then."
Lidia and the kid, called Chiara, spent some time looking around the block for the mother, without success. When they reached an intersection with some ruined houses, Lidia looked over a doorframe without a door, leading inside a living room. Finding nothing, they moved to the market area, specifically the sector where vegetables and other foods used to be sold. Now it's just a bunch of ruins. One of the markets had a storeroom in the back, and while Chiara stood outside playing with her plushie, Lidia looked inside, finding the spasming corpse of a merchant. Right next to him was the corpse of a woman with a green dress. Lidia gasped and covered her mouth, turning around at once.
"Did you find my mommy, miss?" Asked Chiara with hopeful eyes, which stabbed into Lidia's stomach even more. Fortunately, the mayor was good at hiding her emotions.
"I haven't, unfortunately. Maybe your mommy went somewhere very far away!" Said Lidia while smiling, her upper lip trembling ever so slightly. She then called a nearby guard and ordered him to take care of the little girl. She then gave a small badge to the little girl, who could use it for various bonuses around the city. The guard was flabbergasted at the unusual request, but the mayor ran away before he could complain. Lidia wiped at her face before anyone could see her, quickly returning to her office.
---
In the hallway before her office, Marcus ran up to her, assaulting her with a barrage of tasks that needed to be taken care of, but she honestly couldn't find the strength in herself to help. "I don't think I can continue, Marcus," She said tiredly, the flight having taken a lot out of her.
"Are you serious, Lidia?" Asked the man incredulously.
"It's just...I can't deal with all this. I just can't! I saw a mother grieve because her son looked like a piece of charcoal! And there must have been thousands of those! How the fuck am I supposed to deal with all that?!" She shouted white opening her arms wide. Many workers glanced worriedly at her, continuing on about their business. Lidia and her assistant continued their discussion in the office, where Marcus said, "You're the mayor. You HAVE to deal with this. The city depends on you. Millions of lives depend on you, and now is when they need you the most."
"But I can't!" She shouted even louder, veins bulging on her forehead. When she saw her assistant's worried expression, she quickly took a deep breath and continued, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you."
"It's fine. But you still get a grip on this, Lidia. You have to. If we don't organize everything quickly, the city will fall into chaos. I've seen that in the number of victims, a good chunk of our Farmers and Cooks were eliminated. As you know, our last harvest was pitiful. And due to the war, our usual providers are too busy fighting to provide us with supplies. Do you understand? Even assuming monsters don't take advantage of the breach, which is highly unlikely, food shortages will ravage our city if we don't do something." Explained Marcus calmy but fiercely.
"What am I supposed to do?! I can't just snap my fingers to create food out of thin air!" Complained Lidia while slumping down on her office chair. Anxiety was humans' worst nightmare, simply for the fact that it made them worst actors. Acting was the most important Skill in the whole world, as it made them more interesting in the Gods' eyes. A miracle right now would be really useful.
Okay, repairing the wall should be our top priority, so I'll hire as many technicians as I can, possibly from other cities. "What do you think I should do?" She directed the question at Marcus mostly, but partly at herself.
"The wall is the biggest problem, for sure. Our city's future depends on whether we can repair it before monsters start attacking. So, I would recommend that we hire as many technicians as possible and offer tax exemptions to the technicians working for the city, to incentivize others to join us. We should additionally offer monetary rewards to citizens who develop Soul abilities and techniques related to repairing walls and whatnot. After that, we should do the same with Farmers and food-related professions. My Intuitive Prediction Skill tells me that Golden Lake will enter a period of widespread famine in the next six to eight months."
"I hate that. I hate the fact that you're right. I agree with what you said, if we don't get the food shortage checked out, we'll have fewer soldiers to send to the capital for the war, and the King would notice immediately." She shuddered at the thought of the most powerful human on their continent setting his furious sights on Golden Lake.
Marcus nodded, smiling at her renewed vigor. He took another large stack of papers and dropped it heavily on her desk. She puffed annoyingly and began speeding through the documents, finishing the whole stack in less than one minute. Marcus did the same, albeit at a lower speed, as his Skill was still only high-rank. She had once suggested he develop a Soul ability for documents alone, almost jokingly, but he had said that he had other plans.
The two public workers continued their duties for hours, exchanging conversations in the meanwhile. A continuous flow of clerks and workers streamed into her office for directions about various topics, ranging from the shortage of Doctors to the presence of criminals taking advantage of the chaos. Such a job would send anyone into insanity without any type of social interaction, so he was glad for her assistant's presence. Lidia finally ran out of paperwork to compile, so she got up, stretching her arms and back.
Just before she went outside to take a drink to calm her nerves, another clerk entered her office. None of them knocked, as instructed by Lidia, who saw it as a waste of time.
"Miss Lidia, a visitor wishes to speak with you." Said the woman who had just entered.
"Tell them I'm busy and to set an appointment," Replied Lidia while huffing heavily.
"He says it's really important, and that he has information about the culprit of the 'incident'."
Lidia narrowed her eyes and looked back at Marcus. The man had got up and gotten to the corner of the room to equip himself with various weaponry and armor. Accepting visitors wasn't without risk, and Marcus had the secondary objective of protecting her. The assistant, after getting ready and equipped, nodded at her.
Lidia then said to the clerk, "Bring him here and get us some tea please, Leonora." The other woman nodded and moved out of the office, while the two public workers quickly tidied the office, preparing the three chairs for them and the visitor. A minute later, a man lacking an arm and half of a leg stumbled inside the office. He was using some kind of technique to create a transparent leg where his missing one would be, thought Lidia.
"Welcome, I am Lidia of the Golden House, and he is Marcus of the Silver House how may we help you?" Said Lidia while shaking his hand, noticing his firm grip and hidden Soul. She furrowed her brows, as a person that hides their Soul is rarely good news. Marcus moved next to him for precaution, shaking his hand as well.
Leonora entered soon after and distributed tea for the three of them, who took it happily.
"You may call me Number Two, and I know some things that I'm sure you might want to take a look at." Said the simple-looking man while sitting down, a small grunt escaping his lips. I can see he has bandages all under his clothes, and bruises all over. Other than those, his simple shirt, jacket, and pants don't tell me anything.
"And what would that be?" She asked suspiciously.
"Me, my brothers, and sisters have been raided by a group of monsters, and they stole something very important for us. A light Technician in our ranks took this image," The man then put his arm inside his jacket, retrieving a sheet of paper with an image on it.
Lidia took it in her hands, marveling at the detail of the painting. I always knew that light Technicians could do insane things, but this is like seeing it with my own eyes. A large snake that's spewing flames into a wall, a monster made of roots, and a... a horse monster? She passed the image to Marcus, who analyzed it carefully.
The man, Number Two, continued, "Additionally, we have one Soul signature, that being the horse's one. Apparently, it's a tier-two monster with a very peculiar Soul shape. The other two were too high-tier to extract it without them noticing. We also know the direction that they took," At that last part, a mischievous smile appeared on the man's face.
Ah, he came here to trade. How typical.
"What do you want in exchange?" Asked Lidia, not showing even a speck of emotion on her face.
Number Two smiled widely, replying, "I want freedom. For me and my brothers. All I ask of you is to close an eye whenever our business...floats to the surface, we can say. You can think about it and go to this location if you come to any conclusion. Come alone, otherwise, the deal is off. If we ever come to an agreement, I'll give you both the Soul signature and further information on their position." He then passed her a small piece of paper with a location written on it.
"Well then, I have business to attend to. Thank you for your time, and I hope you'll give my offer some consideration," said the man, shaking both their hands and walking out of the office. Lidia and Marcus looked at each other when the door closed, starting many discussions on the topic. She asked Marcus to find out as much as possible about the group that Number 2 was affiliated with, which might uncover what exactly the monsters were after. She focused on the attackers themselves, as a Soul signature was very useful, because it would allow them to track that specific Soul if they got in a certain range around said Soul. That, coupled with the information of where the monsters had gone, might allow them to find the culprit, if the man had been truthful. I might get the attention of the Gods. They love revenge and drama, after all.
At the end of the day, before the Unsafe Hours came, Marcus and Lidia shared a glass of wine before getting to their respective homes. Lidia, after lying down on her bed, couldn't sleep thinking of the day's events. Fortunately, a kingdom-wide wave of Influence swept across every city, every house, every corner, causing deep somnolence. It was created by the kingdom's finest Enchantment Technicians to prevent anyone from awakening anomalies in the Unsafe Hours, and it affected everyone without exceptions. On that night, Lidia dreamt of teddy bears and burning vegetables.