The following day, Lyra and Reina were out enjoying the city of Helos. Reina in particular was interested in the jerky industry, and enjoyed trying out many different kinds of jerky. And Lyra, well, she was rich, so they could afford to spend a lot of money. Plan was to continue staying at the mansion, and then tomorrow she and Reina would go get their new S-rank tags and then they'd start looking into a few S-rank missions. But today was purely recreational. That was, until young girl came running their way, crying her eyes out.
"My sister, please save my sister! She's collapsed and I don't know what to do!" the young girl said, throwing herself towards Lyra.
Now neither Reina nor Lyra were born yesterday. Why did this young girl go and ask them directly for help? Most children would prefer to ask people of a similar race for help, if there were no guards nearby, which there were, which made this even more strange. However, it got Lyra curious. Did someone want to speak with her in private? Or was there some bigger plot she did not yet know about? So, she took the child by the hand, gave Reina a knowing wink, and then they let her lead them onwards.
The child took deep into a nearby alleyway, away from the prying eyes of the main street. There, the shape of a woman covered by a fur jacket was laying on the dirty street. However, the woman was not around. Her "Search" spell revealed there were at least 20 more, hidden in the shadows, up on the roofs, waiting on the balconies.
"Master, this is obviously an ambush..." Reina whispered, as she looked around, nostrils flaring. The Dragon did not need magic to tell they were not alone. She could smell them.
-"I know. I am just curious to learn why." Lyra said in response, as she approached the woman on the ground. She wasn't really all that worried about hers or Reina's safety, mostly she just wanted to know why someone had set up such an elaborate ploy for her and Reina. Lyra stopped before the woman on the ground and then bent over, over the body of the fallen woman, placing a hand on the perceived shoulder.
"H-help me...." the figure under the jacket croaked, as it started to turn. Then, a hand shot out, holding a dagger, as the woman sliced at Lyra, seeking to cut her throat! To Lyra however, with over 2000 agility, this attempt at her life was pathetic. She caught the hand by the wrist instantly, and with a flick of her own hand, she broke the wrist, snapping it, which made the woman scream out in pain.
"W-what are you doing! Get her! NOW!" she screamed as she tried to free her hand from Lyra's grip, but to no avail. From the shadows of the alley, and the rooftops and balconies, two dozen or so men and women emerged, jumping at Lyra and Reina. The young child who had led them there was already bolting away, back towards the main street.
The beastmen descended on both Reina and Lyra, wielding various crude weaponry, from bastard shortswords to knives and daggers, and a few bows as well. A quick "Inspection" revealed to no one was over level 40. Reina alone had more stats than all of them combined, and Lyra was naturally even worse.
-"Try not to kill them, if you can, Reina." Lyra said as she ducked under the swing of a blade, and caught an arrow with her free hand. She then used said arrow to impale the woman she held, slamming the arrow down into her shoulder which made her yelp in pain, before she swung her and tossed her aside.
"I'll do my best, master!" Reina expressed, as she caught a nearby incoming cat-beastman by the foot, only to swing him around as if he was her weapon, slamming and bashing him against the other nearby enemies!
The woman Lyra had tossed aside clutched her wounds with the unbroken hand, panting in pain, as she watched the two supposed C-rank adventurers quickly dismantle their entire attack-force. Despite the cat-kin's natural agility and skill with weaponry, they did not manage to land a single hit on neither the elf nor the human. But it didn't matter. It was a shame they could not kill them, but that was within the line of possibilities.
In just 20 seconds, the fighting was over. The alley which had been silent was now filled with sounds. Painful groans and moans, from the many injured assailants. A handful of them laid unmoving, bloodied and not breathing. Despite their best efforts, it was rather difficult to subdue someone who was trying to kill you, and so a few of the assailants had sadly perished. One who had lost his life was the one Reina had used as a living weapon, and he now hung limp, his upper body resting on the floor as Reina still held onto his leg, which was twisted and bent in a most unnatural manner.
Lyra herself approached the woman who set up the ambush, curious to know what this was all about. But just before she could ask the woman a question, she noticed movement in the alley, coming from the main street. Not long after, a dozen or so guards appeared, guided to the scene by the child from earlier.
"There they are, officer! They tried to kill my sister, and then attacked all the other innocent bystanders too!" the child screamed and pointed her finger at Lyra and Reina. Ah, so this was the play. Plan B, in case assassination did not work. Someone really wanted Lyra and Reina to get into trouble. Now, any reasonable law-enforcement officer would quickly be able to tell that these were not just innocent civilians, but trained fighters. Heck, they were all armed to the teeth, after all. But reality would not be that simple...
"YOU TWO! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR HAVING VIOLATED THE LAW!" the main guardsman shouted, and all of them drew their weapons.
"You can't be serious... we are the ones who were attacked!" Reina shouted back, baffled. Were the guards really this stupid and incompetent!? Lyra recalled there was a saying back on Earth, that you should never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. However, the reverse could also be true, which she assumed was the case here. The guards were not stupid or incompetent. They were just corrupt.
"YOU WILL LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS NOW, AND SUBMIT TO THE AUTHORITY OF THE LAW!" the guardsman shouted as he approached Reina, getting his metal cuffs ready.
"What, no way! We defended ourselves! You should be arresting them!" Reina shouted, taking a step back, looking to Lyra for guidance. Lyra turned away from the injured woman, and approached Reina and the guardsman.
"I saw them assault my sister, and then attack all these people when they tried to stop it!" the child shouted loudly, while the injured woman wept, wailing in the alley.
-"This is all obviously an elaborate ploy, officer. I will not permit you to cuff myself nor my companion..." Lyra said as she stopped beside Reina, while the guardsmen all approached still.
"Permit? You are a foreigner, charged with assault, attempted murder, and murder. The evidence is clear, and we have witness testimonies. You are going to be locked away for a long time..." the man said as he got up close, getting into Lyra's face, glaring down at her through the visor in his helmet, before he reached for Reina's hands, trying to grab her. Lyra however interfered, and shoved the guardsman back with enough force to make him stumble back, which he did not take kindly too.
"ASSAULT! ASSAULT OF A GUARDSMAN!" he screamed, and began swinging his sword around in a wild fashion. However, it wasn't Lyra or Reina who blocked his swing, but Kiana, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"Captain Kalar, you have gone too far! What is the meaning of this!?" she expressed, holding her katana up, blocking the sword of the guardsman.
"Guild-Master!? You are not allowed to meddle in this! This is a matter concerning the law!" he said, though pulling back his sword, glaring at her.
"Meddle? These are my adventurers! On what grounds are you doing this!?" Kiana said, still holding onto her Katana, standing protectively in front of Lyra and Reina.
"Assault, attempted murder, murder, assaulting a law-enforcement officer!" Captain Kalar said, fuming, his face red.
"It is obvious it is my adventurers who were attacked, Captain. Can't you see!?" Kiana responded.
"That is not for you to decide! Now step back, or else..." the captain answered, as the other guardsmen drew close.
-"Guild-Master, let us deal with this." Lyra said to Kiana, as magic begun to swirl around her form. Lyra wasn't going to subject herself or Reina to this farce for any longer.
"NO! Lyra, please... you mustn't.. We will fix this, I promise! Trust in the guild, trust in the Etherum Merchant Company... please?" Kiana said, turning to face Reina and Lyra.
"You seriously want us to play along with this corrupt bastard? I will never allow my master to be subject to such humiliation!" Reina shouted.
-"My partner raises a valid point. Why should we?" Lyra said, folding her arms across her chest as she watched Kiana.
"If you resist any further, it can be used to further escalate the charges... you could face hundreds of years in prison or worse. Just.. have some faith. One night, that is all. We'll push for an express trial, pull every string, use every connection, and make sure this is all properly investigated and all charges are dropped- please trust me." Kiana said, looking at the pair, pleadingly.
Lyra sighed. It was inconvenient. But she did not want to make things more difficult for Kiana, or Karnir and Kira. Eventually, she relented, much to Reina's distaste.
-"Fine... one night. But if this trust is misplaced, Kiana..." Lyra answered, giving the guild-master a firm look, which surprised the guards. Why was this C-rank adventurer pressuring the guild-master? And why was the guild-master looking so nervous?
"I get it, Lyra. One night, is all." Kiana said, tone low.
Afterwards, Lyra and Reina agreed to be cuffed, though the metal cuffs didn't serve any purpose since they did absolutely nothing to actually restrain either of them. Reina actually broke 3 cuffs by accident as they were being led to the Helos City detention center, which made the guards even more jumpy than they already were. They were then guided inside, and put into two cells next to one another. Reina looked absolutely fuming, and it took Lyra some time and quite a lot of coaxing to stop her from laying waste to not just the Detention Center but the entire city.
"Why do you allow them to disrespect you so, Master! How dare they treat us this way!" the dragon shouted, shaking with rage.
-"Only for today, Reina. I want to give our friends the chance to solve this peacefully. But you are right, I won't tolerate more than this.." Lyra answered, patting Reina's hands through the metal bars. Frankly, she was annoyed too, but she didn't want to be an unreasonable tyrant if she could help it. Karnir and the Guild-Master were on their side, so they could likely resolve all of this peacefully.
That was her hope, though a peaceful resolution seemed quite far away when she and Reina were led into the large wooden courtroom the following day, still cuffed and chained, and she saw the sheer hostility in the eyes of the judge presiding over this courtroom...