Prytaneum
Powder Keg
As it turns out, dealing with the law is a pain in the ass. It sounded sort of bad when I thought about it that way, but I wasn't used to bothering with rules and stuff—I mean, gods and monsters just didn't care much about the legal system and the Mist brushed over things regardless. Sure, the gods had laws and rules…which they followed right up until they decided they didn't give a damn, at which point they stopped. My father had sworn an oath on the River Styx not to have any kids and yet, here I was. Since I'd become a demigod, I'd fought my way across the country several times and even had a war in the middle of Manhattan.
But Orario was a different place and it had different rules and I had to be careful, not just for my sake but for everyone involved. If I'd been back home, I'd have settled things with my sword and let the Mist sort things out—but back home, I could just wave my hand and come up with an explanation for the Mist. Here, it wasn't quite that simple and any problems I caused could come back to bite me and, worse, Hestia. Plus, there was Lili's situation to worry about, to say nothing of Welf's; I wasn't sure what Orario thought about guilt by association, but I was hesitant to test it. The laws here weren't like the ones in America, not that I'd known much about those, either. Still, I kind of doubted anyone would read me my Miranda Rights.
…I really hoped that if it came to a trial, they wouldn't just drag it before the gods. Every trial I'd had like that involved someone voting to kill me, even if I'd just saved the day.
Regardless, after I'd left home—swinging by Miach's place to ask him to check up on Lili and paying him in advanced—I'd gone to the Guild to speak with Eina and tell her about what happened. She'd been happy that I hadn't run into any new and exciting monsters, right until she heard I'd gotten into a fight with another Familia. Even so, I'd explained the situation with the Soma Familia to her and she'd agreed to help me look into it.
It was boring. Really boring. She'd gotten ahold of the files related to the Soma Familia and was looking through them on her own—partially because they were private and mostly because I still couldn't read—while I waited for what felt like hours. She'd left several times to speak to the advisors of various members of the Soma Familia before coming back and scouring for more details.
So far, the results weren't great. The only things that stood out in the Guild's records was that the Soma Familia had an unusually large amount of adventurers and that they seemed desperate for money, regularly arguing with the people at the Exchange in the hopes of getting more money. None of them seemed to have crossed the line, probably for fear of being blacklisted, but they seemed to regularly cause problems. I'd told Eina about what I suspected to be the cause—Soma's wine—but on its own…
"It would help if we could talk to someone who knew the Familia well, but…" Eina murmured, shaking her head and sighing as we walked down the street. Eina had just gotten off work, but she agreed to continue helping me. "The Soma Familia doesn't seem to have any particular connections to other Familias."
"Lili told me as much," I replied. "Soma only cares about making wine, apparently."
"Perhaps," She said. "It's true that it's certainly unusual…but it makes things difficult. Generally speaking, they don't have any friends but they don't have any enemies and it's hard to prove anything against. Without more to go on, it's unlikely the Guild would get involved with a Familia's affairs, especially to the extent you're asking, Percy. We'll keep trying, but if this doesn't turn up anything…"
"I know," I said, trying not to get frustrated. It certainly wasn't Eina's fault that the Soma Familia's files didn't turn up a wealth of incriminating evidence—that had been a long shot to begin with, or else they'd have come down on them already. But I needed to find something to help Lili out.
The truth was, I felt both drained and angry and only part of it was this mess. When I ran into that man in the Dungeon—Zanis—hurting Lili, I'd been enraged enough that there'd been a niggling voice in my head reminding me that I'd killed people before.
Except I didn't want to be that guy—the one who snapped and killed people in fits of rage, who was merciless to anyone who became an enemy. I wasn't proud of what I'd done, of killing my fellow demigods. I didn't regret what I'd Ethan, given what he'd done, but all the others…they were stupid, for believing Luke and Kronos, but I understood it. They were unhappy about being abandoned by their parents, about being cast into all the trouble and danger of being a demigod without even being acknowledged. A lot of demigods were run out of their own homes by monsters or watched loved ones die or spent years homeless on the streets fighting to survive and their parents never said a word, even after years had passed. They felt unwanted and I understood that. They thought the gods were assholes and boy did I understand that. They were angry and upset and wanted to do something about it and Luke had taken advantage of it. If anything, I felt bad for them.
And I'd killed dozens of them, out of grief and anger. Not because they'd done anything to me—frankly, I hadn't recognized most of them—but simply because they'd been on the wrong side, fighting beside someone who'd killed someone I'd cared about. I didn't know what any of their stories were because at the time I hadn't cared. And maybe part of that had been the Curse, but I wasn't going to try to shift responsibility like that; I'd done those things, ended those lives. And like I'd told Calypso, I could have been one of them, but the injustices that had happened to them hadn't mattered compared to the injustices that happened to me.
Of course, no one blamed me for what I'd done; I was hardly the only guy on the god's side killing other demigods. If anything, I'd been one of the last people restraining themselves. I didn't blame my friends, especially after all the family they'd lost in the fighting, but…It was naïve, maybe, but a part of me thought…
But when I'd walked in on him hurting Lili, it had all come right back. I hadn't had any idea who he was or what he'd done or what the situation was, but for a blinding moment, it hadn't mattered to me, either. He could have been someone else involved with Lili for all I'd known, someone she'd stolen from, but I hadn't been all that interested in reasons why or explanations. I'd wanted to kill him just for hurting my friend. I was long past caring what people did to me, but for breaking Lili's wrist, I wasn't to kill.
And more than anything, I think that was why I hadn't. I didn't want to be that guy, the one who'd kill people just because he was angry or without thinking about it. I didn't want to think my mom had raised a boy who'd do that, especially after all the examples I'd seen of where that could go. I knew I'd failed at a lot of things, even at that, but I still had to try, to remember that not everyone who became an enemy had to die, or to think I was always in the right, or that I should be allowed to kill people just because I could, or that my will was better than the law.
But this Zanis guy, using Lili and his Familia—what was supposed to be his family—like this…he reminded me of Luke and made it real hard.
"Percy?" Eina asked, looking at me in concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I said and then exhaled slowly. "Well…maybe not. Bad memories, rough day."
"We'll figure something out," She said, trying to look reassuring. "Once I talk to your supporter…what she says might not be enough to go on alone, but it might give us an idea of where to look. The Guild prefers to remain hands off, but this is hardly a normal situation and once things begin to come to light, I'm sure there will be a way."
"Yeah," I said, trying to believe her—frankly, I was just in a pretty depressed mood today. Even beyond Zanis, there were the things I'd told Lili. It wasn't a lie, either; it had occurred to me that even if my friends were dead, even if I couldn't find them here in the Dungeon, there was at least one other place they were likely to be and how I might get there. It might have even been why I just wasn't as afraid of dying as I probably should have been, which wasn't happiest thing to think about. But that was my mood today, I guess. "Just in case, though…if things don't work out, what do you think I should do?"
Eina was silent for a long moment.
"I…suppose that would depend on how committed you are to helping your friend," She said.
"I'm committed," I said. "She's my friend. Her problems are my problems. My problems are her problems. It's a pain in the ass sometimes, but that's how friends work."
"I envy how simple you make things sound sometimes," She mused with a sigh. "But…in theory, it's not impossible to…unfortunately, I suppose the best word is 'purchase' her from the Soma Familia. It's not completely unheard of for a Familia to pay for the transfer of a member or to perform a specific task in exchange for such a thing. Of course, that's a risky method, because it depends entirely on what the gods involved find agreeable."
I thought about how I'd crushed Zanis' hand and wondered if he was the type to hold a grudge.
"What if the other Familia just refuses?" I asked.
"Then that's it," She said. "While it's not unheard of for Familia to harass one another to a certain extent over such things, you cannot simply force a god to trade away a member of their Familia."
"Okay," I said. "And just in case, is there a plan be?"
Eina hesitated for a moment, suddenly looking extremely reluctant.
"Eina, please," I prompted. "I need to know what I can do."
She sighed.
"Failing any peaceful resolution, it's…possible to settle things with a War Game," She said, the look she gave me making it clear she didn't like that idea, didn't recommend it, and wanted to forbid it outright. "In that case, two gods will have a battle and wager thing upon it, up to and including Familia members. It's literally a War Game for the gods, a way of entertaining themselves, and theoretically anything within the laws of Orario is allowed. However, I don't think that will work in this case."
Of course not, I thought to myself. Because doing it the easy way would be too…uh, easy.
"Why not?" I asked out loud.
"War Games require the consent of both Familias—or rather, both gods," She said. "Again, harassment isn't unheard of, but from a legal standpoint, if one god offers and the other refuses, that's the end of it. And if Soma is as…apathetic as your supporter claims, then—"
"He might not give a damn," I finished. "If he doesn't care about other gods or his own Familia, why would he even bother?"
"Exactly," She said. "And also, assuming he were to agree to such a thing to begin with, if he were to bet something, the challenging Familia would have to wager something in return…which might require having something he would value."
I nodded, understanding and pursing my lips. The problems were obvious, but worst case scenario, I might be able to make him care though I wasn't sure how far I could go and wanted to avoid that if I could help it. Even then, however, I'd need to involve Hestia in all of this and Eina hadn't stated how long something like that might take.
"There might be several other options, but I admit this isn't something I've ever needed to deal with before," Eina continued. "I'll check again after I speak to your supporter."
"Thanks, Eina," I said. "But let's get this out of the way first. I don't want Lili to have to deal with it."
"Yes, of course," Eina said understandingly. "They should have it here…I hope."
Stopping when she did, I looked up at the sign of the two story building. It was pointless, because I still couldn't read it, but for some reason I always seemed to try. Still, I knew it was some kind of store and I knew what we were after. Following Eina in, I looked around and felt kind of bemused, because if anything, it was like a fantasy supermarket. I saw potions and anitdotes in a section over here, but also things like groceries over there. Eina led me towards the latter, looking through the shelves.
"Here we go," She said as we reached the section for what I guess was wine. "Soma…Soma…Soma, here. That wasn't too hard, now let's just—sixty thousand!?"
Eina turned towards me and then abruptly spun around with wide eyes, looking shocked, but I just reached over her head and grabbed the bottle.
"Yeah, I heard it was like this," I said. "I got it."
"Percy, that's—"
"Mm," I said with a shrug. "I still have a lot left over from the Minotaur thing, so it's fine. You think this will help though?"
She stared at me for a long moment before closing her eyes and exhaling slowly, recovering quickly. Eina valued her professionalism a lot.
"It…should," She said slowly, pursing her lips. "If the wine is the source of the problem then even if this is a deteriorated version, it should have some use, if only as evidence. After what you told me, it makes me a bit nervous, but…if we could prove the nature of the problem…"
"Yeah," I said, looking at the bottle. Frankly, that was all it was; a simple glass bottle with clear liquid inside. "Come on; I'll pay for it and we'll go. I don't know if they'll be able to help, but there are a few people I might be able to ask about this—ah."
I paused, suddenly remembering something.
"What it is, Percy?" Eina asked, frowning as I abruptly stopped.
"I just remembered something," I said, shaking my head. "Sorry; with everything that happened, I guess it slipped my mind. Riveria wanted me to say hi next time I saw you."
"Riveria…?" Eina replied, blinking at me oddly before widening her eyes. "Do you mean Lady Riveria!?"
"Uh…maybe?" I wondered. "Oh wait, I did hear she was from a royal family or something. Then yeah, her. She wanted me to tell you that she was sorry she hadn't gotten a chance to meet you but that she was busy with Loki Familia stuff. Well, she didn't say it quite like that, I mean, but…"
Eina shook her head as I walked towards the counter and paid quickly.
"How do you know Lady Riveria?" She asked after I was done.
"I ran into the Loki Familia in a bar after the whole Minotaur thing and we ate dinner together," I said before thinking about it, holding the door open for as I did so. "I wonder if they'd know anything about this…"
Eina opened her mouth but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a sudden shout.
"Percy!" Welf shouted, pushing through the crowded street quickly enough that about a dozen people started yelling at him at once—at which point Welf should right back. "Ah, shut up! It's an emergency, damn it! Percy!"
"Welf?" I asked, moving towards him even as my heart began to drop. "Welf, what's wrong? Where's…?"
He finished pushing his way towards us and I noticed he looked a little banged up—and a lot exhausted. He was covered in sweat as if he'd just run all over Orario, but he looked around quickly, grabbed me, and pulled me towards a side ally. Eina made to follow before stopping when Welf shot her a baleful look, but he stopped in turn when I raised a hand.
"This is Eina," I said anxiously. "She's cool. I was just telling her about Lili's situation and she was helping me with it. But Welf, where is she?"
"They took her," He said, his voice urgent.
It was weird. I'd been worried from the moment I'd seen Welf rushing down the street—hell, I'd been worried all goddamn day, for one reason or another. Scared, maybe. Uncertain, definitely. This whole situation was a mess and I wasn't sure what to do about it. So when the thought came to me that something might have happened…I wasn't certain how to feel. How I would feel, I mean, if I was right.
The answer surprised me, really—because all of a sudden, all my worries and doubts just fell away and things became clear. The moment the words were out of his mouth, I knew exactly what I needed to do.
"Tell me everything," I said.