"Is that..." Jin started, then stopped, blinking rapidly. "Is that penguin wearing a monocle?"
Indeed, a distinguished looking penguin was examining goods at a jeweler’s stall, a golden monocle perched over one eye as he appraised a string of pearls.
"I’ve heard stories," Valeria said quietly, her professional deanor cracking slightly with wonder. "But seeing it in person is different. Intelligent animals living as equals with humans. We aren’t used to this in Herene."
Marcus gave a smile. "That’s right. That’s how it is here. Mora is inhabited by humans, seals, and penguins. We’re all living together."
"Not just living," Elara noted, her sharp eyes taking in details the others might miss. "Look at the shop signs. So are in human script, others in... I don’t know what to call it. Flipper writing?"
Lumi smiled slightly. "They might consider that racist."
He gave a small sigh. He’d forgotten how jarring the sight could be for first-ti visitors. In his previous life, Amumu had been destroyed early in the conflict, its unique culture lost forever. Seeing it thriving now, with penguins and seals going about their daily business alongside humans, felt like witnessing sothing precious that had been saved.
He had to get going. There was much to do.
The system, in its automated attempt to maintain the illusion of a ga, would generate quests based on certain triggers. Real requests from real people, frad in specific ways, would be interpreted as quest giving opportunities. It was a loophole he intended to exploit thoroughly.
"We need to find soone nad Leah." Lumi announced to his team. "She’s an ice researcher who ca here from Macres. She should be working near the research district."
"Alright. How does she look?" Valeria asked, falling back into her professional role.
Lumi had already started moving, heading towards the district. "Young woman, scholarly, light cyan hair. She should know sothing about unusual activities in the area."
The research district was easy to find. It was a cluster of buildings near the harbor with various scientific instrunts visible through windows. There were ice cores in preservation chambers, complex asuring devices, and charts and graphs covering every available wall space. They found Leah in the third building they checked, bent over a microscope while muttering to herself.
She had the kind of focused intensity that suggested she often forgot to eat or sleep when deep in research. Her cyan hair was pulled back in a ssy bun, and her thick winter coat had various stains splattered on it.
"Excuse ." Lumi said politely. "Dr. Leah?"
She looked up, blinking owlishly as her eyes adjusted from the microscope. "Yes? Can I help you? If you’re here about the fishing permits, I already told the harbor master that my research takes precedence over- oh." She stopped, taking in their appearance properly. "You’re not from the fishing authority."
"No," Lumi confird. "We’re investigating so concerning reports about corruption levels in the nearby waters and ice formations. I was hoping you might have noticed sothing in your research."
The change in Leah was imdiate and dramatic. Her eyes lit up with the fervor of a scientist whose work had suddenly beco relevant to soone else. "Corruption levels! Yes! I’ve been docunting the anomalies for weeks, but nobody seed to care! The pH levels are all wrong, the ice crystal formations show signs of unnatural influence, and don’t even get started on how all the plankton is dying or mutating!"
She launched into a rapid fire explanation, pulling out charts and graphs, showing ice samples with disturbing discoloration, rattling off statistics about temperature variations and chemical compositions.
The Knights listened with varying degrees of comprehension. Marcus paid the most attention, given that this was his ho town. He followed the magical theory aspects, while Jin’s eyes had glazed over sowhere around ’molecular restructuring.’
"This is fascinating." Lumi said when she finally paused for breath, and he ant it. Even with his existing knowledge of the truth, her scientific approach to docunting the corruption was impressive. "Have others noticed these changes?"
"Oh yes!" Leah nodded enthusiastically. "The penguins, seals, and us humans have actually ford a joint research initiative. It’s unprecedented! Usually, they can barely agree on fishing territories, but this threat has united us. We’ve established monitoring stations throughout the inner sea."
"The inner sea?" Valeria asked, her mind thinking back to the scene where they looked down at the island.
"The C-shape of Mora creates a semi-enclosed body of water." Leah explained. "It’s usually calr than the outer ocean, perfect for the local wildlife. But lately..." She shook her head. "The corruption is spreading from sowhere within."
Lumi made his expression grave. "This sounds serious. The knight order would want to know about potential threats to the region. We’d like to offer our assistance in the investigation."
"You would?" Leah’s eyes widened. "Actual Aria Knights? Here to help with our little local problem?"
"No problem is little when it threatens innocent lives." Valeria said, and Lumi could hear the conviction in her voice. This was the point where it wasn’t just following orders for her anymore. The Knights truly did care about protecting people.
"I’ve heard stories about the righteousness of the Aria Knights," Leah said, her voice soft with light awe. "People say you only care about the big threats, the grand battles. Yet here you are, coming unprompted to help with our local crisis. The stories are true. You really do care about everyone."
The Knights shifted slightly, unused to such direct praise. Jin actually blushed, while Zara shrank further into her shadows. Even Valeria looked mildly uncomfortable with the hero worship. She took a glance at Lumi, silently asking a question.
Lumi knew what she wanted to do, and now even he felt slightly uncomfortable. Yet he nodded regardless. When he did so, Valeria pushed him forward, catching the attention of Leah. "You can thank our mission leader, Lumi. It was he who requested our presence here."
Lumi gave a practiced smile. "It was simply the logical course of action given my information.
Leah clasped her hands together, clearly delighted. "A logical and compassionate course of action."
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