"You were out pretty late last night. Get up to any mischief. No, wait, were you on a date? Don't tell me… was it that Peacekeeper from before?"
Oriana was just bombarded with the most random assumption that Robert had made as soon as she had reached the Inn.
In the eating area, she saw a couple of the other tenants of the Inn, whose attention had turned away from their food and towards her, the apparent entertainment for the morning.
"Robert, what. What are you talking about? I was not on a date."
"Okay, okay. If you say so." Robert got back to cleaning up a glass, a slight smirk on his face as he did. It was clear he didn't believe her.
"Oh, Robert, leave the poor girl alone. She can date whoever she wants to."
"Thank you…no wait, that's not the issue here."
The one who had just rocked up and made the situation even more confusing was the lovely wife of our Innkeeper here. Stephanie.
Oriana hardly saw the woman. As the main person who cooked the meals, while also juggling care for their daughter, she was hardly ever out front in the Inn.
"It isn't. Oh, I thought you were dating someone already, and Robert, being the busybody that he is, is complaining about them." Stephanie said, lightly touching his shoulder.
An affectionate touch, sure. But all it did, along with her words, was make him flustered.
"Busy body. What. No, I stay out of the lives of our patrons, I assure you."
A resounding set of heads shaking in the Inn said otherwise.
"And yes, Oriana can date whoever she wants. Even a Peacekeeper."
"I'm not dating a-. Nope, I've had enough."
She couldn't take any more. With all the people staring at her and the strange assumptions about what she was doing, it was getting to her.
Had they been looking at her after she had destroyed the place, completely reversed its colour scheme, and flipped the rooms, she would have been ecstatic.
But for a rumour about her love life. No way. That just made her feel embarrassed, even though there was no truth to any of it.
As she left the Inn, she could hear Stephanie saying something along the lines of "Look, dear. I did say you need to reel it in with her. You've made her all embarrassed," which only further brought a flush to her face, and so, she quickly left and headed into the Lower City.
---
Walking through the streets of the Lower City, Oriana could see that the patrols of the Peacekeepers were getting worse.
Turning the corner, Oriana could see a patrol coming through, and not far from them was an entertainer.
He was a man just standing there on the side of the street, hustling for coins as he performed an act.
An act that contained an element of illusion magic. It wasn't as good as hers, but it was enough to create a nice spectacle for the odd passersby and children running about.
Simple magic that wasn't hurting anyone, yet for the patrol coming through, it seemed to be enough to draw their attention.
Before the entertainer could move on to another trick, the Peacekeepers moved in and shut the whole thing down.
"What are they doing?" she asked herself.
The entertainer panicked a little when one of the Peacekeepers took hold of his arm, but he very quickly went limp.
"What-what is going on. I have done nothing wrong."
"Quiet. Look, sir, we need you to come with us. We have a few questions."
The look of confusion on his face was mirrored in the faces of the bystanders watching the scene unfold.
"Have I done something wrong. I have all my permits up to date."
The Peacekeeper sighed as he looked at the entertainer.
"No, sir, you are not in any trouble. We just need to talk to you to confirm some things."
The entertainer, not really seeing a way out of this, and not wanting to become some sort of criminal by going against the Peacekeepers, decided to comply. They then very quickly packed up the man's gear and headed away with him.
"What just happened?"
That was the response from pretty much everyone in the crowd, which mimicked what Oriana was thinking as well.
"It's terrible, isn't it?"
She almost jumped at that. What was with people just showing up out of nowhere? First Bethany and now…
"Hello, Simon."
"Good to see you again, Oriana. You look different, you do something to your…skin."
Oriana just shook her head and sighed.
"Maybe. If I had, how did you know it was me?"
Simon just shrugged.
"I used to be a private investigator, remember. A damn good one as well."
He didn't elaborate further. Hopefully, he hadn't been stalking her like Bethany, but it was possible he may have.
"Come, let's go somewhere where we won't just bump into one of the patrols."
Down the back alleys, they found a secluded spot, away from the noise and the eyes of the crowd of people walking down the street.
"So, I heard there was some commotion at the Ball. Did you hear anything about that?"
With the look in his eyes, it was clear that he had an inkling that she was involved. With the changes she made to the trade agreements for the Ball, she was the likely suspect.
And with his investigative skills, it's possible he had found some things out.
This did, however, make her come to the conclusion that if he had managed it, would it be easy for someone else to as well?
"I heard about it. What do you know about what happened?"
"I heard that plenty of things went wrong at the Ball. The decorations, the food, the drink, everything seemed to have a problem. I even heard that the perpetrator went so far as to attend the ball, probably to relish in what they had done. But by the end of the evening, they had to flee the scene, had a run around with some knights, and somehow managed to escape into the night."
"That does sound like quite an eventful Ball."
"The King is absolutely furious. He's decided to devote all of his resources to capturing the perpetrator. Whoever they are, they will have their work cut out for them," he said with a little side eye towards Oriana.
For many, that would mean they would need to go to ground and be careful. But for Oriana…it felt more like a challenge. A challenge that she felt like taking on.
"What have you been up to then, Simon…aside from investigating well…me."
"I wasn't… I only did enough to make sure you're not some sort of murderer or something. But aside from that, I've been messing around with a few things, changing rules, dates, small stuff. Nothing as grand as disrupting a ball or a festival."
Oriana ignored the look he gave her yet again.
"I also learned a few things that might interest you. For one, the Peacekeepers are out in full force, as you saw. On its own, that wouldn't be too bad: increased patrols, more Peacekeepers in each group, and they've even started recruiting on a mass scale. On top of that, the King has put pressure on them…causing the increased patrols, but even worse than that, they are bringing in anyone who can perform even the slightest illusion magic for questioning, just like you saw today."
"That's insane."
The idea that they were practically arresting anyone doing such magic was just insanity. For one, the perpetrator, i.e. herself, isn't going to just be going around showing off her illusion magic now that the Peacekeepers are after her. Surely they would know that.
And second, didn't they realise that it was a woman doing all of this?
She voiced her thoughts to Simon.
"Honestly, I think it's just the pressure from the King. Thankfully, no one has been hurt from all of the arrests. As far as I am aware, they pick them up, ask them some questions, look into their alibis, and send them back. They then have them sign a magical document to state they had already been investigated, so they don't have to go through it again."
"Well, they have a plan. I wouldn't call it good."
"I agree. But, to go even further, they have mages in some of their patrols now; they are even prototyping a new magic device specifically aimed at dispelling illusions. And it's also because of the pressure that they are picking up anyone they can for questioning, just to show they are working to find yo-, the perpetrator. No matter their race or gender."
"So, it's just like a numbers game, to show they are actually working. That's stupid. "
"Exactly."
Before they moved on, Oriana just recalled something Simon had said.
"Hold on, prototyping what now?"
"Oh, that…well, it's pretty expensive paying for mages to join patrols. There are only so many that can deal with illusions, and they either come from the Castle, being part of the Royal mages working there, or they come from the Magic Academy. Because of the price and limited number, they have been looking for an alternative."
Oriana guessed it made sense. Mages in the city were mainly academics. To be pulled from that to trudge through the streets, she could see them asking for a lot of coin to be used like that.
"Mages have been designing magical devices for years now. Their latest was the projector crystal, which allows you to capture the image of something, a moving image, and then display it from another crystal. I'm sure you have seen them. Lots of people have been buying them."
Oriana just blinked.
"Okay, not interested…, well, there was another magical device they were working on, and they have managed to repurpose it to dispel illusions. It's small and easy to carry. You still need mana to power it, but Peacekeepers would have enough to use it."
"That is…pretty clever."
It would seem that the challenge Oriana thought she would be up against had started to increase even further.
"As far as I am aware, it's not ready yet. Still being tested and tweaked in the Peacekeepers Guild."
Maybe she would need to visit the Peacekeepers guild to have a look at this new device. See if there was some way she could combat it.
"Oh, and one of the heroes is looking into y-, the perpetrator."
"What?"
Now that she had not been expecting. Sure, she was causing problems and chaos, but not enough that she thought the heroes would be coming after her.
"Yeah…it seems that Lady Greenthorn has taken an interest in them. She said something about an ice sculpture and wanting to put an end to their childish pranks."
"Childish. I wouldn't say the…trouble they have been causing is childish. Well, not all of it. Especially not the Ice Sculpture."
She nearly caused an inter-kingdom incident and caused rumours to spread about the princess's possible infatuation with an old hero. They could hardly be seen as childish.
Replacing food with mud, well, she couldn't disagree with that one.
Maybe she needed to cause some chaos that was a little more…serious.