Job; Divert the Great Flood [Nikolai, Akeya - Team]

The first monkey was at this point completely helpless against Akeya's attacks. Already in a daze, it wasn't able to move in time to dodge her strike. Taking the hit head on, it convulsed slightly afterwards, howling wildly in pain, before collapsing. While it hadn't been enough to kill or seriously harm the creature, it was more than enough to knock it out with such a strong blow to the head. This seemed to enrage the two even more, screaming at Akeya s they flew at her. When she jumped back one of the monkeys continued to follow her, while the other briefly stopped to inspect the third before continuing at her. Activating shadow dance definitely seemed to confuse them both, looking around and howling as they tried to locate her.

As she prepared to attack them, the monkey's both started retreating into the trees, climbing up to try and expand their view to find her. For the time being, they focused their efforts on trying to spot her, seemingly unable to do so. If she wanted to hurt them, she'd either have to go up or force them down.

When the door was opened Nikolai walked in with little hesitation, looking around the cabin for any signs of a trap. Not seeing anything immediate, he turned to look at the man, keeping his metal floating around him just in case. There was clearly something wrong here; if he had such proof, he clearly would have shown it to the locals and not him, there was no reason for it. Also, the piece looked incredibly sketchy at best. It was more likely than not that it was a forgery. He'd seen some of their barrels when he was working with the town on the levees, and this looked nothing like one. He looked at the man, he was hiding something. "If they really blew it up with barrels and cleaned up the rest, why would they give you the chance to take anything? As well, this is fairly inconsistent with both their barrels, as well as any signs of actual fire damage. If you had such evidence, why would you need to show it to me? Could you not show it to your townsfolk so they would know the truth and would not even need me in the first place?" Nikolai walked towards the man, standing before him with his blank expression. "I would recommend you don't lie to me. I'm very busy and I won't tolerate my time being wasted."

Akeya frowned as the monkeys retreated, chasing after them even as they climbed up into the trees. Luckily she had an easy way of getting up there quickly. While running a tail quickly grew out of Akeya's lower back, at the same time wings unfolding themselves on her shoulder-blades. Running towards the nearest tree containing a monkey she placed one of her clawed feet against the trunk and pushed herself upwards, at the same time flapping her wings. Flying straight towards the monkey Akeya tried to punch it straight in the gut while it was still distracted trying to figure out where she was. She hadn't expected the monkeys to retreat to the trees so quickly, so she'd have to figure out how to deal with the other one after this monkey was out for the count.

The man blinked as he saw the floating metal, clearly not sure what to make out of it. Of course he knew Nikolai was a mage, but such a blatant display of magic worried him. Nevertheless he stepped closer to Nikolai and kept showing him the piece of barrel with the badly drawn logo. He frowned slightly as Nikolai took a second or so to respond, having hoped that Nikolai would just take the evidence so he could finish his job quickly. A mage should be happy to find the solution so quickly, right? As Nikolai started to explain how this was rather suspicious the man's nervousness increased, sweat rolling down his forehead.

"W-well, maybe they were in a hurry to get away. I mean, if they got caught at the place of the incident they'd certainly be discovered. Besides, who in their right mind would go around finding all the pieces of a barrel which just exploded? And I don't see how this would be different from their barrels. I was careful to- I mean, what else would it be but their barrels? Maybe they used a different barrel for the explosions than they use for other stuff. Don't want to mix explosives with construction materials."

The man stepped a bit backwards, his grip on the piece of wood tightening.

"If I showed it myself the company would just tell the villagers that I made it up. I've reacted somewhat badly to their insistence to help reinforce the levee before, because I didn't think it was any of their business. They'd just say I was trying to use the opportunity to drive them out. I-I'm not lying! Who else but Liefheld would do it? They just want to get everything their way!"

The man now looked defensive, still clutching the piece of wood as he glared at Nikolai, licking his lips and refusing to meet Nikolai's eyes.

Active Spells: Dark Dragon's Claws, Dark Dragon's Limbs, Shadow Dance
Magic Power: 80%
TOE: 0

As hard as the monkeys looked for her, with shadow dance they were completely unable to locate her. Taking the hit square in the gut, it wasn't prepared for the sudden blow and lost it's balance, losing it's grip on the tree. The monkey collapsed to the ground, falling off the tree and landing with a thud. The second, watching it's comrade fall, managed to notice Akeya at the close range and jumped at her, howling loudly. So far, both of the monkey's on the ground seemed unconscious, the one that had recently fallen landing on it's head.

Nikolai stared at the man. He was clearly desperate, and trying his hardest to convince Nikolai. Was that because it was the truth and he was the only one left to believe him, or was it because he was lying? Personally, he felt himself believing the latter, but he wasn't going to pin everything on the man just yet. He looked at the barrel again, speaking as he did. "Another question. If their plan was to blow up the levee and hide the evidence, why would they use barrels with their logo on them? It would make more sense to either remove or cover their logo first, would it not? As well, why blow it now? It was a while ago the company offered to fix it, so why would they suddenly up and blow it now when they were already operating just fine in the town. They have no reason to take the risk."

He moved closer to the man, standing right before him. with his expressionless appearance as well as voice, he would likely seem fairly intimidating to the man, and he couldn't say that wasn't part of the intention. The man seemed frantic, so pushing him farther would likely make him speak more. "Apparently you would also do it if the towns folk won't believe you. You can't use that argument when you very well just gave me proof against it. What evidence do you have that you didn't do it?" He planned that this final push would send him over the edge and make him slip up if not outright give up the truth.

Akeya felt relieved at how successful her last strike had been, her shadow dance disappearing as the duration ended. If the monkey had also managed to dodge that one she would likely spend the rest of the night trying to catch them. Now at least there was only one left, and by the look of it the sight of seeing both its comrades get beaten down was enough for it to stop trying to hide, instead jumping towards her in a rage. With its reckless assault taking it down should be easy. Placing her feet on the tree branch the monkey had previously used to stand on Akeya launched herself towards the third monkey while it was still in mid-flight, at the same time spinning horizontally so her tail would slam into the monkey and throw it away. As impressive as it might look to jump at your adversary you basically leave yourself in a position where you can't dodge, unless like Akeya you have the ability to fly.

The man's eyes widen as Nikolai still kept questioning him. What kind of mage was this that he wouldn't just take the opportunity to quickly finish the job? His expression now grew hostile, gritting his teeth as he answered Nikolai.

"How would I know why they used their own barrels without removing the logo? Maybe they couldn't find any other barrels. Maybe they were too stupid to consider enough of the barrels surviving for others to figure it out! And of course they wouldn't do it immediately after they offered to reinforce the levee. They're stupid, but nobody is quite that stupid."

When Nikolai stepped closer the man stepped back, his eyes narrowing as he saw just how serious Nikolai was. He had hoped it would be simple: Present the evidence, have the mage arrest the company, problem solved. But this person had to be so insistent about finding out whether what he said was true! The man was certainly affected by Nikolai's behaviour, but instead of breaking down his hesitation turned into anger.

"What, you now think I'm the one that did it? Why can't you just take the evidence and arrest those bastards! They've got no business coming here, pushing for us to accept their help! This is exactly the kind of thing big companies like them would do, just like they would put honest men like my father out of business just for their own advantage!"

His complexion suddenly turned completely white as he realized what he just said. He stared at Nikolai with wide eyes, mouth open.

"I-I-I mean, th-they're the o-only ones that would do that. B-b-big c-companies are a-always only th-thinking about money, a-aren't they?"

Active Spells: Dark Dragon's Claws, Dark Dragon's Limbs
Magic Power: 90%
TOE: 10

The third monkey, already mid air, was completely helpless against Akeya's attack. Unable to dodge it in time, it took the full impact of the blow, the tail sending it flying off course. Dazed from the hit and unable to stop itself, the monkey flew into a nearby tree, colliding face first into it. Falling to the ground, it landed with a loud thump, laying motionless where it fell. All three seemed to have been knocked out, and there was nothing else in the nearby forest that seemed hostile. Akeya should have a completely free run to the cabin from here, undeterred by any animals.

Inside the cabin, Nikolai was already getting a fairly solid grasp on what had happened. It seemed most logical that the culprit was this man. He had both the motive, and the "evidence," as well as tried to hide his identity from the sign. Starring the man down, he prepared to give his verdict. "You have motive. You have the evidence. You are the one pushing against them. Everything points to you right now. Your father was put out of work by them, according to you, creating hostility between you all and giving you reason to want them gone. As well, they are repairing the damage with the townsfolk, while you are hiding away and avoiding everyone, which displays an idea of guilt, as well as something to hide. You have the only evidence, which has several logical flaws in it's very existence. So far, you are the only person actively pushing me to looks towards them, while most others are silent and uncertain. Your steadfast pushing makes me question what motivates you to do this all. Do you have any proof against my claims?" Nikolai was clearly not believing the man at all, and was unwilling to listen to any more lies. The metal floating around him, he was ready to use force if necessary.

Akeya flew back down to the ground after she was sure that the monkey had been hit frontally. It looked like the fight was over, since none of the monkeys were moving any longer. Akeya was glad that she managed to do this without being forced to actually kill any of the monkeys. Just because she is capable of killing in cold blood doesn't mean she would kill when it isn't necessary. Looking around she made sure there wasn't anything else in the area that could pose a threat, then let her body return to normal before she ran in the direction that Nikolai left. She really hoped nothing happened while she was busy here.

The man looked at the floating metal, then back at Nikolai, his face still completely white as Nikolai explained how it all had happened according to him. He tried to speak, but he couldn't get anything out of his mouth. Why couldn't it have been some lazy mage who would just have accepted his story and moved on? Why did he have the bad luck of having to deal with a mage who actually cared for details?

"I....I....My father always worked had, and he was very good at his job. Everybody praised the quality, and everybody was proud to have somebody like him in the village. But that company could do everything faster, they could do it bigger, they asked less money. Everybody who praised my father now suddenly turned to Liefheld instead, not caring that they left my father in the dust with no work. What else could I have done but try to drive the company away? As long as they stayed here my father wouldn't be able to continue his business. It's not fair that we have to suffer because that company suddenly decided to set up shop here."

This all the man said in one rush, partly wanting to reveal the truth and partly not knowing why he was suddenly selling himself out. At the end he stared at Nikolai with wide eyes, panting. This mage had ruined everything. The man stepped towards Nikolai, then once again noticed the flying metal. He had no chance of winning. It was over. His own nervousness had allowed him to be exposed. Dropping the piece of wood he placed one hand against his face, shivering from frustration and anger, as well as sadness at not having succeeded at returning business to his father.

"You got me, you bastard. I was the one. No doubt you'll know bring me to the village and loudly proclaim that you found the culprit. I hope you rot in hell, helping big companies putting the smaller shops out of business."

Even with those words it was clear the man had given up, now just waiting for Nikolai to do his job. He and Akeya had found the culprit. They fulfilled the mission.