“Hey, you. You're finally awake.”
“Urgh..”
Before I opened my eyes - the eyelids were heavier than I rembered - I first tried to listen to my surroundings.
I felt the bumpy wooden seat of a cheap carriage beneath . Quite distinctively, at that, given the bumpy road.
I could also hear the sound of hooves hitting stone, and muffled sounds of the city life outside.
I opened my eyes. The carriage I was in had two sections – the passenger section in the front, visible through the bars, and my section, separated by wood and tal, containing three barren wooden porch swings.
The wall in front of had chained shackles hanging from it. As for my side, I noticed one such shackle was locked around my ankle.
“Wh.. kha! What is this? Where am I”
My voice was rough, and my body still ached, but despite my weakness, it didn't feel like my life was in danger. However, I noticed my sword and waist cases were gone.
“You are currently being detained for questioning, on suspicions of burglary, property damage, and assault on a holy order paladin.”
“Assault?.. Joshua! How is he? If you ask him-”
“He is recovering from his wounds, and has likely reached the temple by now. We shall ask the temple for their account in due ti.”
“...”
It would appear I was mistaken for one of the attackers. However…
“Where are my things?”
“They are right here with us. They will be returned to you if you are cleared of suspicion."
“My identification token. If you check it-”
“We already did. Sebastian, recent arrival in the city, escaped from Luskar before the draft? Level 1 Slayer.”
“So why?..”
My words got stuck in my throat. Actually, now that I looked at the information from their perspective, I couldn't help but find it suspicious as well, at least on the surface.
“Listen, I know how this looks, but-”
“Don’t bother. Our job isn't to do the questioning – it's bringing you to the station. The interrogation cos later.”
“I need to get back to the temple. I have been granted a stay by the High Priest.”
“Ha! Of course you were.”
The guard couldn't help but chuckle.
“Why do you think I was fighting this far away from the carriage? Joshua was the one protecting , not the other way around.”
“...”
The guard tried to find a rebuttal, but for a few seconds, all I heard were a few vowels being swallowed before they could turn into words.
“You are making a mistake. Two of them were alive when I escaped, and there might have been more on the way. They attacked a Solar Order carriage – you think they won't attack that of the watch?”
“...”
For a few more seconds, all I heard was silence, but then the second guard - one who hadn't spoken so far - finally broke his silence.
“Whether what you say is true or not, we'll find out soon enough. We are already here.”
At those words, the carriage slowed down to a halt.
“Welco to the Eastern Watch headquarters. Now, let's get you comfortable.”
The door in the back opened, and a middle aged man with short black hair, a slightly round but overall muscular build and a roughly shaved square chin stepped inside.
After unlocking the shackle at my ankle, Guard B (as I have dubbed him) shoved outside.
A regular person might have fallen, but I jumped down with ease. In fact, given the guard’s stiff movents, neither of them was in the 2nd Agility realm – I might have been able to outrun them if I really tried.
Of course, that would an becoming an actual criminal, and more importantly, leaving behind my possessions, which were now being carried in a sack by Guard A. As such, that thought was discarded near its inception.
“This way.”
Guard B did not play around, imdiately shoving towards the main building. All in all, we were inside a small fort, containing the building I was escorted into, a large multi-story stables, and two smaller structures.
I was led underground, directly into a tiny cell. At least this was the minus-1st floor, so I had a long narrow slit illuminate the ‘room’ with a strip of bright sunlight.
“Be respectful to that one. He's the personal guest of the High Sun Priest himself!”
At Guard B's exaggerated exclamation, he and the Dungeon Master (that's how I dubbed the guard responsible for the guarding those dank, underground cells) had a short laugh. By then, Guard A returned, now without my stuff, and the two went upstairs.
I really wanted to get out and punch a few of them, but, unfortunately, it was impossible to break the bars, and even if it wasn’t, such behavior would only prolong my stay.
Instead, I decided to try and take the civilized route, despite my single digit Charisma vehently discouraging this choice.
“How long do you intend to hold here?”
DM (short for Dungeon Master), still amused by the previous guard's joke, smiled mischievously.
“The day is still young, your holiness. Perhaps before it ends, soone will co for you.”
I took a deep breath, suppressing my annoyance.
“In other words, you intend to keep here until tomorrow?”
“One of the squad leaders might get to you by day's end.”
DM, clearly dismissive, turned his eyes back to the book (which he stealthily pulled from under his small desk once the other guards left).
“Short black hair, square chin, approximately 1.78 ters tall, gray eyes.”
“...what did you say?”
The guard looked at , confused.
“Curly brown hair, around 1.8 ters tall, sowhat round face, brown eyes, a small scar on his left cheek.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
The guard narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“Those are the approximate descriptions of the two guards who brought here.”
DM's gaze turned hostile, and his tone – cold.
“Is that supposed to be a threat?”
“Not a threat – a warning. Before day's end, the Solar Order will send soone for . If they ask about why I didn't tell soone to send word to the temple so that I may return post-haste, those will be the descriptions I give them.”
The guard’s eyes narrowed, but so of the hostility was now replaced by caution.
“If you intend to keep captive without properly verifying my claims, I hope you're ready to take responsibility for it when the ti cos.”
“...you know that falsely associating with any of the Holy Orders is a serious cri, tantamount to heresy?”
“I don't see how that’s my problem. But perhaps unlawfully detaining a guest of the Temple is considered heresy as well?”
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Even though I held no authority over those guards, I could borrow a different authority, at least for the ti being.
And since persuasion seed to be impossible with my current Charisma, I'd at least find a way to use intimidation.
There's nothing that scares a lazy policeman more than personal accountability for his negligence – I was counting on the fact that the city watch guards were no different.
Of course, this could create a bit of tension in the future, but I refused to lose even half a day over a misguided reason like this.
Unless the priest could find a solution here in this city, I only had 1017 days left to live. Half a day for was close to half a month to a regular human leaving out his natural lifespan.
“...wait here.”
It would seem fear won over sloth, as DM stood from his chair, skillfully hiding the book in its original resting spot, and ascended the stairs in a hasty step.
While he was gone, I closed my eyes, repeating the basic arcane manipulation exercise which I learned yesterday night. It was about creating basic shapes with arcane particles – lines, squares and circles.
I already got pretty good at that – I could maintain a near-perfect circle amidst the slowly shifting tides. The single line was easy, too, but the square still gave so trouble, as one or two lines constantly threatened to bend out of shape.
“Get up.”
I didn't even notice DM returning.
Opening my eyes out of instinct, I suddenly had my arcane sense overlay on top of my regular vision.
For a mont, I gazed in wonder as the translucent, sand-like streams engulfed the man before , caressing his clothes before breaking apart into tiny currents. After a second or so, I dismissed my arcane sense, as a piercing migraine assaulted my head.
“Ugh..”
I couldn't help but let out a soft groan, closing my eyes once again and pressing my hand onto my temple.
“...”
The guard said nothing, watching silently for a few seconds until I ca to.
“Follow .”
As the guard instructed, I exited the dank cell, waiting for him to close the door once more, then lead to a different room downstairs.
This room had a shabby wooden table, two chairs (one of which was of subpar quality), and a single oil lamp.
On the better-looking chair sat a muscular man with brown hair and black eyes.
“Sit down.”
Uttering his last command, DM left the room, likely returning to his post.
“...”
The man sitting in front of extruded a cold aura of authority and power – in a way, he felt like a weaker version of Pine Harbor's sheriff, although he was at most as dangerous as the Crimson Shadow I just fought.
He did not say a word, gazing upon with his deep black eyes.
I did not falter either, returning an even gaze.
After a dozen seconds of deathly silence, the man finally spoke.
“You claim to belong to the Sun Temple, do you not?”
“A temporary guest of the High Priest, nothing more.”
The man’s expression did not change, but his tone grew quieter.
“Karl might have told you, but you do realize lying about this is heresy, which, if that were to be the case, would be adjudicated by the Inquisition?”
“Sure. Like I said, those hypotheticals have nothing to do with .”
The man's eyebrow rose slightly at my dismissive tone, but soon returned to its natural position.
“As you wish. Word has already been sent to the temple. We shall have an answer in less than two hours.”
“...”
I continued to stare into the man's eyes. There was nothing for to say, anyway – he was the one asking the questions.
And, after another ten seconds of heavy silence, ask a question he did.
“How did your day go?”
“...pretty good, until it went to shit.”
The subtle exhale of annoyance escaped the man's lips. Perhaps he expected to recount the events of this day.
“Were you in the carriage when it was attacked?”
“Neither nor Joshua were in it. We were visiting a nearby smithy.”
“Why?”
“To pick up my freshly repaired armor… although it would seem I need to have it repaired yet again. No, most of the leather armor might as well have to be replaced.”
Ignoring my economic concerns, the man continued on with his questioning.
“So he was your escort, then?”
“Yes. We left together in that carriage, as to deter this very attack. Unfortunately, it seems the Crimson Shadows fear the Sun Temple no more than the City Watch.”
My words seed to hit the man's sore spot, as a tiny twitch could be seen in his left eye, but his tone remained impartial.
“Recount the battle.”
I had nothing to hide. As I got to the point where I realized the paladin wasn't going to be able to charge outside after , I couldn't help but ask.
“..Joshua. How was he when you found him?”
“His armor was shredded, his body covered with shallow wounds. His right leg and left arm were crushed, bones broken – likely due to the bite of that dead Imperial Hound near him. Although, according to you, there were two of them, so one managed to escape. Regardless, he seed to have healed so of his most critical wounds on his own. If the priests treat him, he could recover as early as next week.”
I was relieved to hear this. Although he was a one-ti temporary companion, we still fought side by side, and he did his best to protect .
“So, I exited the black mist…”
I continued to describe my battle. Although in the heat of the mont every second felt like an hour, in reality, the whole ordeal barely took three or four minutes.
The man did not interrupt, only asking a few guiding questions here and there.
The only tis I saw emotion on his face were the surprise when I recounted using the ‘wall-jump glitch’, and the slight disbelief when I told him I managed to kill the assailant inside the second Sphere of Darkness.
“You are a level 1 Slayer, are you not?”
“Yes.”
“And you're saying you managed to kill Zod by yourself?”
“Zod?”
“The half-elf.”
“I took a big gamble near the end, and got very lucky.”
Obviously, I didn't tell him about my Arcane Sense. In a way, though, I didn't lie, either. Had Zod been less arrogant (or impatient) near the end, I might have suffered far worse wounds, at the very least.
“...”
The man stared at for a mont without saying a word. This ti, however, I was curious enough to ask.
“Who even was this Zod?”
The man shot an evaluating gaze before answering.
“He was a wanted criminal – part of the Crimson Shadows.”
“I guessed that much.”
“He had a long history of hideous cris, including parricide, the murder of innocent civilians, countless burglaries and robberies, and ever since he joined the Shadows – a long streak of assassinations, even though most remain alleged to this day.”
“...”
“He was also the leader of a group called the Undercity Hounds – likely the sa ones who assisted him in this attack, as they're the only ones in the slums who dare raise Imperial Abominations in the city.”
“What even are Imperial Abominations?”
I've heard this word so many tis, yet I haven't seen any examples besides those ill-fated canine creatures.
“...you really don't know?”
After ascertaining the genuineness of my question, the big man grew confused for a mont.
All I could do was shake my head.
“Did you grow up near the Red Pine Forest, by any chance?”
“I grew up at the outskirts of the Gloom Swamps. When I ca to Valoria, I stayed in Pine Harbor for a while.”
“Figures.”
As I raised an eyebrow, he elaborated.
“Red Pines emit an invisible miasma which is mildly poisonous to all Imperial Abominations, so you won't find them anywhere near those woods. Their soot is a potent venom to them, too… of course, this does not affect humans in any way.”
His last words were quickly added after my eyebrow rose once more.
“This is… odd.”
I wasn't exactly surprised by toxic plant life, but being this toxic only to a very particular group of creatures – it felt a bit strange.
“That’s because Red Pines are artificially designed – just like the creatures they are ant to kill.”
My eyes widened involuntarily.
“Designed?..”
The man let out a long sigh, his expression settling on sothing rather bitter, almost worthy of being called regret.
“One of the darkest sins of the Thousand-Flas Empire.. it was their disregard for the sanctity of life. Those creatures are a grim remainder of those tis.”
For the first ti, he averted his sight, if only for a mont, before taking a deep breath.
“Needless to say, their existence is a big reason for why any permanent alterations of the body, be that via arcane or alchemical ans, are universally banned across Valoria. Even research into those topics is forbidden.”
His gaze returned to normal.
“Now, if I spend any more ti on this, I'd have to change my title from ‘Squad Leader’ to ‘School Teacher’. There are plenty of books on the subject of ancient and recent history in the Adventurer's Guild – let us return to current matters.”
I slowly nodded, realizing the conversation had veered off to an irrelevant subject.
“Since your killing of Zod is an undeniable fact, you will be awarded his bounty. However, his possessions will remain with us as potential leads in the Crimson Shadows investigation. To compensate, we shall pay for the damages your fight caused, and clear you of the burglary charges.”
I was skeptical about the value of his possessions being equivalent to a broken window, and I highly doubted any burglary charges would stick, anyway, but I also wasn't in a position to argue.
“Of course, you'll have to remain here until your affiliation with the Sun Temple is confird.”
I nodded once more.
“I’ll show you to the waiting room.”
The room I was led to was still on this level, but beside the heavy wooden door and thick tal bars protecting the thin slit leading outside, this looked like a room you'd find in a decent inn, with a table, a comfortable armchair, and even a proper bed. There was also a shelf with a couple of poetry books.
As much as I was curious about this world's poems, I decided to sit on the soft bed and practice arcane manipulation for the next two hours.
Throughout that ti, a single unknown guard ca in with a jar of water and a wooden mug.
Just as I was starting to feel hungry, the door opened once more.
In the doorway stood DM, and behind him was a young woman wearing the Sun Temple's robes. It was ti to get out of here.
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