"I asked if that was 'also' your thought, and he answered yes."
Flynn, placing his hand on the desk, muttered while staring beyond the glass. Shorendo, watching the same place with arms crossed, barely tore his gaze away and asked back.
"What did you say before that?"
Flynn, who had been watching the interrogation room conversation subside and Hugo stand up, turned his head and answered.
"He asked if it was truly the Company Commander's will. Whether there wasn't a single bit of personal interest or agreement."
"Ah."
As Shorendo let out a short sigh, the interrogation room door opened wide just then.
Through the bleak air, Hugo's figure maintaining an emotionless expression was revealed. Flynn, releasing his serious expression, immediately approached him.
"Are you finished?"
"Not yet."
The heavy door left alone by Hugo caused the metal door frame to clash back together, making a loud noise.
Though it seemed like a natural situation, the friction sound of the door frame echoing throughout the surveillance room was as sharp as if scraping nerves. Enough to make Flynn hesitate.
Hugo, confirming the firmly closed door, placed the bundle of documents including the statement on an empty desk as if throwing them down. Swoosh, though he hadn't thrown them that hard, unorganized papers slipped out and slid to the floor.
Added to his cold energy as he ran his hand through his hair, the surveillance room's atmosphere became notably stiff.
"Phew..."
Only Flynn, rolling his eyes, bent down to gather the scattered documents and placed them on the desk as if nothing had happened.
Hugo looked down at him with cold eyes while loosening his tie. Shorendo, rubbing his palm on his back pocket, carefully approached and spoke up.
"How was it?"
His blue eyes directed toward the statement giver sitting blankly beyond the glass. Until just moments ago, the man he had been conversing with had a dazed face as if his soul had left after the long interrogation. He also looked relaxed to the point of sliding down under the chair.
Subtle anger lingered on Hugo's face as he persistently pursued him. He slowly closed and opened his eyes, suppressing his emotions as he spoke.
"It'll take longer than expected. The statement's credibility is low."
"Mm, he did seem to think so."
"Excessively specific times, avoiding responsibility, and normalizing logic that defends a particular superior incongruously."
Deep disappointment seeped into his enumerating voice.
"When I asked about accomplices, perhaps it would have been more believable if he'd answered that his superior was too upright to be such a person. Rather than emphasizing common sense as if objectively examining from another's perspective."
Hugo looked at other doors lined along the corridor and asked.
"Marcus Serban. Is he waiting?"
"Yes, but he won't open his mouth at all. As you said, it seems it will take long."
"I'll talk to him."
When he gestured as if to guide him, Shorendo raised his hand to add something. But soon realizing it was meaningless, he guided Hugo saying "This way."
The interrogation related to the case continued for half a day, changing subjects and questioners. Among them, the most uncooperative person was indeed Marcus Serban, who had appeared as the key mastermind in the previous statement.
At the end of the surveillance room corridor, Serban, who had been urgently arrested and waiting alone in the quiet solitary cell, looked extremely anxious like someone driven to a cliff's edge when Hugo first faced him. However, soon he exhaled wheezing breaths as if letting things happen as they may, then showed a resigned expression. Time spent leaning against the chair absorbed in thought with sharp eyes also lengthened.
Though the right to remain silent was one means of responding to interrogation, if one was a Council commander, he couldn't not know that choice would work quite disadvantageously in a situation where suspicion fell. Hugo didn't rush him or apply physical pressure while facing such a person.
The nature differed from suspects transferred after criminal facts were confirmed, and since the interrogation subject was also aged, he only showed the maximum courtesy he could as a colleague and superior. Though inwardly cynicism and anger boiled.
Serban, having received consideration in his own way in that suffocating silence, dragged out time for a while before opening his mouth.
"I gave the orders."
There wasn't much difference from Castiel Bain's statement that had accused him.
"I ordered them to send damaged restraints to the Workshop for repair, and simultaneously smuggle old-style handcuffs to bring to the Equipment Management Office."
"The reason?"
"I judged that way the difference in quantity wouldn't stand out. Moreover, since Leonardo Blaine was the only S-class mage under intensive management within the Council at the time, I thought that if we only switched S-class exclusive handcuffs, there would be a high probability he would wear old-style handcuffs without affecting other prisoners."
Hugo's eyebrows furrowed slightly at the answer that seemed to cunningly target only one person.
"Are you saying you ordered this solely to induce his mana control instability?"
"That's right."
"Then what's the reason for that?"
When Hugo asked back briefly, meaningless silence followed again. The watches on both their wrists made subtle discord while ticking every second.
"Let me change the question. If Leonardo Blaine fell into trouble, would there be any benefit to you?"
Though it was a plainer question than before, it seemed to feel like considerable pressure to Company Commander Serban.
"That's my, my family..."
He barely opened his mouth several times but couldn't quite continue speaking. Then finally he put his fingers into his hair and gripped it hard enough for his forearm to tremble. His emotional fluctuations seemed severe.
He, who had been releasing his restless anxiety nowhere to go through self-harm, suddenly made direct eye contact with Hugo. His whites were newly red with bloodshot veins from fatigue.
"What use is all that now anyway? After all, rumors that I have ill feelings toward Leonardo Blaine have already spread extensively. That I ordered everything too."
Hugo's eyes narrowed. Though strength entered his grip, it didn't show outwardly.
"That sounds strange. Rumors floating around have no effect. Only statements you personally make in this place are valid. I'm giving sufficient opportunity for that statement."
Serban's lips moved then closed firmly. Hugo, watching, leaned his back against the backrest and lifted his chin to continue.
"To be honest, I don't understand the current situation well. For something plotted with just personal ill feelings, the risk is too great. Though I'm not defending your ideology and actions, Leonardo at the time was already in a situation where negative perception clung like shackles due to the commotion at the Grand Plaza and past verdicts. He was in a sufficiently disadvantageous position even without someone intentionally stepping forward."
"I understand what you mean. But... didn't he get released in the end?"
"Are you saying the purpose was to manipulate the situation so he would remain detained?"
"...."
"If he truly became a lawbreaker as you wished, what would change? Satisfaction that your ideology was correct? Was that worth abandoning your honor, career, and colleagues?"
Serban's statement repeatedly stopped and started. Unlike Bain, he couldn't mention clear causal relationships, and above all, what he claimed didn't add up.
"I no longer have any particular feelings toward Leonardo Blaine at this point. Rather, ...hmm. It's true I colluded with Workshop researchers to embezzle old-style handcuffs and gain profit. Please punish me quickly."
"...I'm curious whether it was your personal will or if you received someone's orders."
"Personal will."
This time the answer was firm. Though Hugo asked several more times about those behind it, consistent answers came out regarding that point.
"I ordered my subordinates. I request leniency at least for our 9th Company members who followed unjust orders."
He seemed to know the advice Shorendo had tried to give but stopped before entering the interrogation room. No particular information was obtained from the conversation with Serban. It was as if only hearing repeated recordings flowing from a wound-up puppet.
"Do you have a mind to apologize to him?"
Hugo, who had been silent for a moment, suddenly asked. Interrogating investigators should exclude personal emotions except for questions necessary to grasp the case's truth. Hugo had endured and endured while constantly reminding himself of that fact, but he really wanted to ask this much.
"Do you truly still think the victim is a criminal?"
Serban sat in an insolent posture unthinkable for a suspect sitting before the Commander and answered.
"I refuse to make a statement."
Hugo bit his lips in frustration. Before long, another interrogation subject sat before him.
The supreme commander of the unit to which the previous statement givers belonged and the person responsible for the Equipment Management Office at the time of the incident. It was Noel Presentia, the 11th Battalion Commander of the Council's Central Branch.
"It's all my fault. I was inadequate and failed to lead my subordinates on the right path."
Noel, who had suddenly knelt beside the desk after rising from his seat, lowered his head with a devastated expression.
"I will resign from the Battalion Commander position taking all responsibility. But please reconsider only Company Commander Serban's expulsion. Though what he did is unforgivable, I ask that you give him the opportunity to remain at the Council and atone for his entire life."
Though he had always been calm and rational, at this moment he appealed to emotions only with an earnest voice.
Hugo tiredly touched his forehead. At Noel's increasingly emotional pleading, Shorendo, who had been watching from outside, entered the interrogation room. As he barely helped Noel stand up with a troubled expression, the chaotic situation finally ended. Without having gained anything.
And that evening, urgent news came in that Company Commander Marcus Serban had committed suicide by biting his tongue.