"Why did you go after Steam Cannon?"
The dim lights from the bulb hanging above the two casted a shadow that covered half their faces.
Feyd began to sweat, his palms feeling wet and his his heart beating like crazy. He fidgeted in his seat for a moment. The feeling of suppression and fear was gnawing away at Feyd.
"I-I was there to save the slaves"
Feyd attempted to sound composed and succeeded somewhat. Although the initial pressure from the man before him was terrifying it wasn't threatening nor malicious.
However Feyd knew that if the man ever wanted to he could focus all that pressure onto him, or release killing intent through it, to completely neutralize him.
'This man... He feels more dangerous than anything I've ever faced before...!'
The pressure intensified slightly but not by much. The man continued looking down at Feyd and opened his mouth again.
"Is that so...?"
Doubt and suspicion overflowed from his words, clearly not trusting Feyd. Feyd felt slightly anxious but chose not to act rashly.
He waited for a few seconds, to confirm the man had no intention of speaking further, before answering.
"Yes. I went there after hearing of his evil deeds"
The man closed his eyes for a moment before nodding his head slowly, something that made Feyd slightly nervous.
"Alright, I believe you"
A wave of relief washed over Feyd but he quickly pushed down the happiness rising from his heart.
'I'm still not done with the interrogation. I've cleared most suspicions but I'm still not in the clear, not only that I also have to try and join the military'
'I really hope Ray is dealing with something similar'
The atmosphere calmed slightly but Feyd could feel that any lie he told would be seen through immediately. He wasn't sure what this pressure was, nor what was being used to sense the truthfulness of his words. But his intuition told him that it was something he couldn't manage right now.
The man continued questioning Feyd.
"Why do you want to join the military?"
Feyd's heart began to race slightly as he felt the pressure around him grow more... Sharp.
"Because it felt like the right thing. I wish to do good and this felt like a good way"
The man didn't show any change in expression, his face was still stern and discipline.
"And who are you?"
"My name is Feyd, a traveller and Adventurer"
"What are you doing in Cecillia, Elf?"
"I woke up nearby the kingdom a few months ago, without any memories. I ended up in Cecillia while wandering around"
The man raised an eyebrow at Feyd's mention of losing memories. His eyes shone slightly with intrigue but he maintained his professionalism.
"Did you find any crystal or stone like object from the body of the vice leader of the bandit camp?"
Feyd looked slightly puzzled but shook his head, "He didn't have anything of the sorts, from what I recall"
"Did you kill him?"
"No it was my companion"
'I'll have to ask Geoffrey about the other Elf after this'
"Alright then are you..."
He continued to ask more questions which yielded nothing substantial, something he was glad about. He would've rather wasted his time than have end up finding out that Feyd was a spy of some sorts or anything similar.
However just as he was about to end the interrogation the man suddenly snapped his head towards the door, or more specifically something behind the door.
Feyd tilted his head slightly in confusion, examining the door in an attempt to see what was wrong.
The man narrowed his eyes for a second before turning towards Feyd and opening his mouth again, slowly this time.
"Your companion, tell me about him"
"Huh? What do you want to know?", Feyd cautioned himself internally, not willing to endanger his friend by saying the wrong thing or saying too much.
The man noticed Feyd's cautious tone nut said nothing of it. He instead spoke again with a slightly agitated voice.
"Anything important"
Feyd forcefully calmed his heart and relaxed his body. He took in a deep breath before responding.
"My friend is also an Elf, and he can manipulate shadows. He is also skilled with all kinds of weapons. Similarly to me he also has amnisia"
The man remained silent and so Feyd continued speaking.
"Although not particularly good he isn't a bad person. He is very good at fighting with a good perception, thought he does dissapea–"
Feyd's words abruptly stopped. He was about to say something but he forgot what. But seeing as though the man before him didn't say anything he assumed he was just remembering wrong.
"Alright, thank you for your cooperation"
Feyd got up and extended a hand towards the man.
"No problem"
The man looked down at the hand for a moment before shaking Feyd's hand. However the force of his grip made a few cracking sounds come from Feyd's hand.
Feyd cradled and massaged his painful hand while the man opened the door and left. Feyd followed suit after some time and saw Ray sitting on a seat. His eyes were a bit shaken up with cold sweat having slightly soaked his back.
Meanwhile Jace had immediately stood up and saluted the man, his expression one of respect, though it was still adorned by his sly smirk.
He tilted his head slightly and spoke, "I hope captain had a fruitful interrogation"
The man ignored his words and stated something himself, "Meet me in my office"
"Yes captain"
The man then left whatever another word, his eyes neither lingering on Jace, Feyd or even Ray. However his mind was pondering on the two Elves.
'Amnesiac. Two of them at that, how interesting. Sounds like something bigger than I thought'
'They both seemed quite strong, with the dark Elf even trying to spy on me. Hm, sensing his fear and shock was quite amusing'
The man was had seen through Feyd's attempts at slightly distorting truth but said nothing. He could 'feel' that he was a good person and didn't have any schemes in mind. However he couldn't sense into the other one.
'I'll have to test them if they join the military'
...
Jace stood outside of his Captain's office. He didn't show the reluctance one would expect to see from someone meeting his superior, because his captain was also his master.
He knocked on the door four times as was customary before reporting his presence, "Reporting, Vice Captain Jace".
A gruff and stern voice responded almost immediately:
"Come in"
Jace opened the door to reveal the layout of the room. Metal cabinets filled with important files, a dark wooden bookshelf with books untouched for years, a clothes rack, and an ordinary wooden cabinet. Two sofas were placed on either side of a table.
The Captain was seated in a chair behind a simple yet beautiful table that was covered in various objects, among which which was a name plate that read 'Captain, Albert Kelstring'.
Jace walked towards the wooden cabinet and took out a cup for himself and began to brew some tea.
"What did you want to talk about, Master?"
Albert Kelstring, who had previously shown an extremely professional and stern side to Feyd and Ray, yawned lazily before slumping into his chair slightly before glancing at the stack of paperwork infront of him and sighing lightly.
"All those bastards from the Headquarters keep sending me reports on the war fronts..."
He then ripped a bunch of the papers infront of him while shouting aloud, "Don't they know I'm on a break?!".
Jace sipped his tea calmly, used to his Master's outbursts. He began making some tea for the person tearing papers filled with confidential information.
"Well your injuries are getting better, maybe it's time to end your retirement"
"Oh you're on their side? Ohhh, first Amethyst, now you? Both my precious disciples have betrayed me"
Albert replied with feigned indignation. Ofcourse a man of his caliber wouldn't feel sour over working earlier, ofcourse not!
Jace placed the cup of tea on the table and continued talking.
"Ofcourse you getting back to work is the sensible thing to do, it's already been a few months since you were last deployed. Anyways the 'dragon' we were monitoring has already been dealt with with, so there's no reason for us to stay in this barren place any longer"
Albert sighed reluctantly, feeling unwilling to go back to work. He had been working for decades at this point, with his last break being a two day undercover mission that involved acting as a tourist... Forty years ago.
However he also knew it was the right thing to do. His injuries were almost done healing, maybe a month or two more at most. The wars against the Vorn Empire and barbarians in the north were getting worse and worse. Although the Cecillia kingdom wasn't losing things also weren't looking great.
The Aberrations and their Aberrants were beginning to move, a bunch of revolutionaries had popped up out of nowhere and monsters were entering a frenzy every now and then.
'All of this happening at the same time is suspicious, but the kingdom doesn't have many leads so far. Instead, it feels like it's a coincidence that all this is happening now at once'
"Hhaa, you're right. Luckily that stranger had appeared during you and Amethyst's fight against that monster, otherwise you two would've been seriously wounded and the beast would've escaped"
Jace shuddered as he thought about the fight with the 'dragon'. Him and Amethyst, the other disciple Albert had taken in, had joined Albert in his semi-retirement mainly to keep an eye and deal with the monster hidden in the Wastelands.
Albert was assigned here due to his injuries that needed healing, and to provide any emergency reinforcement incase anything went wrong though that would lead to his injuries worsening, which Albert might've been hoping for. And in anycase the Wastelands needed a supervisor since the previously got promoted and left his post.
While Jace and Amethyst, two people far stronger than Vice Captain rank, were assigned here under a false rank to search for the monster and kill it. Eventually they had found the beast, who vaguely resembled a dragon– creatures long thought to be extinct– and spent a few days observing it.
The creature didn't seem much stronger than Amethyst or Jace, thus they thought they could dispatch of it with their combined powers, but it had quickly proven them wrong after the fight began.
It seemed to have hidden its strength during its every day routine of hunting random monsters for sustenance and sleeping and only revealed its strength after Jace and Amethyst had attacked it.
They were on the verge of losing when a stranger had appeared. The man was weird, though not in a bad way. He attacked the monster with ice and a large battle axe.
Although he wasn't very powerful he was resilient and unwilling to back down. Every time he was almost killed he would get back up just a tiny bit stronger. By the time Jace and Amethyst had recovered their strength and rejoined the fight the stranger felt almost as strong as them.
Eventually they defeated the beast and the stranger was ready to leave. Amethyst had thanked the stranger for his help while Jace invited him to some lunch.
The stranger declined them dismissively, seemingly bothered by their gestured and slightly uncomfortable. His speech was off, a bit awkward. He left quickly only leaving behind his name.
Kravenski.
"Yeah, that was lucky off us. Though I'm pretty sure you would've arrived in time if we had asked for help"
"Yeah and extended my holiday"
A brief silence occupied the room as Jace sipped his tea while Albwet had already finished his.
"Well I'm sure you didn't call me here for this. Did you want to talk about the Elves?"
"Yes. Also tell Geoffrey to send me his interrogation report directly"
Jace placed his emptied cup onto the table and landed back on the sofa, relaxing slightly.
"Alright. So what did you want to discuss about to Elves?"