Interrogation
The soldiers were leading me in the same direction as the city I'd been heading for anyway, so there was no real need to run. Hands bound behind my back, I walked toward the city.
The rope ran to the soldiers in front and behind me as well, binding me so thoroughly that escape was impossible. Of course, one cast of magic would have gotten me free in an instant.
I kept walking, still tied, and the path grew rougher. Sharp stones jabbed up through the soft earth into the soles of my feet.
A physical reinforcement spell would have spared me this pain. But speaking carelessly was dangerous. I had no desire to invite unnecessary misunderstanding.
There was another reason, too. For now, keeping the fact that I could use magic as hidden as possible was the smart play.
I still had no idea how mages were treated in this world.
Being branded a witch and burned at the stake was absolutely not on my list of things to try.
Mud, melted soft as liquid, clung to the cuts on my soles and stung fiercely. I gritted my teeth and kept walking through the pain.
All I had on was a single scrap of cloth, and the rain had been soaking me without pause, so my body temperature kept dropping.
My body shivered hard against my will, and one of the soldiers asked me something in a worried tone. I couldn't make out the words, but the warmth in his voice was unmistakable.
"You've been out in the rain this whole time — is that why you're shaking? Are you alright?"
I understood none of it, but I nodded as if I had.
The steady rain gradually let up, and warm sunlight broke through. I felt a little more alive.
Looking up at the clearing sky, the soldiers started chatting among themselves with obvious good spirits. I listened carefully, wondering what language it was, but no amount of attention helped me guess. It was a language I had never heard before in my life.
If only there were a spell that let you understand other languages.
As I continued listening to speech I couldn't parse at all, a properly maintained road finally came into view. Walking became much easier.
The city was clearly close.
Walls rising in the distance—
One of the cities I had sensed through my search magic.
When we reached the gate, a guard approached.
The soldier who had brought me spoke with the guard for a moment, then handed over the rope that bound me.
What on earth is going to happen to me now?
The guard dragged me into a small room beside the gate.
Two small chairs and a desk sat there, and nothing else.
On the desk lay a gray plate.
The guard sat me in one chair and took the other across from me. Still seated, he pulled a small blade from the drawer beneath the desk and cut a shallow wound into my left forearm.
If I had been running physical reinforcement magic, a blade like that could never have broken my skin. And then they would already have known I was no ordinary person.
The cut on my forearm was more bearable than the ones on my feet.
He let a drop of my blood fall from the blade onto the gray plate. The blood vanished into it in an instant, and the upper surface of the plate shone white.
The moment the guard confirmed the white light, he cut the rope binding my hands and set me free.
Then he locked the door and left me alone in the room.
I was stuck here with nowhere to go.
Still, it was fine.
Being left alone like this was better for gathering information than having someone watching me the whole time.
I still barely knew anything about myself either, so this was actually a good chance to figure myself out.
"So, you found a suspicious person in the forest and took them into custody?"
"A girl? And a rather young-looking one at that?"
Redrago frowned as he spoke.
"Yes, sir. We ran the information inspection first, and when nothing unusual came up, we released the restraints."
"Find out why that girl you captured was out there. Quickly."
"I'll interrogate her, sir."
What exactly was that gray plate they'd dripped my blood onto?
It was an artifact I had never seen before.
It seemed to absorb blood and then communicate something through color…
The white light had made them cut my bonds immediately, so white probably meant pass — something like that.
I opened the drawer the guard had taken the blade from.
Nothing special inside.
This room seemed to exist solely for using that gray plate, so why leave me here alone?
It stung.
After all that walking, sitting still made the throbbing in my soles impossible to ignore.
Should I heal it with magic? No — if they searched me later and found perfect, uninjured feet on someone who'd arrived barefoot, that could raise suspicion.
Better not to do anything rash.
I pressed a hand to my forehead and tried to think past the sting in my feet, working out how I would escape if they ever became a real threat.
"Hoo… first interrogation. I'm nervous…"
First shift of the day, first interrogation!
Interrogation was all about seizing the initiative!
He'd been told a suspicious girl had been captured and needed questioning.
A big voice was supposed to be good for taking control. He cleared his throat in front of the identity investigation room door.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Alright. Let's go!
He unlocked the door, steadied his breathing one more time—
—and kicked it open.
BANG!
"Alright! The interrogation begins! Sit down!"
A man's voice carried through the door.
What was he saying?
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Outside, someone was clearing his throat.
A moment later came the sound of a key turning. I looked toward the door—
BANG!
—and it flew open hard.
In walked a young man with a boyish face.
One look was enough. A rookie.
"Alright! The interrogation begins! Sit down!"
Whether it was rookie spirit or something else, he shouted loud enough to shake the little room as he came in.
And what exactly was he yelling about as he charged in…
I stared at him with a look that made it plain I had no idea what he was saying.
He had stormed in with full momentum — and then completely lost it.
A beautiful girl was looking at him with an expression of pure disbelief.
He'd been told it was a girl, but he hadn't expected her to be this cute…
Don't panic.
"What's your name?"
The girl said nothing.
"I'll ask you again. What is your name?"
She shook her head from side to side.
"Can you… not speak?"
This was bad. How were you supposed to handle a situation like this?
Nobody had mentioned that language wouldn't work.
Senior… what am I supposed to do…
"What's your name?"
Haa… not understanding a word of speech was this miserable, was it?
"I'll ask you again. What is your name?"
The same cadence came a second time.
Was this guy asking my name in a what kind of creature are you sort of way?
If I could just say my name… that would be nice, but—
I had no idea what magic saying my name might trigger.
I didn't want to cause any unnecessary accidents…
All I could do was communicate with my body.
I shook my head left and right to signal that I couldn't speak.
"Can't you… speak…?"
The young man stared at me with a thoroughly flustered expression.
He looked pretty green — that fresh-rookie energy, maybe…
He scratched his head a few times, glanced at the paper he was holding, and went back out.
I had hoped he might leave the door unlocked…
He didn't forget to lock it. Tch.
Click.
Alone again.
A young man came running so hard his feet barely seemed to touch the ground — the same one who had been interrogating the suspicious girl.
"Lord Redrago… hah… may I come in?"
He knocked while gasping for air, clearly having sprinted the whole way.
"Come in."
"You came back rather quickly. So, did you find out why?"
"I… uh… she doesn't understand the language, so I couldn't interrogate her."
The young man wiped the sweat streaming down his forehead as he spoke.
"Doesn't understand the language? Is she a slave?"
"I'm not certain whether she's a slave or not…"
"You idiot. Just check for a slave mark, then."
"You're not telling me you said you didn't know without even checking?"
Redrago's voice rose a notch.
"Ah… I didn't check."
"You absolute fool!"
He shouted once, then recovered his composure and waved a hand sharply toward the door, shooing him out.
"Haa… I'll handle the interrogation myself. You… get out of my sight. Now."
"Y-Yes, sir! I'm sorry!"
The young man vanished in an instant.
Redrago took paper and a quill from the drawer on his left and headed for the identity investigation room.
"I'll just have to do this myself…"
Redrago stopped in front of the door.
Without unlocking it, he simply twisted the handle hard.
Crunch. The forced handle shattered with a sharp crack.
"Ah… broke another one…"
Thud. Thud.
Redrago ducked his head slightly and stepped into the identity investigation room.
You've got to be kidding me.
I'd wondered who was coming this time, and the man smashed the doorknob on his way in.
Presence. Pressure.
That one word felt like it could describe him completely.
Short red hair cut as if someone had hacked it off at random—
Red eyes that looked ready to catch fire—
And a massive, muscle-packed frame that had to duck to enter the investigation room…
I had been through every kind of hell in my previous life, but honestly, I was a little scared. The sheer difference in size probably didn't help.
"Redrago."
The huge, heavily muscled man pointed at himself with a finger and repeated the word Redrago.
His name, most likely.
I nodded to show I understood.
I already knew what came next.
He pointed at me and spoke.
"What's your name?"
The same sound and cadence the young man from earlier had used.
He was asking for my name.
I'm sorry, but I have no idea what will happen if I say my name.