“Tell me what happened last night.” The knight captain slammed the table as she repeated those words once more. It didn’t change anything though. No matter how much she tried to grill me, my response didn’t change.
“I-I told you everything I know already…” She was too scary to look in the eyes. The Mad Wolf of Astraea was much more intimidating in person than the rumors said. She was the captain of the 7th Knight’s Brigade, Sylvia Beratti. A tall, imposing figure wearing an ornate suit of armor that looked ill suited for an interrogation, she was the person in charge of policing the entire city. Every single guard and patrol that went on around here was operated by her.
After we were attacked last night, I found myself waking up in a jail cell. I tried to explain what happened to the guards, and next thing I knew I found myself here, being interrogated and asked all sorts of weird questions.
“Yeah, yeah. You ‘claimed’ that you were attacked by someone in a white mask. But my men searched the area. We didn’t find anything. No traces of blood. No signs of a struggle. Nothing.”
She wasn’t making any sense. I mean, I saw what happened with my own eyes. I remembered running. The fear and adrenaline pumping through my body. Getting cut up. And then–
My cheeks flushed red. I touched my lips, as if I could still feel her warmth on them. Right. That was something that happened last night. My first… No, wait, that wasn’t what was important! I moved my hand lower, to my neck, and felt nothing but smooth skin. But that wasn’t right. My neck was cut last night. That wasn’t the kind of wound that healed easily. It would’ve at least left a scar.
“I-I swear I’m telling the truth.” That was the only defense I could muster.
The knight sighed. Her gaze bored into me. I felt sweat drip down the back of my neck, and I really hoped she didn’t notice. I should’ve been in bed right now. Anywhere but here.
“The White Veil. That’s who you claimed attacked you. You know anything about them?”
“No. That’s just who the woman introduced herself as.”
She furrowed her brow so hard it looked like she was going to pop a vein. “I can’t tell if you’re a terrible liar, or if you’re actually just that dense.” Rude. That was kind of uncalled for. Well, not like I had the confidence to say that to her face.
“But sure, I’ll play along. The White Veil is an elusive terrorist organization we’ve been trying to track down for the past couple of years. They peddle some bullshit about summoning demons in order to ‘purify’ the world of its evil, but what all that amounts to is kidnappings and murder.”
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“I-I’ve never heard about anything like that before…” You’d think something like that would be front page material in a newspaper.
“Of course not. I put out the gag order myself. No information about them was to leak out until we rooted out their leaders. So tell me again. How did you hear about the White Veil?”
I remained silent, staring down at my feet. This was going nowhere.
“Or, what? You’re telling me one of their leaders personally chased after you, then decided to leave without killing you? That’s not how they operate. Or are you telling me your little friend somehow chased them off?”
That’s right. “Haine. W-where is she? Is she safe? She’s not hurt, is she?” I needed to get my priorities in order. No matter how stressful this was for me, it must’ve been so much worse for her. She was an outsider, after all.
“You’ll see her soon enough.”
“S-so… what are you going to do to us?” My nerves felt completely fried. I mean, I never thought I’d ever wake up in a jail cell.
The knight captain sighed once more. “For you? Nothing. Legally, our hands are tied. Throwing you into prison would cause an international incident. Ain’t that right, Ms. Edelweiss?” She grinned at me, though it felt more like a wolf staring down its prey. “But as for your friend over there… Well, she has no ID. No record of lawfully entering the city. No relatives, no place of living, nothing. Best case, we exile her from the city. Worst case, we arrest her on suspicions of connections with the White Veil.”
“You can’t do that!” I blurted it out without thinking, and with that the dam broke. “We were the ones who were attacked! They were… they were trying to kidnap her, for who knows what! You can’t just accuse her of being a criminal like that. It… It’s just wrong!”
“Well then, tell us the truth, then,” she barked back at me. I went back to my silence, stewing in my own anger. None of this was fair.
A sudden beeping noise broke the silence. The knight captain touched her left earring, and a magic sigil appeared beside her ear. It was one of those new mana transceivers I had read up about. I had no idea it had gone past the research stage and was actually being developed.
“Yeah? Mhm... Are you sure about that? …Fine. Suit yourself.” She grumbled into the sigil, talking to someone I couldn’t hear or see. If I wasn’t so pissed off right now, I probably would’ve been more excited. It wasn’t everyday you got to see a brand new invention in action.
“Looks like today’s your lucky day. The boss wants to see you.” She was still smiling, but had the attitude of a predator denied her food. I was sweating profusely. It looked like I was leaving one den to leap into another. She was already one of the highest authorities in the city. There were only a few people who would be considered more important than her. Someone from the House of Lords? Or ever worse, from the Governing Council of Nicaea? Whoever it was, whatever they wanted from me couldn’t be good.