There wasn’t much conversation between Mavis and Matthis on the journey to the Imperial Courthouse. Instead, it was mostly filled with an awkward silence. As the Courthouse was on the other side of the city from the shop, it would take hours for them to get there on foot. Instead, Matthis guided Mavis towards a horse-drawn carriage that would take them to their destination. One would expect the carriage to be manned by another person under the employ of the Imperial government, however this was a commercial carriage manned by a civilian. Matthis hailed down the carriage and approached, leaving his back turned to Mavis. She recognized he had let his guard down, which would be an opportune moment for Mavis to either strike at him, or run away, a move that only a careless amateur lawman would make while a suspect was in their custody. Perhaps he was testing to see what kind of person Mavis was. Or maybe it was an attempt to provoke action out of her to give him justifiable cause for violence. But Mavis wasn’t that stupid. Matthis didn’t want her to cooperate. He very clearly had bloodlust from the moment he walked into her shop, and her giving him a reason to act on it legally was exactly what he wanted.
Mavis thinks to herself, He doesn’t want me to make his job easy. He wants me to make it fun for him. But no matter if I cooperate or resist, in the end I’m still gonna get charged with something. I lose here no matter what. But if I can deny him his fun, then I can still claim that as a win. After giving the coachman directions to the Courthouse, Matthis turned back to Mavis, his mask of affability still tightly fixed on his face.
“After you, Miss Millwood.” He then gave Mavis an exaggerated bow as he gestured towards the carriage’s open door.
Mavis scoffed “Are you my jailer or my butler now?”
When Mavis entered the carriage, she saw nothing really special. It was made of the same wood and iron used to make carriages commercially, and while the seats looked like they were made of velvet, they felt like some kind of fake material only made to imitate its appearance. Matthis had entered after her, sitting in the seat across from Mavis. Smiling at her with the same pretentious smile, he asked her a rather sarcastic question.
“So, is this how you treat every woman you pick up? Or am I just special?” Matthis responded with a slight chuckle. “Oh you are quite special alright, though not in the way you seem to be implying.” He reached for the small pouch attached to his belt. As stuck his hand inside, he pulled out a folder that was obviously too big to fit inside naturally. Mavis inspected the pouch, thinking it could be the magic item, Hammerspace Satchel, but as she appraised it from a distance, she could see no markings that it was a mass produced item of the magical variety. In fact, she could clearly see a designer logo on it. A company that makes mundane accessories. Matthis opened the folder and read the contents out loud.
“Mavis Millwood. Race: Half-Elf. Gender: Female. Age: Twenty-four. Height: five foot seven inches. Alumni at Gilded Wings University with a major in business and minor in magical arts. Enrolled at the age of 18 but took a sabbatical after the first semester citing ‘personal reasons’. Re-enrolled after a year and successfully obtained all the credits needed for your degrees in both fields of study, though you do have an incident of committing violence against a fellow student on campus on your record. Parentage listed as adopted by one Zergil Oren…” Matthis paused for a second. Seeing that name took him by surprise. “Ohoho, I had no idea that old man fostered a child, let alone that child being you.”
Zergil Oren, a member of a group of adventurers known as The Talentless Trio. They were famed as adventurers for not only their martial prowess but for having no special abilities between them. The majority of adventurers, soldiers, anyone who knows how to fight have some unique ability though those three did not. Yet they had completed some of the hardest tasks the Union has ever given out and came back alive. Mavis glared daggers at Matthis. He had all this information on her prepared ahead of time, but why did he bring it with him? They would have gone over this information at the courthouse, so why is he talking about it now? To save time? No. The moment he mentioned her foster father, it was clear. He was trying to get under her skin.
“Now let's see what else,” Matthis continued. “Ah yes, before all that, the old man took you to a village called Dirkwood and you lived with him there until you went to the university. And you came to live with him after he found you…”
As Matthis’ voice trailed off, Mavis felt a pit form in her stomach. She wanted to jump out of the moving carriage at this very moment because if she didn’t, she didn’t know what she would do when Matthis finished his sentence.
“... as the only survivor of the Millwood Massacre.”
In her mind, Mavis jumped at Matthis, punching him right in his smug face and breaking his glasses. Thankfully, she’s had years of training to not act on that violent urge. A half-elf attacking someone? Without context, someone would immediately see it as a half-breed attacking an innocent man. But she had her limits, and she was reaching her’s. The daggers she was previously glaring at him had been sharpened to such a fine edge, Matthis could almost feel himself getting sliced by her gaze. A normal person would be terrified right now of the seemingly bloodthirst woman in front of them. However, it only excited Matthis further. He was a step closer to getting what he wanted, and he could almost taste the satisfaction.
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Matthis closed the folder and put it back into the tiny pouch. Though Matthis was supposed to be monitoring Mavis, she was the one who hadn’t looked away from him. She wanted nothing more than to strike him at this very moment but knew she couldn’t. Not only that but he was ranked 6th among the tens of thousands of knights. The best case scenario would be a fight with him being incredibly difficult to win. But more realistically, she would lose the fight. She was confident in her combat prowess but not to the point she thinks she could take one of the Twelve one on one. Plus, Matthis is an unknown. While the abilities of the Twelve are widely known to the point they’re almost common knowledge, Matthis Edenz is an exception. He deals in mostly behind the scenes work for the Empire, meaning keeping his abilities secret would be in the best interest to the country. While his name is known, his likeness is only known to the people and factions he deals with. He’s one of the few members of the Twelve that don’t have a collectable figurine made in his image. With the only thing known about him is “he’s strong”, it would be unwise to try to pick a fight with him regardless of the current situation. The best thing Mavis could do is try to calm herself down and not let his words get to her, as difficult as that might be. However, Mavis isn’t like that. While she might be able to hold herself back physically, she couldn’t help but take a couple of pot shots herself.
“That’s a lot of information you have on me. Did you get all of that from legal documents? I’m surprised they let you have all that. I’m sure it must have been difficult considering you would have needed to convince them you are who you say you are.”
Matthis froze for a split second, contemplating what she was trying to get at.
“What do you mean, Miss Millwood? Why would I need to convince anyone I’m one of the Twelve? We are widely known and-”
Mavis cut him off. “You know, I’ve only ever heard your name once or twice, but other than that, everything about you is just rumours and hearsay. You do all this work and you get none of the fame, unlike the rest of the Twelve.”
She could see Matthis maintain his usual, unsettling smile. But this time, it felt forced. She figured someone as smug as him must have an ego. If trying to get the people he arrests to act up so he can fight them is what he finds pleasure in with his job, then there must be some things he’s unsatisfied with. Not having the same amount of fame as the rest of his colleges, despite his relatively high position, must be somewhat of a sore spot for him.
Mavis continued, “I bet whichever poor secretary that had to deal with you was confused on who was even speaking to them. Trying to get them sensitive information on a civilian while claiming to be the one member of the Twelve that barely anyone sees? A perfect way to illegally obtain government documents. You must have had to fight to get your hands on those, didn’t you?”
She wasn’t entirely off base. There had been times where a new secretary was at the front desk of the courthouse and Matthis had to show his ID to prove it was him. Any other member of the Twelve would have no trouble convincing someone that they are who they say they are, but because of the nature of Matthis’ duties, it’s a problem that’s unique to him. And a problem that made him question at times whether or not everything was worth it. He felt a twinge of anger welling up inside him. He didn’t expect someone other than himself to stoop so low as to target someone’s insecurities. He was the type of person to not be able to take whatever he dishes out. Matthis cleared his throat before speaking with a tone that suggested that he was holding back his anger.
“Miss Millwood, you do know that slandering a government official is against the law? We could compound it with the other charges you currently have against you.”
Mavis retorted, “But what I said wasn’t slander. It’s just the two of us in this carriage, and I never suggested you were a bad person, just sympathizing with an obviously frustrating part of your job.”
How do you like that, asshole? You’re trying to get me to act up by making light of my past? Well two can play at that game. If I get you to attack me first, I can use that as leverage to get out of any fine they want me to pay. I may even get some compensation to keep my mouth shut on a scandal like this. So go right ahead, attack me. I don’t even need to win the fight. I just need it to happen.
Mavis had a smug look on her face. She had a chance to take the upperhand. Whoever made the first move before they got to the courthouse would legally be the one in the wrong. They would be the loser. Matthis still had the advantage, however, as Mavis would still ‘lose’ if no one acted. She would still be tried for the misinformation she filled out on her legal documents. But if she pushed too hard on her ‘attack’, she could get additional charges for insulting a government official, like Matthis said. It’s not a charge that’s commonly applied and it’s one of those laws that exists but is practically never enforced, but Matthis would be petty enough to enforce it here just to get at her. Mavis had limited time to get Matthis to act, but she also needed to hold out on not punching the slimy son of a bitch in the face, as much as she wanted to. The carriage was filled with silence, until it came to a sudden stop.