Zero, startled realized that Pia had found out he was lying and mistook him for a hunter.
‘I wonder how she found me out I’m properly wearing the ring of humanity so everything about me should scream human. Let’s get her talking and see what I can figure out.’
Zero then nervously place his hands up and yelled, "Please, Pia, don't hurt me! I'm not here to hunt you down, I swear! I have no idea who you are," causing Pia to cover his mouth and press the blade closer to his throat gesturing for him to be quiet.
Pia, however, was deeply distrustful of outsiders and had spent years in hiding. She interrogated Zero with a series of questions, trying to determine if he was lying or if he truly posed no threat to her.
Pia asked, "What is your name? What is your purpose here in this village? How did you find out about me? Who sent you?"
Zero thought of an answer she might believe and said, "My name is Zero, and I am here pretending to be a mage to make some money from the villagers. I have no idea who you are. No one sent me, I came on my own accord. I’m on a journey and I help towns in exchange for food and water."
Pia’s eyes seemed to turn colder as she asked, "What kind of abilities do you possess? Can you prove it? Are you working for the tower in any way?"
Zero answered, "I possess no abilities other abilities except for those you’ve seen, I am just a simple con artist. I have no proof of my abilities and I am not working for the tower in any way."
Pia looked at him with suspicion, but after she spent some time thinking it looked like she believed his story. She slowly lowered the knife and in turn lowered her guard somewhat.
Pia then said, "Alright, I'll believe your story for now. But if you make any sudden movements I’ll kill you. I won’t tell anyone about you but you must leave tomorrow."
Zero smiled and using the submission moves he previously learned he quickly grabbed the knife and pinned her down.
Zero then placed the knife to her neck and said, "I'm sorry, Pia, but I can't take that chance. Now if you don’t want me to alert the villagers of your presence then you’ll tell me who you are. After all the best way to insure your secret isn’t told is to have the other party's weakness."
Pia struggled but couldn’t break free. After a few seconds of trying she gave up and yelled, "What? No! you lied to me! I trusted you!"
Zero tied her up and pretended as if he were going to alert the villagers of her presence. When he reached for the door she begged him to stop. Zero then turned and asked, “Well will you tell me your story now?”
“I’m on the run from the tower since they want to experiment on me. I’m hiding in this town so that they don’t find me.” explained Pia
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‘Well, that’s an obvious lie if I’ve ever heard one. If she were really in hiding then she wouldn’t be trying to stir the others into rebelling against the crown. I doubt I can the truth out of her without resorting to magic or ability. The ring of humanity seals my active abilities and most of my mana. I don’t want to advertise to another deity that I’m here. Oh right, there’s that spell if I use that it should work.’
Zero then gathered half of the small amount of mana he had access to and channeled the mana toward Pia as he said "Dolor verax" which caused Pia’s eyes to widen in horror.
Pia then yelled, “You lied! You said you only knew earth lingua but that’s a darkness lingua! You really are working for the tower. Only they would ever create such an abominable lingua like that.”
"Dolor verax" which could roughly be translated to "Pain of Truth" this incantation would force the person to feel strong physical pain when they tell a falsehood, it would be used as a form of punishment or interrogation by tower mages. It requires powerful mastery of the darkness branch and the Lingua Arcana language, also, it's important to note that this kind of spell is considered dangerous dark magic and it would be highly regulated and frowned upon by most communities since it is invasive and can be used for unethical purposes.
‘Oh, so you can create lingua so long as you master the language. I wonder if different languages could be used. Anyways that’s not important right now so I should focus.’
Pia tried to repeat her previous answer but she started to convulse in pain. As she looked like she was about to start screaming in pain Zero casts "Quietus" an incantation that created a soundproof barrier by manipulating sound waves, absorbing them, and rendering them silent. This spell can be cast on a specific area or object, or it can be cast on an individual or group to muffle their sounds, it would be useful to keep conversations private, or for a diplomatic or espionage mission. This spell requires a moderate level of mastery of the air branch and the Lingua Arcana language.
Feeling that there was no other choice Pia explained who she was and what she was doing in this town. She narrated a story explaining that she was a young princess named Phelantha Ivoriel Ardenia. She was the last remaining royal of the powerful Aepilia Dynasty and the ruler of a vast empire. However, her reign was cut short when the Human Kingdom of Eoqelon, aided by the Magic Tower of Acesh, succeeded in destroying her empire.
As the last survivor of the Alven royal bloodline, Phelantha was hunted relentlessly by her enemies due to her secret ability to access any kind of technology and control it at will. In order to protect herself and her remaining people, she made the difficult decision to assimilate the flesh of humans into her body through an artifact she wears on her body in order to conceal her true identity.
Phelantha however was not content to simply hide and wait for her enemies to come for her. Instead, she devised a clever plan to overthrow the Human Kingdom of Eoqelon. Using the powerful artifact, she underwent torturous pain to transform herself into a human girl and went undercover in small towns within the kingdom.
Phelantha, now going by the name "Pia," quickly assimilated into these towns and began to rally the citizens against their oppressive rulers. She spoke of a better life, free from the cruelty of the human kingdom and the Magic Tower of Acesh. She used the defeated Duke Torin in her message so that even if she were discovered they would believe this was done by him. She struck a chord with the people, and some began to listen to her and join her cause.
She tried her best not to stay in a place for too long because she knew that if they could capture her and learn the secret to unlocking the unbreakable vault that held the advanced technology of her fallen empire, they would have an insurmountable advantage in the war against the elves and dwarves who helped the kingdom and tower burn her home to the ground. She really wanted the elves and dwarves to die too but if they fell then she would have no chance of revenge.
This all fell apart when she heard that Zero was from the tower. In all her journey she managed to stay a step ahead of the tower so she had never come across any mages. When she met Zero she assumed he was playing with her and that a team would capture her tonight so she decided to strike first in hopes of using Zero to escape. This was what led to the series of unfortunate events that wound up with her being captured instead.
“Now you know my whole story so go ahead and turn me in to the tower for the reward. That’s what you humans care the most about right? I know you’re lying about being a tower mage. Only a full apprentice mage can use 2 or more types of lingua.” said a depressed Pia who looked as if the world had ended and everything she had done was useless
Zero silently reached over to her causing Pia to close her eyes shut in fear. She thought everything was over and that Zero was about to either kill her or worse. As she waited nothing happened and she opened her eyes to find that Zero had untied her bindings. She looked at him dumbfounded when Zero said, “I’m a man of my word. I said I’d let you go so I will. Although I’m keeping the knife. You can leave now the lingua I cast on you will wear off soon so don’t worry.”