Just as I got into a somewhat comfortable position to doze off, I was rudely awaken by the door slamming open. Was that even necessary?

“That was not necessary,” a voice confirmed. I mean, seriously? Wait. Did I ask that first question out loud…?

I finally noticed the two individuals who dragged my nearly unconscious self back into the land of the waking. Okay, that didn’t make sense even in my foggy mind. All that walking and fighting and standing in line for the past few days must have worn me down more than I thought. I definitely need to see if increasing my vitality would help fight off long term stress or not.

Standing before me were a middle aged man close to my height and a petite woman with a business-minded look. Both wore uniforms similar in appearance to the guards’ clothing, with the exception that the man’s looked somewhat more elaborate and of higher quality. I figured that he was the Guard Captain the clerk spoke of before, or one of them. The woman was slightly red in the face, having been reprimanded for her excessive force with the door, but otherwise looked serious enough. I gave both of them my full attention, having finally shaken the cobwebs from my head.

“I apologize for my subordinate’s less than professional entry,” the man started. Good, it seems that I hadn’t blurted anything out. “I am Captain Geoffry Wulflame, and this is Lieutenant Mya Strauss. We are here to assess the claim against you regarding your Inventory and mete out the appropriate punishment.”

Well, they weren’t being pricks about it, so I could give them as much respect as they have shown me. “I am-”

Captain Wulflame held up a hand to stop me from continuing. “Please wait until we have finished our examination, at which point we will ask you to answer some questions. This way we can get this over with as quickly as possible. We do not have the time to handle every infraction like yours, but by law it is only someone at my level who can settle your term of confinement.” His voice carried the same undertone of weariness that I could expect from most law enforcement leaders, the good ones at least. I shut my mouth and waited for them to make the next move.

He continued, saying, “As standard procedure, I am obligated to inform you that our Scan will not reveal information on your stats or personal Abilities. We will only confirm your general info and any Skills created by the use of Specialty Cores. This information will not be used against you in any way, except in the case of specific unlicensed Skills, particularly the Inventory. A full list of prohibited Skills can be requested for review at any point after your sentence.”  

Seeing no further interruption from me, Wulflame turned to the woman, Lieutenant Strauss, and said, “Lieutenant, go ahead and Scan him and state the information out loud.”

Lieutenant Strauss nodded and focused her gaze on me. Once again I felt that incredibly uncomfortable sensation of someone staring closely at my insides from every angle, and I had to suppress the urge to fight against it. Maybe I should try to manipulate my mana to block this feeling...would it also cause the skill to fail? That’s a possibility worth looking into, but not right now, that would be too suspicious. For now I just needed to endure. The sensation did not pass quickly like when the clerk used Scan on me, but instead persisted as the Lieutenant started speaking.

“Name, Zareb Sindile. No indication of racial modifications. Titles...oh, he has two, “Well Rounded” and…”Master of One’s Soul”? Age...undetermined?” She became increasingly confused as she read the details of my status screen. Actually, just how much ‘general information’ are they seeing here? “Sir, my Scan is not making any sense, something is wrong.”

Wulflame turned a curious eye my way, and I struggled a bit to make steady eye contact while suffering under that discomfort. Please turn off that Skill already…

The Captain and I stared at each each other for a long moment, until Strauss interrupted. “Sir?” She questioned cautiously.

He broke eye contact first, saying, “I just read him too, we’re seeing the same thing. Remind me to talk to that clerk later, he only spoke of the Inventory and failed to mention the very concerning fact that our guest here has no age.”

...Oops. I kind of forgot about that. Yes, I know, Strauss literally said it out loud just moments ago, but...I don’t know, it only clicked in my head at that moment that anyone who can see my status screen would get suspicious, especially someone with authority!

No doubt about it, learning how to block Scans is now one of my top priorities.

Strauss nodded to her superior and finally cancelled her Skill. The unpleasant sensation left my body and I sighed in relief. Hold on, they didn’t even ask for my consent! Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter at this point, I’m already in trouble to begin with...but still, it would have been nice to ask.

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Wulflame looked at me again, but this time I noticed a difference to his gaze. It seemed like he was searching for something. “We did not state it clearly just now, but we did confirm that you have an Inventory and no form of identification. Allow me to ask you a few follow up questions just to be sure. Are you, or have you ever been, affiliated with any Guild or company?”

“No,” I answered simply. No need to give in depth responses when none were asked for.

“Have you ever held any form of identification before coming to Rasenbur?”

I nearly smirked, thinking that I could easily say I’ve had over a hundred kinds of ID throughout my lives, but I always prefer to keep my mindset in one iteration at a time as much as possible. Therefore, I answered as though I had lived in this world all my life. “No, not that I am aware of.”

The Captain’s eyes narrowed at that and I realized I should have stuck to a simple ‘no’ like earlier. “Not that you are aware of?” he asked.

Sigh, well, since I just had to let that slip, I decided I might as well try my ‘origin’ story with him and see where that takes me. It is pretty much the truth anyways, and the only person who could call me out on it is dead by my own hands. I made sure to look both the Captain and the Lieutenant in their eyes as I told them, “I can’t be certain that I did not have identification before, I woke up in the middle of a bandit camp not long ago with nothing on me. The camp was in the middle of a slime attack when I came to, and I was the only survivor. I can’t remember anything that happened before I found myself there, and everything in my possession right now, including the core that granted me the Inventory Skill, I got from the camp. In fact, I did not even know what core it was until I absorbed it.”

I stopped myself there, realizing that I was getting too caught up in the tale and revealing what were probably stupid decisions in their eyes. Who in this world would just absorb a core without knowing what it did? For all I know there could have been some sort of ‘instant death’ cores in that camp, and I would have died without learning a thing...and who knows if it would have been the death I was looking for. No, what I did was risky and stupid, even though I ultimately benefited from my circumstances.

Lieutenant Strauss had mix of skepticism and bewilderment on her face, but Captain Wulflame was neutral. “So, you woke up in what you somehow knew to be a bandit camp, despite claiming memory loss, happened to be the only survivor, and absorbed an unidentified core in that condition, is that correct?”

Putting it that way...yeah, definitely sounds unbelievable. “Yes, that is correct sir.”

Silence reigned in the room as the three of us stared at each other; Wulflame and I at each other, Strauss switching between us. Finally, Wulflame said, “Lieutenant, please track down Maize and bring him here. Tell him that his...expertise is required.”

Still looking absolutely confused, Strauss only nodded and left the room. Wulflame pulled out the chair opposite of me and sat at the table, letting us converse at eye level for the first time. “I believe you,” he started.

Wait, what?

Apparently I couldn’t quite keep the confusion off of my face, as he continued, “First, your story is so absurd by normal standards that I could only take you as being honest. I have no doubt that you are hiding a lot of details from me, but that only lends you credence in my eyes. A liar would have went into far more detail, spinning me a tale more deeply seated in the realm of possibility.”

“Are you saying that being kidnapped by bandits isn’t possible?” I couldn’t help but ask. That woman did say that she was the daughter of the leader of a bandit camp, didn’t she? Do bandits not bother with the occasional kidnapping in this world?

“Oh no, it certainly is possible,” Wulflame agreed. “However, they would never target a lone traveler, even a seemingly easy target like yourself.” Hey hey, now. I have my pride buddy. “It would be much simpler to just kill you and loot your corpse.” Thanks for the reassurance, I guess? “If bandits were to take anyone, they would go for at least a caravan’s worth of people, so long as they feel confident about taking care of the guards and any potential hidden fighters. No, I can believe that you woke up in their camp, and you may or may not have been one of their members, but you were not taken by them.”

I couldn’t think of how to respond to his words, so I chose to remain silent. The Captain went on to say, “I believe I know your circumstances, as much as you think you can hide them. Your strange title, your unidentified age, even the fact that I could understand you despite not having a Translator skill - yes, I can tell the difference between the words you speak versus the words I hear, your lips don’t make the right motions - all of those details lead me to one conclusion. It is fortunate for you that our government has the proper knowledge and experience to handle those like yourself.”

What...is going on here…? I could only sit in confusion as Captain Wulflame tore my ‘origin story’ apart. He can’t know that I’m not from this world, can he? How? No, I must be missing something, I can’t let him shake my composure so easily. Maybe he means I’m some sort of ancient being, awoken from a long slumber, or something like that…

At that moment, the door opened again, this time less enthusiastically. Lieutenant Strauss returned, towing a man slightly taller than myself behind her. His head was shaved, with only the black roots visible, but his beard and mustache were full and dark. He looked like a lightweight, yet he gave off a sense of unshakeable sturdiness. He wore no armor, just casual clothing, so I could see his lack of physical muscle, but my instincts told me that he was strong. Very strong. His face was gentle, though, as if the thought of violence would never cross his mind.

I was instantly wary of him.

“Ah, good, you found him,” Captain Wulflame said. “Mr. Sindile, this is Cornelius Maize.”

Turning to Cornelius, Wulflame declared, “I think we found another Re-iterated.”

...WAIT, WHAT?!