CHAPTER 14 - INVESTIGATION

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Night made the already difficult task of seeing during the day even harder. Eneas pushed forward, aiming for the office. She had managed to sneak in blind before; there was no doubt she could do it again, now half-blind, and even faster. But she had to be careful. Even though there were few, guards still patrolled outside the tents, watching for intruders or soldiers trying to escape. However, Eneas blended with the environment easily, and her abnormal traits finally gave her an enviable advantage. She could have dared to escape, but that was too great a risk to take alone.

After all, what she was doing was for herself, she knew that well, but it didn't matter to her in the end.

At last, she reached the office, slowly opened the main door, and slipped inside the building. She took a silent but deep breath. There should be no guards inside. She didn't remember the exact path, but her goal was General Rinoria's office. She knew that there, she could do something.

Her legs gave out for a moment; she'd pushed herself beyond limits she had never crossed before, so it was no surprise her body would succumb to the pressure. Like a faulty switch, her legs kept trembling, but she stood up right after.

She wandered for what felt like hours, checking most of the rooms she came across. But this act only boosted her confidence: with all the doors locked and the silence that filled the halls, she was sure she wouldn't run into anyone unpleasant. She knew that any contact with another person would make her explode.

A few more steps, and she saw it—the office of General Rinoria. She hesitated for a moment, seeing a faint light leaking through the small gap beneath the door. There was a small but present chance someone was inside. Eneas spun around nervously, her mind reeling. But after the umpteenth hesitation, she followed that cursed instinct that had led her there, knowing it was too late to turn back empty-handed.

She entered the room, and an annoying creak from the door triggered an internal alarm. She scanned the room, as much as she could with cracked lenses. It was just a simple, empty office. There didn’t seem to be anyone around. The dim light illuminating the room came from nothing more than a trapped Flower Firefly in a glass cylinder. Eneas hurried to the desk, ready to search everything. A wave of delirium hit her mind, in a frighteningly wrong move. A strange chill she had never felt before filled her with a bizarre sense of euphoria.

The feeling eventually stopped. When Eneas finally found something, she felt the cold touch of metal on her shoulder. She turned to see it—the feeling was caused by a hook resting on her shoulder.

...

«"Listen up, cadets! We're barely into the first training sessions, and you're already tired! Do you think you can face pirates with such an attitude? Move it and get to work! Go! Go!"»

The dreaded training sessions Natirra feared had begun. And even though she initially felt it wouldn't be as bad as she had imagined, it turned out to be worse than her mind could have ever conjured.

Obviously, she wasn't built for physical exercise, in fact, she tired easily.

Despite her sturdy build, it was simply good genetics and the typical traits of Narwhals. Even Riaca, who seemed weaker, managed her stamina far better, and for Monomia, it was nothing but a game. At least Igre shared her exhaustion, and for once, she didn’t mind having him around when they were both worn out.

The training ended after a few hours.

Those hours of the day that didn’t consist of drills or time spent in the tent were dedicated to the cafeteria, so tired and weary, they dragged themselves to the other end of the military camp, the final cherry on top of it all.

All four of them sat in the cafeteria with their meals in front of them.

They spent some time in silence, which was inevitably broken by Riaca, who poked at the mushy food they had been served. «"We were just missing terrible food to top all of this. What even is this crap?"»

Igre replied, maintaining his pride despite his exhaustion. «"It’s obvious you lack humility despite your rank. This mush you call slop is extremely nutritious, packed with protein. It’s fed our soldiers for years."»

«"You don’t seem to be eating it, though..."»

Igre and Riaca glared at each other. «"My brain doesn’t need to eat, okay…?"»

«"Yeah, yeah..."» Then both Igre and Riaca turned to Monomia, who had called the chef over.

Stolen story; please report.

Monomia raised his hand, exclaiming, «"Can I have a fourth serving, please?!"»

The chef looked at him with a mist of confusion and commotion. «"No one has ever eaten four consecutive servings of my protein mush before..."»

«"It’s really good."»

At that point, the chef started crying. «"You’re the first to appreciate my cooking..."» Then he looked up and shouted to his subordinates, «"Bring more mush for this brave hero! Immediately!"» And with that, he marched back to the kitchen.

Igre was the first to ask, «"I see you like it a lot. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, but how can you eat them consecutively?"»

«"They’re good!"»

Riaca didn’t comment. She didn’t know him well, but his carefree attitude irritated her. Ever since they met, she felt like something had changed between her and Natirra.

Speaking of Natirra... Riaca turned toward her. Of all of them, she was the quietest, but not like before. She didn’t seem tired or anything—more... pensive. Riaca saw this as a good chance to start a conversation between the two of them.

«"Natirra."» Riaca gave her a tap on the shoulder. It was obvious from miles away that this startled her out of a deep trance. Natirra turned, surprised. «"W-what?"»

«"What are you thinking about?"»

All attention shifted to her immediately. Even Igre decided to comment on it.

«"It’s true, even during training. You seem distracted, and you did before, too. You’re thinking about something, right?"»

Natirra stared at her food for a moment. She hadn’t touched her meal yet.

«"Maybe I’m thinking about something, but you won’t believe me."»

Riaca became concerned and placed a hand on her shoulder. «"Hey, we’re best friends. Of course, I’d believe you. Tell me everything."»

After that, Natirra was slightly convinced, and with some doubt, she finally decided to answer.

«"Eneas wasn’t in the tent today. I suppose you all noticed too."»

Igre responded, «"I assumed we had all decided she sneaked out or something."»

Natirra refuted Igre's theory. «"I know, but that was a theory we quickly settled on because we didn’t have time to explain. But thinking about it now... come on, do you really think it’s possible?"»

Igre, who hadn’t given it much thought until then, reflected on it. «"You’re right. It’s actually quite unlikely, for several reasons. I honestly thought she’d return soon, that she’d give up or just hide to try and skip training. But... she’s still not here, clearly. I don’t think she’d really run off for good, but... it’s not something she couldn’t do."»

Everyone had stopped listening to Igre’s boring theory halfway through. Riaca gave a quick summary, much faster.

«"I don’t think she managed to escape. The place is guarded during the day. And the walls aren’t that easy to cross. If it’s hard for us, it won’t be easy for her. So then..."»

«"She escaped at night, right?"» Everyone turned to Monomia, who had finished his other portions.

«"Bravo, I was about to say that myself,"» Riaca muttered.

But Natirra still wasn’t satisfied.

«"That she left the tent before we woke up is clear. But... the doubt remains: did she manage to escape or not? If she failed, we’d know. So, the only options are that she succeeded or did something else."»

Everyone, even Monomia, pondered that for a while. Then, Igre scratched his head and, with a disinterested look, offered something.

«"Come on, who cares? She ran off after getting scared. Why think about it? It saves us trouble."»

Monomia, on the other hand, had a completely different approach.

«"Hey, Igre. Not like that. Natirra’s right. We didn’t question anything this morning because we were in a rush to training. But that doesn’t mean we should lose interest. At least, we should verify if she escaped, right?"» After a brief pause, however, he turned to Natirra. «"But... I don’t think anything else is possible besides her escape, right? Otherwise, we would have found her already."»

«"Even if we know that, deep down, it’s not my main doubt."» Natirra confessed. «"I want to know the reason that led her to do this."»

«"Isn’t it obvious?"» Igre said.

«"She was scared of the lifestyle here and ran away."»

«"No, I get what you mean, Natirra."» Riaca had also been mesmerized by Natirra’s speculations. She managed to connect the dots of Natirra’s doubts and began to doubt as well. As usual, she loosened her ponytail.

«"Yeah, she’s definitely a coward. But something scared her, way more than before. We also have to remember she was blind. And besides that, it seemed like she had a real motive. Though I... can’t quite remember."»

«"Alright, alright. You want to investigate, I get that."» said Igre, annoyed by the request to focus on someone like Eneas. «"But how on earth do you want to do that? We know nothing."»

Monomia raised his hand, touching Igre's head. The gesture quickly unsettled Igre. «"Hey! Let go!"»

Monomia ignored the request and responded with a smile. «"I’m confident Nati has a plan."»

Riaca’s mouth dropped open.

"Eh?! Now they even have nicknames?! No... This, Natirra, I won’t forgive her for this."

Igre smiled.

«"Alright. I accept the challenge. It’ll be a workout for my brain. I’ll prove to you that Eneas ran away."»

Natirra, happy to have a bit of cooperation, was grateful. «"Alright."»

Monomia exclaimed enthusiastically. «"Wow! Adventure! Mystery!"»

And Riaca, the last one left, not wanting to be excluded, crossed her arms and, now offended by Natirra, responded. «"Fine... Might as well find her. The only one I still like at this point."» She said the last part under her breath, just to avoid causing more problems.