So this is their countries leader? He seems a tad aggressive they are at war with several countries on multiple fronts though. As I get closer I can’t help but feel his attempt at an intimidating presence. It’s not much compared to Shimada and Haru.

Edward swallows slightly nervously. “He’s my friend… He’s a prince from Xing. So far he has helped me a lot by teaching me variations of his countries alchemy and lessons on chemistry.”

The Fuhrer glances towards Edward then back to me with a slight scowl. “Be that as it may, he’s still part of a foreign countries government and I’m afraid there are matters of importance that I can’t say around someone that I don’t have total confidence in.”

That’s… kind of fair. I’ll just ask Edward what they discussed later. I just raise my hands placatingly. “I’ll just be outside then while you all discuss things.” Going outside I see the same two guards from before listening to the door again. The blond man laughs a bit nervously as his eyes catch the fuhrer's eye before he steps away and stands at attention.

After about 10 minutes there is a large crash and yelling from inside. I almost go in but I’m sure if it was a serious threat that some sort of transmutation would occur or something. So instead I just wait outside, after it settles down Armstrong pokes his head out. He looks either way before urging me inside the room.

Looking around the back window is broken and Zig is breathing heavily on the couch.

Turning towards Edward I can’t help but ask. “What the heck happened in here?”

He shares a look with Hughes and Armstrong before sighing. “Well… the fuhrer talked to us about a possible rogue element in the military. After that he jumped out of the window it’s just.” He turns towards Zig.

Armstrong nervously laughs at this. “Well it seems Zig here was hanging to the outside of the window, so when the Fuhrer jumped out they ran into each other. They had a bit of a scuffle. Thankfully the Fuhrer let Zig go…”

That’s surprising… Looking over at Zig again he huffs in annoyance. “I let him win.”

Judging by him being maskless and his neck having a small cut that is closing itself he’s probably just too proud.

Sitting down next to him I look at the rest of the group. “Right… so what else did the Fuhrer mention? If there are people within the government sacrificing for philosopher stones then he might at least have some leads. But I also wouldn’t trust him fully yet.”

Hughes looks at the notes for a moment and thinks to himself, unlike before he has a serious look. “While you are friends with Edward I don’t know you personally yet. I hope you understand. I work for the department of intelligence. I know what Xing does to its criminals and some information on how your royal family works. We may not be at war but it’s only because of the desert. If your emperor found a foothold over here…” He shakes his head.

That’s fair, he knows Edward but I’m someone new. Xing sends its criminals to other countries, the Slasher is probably one of them so our relations aren’t exactly the best already. He’s also not wrong the emperor would love to expand this way if he could.

“Okay…” I look towards Edward. He looks to struggle between looking at me and Hughes.

That’s when the sound of laughter starts echoing out of Al’s armor causing Al to startle and trip.

From within Al, we can all hear Slasher. “You’re all so close yet so far! Bring me to another room that doesn’t have a shattered window I have sensitive information to divulge.” Hughes nods and we all move to the room next door.

Al opens up his chest piece and removes the helmet and sets him on the table in front of us.

“Edward is it safe to let them stay here?” Hughes looks at me and Zig.

Slasher speaks up for him. “They should be, after all, he’s the one that earned the answers, to begin with. Well, that and that they killed my brother… Once I tell you everything please destroy my blood seal.” That’s awkward… I guess I shouldn’t tell him that I killed his brother using my own blood before the building collapsed.

“Now, as all of you know I was once a prisoner on death row. I was caught approximately 25 years ago alongside my brother. We were both… ‘refugees’ from Xing.” Hughes gives me a look at that.

“When we arrived here everyone seemed so weak. We decided to have a bit of fun and killed left and right. At first, we were careful we used our training properly and only killed for money. Thefts there, an assassination or two. Eventually, we started to get more confident an extra murder here or there for fun. This led to leaving a trail of bodies so big the authorities were scratching their heads trying to figure out who was doing it.

We would alternate turns you see, my brother was more stealth-oriented, while I was better with a sword. None of the alchemists at the time could match us so we had fun playing god… That’s when we ran into one of them. They had a malevolent Chi, it felt like thousands of souls screaming in despair begging for help. By that point, we had both pushed ourselves a bit more than we should have. We were younger then, cocky and riding the high of beating weak men left and right. They looked just like any other soldier but when my brother sliced into them from behind, his blade was caught halfway. He was so shocked by this that they managed to reach out and their arm turned into a sort of large python then it turned into solid metal once they had him trapped. He couldn’t move an inch.” He pauses for a moment likely lost in thought.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“As for me… all I managed to see was my shadow pull from the ground, covered in eyes and teeth it grasped me by my arms and legs dragged me to the ground… I heard what sounded like a child's laughter as each of my limbs was sawed off. Then nothing, I’d blacked out from the pain. Unlike the others, we were kept in a special cell area. We may have been test subjects 48 and 49 but we were in charge of guarding that lab for many years.”

Armstrong looks surprised. “That means you were working for them during the Ishvalin war! Who were you working for?”

Slicer chuckles for a moment. “The government, we were their prototype immortal soldiers. They’d stolen the secret to our creation from the land of rust and wanted to make their own. But they soon realized that testing the process on prisoners wasn’t gaining the results they wanted. All the while I helped guard their philosopher's stonework.”

Hughes frowns. “When you say the government who do you mean?”

Slasher just chuckles again. “I meant the government. I worked directly for the Fuhrer in several situations. Having a warrior incapable of losing stamina that can use Chi was a valuable asset to them. I refused to teach them and as long as I helped in everything else they didn’t push too hard to force me. We were willing to die for the secret after all.”

Everyone else in the room goes quiet. That same man that was just laughing with them and trying to warn them about rogue groups inside was secretly part of the problem.

That can’t be it is it? I have to ask. “Then who else is in on it? If the Fuhrer is part of it then it must be justified. If they were using prisoners set for death row it’s not that bad.”

“No no you don’t seem to understand, they use more than just prisoners. The whole Ishvalin war was just to get more people for their stones. Did you know they even attempted to surrender but we refused and killed their delegates?” Armstrong and Edward look pale. Hughes just clutches his fist tightly.

He narrows his eyes at the helmet. “How do we know you are telling the truth? You worked for this group so maybe you’re just saying one last lie?”

He chuckles again. “Because I have nothing else to live for. Besides if I wanted to have you killed I’d of just spoken up when your precious Fuhrer was in the room. He’s far stronger than most of you could probably handle. He and I would spar sometimes… Haaah, Those were the days. You can just confirm what I’ve said yourself. Now… please break my seal.”

Edward looks at the others nervously. Then back at the seal inside the helmet. “Is it really okay to just… kill him?”

I stand up and pick up the helmet. Hughes stands up quickly to stop me. “No! He might have more information. We can’t lose a potential source like this. Even if he lies every good lie holds a grain of truth.”

I just shake my head. “You don’t understand… he won’t answer any more questions even if you asked or locked him away. He’s an ex-guard from the royal family. That he wasn’t killed on the spot speaks of his skill when he left. He would have the resolve to never speak especially since you can’t cause him any physical pain. Even then he’d be more likely to just lie.”

The helmet just starts laughing in its echoing laugh. “You understand! Spending years with these people it’s like they have no understanding of giving your word… Release me from this prison now please. I’ve lived on long enough, without my brother there’s no reason to continue past my time.” I reach into the helmet with a small spark of alchemy I scratch across his seal.

“Be at peace…” Edward looks at me clearly conflicted about watching me murder someone in front of him. Al is a bit harder to read but considering the way his hands fidget he’s also not sure about things.

Hughes lets out a long sigh. “Fine… let’s say the government is secretly plotting these things… What do we do about it?”

Armstrong looks shaken out of his stupor. “Obviously we inform the public! They have a right to know that their leaders have been less than honest with them.”

Edward looks to me but I just shake my head. “This is your guesses country. I’m only helping because I’m here and I want a philosopher's stone. I’d also like to deal with whoever the ‘Father’ is of that creature. If they can make beings out of these stones more than just your country is at risk. While I don’t care for most of my country I still have those I care about.” I’ll feel a lot better once my main quest is complete. I can’t help but think about the kids back at the Hamburgangs household… I suppose there are a few people here I’d like to save too.

Shaking my head. “We need support. At the moment it’s just us but we need to carefully inform certain people about what’s going on. I assume you trust Mustang?” Everyone nods.

Hughes nods. “Mustang and I go back to our training days. If there was anyone in the military I trust it’d be him.”

Armstrong thinks for a moment. “There’s my sister to the north. She can be a bit… difficult at times but she would do anything for this country. I’d trust her to not sacrifice its people. Her bottom line is sacrificing the innocent. They’ve crossed it so she would be on our side.”

Edward and Al look at each other before Edward speaks up. “Our teacher is down in Dublith she can be really scary… thinking about it she can transmute without a circle.”

Al sits up excited. “Brother! You’re right! Maybe she knows something more about human transmutation. She seemed to have all her limbs and eyes.” Did she manage to do it without a sacrifice?

Then they start to hug each other. A bit oddly considering Edward only has one arm and leg at the moment. “B-but we haven’t contacted her in years… We never told her we were joining the military.”

I pull up a mental map. Oh… that works out. “To get to Dublin we can stop by Rush Valley.” Edward looks at me oddly. “Why would we need to go there?”

“Because Wenry has probably finally made it there by now?” His eyes widen remembering that. Then Al starts to panic. “Oh no… it’s been a week. Sorry guys I have to go make a phone call right away!” He just gets up and runs out of the room.

Edward laughs at his back. “Well alright then, I guess we have our next destination. To Rush Valley for an arm and a leg. Then off to meet teacher…”

Turning to the other two Hughes shakes his head. “I need to get home and talk to my wife… With everything going on I’m worried about her and my daughter staying anywhere near central. After that I’ll go meet with Mustang and discuss things… this is going to be a political nightmare.”

Armstrong shakes a bit. “I’ll… I suppose I should visit my sister. I hope she doesn’t treat me like a potential spy again.” He shivers again. What the heck did she do to him that makes a massive guy like him shiver.

“Alright, we have somewhat of a plan… Let’s find our allies and figure out the next step from there.” With that, we all go our separate ways for now.