"So why are you, a 'mercenary' from the Kingdom of Whitesails, protecting a slave camp by the border of the Taiyo Dynasty?"

"Its—I… um."

The man had calmed down from his earlier hysterics, but he still stammered in response to every other question. It didn't help that Dalric had been carefully analyzing the enchanted blade while he spoke, but the simple truth was he was just a poor liar. They hadn't been speaking for long and Dalric had already picked up on a number of his cues. The most obvious one was the 'um'. It only really came out when he was pausing to come up with a believable story. There was a long list though, from his word choice to mannerism to the tone of his voice. He gave away the fact he was lying in so many ways, Dalric vaguely wondered if it was bait. Part of the ill-advised plan had been to rattle the man, but this felt excessive.

"It's, um, it pays quite well. I… just—my family desperately needs the money.."

"And how much does it pay?"

The man's eyelids rose a bit.

Elders. How did you not think I'd ask that?

"It uh…"

Dalric waved his free hand, "Nevermind, nevermind. Back to this 'Devil Glass', so it's illegal in the Kingdom of Whitesails and not the Taiyo Dynasty. What do people use it for?"

"Slaves..?"

"That's it? It has no other uses?"

"Uh. Not that I know? W—they use it to keep the slaves under control."

Dalric eyed the 'glass', "Do they also use the same spell you used to make it undetectable?

“It wasn’t me!”

Dalric fought hard to not roll his eyes, “Yes, yes. Nothing is you. You’ve never been at fault for anything in your life. Just answer the question.”

He noticeably deflated, "They… they don't."

"And why is that? Is the spell, perhaps, unique to you?"

"No!" The man yelled.

Dalric's face yelled 'horseshit' back.

"It isn't my spell!"

"Then why do you know a spell that's identical? If it's not yours, then whose is it?"

He stammered, “I… can’t tell you that.”

Dalric was officially tired of this back and forth. He learned much of the general knowledge he needed to know about the surrounding area already and he most definitely wasn't going to pry any meaningful information out of the man without resorting to torturing him. Everytime he went for intimate details, he met poorly conceived lies or blatant refusals to speak. He was tired of it. Interrogating and information gathering were never his strong suits anyway. The fact he got so much information out of his first proper dialogue with a human was good enough.

Hm. It is actually possible that it isn't him who cast the spell on these. I had assumed he was in some sort of leadership position, but he's clearly inexperienced. Incredibly inexperienced. He can't possibly be running this place… but the way that brute behaved… No. I don't know what's going on here but this man is definitely not the head of anything. He can't even stay composed enough to come up with consistent lies.

The potential that this was all a ruse still lingered, but Dalric shrugged at it. The general info he learned would likely be useful either way. Lying about it when it was so easy to prove or disprove held little to no value. If the man made everything up anyway, then Dalric would just have to take that on the chin and admit he'd been fooled. In the end, it would only serve to waste a bit of his time so he felt fairly secure in taking that bet.

"Final question. What God do you worship?"

"God?" The man made a number of bewildered faces, "Worshipping a God… is outlawed?"

It was Dalric's turn to make a series of baffled expressions, "Excuse me, outlawed? Thats...thats. Huh? You have priests don't you?"

"Yes…?"

Dalric blinked. Twice.

"What do they do?"

"They… preach about our forefathers? And uh run schools, teach kids."

What is this guy saying? Has he really been lying to me this entire time?

"You m—"

Wait. The Gods wanted to kill these people. Desperately. They didn't even wait to fully control my body before attempting to begin the massacre. They were that desperate. Having zero access or authority in an entire kingdom would definitely do that.

…

But how the hell did they manage to outlaw them in the first place?

Dalric still wasn't completely sure he was on Frysta. There were many things pointing toward the possibility that he was, but there were also many things pointing towards the possibility that he wasn't. The two nations for example, he'd never heard of either of them. He did know Taiyo was Surunese though, and apparently the national language of the Kingdom of Whitesails was some simplified version of Hellgurian. Those were both languages he knew, Hellgurian more so than Surunese.

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He also confirmed this was an island. The Surunese were an island people. They didn't have any kingdoms, but they did have a number or powerful tribes. And a jungle. Though the jungle he remembered was tiny and devoid of life compared to what he saw outside.

The obvious answer to these anomalies would be Aegeus. He would have a vested interest in creating the most fertile land for his enlightened-sapient-things to grow, in keeping the Gods completely out of his business, and assuming he planned to grow into a God himself he'd have the power to found and control a kingdom. The eastern coast of Hellguria was only a one week boat ride to the Surunese island too.

Though it was the clearest answer he could see, it still didn't explain enough. The most glaring, why were the ahjer levels so abundant here? If one man could do that, he'd already be stronger than a God. Then there was the issue of timeline. Dalric could appreciate that he likely wasn't immediately reborn. Chances are it took a few years, maybe even decades. Still, kingdoms aren't built that quick, enlighteneds aren't born that quick, and jungles don't grow that quick. Details weren't aligning.

The more I know, the less I understand.

Dalric shook his head, "I guess real answers will have to wait for a city. So your use has run out."

"Wait! I gave you real answers!"

"Maybe you did." The cage immediately closed around him, killing him instantly, "I'd have killed you for willingly working at a slave camp either way."

His remains spread across the floor as the streaks returned to Dalric. Coming into contact with Thunderfield could lead to a variety of results, most involving the person's ahjer being violently contorted while still in their body. In this case, large swaths of the man's body were eviscerated. A common result if and when the person doesn't know how to empower themselves. The brute knew, so he got a taste of his ahjer being sent haywire instead. Of course if he was strong enough he could have shrugged off all effects, he just wasn't.

Speaking of the brute, you were never necessary.

He was still unconscious so Dalric quickly stuck the sword between his eyes. No need to prolong the inevitable. The man didn't seem to have a good grasp of the language anyway, it was unlikely he'd have anything useful to say. He looked towards the full armored swordsman to the right of the brute. They also didn't seem to have a full grasp of the language, likely because they were from the Taiyo Dynasty, but Dalric didn't care in their case. He more than half-hoped they lived. Their sword was exquisite. Dalric could of course summon many objectively better weapons, but even those didn't have this level of craftsmanship. From the quality of the metalworking to the streamlined enchantments to the way the hilt served as an easy conduit to absorb the wielder's ahjer and empower the whole blade, it was truly a remarkable weapon.

He could use one like this. A physical one, that he didn't have to summon. Swords in particular weren't his style, so he didn't really want to take this one specifically. He'd rather figure out where or who they got it from so he could go straight to the source for a custom weapon.

I'll also have to figure out how to gain some quick gold here. Anyway.

With his business completed and no signs of any further reinforcements, Dalric sent out the black streaks one last time. He sent them all for this one. They spread out across the room and attached themselves to the bars on each of the cells. Then they melted them down. It took a bit more time than the instantaneous he would have liked, but his connection to Thunderfield was getting fainter and fainter by the moment. It lasted long enough to get the job done though. He'd have to do the chains himself, but he'd have done that anyway. Thunderfield was many things, but gentle was not one of them. The second all of the bars were gone, he let the pitch black lightning dissipate and returned to being just human.

I'm not going to enjoy the rebound.

Using Thundefield without having the appropriate vessel for it was not the best decision he's ever made, but he'd quietly blame the shard for that and move on. That was another thing that was off. Jester Shards, or Devil Glass as they’re known here, were made with lucyberry extract. That part checked out just fine, they grew lucyberry bushes here. The part that didn’t make sense was Jester Shards were out of use way before lucis, the most devastating drug Dalric had ever seen that was also made from lucyberry extract. If there are people who remember how to make the shards, how aren’t there people making the drug?

All these questions were really bogging him down. His insatiable curiosity drove him to constantly ask them and want to have complete answers for them. He didn’t need them though. The number one thing he needed right now was an understanding of where he placed in the world, figuratively. Was he still stuck as a slave to the Gods or could this be a new beginning for him? That was the most important thing, everything else came second.

He’d already proven he can fight off the Gods' influence, but can he do it again? Can he do it while their full attention is squared directly on him? These are the questions he needs to both ask and answer. For now at least, all these secondary details could wait.

The slaves couldn’t wait though, so he went about breaking off their chains and removing the shard from their heads. He had discovered their full functions, damping the desire for violence was only one of four things each did. They also slowed the body's metabolism, increased its desire for sleep, and heightened the person’s reverence for those wearing red. The first two made sense. The last one very much didn’t. How in the world they accomplished that with Jester Shards, he wasn’t going to think about. Yet.

Hm. Wait. Could I use these to fight against the Gods?

Maybe he was going to think about it. Just not now. He needed to wrap up freeing these people and then the whole camp so he could sit down and really figure out his path. He got about a third of the way through the thirty or so occupied cells when he met the first person that was awake.

“Oh shit.”

He hurriedly freed them from their chains and the shards control. They were human, dark skinned like the other man. They appeared to be male themselves, though they had long hair that as he helped them get on their feet went all the way down to their stomach. Their face was quite angular and their eyes were a dark purple, but otherwise they looked like a typical human to Dalric. Thick eyebrows though.

“Hel—”

Before Dalric could get a word out they dropped to one knee, “My name is Ryku Tai. I’m a silver badge Paragon. My badge was taken from me, but if you allow me accompany you to any operating branch they can confirm my rank. Please, take me as a student.”

Dalric looked down at him stunned, “What? No, I’m not here for a student.”

“If you do not mind someone like me asking, what are you here for? Master.”

“First of all, don’t call me that. Ever.” Dalric’s demeanor shifted very dangerously towards angry.

“Yes sir! My deepest apologies.”

“No, I don’t m—ugh. Stop. I won't be your master or teacher or any of the sort. After I’m done freeing all the slaves here I’m leaving. You’ll go on and continue to be a..a Paragon. Okay? Good.”

Dalric walked out of the cell and into the next. No way would he get trapped into being someone’s teacher. Once he was done freeing these slaves, he had to go figure out how to free himself. There was absolutely no time for a student.