Chapter 6 - Torturous Interrogation And The Baron
A clank echoes the quiet hall, unusually louder and tenser than usual. A door, around 2 metres tall, opened. Inside, we were greeted by a man sitting at a tidy desk.
“Welcome, please, have a seat.”
There was a massive window, covering half of the back of the room, and there were a few bookshelves to the side of the room. The room was the size of an average bedroom, but it looked cramped due to a large number of books and stuff around.
I sat down on one of two couches at the centre of the room; there was an empty, small wooden table between the two couches. The man stood up from the chair at his desk, and sat on the couch opposite us, waving his hand to dismiss Turnis and the others.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Baron Fiscus Arlmenia, local lord under the Marquess Of Ininhiam, and the Duke of Norweightien.”
This sounds slightly different from what I’ve read in novels. I guess a single person managing a large Dukedom would be impossible. Granting every single noble their own territory could lead to a mini-civil war over minor territories. Being under a high noble would deter attacks since a civil war between most nobles. Those in the upper nobility can be managed by the Kingdom much more easily; there are fewer nobles in the upper nobility in contrast to the lower nobility.
Looking at the Baron's face, it looked like a combination of a 20 and a 40-year-old. His face is wrinkly but still kind of fresh. It sort of resembles office workers working 14-hour shifts, making them tired enough to look 30 despite being fresh out of high school. Baron Fiscus had a mixture of brown and grey hair, with slanted hazel eyes. His attire was that of a typical noble, a bunch of frills and decoration; the Baron’s clothes probably weighs a couple of kilograms.
“Likewise, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m from the Syland Kingdom, as Count Furgaku Osimasu. Next to me is my Fiancee, Countess Charlotte Furgani.”
After spending a bit of time observing the Baron during his greeting, I returned with my greeting, also mentioning Lotte’s engagement to me. Why? Well, why not? I can feel Lotte's flinching. Have I unlocked ultra-instinct? Probably not.
After finishing my introduction, the Baron’s face remains stoic without expressing much emotion; it seems he will be difficult to read, but I can’t read people’s faces in the first place, though.
“Pardon my rudeness, but, may I inquire about something?”
After a short silence of thinking, the Baron decides to begin the battle of the wits by asking a question; I may be exaggerating it, but this is undeniably a battle. Maybe; I’m not sure.
“Go ahead.”
“What business do you have here, in a poor northern Barony, instead of much more popular tourist spots like the Capital of the Fief, or the Royal Capital?”
Wow, that was blunt. Anyways, I knew this question would pop up. I have been preparing for this. My dear shampoo bottle, please watch as I display my magnificent acting skills, watch the disciple you’ve raised for the past decade achieve a step closer to a social life!
“Well, you see, we were unfortunately struck by bad luck as our ship was sunk by a MASSIVE, slimy, sticky, grotesque creature from the ocean, while we sailed to our honeymoon spot in this Kingdom. My loving Fiance and I were barely lucky enough to survive with the bare minimums, and after trekking the dangerous woods from up north, we arrived in this town. If possible, could you provide a map to detail where we are?”
The Baron looked at me with a surprised expression. I know, I’m fairly good at acting. But, for some reason, Lotte is stomping on my foot fairly aggressively; I might lose all of my HP.
“I do have a global map on me right now, it’s quite new, but it doesn’t include minor archipelagoes and geographic features, only borders.”
Well, that doesn’t matter much. I just need basic information that can help me in the battle of the wits. Baron Fiscus gets up from the couch and walks back to his desk, sorting through a lot of paper.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
After some time of sorting, the Baron pulls out a map and lays it on the table. I take look at the map, and wow; it’s completely a different world.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/751692114403786902/797642203219886140/image0.png]
“This is approximately where we are.”
The Baron points to the north of the Orphany Kingdom, next to the sea(?) above it, around the middle.
“I see.”
“Now that you have seen where we are. Can I ask you a few more questions?”
Answering a single question is definitely not good enough to clear our dubious background. I give a slight nod in response to the Baron’s question. The Baron walked up to the door and whispered something to a maid.
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A few minutes of awkward silence passes and several maids enter carrying tea and some light confectionaries. This interrogation will be a long one; I can already feel it. Whenever the food comes in, it usually lasts hours. The Baron cracked his neck and began straightening his back on the couch.
“First of all. I’m curious where those clothes originated from; they don’t seem like a typical noble’s attire, are they a new trend in the Syland Kingdom?”
“These are from a brand new tailor from abroad; a noble gave them to us as a gift. We do not know the true origin of these clothes’ tailor, nor do we know these clothes' country of origin.”
“There are usually warships patrolling the Mariland Channel, the chances of monsters appearing are rare. Do you know the approximate location of which the monster appeared? The monster may be an international threat as the Mariland Channel is crucial for trading.”
“Unfortunately, only the sailors of the ship knew the ship’s location; we didn't have much of a reason to check it, so we never did.”
“Alright. How did you escape from the monster? If you escaped, then there may be a chance of other sailors escaping. Did you have anything onboard the boat that might attract monsters?”
“We managed to escape through a miracle. It’s all thanks to the efforts of the sailors aboard, using magic to distract the monster gave us enough time to float away on a wooden board, and barely escape the monster. I'm not too sure myself whether anyone else survived, but I hope there are other survivors.”
“What was your ship called? What ship class was it?”
“I don’t remember the ship’s name since my family owns multiple vessels. The main family has authority over all naval vessels, so we merely boarded whatever ship the main family assigned us. As for the latter, it depends on what measurement you use.”
“How about cannon quantity?”
“It was a 32 cannon ship from memory; it may be a larger type.”
“Why did you only travel on only 1 ship with no escorts, instead of a fleet?”
“It was merely a honeymoon, so moving a whole fleet was unnecessary. It would affect the naval prowess of the country in case of an emergency.”
“Considering you have a main family while having a title of Count, your main family must be a Marquessate or a Duchy. That must mean the Osimasu family is very influential in the nation, combined with their private navy being strong enough to affect national strength. Why is it that I have yet to hear of such a family? I have visited the Syland Kingdom multiple times, with the last time being two years ago.”
“There are multiple main families in many different countries, but we tend to do things secretly. I do not know much about our family in countries such as the Mariland Empire, but as descendants of the Syland Kingdom’s main family, I know that we let the Royal family lease ships through a third party cooperator. My branch of the family is significantly less politically powerful in contrast to the main family. Few still know of us, even some Royal families don’t know about us.”
“I see.”
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The Baron was super sceptical about us even after an hour of questioning. The torturous interrogation lasted until evening, with the Baron finally inviting us to dinner and leaving the ‘other questions’ to another day. After eating, we were guided to a guest room to stay for the night.
The guest room was fairly large. There were two beds next to each other at the back of the room, easily King size with some veils and other decorations everywhere. Between the two beds were a fancy wooden cabinet and a large; and a long window with the blinds closed. The room was decorated with fancy, flower wallpaper and a chandelier in the middle of the room.
Lotte walked up to the bed on the right and just died; Lotte went straight to sleep after touching the mattress. I guess she’s not used to sitting in the same position for an entire day. Lotte did nothing except quietly watching the Baron’s mentally scarring interrogation; she must’ve been bored to death, but at least she had an opportunity to eat the confectionaries.
I walked up to the bed on the left and sat down on it, looking at the blinds with the moon's light going through it.
“I wonder what will happen next… AHHHH!!!!”
I let loose a scream, it was quiet enough to not be heard by others, but it was still fairly loud.
“Why did I answer the questions in such a Chunni way?! Secret family my ass! The whole story will be a trainwreck. I won’t be executed for committing identity fraud right?!”
Now that I looked back on it, how- where did I get such confidence!? I got busted, didn’t I?
That night, I had no sleep at all. I spent every waking moment slapping myself, worrying about what the Baron thought when hearing my answer. What will happen next? Why didn’t I answer like this, instead of that? That answer was an obvious lie; did the Baron notice the obvious lie? Why did he look at me like that when asking that question?!