Book Four – Interlude – Part Four – The Captain’s Elegy

Back at the office, inside a lobby that currently had more people standing than chairs, Fisher and Mire went their separate ways. The latter went to process the brazen criminal, and Fisher returned to his office to conquer the waiting reports.

“And? What do you two want?” he asked to a pair of guards standing outside his office. These two had their helmets on, so he really just saw the front of their face. He didn’t recognize them, though.

“Sir! We have important information,” said the one on the left.

“About what?” Fisher unlocked his office and stepped inside. The two men followed suit.

“It is concerning the sudden onset temporary paralysis that has been affecting a few members of the guard,” said the one on the right.

Paralysis? Something tells me I know who’s behind it.

Approximately forty seconds later, Fisher closed his eyes and nodded. “Let me get this straight. You’re saying this only happens when you’re following around a Human and a Singi holding hands?”

“Yes, sir! We’ve been trailing them for a few days now, and it only happens when we’re within a certain range. We even have a report of someone falling asleep while standing up. It happened to Jeb. I recommend we take swift action.”

“No, we won’t,” Fisher said, folding his hands upon his table. “It sounds to me like you two have been harassing these girls. Listen to me. Anyone involved with this investigation is ordered to cease all operations."

“Sir!” the guard on the left shouted in protest. “What those two are doing is outright disgusting! It is morally and legally reprehensible—“

“No, it’s not. Canary has no rules forbidding Humans and Demi-Humans from holding hands. I’m warning you… Leave the two alone…”

“Sir! Lieutenant Arnold wouldn’t have stood for this! He would have ordered us to take down these blasphemers for going against the good word of the church!”

Fisher didn’t know what compelled him to stay so calm. Internally, he growled, but it wasn’t for the apparent reason. He ignored the name of the creator of the Justice Captain and focused the guard’s use of the word ‘church.’

“You know… You’re right. Arnold would have done something. Just like how he rushed off after a thief without proper back-up. Do you know where Arnold is now? He’s dead… He’s fucking dead. Do you two want to die?”

“No, sir…” The guards’ voices were weak and hazy, no longer containing the falsified confidence it had a moment before.

“Good. Then if you value your life, you will leave those two girls alone. If I catch one peep of you two disregarding my orders, you with be charged with treason for going against the ones you have sworn to protect. And the crime of treason comes with death. Do you want me to do the honors in severing your heads? Or should I give it to Tim? Now, get the fuck out of my sight and think about what I told you. You two better hope I’m in a better mood next time I run my eyes across you.” Fisher tapped into his past and brought out a deathly voice. One that was smooth and ghastly, filled with the spice of death with the richness of murder.

For an honest moment, the two wimpy guards believed they were talking to a monster in human form. Without even responding with a ‘yes, sir,’ the pair scampered out of Fisher's office as he endured the strain of a headache.

Did they think their captain would share their belief? Share their contempt for seeing just two friends hold hands? No doubt, one of the two thought they were going to be given a promotion for bringing these harrowing findings to his captain.

Oh, how wrong he was.

But before he fielded their questions on what to do with the Singi and Human, Fisher pricked their minds with various questions about the church. He had tested the inflection of their voices and manner of speaking, then deduced that it didn’t seem like any tampering was going on.

Back to the grind… Hopefully, there'll be sometime before the next interruption.

He did receive his wish. For the next couple of hours, Fisher was free to tackle the shrinking pile of reports as he saw fit.

“Sir? It’s Rita and Riley?” said a voice that accompanied a pair of frigid knocks.

“Come in,” Fisher replied. He greeted the two fresh-faced recruits with a commanding nod, and his men were happy to report the completion of their mission. He took the report and flipped through it. Rita and Riley remained frozen in place since they knew their captain would scan it with a judgmental eye.

Well, the writing is legible… It isn’t the best, but it’s satisfactory. And most of the information is clearly laid out and labeled… And they even wrote their thoughts down… That was something I didn’t ask for, but it tells me something about their character.

“Did you have any trouble?” Fisher asked.

“A little bit, sir. Some of the higher-ranked men thought we were playing them for fools. We dropped your name, and they started singing like a canary,” said Rita.

“You two did a fine job. Did you find it comfortable? Leading a pack of men?”

“It was uncomfortable… Sir, I know it was a rather easy assignment. But being in command of it felt like a large shadow was cast over us. I think we must’ve written and rewritten the report a handful of times. Was it acceptable?” asked Riley. The two held their breaths, thinking back to the harrowing experience that was Fisher’s trainer. The two of them failed so often that they only managed to take his final test just once out of the five times they applied to the guard.

Oh shit! If he yells at us again like he used back then… Rita’s teeth started to chatter.

“Take it easy, men. You two did an alright job. Go ahead and take the rest of the day off,” Fisher said. The pair of guards were all smiles as they energetically saluted their captain. He watched them leave, reminding them to close the door, then stood up and stretched his neck. He couldn’t leave his office until he had penned down his notes and recommendations. And then he had to hope a message spirit was still available. On top of that, he had the other stack of documents.

“There ain’t no time like the present…” Fisher said. After filling up a glass he took from his storage with Create Water, he quenched his thirst and launched a valiant assault against the ferocious documents.

On the 8th of August, a quiet Fisher Jin sat at his desk in the early morning hours. In front of him sat a small bag of ice and a bandage for which he needed to nurse his left hand. Yes, he had suffered a wound, but he was happy about it because it came from his oldest daughter.

A few days prior, Fisher had managed to snag a day off and went to borrow a pair of wooden swords before the roosters had started to crow. He didn’t know what his children would think, but they were absolutely over the world. Meri gazed her wide eyes upon the sword and heroically held it up. “Now I can be like daddy!!” she exclaimed.

Really, it brought an emotional tear to his eye. After a light breakfast, the family, dressed in their sportiest outfits, all traveled to the backyard. Marissa sure looked beautiful. She wore a sleeveless white undershirt under her cut-off black sleeveless shirt. It stopped right above her belly button. A pair of pants that were perhaps a bit too tight covered her lovely legs, and that was securely fashioned around her waist with a sparkling new leather belt. Due to her circumstances, she had to buy a replacement set of training shoes, but the style was still the same.

It had been a few years since she held a rapier, but she still had the intensive training lodged into her muscle memory. Fisher had seen it once before, but he was still nonetheless impressed by it. But by then, a small war had broken out.

“I wanna be like mommy!”

“I wanna be like daddy! He’s the strongest!”

The two precious daughters were divided over which school they wanted to learn from. Somehow, that twisted into a demand for an exhibition match. The daughters cheered their mother and father as they fought a mock duel for the first time ever. Wooden blades clashed in a fight that was just too mind-blowing for the young girls. For they saw an epic battle filled with powerful skills and death-defying leaps across giant chasms. In reality, their imagination had kicked into overdrive, disguising the simple rehearsal into something it wasn’t.

Fisher and his heavy armor sure gave his wife a run for her money, for the excitement of the show, then declared it was a draw. She remarked she hadn’t moved like that in years, then lifted the bottom of her undershirt shirt to wipe her face. Strangely, it was erotic, and Fisher found himself smitten with her beauty for the 1200th time. She looked at him, dropped her sweat-soaked shirt, covering her bare tummy, then blushed away like a virgin maiden in love.

Even at the tender age of 30, she was just as beautiful as she always was. Fisher didn't think there was anyone else out there for him. For as long as he lived, she would hold a special place in the center of his heart.

With the practice match over, it was time to instill the basics of swordplay into his children, which was a task in itself. Blethor provided all of the experience without having Fisher train in any specific techniques. He did do that, of course, and he had hundreds of techniques stored away with twenty different weapon types.

But the basics? The starting stances? He was at a complete loss. Even when he taught Servi's class, they had the bare minimum already learned. Fisher had to ask his wife for one more practice match, which she happily agreed to. He told his girls to follow his stance as the combat knowledge flowed through his mind.

Marissa then popped up that she’d check their forms and help. Fisher thought that was best, and they didn’t move on to the next step until the stance was just right.

But complaints and scowls of soreness often followed when training children. Their little bodies were still growing, and the absolute last thing Fisher wanted to do was harm them by overexertion.

Would I have had that same thought if I had a son? Would I have changed my way of thinking and forced a sword into their hands? Shit, what if the best way to train my girls is to be rough? He had thought at the time. After a break to rest their arms, Fisher asked if they wanted to continue. The pride a pair of daughters had for their father said it all, and he moved into the next step: practice swings.

The first day of the Jin family training ended in utter success. Well, it lasted just for a few hours since it was only their first time actually training to do anything.

After getting washed up, changing into something far more comfortable, and having a healthy lunch, Meri remarked she wanted to go somewhere, but she didn’t have a place in mind. Her father came to the rescue and asked if they wanted to meet a shiny blue Kobold. Marissa caught onto it easily and smiled at what Fisher was trying to do. Soon after, the family all left their house and walked hand in hand to a particular church located on buncombe street.

“Woah!!!” exclaimed Meri, dressed in her adorable sundress.

“He’s pretty…” whispered Fisher’s other daughter. Both girls blurted out the first thing on their minds when they saw Father Melk. He was outside helping Kait with her lovely little garden. Beautiful Kaitlyn was right nearby, talking to Myil about the different kinds of flowers. It seemed as if a week did wonders for the poor Koena.

Father Melk thanked the young girls for their kind words with a hearty chuckle. Kait, meanwhile, rushed over and happily introduced herself to Fisher’s daughters, then asked if they and Myil could play together.

“Of course,” replied the doting father.

As the children frolicked in the fluffy sunlight, Melk ventured inside to bring out the table in the back room. He remarked it was such a beautiful day it felt wrong to waste it by being inside. The women of the group agreed, and after a few seconds, Marissa and Kaitlyn were chatting as if they had been friends all their life. As for Marissa and Melk? She offered him a kind compliment, saying that his scales were very lovely, and the big Kobold thanked her with a ferocious bout of laughter.

When it was time for a break, Myil was slowly but surely emerging from his abuse-induced shell. There were  far fewer apologies coming from his quiet voice, and it was a start. Hopefully, one that would keep going until he could feel the cheeriness of a happy childhood.  When it was about time to leave, Father Melk pulled Fisher off to the side and spoke to him under the scarlet glow of a setting sun.

“Captain, if there is one thing I can say about you… It is that you are an excellent father. Your girls are kind, smart, and well-behaved… Take pride in your parenting, friend.” Then Melk patted him on the shoulder as he left to ferry the table back inside. Then there was the trash detail. Empty cups and plates sat gathered nearby in a pile for collecting, but Melk mentioned he would take care of it all.

For sure, it was a very enjoyable day for the Fisher Jin family. One that had the potential to spiral out of control should his worst fears come to life, but by now, Melk had proved to be someone the captain could trust with his very life. Like before, when he had visited with Mire during their patrol, he felt a few gazes as he and his family walked through the city. After a while, those hostile intentions abruptly disappeared. Again, his instincts told him there was no cause for alarm, and thus he listened to them.  It was at this point he realized he had a beneficial shadow.

I won't bring it up unless they do. Between the governor and Nicholas, I'll put my faith in Keywater's prince.

Fisher would have liked to reminisce for a couple of more minutes, like the quick training they had this morning which resulted in his wound, but a barrage of knocks broke him out of his daydream. Without asking for permission to enter, the door swung open to reveal an energized governor and his sister.

“Heya! Fisher, long time no see,” exclaimed Blasé.

“Good morning, Fisher,” said Eina with a smile. Her shapely figure filled out her secretarial outfit in all the right places. Even though that was her title, she wasn’t forced to wear one. Her continuation in doing so probably suggested she liked this outfit more than her other clothing.

Wasting no time, Fisher returned their greetings and promptly got down to business. The first thing spoken concerned the twin’s adventure into Arcton. Blasé mentioned that they had to be sure they could rule out Arcton with what happened to Jeri and Sea. For his findings? He said the derelict city was less like a town and more like a wasteland. What little food and resources remained were being hoarded. Fights and deaths occurred nearly every waking moment. Despite that carnival of chaos happening just a three-day journey away, very little violence was escaping through the city’s destroyed walls.

Eina confessed she hadn’t seen anything like it, then wished she could get a Monotonia to analyze. She said they searched with a fine-tooth comb but didn’t happen upon one. Even bartering for one didn’t help since a pill was worth more than money.

“But yeah. Arcton can be safely eliminated. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if the king rolled in with an army at the first sign of any trouble escaping. As long as it’s confined to a city far from the capital, he probably wouldn’t care if the druggies all killed each other.”

“That was harsh, Blasé, but I do agree. It was certainly heartachingly saddening… Seeing the state of the city, I mean. And even if we do want to help Arcton, we do not have that kind of money or the resources necessary to sustain the growth of two cities. Even before that, Arcton needs a total overhaul…”

“Even if I do sell our treasures, we’re looking at a few years at most. And Arcton will be a constant drain on our resources during that time. It’ll just consume and consume, and its reputation, at this point, is nearly impossible to recover from. Who knows how long it’ll be before it starts to generate a profit? Not to mention the other obvious issues at hand,” Blasé added.

After he spoke, an eerie silence remained in the air. Eina then cleared her throat, breaking the quiet stillness and pulling out three scrolls from her Dimensional Storage.

“Out of the 104 slaves owned by the guardsman, only 29 are legitimate. I have seen their contract of ownership and criminal records with my own eyes, and I have also verified them through my contracts at Warden using my Rank 1 status as leverage.”

“Well, I was just about to ask if you were positive about that. Guess I have no need for that now. That leaves us 75?”

“That is correct. We have 75 counts of false enslavement… Thank the Gods for Teleportation and Flight. Without those two, we’d have to travel for literal months,” Blasé added.”

“Keep in mind, Blasé, that you didn’t use Teleportation. If anyone should thank them, it’s me. Ah, to answer what you probably want to ask, I did check out the remaining slaves. Honestly, the number of errors and paradoxes between the records were amateurish. I don’t know—ignore that. I do know.” Eina uncharacteristically sighed, shedding the hardened persons of a devoted secretary and showing off her true identity as Princess of Keywater. No doubt she was as exhausted as ever. Having to travel for days, squeezing out the last little bit of Skill Energy, and enduring the uncomfortableness of Teleportation after Teleportation would do that to a person.

“Thank you—the both of you—for doing this. I appreciate it,” Fisher said. He knew his words wouldn’t be enough, but offering to do something else to show his thanks would be turned down.

Blasé raised a hand and cracked his tired neck. “Don’t worry about it. Now, I suppose nothing has changed on the Nicholas front?” He watched a pair of heads shake to the left and right. “I figured. In that case…” He stood up and tapped the desk with his knuckles. “We are done here. Fisher, I suppose we’ll see you on the fifteenth.”

“Take care, Fisher. Stay safe.” Eina offered a friendly smile and behind her brother as they left the captain alone with three scrolls. He read them from to top bottom. Each held the name of 25 slaves. Next to each of them, within square brackets, was the name of their master. He thought about giving Rita and Riley a scroll each to give them some more experience but staved off and decided to wait until Mire and Tim. He looked at his pocket watch and had an hour to kill.

Fisher soon realized the time passed him by faster than he thought. He looked up from a report and called out to a passing subordinate. “Go fetch Tim and Mire,” he asked. Two minutes later, the two stood before their captain, ready and willing to carry out his orders.

He told them of the 75 cases, and Tim asked for his orders.

“I don’t rightly know the best way to take care of this. It is a delicate subject, but based on the severeness of false enslavement…”

And the overall general response to what is sure to be a controversial decision…will assuredly be negative.  People don’t look at slaves with a second glance because the simple act of being proclaimed one is enough to put enough bias into anyone’s heart. ‘If they’re a slave, then they must deserve it,’ is a natural line of thought. Who in their right mind would put their reputation on the line to assure all of the paperwork is in order?

No one that’s not a fool… That’s for sure.

Branching off that, for someone powerful… Say me, for example, it would be easy to grab a child off the street and file a false charge against them. Since the kid would be branded as a criminal, no slaver would give a second thought about clasping a bracelet around their wrist. Some might even ignore the ownership contract outright if I asked because who would ever question me?

Of course, I would never do that, but it is naïve to think that there aren’t people out there who would do that. With that in mind, who’s to say that those with ‘legitimate’ records are really ‘legitimate?’ And some slave markets don’t even ask for any proof. They’re more than happy to take the money, give the bracelet, and not ask any questions.

This is a start…

But that is all it is.

“Umm… Captain?” spoke Mire. She tapped the desk, and the pleasant sound forced Fisher’s mind to return from the world of thoughts and imaginations.

“What is it?”

“Am I allowed to speak freely?”

Fisher nodded.

“Sir, I’m not sure how relevant this is to the discussion, but I have something to share. A while back, I once met a slave who was happy being one because his circumstances were anything but normal. He grew up together with this one girl and this other guy. The three of them loved each other, but polygamy was not legalized. I don’t know if it’s still illegal, but at the time, it was. After thinking, the only way for the three of them to proclaim their love without hiding it behind a cloak of deception was for one of the men to become a slave. He did this by ‘stealing’ a blanket, and the crime of theft was used as the justification to bracelet him.

“It’s been a decade since I’ve seen them, but they had nothing but smiles. I suppose it would be nice if polygamy became legal so they wouldn’t have to use this loophole.”

Polygamy? That stuff is legal in Lando, Westera, and Keywater. Don’t know about the other continent and their countries, but that’s not my concern. That excuse just won’t fly.

“Sir, and if I may add something to Mire’s experience. I have heard word of a family in the noble district that has an elderly Singi as a slave. Rumors say they treat her as if she was a beloved grandmother, and her status as a slave was strictly…for show? As far-fetched as it sounds, maybe the Singi just wants to keep the reminder on her wrist. Honestly, it isn’t my place to say which way is right as long as she’s okay with it.”

“Without a criminal record and contract of ownership, false enslavement is still false enslavement. I don’t see why this Singi couldn’t just work as a maid without fearing the bracelet warped around her mind. Especially if she’s being treated like a grandmother. But I do get what you’re saying. I have no problem if a newly freed slave wants to work under their former owner as long as they are willingly working.”

At this point, I think I’m just being naïve myself… For example, a woman could have sold herself to a noble to pay off a debt. When freed, she will still be indebted. Even if she says she will willingly work back under him, isn’t that just another form of slavery in the financial sense?

After thinking about the childish grandeur, Fisher gave a scroll each to Mire and Tim. “Go to each of the names and tell them an investigation has concluded they were falsely enslaved. If any trouble comes up, drop my name and say it’s an order from me.”

“Got it. Sir, what should we do after? Do we tell the slaves to come here?”

Fisher answered Mire’s question. “That might be for the best. The least I could do is offer them a few words of an apology and a way to file their grievances. If anything, they might be eligible to receive a small sum of money as restitution.” The two loyal soldiers saluted their captain and walked right out. Right when the door was shut, the pair moved far enough away and spoke the words circulating in their mind.

“Mire,” Tim said when they were alone. “Is it me, or does the captain seem to be strangely obsessed with this?”

“I know what you mean. Honestly, it does hurt my heart to see my kind in chains and wearing that awful bracelet, especially when it’s possible they haven’t committed any crimes… What the captain is doing is admirable, though… Still, I almost wonder if he was somehow involved in the attacks on the markets a few months ago?”

“It does make you wonder…” Tim replied. “But surely not. We lost a lot of men during that night. If the captain was part of it, then… He’s a traitor…”

“Come on, don’t think that way. The captain’s probably doing this for a reason we don’t understand. I did hear he had a meeting with the governor earlier, so it might be on orders from them. Who knows, when he brought it up a week ago, maybe it was because of them?”

“Possibly… Then again, I suppose it is our job to carry out his orders. Mire, you stay safe, you hear?” Tim patted his friend on the should and offered a smile. The lights lovingly reflected off his polished scales.

“You too, friend,” replied Mire. Her smile sent Tim’s heart into a flutter. For a moment, he was dazzled by her pearl-colored hair, those eyes reminiscent of a lavender sun, and her long, luscious legs.

She sure is pretty… Tim thought.

The two of them went their separate ways to finish their mission, and not even ten minutes later, Fisher departed from his office to take care of the names on the third scroll.