43—Interrogation

The trip was made short by our chatter, and all too soon we were nearing the adventurers' guild, by which point I set Aina down on the ground, not without reluctance. She gave me a quick peck on the checks in thanks for the service. As we were nearing the building, though, I noticed a small queue forming at the entrance, and soon discovered the cause.

At the door, there were two men, both wearing the telltale outfit of the city guard— the badges in their chests designating them as senior guardsmen—and a third man, this one larger, stockier, with a large scar across his scalp reaching to his left brow, dividing both said brow and his short-trimmed light grey hair in two from the front.

He wore something similar to the uniform of the guild staff, but much more intricate and clearly tailor-made.

I had never seen him before, but could make a reasonable guess as to his identity.

'I mean, his whole being screams "guild master", for God's sake. The only thing missing would be an oversized broadsword or waraxe. I bet it's hanging on a wall in his office.'

I got in line, using my enhanced senses to listen in on what the city guard was doing here, and found out that they were interrogating every adventurer that went in, asking them about...

...the ten adventurners who had mysteriously disappeared after going into the Eastern Forest a couple of days ago.

'Oh shit. Those have to be the ones I killed. Aaargh! Why couldn't I have just knocked them out like I did with all the other groups that attacked us before!? Sure, there were never so many, but... damn.'

I was in a tight spot.

'Okay. Calm, Ray, calm. You still have time; your turn won't come for a few more minutes. Okay, let's analyze the situation.

'So, the easiest way out of this would be to just turn away and exit the queue... but that would basically make me the prime suspect, since there would be no reason to leave the queue other than to avoid the questioning.

'They must've spread some sentries out in the surroundings, too, to watch out for any adventurers that left the queue, or even just turned away altogether after seeing it. After all, any normal culprit would do that, instead of lining up to see what's up like an idiot. Ugh.

'Still, I can bluff fairly well. I should be able to manage, especially given that I have a track record of turning thugs and criminals in, and never killing them. Good.'

As the guards were interrogating the woman two spots afead of me, I noticed one of them discreetly glance at his gloved palm every once in a while—his eyes only looking at it for a fraction of a second before going back to the woman—then close the hand immediately after.

My eyes narrowed.

Then they widened at the realization of what that meant, and cold sweat began pouring down my back.

'Oh shit... if that's what I think it is... I might be fucked, royally so. It shouldn't be though, right? As I recall from Raynold's memories, those things are extremely expensive, even the simplest, most basic ones, to the point where their existence isn't even common knowledge... so a mere senior guardsman shouldn't have been given one for a simple disappearance of some low-Rank adventurers, right?'

My desperate reasonings, however, were only met with despair, when I got closer and, the next time the guardsman looked at his palm, barely noticed even with my keen eyesight the slight reddish glow given off by whatever he held, as the adventurer he was interrogating tried to explain something while sweating profusely.

'Well, I'm well and truly fucked, then. 'Cause I'm pretty sure that's a truth stone.'

I controlled my expression, trying my hardest not to let my dismay show in my face. That would be a big giveaway. Searching for any strand of hope, my gaze met Aina's, and my eyes lit up.

'Of course! I didn't tell Aina about the... incident. I was going to, but between the fact that I didn't want to make her sad and that so much stuff has been going on these past days, I just... didn't. It might just be my saving grace, though. If it's like this...'

A rough plan began to take shape in my head, but all too soon, it was our turn for questioning.

I was banking my whole plan on the truth stone being of the most basic kind, the one which could only react to outright lies told in a radius around it, glowing red when it did, and not reacting to truths (duh), technical truths prone to misinterpretation, questions, nor any other kinds of statements. Such a type was also easily countered by some specific magical items and charms, and probably even with a strong enough deception ability, but unfortunately I lacked all those.

I was better versed in technicalities, however.

"Good morning, sir," said guardsman 1, the one with the supposed truth stone, "Could you tell us your name?"

I smiled pleasently. 'Good. This will do for a first test.'

"Most people call me Ray," I told a half-lie, keeping my demeanor neutral. I didn't notice the eyes watching me from a few meters away.

'After all, everyone at the guild, Aina and Nika call me Ray. Only my father and brothers, along with a few others such as the blacksmith who made my sword use Raynold. That should be counted as true.'

The guardsman's eyes flickered to the stone in a movement so quick you could blink and miss it. Mine stayed on his face. After all, his hand was turned in a way that there would be no way for the interrogated person to see the stone, and with guardsman 2's eyes squarely on me, moving my gaze downward would be way too conspicuous.

I didn't need to. The slight movement of his face muscles as his expression relaxed slightly told me all I needed to know. The stone hadn't reacted to my words.

'Hell yeah, never thought my degree in psychology would actually come in handy in such a situation.'

As I had such thoughts, I realized guardsman 2, the one without stone, was looking at Aina, probably to ask her the same question, so I stopped mentally patting myself in the back.

"Could you tell us yours?" he asked, doing a remarkably good job of hiding his distaste at her appearance. It was to be expected. He was a professional, after all.

Aina glanced up at me, and I just nodded while smiling to reassure her. Looking back at the guardsman, she said, almost proudly, "I'm Aina. Ray's maid, party member, and lover." Her words were firm, though I winced slightly at her freely giving away information. Not that I wanted to hide our relationship from anybody.

Unbeknownst to me, the eyes watching me narrowed in amusement.

Her words seemed to take both guardsman for a loop, though the nigh-imperceptible nod guardsman 1 gave his colleague confirmed that the stone had given its approval yet again.

This time, it was 1 who spoke up, once again looking at me.

"I was going to ask if you two were in the same party, but I suppose it won't be necessary anymore. Then, adventurer Ray, do you know any adventurers by the following names?"

He then proceeded to list the ten names that I assumed belonged to ten people I killed that day.

Luckily, I hadn't bothered to learn them beforehand, so this would be an easy one.

"Sorry, officer, but I'd never heard of any adventurers by those names until now."

2 looked at Aina as I finished responding, and she chimed in, "No, me neither, I only really know Ray, Nika, the nice receptionist lady, and a few others we talked to before. Sorry."

I couldn't help but laugh at her cute antics, which even helped lower the guardsmen's guards, pun not intended.

I stroked her head as I muttered, "You're really the cutest thing in the world... ah, sorry, officers. Any more questions?"

Both men sighed, but continued. It was 2 who asked the question this time.

"Then, I'll be blunt. Did any of you kill any adventurers these past few days?"

My expression turned dark upon hearing that question. I didn't even have to hide it, since I could just argue I felt insulted at the accusation.

'Shit. I knew this would come eventually but damn, this is bad.'

Ii was time to enact part 1 of my plan: Act entitled.

"Hey, hey, are you really accusing me of killing fellow adventurers!? Do you even know who I am? I reached D Rank in less than two weeks! I turned in groups of thugs who attacked my party not one, nor two, but three times! Three! I refuse to believe you haven't seen my face around the garrison at least once, I'm practically a regular! What use would it be for me to randomly kill the fourth group? Money? Ha! I'm carrying tens of gold coins on me right now, and not a single copper's worth was looted off a dead body! Revenge? Why? I didn't even know the guys!"

Then came part 2 of the plan.

"Aina, please tell them with your own words."

She nodded, then went on her own string of angry rebuttals, as I watched the guardsman's eyes flick down at his hand then back up in a mere moment, before his expression softened further, even turning apologetic.

'Good.'

"Yeah! That's right! Ray's never killed anybody! He knocked out and turned in all the baddies that attacked us because I was ugly! Plus, he's so strong he can easily knock them out without an issue, he's never lost a fight! So stop picking on us! Hmph!"

Her naive words were like little daggers digging into my heart, reminding me of my scumminess, but I bore through it all, then ended it with a "If you don't believe us, just ask any of the adventurers around!"

I said that to try to cap the discussion off, not as part 3 of the plan, but unexpectedly, the adventurers nearby all responded to my call.

"That's right, don't pick on the little guy!"

"How could someone so handsome ever be the culprit?"

"The guy has strange tastes, but he ain't bad!"

"Yeah, he don't got the wits to kill ten guys and get away with it, 'is style is simplah; he runs up tah tha monstas and cuts 'em to bits, tha's whah they call 'im Boar Gorer!"

As I heard that, I couldn't help but shout, "They call me Boar what!? That sounds disgusting! No one told me anything about that!"

I heard a few laughs around me, and someone responded, "Yeah, Boar Gorer! The ones who saw you fight all said the same thing, you jus' charge in and slash 'em up, then it's over! All power, no technique; Boar Gorer! Hahaha!"

My scowl turned thunderous; partly as a scheme to detract attention from my questioning, but partly out of genuine anger, and I shouted, "No technique!? Who the hell said that!? Come here and I'll show you technique!"

That prompted another round of laughs around me, with even Aina giggling quietly at the hotheaded display, and I smiled inwardly at my successful redirection. Looking at the guardsmen, frozen and looking around in startlement, the stone in 1's palm most likely not having glowed once, I decided to finish this off for good.

Walking up to them, I put a hand on each one's closest shoulder, then said in a tone like a senior talking to his junior, "You might find all this ruckus disconcerting, but that's just how adventurers are. So, if you're planning on staying here for a while, getting used to is as soon as possible will be for the best. Anyway, I don't feel like going questing anymore. The accusations and stupid nickname have ruined my mood. See ya." I told them, being careful not to say anything technically false, then turned away and left, Aina in tow.

I never noticed the slightly narrowed, curious gaze there followed me as I left, it's bald, bulky owner going back to his office after I was gone.

No, I didn't notice it at all; I was busy looking at Aina, since I was reminded of the fact that I still had to tell her about what happened, but decided to wait in case the guardsmen were still in front of the adventurers' guild the next day.

"So, Aina... we have all morning until it's time for me to go to Nika's place, so... how about we go do some shopping?"

She gave me a bright smile.

"Yeah! Let's go!"