Interrogation

[Athan`s point of view]

I felt joy well up inside of me while looking at the city. My first stop in my journey. Every time my grandfather had brought me outside, we had a specific goal in mind, there was never any time to enjoy what civilization had to offer. The realization that I was free took hold of me. I had run away successfully. My happiness had reached a new point and I started to laugh loudly. Something which I did not have a habit of doing. But to hell with old habits, I was free, I could reconstruct my life. Maybe I should learn magic. I had always wanted to do that, but my grandfather had insisted that I follow our clan's traditions. First, you learn aura manipulation, only when you have mastered that were you allow to start learning how to manipulate spirit energy and after mastering that then finally you could commence training in mana manipulation. If I were to follow that plan, then I would be in my late 90s before I could use magic. Even with the longer lifespan aura manipulation granted that was still an old age for a human.

I let go of everything in my mind. I could relax, let everything play out on its own time, no need to stress over things I had no control over. Seeing no gate in my direction I started walking towards the side, circling the city before approaching it. Approaching a city wall from a forest was a good way to get blasted by magic or shot with arrows by a nervous guardsman. While walking I checked out the wall and its defensive constructions. It was hard without using aura scanning, but if I were to do that the barrier would know and I would be designated as a hostile entity. But from what I could see the defence of this city would classify as first-class, the kind that pretty much only superpowers and some major powers could construct. The flags I could see meant nothing much to me, dark green, brown and some black in it, all striped at a 90-degree angle. No symbols in it, a very plain flag, and one that I could unfortunately not remember to who it belongs to. It`s strange, they aren't a superpower, but they have the fortifications of one. But I should be safe.

After walking for a while, I saw a gate and a road that led to it. I walked to the road before I started walking towards the city.

After walking for a while, I started to see the gate in more detail, no other people were trying to get into the city at the moment, but there were five guardsmen guarding it. Walking even closer I realised that it was not only the city`s wall that was well equipped, the people garrisoned here were a match for the fortification. All of them had good equipment, but one stood out with slightly better equipment and some extra ornaments on him, probably the captain over this specific group.

As I approached, I let down all aura constructs except the ones over the parts of the creature. I also held up my hands in a non-threatening manner and a smile plastered on my face. I spoke loudly, greeting them in a language that they probably did not know, and I was right. The captain approached me holding up a hand signalling me to stop, two guards following him a few steps behind him but ready for trouble. The two left behind had their eyes on me and were also prepared for something to happen. Not only was their equipment good, the quality of training they had experienced showing off that you should not underestimate them.

When the captain was a few steps in front of me he said a few words, but I did not understand their meaning. He started to fiddle with what seemed to be a normal leather bracelet on his right arm. Soon enough runes started to show up on it. A magic tool. He then spoke a few words to it and then signalled me to do the same while he held out his hand towards me. A translation tool I concluded and spoke.

"Kardian language."

The glowing runes started shifting in colour for a bit before stopping and most of the runes started disappearing with only a few runes remaining in a soft blue hue faintly radiating off from it. The captain looking at me and me stretching out my hand and bowing slightly, giving him an indication that meant he could have the first word. And this time he spoke, while I could still not understand him another voice overlapped and turned the words into something I could understand.

"This is the city of Laminik, state your intention and present some identification!"

I could still hear his tone, being very formal and on guard. I started speaking again, filling my voice with confidence while still trying to carry a friendly tone.

"I am sorry, captain. I cannot comply with that; I have come here because the teleportation of a spirit and I did not carry any kind of documents identity when it happened."

The captain seemed to be less than pleased with my answer but quickly hid any form of emotion on his face before telling me to follow him.

"Very well, follow after me. Don't stray away from me."

He led me inside of the walls and into a building that was right built right next to the wall, seemingly sharing a wall with the giant construction. The building had a small amount of furniture, being more practical than a place for comfort. I followed further into the interior until he opened a door and told me to take a seat before leaving.

The room was probably intended to be used for interrogation, only holding two wooden stools and one table made from the same wood.

He came back after letting me wait for less than an hour, some of that time probably spent trying to gather what he needed and the rest letting me sit here probably to get me a bit nervous. That did not really work, powers like this were very organised, that came with the unfortunate drawback of being a bit more predictable in their actions.

He entered the room holding a crystal orb dotted with runes and a robed man following him. He set the orb on the table with only the wooden bottom of it stopping it from rolling around. He then pushed the orb towards me. The robed man standing beside me placed his hand on my right shoulder, sensing if I try to use magic or some other trick.

"Place your hand on the orb."

I followed the captain's words placing my right hand on the orb. The orb started glowing blue then changing colour to a green and starting to blink and lastly it changed so instead of blinking it only glowed a stable green.

"You can remove your hand now."

After doing so the robed man took the crystal orb checking if I did something to its internal working while holding it. He then placed the orb back to the middle of the table and nodded to the captain before placing his hand on my shoulder again. The captain started to speak again.

"Alright, we will now begin the questioning."

After taking out a small crystal that was in the shape of a cube and pressing a rune on it, probably to document everything that happens here. He then started asking me questions, and I started answering the questions.

"You said you were teleported here, is this correct?"

"Yes, this is correct. A spirit teleported me here."

The crystal orb started glowing green after I had answered the question.

"Alright. Do you know why the spirit chose to teleport you here."

"I seem to have said something to anger the spirit before the teleportation happened."

Again, the orb started to glow the gentle green colour.

"So, it was not your intention of being teleported here?"

"No, I did not know where I was being teleported, and to be honest I´m still not sure where I am. I would be most happy if you could tell me where I am right now."

The green colour coming back to grant my questioners some comfort.

"You can ask your questions after we are done, for now, we will ask the questions. Do you have any intention of committing any criminal actions here?"

If they continue to ask questions like this then I might slip up and tell a lie and then they will have an excuse to dig deeper, it might be time to end this. The next time I spoke, I spoke with some anger and indignation.

"I´m a proud high priest of the Goddess Euanthe! I would never do something to shame her!"

After saying that I let the gate inside of my soul open and let out some undirected divine energy to show off. The green light came again from the crystal orb. The captain and the robed man seem to be a bit shocked but soon recovered. The captain spoke again, this time being more friendly, and his voice was less strict.

"I´m sorry to offend you, but these questions are regulation that I must follow, but knowing you are a high priest I can cut out most of the questions, I just need to ask you three more question. I´m sorry about the trouble but I must ask you these questions."

He looked at me after speaking waiting for my permission to continue. I nodded towards him permitting him to continue.

"Thank you. What is your name and where are you from?"

"You may call me Arthur Cain and I´m not from somewhere, as a follower of Goddess Euanthe, and a pupil of the domain of Guidance I belong to no location."

"Alright, now for the final question. I´m sorry that I´m going to offend you once more. I´m sure you are not, but I must ask you this. Are you currently wanted by any of the following; The union of Gaia, the kryss empire, the lasto empire, the Insai federation, the kolon kingdom, the guild union or the Church of the paths?"

I gave a huffed and showed indignation while somewhat glaring at the captain while I answered.

"I´m currently not classified as a criminal by any of the aforementioned entities."

Having answered the last question, the orb also glowed green in front of me today for the last time. The captain looked towards the robed man and he spoke for the first time.

"He did not use any energy except the divine energy burst. It's clean."

The robed man checked the orb one more time before being given the crystal cube as well and being told to leave by the captain.

"You can leave us, deliver these to the administrator and have them process them and create a temporary guest card for High priest Cain here."

After the robed man left the captain began to speak to me.

"Once again allow me to apologize for the trouble I have given you. I will now answer any questions you have."

"It's alright, you were just doing your job, but I would appreciate it if you don't doubt a priest of the major gods again."

I ignored that I had given no indication that would make him think that I was a priest. Since I had projected an image of a faithful but proud priest of the church I should continue with that charade. After laying down a reminder of my position I started to question him.

"Where am I currently, remember I was transported by a spirit, so I know not if I´m even on the same continent as before."

"You are currently on the Kalish continent, you are in the federation of shanil. This is the city of Laminik."

This was good, if my memory is correct Shanil is made up of five different noble clans, it's one of the major powers, it would have been a superpower if its size were not too small. This also made it unable to resist the main church and the guilds' influences. It was rich in natural resources with quite a few dungeons in it. All in all, a perfect place to start an adventure. I would have to thank Amara.