Chapter 5 – 3. Prison
A dark room with no windows. A man and a woman surrounded by achromatic walls are sitting on angled chairs facing each other.
A woman’s worn, gray-toned clothes are full of dust. Dust covers her white face. There are many minor scars on both of her hands.
It looks like it came from rolling around on the ground.
However, only her eyes remain clear and keep an eye on the other person across the table.
The condition of a man who takes that gaze squarely is the exact opposite of her and hers.
High-quality fabrics and flawless, crisp uniforms show his status and wealth. The silver insignia near the left chest proves that he is a professor belonging to the Empire’s leading National Academy, and the blue ring on the index finger of his right hand indicates that he is from the Griff family.
‘·······.’
At the end of a battle of nerves in silence where only the coffee on the table cooled down, the man stared at the woman fiercely and did not hide his annoyance.
“My name is Ferrad Griff, a professor in the Academy’s Department of Peacekeeping.”
Contrary to his clothes, his skinny arms and narrow shoulders were shabby, not befitting his title. A tired voice echoes around the room.
However, he was not a knight, but a wizard, and because the woman in front of him had her ‘attribute’ and ‘magical power’ restrained, his distorted face gave off a bloody force.
“I’m not in a good mood right now, right before I leave work, because I’ve been working overtime because of you guys, right? You don’t want to see this guy’s face all night long either? So, let’s go quickly. .”
“… What happened to the friends I was with?”
“When my questions are over, we’ll meet again even if we don’t like it. In prison.”
“Like.”
She doesn’t have any shaking of her pupils or quivering of her voice. Cold sweat doesn’t flow. His expressionless expression, the same as when he first entered this room, was plain and casual.
‘This has not been an easy year. You are very good at hiding your thoughts and feelings… Shit, I guess I didn’t go home today.’
“Name is?”
“Jeon Ji-hye.”
“Age is?”
“19 years old.”
Ferrad’s eyebrows twitched at the answer. But the question and answer continues.
“Choose a number between 1 and 10 in your head. Don’t tell me.”
No matter how good a poker face she is, no lies are allowed in front of him.
He is a magician with the [Star cluster] Attribute that is rare in the empire.
There was no way a strong person who could defy his attributes and powers would be caught so helplessly…
“From now on, you answer ‘no’ to all my questions.”
He awoke the [Star group] Attribute inherent in mana, and manifested the authority [True falsehood].
“Is that number 1?”
“No.”
“Is it two?”
“No.”
The bizarre question and answer continued to 10. The woman’s poker face and the man’s ferocious expression did not change throughout.
Wisdom urged the man to say the next thing with straight eyes, without showing any movement as if it were still.
“…Do it one more time. Do not change the number.”
It’s already the third. Of the 4 people caught a while ago and the 2 people caught today, no “Stars” Were seen, so the authority was useless.
All human beings who walk under the vast expanse are given their own stars and destiny upon birth. This is a law of nature that has been established since the gods appeared in the world, albeit in ideas.
Even the transcendentalists of the continent, such as ‘sword gods’ and ‘magical rulers’, cannot go against it since they were born in this world.
The [Star Cluster] Attribute enables its owner to see the origin and essence of the opponent.
Even if she is too strong for his attributes to penetrate her, her star itself should be visible.
‘It’s as if you weren’t born in this world… Are you really from another world…’
Unfortunately, the Authority doesn’t work, but the seasoned eye wrapped in long experience remains the same. Ferrad glared at her right through her eyes until her eyes were bloodshot.
“… 4… 5… 6…”
At 5, the eyelashes trembled subtly. But that’s a trick. When you lie, you have to look for the involuntary reaction that you can never control with your will.
“7… 8… 9… 10. You may tell the truth now. Is that number 7?”
“···! That’s right···.”
Wisdom’s eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. Her gaze lost the composure she had up until the moment before.
“Okay. I’ll start investigating the details of the invasion of ‘Academy’s Forest’ from now on.”
The night is long, the time is long. Ferrad prepared for a vigil.
Wisdom thought while ‘pretending’ to honestly answer the questions he asked.
‘Sick. It was 4.’
Her acting skills shone in another world as well.
Apparently, this is an interrogation room, and the forest we’ve been in for a few days seems to be off-limits.
I fell into the forest without knowing why, and I was brought here without knowing anything.
There’s no way she could tell the interrogator what he wanted to know.
Conversely, she gathers knowledge about this world by analyzing his questions.
What he doesn’t know what is important to him The content and order of the questions. Key terms in the question. Intonation and facial expressions when asking questions.
Wisdom’s keen eyes and ears were seeking answers from the questioner with all their might.
* * *
Tak – Tak –
Ferrad neatly arranged the documents containing the interrogation results.
The final interrogation, which lasted for five hours, ended when the last intruder, Lee Hyeon-woo, left the room.
For a long time, the lack of stamina was already discharged from concentrating so as not to miss even one of the minor changes of the opponent.
It would have been very difficult if I hadn’t consumed caffeine throughout the interrogation.
“After···.”
Ferrad clattered her stiff joints from sitting still in the chair and straightened her slightly wrinkled shirt. After that, he got up and left the interrogation room to share the results of the interrogation.
‘It wasn’t without nutritional value.’
All of them, without exception, replied that they were 19 years old and came from another world where magic and attributes did not exist. He also said that in that world he was a student at an academy gaining knowledge before becoming an adult.
This is exactly the same argument as the original intruder.
How far should I believe this?
It’s an absurd claim, but Ferrard personally thought they were telling the truth.
For once, his experience and intuition whispered that they were not lying. But, of course, that is not the only reason.
That he didn’t recognize their star by its properties.
And above all,
It is said that this year is the ‘year of cataclysm’ that repeats every 300 years.
“Professor Farrard.”
“! Lady Adele, what are you doing here?”
“I’m attending an emergency meeting too. And this is the academy, so don’t call me lady.”
“Kuhm, yes I know.”
“… Don’t even show respect.”
A slender beauty with her waist-length blue hair and sea-blue eyes stood with her back against the wall, waiting for her ferrad.
The white academy uniform accentuates her slender limbs and waist. However, the blue spear on her back, as long as she is tall, indicates that she is not just a weak woman.
She is an academy student, and Ferrad is an academy professor. There’s no way he wouldn’t be polite to her in front of her.
Her name is Adele Griff.
She is the current academy’s second year student, and the next vice president of the academy’s security department.
Also, she is the minor head of the Griff family, the guardian of the northern part of the empire to which Ferrad belongs.
Adele Griff and Ferrad Griff walk together to the conference room.
Adele looked at the documents in her right hand.
“How was the interrogation?”
“It’s no different from the first intruder. He doesn’t know anything and says he’s an alien.”
“As expected… It’s an inflection point in history…”
Adele couldn’t shake the heavy feeling on her shoulders as she spat out her words.
For 3,000 years since the creation of the world, human history has repeated periods of heyday and periods of decline.
600 years ago, based on the founding of the Empire and the unification of the western part of the continent, war disappeared from the world and culture developed, a brilliant and peaceful heyday.
300 years ago, the fourth period of destruction of mankind due to the advent of the demon king. A great warrior of light who put an end to the era of destruction by punishing the demon king.
Now is the time to recover from the damage of the great war and restore the continent.
A new inflection point in history occurred at this time.
‘Are they the cornerstone of the heyday, or the starting point of the age of destruction?’
With a new era at hand, Adele buried her tension and excitement inside.
* * *
As I expected, starting with Wisdom, Lee Hyeon-woo and Baek Nam-gyu opened the iron window and entered one after another. All of them had not been able to sleep and their faces were very tired from the interrogation, but fortunately there were no external injuries.
This room is a dull space with monotonous stone walls, a stone floor, and iron bars. I’d love to get back to my bed on Earth right now, but that’s far better than camping in the middle of the woods.
The first night in prison was fine, except that Min Hye-rin, who fell asleep from crying, occupied my thigh, making Ji-hye upset.
Ding- Ding- Ding-
“…?!”
I was awakened from sleep by the loud sound of bells. I looked around, but luckily it was no different from before my eyes closed.
‘I was planning on staying up all night, but I wonder if staying up all night for two days was too much…’
As her whole body ached and she stretched, the sound of crunching bones engulfed her whole body. Perhaps because of the lack of blood flow, her left leg was particularly numb.
Glancing-
Feeling a gaze beside her, she turned her eyes to the left, and Minhye-rin turned her head away. I guess she woke up before me.
The backs of her ears were dyed pink, as if embarrassed.
Can we assume that this is what she scored?
At the sound of the bell, Jihye, Lee Hyun-woo, and Baek Nam-gyu stood up. Wisdom came up to me and sat to my left with her back against the wall.
It was a position that blocked Min Hye-rin from my sight.
“Haam—- did you sleep well?”
“I fell asleep without realizing it… You?”
“I’m hungry too.”
Scary to say, breakfast was delivered through the iron bars.
My first morning in prison… Was the best.
Two loaves of bread, hot soup, and even a small amount of seasoned meat.
What a civilized diet!
…Actually, it’s only been a few days, but it was so delicious that I felt like crying.
“It’s black… It’s so bad…”
Baek Nam-gyu actually cried and Lee Hyun-woo soothed him. Min Hye-rin looked at them with a surprised expression.
* * *
Did you say that humans are animals of adaptation? Now I feel this word keenly.
According to Min Hye-rin, she has only been here since her first day of interrogation and imprisonment.
Literally until dinner, no one touched us except at mealtime.
I kept my nerves as alert as possible until right before I fell asleep that day. I didn’t say anything as much as I could and concentrated on it, so the other 4 people were naturally nervous.
However, even that was meaningful only when the other person existed, and since nothing happened, it was futile.
It felt like I was just staring at a still wall.
“This is my seat!”
Wisdom cut my thigh lying on the floor. Her chest rises and falls with her breathing.
“? Whoever wants.”
“It’s my heart, but, um, can’t it…?”
“Ehh, do whatever you want.”
My right hand tickled Wisdom’s chin.
“Ugh…Don’t do it…”
She turned her head around to avoid my hand, but to no avail. Her cat-like appearance was cute.
Anyone could see that the couple looked like a couple with chickens growing, but no one raised any objection.
Wisdom’s lively eyes looked at mine and rolled aside. At the end of her gaze was Min Hye-rin.
She didn’t like the way she slept on my leg yesterday.
Min Hye-rin got up and walked towards us.
“I’m not going to give in today.”
The moment when the smile of a victor dwells on Wisdom’s face—
“Jihoo, you did it yesterday, so today you can cut my leg and sleep.”
“Oh thanks. I won’t decline.”
“!!”
Wisdom was astonished.
I put my head down slowly. Min Hye-rin’s body was thin, so it wasn’t fluffy. Her body temperature was on the low side, and her neck was cool.
It smelled sweet.
Wisdom’s expression had rotted away, so she scratched her chin a few times.
Lee Hyeon-woo and Baek Nam-gyu sent eyes of envy and jealousy, but they ignored them.
I think I can sleep comfortably today.
The next day I slowly let go of the tension, and what filled the void was boredom.
All around was a plain gray wall. There was nothing to do because the guys who locked us up confiscated our bags and other belongings.
Lee Hyun-woo suggested.
“Shall we play a banana game?”
“? What game is that?”
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“Take turns and say ba, me, me, ba, me, me, and so on, over and over again.”
I was bored so I tried it once with 5 people.
“Bah, Mistress, you’re wrong.”
The first dropout was Lee Hyun-woo, the game’s proposer.
“Here he proposes and he’s the first to drop out.”
Baek Nam-gyu playfully said, “Maybe it made me feel better after playing games together.”
“Me, oh pants? Wrong…”
“Kuh, you’re no different either.”
The second dropout was Baek Nam-gyu.
Now, there are only three people left in the game: me, Jeon Ji-hye, and Min Hye-rin. However, it was impossible to proceed with the game because the words each of them said were fixed from 3 people onwards.
“Let’s play another game.”
That’s how we spent our second day in prison eating, packing, and playing games.
* * *
The third morning to greet after being trapped here.
“Your treatment has been decided.”
The man who interrogated us, Ferrad Griff, opened the iron window accompanied by several soldiers.
“Follow me.”
Now it’s time to get nervous again.
The five of us walked along Ferrard’s back, and out of the building through the door we entered first.
Unlike the academy soldiers, knights wearing full body armor were waiting for us there.
Behind them, for some reason, a luxurious carriage was built that seemed to be used by high-ranking people.
“You guys are going to the imperial palace. Ride.”
The leading article notified.
Before long, our new life, from the forest to the prison and to the imperial palace, began.
