The interrogation

"Ok, so how are you feeling right now? Any pain or symptoms you want to tell me?"

After the male soldier saw Seth woke up, he called the doctor to check on him.

"I am feeling fine."

Seth answered honestly.

"Impossible! Do you have any idea how much damage you took? I would have buried you if it wasn't for the old captain's wish."

The doctor isn't buying it.

Seth's injury can only be seen on the corpse! If he is still alive, he must be some powerful being or mighty magic user, which he isn't by the look and information the doctor gathered when he was asleep!

"Yeah… but I live! Let's leave it at that. But what about Krista? Is she ok?"

Seth is more worried about Krista because she is their primary target.

The last thing he sees is her unconscious on the ground.

Did they kill her after the kidnap failed?

"She's ok. Just some minor cuts and some bruises but nothing fatal. She is lucky her opponent chose to suffocate her instead of killing her."

The doctor found her neck a minor injury and a wound from a sharp object around her body, but her body already had many scars, so it was considered normal for her not to have any concerns.

"… anything else?"

Seth asked the doctor after seeing him silent for a long time.

The doctor tries to come up with an answer to why Seth survived the wound, but he can't think of any, so he decides to let it go.

"No. This should be all of it.* sigh* Maybe some miracle had happened, but who knows? I'm a doctor, not a saint."

He shows a sign of disappointment, but knowing how the world work, he predicts that Seth must have something on him to survive, but what is this thing he doesn't want to prey on any further?

In this world, keeping your curiosity to yourself can keep you alive for a long time.

Especially for doctors who have to work with all kinds of clients, asking an assassin how they got their wounds isn't great for business.

"If you guys finished, please follow me, the captain. I mean, the current captain wants to meet you."

The male soldier comes and speaks with them, and he specifies who this captain is because he wants to remind Seth that Krista is a former captain and doesn't want him to get confused.

"Ok. Thank you for the work, doctor."

Seth stood up, but before leaving, he thanked the doctor for taking care of him.

"No need to. I didn't do anything except clean your body."

The doctor waves his hand to deny Seth's gratitude.

'System, how did I survive? At first, I thought it was because of some healing magic, but judging by the doctor's reaction, it must be you or the creator, isn't it?'

Seth is curious about how he managed to survive.

[Yes, it was the creator, I don't have the power to heal or resurrect you as the creator has, so please be careful.]

The system warned him if he gets himself in danger after this, the creator may or may not intervene like the last two times.

'I will.'

Seth noted.

They are both walking inside a stone building.

For Seth, it looks like those buildings at tourism extraction, but with higher refining and class.

The stone is all clean and smooth, like a brick block, and a dark crystal looks the same as the village's lamp on the ceiling.

"Um… Let's use the hallway instead of the front yard."

But before they walked out, the soldier guiding Seth decided to change their path.

He closes the gate and turns back to Seth with a sweaty face.

"Why? Is there a roadblock?"

Seth asked. He heard some noise from the outside but didn't see it because of the gate.

'Wait… Is that?'

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Seth got closer to the gate, and the sound became more apparent.

"Please, please help me."

"My husband, can someone help me find my husband?!"

"It's so dark, mom. I'm scared…."

'What is this?'

Seth's eyes widen, and he grabs the ring-shaped door knob, but the soldier quickly grabs his hand to stop him.

"Stop it! We will get caught!"

The soldier warned Seth with a severe face.

"Caught? By whom? Them?!"

Seth is confused and frustrated. What he heard must be from the villager who got hurt yesterday.

Why does the soldier have to fear them?

"Yes! What do you think they will do if they see you got special treatment from us?!"

His action shows a clear sign of panic and frustration.

"What is it then?"

Seth tries to get an answer from the soldier but instead makes the soldier back down.

"Please understand that we are very short on staff. Now, giving them a place to rest is the best we can do."

He spoke with desperation, trying his best to make Seth not question further.

And by the look of it, the soldier wants to give Seth a satisfactory answer, but he can't.

"Ok… Let's finish the current task, and then we will do something later."

Seth sees the face and accepts to move on, but it doesn't mean he will not return later.

"Good! Then let us continue our journey!"

The soldier happily replied and changed the path to walk around a bit by using the hallway on the side.

They work across the empty hallways to another building and stop at the front door of a room with one soldier guarding it.

The only room he saw had a soldier guarding it. Even the hallways were empty.

"I said it once, and I will repeat it. They will attack this village tonight."

A sound of an angry female seep through the door.

"Is she still here?"

The male soldier who leads Seth spoke with the soldier on guard with a clear sign of bore.

"Yeah…"

The guarding soldier answered back with the same mannerism.

"Ugh, can't she go away? Our job is already hard as it is."

Both soldiers show a clear sign of hatred toward the voice owner.

"Who inside?"

Seth asked.

"Our "boss."

The guarding soldier said with a hand to quote on quote.

"She is the daughter of our landlord."

The leading soldier explains it to Seth.

"Sound like a troublesome person."

He simpered.

"Yeah, she is too optimistic. She thinks we are some invincible soldiers, but we have only 100 men, half of whom are injured.

The guarding soldier seems to can't tolerate her presence.

Some of his anger is coming out in his words.

"Isn't that important information for your "boss" to know?"

Seth can't know if this "boss" is incompetent or blatantly ignorant of reality.

"Her mother, our real boss right now, wants us to keep this secret from her."

"Why?

Bam!

But before he can answer, the door suddenly slams open and closes, with one soldier rushing out.

He seemed in a hurry, but his expression changed quickly after seeing Seth.

"Why the fuck don't you guys get in! The captain is furious right now!"

He yelled at the soldier who brought Seth here.

"Because she's still there! If I bring him in, things will only escalate."

The soldier tries to explain his reason.

"No! It will be the opposite. Captain wants to start interrogating him as an excuse to kick her out."

"Oh! Then let's get it! I'm here, boss, sorry.

After realizing his mistake, both quickly open the door and drag Seth inside.

Behind the door was a messy room with papers on the floor and two people arguing.

One is a middle-aged man in a leather suit.

He is wearing glasses and has black hair with small gray hair showing, and with his fuzzy black eye with a bag underneath, his face is pure of fatigue.

"See! I'm told we have work to do. This man is one of the witnesses who has fought with the bandit's boss. Now, if you please, let us start doing our job, and let me interrogate him in private!"

The man's face lit up, and he pointed his hand toward Seth to let the other know his presence.

"Hello…?"

Seth waved his head with a question mark on his mind.

The girl turns around and closes her distance.

"Who are you?"

Up close, a sweet mint flower's faint and refreshing smell flows out.

Her face was majestic and alluring like moonlight, with long straight hair as beautiful as the night veil.

She stood tall on her feet, emitting confidence and dominance with her unwavering glowing green eyes.

"Hey, miss. I'm a witness, not a convict. No need to be so forceful."

Seth pushes her back a little and demands respect.

"My apologies. I'm still in a bad mood after talking with old people."

She closes her eye to regain her sense before tilting her head down a little to show an apology.

"My name is Alessia Treehelm, daughter of Viotto Treehelm, ruler of this land. Can I ask you a few questions?"

But she still has the same objective in mind.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! Get her out. NOW!!"

The captain finally snapped. He can't tolerate her going over his head like this!

He already stated that this was his responsibility to interrogate Seth.

She trying to interfere is absolute disrespect to him.

The two soldiers quickly follow the order and "navigate" her out of the room.

"Hey, you can't do this to me!"

She tries to resist but to no avail.

"Come and see me at the gate if you can!"

Before she got out, she spoke to Seth loudly, and the door slammed shut.

"Ugh! Noble, am I right? Don't know what reality is, always want to be a hero but just gave us a tight budget and low workforce."

The moment Alessia left the room, the captain slid on his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sounds difficult. Open for recruitment?"

Hearing their situation, Seth wants to lend his hand to help.

"Of course! I was planning to ask you after the interrogation, but if you want, we can sign the contract later."

The captain accepts Seth's offer but puts it aside for now.

"Cool."

Seth spoke.

"Now, let's start our main course. Please, take a seat."

The captain pulled himself back on the chair properly and spoke.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Peter, and I am an orphan, so it is just Peter. I'm the current captain of the Treehelm militia."

Peter introduced himself.

"Do you know Krista?"

He wondered.

"Yes, she's my senior and once my captain too. But let's focus on the subject matter. First, what is your name?"

Peter pulled out a paper from his pocket before asking the question.

"Seth Anderson."

Seth trusts Peter a little bit after he says he knows Krista, so he decides to cooperate with the interrogation.

"Can you tell me what city you came from?"

Peter asked, but this time Seth caught on to something.

'City?'

Seth remembers that it was strange for someone to come from a city around here.

'It must be a confirmation interrogation, not trying to attract information. He must have already got the intel from Krista.'

Seth tries to peek at what Peter is writing, but from this angle, he can't see the paper.

[I can help.]

The system spoke and showed him the picture when Peter pulled out the paper and then zoomed on paper.

[The letters aren't visible enough to read because of the limit of your eyesight.]

'Good enough.'

He was not only amazed by it, but it also confirmed his theory because there was something written on that paper.

"I don't remember."

Seth replied to the same lie he told Krista.

"Minor memory loss, classic. Let's move to the next question, what is your primary objective right now?"

He seems dissatisfied with the answer but accepts it nonetheless.

"Helping the people in the front yard."

His current goal is to help those people first, then decide on his future later.

He got the system, so there is no need to rush.

"I mean the plan after you get out of here. But that sounds good, noted."

Peter wrote something on the paper.

"Next, how can you describe the bandit's boss and associates?"

"Strong… efficient. And seems to have some objective in mind."

"Objective… What is it?"

Peter's face turned serious.

"I heard about funding a campaign but don't know any details about it."

Seth tried to recall his memory as best he could.

[That's it, Host. That's all you know about their objective.]

The system tries to find more detail from his memory. What he answered was all he got.

"…."

Peter's expression started to show a sign of concern.

"Final question, what is your relationship with Krista?"

He folded the paper back into his pocket and asked Seth.

"Is that necessary?"

Seth is sure it is not the interrogation anymore.

Peter had already put down the paper!

"It is."

Peter answered back with a more serious tone.

"We are strangers."

Seth told Peter the truth. They only met for one night.

"Doesn't sound like it from her side."

Peter spun his chair around in disbelief.

"I thought you were her new boyfriend."

"What?"

"I mean, she describes you as someone who brings back a spark to her life, the first exciting thing she had going in years, even including her rebellious daughter!"

Peter slammed on his desk with a crying(?) face.

"Captain, I think it's personal information."

The guard soldier opened the door and stepped in to stop this nonsense.

"Fine. Fine. Then we are over now. Thank you for cooperating. Here's your contract to join the militia."

He opened the desk case and gave Seth a paper before walking up.

"Hey! Where is Krista?"

But before he got out, Seth shouted to get Peter's attention and asked what he had wondered all this time.

"Oh, she got locked up in the basement cell. You can visit her after signing that contract."

Peter answered calmly and got out of the room.

Left Seth in a state of absolute shock.

"What?!"