Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Customer

“Ruhnay Spring…” Lorette stared at his notepad with a finger on his chin, “How do you spell that?”

Spell?

Before Rene could ask, Lorette spoke again, “Oh, I’m being rude again.” Another light slapping sound was heard. Lorette had just face-palmed himself again.

“Let’s let you out of there so we can talk in a more appropriate setting.”

With that said, there was a *Click* as the door opened outwards. Rene immediately noticed Lorette’s clothing, black with white strips. It was also quite tight fitting, he could see the old man’s scrawny form.

The door opened to a wide hallway as dull and as grey as his room. There were many other doors the same as the one to his room embedded within the sides of the hallway; upon seeing his environment, Rene’s theory that he had been arrested strengthened.

From Lorette’s words: ‘After receiving a couple… dozens of reports.’ Rene guessed that he had been detained by some type of peacekeeping force.

After all, the ‘incident’ occurred at some time in the early morning, when the marketplace would already be filled with people. Out of the reasons for being detained, collapsing in a pool of his own blood while trying to climb the centerpiece of the marketplace was a rather good one.

Wait a minute, now that he thought about it, those voices he heard were just the panicked screams of the people he scared…

Rene scratched his still ringing ears in embarrassment as Lorette gestured at him to follow. As they walked, Rene had some time to panic about how to answer the question he was just asked.

‘Spell’... How would I know?! I only found out I could speak the language a few minutes ago! Okay, okay, calm down… I’ll just say something vague, like: “It’s spelt exactl—

Bang!

Rene flinched; his body shuddered at the sudden loud noise which came from one of the doors he and Lorette had just walked by. In the window, a smiling face glared at them with wide opened eyes.

The ‘incident’ had undeniably changed him, Rene realized he had inexplicably developed a phobia of loud noises. The footage of ‘shell shocked’ soldiers being scared of the most minor things suddenly became a lot more real.

“Ah, just ignore them. Lot’s of freakos amongst the delinquents in this place. Oh—I don’t mean you of course, it’s just we’re the ones responsible for catching people who…” Lorette flipped through his notepad before pointing at something.

“Disturb the public peace.”

I’ve kind of guessed that already…

“I’m sure you’ve got an interesting story to tell, another reason for the questions I’m about to ask you—we’d just like to clear some things up. ”

“Ah, here we are.”

They were greeted by a guard standing beside a study looking black door. The guard wore some type of black armor making them blend into the background. Rene inspected the armor, which appeared quite advanced; it was entirely constructed out of multitudinous plates of metal, which overlapped like the scales of a fish. The armor was very form fitting, they attenuated the body like a fabric. Rene almost confused it with a jumpsuit, but no, upon close inspection, it was certainly made out of metal.

Woah. The armor’s craftsmanship impressed Rene, he had no idea how something like that could be manufactured even with the technology of Earth.

Lorette and one of the guards silently nodded to one another in mutual understanding; the guard had their visors up at the moment, but thanks to the armor, Rene would have been able to tell that she was female even if her face were covered.

The black door opened on its own, slowly sliding into the wall as Rene marveled at how thick it was.

Inside—was another hallway alongside another guard, this one seemed more lax however, they sat around while reading a book.

But after passing through this door, the duo finally arrived at their destination: a bland room with two chairs and a table inside.

It felt like an interrogation room—it probably is an interrogation room.

The two sat across from each other, “Sorry, what was your name again?” Lorette asked again while scratching his head.

“It’s Re-”

“Ah yes, ‘Ruhney Spring’,” the senile old man managed to locate where he scribbled it on his notepad.

Now that Rene was face to face with the old man, he could now clearly see what Lorette was using to write. He didn’t use a pen, instead, the old man gripped his index finger like a stylus; his finger danced over the notepad like a pen would.

Rene was entranced by this odd method of writing before his thoughts were interrupted.

“How do you spell it?”

“E-exactly as it sounds…” Rene gave a pre-planned response.

“Great!” Lorette’s white mustache fluttered in glee at getting it right in the first attempt, “Next question, how old are you?”

Age… right, Saffry said a year here is the same as a year on earth.

“Twenty two.” He replied honestly.

“And your birthdate?”

Rene’s posture stiffened.

Crap—I don’t know how they keep track of the date here… This ‘interview’ is rather troublesome, I should have refused it since I don’t know shite about this world…

He scratched his cheek in discomfort;

Perhaps the old man was a senior interrogator, Lorette noticed Rene’s strange reaction. He tilted his head in curiosity and shifted closer as he asked:

“Something the matter?”

The flustered Rene didn’t expect Lorette to hurry him, he quickly produced an answer.

“Uh, t-today’s my birthday.”

Today was not his birthday.

“Oh! I see! What a coincidence! Ruhnay Spring is born on the first day of Spring! Though the current circumstances may not be the best, I pray upon the nine that you may have a splendid birthday celebration next year. Nevertheless, happy birthday Ruhnay!” The old man flashed a smile, which quickly vanished as soon as his eyes went back to the small book he held in one hand.

“T-thanks.”

Lorette didn’t seem to hear him however as he scrawled away on his notepad; Rene sat in awkward silence as he waited. The scribbling went on for a while, though he couldn’t see what Lorette was writing or even read the language for that matter, it was pretty clear that the old man wrote down much more than just his birthdate.

Is he also keeping track of my body language?

Rene didn’t know what would happen if the fact that he was an alien were revealed. For now at least, he intended to keep that secret to himself.

Hmmm, I’ll have to take my body language into consideration…

The shadow of the cheery old man with a scrawny figure seemed to lengthen.

“Next question,” Lorette looked at Rene with a piercing gaze.

“What is your sex?”

Huh? Rene furrow his brows despite him trying his best to maintain a poker face. It couldn’t be helped, the question was just too peculiar.

Is this a trick question? Are there more than two sexes on this planet? It’s pretty obvious I’m a guy right?

The old man held a solemn expression as if he was attending a funeral. With one hand on his chin, he waited patiently for an answer as he looked at Rene like that of a psychiatrist with their test subject. Whatever Lorette was doing, it was working. Rene was getting more nervous by the second.

“Male..”

“AH!” Lorette’s sudden outburst made Rene twitch, “Apologies for the odd question, it's just there’s so little I know about Artharians you see.”

It was that word again: ‘Artharian’.

What exactly is an Artharian… Does he think I’m an Artharian?

Rene tried his best to maintain a neutral expression as Lorette, again, scribbled down more than he should have on his notepad.

One line.

Two lines.

Three lines.

W-wait—h-he’s flipping the page! He’s flipping the page and writing more!!

Lorette kept going, he wrote four more lines before Rene started to have afterthoughts about his response.

Was that question meant to provoke me? Was I supposed to get angry at him? Is my current expression unnatural? Should I get angry at him now? No, it’s far to lat—

“Next question.”

His chaotic thoughts were immediately killed by a menacing voice. At some point, Lorette was already looking at him; Rene saw his own nervous reflection in a pair of abyssal black eyes.

“What is your rank? Your main Strand of focus?”

Rank? Strand? I don’t know what any of those are!! Why did I accept this interrogation?? What was I thinking??

Rene’s thoughts were a complete mess. He tried to charlatan his way out with another vague statement.

‘What do you think?’, ‘Take a guess?’ Aren’t these responses too provocative? Would a rhetorical question even fit? Do rhetorical questions even exist in this world??

Lorette was staring at him unblinkingly with his head slightly tilted to the side. Upon seeing that gaze, any intentions Rene had left to reply were shattered completely.

This guy would definitely notice something is off with how observant he is!

All of his pathetic attempts to hide his body language also fell apart. Rene pursed his lip as his eyes darted around the room, to an experienced interrogator, it was like screaming that he didn’t know the answer!

Rene was a second away from spilling all his secrets when Lorette broke the silence.

“I’m sorry, that was rather intrusive of me, I shouldn’t have asked.” The old man’s response fell completely out of Rene’s expectations.

What? Was my body language so obvious that he didn’t need me to say anything? Was I just lucky in not replying to a truly insensitive question?

Anxiety turned into pure panic as Rene saw Lorette look downwards.

Why is he writing on his notepad?! What is there to write?!

Is the notepad a scheme to mess with my head? Am I being played like a fiddle?

He was having second thoughts about his second thoughts. Rene fidgeted with the bandages on his left hand until Lorette finished writing. Each second passed like days; he could feel his heartbeat on his face again.

“Next question,”

N-no! This can’t continue! I have to say something drastic! I’ll say I have amnesia! Then give all my answers based on that!

Rene interrupted Lorette to reveal this ‘truth’.

“Lorette, I—”

“Actually, if you would be so kind, could I ask a question about Arthas?” As if Lorette knew what he planned to do, the old monster counterattacked by interrupting the interruption.

Rene accidentally made eye contact and saw Lorette carrying a thousand-yard stare; the old man’s gaze pierced his very soul.

With the last of his willpower, he fought back.

Reject! I reject this request!!

“I reje—”

But Lorette was faster.

“Is it true that the entire island is a giant octopus?”

“Wha-”

Anything left of his mental energy had fizzled out into thin air. He sat with eyes wide and mouth agape in complete stupefaction at Lorette's absurd question. Rene was completely exposed, defenseless, he had lost.

“Hmmm, was it really that far from the truth?” Lorette sounded a little disappointed as he flipped to a new page of his notepad.

Hearing the familiar sounds of scribbling on paper, Rene slumped back in his seat, completely dejected.

“Right, let’s get back on track.”

Rene no longer had any more energy to deliberate over his replies, he slouched on his chair with a tired expression.

“Tell me your side of the story on how exactly this ‘fountain incident’ occurred.”

Rene’s tone was weak, he responded with an empty shell.

“I—”

“Yes?” Lorette on the other hand was eager to listen. He leaned forwards and placed his chin on his palm as he waited for Rene to finish.

“I-I have-”

“I-I have a-amnesia…”

Rene managed to choke out his pre-planned response.

Lorette slightly tilted his head in the other direction as he looked intently at Rene’s dispirited face.

“Is that so…” His tone was deep, each word stabbed into Rene’s already lifeless body.

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The sounds of words being etched into paper quickly followed. They echoed through the air and caused Rene’s headache to relapse.

Rene could no longer keep track of the time, he had no idea how long had passed before Lorette spoke again.

“Amnesia, such a terrible disease… I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now…”

*Gulp* Rene swallowed his saliva.

Now he’s taunting me… My lie didn’t even phase him…

He wanted to crawl under the table and curl up into a ball, however, his body was frozen solid.

“But.” Rene blinked and saw two black holes directed towards him, they were the eyes of the old man. Lorette, who was just looking down at his notepad, had shifted his gaze within a fraction of a second.

“Is there truly nothing you can recall? Absolutely nothing at all?”

FUCK! That’s a rhetorical question! Now he’s threatening me! What do I say? What do I say??

The presence of a threat had woken him up instantly. Rene took a deep breath in an attempt to quench his racing heart. With his fingers that wouldn’t stop shaking, he placed them on his chin and took on a posture that resembled thinking. The current situation was bad, he needed to stall for as much time as possible in order to think of a response.

The terrifying old man tilted his head again during Rene’s hesitance, giving him a great deal of fear.

“There something wrong? Your hand is shaking.” Lorette took the opportunity to turn up the pressure.

Rene flinched, “A-ah,” he stumbled through his words, “m-my arm is still sore, and I’m a bit tired.”

“Hm? What did you say? Your voice is a bit quiet.”

There was a screech as a chair slid across the ground; Lorette suddenly pushed himself on the table and appeared a few inches away from Rene. The old man cupped his palms against his ear to better hear his victim.

The flustered Rene instinctively tried to avoid the old monster, he learned back on his chair and almost tipped over.

“I-I’m still a bit tired…” Rene whimpered again.

Lorette seemed satisfied with his answer, perhaps his fear had made it more believable? The old geezer got back to his seat and remarked, “I apologize for the inconvenience, we’re almost done.”

The old man stared at him with unblinking eyes, his face expressionless as he spoke in a completely monotone voice, “I promise you’ll be able to rest very soon.”

Rene’s hand only shook more in response. Thankfully, he had managed to think of what to say.

“I-I was abandoned by someone, that’s all I can remember.”

Saying that he couldn’t remember might appear suspicious, Rene decided to vaguely tell the truth, it was unverifyable, or at least, that’s what he betted on.

“Hmmm…”

The old man’s winkles deepened; A finger was placed on his chin.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds before slightly turning his head to a slight angle. When the eyes opened, his pupils looked to the side, directly at Rene.

He leaned back in his chair, all the while not averting his gaze, and raised an eyebrow.

His pristine white mustache twitched, and after a slight pause, he looked down at his notepad.

He flipped through a few pages, read them, then turned abyssal deep eyes back to Rene, who promptly looked towards the red lights at his side to avoid eye contact.

“Hold tight will you? I have to talk to some people.”

SCREEEEECH

The feet of Lorette’s chair scraped against the hard stone flooring when he stood up, eliciting Rene to shiver from the god awful sound.

Tap Tap Tap—

Lorette walked to the doorknob and turned it; the door opened silently.

BAM!

It shut on its own.

He had left.

It’s all over…… I wanna cry…

Rene collapsed from his chair and sprawled out on the floor. He guessed the interrogation rooms of this world were also filmed like Earth’s, but he couldn’t care less.

Does he know? Does he not know?

He crawled under the table and curled up into a ball. From the ground, Rene eyed the door, there was only one door.

He thought about escaping, but quickly disbanded that idea. He had a broken arm and this was a police station, trying to escape would only make things worse.

Will I become a test subject? Be dissected to be studied upon? Ahhhhh! Why does my life have to be so hard??

Apparently he really was tired. As soon as the danger stepped out of the room, a wave of fatigue hit him like a truck..

He didn’t resist the allure of closing his eyes, he slept in a fetal position on the cold hard ground. What did it matter anyway? It was here or his cell room, either way, he was still trapped.

Rene dreamt of Saffry laughing at him, the echoes of her laughter made him wince, apparently she really did narrate nightmares in her free time.

“AHHHH!”

BANG!

Rene smacked his head against the table leg in reflex upon hearing a blood curdling scream. Rubbing his head, he saw Lorette’s worried face.

“Oh dear! I thought you had died! Here, here, let me help you up.” Lorette reached out his hand, Rene reluctantly accepted after a moment of consideration.

“You should have mentioned your fatigue! We would have allowed you to rest in your cell as long as you liked!”

Rene shivered at Lorette’s insinuation. “W-what’s gonna happen to me?” He asked out of pure fear.

The old geezer tapped his chin, thinking for but a moment. “You’re getting out of here of course! Some big shot paid 10 rounds for your bail! You might not remember it, but it's pretty clear you still have friends in high places!”

The flood of information that came out of Lorette’s mouth made Rene dizzy as he tried to decipher it all; his line of thought was completely broken as he felt a something on his wrist

“C’mon! I’ll take you to him,” The enthusiastic Lorette didn’t hesitate to grab Rene’s wrist.

“Wai- now?” Things were really moving too fast, Rene couldn’t make heads or tails of his situation.

Someone bailed me out? Who? What are their intentions? 10 rounds, are ‘rounds’ the currency of this world? How much is one worth? Lorette mentioned “Big Shot” so I assume quite a lot… Each time the old man spoke, Rene would only have more questions.

Lorette paused as if he suddenly recalled something, “Right, of course, you’re rather tired aren’t you? I’ll take you back to your cell so you can rest and tell your benefactor to come back tomorrow.”

Wait, wouldn’t that seem rather rude? What if they pull out? Just now realizing that he didn’t even know how much his prison sentence was, Rene recognised that the only way out of his ignorance was to poke the tiger with a stick. He would have to ask Lorette questions.

“L-Lorette.”

“Hm?” The old man appeared surprised, the introverted young Artharian had talked to him out of his own initiative.

“C-can I reject their offer to bail me out after meeting with them?” Try as he might, Rene couldn’t stop stuttering.

“Why yes! Of course! That was always within your right.” The old man spoke with a warm smile.

“H-how long do I have to stay here if I reject bail?”

“Hmm, let me check.” Lorette flipped through his notepad while Rene stood behind him. After a moment’s hesitation, Rene decided to take a risk and take a peek at its contents.

Lorette flipped through his notebook too quickly, Rene could only see a blur, but eventually, the old man started to turn the pages one by one.

Huh? Are those pictures?

He saw a page with a red drawing of a girl, the next page was of some rat-like creature.

As Lorette flipped through his notepad, Rene saw dozens of red drawings, some dog, a building, a tree, the train station, Lorette himself in various poses, along with many that he didn’t recognise; they were all undeniably pictures of things however.

The drawings were all in red and they were endless. They covered every page and reached every corner. Was Rene supposed to feel relieved or disappointed? He didn’t know.

Soon, a drawing of a nervous young man fidgeting with his bandages entered his eyes.

W-wait! That’s me in this very room! The old bastard was doodling me during the interrogation!

It was too much for his mind to handle, Rene’s legs went weak as he stumbled to the table for support.

“Woah woah, are you alright? I’ll help you to your cell immediately.” Lorette hurried to Rene’s side to carry him by his arm.

Helping himself up, Rene muttered, “N-no… How long is my sentence?”

“The penalty for disturbing the peace can be up to 100 days, but we won’t know the exact duration until an adjudicator decides for you,” Lorette spoke while trying to drag Rene out of the room, the latter resisted with his life.

“However, given your injuries, how you were visually impared, your amnesia, and the fact that you’re an Atharian not familiar with our laws, I reckon you’ll be let out within 10 days.” The scrawny old man was surprisingly strong for his physique, he tightened his grip on Rene’s good arm, “C’mon, let’s go back to your cell, pretending to be strong will benefit no one!”

There was no way he could go back to his cell, he had too many questions! Rene calculated he could still resist for some time before running completely out of energy.

Being confused with Artharians shortens my sentence? Ahhh! What exactly is an Artharian??

All Rene could deduce was that Artharians were a race that weren’t native to the dark sector, which was probably called ‘Aphelion’. Even still, Rene resisted to ask what exactly an Artharian was, for one, Lorette seemed pretty convinced he was Artharian, so If Rene were to ask “What is an Artharian?” when people thought he was one, he might be thrown into a some psych-ward for severe amnesia.

It also seemed that being confused with Artharians benefited him greatly. For example, Lorette handed him the ‘Aon glasses’ after confusing him with one. Another instance was when Rene mentioned that he had amnesia; he initially thought the old geezer would scoff him off, but Lorette believed him? This was probably also attributed to the ‘Artharian factor’.

Now, he was learning that being confused with Artharians was shortening his sentence? Rene resolved to not admit he was an Artharian, but not deny it either, that way he could keep his benefits for as long as possible without pissing any real Artharians off; he then planned to learn about what Artharians were on his own time and then act accordingly. As of now, there were more pressing concerns.

My sentence hasn’t been decided yet but I’ve already been bailed out? How does the judicial system work on this planet? Was it a bribe?

Rene asked the question he had: “How could someone afford to bail me out if my sentence hasn't been decided yet?”

The old man’s grip loosened, “It was 10 rounds! Rounds! As translucent and clear as water, nay, the very air! I initially thought the man’s bag was empty before I felt its weight! We had to wrap them in bandages so we wouldn’t lose them, that’s how pure they were! And that man waltzed into our station with 10 of them! It wouldn’t have mattered how long your sentence was, as long as it wasn’t murder, we would have let you off for anything!” Lorette spoke with great enthusiasm, his voice was loud enough to make Rene’s ears ring again.

Lorette’s words were barely helpful, Rene could feel a headache quickly approaching as more and more questions arose from his mind. He tried to rub his temples to soothe his brain before remembering that one of his arms was incapaciated.

Alright, alright, so a ‘Round’ is some type of currency, and going off the old geezer’s reaction, they’re very valuable. They also happen to be translucent?

Rene resisted the urge to ask what a ‘Round’ was, it would be the psych-ward if people found out he knew literally nothing about this world.

“Why would this man spend 10 rounds on my bail? Is he also an Artharian?” Rene carefully chose his words, as he attempted to extract more information out of the old man.

“Now that I think of it, he was certainly an Aphelian…” Lorette fully let go of Rene as he resumed a posture of thinking, “Hm? He didn’t seem to know you either based off the questions he was asking..”

‘Aphelian’, people who come from Aphelion? Ugh, confusing, they sound so similar.

Rene kept pushing for answers, “Why do you think he wants to bail me out then?”

“How would I know? Higher ranked people are another breed! If I had to guess it probably has to do with your Artharian identity. You guys are a rare species ‘round these parts, even if it is Cessa.”

Another flood of mysterious information made Rene want to vomit.

‘Higher ranked people are another breed’? Are they literally a different breed of people or am I meant to understand ‘breed’ as an idiom meaning ‘different’?

Also, there’s that word ‘Rank’ again, does it mean social status or something else?

He’s also interested in my so-called ‘Artharian identity’? Why? WHY?! MY MIND IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!

Rene took a deep breath, he would get nothing but more headaches from the old geezer, the only way forward was to probe the intentions of his mysterious benefactor by speaking to him directly.

I can refuse his offer anyways, it wouldn’t hurt to meet him… right?

“I’d like to go meet my benefactor.” Rene spoke his mind.

“Huh? But aren’t you extremely fatigued?” Loretted asked a rhetorical question, but upon seeing Rene’s undeterred face, he sighed, “alright, follow me, he should still be waiting in that room.”

The duo walked through another few corridors before Rene found himself in the same room as his benefactor, who was currently sitting cross legged on a sofa; a silver cane rested at his side.

This is an Aphelian… Blond hair, white skin, and pitch black eyes, so I’ve been interacting with them all this time.

He wore a suit, tight fitting, white, embroidered with a luxurious silver trim, and fitted with textureless buttons as black as his pupils.

The man appeared to be in his mid forties, with well groom hair, a handsome face, and a profound gaze, he exuded a gentlemanly aura.

The Aphelian was a head taller than Rene; he stood up and took a few wide strides forwards while carrying his cane.

He bore a smile; his cane clicked in steady rhythm as it repeatedly hit the floor.

The clicks cease.

“Hello young man,” the man spoke in a smooth voice.

“My name is Scyld Siluvar,” he extended his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

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