Within the confines of the prison wall in the Coast City, a bustling number of people paid their visits. Some were there to see what was going on, while others were wondering what the heck was going on.
The former the ones who saw some people being carried to the prison, the latter ones were the people who actually got captured in the whole scenario.
“I am telling you. I have done nothing!!”
“Why are we captured? We were merely watching! Is that a crime?!!”
“I have my shop open! At least let me go so that I can close it! I promise I will come back!”
“My father won’t let any of you go scot-free. You do not know who my father is.”
In each cell were about 10 to 12 people, and there were about a dozen or two cells in the prison. So there were over 100 people who were shouting at the top of their lungs, asking the reason for this whole thing.
That included me too, of course.
“Excuse me, sir guard. May I know what is going on?” Obviously, I was more polite than the others. And the guard who saw me calling him out didn’t even bother to open his mouth before turning back towards the place where he was looking at.
“Don’t bother, son. These guards never respond to anyone. It’s like they are made up of stone or something, listening only to the higher authority,” one of the older guys spoke as he saw me trying to call the guards.
“Don’t worry. You just need to speak from your heart. Then even monsters will listen to you. They are still human,” I smiled as I politely bowed to the old man before turning towards the guard again.
[Charm (Rare)!]
[Effect: Allows the user to manipulate a person or a being into doing his bidding. This effect can be only possible with sound, looks and gestures.
Cost: 100MP/ second!]
“Hey mr. guard. There is something that I wanted to tell you,” I spoke as I looked at him with a kind look. The old man and a few more people looked at me for a moment with a dejected face.
Though their expressions changed as they saw the same guard slowly turning towards me and then thinking something before moving towards me, one step at a time.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The others looked while I smiled and whispered to them,” didn’t I say so?”
Turning towards the guard who reached me, I then spoke,” I don’t know what is going on. But don’t you think it’s a little too rough to even get the elderly and the children involved in this, too?”
I then pointed at two children in the corner. They were playing a game of catch-catch with a mana ball I created.
These two were roughly 11-year-olds, who got mixed up in the entire thing. At first, scared and worried, when I talked with them, they visibly relaxed. And now they were playing with the magic ball together.
That guard, understanding what I was saying, nodded at me before speaking.” Honestly, brother. Even I don’t know what is going on. Captain is usually calm in most situation, but ever since we missed some sort of cargo, he seems to always be on an edge now.”
Hearing these words, I started thinking about this whole thing a bit. My gut feeling was that whatever happened involved the higher ups of the coast city. And what the guard said stoned my thoughts further.
“I won!” spoke up one of the boys, as he cheered while the other one took the ball speaking,” my hand slipped. Let’s try again.”
While they were playing, I looked around to see that the other guards were taking about 2-3 people in batches before their identities were confirmed and they were released. Each batch took about 4-5 minutes, so our turn should come in another 20 minutes or so.
“Is that so? Thank you, brother. And sorry for bothering you,” I spoke, and he smiled as he answered,” it’s fine,” and then moved back to his position.
While I couldn’t find what was going on with only this much information, I tried looking around to find that girl, Aisha, because of whom this whole incident took place. But I didn’t find her anywhere, so I believed she could be in another prison or something.
[Mana Zone (Epic)!]
[Effects: Allows the user to perceive mana around him in a limited radius of 2500 meters! The user can control the mana to a certain extent.
Cost: 200MP/seconds!]
And then, using the enhanced mana sense, I found her. She was with that same guy who arrested all of us. Currently, they, along with a bunch more people, were in a heated conversation.
Not exactly talking, it’s more like he was interrogating the rest of the people, along with Aisha standing behind him.
“Interesting,” I thought as I then stepped back before sitting on the prison benches while waiting for my turn.
Time passed slowly, before the guard finally took my name and called me to go with him. With a bit of [Charm!] and manipulation, I was able to send everyone else first, leaving me for the last.
I would like to have a little ‘me’ time with the inspector and Aisha. Wouldn’t like anyone to interfere between my plans now, would we?
Moving out of the prison, I then moved with the guards, towards the area where I found a bunch of people still there. Not something I liked, but given their state, I guess it wasn’t really something I should touch.
There was fear in their eyes as they looked at the blue dressed man sitting cross-legged at the chair in front of those people on their knees.
As I saw using my [Mana Zone!] before, that girl Aisha was standing there behind that blue dressed man, while he looked at me with an analyzing look before his eyes went to the sheet presented in front of him.
“You are the last one?” He asked as he looked at me, and I nodded, speaking,” I am.”
“Mr. Josh? You are from Border Town, right? What are you doing so far here in the north-east?” He asked me with a question filled gaze.
“Reverie. I came to meet someone in Reverie,” I answered honestly, making him nod before he asked again,
“Sorry to interrupt you on your journey, Mr. Josh. But would it be alright if you could touch this orb and answer a bunch of my questions?”
It was a blue-coloured sphere that was in the shape of a football. While it looked ordinary, in truth, it was a lie detector. They don’t come cheap, really. Costs a fortune.
“I don’t have a problem with that Mr…” I nodded as I moved towards that lie detector orb.
“Geralt. Geralt Himelton,” he said in response. And then waited for me to put my hand on the orb.
While the lie detector was a bit of a problem, honestly, I didn’t need to worry too much. First, I could just say half-truths, not letting anyone know about anything. Second, even if they find out something, my [Charm!] was strong enough to make them all forget.
Last, if all goes wrong, I sincerely doubt there was anyone strong enough to hold a candle to me. Only those who have the powers of a saint, or at least are closer to them, should possess a direct threat to my life.
