Elydes

Chapter 195 - Lemon Sorbet

Seryne leaned in, seeing through his act. Was it a truth-sensing ability, or did she notice contradictions in his answers? It might also be any number of strange professional skills.

Fuck it! I’m so tired of this shit.

He had played their game for years, tiptoeing around and playing dumb. Despite his efforts to mind his own business, he still ended up in an interrogation room. What was the point? If the Merian Republic was going to screw him over, it wouldn’t matter if he was polite. He might as well get some satisfaction.

Let’s try a different tactic.

Kai erased his timid hesitation and turned the paper ninety degrees. “The Vastaire wrote right to left, up from down. This one is a prayer of thanks to their god, but it’s incomplete. And this glyph was transcribed incorrectly,” he tapped on a half spiral crossed by a hook.

A glint of excitement flashed in her eyes, quickly hidden. “You’re quite a smart young man, Kai. Did your father teach you to read them?”

“I can tell what they say in broad terms, most of the time. We lack the context for a proper translation, and some glyphs are too rare to decipher.” He slouched back in his chair. “Why do you need to read the Vastaire scripts anyway?”

“What makes you think we need that?”

Kai rolled his eyes. “It’s quite insulting if you call me smart in one sentence and stupid in the next, Inspector Seryne. We both know you need my expertise with the ruins. It’ll be faster if we don’t talk in circles.”

The smile washed off her face. The inspector drummed her fingernails on the table, studying him. “The reports didn’t lie. You’re quite something. I imagine you wouldn’t have been taken in by the Lady of Blood if you weren’t…”

“Huh, you mean Lady Virya?”

I knew that witch practiced blood rituals!

“That’s one of her names. She appears to have left the archipelago for good and has been sighted on the continent. But this isn’t about her, we could use your assistance with our investigation.”

Finally, we’re getting somewhere.

“I see. What are you willing to pay me? My time is limited, and I already had plans on how to use it.”

“Isn’t helping your country and the safety of the archipelago reward enough?” A shadow of mirth in her tone, so subtle he almost missed it.

“No. I want to be paid in gold and get access to the lists of restricted items.”

The mood in the room froze in an instant. Seryne pressed her lips in a line, amusement gone. “Those are some lofty requests for a child. I said we could use your help, not that we necessarily do. You’re just one of many threads we’re pursuing.”

“Then you won’t mind if I leave?” Kai stood up, the chair rattling behind him. “I would very much like to return to my bed if you don’t need me.”

“Stay where you are. We're not done.” The inspector waved him to his seat annoyed.

Kai held her gaze long enough to make his point before sitting. It was a balance between self-confidence and arrogance. He had a few good cards in his hand, but so did she. If he played rashly, she might decide to arrest him with some bullshit excuse.

“If you’re determined to be uncooperative, we can go ask your sisters or mother to help. Perhaps they’ll be more inclined to earn the Republic’s gratitude.”

She can’t read your thoughts, just your reactions. His fists clenched beneath the table. Whether it was a veiled threat or subtle probe, he couldn’t give them a weakness to exploit.

“Go ask them to translate the glyphs,” he snorted. “I’m the only one who took up my dad’s research after he died. They won’t know more than the grandma across the street. There isn’t another Vastaire expert in the archipelago, or the continent for that matter. I’m the only living person who can help you with this task you won’t mention.”

He stared back in defiance. Clues and snippets of information had begun to paint a picture in his mind, he wasn’t going to let her walk over him.

“Uh… You seem to have thought of everything, kid.” She regarded him with a pitiful look. “But we don’t need you, just your knowledge. I can send a team to retrieve the notes and journals your father left you and solve the problem without you.”

Damn cheaters.

Kai gritted his teeth. “I didn’t know the Republic was into thieving.”

“We are duty-bound to confiscate any material for the common good.” Seryne smiled coldly. “You’d receive a fair compensation for your contribution, of course.”

Yeah, fair like merfolk’s generosity.

Kai exhaled a dramatic slow breath. She hadn’t won yet. “Mhmm… I guess you could do that. Given that you would never find the entire research and you’d lack the information my dad told me personally. But yes, if you’re lucky and have a good scholar at hand, you might decipher the notes and get a half-decent translator in a year or so.”

“You’re underestimating our resources. We have a team ready to study the material.”

Good luck with that, I left the most important volumes in my ring.

“And you underestimate my dad’s notes. But sure, want to do six months? Five? I don’t think you have even one.” Kai spoke with a confidence he didn’t possess. “You came to get me in the middle of the night without knowing if I would be of any help. And you don’t strike me as a common officer, yet you are willing to spend all this time on a tiny chance.”

You’re not the only one who has been listening.

Seryne's face was a mask of ice. The fact she didn’t let anything show was telling.

Kai tasted victory on the tip of his tongue. “I’m going to guess your situation must be quite desperate. Or maybe it worsened today? That would explain the sudden summon… So, how close am I?”

The Inspector observed him in silence. Coming to a decision, she gathered the papers into her folder. “Withholding information against public safety is a serious offense, even for a minor. Maybe a night in a cell will make you more cooperative. I’ll check if your father’s research is as complicated as you say.”

Shit! I pushed too far, good job brain!

Kai felt himself sinking in the chair. No one liked cocky brats, he had let years of irritation surge forth at once. If he annoyed her beyond reason, he was done for.

Keep calm, she could be bluffing.

“You could just pay me and spare yourself the hassle. The Republic can afford it.” He struggled to keep his voice firm, showing panic would seal his defeat. “You could do without me or coerce me to help, but they’ll both take time and not be as effective as my willing cooperation.”

Did I overestimate my value?

“Hmm…” The rhythmic drumming of her fingers filled the gray room. Seryne made a show of pondering the matter, enjoying how the scale had shifted in her favor. “It’s late. Perhaps it's better if we talk again in the morning with a clear head.”

Dammit.

“I won’t be so agreeable tomorrow, or any other day.” Kai crossed his arms like a stubborn child, the impression wasn't hard to sell. He had a vague idea of what was going on, but his knowledge and value would fall off if he got stuck in a cell. He could only hope her urgency was higher.

The inspector halted, pensive again. “You aren’t worth being paid in gold, and at most I can grant you temporary access to the red list while you work for us.”

“Why would I work for someone who pays me less than what I’m earning.”

Seryne broke her stony facade with a chuckle. “Welcome to the world of public servants, Kai. Do you think I get paid in gold? No one joins the military to get rich.”

Great. Now I’m an underpaid government employee.

His nerves loosened a degree. Since they were haggling, the worst crisis had been averted. Still, the situation wasn’t ideal. “But you must get other benefits on top of your salary, probably a promotion if you solve this investigation. It’s not the same for me.”

“Huh… you’re right,” she unexpectedly admitted. “With your grade and qualifications, I could find you a spot in my department, so you’d get those benefits too. What do you think?”

They’re trying to hire me now? She sure doesn’t waste time.

“Thank you, but I’m not interested.”

“Then you can’t complain.” She dismissed the rejection without missing a beat. “You’ll get paid in silver when you show your worth.”

Well, she got me… Damned misers.

He could only make the most of his situation. His carefree life in Higharbor was over. “What do you need my help for? I assume the governor didn’t develop a sudden passion for Vastaire’s glyphs.”

“Sadly not. It’s a delicate matter that can’t be allowed to spread among civilians and cause panic.”

“And I thought you kept avoiding the topic just to be annoying, you were hurting my feelings.” His mouth blabbered faster than his brain, and Kai cringed under her icy glare. “Uhm… sorry. It’s hard to discuss my temporary employment if I don’t know what you need from me.”

“Yes. I was getting to it.” She pulled another file from her folder. Kai suspected it was spatially enchanted to contain so many papers. “There have been a series of accidents around the archipelago.”

He flipped through the sheets and froze halfway through. There were several life-like drawings of dismembered bodies. Swollen fishermen floated on the waves on shore, a family lay in a pool of blood in their broken house, a couple was nearly ripped in half on the jungle floor.

I heard rumors, but I didn’t think it was so bad…

He didn’t allow himself to show any reaction, he wouldn’t be surprised if the subjects had been picked with purpose. Closing the file were pictures of dead beasts: a massive harpy eagle, an overgrown horned drake, a tentacled something and a familiar sea serpent.

“As you can see, the situation is urgent. These are just some of the most recent accidents. Ordinarily, there would be nothing to worry about. Beast attacks are inevitable, but the numbers have been increasing at a worrying rate.” Seryne produced another paper with a grid filled with numbers. She didn’t wait for him to read and started explaining.

“In the previous sixty years since the Republic started recording, there has been an attack from a yellow beast every three years on average. In this last year alone, we’ve already reached eleven confirmed cases, and we might have missed some.”

Despite the mild temperature in the closed room, cold sweat ran down his back. “And you think these beasts had something to do with the ruins?”

Spirits, tell me it doesn’t have anything to do with what I did.

“Almost every sighting has happened around a Vastaire site and, in your case, inside one. It’s a pretty strong correlation. We need you to confirm if the ruins are indeed the cause and find a way to stop it. We have quarantined the ruins, but we don’t have enough personnel to safely guard them all.”

Kai raked a hand through his hair. “Can I examine your investigation so far? Looking for me probably wasn’t your first idea.”

“You’ll be presented with the information you need in due time. I’ll assume you have accepted the task.”

“Can I refuse?” Kai rebutted, not that he planned to. If the attacks were getting worse, he couldn’t ignore them and sleep at night.

“You can pass your father’s research and any other spare piece of information to my team. Naturally, you’d have to sign a contract of silence.”

Yeah, hard pass.

“I wasn’t lying when I said it would take months. My dad wasn’t the most organized writer, and his research was never completed. I’ll help you however I can for proper compensation.” He wasn’t foolish enough to work for free. With the excesses he had seen in the upper city, the Republic could afford to pay for a good cause.

Inspector Seryne snorted a laugh. “I’ll do what I can, but you’ll have to prove you're worth it.”

She began to gather back her files when Kai stopped her. “I’ve not finished reading that one.” He snatched the paper with the number of accidents per year.

Kai needed to know if his tinkering with the Fate Fulcrum had been causing this. His eyes darted through the grid of numbers, looking for the right columns. It wasn’t the most intuitive system and lacked a graph, but he made sense of it.

One, two, one, three, two, four…

He leafed through the papers and caught himself before he could sigh in relief. The upward trend appeared to have started around six or seven years ago, with one or more sightings. It reached six last year, but half had happened before they visited the ruins. The increase was becoming almost exponential.

Guess the chance to summon a sea serpent was higher than I thought.

“Did you notice anything interesting?” Inspector Seryne observed him closely.

“Just confirming when the attacks started increasing. They’ve gone over one every three years for a while. Anyway, we were discussing my compensation…”

He was at a disadvantage since he had to accept, but Seryne wasn’t haggling with her money and was impatient to close the deal. Used to negotiate with a merfolk, Kai was able to squeeze every last chip and benefit she was allowed to give him.

It was a two-week contract for a flat twenty silvers to be reviewed based on his contributions, a bet that he would surpass their expectations. It was far less than he would like, but when life threw him lemons, he could only freeze a lemon sorbet.

“I’ll be expecting to see results,” the inspector unlocked the door. Another enforcer with icy eyes was waiting for them outside. “You can go retrieve all the material and essentials you’ll need for your work. Officer Makyn will help you carry your belongings.”

Yay, I got a babysitter. I imagine he’s here just to carry my bags.

“Do I need to sleep here, in the precinct?”

Where did our trust go? I thought we had an understanding. You look away, and I promise to only steal half of what I see.

Seryne checked a silver pocket watch with a worrying smile. “No, not here. You’ll be leaving for the ruins on Kawei. The zeppelin leaves in less than an hour, so you better hurry. Officer Makyn is authorized to drag you if you’re late.”