NOVEL NEXT Chapter 384: Interrogation
Ren had always thought himself good at remaining calm under pressure.
He had stood face-to-face with monsters, killed Knights stronger than him, and stared death down with a steady heart and a wide grin on his face.
But even he had to admit that being locked in a dark stone room in Carthage for days, questioned by cold-eyed investigators while his hands remained bound, tested the limits of his patience.
The holding cells were somewhere beneath the fourth layer, built into the bedrock of the mountain.
A prison that seemed to have been carved for the sole purpose of draining hope our of its prisoners.
There were no bars, just reinforced doors. All one could see was the darkness that pressed against them. One couldn't even see the four walls of the prison, only feel them.
Sound didn't travel well there either, and Ren suspected some kind of ability was muffling the sounds. Or maybe he was just growing too used to silence.
They hadn't been tortured, thankfully. The city wasn't barbaric. But the interrogations had been unrelenting.
Morning and evening, they were pulled from their cells and brought before stern-faced officers who repeated the same questions in different ways. Over and over again.
What were you doing in the district office?
Did you know the attackers?
Did you plant them there?
Who helped you destroy the wall?
Where did the power signature that leveled half the building come from?
Each time, Ren answered calmly. Each time, he gave the same report.
He, Lilith, and Thorn had gone to upgrade their badges. They'd been ambushed. They fought back. That was all.
He kept the part about the Silent Choir to himself. Not because he doubted its danger, but because he still had no proof.
Dropping the name of a cult without hard evidence would only bury them deeper.
They were never put together. He didn't see Lilith or Thorn for days, and though he trusted them both, the isolation was a blade pressed against his mind.
He worried. Not just for them, but for what could be happening in the upper layers while they sat down here, locked away.
Then, after what felt like a week, though he'd stopped counting, the door to his cell opened, and a woman with a clipped tone told him he'd been cleared.
"Survivors have come forward." She explained. "The official in charge of your application is alive. Your story checks out."
The knot that had been in his chest loosened.
And now, here they were, in a small stone office, simple in decoration, but warm with flickering lamplight. The door clicked shut behind him as he stepped inside.
Lilith shot up from her seat.
"Ren!"
She flew into his arms, her embrace tight, desperate. He held her back just as fiercely, his eyes shutting for the first time in what felt like days.
"I missed you." She whispered.
"I missed you too."
Then Thorn stood, face drawn and weary, but intact. Ren let Lilith go and turned to him.
"You good?" Ren asked.
Thorn nodded and gave a weak grin. "Better now."
Ren clapped him on the back, and Thorn returned the gesture.
They were tired. Worn. Hungry. But together again.
The door creaked open once more, and the air in the office shifted as a woman in full silver armor stepped inside.
Her footsteps were firm but unhurried, each one echoing softly in the room. She removed her helmet, revealing sharp features framed by tightly coiled braids and cold eyes that swept across the three of them without emotion.
It was the same lead soldier who had ordered their arrest days earlier at the district office.
Ren straightened slightly, saying nothing. Thorn watched her warily. Lilith's expression was unreadable, though her arms remained looped around Ren's.
The woman took the lone seat across from them, her armor clinking as she settled in. She placed a small stack of parchment and a box beside her.
"I won't apologize," she said bluntly, folding her gloved hands together. "What you went through was necessary."
Ren arched an eyebrow. "Necessary?"
She met his gaze evenly. "It's because we're this thorough that Carthage remains the safest place in the Arondale mountains."
"We don't leave loose ends. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, yes, but until your story was verified, you were also the most likely suspects."
There was no hostility in her voice. Just cold logic.
Lilith, surprisingly, nodded. "I understand."
The woman gave a brief nod of approval, then opened the box she'd brought. Inside were three thick forms and three new badges, each one gleaming with a fresh silver inlay.
"You never finished your paperwork at the district office," she said, sliding the forms toward them. "Consider this a second chance. Fill them out now, and I'll stamp them myself."
The trio exchanged looks before sitting down to fill out the forms.
Name, origin, type of business, rank, areas of interest, basic information, but thorough enough to feel like a census.
It didn't take long, and once completed, the woman took each parchment and brought her signet ring down on the bottom corner, leaving a dark blue mark of approval.
She reached into the box and pulled out the badges, thicker than the ones they previously carried.
These weren't the basic bronze ones they'd received after the exam. These were silver-tier citizenship badges.
"Congratulations." She said, setting them in front of each of them. "With these, you are now authorized to run a registered business across the upper and mid-layers of Carthage."
Ren picked up his badge, turning it in his fingers. The metal caught the light with a faint gleam, and the sigil of Carthage was etched into the center.
"These badges will grant you access to most trade routes," she continued. "Some of the deeper layers are still off-limits without sponsor approval, but this is a significant step."
Thorn nodded once. "This'll make moving our goods a whole lot easier."
The woman didn't respond to his comment. She simply rose, brushing nonexistent dust from her armor.
"You've proven resourceful," she said, stepping back toward the door, "and resilient. Carthage rewards those who survive its trials."
She turned and rapped her knuckles against the wood once. Moments later, two soldiers entered in perfect formation, standing at attention.
"Escort them out," she instructed, then gave Ren and his team one final look. "Try not to land yourselves in another investigation."
With that, she stepped out.
The soldiers waited silently.
Ren stood first, badge in hand, and looked at Thorn and Lilith. They nodded.
It was time to go.
And time to move forward.