Chapter 18: Questioning
Zane woke up with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head.
"Good morning Gunther. Good morning Cthulhu." He greeted his roommates. He saw Cthulhu reading a newspaper and Gunther having a coffee. Zane didn't try to think about how a shadow creature could drink coffee, or where he got it from.
"Any news about our little project?" He peeked at the newspaper, only to be disappointed with columns and articles about fruit. "Wait, is this from another world again?"
<H2@@re!YY^!>
[You have a letter, Zane.]
Turning around, Zane took an envelope from Gunther's hand. Opening it, he saw it was a short message asking him to go to the Headmaster's office.
"Uh oh."
[What is it?]
"They want me to go to the headmaster's office." He looked at Gunther. "Hey, do you think you could beat that guy if it comes down to it?"
<&*Juu!$d@@w8?> Cthulhu interjected.
"Oh, I know you can fight, Cthulhu, but open combat is more Gunther's thing." The two glanced at the angry tentacle before continuing where they left off.
"So can you?"
Gunther nodded. [I did some research, he is only a Grandmaster Mage.]
Zane stroked his chin. "Are Grandmasters strong?"
[...]
"..."
[...Zane, do you know what the Mage levels are?]
"Yeah." Zane looked at Gunther for a while before lowering his head. "No…"
******
After quickly explaining to Zane the Mage levels as well as reassuring him, Gunther hid in his shadow as they prepared to leave.
Finally stepping out of his dorm for the first time, Zane was met with the sight of the large campus of the academy. He nodded in approval. "Looks nice."
He saw a wide board a few steps ahead. Approaching it, Zane's jaw dropped as he read the contents of the board.
"Grace period to create the squads… blah blah blah… hey, a map! Cafeteria, training fields… Hangout spots? Game room?!" Zane shook his fists in frustration. "These places were here the whole time!?"
[I thought you had known. After all, I had gotten my coffee from the cafeteria.]
"This blows…"
A sulky Zane used the map provided to find the faculty building, which was at the far back of the campus. Zane bitterly ignored all the other brand new Mages having fun around him.
He entered the tall building, asked the receptionist (which he had no clue why there was one) where the Headmaster's office was, and walked up a few flights of stairs. Finally reaching the Headmaster's office, he noticed two familiar faces sitting outside the door.
"Oh, you got in." Lanius remarked after seeing Zane's sudden appearance.
"Huh, I guess they do have special education here." Lisa crossed her arms. Zane frowned at them.
"I'm not fucking impaired!" He snapped at them, but the duo still looked unconvinced.
"Zane, right? There's nothing wrong with being on the spectrum-"
"Excuse me, Zane Syne? The Headmaster is waiting for you."
Fortunately, before Lanius could continue, a woman stuck her head out the door and called Zane, who was happy to leave the two behind.
"Miss, what about us? We've been here for nearly an hour." Lisa called out to the secretary, who smiled at them.
"Please just wait a little more, you'll know why you're here soon enough."
Entering the office, the amount of people immediately let Zane know something was off. There was a middle-aged man sitting behind a desk that he assumed was the Headmaster, but there was also a man and a woman wearing military uniforms standing behind him, while leaning against the wall was another man.
[If you need help, think of my name and I shall appear.] Gunther told Zane through their mental link as Cthulhu screeched in agreement.
The Headmaster stood up to greet Zane. "Hello, Mr. Syne. The people in uniform behind me are Captains from the Royal Army. They wish to ask you a few questions. Please sit down."
"Hello." Taking a seat, Zane said as his eyes darted between the Headmaster, the Captains, and the man on the side.
'Oh they totally know about the Blood of Syne.'
As the Headmaster sat back down, one of the Captains stepped forward. Zane noticed he had green hair and eyes. He squatted down a little to be at Zane's eye level before smiling at him.
"Hello there Zane. I'm Captain Bridges. Now, I'm about to tell you a secret that everyone else in this room already knows, and you aren't allowed to tell anyone else, okay?"
Zane raised an eyebrow and nodded. 'Does he think I'm a kid?'
"Good! Here's the secret: In a field outside The Capital, a platoon of soldiers were found brutally murdered, with traces of dark energy on the scene and the phrase 'Blood of Syne' written in blood. Since your last name is Syne, we were wondering if you knew anything about this incident?"
Zane widened his eyes and left his mouth a little open, pretending to be very shocked by the information. He blinked a couple times to appear nervous before answering, making sure to stutter.
"N-No, I don't know anything about that. M-Maybe whoever did it i-is talking about a different Syne?"
"That's certainly a possibility Zane, but since there's dark energy present, which we all know belongs to Dark Mages, and your family name, there is a high probability that it's connected to your-"
"Oh, let's just get on with it." The female Captain, tired of Captain Bridges coddling Zane, stepped forward and pushed him aside. She had curly brown hair and brown eyes.
"I'm Captain Chambers." She stated her name as she pulled out a vial containing a yellow liquid. She held it out to Zane. "Drink."
Zane looked at the vial before looking back at her.
"I-I don't think that's…"
Zane tried to decline, but Captain Chambers simply rolled her eyes and grabbed his mouth before pouring the vial's contents down his throat. Rage filled Zane's eyes for a moment before he hid it, showing panic instead, but what he didn't know was that the man leaning on the side had noticed the flash of rage.
Inside his shadow, Zane could feel Gunther stick out a little, preparing to attack Captain Chambers, who held his mouth shut and forced him to swallow the liquid. Gunther was enraged at his master, uh he meant friend getting manhandled.
'DON'T!' Zane screamed in his mind. If he attacked now, while a Captain was holding his face, and while under investigation, he would probably become #1 priority to be hunted down by the Royal Army, or get his head blown away.
As Gunther hesitantly calmed down, Zane feigned fear in his expression as he swallowed the liquid. Almost immediately, he felt a sort of mental block appear in his mind.
"What you just swallowed was a truth serum." Letting go of his mouth, Captain Chambers grinned as if she had already caught a criminal. "Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions."
Looking at her shit-eating grin, Zane knew he would have to keep on his toes during this investigation.
'Shit.'
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