Chương 79: A Successful Interrogation

"With you around, Ryland," Kendren said.

"Walking is entirely unnecessary, yes?" Kendren appeared to have taken it in stride that they were essentially investigating Calamities. Maybe he believed that the monstrous events he had experienced back during the Entrance Trials had given him a taste of what dealing with a Calamity was like. While Ryland wasn't going to disabuse Kendren of that notion, it was also true that the jumped-up, Titan-ranked monster of the Trials didn't hold a candle to a real Calamity.

"It is indeed." Ryland took a moment to look around himself and found that he felt a decent amount of mercy towards the poor mobsters who had come to confront him. Now that he had returned the pieces back to their owners, they were all crying and sobbing and hugging each other in relief.

"I can [Translocate] us once I'm sure of the location." Kendren nodded and went about interrogating the former crooks. He hadn't feared them before and he certainly wasn't afraid of them now, not after Ryland had given them a lesson. It didn't take long for them to learn of their destination. Ryland gathered everyone close and then cast [Dimensional Lock] on them all to try and prevent them from feeling too sick. Then he cast [Translocate].

He had to admit that he felt a mite guilty when he saw how the mobsters looked panicked and slightly crazed when the new set of rifts established themselves. After the experience they had gone through, Ryland felt a very weird sense of kinship with all of them. They had just regained pieces of themselves, just as he was seeking to do. That made them kind of sort of kindred spirits, didn't it? Ryland decided that was a generous way of seeing things and a little generosity wasn't going to hurt him now and then.

So for now, he gave them a genuine smile as they all disappeared. When they exited the rift, they reappeared inside a rather extravagant place. Ryland had been expecting a shady place like the inn he had visited earlier in the day. Instead, he spotted brilliant chandeliers, a hall that was decorated with long couches, bright lights, and even some artful paintings here and there. They were also surrounded by perhaps the most stupefied group of people Ryland had seen in ages. Hmm.

Now he was tempted to start ranking recent incidents based on just how incredulous and disbelieving he had left people. But fun as the exercise sounded, he was unfortunately occupied with current circumstances. What followed was an unsurprisingly tremendous amount of chaos. There was a lot of shouting and threatening and people talking over one another. Ryland was on the receiving end of those a lot of the time, though he never needed to actually answer any of that himself.

The crooks who had accosted him here almost threw themselves at their compatriots to prevent them from doing anything that would have had them go through the same thing their comrades had experienced. Eventually, however, Ryland was finally able to take a seat. It had taken them all the better part of fifteen minutes until things had calmed down enough for him to feel like they were still within civilization. It had also taken a short demonstration from Ryland, but that was par for the course.

"So." The leader of the establishment had finally decided it would be in his best interests to not antagonize Ryland after he had seen half the columns holding up his fancy hall floating over his head.

"How can I help you, sub-Academ Marionys Ryland?"

"You can help me by answering some of my questions," Ryland said. The scarred elvhenan leader appeared to be as well-to-do as he liked to make his whole hideout look. His coat was made of silk, his hair was slicked back like he was about to head out for a night of festivities, and expensive jewellery dotted his fingers and wrists and even his eyebrows.

"If you were concerned about my goons going after you or yours," the leader said. He was sweating just a bit.

"Please rest assured that they will never, ever bother you again."

"Well, that wasn't exactly my main concern, but I suppose I can thank you for it."

"I will also make sure that the entirety of the undercity never deigns to harm you or yours again." Ryland pursed his lips.

"I'm not sure why that would ever be a concern either." The elvhenan mob leader leaned forward with rising intensity.

"And I will also ensure that you will never need to waste your time in the undercity again. If you need information, people, animals, spells, whatever it is, I will personally get it for you. This I swear on my great grandmother's grave."

"…thank you," Ryland said after a moment.

"Might I state what I do have concerns about now?"

"Of course," he said, looking stricken like it was something that even needed to be asked.

"Good." Ryland took a deep breath.

"You see, I decided to join Arcoryx Academy for one main purpose, and one main purpose only—to retrieve pieces of myself. But that proved to be a more challenging task than I was prepared for, especially since there were a lot more barricades than I had foreseen, such as an Academ deciding to steal one of my pieces and—""Ahem!" Kendren coughed politely into his fist.

"Ryland, you've broken his brain." The elvhenan shook his head almost violently.

"My brain is not broken!" His eye had definitely been glazed over, however. Kendren was right. Ryland would need to be a little more… circumspect. He was falling into his bad habit again.

"The young lord is right, though," the leader said.

"Perhaps we can take it easier and go through the whole story from the beginning. There's no rush, after all. Does that sound alright?" Ryland nodded.

"Fine by me."

"Excellent." The pleasant smile he was using on Ryland and Kendren turned into a vicious slash not dissimilar from all the scars on his face when he turned to face his attendants and hangers-on.

"Bring us the smoked steaks. The ones from the Greater Wyrm's flank. Now." They all quailed at his bark, but one of them managed to bravely step forward.

"Um, sorry sir," he said, almost stuttering.

"But we ran out of those ones a while ago."" Well then, go and get new ones, you buffoon!" With a yelp, most of them quickly scurried away to comply with the order. Except, as soon as they reached the room's exit and opened the door, they came to a stop at a cold gust.

"Uh, sir…" The scarred elvhenan mob leader looked almost enraged." What now?"

"Sir… we're not in Arcoryx anymore."" What?"

"Oh, my apologies," Ryland said, interjecting before the leader had an aneurysm.

"In my haste to demonstrate myself, I accidentally [Translocated] you all to Sundermount." No one really had an answer to that besides more staring and gawking. Well, everyone besides Kendren, who muttered something about it being perfect before taking another [Snapshot]. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Ryland couldn't blame them for the staring mutely and whatnot.

Transporting the entire hideout to the top of Sundermount was perhaps a bit much when all he had wished to do was convince them that complying with him would be in everyone's best interests.

"I assume we're not going back until I've answered everything you wish to know to your satisfaction," the mob leader said.

"Well—" Kendren leaned forward and cleared his throat.

"Yes, exactly. Please answer Ryland here to the best of your capabilities. Not only would you be doing everyone a huge favour, you'll also be helping yourself a great deal." Ryland raised an eyebrow and Kendren returned a look that asked Ryland to just go with the flow.

"Please," the mobster asked.

"Ask away, then."

"I want to know if you met another Academ recently," Ryland said. He quickly and succinctly described Academ Folis from Arcoryx Academy. The crazed appearance of the Academ that Ryland had interacted with probably wouldn't be recognizable, so he had made sure to ask what he normally looked like.

"It's very important, as Kendren said." The mobster didn't recognize Folis sadly, but then, one of his attendants came up and answered in the affirmative. That's when the leader recognized Folis as well. Academ Folis had been all cloaked up and everything when he had come to the undercity, which made sense. He had been dressed just like that when he had stolen Ryland's piece. But the attendant had managed to peek under the hood and get a glimpse of Folis's face.

And that's when the leader understood that the cloaked figure from a few days ago had been an academy mage.

"What is it with you academy mages trawling through the undercity like you own it?" the mob leader muttered. Then he paled as he looked at who was seated opposite him.

"Uh, forgive me. I only meant—" Ryland raised a hand.

"It's alright. Please tell me everything about the cloaked academy mage." They went on to do so. The mob leader wasn't the only one Folis had interacted with, which made sense. He'd have needed to go through a bunch of other obstacles before he could get to someone so important. And each person he had interacted with had a tale to tell. Ultimately though, Ryland was only interested in one thing.

"Your assumptions are correct, sub-Academ Marionys Ryland," the mob leader said.

"My whole gang of Titan Breakers were indeed given a hefty sum to ensure that Academ Folis of Arcoryx Academy complied with the demands we were given. Of course, we didn't know his name or occupation then. We only learned them now."

"This mysterious entity who ordered you to deal with the Academ," Kendren said.

"How did they convince you to cooperate? Was the sum alone really big enough to buy out the mob boss?"

"The sum was astronomical, but it was merely an added sweetener. After all, you wouldn't expect any of us to not comply with the demands of someone like yourself, now would you?"

"That… is a fair point," Ryland said.

"I hope they didn't transport you to Sundermount too." The elvhenan grimaced.

"They didn't… but the sense of power I got suggested that they could have."

"Any particulars about the person you were dealing with that you'd like to share?"

"I am afraid my memory of the incident isn't the strongest. It feels… purposefully obfuscated." The elvhenan mob leader leaned forward as he tried to recollect.

"But I do recall a certain symbol with startling clarity."

"Which was?"

"A depiction of a Realm, grasped in claws."" Ah."

"You know it, don't you?" He said it like he was sealing his doom. Ryland nodded.

"I do, yes. That is the symbol of the Flourinus Order. A secretive but powerful society bent on resurrecting Calamities young and old, of sending the Realms tumbling into chaos to achieve it, if need be." All the mobsters' eyes widened, including that of the leader and his subordinates. Kendren was looking so intently at Ryland that he might as well have been trying to imprint everything in his head.

"The Flourinus Order…" The elvhenan breathed in sharply.

"But that's just a children's story. They're not real."

"I assure you," Ryland said.

"They are very real. You have proof of their power, yes?" The leader swallowed.

"Yes, that I do." His scars were looking extra prominent now that he had finally decided to throw in his lot with Ryland.

"But why would they want one lowly Academ from Arcoryx Academy?"

"I'm afraid that's a bit of a long story. One I don't quite have the time to elaborate. For anyone. But I would like to point out that you don't really have anything to fear. Not from me, and certainly not from the Order, either."

"I'm not sure what you mean," the elvhenan said evasively.

"Hmm." All this time, the fear the elvhenan had displayed hadn't just been for Ryland and Ryland alone. He had masked his real fear, the one of betraying those who had contacted him first, by his need to appease the mage who could transport his whole base to whatever location he wished. But now that dealing with Ryland was done, the older fear was resurfacing. Ryland could see it. Could tell that the mob leader was desperately trying to not let it show.

Yet it was there, infecting his thoughts, making his limbs twitch, affecting his mannerisms.

"Please don't move for a moment," Ryland eventually said." [Eyes of Eternity]." Twin rifts appeared in place of Ryland's actual eyes. From their depths, coal-hot orbs sprayed out burning rays into the entire room, shading wherever he turned his gaze with molten orange light. And wherever that light struck, magic was revealed.

"What is this?" the leader asked. He swallowed. The rest of the mobsters were all quiet too. Even Kendren had fallen silent, content to merely watch proceedings with wide eyes and take the occasional [Snapshot]. All around them, ruby red energy was inscribed into the very fabric of reality. The air, the walls, even several people. They all had half-formed Glyphs branded into their being, like pseudo-Inscriptions that would only come alive when certain conditions were fulfilled.

"It's the mana left by whichever of the Order you interacted with," Ryland said.

"Left in an unformed state, in precise Inscriptions that are normally imperceptible and ones you can do nothing about till they activate. Except, when they do activate, it's too late by then."

"Is this…" The leader swallowed as he looked.

"Is this what I've been feeling all this time?"

"Most likely, yes. But fear not. It isn't something that can escape me." Ryland raised his hand." [Nullform Embrace]." With his Soul Glyph of Rift appearing in the middle of his spell circle, Ryland's magic soon had the entirety of the hideout in its grasp. The thing about unreal, half-formed magic was that it could be dealt with using the same sort of unreality as well. All he had to do was assault it at the same level as its existence. The red, half-formed Glyphs broke and shattered.

Their broken pieces all got dragged towards the little rift Ryland had opened in the centre of the room.

Every bit of foreign magic that had been injected into the area, every bit of mana that had been waiting for its condition—likely one of betrayal or end of usefulness—was sucked into the obliterating rift. And in moments, the magic was gone. Slowly, the elvhenan leader straightened.

"I… feel much lighter." The rest of his mob agreed with awed shakes of their heads and mystified glances at each other.

"It's gone…" one said.

"Just like that," said another. Kendren laughed.

"Oh yes, the looks on all your faces are perfect for another [Snapshot]." Ryland smiled and shook his head.

"One last thing. [Retribution Armour]." Everyone in the room gasped as a complicated series of Glyphs formed a spell circle with their body and Ryland's Soul Glyph of Aegis at the centre. The magic condensed into a transparent encasing that covered them all, disappearing without a trace in moments like Ryland had never cast any magic to begin with.

"That's just insurance," Ryland explained.

"Just in case the Order decides to return. So now you can go about your days without worrying about them at all." They all looked too speechless to even express their thanks. Eventually though, the scarred elvhenan leader got to his feet.

"This is incredible, sub-Academ Marionys Ryland. Who are you tru—" He stopped himself, closing his eyes for a long moment.

"No, it matters not. You've given us all an incredible blessing. What paltry information we've offered you pales in comparison to what you've done." Then he bowed, which made the rest of the mobsters gasp.

"If you ever need anything—anything at all—I will be your man." Ryland waved it away as he got to his feet.

"It's nothing. Please. I was merely taking care of anything untoward I came across."

"Nevertheless, the undercity and the Titan Breakers are yours now. We will be forever indebted to you. So please, never ever hesitate to call upon us." Ryland considered that for a while, then smiled and nodded. After a lot of further expressions of endless gratitude and similar things, Ryland and Kendren were eventually able to extricate themselves from the hideout. After returning it back to the undercity from Sundermount, of course. And after a few other questions and investigations, of course.

[Achievement Recognized: New Ringleader You have become the new, de-facto leader of the Black District of Arcoryx City. Rank up from Adamantine [53] to Adamantine [65]. Reward: Tier [21] Glyph of Communication directly tied to all communication Glyphs used by undercity members.]"A successful outing?" Kendren asked, staring at the Glyph manifesting before Ryland. He read through the Grand Frame notification.

"More or less. After using [Rewind], I think I now have a clearer idea of how to counteract the Order. It will just take a little bit." Kendren shook his head.

"The Order… it's so insane to think about."

"Indeed."

"Crazier still that you're doing this investigation right before midterms." Ryland paused. He had forgotten all about the fact that midterms were right around the corner.

"Well, looks like I know what I'll be occupied with…" Kendren grinned.

"Oh, right. Are they making you an invigilator for this semester's exams?" His grin turned almost evil.

"Because if so, the students who try to pass are going to really have their work cut out for them…"