THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 135: 135. QUESTIONS

It had been two days since the encounter with the twins, and Sagiri’s stay in the healing wing of the fortress had turned into isolation yet again. He had not been allowed to see Lotaga or any member of Squad Twenty-Five. No one had talked to him, and he did not like the treatment yet again.

Just like what had happened during the attack back at the academy, he had been isolated and interrogated. he did not like the turn of events yet again, but if there was anything he learnt from his previous interrogation was to not lose his cool and stay patient.

The war headquarters did not have the mandate to interrogate a student. Only the ten schools council had that right, and also the right to punish if they thought the offence to be too severe. A warrior had died, however, and that changed everything. The war headquarters needed answers. sagiri could only imagine what would happen if it went that far. The war council versus the ten schools council, and he is right at the centre of it.

Sagiri could only imagine what N’varu was going through. He was the one who wanted them to escape the most, and perhaps he had been right. The war headquarters already had a file on what had happened in Galka three months before. Besides the intruders, the twins’ involvement had been left hanging bit now sagiri was sure it had opened a Pandora’s box as to their presence in the cave.

It was almost night on the third day since the attack when Captain Chera came to pick him up in the company of Lotaga. They both must have come to pick him to avoid either of them getting a hand over the other.

”Everyone who was out that night has given an account. You need to tell the truth about what you saw so this can be wrapped up quickly,” Lotaga said before sagiri could say a word, and with that, they headed to a room in the inner octagon not far from the healing wing.

General Felunka and two other men. To his right was the first wing division commander, the sixth wing division commander, the rest of the squad chera, and all members of Team 25. They were scattered around the room.

As soon as they entered, everyone turned around. His teammates must have undergone tedious interrogation for the last two days, and they looked worried as to what had happened to him or what he had done. He could feel Nvaru’s anxiousness.

Lotaga walked to join the other members of Squad Chera. Chera just stood beside the door, looking alert and not the least bored, as he always looked. Sagiri wanted to salute everyone in the room nut he noticed there was no seat for him, and instead he was left to stand at the centre of the room facing everyone, especially the general and the two division commanders.

”Am I being interrogated?” The words tumbled out of Sagiri’s mouth. He was starting to hate interrogations.

”If it were an interrogation, you would be in wing one. One of my men died. And I deserve to know why. I don’t want to prolong this by calling in the ten schools council while my man turns in his grave without peace,” Felunka said.

That much was right. If the ten schools council were to be involved, then the whole thing could be blown out of proportion. Then the warriors’ guild could hear of it yet again, and this time sagiri could not escape their hands. They had been itching to lay their hands on him after the deaths of three warrior and now another had added to the pile.

”We as the war council already know what previously happened inside the walls of the academy, and now it seems like your mad had splashed on our boots and cost us a good man,” the man sitting to Felunka’s right spoke. ”What do you say to that?” he asked, seeming impatient. So much for it not being an interrogation.

”The twins from the Tamelku clan were after me,” sagiri said after a long pause of silence. Their files should have already had such a piece of information anyway.

”And why is that?” Felunka asked.

”I do not know,” sagiri said, and there were shifts in the room.

”Your friends here already told us it’s because you rival them in sensory skills,” Chera said.

Darn it. Perhaps this was the reason they had kept him isolated. They must have been interrogating his team, too, about what happened between him and the twins.

”I never competed with them. So it wasn’t a rivalry,” Sagiri answered, and there was silence in the room. ”It was only their delusion that pushed them to try and kill me three times,” Sagiri answered.

”Why did the school let it get that far?” This time, the question was directed at Lotaga.

”I do not know, the grand marshal has his ways of doing things.” Lotaga avoided the question. The men sat at the head of the room might have acted as if this was not an interrogation, but only a fool could believe such petty deception. This was a full-on interrogation, and if anyone said anything stupid, then it would be suicide. The ten schools and the warrior guild might not have seen eye to eye, but the war headquarters and the war guild were not enemies, even if they both carried out their purposes independently.

”Your failure to nip your problems in the bud has cost us a warrior for nothing,” the man on the left snapped. Chera squad members had not spoken yet, but Sagiri could perceive their grief, anger, and pain at the death of their comrade.

”They are dead now,” Sagiri said. He had put them out of their deranged delusion, and no one was going to suffer or die because of them again.

”You don’t seem fazed,” the man to the right of Felunka asked.

”They tried to kill me three times, why could I regret their death?” Sagiri asked the ice in his heart, returning, making him dangerously calm.

”Them, their company was already dead when Team Chera arrived. Did you see who killed them?” Felunka asked. He was calmer than sagiri had ever seen him, and he did not know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

”No, the seven had beaten me to unconsciousness,” Sagiri said, almost glad his ribs had been broken to sell his story.

”So you did not kill them, I hear you killed three men out of your league in the attack,” Felunka continued.

”I wish,” sagiri answered.

”Did you see who killed them?” Felunka asked.

”I did not, it was too dark,” Sagiri answered.

”Any reason why he left you alive?” the man on the left asked.

”I would also love to know why he did not kill me when I have never offended him or crossed paths with him,” Sagiri answered the question calmly, but to everyone’s ears, it sounded sarcastic. What an odd thing to ask.

”The earth at the entry of the cave, any idea how it caved?” The man on the right asked.

”The earth caves sometimes, I study the art of a warrior, not the earth’s mechanisms,” Sagiri answered. He was not going to give himself away again. His squad, Senraki, and half of Salka’s team were already too many people who knew too much about him.

”I see,” was all Felunka said. ”That is all for today,” he said, standing up, and he was the first to leave. ”You are all dismissed,” he added.

If he thought sagiri was going to fall for that stunt again, he was wrong. Senraki had pulled one in him already, and he knew the interrogation was far from over. It only started, and if the benefactor was behind his coming to the headquarters, then he knew it was only the beginning. His right eye veil had managed to hold on somehow, but Sagiri knew that if his right eye ate at it again, it could not stand.