One-Eyed Monster

”Looks like we’ve got our hands full now!” The weirdo grinned at Igor.

Just now they’d let those Gray Plain Wolves go; the wolves had enjoyed a pleasant little stretch of time, and now they’d already gone far off. What was left behind were the Mantai People who’d become prisoners.

”Uh, senior, what exactly are we busy with?” Igor was thoroughly puzzled. He felt like they could just hand these Mantai People over to the Administrative Office and be done with it. How troublesome could it be to leave this kind of thing to the Administrative Office?

”Don’t you want to ask them what they’re planning to do here?” The weirdo was still baffled at how slow on the uptake this kid was.

”Honestly, the one I’m most interested in is you.” Douglas suddenly walked over, his head of white hair rather eye-catching.

They didn’t spare the Mantai People’s groans a shred of concern. For them, this was chat time.

”Me?” The weirdo pointed at himself. ”What’s so strange about me?”

”Up till now, we still don’t know your name, you Alchemist.” Douglas said casually, slanting his eyes at the weirdo, full of contempt.

A guy without even a name really was mysterious. Douglas asked precisely to see whether this weirdo was willing to be upfront with them.

”Heh heh heh, right now the only name these Mantai People have made public is yours…” The weirdo chuckled. His meaning was obvious: the fact that everyone knew his name wasn’t because he’d introduced himself…

”Seniors, I’m Igor!” Igor said, completely failing to read the mood. He just blurted out his own name, without bothering to figure out what the weirdo had meant.

”Uh, haha, I’m Douglas!” Douglas smoothly picked up right after Igor, sounding very pleased.

Now the ball had rolled right up in front of the weirdo; whether he kicked it or not was up to him.

Choices might look simple, but every choice represented a stance. If this weirdo still refused to reveal his name, then it was clear he wasn’t willing to act together with the other two.

”Uh…” The weirdo hesitated, clearly still reluctant to reveal his true identity.

The brief silence among the three made the atmosphere turn very strange. For the weirdo, that interval was a kind of torment; that moment felt like countless needles stabbing into him, and on top of that there were two pairs of eyes fixed on him. The way they were looking at him felt almost murderous.

”You can call me Amoon.” At last the weirdo compromised. He stopped keeping quiet and simply tossed out a name.

”Amoon!” Igor and Douglas knew this wasn’t a full name, but since the other party wasn’t willing to say more, they wouldn’t force it. At least he was showing a willingness to join up with them. And besides, they’d just fought side by side, which already said something; from a certain angle, this Amoon had more or less saved Igor and Douglas.

”Good, Amoon, now we can say we know each other.” More sincerity would need time to prove itself. Douglas understood that, and he was pretty relaxed about this sort of thing.

”Senior Amoon, next we’re going to escort this lot to the Administrative Office, right?” Igor asked, because earlier Amoon had said there was still a lot to be done.

”Administrative Office?” Douglas was very surprised. ”Which Administrative Office are you talking about, the Mantai Empire’s Administrative Office or Kayne’s Administrative Office?”

”Uh…” Igor didn’t know how to answer Douglas’s question.

For him all of this was unfamiliar; using the worldview he was used to in order to think through what was in front of him was clearly inappropriate. He hadn’t experienced enough yet, didn’t have that level of understanding. He didn’t realize that here on the border there was no such thing as a reliable Administrative Office. This was a place nobody really governed. Most of the people who came here carried secrets on their backs. Someone as Nothingness as Igor coming here really was an oddball case.

”There’s no reliable Administrative Office out here. Handing these people over would take way too much time; we’d have to cross several rivers. Even if we don’t mind the long journey, there’s still a serious problem—who exactly are we supposed to hand them over to?” Douglas went on. He felt that everything Igor was suggesting was just a waste of time and totally not worth it.

”Douglas is right. Even though right now we and these Mantai People are enemies, our stance still isn’t all that clear-cut. I may be one of the Kayne People, but I’ve stayed in Mantai and Vero before, and there are people in those places who love peace. Not everyone is a bloodthirsty warmonger.”

What these two seniors were saying left Igor at a loss, thoroughly confused.

Igor looked at the two seniors, waiting for them to give him a choice—or rather, an answer.

”So I propose we give this bunch some punishment right now. They’ve done every bad thing under the sun; we’d just be playing heaven’s executioners!” Douglas said.

”Your idea’s good, but before that I still have a few questions for them.”

”Oh?” Douglas looked at Amoon; he knew Amoon had his own agenda.

”Aren’t you the least bit curious?” Amoon shot back.

”I’m a simple guy, not as deep as you. I just see evildoers and my heart gets annoyed…” Douglas said.

”Senior Douglas, you really are like one of my friends!” Igor couldn’t help but think of Kadi again.

”That, that’s a topic for later. Right now we need to deal with this pack of bastards!”

”I agree with Senior Amoon—let’s ask them first what their actual goal is.” Igor said calmly.

His suggestion left Amoon and Douglas speechless.

Who would honestly tell you what their purpose was? Without some methods, there was no way to get anything out of this lot!

Only by putting them through a proper interrogation could they get some answers.

That was something Douglas and Amoon both agreed on.

”As for what to do next, leave it to me. I might not be a professional, but at least I know more than you two do. You just have to stand by and watch.” Amoon said with a cheeky grin.

”I’m in favor. I’m only good at making a mess of things; I’d be terrible at this.” Douglas said.

So Amoon lightly walked toward the group. The Mantai People were in all kinds of states now—some were groaning, some glaring, some spacing out, some scheming… anyway, the dozen or so of them were showing every sort of posture.

But regardless of posture, they all had to submit to Amoon’s interrogation!