Reiji, Taiken, Yoruha, Purple and Lord Fujioka were sitting behind a long table meant for meetings and celebrations.
This was happening at the same time as Darian Vesmore's magic show. Reiji and Taiken managed to get some cheap but clean clothes.
Lord Fujioka sat close to the table, his hands resting intertwined on it. Yoruha sat calmly with her legs crossed and hands resting in her lap. Purple did the same but didn't have her legs crossed.
Taiken was leaning forward in his chair and sleeping on the table, already drooling while Reiji sat a distance away from it, his elbows on his knees and head resting in his hands.
The whole room was silent and awkward. Lord Fujioka spoke first.
"Well, let's start with the new person in this room. Taiken Kurozuma."
Fujioka turned to Reiji.
"You never told me you had a brother."
"Didn't think it was relevant information."
Reiji answered with a tired voice, still in the same position.
"It would've been nice to know. I have questions for you, Kurozuma."
"You know what? No, I've got a hell of a lot of questions for you!"
Reiji snapped and stood up, looking at Lord Fujioka.
"I was kidnapped by people using magic, they called themselves magicians and-"
"That means they're from Estravar."
Yuroha cuts Reiji off. Reiji falls silent and looks at her for a second with his mouth slightly open. He then looks at Lord Fujioka and quickly looks over at Purple.
"So that's how it is, huh? Every chance you get you cut me off, acting like I'm not important."
Reiji punches the table, not enough to break it but enough to make a loud sound. Taiken keeps sleeping while the others have no visible reaction. Purple eyes Reiji, ready to stop any violent attempts.
"See how he's sleeping?" Reiji points to Taiken as he looks at Fujioka. "Not a care in the world. He gets his ass saved from prison and the first thing he does is fall asleep!"
Reiji tries to grab Taiken but his hand is stopped mid air by an invisible force. It feels like everything in it slows down until it stops instead of it being like a wall. He pulls his hand back with a frustrated sound.
"Don't make my student use her mana when she doesn't need to."
Yoruha said with a small smirk on her face.
"Use her mana? Well, at least I have a good intuition because one of the people I talked to while in Estravar or wherever told me you magicians use mana so my guess was that you people don't have an infinite supply."
Fujioka hastily spoke next right after Reiji.
"Could we focus on more important things, please?"
"Define what's important because I learned a lot from my time as a captive."
Fujioka gestures for him to keep talking.
"I was told that the monsters appearing come at random but mainly here in this kingdom. They also wanted me to retrieve those papers detailing all of those monsters. The ones written by that guy who had metal and physical issues."
"Tsukikage Yumesasa?"
Yoruha asked. Fujioka nodded. "Yes, that man. Why would they want those papers?"
"Hope that they hold a key to salvation. Any information that might help fight against these things."
Reiji answered.
"They don't hold any relevant information. What did you tell them?"
"That I can't help them and I got knocked out and woke up in a prison out of which I broke out with this guy."
Reiji points to Taiken, who is still soundly sleeping on the table, his drool now covering a greater area.
Fujioka sighs and leans back in his chair. He now has a somewhat complete picture of how events played out.
"Let's start from the beginning, you were supposed to go to the village you abandoned yet the blueprints for the headquarters of the royal guards are missing."
Reiji looked at Yoruha for a moment, thinking about how he'll answer Fujioka's question.
"I hate studying."
"...What?"
"What?" Reiji responds and looks back at Fujioka. "You gave me so many books to study. When you placed them all on the table, it almost cried."
"I have questions concerning your academic history."
Purple, to the shock of everyone but Yoruha, spoke up. Reiji quickly turned to her.
"90 percent of my grades were 1's. Why do I feel like the whole room is against me?"
Reiji looked from person to person as he said that.
"You were studying the most elementary subjects. Don't feel proud of yourself."
Purple said quickly and proudly.
"Not everyone has the curse of needing to study and get an actual job only to get screwed by life and other people all the same."
Reiji quickly commented. Lord Fujioka sighed.
"Let's get a rundown of the events. You leave the mansion with the blueprints, you then go to…"
"Thornwick." Reiji says.
"Yes, Thornwick. Then…how did you get kidnapped?" Fujioka finishes with a question.
"Two people in white cloaks appeared. They are literally called white cloaks. Some kind of personal units or elite magicians or something like that. One had the ability to strengthen his body, the other created a solid dragon from air. It ate me and the other guy, who I beat to death, before I passed out." Reiji says.
"They were using chants. It confirms that these were the white cloaks sent by Estravar. But I wonder, where did you learn about mana and the information about the creatures?"
Yoruha asks with a smirk on her old, but still very beautiful face. She is trying to rile Reiji up.
"I woke up in a bed with one or two servants beside it. Then some woman came into the room, I followed her to the dining hall where I ate meat and she told me everything I told you."
"Do you recall anything about the woman?" Fujioka asked.
"She told me her name but I couldn't care less so I forgot. But she did have long brunette hair, she wore a dress and she had pretty big breasts." Reiji said.
"Pervert." Purple's voice echoed in the room. Reiji turned to her.
"Angry? That's what you get." He quickly responded.
"Well, that description is too vague. But we know that Estravar has its fingers in this matter." Fujioka says.
Reiji turns to him. "Just as much as you do."
"Excuse me?"
"You are a part of the censorship. You know, the same laws that apply here don't apply in Estravar and when I was there I read an interesting book that said how many years ago the Frostgnasher appeared. You know what it said? It said that it appeared around the same time as the official stories in this country say it did but the Frost people and everything else is a mystery. You know, I think that either you people were so shocked when it appeared you couldn't help but tell it to the public, implementing protocols for future creatures. That begs the question, did you bring the Frostgnashers here or not if you're managing the other monsters so well."
"And what makes you believe I was of age when all of that happened?!"
Fujioka abruptly stood up.
"Oh, I don't care what you were then, I care what you are now. And if you know the truth then spit it out!"
"You're not ready for the truth!"
"That tells me all I need to know, old man."
Reiji and Fujioka were now standing face to face, neither of them backing down. The tension was broken when Taiken woke up and stretched. "Ugh, sleeping leaned over is one way to end your spine."
Reiji's and Fujioka's gazes turned to Taiken. "What?" Taiken asked, wiping off the drool from his face. The two of them turned back to face each other.
"I need that special thing you told me about when I first entered your office. Cause I am not planning on getting killed."
Reiji whispered to Fujioka. He nodded. "Tomorrow, you come down here with your brother." Reiji nods.
"May I join this conversation with bad news?"
Yoruha says, not wearing her smirk. Reiji, Fujioka and Taiken look at her as she throws a newspaper talking about these creatures on the table.
Reiji and Fujioka stare at it for a moment before Reiji grabs it and flips through it. Seeing that Reiji isn't really reading it, he snatches it out of his hands. "Give me that." He said in a hushed tone.
He turned back to the first page and started reading. After a moment his breathing started getting shallow and fast, going in through his mouth. When he tried to sit down he fell onto the chair. Reiji quickly grabbed him just in case.
"You alright? Tell me he's not having a heart attack."
Reiji said to Yoruha.
"Honey, breathe." Yoruha said. Fujioka's breath evened out as he started breathing back in through his nose.
Reiji looked a bit confused. "Honey?"
"This is exactly what I feared. I-I felt that it was impossible to avoid but it-it-its still just as worrying!" Fujioka nearly yells. Yoruha takes over, gently gripping his shoulder as Reiji lets go and takes a step back.
"The new king has revealed what you have been trying to hide for decades, just like that." Reiji commented.
"Yes, but the more worrying part is that nobility should receive news first no matter where they are in the kingdom, but I didn't!"
Fujioka slams the newspaper down onto the table. Reiji looks at Taiken and purple before locking eyes with Yoruha. They try to hide it but all of them are worried. His gaze goes to Fujioka, who has his head down and hands on the table, they are shaking.
"It's either a mistake-"
"Or the new king knows our plans." Fujioka finishes Reiji's sentence.
"I think enough was said. Let's go." Reiji says to Taiken as the two of them turn to go to their room.
"Tomorrow! Come as soon as possible!" Fujioka yells as the two of them leave.