Chapter 31: The Art Of Interrogation
"Well... then, shall I start with a question first?" Aziel chimed in, tilting his head toward Frickon, whose eyes seemed to light up in excitement.
"Yes, of course! Ask me anything you want," Frickon replied eagerly, his tone almost childlike in sincerity. "I’ll try to answer as best as I can."
His gaze meeting Aziel’s, though he had no way to truly know that.
"Okay then, the first question is regarding you..." Aziel continued, his tone measured.
"Back then, when I selected you to be my attendant, why did everyone, including the captain, react so strangely? He even asked me to reassess my choice and pick someone else. Just why?"
Frickon’s earlier smile faltered, the cheer in his face draining away until only a faint, uneasy stiffness remained.
His eyes lowered, shoulders slumping slightly as if weighed down by something he didn’t quite want to touch.
"Ah... that," he muttered after a moment, forcing a small laugh that didn’t sound even remotely amused. "You see, from the beginning, everyone’s kinda seen me as... well, a joke."
Aziel stayed quiet, watching him carefully.
"I mean, it’s not that I don’t try," Frickon went on, his voice uneven, flickering between humor and something more fragile.
"It’s just, things never seem to go right with me. I mess up simple stuff, forget orders, drop tools, walk into the wrong rooms. You name it."
He chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I guess at some point they just decided I wasn’t worth the trouble."
He looked off into the distance, his gaze unfocused.
"If something broke, they’d say it was me. If something went missing, they’d laugh and say ’Frickon probably misplaced it again.’ Even when I wasn’t there, it was still somehow my fault."
There was silence for a while before he added quietly.
"So, when you chose me, they must’ve thought you were out of your mind. The dumb one, they call me. Can’t follow orders, can’t fight properly, can’t keep his focus. Just someone better left behind."
A faint smile tugged at his lips, tired and bitter.
"Guess I can’t really blame them. Sometimes, I almost believe it too."
Aziel watched him in silence, his thoughts swirling.
’I was right’ he thought to himself, eyes narrowing slightly.
’He’s definitely some sort of trouble.’
"Damn! You really had it hard, Frickon. I pity you, but to me, you seem like any normal person, perhaps even more intelligent than many of the plasmas I’ve met before."
Those words of encouragement were enough to lift the man who had been grieving moments ago.
His eyes glistened with renewed excitement at what was to come, the shadow of past judgments momentarily fading.
I guess I can see how they all came to that conclusion, Aziel thought silently, before speaking again.
"How about it, Frickon? Don’t you want to prove them all wrong? Don’t you want to show them they were fools to laugh at you? Wouldn’t you like to command those who mocked you? Based on your intelligence, I’m sure someone as sharp as you would answer yes immediately. I’ll help you achieve all that, but first, you have to show me that you truly know your craft. Not that I doubt your capabilities, consider it more a formality, alright?"
The words flowing from Aziel’s mouth were like music to Frickon’s ears.
Every syllable struck him with weight, and he immediately straightened, careful not to let a single word slip carelessly, knowing full well he would regret it later.
Then Aziel asked the first question.
"First question. Tell me, from where had I come, and to where?"
Frickon immediately replied, his voice steady but careful.
"From what I have gathered, you had been sailing on the sail-ship, but were betrayed and thrown into the sea. However, you somehow, almost miraculously, survived the Will of the Viscous Sea and entered the Lake of Harbringer."
Aziel nodded slowly, as if evaluating the precision of the answer before posing another question.
"Where was the sail-ship headed to?"
"The sail-ship was headed towards the Farlands," Frickon answered promptly.
Aziel let out a faint smirk, signaling approval, letting Frickon know he was on the right track and would need to maintain this level of accuracy for the rest of the questions to seal the deal between them.
"Why... why was the ship headed there?"
Frickon tapped his fingers multiple times against his forehead, a clear gesture of recalling every detail carefully, before answering in a measured tone.
"A-apparently, Authophage dissipation, two occurrences at the same time, had been detected in the Farlands for the first time in centuries. They believe it was a human that resulted in it. The investigation team went there to uncover the cause and record the aftermath."
Frickon’s expression stiffened, his usual lazy demeanor replaced by a seriousness Aziel hadn’t seen before.
He took a deep breath before speaking, his tone carrying an edge of restrain.
"Personally, I think they want to keep us in the dark," he began, words deliberate, as though weighing each before letting it fall. "To fool us by not revealing the real reason. Because there’s no way in hell a human could single-handedly defeat a plasma, and in our own dimension, no less."
He paused, tapping a finger against his arm as if to punctuate his disbelief.
"If any human really was in the Farlands, it would’ve died just by standing still. Even if it somehow figured out not to, I doubt it could’ve survived those energy discharge storms or the density of that place. The landscape itself eats through energy. Even we plasmas avoid staying there for long, it messes with our own radiation, scrambles our flow entirely."
Aziel’s lips twitched, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
He didn’t interrupt, letting Frickon finish his grand explanation like a scholar reciting scripture.
’Can’t stand still, can’t survive the energy storms, can’t handle the density of the Farlands,’ he mused inwardly, his thoughts dripping with irony. ’Then what the hell was I doing all that time? Sightseeing?’
He let out a slow breath, feigning interest while suppressing the urge to laugh.
The absurdity of it all almost made him want to applaud.
’Maybe I should tell him.’
Aziel thought dryly.
’Or maybe I’ll let him keep his worldview intact for now. Poor guy might just evaporate if I tell him the truth.’
"Clap...Clap...time for the next one!"