"Hmmm... For now, I'll take your word for it, but answer me this. How did you start your life in this world?"
The moment that question came to Soren, he was left at a loss and couldn't utter a word. Everytime someone would ask about him or the circumstances that led him here, he could get away with lying as long as it was believable enough and he would not have to mention anything about the events at the castle, aside from finding Lavenza, but now he felt like lying wasn't such a good option.
It was possible to lie through his teeth and get away with it, but Soren didn't think it was a good idea for two major reasons. The first reason was that the person he was talking to was Aureus Longinus, a very influential noble who had very similar characteristics with Laventhign, hence he was rather well known and probably did a lot of business. Soren didn't know what kind of business he did actually, but he was sure that he was an expert at negotiation and conversations and wouldn't have much problem finding and pointing out his lies. As for the second reason, he didn't want to go through another game of Truth and Lie. He felt traumitized ever since he went through that and he didn't wish to experience that ever again.
For a moment, Soren closed his eyes and thought for a bit to himself. He felt like he was going to make a big choice that could easily influence his life and if he didn't say the right things, he felt like maybe he should prepare a will for the near future.
In the end, he decided to confess most of the circumstances of his summoning, minus a few details, such as his life in the previous world and the battle with the undead Leviathan. Especially the undead Leviathan fight, that was something no one must know and that was for one major reason. Ever since the battle with the undead Leviathan, he felt that whenever he thought about it, it gave him an eerie and dangerous feeling, it was something it should not be mentioned to anyone. Although he hadn't thought much about it at the start when he beat it, now he felt like even mentioning the fight was similar to a death sentence.
Aside from that though, he explained how he was summoned in the world, how he met Lavenza and how he made his way through towards Crystalia City. It was a bit lengthy and took a little while, but after Soren finished his story, he was suddenly met with an unexpected response from Aureus.
"Hahahahaha... Not bad kid. You got the brain and the luck to keep yourself alive at least. It's not as if your circumstances are one of a kind, but whenever someone gets reincarnated in the middle of the nowhere, nine out of ten just die due to carelessness or due to their own luck bringing their doom. But there is something else I would like to ask."
"What is it?" Soren asked cautiously.
"When you reincarnated, you said you found yourself near the Border East Garrison, right?" Aureus asked while keeping an eye on Soren's expressions.
"That is correct, as far as I know from that journal." Soren answered without hesitation.
"During your time there, did you find anything peculiar?"
"Can't say for sure. The entire place was rundown and it could easily collapse if anything happened to it. Aside from Lavenza's egg being near there, I didn't find anything unusual." Soren decided to be vague while having a thoughtful expression. He had to keep the conversation away from the matter of the undead Leviathan at any cost.
"Hmmm... Then I can only your word for the truth, for now. Putting aside this topic, let me ask you this. Does anyone else know about the fact that you have reincarnated?" Aureus asked seriously after putting aside the events of Soren's reincarnation.
"No one knows about it. The only people that know as of now are you, me, Lavenza, Kana, Dallius and Diana." Soren answered seriously after thinking about it for a little while.
"That's good. Now I want to ask you one final thing and I want you to be as truthfully as can, not only with me, but with yourself as well." Aureus spoke with a less serious expression.
"What is it?" Soren asked with a rather suprised expression.
"Will you keep lying or will you tell the truth?"
The moment those words were spoken, Soren felt rather nervous and fell silent for a moment. He didn't know if Aureus had caught on his lies or not, so he wasn't truly sure how to answer that question. In reality, he actually couldn't answer the question. One the one hand, he wanted to be honest and not hide himself because he wanted to to rely on the others if the problem was impossible to solve by himself, but on the other hand, he also wanted to keep the truth away because he wanted to protect not only himself, but the other people around him as well. In the end, he closed his eyes and answered:
"There will be times where lying will be my only option to protect the people I care for, but when the truth is needed to be told, no matter how painful it is, I'm willing to take that responsibility."
"Even if that truth may be harmful for you and the people around you?"
"Even then, or maybe it's better to say. Especially then." At that moment, Soren opened his eyes and faced Aureus without any fear inside him. The two of them then started staring each other down with a fierce gaze for what it felt like an actual eternity, but in reality it was only a couple of minutes at most.
"Phfff... Ahahahahahahaha..." After that, the first one to break the silence was Aureus who started laughing uncontrollably, before responding with a satified expression:
"I like you Soren. You have a good head on your shoulders and good morals. I can tell that you will go far in life, but don't expect to be all clean and simple. You will walk down a thorny path and you will be tempted to lie, but don't forget that the consequence of a lie is worse than that of a crime. That way, you will be able to see a new rise every day."
Soren waa rather suprised with Aureus' reaction to his answer and he felt like the seriousness of that entire situation had been washed away, as if it was never there to begin with.
"Are you done testing him dad? You know that it gets rather boring after a while and you don't seem like the type to keep up that facade for this long." Kana asked while looking annoyed towards her father. The moment Soren heard that, he was slightly shocked, but at this point he was tired and didn't have a lot of energy to spare at being shocked.
"Hey, watch it. Do not even think of revealing my plans like that, lest you want the usual punishment." Aureus answered to Kana with a happy but annoyed expression before turning to Soren and decided to talk to him in a more casual manner:
"Sorry that I had to test you like this, but I had to see what kind of kid forced my wife to cheat in a game where she could easily win without a problem. Turns out that you are quite the fellow. Ahahahahaha..."
"Uhhh... Thanks, I guess?" Soren was left speechless from the complete 180 that Aureus pulled right in front of him. He didn't know how to react anymore, so he gave up on reacting to it.
"You need to learn how to relax Soren, it just doesn't fit you to be all prim and proper. You are a young man full of life and vigor, so you don't need to be so serious all the time. When you need to do work, of course it's important to keep up appearances, but after work, just be your own self and relax. And as for today's business, it's all water under the bridge, so don't be too stuck up on it." Aureus spoke to Soren in a more casual manner while holding his shoulders.
"I'm sorry for my dad's behavior. It's just that these past couple of weeks, he has been stressed out with work and he didn't even have a chance to rest properly for a day, hence why he looks like he did a complete 180." Kana whispered in Soren's ear while looking slightly worried at her father.
"I'll keep that in mind." Soren answered quietly to Kana's response while thinking to himself:
'I guess stress seems to do a lot more to people than I thought.'