The Princess seemed surprised by Casper's condition. She was a bit dumbfounded as well because she could not know what were his intentions.
"What's the point in you asking the questions first?"
Casper knew she was not dumb at all. It was obvious that she would realize that there was something that he had in mind to be asking such a thing.
However, Casper was aware of her condition. Just seeing her behavior and her talent to lead and deal with life as an important public figure, the White warrior could realize that the Princess was not talented at all, nor have any special abilities.
She just did that since the day she was born. That was the only thing she ever did. That was what others would teach and train her to do every single day.
Since she was born, Vick trained to become a Princess, and even a Queen in the future.
That's why she led and controlled the morale of all those warriors as if it was just common sense. And that's why she could do such difficult decisions on the battlefield without any hesitation.
She did not think that that was common sense, actually it WAS common sense for her.
That is, Vick was like a puppet. All his life, she was being influenced by others. And Casper could take advantage of that.
"Well, Vick, I can't start to talk about my stay here without getting some questions answered before. You understand right? I need to be aware of how things work here." Casper made sure to keep eye contact with her, giving a sharp gaze.
He also leaned his body a bit more on the table, trying to get a bit more closely and show interest in that conversation.
Flustered, the Princess avoided his gaze, placing a lock of hair behind the ear in a vicious movement.
"As I thought, she is still naive. No wonder, since she is a Princess. Probably the King isn't too concerned in marry her so soon.
"Men Probably will not approach her often with bad intentions, because they might fear the king. She isn't used to simple flirt like this."
"I allow you to start. Be grateful." Even so, she could keep her cool and say it in a very composed tone.
"Ok, that's great. Thank you, my lady." He bowed slightly, thinking that it was a good way to give her an impression. And he was more or less right.
"It seems that you still need to learn how to bow properly when dealing with high authorities. But I forgive you for now."
"Well, anyway, the first thing I need to ask is about that teleport skill that your Canute have."
"What's the matter about his skills?"
"He has limitations when it comes to that skill? I mean, yesterday he could have used it anytime, right?"
"I don't understand your questioning. What my Aesir has to do with your stay here?" She was getting suspicious, it warned Casper since he was not expecting such a bad start.
"Don't worry. It's just a miscalculation. You underestimated her a little bit." He thought, calming himself.
"I am quite interested in his technology. That's all." He tried to be as assertive as possible.
"Well… Actually, he can use it as many times as he wants as long as the Energy tower keeps supporting his devices with Indigo. That's the basics of technology operation."
"Indigo is that Energy with nature similar with Electricity, right?"
"Yes. It is powerful, and a single tower could support the entire District, but we need one in each region…" She stopped herself to talk.
Casper also took note of it but did not ask further. He had not the intention to let her know that he was being so detailed in regarding the conversation.
"How powerful are those Aesirs?"
"A lot. If not, they wouldn't be in such a position. Just the real family has more authority than them."
That was another point to note. The political system was an Absolutist monarchy, but they left a lot of power in the hands of the military.
Society would never do it without situations alike wars. In that case in specific, Casper concluded that the Civil war was so intense that they needed to lend this much authority to the military to have their full cooperation.
"Who are the Frelsi?"
"A rebel group raised from the initiative of thieves and other criminals who have something against the crowd and the current system." Casper grasped as well how brief she was in her explanation, which meant that something (or everything) in that phrase could be a lie.
"That explosion from before was made by a Ridire. She used her device to stop a bunch of enemies, but the tower was still disabled when she did it. How it can be?"
"Energy can be transformed into other types of energy. Solar energy can become electrical energy. Kinetic energy can become thermal energy, and so on. The same goes for Indigo. What she probably made was to program the software of her device to absorb electricity available around and convert it to Indigo.
"However, it must have made the device get overwhelmed, and then it had a result such as an overclock."
Casper bit his lip. He had a lot to think about that information, but he let it go and focused on his plan.
"Princess, would sacrifice someone's life to reach your goals?" Casper kept glaring at her, deeply and intently.
"W-what?"
"What a commoner, bourgeois, or warrior's life mean to you? Do you put any weight on it? "
"I don't know how it can be related to the subject, Casper. I order you to stop the nonsense."
"Do you want to know what's nonsense? A troop of 200 warriors sent to stop a mass civil attack on the Castle and no general or Aesir be among them to help. Or maybe a Princess, King, and Queen with so much authority aren't capable to force the reinforcements to enter the region and invade the Complex to activate the tower?"
"Casper, enough! That's enough!" She said, getting up from the chair with her eyes colder than ever before.
"Oh, please don't go now, Vick. I still have a lot of questions to do. Will you get upset because of such blasphemies? Or… It possibly can be true?" He gave an ironic smile, raising one of his brows.
"No, it's not. And I want you to stop with these inconceivable questions!"
"Ok, ok. Don't worry. Let's calm down." Casper got out of his chair, then circled the huge table to the opposite side, sitting right next to Vick. She seemed ticklish, and willing to get out of there, but stayed still, trying to look strong.
"Answer me one more time, Vick, I beg you." Casper asked, in a charming tone.
"It's Princess. Don't say my name anymore." She ordered. Her voice was starting to tremble slightly.
"Ok… But, will you answer me?"
"Yes, yes! So be it!"
"I heard that the Frelsi wear masks broken by half, as a way of protest. Am I right?"
"Yes."
"And the citizens seem to don't have a way to put off their masks. They don't talk about the masks and even avoid touching them.
"The Jals, though, seem to have the possibility to wear off their masks as they please… I wonder what's up with these things? Why everyone needs to wear a mask?"
"We wear them to maintain the order and for the safety of the citizens." She said stiffly.
"Is that so? Because they seem to be more like a handcuff than anything else."
She faltered again, very slightly, almost imperceptible. But Casper never avoided his look towards her. He was sharpening his senses each time and collecting her bad habits, patterns, and characteristics. She was like a complex book opened, which Casper deciphered the contempt little by little.
He approached the Princess even more, almost murmuring on her ear, in a nearly threatening voice:
"Why would someone fear to talk about something that only protects them, Princess? Why would powerful Aesir not intervene in a bloody battle before it got so chaotic? If you could finish the battle so quickly, why you held yourself?"
Vick did not answer.
"I think that's enough for now…" Casper thought. He stood up from the chair he was, then returned to the first one. His food was already cold, but he did not bother at all.
"So what were you trying to tell me, Princess?"
She stayed quiet for a long while before answering.
"We can talk about it another day. I will let Raul guide you to your new home."
"Sure thing! I want to know the place I will be living from now on."
Casper stood up, grab her hand, and kissed it. It was so sudden that she could not avoid it.
"May you excuse me?" He turned his back to her and started to walk to leave the dining hall.
Subtly, Vick also got out of her chair, calling him.
"Casper! What's… What's your real purpose here? Why do you care about those things?"
The White warrior did not look towards her. He stopped for a moment, thought for a while, and then walked after Raul again giggling.
The Princess stayed in the dining hall completely dumbfounded and feeling that she had lost a battle.
"I don't know if I will have more benefits than a problem while this insolent stay here… He seems to be the type of guy who will get into things that have nothing to do with him…" Vick was getting tired again, and at that point, she just wanted to go to her bedroom, lock herself, and then say out loud all her frustrations.
Casper, who was still following Raul from behind, thanked the gods for having had the will to not turn to the Princess.
Just after he stood up that he noticed the dark expression on his face.
Apparently, his concerns were not out of the blue. There was something strange with that Civil war. And he would seek the truth no matter what.