"So, you really hid under the bed?" asked a stocky man, who must have been in his early thirties.
"Exactly, it was the only thing I could think of at the time…" Quagmire repeated to the investigators, for probably the twentieth time, that he had been scared and threw himself under the bed.
Detective Leon and the man interrogating Quagmire exchanged quick glances, nodding slightly at each other.
"Did you get to see anyone, or anything odd that would indicate who was the killer that night?" Asked Leon, clearly uninterested.
''No, as I said, I didn't get a chance to see anything because I was scared and I hid instantly.'' Quagmire replied precisely, he no longer showed fear when commenting of that night, because of the huge amount of times that the team of investigators questioned him about this event.
Neither Quagmire nor Detective Leon, who was in charge of the case, could put up with all that nonsense any longer, since they showed a clear disinterest in the questions.
"You can go, boy." Detective Leon said, in a tone that had said it so many times that it was no longer surprising.
''Are you sure? I'm not going to be called on one more time to talk about that night again, right?" Quagmire looked wary of the early release.
''I am not sure. I know it sounds a little crazy, but we have to make sure we check every aspect of the story."
"I see." Quagmire nodded. "Then I'll go out to make it to the competition on time, good luck with your investigation."
"Good luck in the competition, boy." Leon couldn't stand to interrogate that same young man any longer, so he released him as soon as possible under the pretext of the competition.
'Check my damn balls.' Quagmire walked out of the investigation room a little irritated, it was already the twenty-third time he'd been called into the interrogation room, and he was the only one who'd been called so many times.
He didn't remember leaving any incriminating evidence, after all, his drones did a similar job to the crime king's henchmen, so the investigators would get lost in red herrings.
However, the investigation team constantly called Quagmire into their room, Quagmire couldn't tell if it was some extremely sharp instinct that pointed out that he was the orchestrator of all that chaos, or if it was just pure honest prejudice because of his race.
"How was it there?" A female voice came from the right side of the door, just as Quagmire left.
"As always," Quagmire replied, not giving too much detail.
The girl nodded in agreement for some reason, and craned her neck to look Quagmire straight in the face.
"Say it." Quagmire spoke, looking into the girl's yellow-green eyes.
"The competition will start in an hour, so I thought we could go meet the others together." Mary said, staring straight into Quagmire's eyes.
''Right, no problem.''
"By the way, where have you been the last few days?" Quagmire expressed interest in what Mary had been doing over the past few days, as none of the group members managed to find her during their free time.
"I was training for the competition, after all, I'm going to win!" Mary said, clenching her fists as she gave Quagmire a few looks waiting for a reaction from the boy.
"Well, good luck." Quagmire replied, having lost his interest, and took his cell phone out of his shirt pocket.
Quagmire had rented a set of formal attire for the occasion, as it would be performed in front of everyone in the capital Alexandria, in both upper and lower cities. For the first time in his life, Quagmire felt the need to prepare himself relatively thoroughly for something, he didn't intend to present something that would make him stand out, but he intended to present something that would at least remove his 'useless Landra' stigma.
Over the past few days, he's made two Vermillion models, one with countless other uses besides the ones he'd shown his friends, and the other being the Vermillion he'd be showing in the mirian mechanic competition.
He had even devised a way to stand out less for his creation, as he intended to give credit to some people other than himself.
"Here we are." Mary commented.
In the blink of an eye they reached the room where all the Veritas students were standing, all looking at the two who had arrived slightly late for the occasion. The two people's treatment was completely different, as many of the classmates looked at Mary asking if she was prepared for the day and how she intended to win, while Quagmire just moved around the edges of the room towards the chair that was meant for him.
Mary tried to get past the people surrounding her to head towards Quagmire, but was interrupted by the barrage of questions that was directed at her, leaving the girl in a sticky situation.
Quagmire glanced over at the wave of dozens of people who had gathered like ants around Mary, but decided he wouldn't interfere as he just headed straight for the wooden table and chair they'd assigned him some time ago.
Wasting no time, he took the small black box out of his pocket, where Vermillion was kept, and pulled the bracelet out of the container, taking a few quick glances at the device's external part.
Quagmire then pulled the pin on the right side of the bracelet and pressed the triangular button that activated the device's gears, the bracelet began to emit a light a little more centralized than the device's first test, which showed that the electrical current was now less dispersed and more focused on a single point, making the device less prone to unexpected accidents.
Turning on the bracelet, Quagmire sat down in the wooden chair as he studied the device more closely, taking the utmost care not to accidentally fire a projectile. Some people in the room started to pay attention to the boy, who had a bracelet (which more resembled a bracelet due to the size) extremely beautiful in his hand, above all what attracted the most attention, was that the bracelet emitted a beautiful glow of black color coming from a triangular-shaped button in the center of the object.
For the first time since Quagmire joined that academy, people other than Alice, Mary and the rest of the group began to approach Quagmire without any problem.
''How does it work?'' asked a girl with red hair, ''ItÉs very cute.
"Think of a device that is capable of emitting concentrated electrical charges around it, which causes an event similar to a…" Quagmire began to explain, not even looking at the people watching, that were impressed by the Landra boy's knowledge.
Without knowing it, Quagmire was gradually removing his stigma of 'merely inferior Landra' from those people's minds (at least those who had gone to him), as even those who had not understood much of the explanation were delighted with the device, and eagerly awaited the presentation of the mechanical competition.
"Good luck there!" Exclaimed the red-haired girl to Quagmire, while waving her arms like a cheerleader.
"Thank you." Quagmire didn't want to say much and just rose from his chair after he'd finished analyzing Vermillion.
The boy wasted no time heading towards the venue where the competition would be held, the place was of the size of a stadium with numerous cameras.
"So, let's go." Quagmire gave a slight smile as he placed the bracelet on his own arm.
—------------------------------------
''Good luck, Alice!'' Several people, including site workers, wished Alice good luck before the start of the mirian competition.
In addition to Quagmire who had been (randomly) chosen for the mechanical competition, and Mary who had been placed as the physical combat representative, Alice had also been chosen to represent the Veritas class in the pilots' virtual combat competition.
The girl was one of the people with the highest assimilation rate in the academy, however, she was aware that there were more skilled students than her, even with lower assimilation rates. Like for example Lucas Hina Vortfort, who was regarded as a genius pilot but who was maligned for being part of the decadent noble family that was the Vortfort household.
She had high hopes for her fight with Lucas, and she hoped with all her heart that it would be a moment that would become memorable for her and many others. Alice checked the bleachers at the site, where countless people were sitting, and glanced to the right corner where her friends were sitting as she waved frantically in their direction.
The group returned the gesture vividly (except for Quagmire, who just nodded slightly) as they wished the girl good luck.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen!" A voice that had some metallic streaks spoke from the loudspeakers.
A torrent of comments was heard from all over the place. The excited narrator continued to talk preparing the big show.
''One of the most anticipated moments of the year! Featuring numerous illustrious figures, such as the talented heirs of the great noble houses, and also the first Landra student in the history of the Republic.''
People looked around, quickly spotting Quagmire, who didn't mind the attention he'd received, just ignoring all the hostile glares directed at him.
''The schedule of events is the same as in previous years, with the virtual competition being the first modality to be seen, followed by the physical competition and finally the mechanical competition!''
''Let's start the event! Come to the front, competitors." The man bellowed with excitement as names appeared on the huge screens set up in the arena.
The screens had written 'Alice Kura Linjol' and 'Isabel Rose Kirian', with a large text that read 'BATTLE 1, CLASS VERITAS VS CLASS GARITIAS'. The girls entered while waving to the stands and also to the cameras that broadcast the event to the population of the cities.
They shook hands and turned back to each other, heading towards the huge red capsules in the corners of the field. Upon entering the pods, they put on an odd-looking helmet that appeared to be connecting something to the two girls' heads as they placed their hands in a special auto-detect compartment.
It didn't take long for the screens showing the competitors' names to change to a vast green landscape that resembled an island. Within seconds, the girls appeared on either side, in front of each was a model battle unit of their own choosing.
Alice had opted for a more compact model that fit her better, having chosen the Vernon model, and Isabel had chosen the same model, despite the fact that her Vernon's coloring was bluish different from the pink color of Alice's one.
''Competitors, enter your ANONS!''
'I'll make it!' Alice thought, as she entered her battle unit's cabin.