"I KNEW IT!!!"
"SHUT UP, FALIX!!!" Tiberius shouted, jumping to slap Falix across the face. "You're releasing too much pressure!"
"OH! Forgive me, madam!" Falix approached Amma, who had almost passed out during his laughing fit. "Please, accept this as my apology, and as your reward for the information!"
A hefty coin purse appeared on the ground in front of Amma. She got up and attempted to lift the bag but found it harder than she'd expected.
"One hundred gold nugs, a fair price for such valued information!" laughed Falix, now focusing on Tiberius once again. "Go ahead! Deny it all you want, but the facts can't lie!"
"..." Trying to figure out the situation, Tiberius looked at Amma again. "What was his full name?"
"U-uh," coming back to reality after receiving an unbelievable reward, Amma replied, "he showed me his war tag. It read Torbil, but the damaged tag only showed his first name and the rank of captain. He said he had lost his memory, and found the kids after a border town was destroyed five years ago.."
"So he's hiding the truth?" Falix chuckled, "There's no way he'd hide the truth from you too, eh Tiberius?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" shouted Tiberius, a little unnerved. He took a deep breath to refocus. "Either way, the residual veita shows the god was only half ascended. So, it would only take a capable commander to potentially do them in. There's no need to jump to conclusions–"
"Then tell me," shouted Falix, "how has the half-gods veita disappeared so suddenly? Does it feel like he stopped here, or does it feel more like someone erased their veita from here?"
"... That's hard to say," replied Tiberius, at a loss for explanations.
"Um, my husband met the man too…" Amma's new statement caught their ears again. "H-he had asked Bil for help against the angels.."
"And he turned you down?!" Falix exclaimed, all the more excited.
With a subtle nod, Amma continued, "We tried to ask the kids to convince him, but he wouldn't let us do that either… He was calm until we spoke to them. That's when he pressured my husband to the point he was shaking in fear….
"My husband said he felt as though he was standing before a former commander, not a captain."
"Ha! Ha! Ha! HAA! HAA! HAA!" Falix's laughter boomed through the valley below.
Tiberius rushed to slap him again, but Falix caught the lord's hand. "SEE! NOW STOP–"
"I KNOW NOTHING!!" yelled Tiberius, getting the emperor to shut up for a moment. "All I know is that a half ascended god was making a campaign and someone with the strength of a commander stopped them here, likely erasing their own veita along with some of the god's."
"So you agree with my theory?!" roared Falix, throwing an arm around his old friend. "So–"
But Tiberius threw away the friendly embrace. "No, I don't! To make such an assumption is ridiculous! We had countless soldiers lost in battle, some of which popped up after we'd already given them mass graves! And he wouldn't be the first survivor to struggle with memory loss!"
After shouting reason after reason, Tiberius groaned, "So please stop acting as if the conqueror has come back from the dead!"
"Tiberius! Come on! You know just as well as I do–"
"Shut up for a moment!" Tiberius roared, matching Felix's absurd energy for a split second. Then, turning to Amma, Tiberius briefly bowed his head. "Thank you for your help and for sharing what you've witnessed despite how hard it is to bring up such scarring memories. It's likely that if the man had known it was a half-god and not a full god, he'd have helped you. So please, don't blame him. Now, allow me to safely lead you to the town's remains so you can send off your husband."
Again, Amma was speechless. All she could do was relive the shaky encounter she and her husband had with Bil in the hallway, trying to convince herself of what Lord Frantoch has said.
Falix said nothing as Amma was quickly taken back down to the wagon and Tiberius zoomed back to the emperor in record time.
"Now that we're alone, please refrain from shouting and scaring half the country," Tiberius remarked as he reappeared at the empty campsite.
"So you'll silence her?"
Shaking his head, Tiberius responded, "No. We'll be helping her and her children relocate to Frantoch, and she'll be ordered to conceal everything about this encounter, from your presence to everything that was mentioned."
"And you trust she'll keep quiet?" chuckled Falix. "Maybe you have gone soft…"
"Either way, that's what will be done. Now, tell me why you're so convinced that Bil's still alive." Unfazed by the pressure of Falix's gaze, Tiberius questioned, "If you've got spies everywhere, does that mean you have undisclosed information regarding Bil's and Silphy's deaths?"
Sighing, Falix plopped down on the ground and motioned for Tiberius to sit with him. Once the lord sat down, Falix took out an oval, silver trinket and placed it on the ground. Transparent energy encompassed the two men the moment Falix filled the trinket with a splash of veita.