" Ugh" with a groan escaping from his mouth Sebastian woke up in a dimly lit room.
"Hm?" Sebastian frowned as soon as he woke up and found himself in an unfamiliar place.
While checking out the room he noticed that he was draped in a white dress.
His usually tattered pants and thin shirt were missing and so was his pouch.
He was exhausted from running last night and having a poor meal throughout the years leading to malnourishment didn't help much in this case.
Sebastian was trying to figure out what was going on.
𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑮
The sound of the bell tower was heard which means it was either midnight or early morning.
As he was rummaging through the garbage at late night the first option was less likely.
He was well-rested suggesting that a certain amount of time has passed.
And as the sound of the bell was heard very clearly he was probably inside the city and near the centre of the city.
He immediately frowned.
'Did those bastards from the orphanage go out of their way to capture me? No, if those bastards wanted then they could have done it years ago when I escaped'
'First things first I have to get out of this room and reach the slums'
'But where are my clothes and money pouch?'
While thinking, Sebastian got out of bed and started searching for his clothes
The room was empty besides the steel bed with a mattress having sheets over it and a chair that was not even fancy.
While Sebastian was scanning the room
𝑪𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲
He heard the door opening.
He immediately went to his bed and closed his recreating his previous state.
"Ahem" a clearing of the throat was heard
"..."
"I know that you're wide wake, so, please cooperate with us or else might end up in deep trouble"
"....."
"Which may even lead to the death penalty after being tortured"
Sebastian shot opened his eyes wide.
" Now you are fully awake " a smiling man came into Sebastian's view.
The man was in a navy blue uniform with quite a few badges around his left chest and a running horse insignia on his right.
The man has brown hair and blue eyes and a slender nose which can pass him as a handsome walked towards his direction.
While Sebastian got up from his sleeping posture to sit the man introduced himself.
"Hello, I'm Sergeant Elidys but you can call me Marcus Elidys, you may not know what type of situation you have landed in Mr...."
"Sebastian"
"Mr Sebastian... but it's quite a complicated one "
" We got intel that a few spies from 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑳 empire were invading the important cities throughout our empire and you're a prime suspect Mr Sebastian"
"Hm?" Sebastian couldn't process what he was hearing
" Excuse me?"Sebastian opened his mouth in a sharp tone " Why am I suddenly being accused of espionage against my own country?"
"No don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing of anything. In fact, I'm on the side that argues how can a brittle boy from slums can work for the enemy empire."
" But you see there are speculations about you which are creating some complications from your removal from the suspect list"
"....."
" So, if you can cooperate by answering some questions we can clear up the misunderstandings"
"So, for the first question, have you heard the name 𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑬𝑳 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺 𝑶𝑹𝑷𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑨𝑮𝑬?"
Sebastian furrowed his brows at being asked about the orphanage. This was one of the lowest points in his life, the abuses, verbal or physical were enough to give him a scar. But one day he finally managed to make up his mind and ran away from the orphanage.
"..."
On Sebastian's silence, the man spoke again.
" It was an orphanage which got exposed for its dirty work from money laundering to abuses towards the orphans and sale of many orphans to various organizations and nobels. All in all, it was shut down and the surviving orphans were introduced to new families or transferred to better orphanages in other cities"
" But we got an interesting piece of info that among the missing orphans one identical to you ran away from the orphanage before the scandal broke out and that boy may have grievances against the empire leading him to work as a spy"
The smile on the face of the man started vanishing.
" Also, it is found that you are not a regular citizen but trying to become one by buying the pseudo-citizenship, but why someone who desperately ran away from the city would try to get into the city again?"
With time the tone of that man became more ferocious
" And it is found out that you got errand jobs in one of the lodges around the eastern gate, A very comfortable position for information gathering "
"It is also mentioned that you showed keen interest in the businesses when running an errand in the market around the western part or when selling reusable things to the passing merchants through the western gate. It might be a long shot but there are cases where spies open their profitable businesses while funnelling money in riots and anti-empire activities paralyzing important cities and affecting the power flow of the empire"
" It is a known fact that you belong to the slums where criminals, as well as refugees who if paid, no if even promised money can do anything. Something like a riot is not a far cry"
The man, with blue eyes, with a grim expression, moved slowly towards Sebastian and looked dead in the abyss-looking eye.
And asked
" Are you a spy?"
" No" Sebastian replied
The man moved back to his original position and the edges of his lips curved up forming a smile.
" Thought so"
"Anyways, thanks for answering the questions and I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable in any form or shape "
" ....."
The once amicable smile of the man looked like a mask now waiting to devour Sebastian at any given moment.
" Then until next time "
Saying so, the man went out the door.
Sebastian was still baffled by the turn of events, how his dream to get full citizenship will get twisted to such a degree.
And he was sure that the man isn't in the camp supporting him as innocent.
"Huu..."
Sebastian signed.
"Hmph"
But immediately frowned as the realisation came.
He was already having a hard time meeting his ends and even went out of his way to search the garbage piles to earn an extra fortune, starving night after night so he can save enough for pseudo-citizenship.
Running errands on an empty stomach was already hard but he kept pushing extra hard so to earn a minuscule bonus over the minuscule payment.
And now after all these hardships, he was questioned about being a spy.
Now, this was the epitome of injustice.
Sebastian was frustrated beyond his belief. He wanted to vent out this anger somewhere but he couldn't find where.
𝑪𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲
The sound of the door was heard again.
" What now?!" Sebastian screamed.
He at last found his way to vent his frustration.
A man with a dignified expression and more badges than the last man entered the room he had a howling wolf insignia on his right chest with one star underneath it.
The man had black hair and eyes like him.
He was carrying few papers that looked more like some kind of report.
Sebastian immediately regretted his shouting.
This man was like a real veteran he heard in stories unlike the last one.
While Marcus was like a viper, this man looked like a wolf like his insignia.
"This violent behaviour toward a high-ranked officer can be used against you and even if proven innocent in this case can be used against you as slander against the imperial power."
The first words these army officers say look like are always death threats.
"....."
Sebastian was frustrated but wasn't able to say something.
"Now, no need to introduce just off to the main topic"
"After receiving intel that enemy spies were lurking in the important cities and gathering information and were planning to cause some form of disruption in these megacities, many of our knight apprentices were given the role of surveillance "
"While conducting their usual duties, two of the knight apprentices decided to increase their search area and while checking around the proximity of the southern gate saw suspicious movements and upon further investigation found someone lurking in the garbage pile near the walls and decided to confront him. But the person as if alerted by their movements decided to run towards the slum and was later caught by them"
"...."
" I'm gonna ask was that you Mr Sebastian?"
" Yes"
"And were the events mentioned in the report about you in the garbage pile and later running towards the slums also true?"
"Yes, but the way it is presented makes it feel like I'm the villain"
"I will be the judge of that but first are you aware that you're being accused of espionage against the empire?"
" Yes I'm fully aware and I think it's all nonsense"
"..."
The man's cold eyes met a glaring one.
"Now, let's begin with a few simple questions and start gathering information from your perspective "
" How many times am I gonna get interrogated in a day? And let me go I have work to do and would be a great help if you can return my money pouch alongside my clothes"
" First of all, if I want you can get arrested here and now under espionage charges without further trial so it's better for you to answer my questions rather than throw a tantrum and believe me I'm quite an impatient man"
" I'm the one in charge of your questioning anyone before and after my visit is not in authority to ask you questions unless you oblige to "
"And you don't have any work to do cause the lodge you were working in has been made aware that you are under custody for questioning."
"Also you were unconscious for a day so the respective workplace and the people near your makeshift tents have been made aware "
"Huh"
Now that was news to Sebastion.
Not only he was accused of espionage but also lost his job over such false accusations and probably won't get hired anywhere in the megacity and the subsequent cities.
His life was destroyed.
' Damn it ' he thought
And another revelation that he has been unconscious for a day and not 6 hours came to him.
" Now let's not waste each other's time and finish this
" Answer my questions "
" Were you in the garbage pile when you heard the knights coming"
" Yes"
" Why were you there?"
" To salvage something valuable and earn extra money by selling those to the wandering merchants"
"And you started running when you saw the knights"
" No, I started running when I heard the knights "
" Why?"
" Soldiers usually don't visit the southern gate so I thought that they are here to uproot the settlement "So you ran to warn the others?"
"No, I ran to collect my things and escape to the wilderness"
" But the knights could have been searching for criminals "
" Might be but the slums are full of those and authorities never took action why now suddenly"
" Also you were collecting money to buy pseudo-citizenship but you ran away from this city a few years back. Why?"
" I escaped from the orphanage, not ran away from the city and I wanted to work at the minimum wage and move to other cities if possible"
" You worked at a lodge in the eastern gate frequented by the soldiers and merchants why chose there and not somewhere else "
" No particular reason it was the first place to give me a job despite knowing the fact I'm from slums"
" But It is heard that you enquired about the businesses in the western gate "
" I was keen about them cause I wanted to build my own one day and have a stable life"
" if you wanted a stable life why not go for office jobs "
" It requires you to learn how to read or write and I have never been schooled so it is out of scope"
" so how were you gonna run the businesses?"
" I have learned to count while working in the lodge and read some words while running errands in the market"
"Hmm"
The man took a long pause.
" And what do you think of charges about you?"
" These are non-sense"
"And why should I believe you?"
" You don't have to but since you asked I answered"
"Hmmm"
The man deeply sighed.
" Ok, but did you observe anything unusual near the slums"
" No "
" Ok but still why you ran when you heard the knight's footsteps and why you presumed that they were coming for the settlement? They were just doing their duty"
" No, I heard them running when I made the decision "
"Ohh"
An audible gasp escaped from the man's mouth.
He looked surprised and asked again
" How can you be sure that they were running?"
" I heard hurried footsteps and metal clanking on each other"
The man looked at Sebastian silently for a whole minute as if pressuring Sebastian to confess it was a lie.
But he didn't budge.
A rare smirk formed in that man's mouth.
The man got up from his seat and went to the door.
While getting out the door he said
" Have a good sleep and food will be provided at certain hours "
The door closed behind him as he walked out.
Sebastian just woke up but since there is nothing he could do and will be stuck here for a while he took the advice to his and took a nap.
At this point, he doesn't even care about anything at all.