'Eh? That 'Balance' alias that came from the mouth of the senior? No way… this is different from Isaac's encounter. It was the fourth unit commander that interviewed him and it was a male!
'There's no contract whatsoever in his encounter… Sigh, does that mean the knowledge I knew started to change? No… by the looks of it, anything major is far as I know safe from going but these minuscule and minor ones changed because of a result of one major event…
'Anyway, to send the third unit commander here… they must've taken a serious note of this matter… Now, I understand. I definitely understand who the people senior had mentioned! Heh, I could probably meet the first and second captains the lady in my front is here. Another one is another lady while the other is the strongest person on the continent.
'The problem is… who had the alias Candle? Is this person a commander of the justice's units but lower? I know first to the fourth, seventh captain of the organization's units… Nice! my connections are getting broader. Should I use this to my advantage?
'Still, who is this Candle? An enemy that senior met? Might be a dangerous fellow… Besides, what does she mean by 'real council'? Are they taking orders from The Justice? To remain equal, they would rather seek powerful people to do their bidding. Brilliant…'
Thoughts after thoughts came through my head as I began to understand a few things.
As I calm and recomposed myself, It was also at that moment that I land my eyes on the candle that is slowly getting thinner and shorter.
It appeared rather normal which made my heart shrink at the same time, it slowly began to pound heavily.
'No way…'
"You showed your emotions now, Noelle… or is it you, Omen, Devil of Detrimental," Freya's greatly changed her emotion.
It didn't mean she was excluding threatening air, partly because it was part of the contract, or it must've been due to her uncertain thought that I was really possessed. Either way, she was being careful and doubtful.
'I see… They must've gathered first that my health. Even though I appeared helpless when I was spotted by the knight, the doctors in the hospital found that I was okay. And knowing that, they sent knights together with Verl…
'Since I 'safely' got out unscathed in their opinion, they cast their suspicion that I was possessed. The reason why the captain knight from the carriage said they have a way deal with spirits, wraiths, and such, was because they were informed and tried to see my reaction…
'Also, his question about why I appeared rather calm was also because of the hypothesis being possessed… They got me here to Freya, who deliberately told me that I was in the headquarters. It must be true since if I were to rampage they could send reinforcements before getting to sign the contract…
'Now that I have signed the contract, it rendered me completely if I was really being possessed, meaning if I was really possessed, I was at the disadvantage, not really sure if I would escape here. As expected from The Justice. Vigilant, meticulous, and daring.'
Of course, I wouldn't be able to think this much if there were no clues scattered. I'm just here to compress them into one puzzle.
"Is it a question?"
This isn't bad at all…
It's decided then… I'll use this to my advantage.
"No, I was rather testing you,"
Clasping her hands together, Freya then asked, "Are you Noelle Portnner? Son of Duke Verl Portnner?"
'Asking direct questions to avoid loopholes. I like that. It becomes much easier. It distinguished all answers except 'yes' or 'no',"
"Yes,"
Her expression lightened, probably because she received didn't probably notification on her side that I was lying since that was bound on the contract.
Nodding once, she asked, just to clarify, "Just to be sure, are you not possessed by Omen? If not, what happened to the devil since you were the only one left inside that maze."
'A bit harder… But if I wanted to be on good terms with these people, I have to be honest…'
Sighing inwardly, I answered, "I'm not possessed by that devil, and… that devil seemed to just disappear when I woke up in the maze. Inside of it… it's just in shambles. No, that's not the word. Everything was just erased from that place. As if a huge fight happened in there…"
"Not in shambles but erased…?" Freya frowned upon hearing it but it didn't look like she received a lie to herself.
She drew a breath and continued, "If there's a fight that had happened there, we would be alarmed but I didn't receive any lie so it's probably because it is true on your point.
"What didn't make sense is that you mentioned that the place is in shambles. Yet, it appeared to us outside that there aren't any situations where a fight had happened. Anyone in there could vouch for that. There are tremors being felt, but it was when the maze was being destroyed.
"Another thing is, the entrance of the maze, it looked like the two are connected. The outside and the world of that ruin. The explosions were supposed to be only on the inside but, weirdly enough, they somehow affected the stairs where everything appeared normal when the seventh unit entered. That doesn't sound right..."
Upon listening to her, I came up with my own matter but different from her point of view.
'The outside and the world of the ruin is connected? Is it related to the change of times due to Anomalies? I'll take note of that.'
Freya who was deep in her thinking, suddenly looked at me and asked a question with a frown, "Did you find loopholes to the contract we've established?"
Without waiting for any second to think, I answered, "No,"
Freya's eyes lightened as she let out a sigh, indicating once more that I kept speaking the truth which is my plan on doing so from the beginning.
"Now then, I want you to be specific on this question," Freya said with a hint of seriousness in her tone but her expression was far different from before, "How did you survive?"
'It's a matter of how this time and she required me to be specific. It's okay to form my reply but if I were to delve into it longer, it might look suspicious.
'Should I tell the truth? But what if it reaches beyond past to the limits of Freya's power, resulting in telling her a lie? Wouldn't that make me more suspicious? What should I do…'
"How did I survive, huh…"
Right… why would I lie? Wasn't my purpose here to tell everything the truth? If I just make excuses here, it might register that it was a lie to Freya.
At that moment, I began to remember the meeting I had with senior. His calm and nerve-wrenching demeanor… the guy who was the reason for my transmigration… the one who has the power to break the reality… the one who claimed that has a bit of knowledge even though I find it false…
I can't help but smile, "Ma'am Freya, do you believe in God?"
Surprised by the question, Freya raised a brow. Of course, it wouldn't matter if she didn't answer but if she did, then it would be good. But instead of answering, she returned to questioning.
"What about it?"
"Believe me, I don't believe in them," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "But I received 'His' help,"
"…"
Freya's expression froze. She seated in her place, quietly, trying to understand what I meant but after just a minute, she recollected herself, yet her eyes tell me that what she heard pretty much disturb her.
'A god and it wasn't a lie' must be what she was thinking.
"O-okay, let's move on," Freya let out a cough and began asking question-related also to the previous ones but it wasn't much important in my opinion.
Questions like 'if you are not the devil, are you able to interfere with the rules of the contract' or 'if you are the devil, where did you come from? If not, just answer, I'm not possessed or the devil itself'
She must've questioned again if there was a loophole, doubting how I'd come up with that answer. The other thing is, just another clarification so that she knew I wasn't really possessed. After those questions, the difficulty lowered and the questioning session came to an end.
If I had lied, Freya would've probably warned me.
"Okay, Noelle. We're done," Freya spoke with a warm tone, trusting her powers fully that it was all true.
"Uhm… if it's not too much, can I ask something? No, that's not right," Interlocking my fingers, I placed them on the table and continued, "May I raise a proposal?"
"Proposal?" Freya's eyes constricted and for the first time ever, she looked towards the glass at the side of the room, before moving her attention to me, "I would like to hear it first,"
'So, it really is the case, huh? Someone is watching us from the outside…'
With that thought in mind, I spoke solemnly, "Actually, I'm a Ruiner and I'm planning on registering myself as an official one. You know, to avoid inspection later on but of course, there should be some restrictions put on me. The thing is, I don't where I should do it,"
Hearing it, Freya's expression became lighter as she smiled faintly, "I'll handle it. What's the name of the Piece?"
'This lady is getting more attracting as we talked… sigh,' Musing that thought inwardly, I answered, "Swindler,"
"Interesting piece. What type? Oh, in case you don't understand. What 'type' means is that, is your piece a defense, attack, or support type. Then those three choices break down into categories but for now, it's better to tell me this first. Another thing is, what happened as to why you've decided to become a Ruiner."
Nodding my head, I thought for a moment before answering, "I think it can be either those of three, and as to why I've decided to become a Ruiner… heh, it's due to circumstances that I was forced to do so,"
Gently shaking her head, Freya warmly answered, "I understand. Let's not delve deeper into that. Now, since you go to the institute, you have known the risks of becoming a Ruiner, right?"
I nodded and Freya continued, "It's better that you know. Continue getting more to know about them in classes,"
Hearing the word 'classes', I raised my hand to interrupt and reply, "Oh, about that, I was planning on dropping out. It's the reason why I came to the capital in the first place but didn't do so because of… yeah,"
"I see… Is this all?"
'Finally… let's get with it…' Inwardly commenting, I continued, "Ma'am, I want you to hide that I'm a Ruiner in the meantime. In exchange, I can be a spy, middleman, or informant of your organization.
"For instance, I could spy on the higher nobles since my father is a very famous person, bringing you information if those nobles are planning something ridiculous, probably attending some gatherings that involved Ruiners, or if they have some evil organization backing them, or an evil Ruiner as their guard… Those are the things I can give that I could think of for now but you know there's a lot more.
"The things I want are simple. One, I want some protection for my family. You know there's a risk on my part when I'm doing this. Two, I want to borrow your resources or reserves. Of course, I wouldn't use much and if I tried to flee with your money, I would be killed before knowing it.
"Third and my final condition I would like to have is… share me some of your intel. What was happening in the kingdoms or the other continents? If it's confidential, then it's okay for me to not know and if you need some help, I could even provide some. It's all right to be discreet. If it's small matters, I wished if you could deliver some to me.
"Now, I know it's absurd to agree to this proposal to some certain extent but… I would like to help. Rules could be made by you but these three conditions have to remain as it is. If you find it disadvantageous to your side, maybe we could talk about it and see your side of things."
Hearing the proposal and seeing my mouth didn't stop me from moving, Freya seemed to experience short-circuit due to an overload of words but after a few seconds, she recollected herself.
"You wished to remain this secret?"
"Certainly. We have a contract with each other so everything that happened here would only remain in this 'room'"
Freya sighed and replied, "And what if someone had known this information from the outside, solving it like a piece of cake that we have a deal with each other? What then?"
Shaking my head, I answered, "They wouldn't.
"Imagine working together with trash and an official organization that everyone respected. To others, it might sound unbelievable. Heck, they wouldn't even want to pay attention to it. It's a perfect cover.
"But if they could somehow know it… heh, well, tell them. I mean, what more could you lose? Maybe you are losing me but someone insignificant as me is not worth paying attention to, right?"
Freya, watching everything in her eyes as if it was unfolded the way I wanted to, sighed and retorted, "I'll think about it,"