At precisely 11 pm, Xander entered the commanding station of the police department to meet the chief.
"Excuse me, sir. This is Xander," said Xander, standing outside the closed doors of the head office.
"Come in," ordered the chief in a stern voice.
Xander slowly opened the door, stood upright in attention, and made an official salute, declaring, "SIR."
The burly man in his 50s, wearing the green police uniform with three stars on his shoulders, gave Xander a keen and strict look.
"Young man, I will be direct. Did you capture and kill the person from the Raven gang?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Xander replied without hesitation.
"Can you prove your stance?" asked the chief, carefully observing Xander.
"Yes, sir, I can," affirmed Xander.
The chief abruptly stood up, surprising Xander. " "Xander, this is the last chance I am giving you as your superior. You can come clean now, and it will simply result in suspension. If you remain adamant and refuse to tell the truth, even I cannot help you," threatened the chief.
"I will maintain my answer no matter how many times I'm asked," stated Xander resolutely.
"Good. Then follow me," the chief instructed, leading the way out of the room.
Xander followed the chief, puzzled about their destination. He remembered to bring his bag, which he had left outside the chief's room. However, he couldn't comprehend why the chief was heading towards the training grounds instead of interrogating him. It wasn't until they passed through the open doors of the training grounds that Xander understood what was happening.
The usually bustling training grounds were eerily calm, despite the presence of over a hundred police officers gathered under the illumination of night torches. It seemed that most of them had assembled here, leaving only a handful to guard the town and borders. Additionally, around ten soldiers from the military had joined the gathering. On the stage stood the knight captain, Perrin, while Gram stood nearby, wearing a disdainful smile. Xander wanted to inquire about the situation, but the chief didn't pause his stride; instead, he took Xander directly to the stage. The chief officer stood before the assembled policemen, who engaged in hushed conversations.
"Silence!" commanded the chief, capturing the attention of everyone present.
"You all know why you have been summoned here. Xander has claimed to have successfully captured and killed a member of the Raven gang, presenting the burned corpse as evidence earlier today. Many of you have doubts about his claim, so I have brought the alleged criminal here to address those doubts. Furthermore, if any of you believe his reasoning to be baseless, we have the esteemed knight captain from the military department of Aswalt to verify the truth," explained the chief, casting a glance at the man with a prominent scar on his face. With that, the knight captain took the stage and began to speak.
(Author's note: The words in capitals indicate Perrin shouting. Consider him a guy who shouts intermittently for no apparent reason, as if he has some loose nuts and bolts in his head.)
"Does anyone here know how I became a Knight Captain?" Perrin exclaimed, his voice booming through the assembly. YOU ( pointing to one in the left in the assembly) OR YOU ( pointing to another one in the right) or altest YOU( pointing to Xander) ANYONE? HUH? ANYONE? OK ! shouted perrin like mad man " YEAH! NO ONE KNOWS… NO ONE!"
Perrin's outburst startled the whole crowd.
Regaining his composure, Perrin took on a calm demeanor. "Fine, let me tell you the story of how a normal, WORTHLESS E- RANKER called Perrin became a respectable Knight Captain. One day, me and two of my colleagues were assigned the important task of guarding and assisting an important guest of the Baron. Everything was perfect, and in five minutes, we could have completed the job when the guest boarded the boat. But you know what? Hehe... THAT MOTHER FU***R CAME STRAIGHT TO THE GUEST WITH THE SWORD. The peaceful harbor turned into chaos with bloodshed. We fought with all we had, WITH EVERY OUNCE OF OUR BEING. BUT THE RESULT….. one of my colleagues was killed, the other lost his hand, and look, look….LOOK AT THIS SCRACH ON THIS UGLY FACE," Perrin pointed to himself, "that bastard did this to me. But somehow, despite all those losses, we managed to chase the bastard and safely escort the guest to the boat. And that's how this man called Perrin became a Knight Captain respected by all."
"But today, your friend here has claimed that he caught and killed that same bastard... that same motherfucker. Great, isn't he? If he can really prove that, as an unawakened, he was able to kill an E-ranker, I, THE ONLY KNIGHT CAPTAIN OF ASWALT, will resign my job."
"What? He will resign his job?"
"My God, the Knight Captain is going to such lengths."
"Does he really have to, though?"
"Hey, wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to hear him shouting anymore?"
"True, we all don't want that guy, but it's only when Xander can prove himself innocent."
"Hey, so what will happen if Xander cannot explain things?"
"Nice, that annoying bastard must resign. Xander, please prove yourself."
"Brother Xander, we believe in you. Make that guy resign."
The assembled men and women of the police force started murmuring. Most of them wanted Perrin to resign because he was never friendly with people, and most of them disliked how he shouted like a madman during his speech. Some of them doubted Xander, and those who followed Gram wanted Xander to fail miserably and see him ashamed.
[What is this? The corpse I got from Lord Fate was the notorious criminal who attacked Captain Perrin two years ago? I heard he was desperately searching for him to avenge his friends. What do I do? I didn't think it would escalate this much. If I cant prove myself now, that madman won't let me live well even if I'm forgiven by the Baron. I must have touched his ego by hitting his sore spot. My God, please let the things in the letter be true. If only this works, I will forever be faithful to Lord Fate,] thought Xander.
"And," Perrin continued, "If our dear Xander here cannot prove or give satisfying answers to all my questions about the incident, I WILL PERSONALLY SHAVE HIS HEAD, MAKE HIM WALK NAKED, THROUGH EVERY STREET OF ASWALT carrying a board saying 'I AM A _SHAMELESS_ LYING _SON OF A BI**H.'" He said this with a big, creepy smile. While Gram posed a mischievous smile towards Xander from the side.
"Oh my God! He is really cruel."
"This is why I want this guy to resign."
"Poor Xander, he got caught in his eyes. Creepy guy."
"Who would want their enemies to suffer and enjoy it? Xander, teach a lesson to that sadistic son of a bi**h."
"Hey, is Captain gay or something? "
"You could have just dismissed Xander from the job."
"If that happens, isn't it a shame for the entire police department? Man, I wish Xander wins."
Amidst the busy discussions, Perrin shouted, "BRING THAT!" The head chief kept quiet. He felt helpless. Even as the head of the police department, if a member of the police department was at fault, there was a chance for the military department officials to take over the case to prevent partiality. But he never thought this madman would be assigned to such a small issue. All he hoped for was Xander to be correct, or else the whole department would become the laughing stock of the town.
Some knights under Perrin brought two hay dummies, the size of humans, tied to a pole and placed them on the stage beside each other with a considerable distance between them. Two more knights stood near Perrin.
"Both of these knights here are E-rankers. One of them is a support who can give buffs, and the other one is the fire magician," said Perrin. "NOW," he ordered the knights.
The support magician immediately stepped forward and buffed both dummies with E-rank magic, 'Resilience,' to give them resistance similar to an E-ranker. Once done, the support magician left the stage. Perrin quickly took a flint and threw it over one of the dummies. The normal hay dummy, which should have caught fire, remained unscathed. Then Perrin addressed the assembly, saying, "If there are any awakened G or F rank fire magicians, come forth and give it a try."
Immediately, two guards from the police department came forward and threw fire magic towards the first dummy. The G-rank magician managed to burn the outer cloth draped over the dummy but couldn't destroy the dummy itself. The F-ranker managed to burn the dummy, leaving behind black burns here and there, but the dummy seemed intact. Everyone understood the strong resistance of E-rank magic. Now, everyone had one question in mind: how did Xander, an unawakened individual, manage to burn the E-ranker alive to that extent? Perrin and Gram wanted to create doubts against Xander and went to great lengths, assembling the entire police force for this demonstration.
Soon, the E-rank fire magician stepped forward and threw big fireballs at the dummy. The dummy started to burn in fire, and after 2-3 minutes, the fire extinguished, leaving behind a broken and burnt dummy.
"Now, you all have witnessed how much resistance the buffed dummy had. A normal E-ranker naturally gets this kind of resistance, even if they are not a fire magician. So, for the finale, can we all call OUR BRAVE MR. XANDER to demonstrate how to burn an E-ranker without being awakened," said Perrin, staring furiously at Xander.