The next day, as planned, Jorgen went to meet with Renner. Before entering the corridor leading to the iron room, he asked the guards to stop Lawrence, who intended to accompany him.
"I'll meet him alone," Jorgen said. "There's no need for anyone else to be present."
"That's against the rules," Lawrence replied. "I need to ensure his emotional stability, and your actions need to be within acceptable limits."
"That's the point. Meeting him alone means I need to form an impression without the influence of a third party."
"If anything happens, you'll be responsible."
"Leave it for now. You can't be his babysitter forever. Stay here or go back to sleep, Lawrence."
Lawrence wanted to say more, but Jorgen had already turned and walked into the corridor, leaving the guard behind. Perhaps Jorgen faced many disadvantages coming to Stromgarde, such as Lawrence knowing about his connection with Tusha. Still, luckily, no one had linked him with Renner's past. Jorgen understood that if age and experience were not considered, Mardias was more suitable for this task.
—Perhaps the old man took into account my connection with Tusha and Renner, and that's why he assigned me the task. Jorgen didn't want to dwell too much on this possibility.
Before him was a narrow corridor leading to an iron door. It resembled the passage between the walls leading to Tusha's residence, only more cramped and dim. A row of windows high on the wall cast streaks of pale brown light on the floor, like footprints of condemned men, guiding Jorgen toward the grave of the resurrected. There was no expected foul smell in the air but an extremely bland, pale misty scent.
Jorgen stopped in front of the iron door. The open door symbolized hope and prospects, while the closed door was the tyrant severing two worlds. There were three locks on this door; you needed one lock to secure treasure, but three locks to imprison the dead. Jorgen used Lawrence's key to unlock the three locks. Before pushing the door, Jorgen hesitated for the first and last time since entering this corridor. He wasn't prepared for how to observe, how to speak; everything had to be decided based on the actual situation. His hesitation was about how to react to the uncertainty. He hesitated for a moment, then pushed the door and entered.
He expected to meet the "funeral man," but recognized Renner sitting at the back of the room at a glance. No ostentatious mask, no intimidating black clothing—at least not at this moment. Renner looked at him as any person would to a stranger who suddenly entered their room.
Now, all Jorgen saw was Renner's face. His eyes, nose, chin—all overlapped with Jorgen's memory in the dim light. Perhaps there was a slight change in skin color, but he was still him—externally. Jorgen didn't have the chance to examine his personality, but merely on the surface, he felt an unfamiliarity. The missing key thing was the confident and natural smile of the past Renner, as if he never believed that difficult days were waiting ahead, no matter how harsh the environment. The present Renner, on the other hand, revealed the unknown and vigilance. Jorgen suddenly recalled the restrained and determined anger when Renner showed him the blood-stained soldier uniform years ago; now, Renner couldn't possibly comprehend such anger.
Supposedly, to prevent Renner from feeling enslaved, Lawrence didn't use iron chains to restrict his movements. In reality, one or two iron chains wouldn't do much, especially if Lawrence's individual combat reports were accurate, not to mention that controlling him primarily relied on drugs. Jorgen noticed the sutures on Renner's hands, but based on appearance alone, he couldn't judge whether the person in front of him possessed combat qualities that Lawrence claimed surpassed those of the funeral man. When he found himself suddenly considering the "individual lethality," Jorgen quickly redirected his thoughts to the present.
"If you haven't heard of Military Intelligence Section 7, have you heard of it?" Jorgen asked.
"I should answer your question? Lawrence said..."
"Our conversation is free. Lawrence isn't your master."
"I've heard the term Military Intelligence Section 7, but I don't know what it does. I've heard them talk about it. They didn't say it for me."
"Who are 'they'?"
"Lawrence and Tusha."
"What do you think of Lawrence and Tusha?"
"They provide me with medicine. I need those things. You haven't explained the meaning of Military Intelligence Section 7 yet."
"It's an organization closely related to your current situation, mainly engaged in intelligence work. I come from Section 7, and my name is Jorgen."
"I'm Renner Marvin. That's what they call me."
"I know."
"Your name is Jorgen?"
"Yes."
"Do you know me?"
This way of asking caught Jorgen's attention, but he decided to be cautious for now. "You just introduced yourself."
"I mean in the past, before losing consciousness. Because I remember you."
There was no record of this. "We worked together before," Jorgen said.
"I remember... in a place with many ruins around. We were on the battlefield. We did some things together."
Jorgen understood he meant the Plague Lands but apparently didn't grasp the key features of that place. "Yes, we collaborated. Did Lawrence tell you about these things?"
"No, I remembered them on my own. I didn't tell him."
He was still hiding things from Lawrence.
"Do you want to know why I came here?"
"Don't know."
"I'm asking whether you want to know or not."
"Not really."
Jorgen thought that this answer revealed a kind of negative attitude. This meeting was much smoother than he had imagined, perhaps because of this underlying negativity. Emotionless negativity is indifference, and Renner is not indifferent—his emotional expression has not reached that level.
"Do you know who you are? Besides the name."
"I used to be a military officer. Colonel."
"Why are you here?"
"I woke up here. Lawrence said I am 'regenerated.' He said it takes many steps to make me normal again."
What is the definition of normal? Can eat and sleep? Think like an ordinary person? In any case, it won't be "like in the past." Lawrence is still hiding the purpose of all these experiments from Renner, which was expected by Jorgen. The tone in which Renner speaks these words doesn't indicate blind obedience to Lawrence; perhaps he just doesn't know a better way to understand himself temporarily.
Jorgen fell silent for a moment. There was a fleeting moment when he wanted to make it clear: You are a person. Lawrence sees you as an experimental subject, hoping to manipulate your will according to his wishes. People can't live like this. However, he understood that he didn't have the standing to say such things. He represented Section 7. Without Section 7, there would be no current Renner. For Renner, the world is still unknown, and for the people around him, Renner is also an unknown with potential danger.
"They performed surgery on you, injected drugs, and did many other things. What do you think about all of this?"
"I don't want to answer."
Renner had a refusal in his will. Jorgen thought he refused to answer this question because he himself was uncertain, like a person who can't explain why they keep repeating mistakes. Continuing to dig deeper from here might lead to a loss of control since it involves Renner's basic understanding of himself, and it might make him see Jorgen as an enemy. Jorgen decided to explore another equally important question.
"I heard you've undergone a lot of combat training."
"Yes."
"Do you know why you had to do those things?"
"As you said, it's training. Also, I felt I had to do it."
"During training, did you ever kill something?"
"Ogres and beasts. Mostly them. Killing them was Lawrence and Galin's request."
Jorgen frowned. "You said 'mostly them.'"
"I also killed people."
When Renner pronounced the words ogres, beasts, and people, there was no change in tone. One, one, one. Three equal and parallel entities.
"Why did Lawrence and Galin make you kill people?"
"It's not necessarily them making me kill. One type of person, called 'Syndicate,' they asked me to kill. And some should be prisoners; when fighting ogres and beasts, if they obstruct the attack, they have to be killed. I think those Syndicates are also prisoners, temporarily released from shackles just to fight me."
"How do you feel after killing someone?"
"If the process is troublesome, I get tired."
This answer completely deviated from the direction Jorgen hinted at. A normal person would answer Jorgen's question from a moral or emotional perspective, but Renner only considered the physical effects. In other words, even if he doesn't lack emotions or a moral sense, at least these two are not fundamental concepts for him. Jorgen recalled Lawrence's words: he is relearning this world.
"Are you saying I should feel sad? Uncomfortable?" Renner asked.
Jorgen didn't know how to answer for a moment. Recklessly instilling a simplistic moral view like "killing is evil" into Renner didn't seem like a good strategy. He needed to further test Renner's level of consciousness.
"It depends on your relationship with them and the impact each side has on the surroundings. In the specific situation you mentioned... you probably won't feel sad, but you certainly won't be willing to do these things either." After a moment of silence, Jorgen added, "If it were the past you, you definitely wouldn't be willing."
Renner nodded, but Jorgen wasn't sure what that meant. Perhaps he was just indicating that he understood.
"You seem to know a lot about my past." Renner said.
"Definitely more than Lawrence and Tusha."
"Then I want to ask a question."
"Go ahead."
"About this person, Crecyda, what do you know?"