'I don't recall anything like this happening,' Theo thought as he followed the camp's chief order and marched off in the opposite direction of where he expected to be sent away to, 'be it in my previous run at life or in the novel itself!'
While the first case, of the details of his lives starting to diverge, could be explained with the butterfly effect… why was his current treatment something the novel never mentioned?
'And there were a total of three side-stories revolving around the knightling camp, so…' Theo lowered his eyes as he maintained a steady pace and empty, emotionless expression, daring not to give anyone even a single hint of something as unimportant as the current state of his mind.
'How come a situation like this never happened before, neither in my own memories nor in what I could remember from the books?'
All of that, however, was just the tip of the iceberg. Because after moving on from pondering over the general issue at its broadest reach, Theo looked more into the practical details of it.
'There are only so many people, so many roles at various institutions that have the means to make such a massive change to the ceremony,' Theo thought as he reached the building's entrance and pressed the simple doors open, making his way inside, only to then follow the main corridor ahead.
While he didn't show it, his mental state had long since entered pre-combat mode, perking up towards hostility and danger detection at the cost of slowing down his steps just enough to give him a little more time to keep scanning his surroundings.
Yet, for all the preparations Theo made, the surprise attack he expected… never came. For as it turned out, whatever was powerful enough to orchestrate this whole event was also powerful enough not to hide their actions or intentions at all.
"You are finally here."
As soon as Theo turned a corner, he came face-to-face with a cadet he couldn't quite recognize. At the very least, it was the young man's face that he failed to recall, but thanks to his aura…
'Isn't he one of those two perverts that spied on me?'
"Who are you?" Theo lowered his upper eyelids, openly showing his discontent with how the situation developed.
Regardless of who this kid was, he couldn't be the one behind this whole situation. With how the camp was the domain of the royal knights, there was only one person of this kid's age with enough political power to mess with the ceremony. And by all means, this cadet looked nothing like the kingdom's second prince!
"It doesn't matter who I am. I'm here just to guide you in," the cadet announced right as he pulled open the doors to one of the rooms before stepping aside and then pointing his hand towards the open doors, silently inviting Theo in.
Theo allowed his stare to linger on the cadet for a while before rolling his eyes, taking a deep breath, and stepping inside.
There were only two people within the room. The camp's intendent sat behind his massive desk while holding an elegant cup filled with booze fragrant enough to come straight from the royal wineries. Yet, while the superintendent was of as high a rank as one could get within this camp… it was the other person that caught Theo's attention and instantly forced him to roll straight back into his combat-ready mindset.
"Welcome, Cadet Theo," Castor opened the meeting with a perfectly blank expression on his face, devoid of even the standard, courteous smile one would expect from the academy's delegate. "While it pains me to say it, before we proceed with the interview, my guests would like to ask you some questions first," he stated, only to point with his chin to the silent guest waiting in the far corner of the room.
Theo glanced over, pretending he only noticed the silent man now, before rolling his eyes.
"I do not consent."
"What?" Castor, taken aback by Theo's sudden and unexpected statement, asked.
"I do not consent to any form of questioning. As of this very moment, I no longer fall under the scrutiny of martial laws, thus rendering any attempt at extracting information from me, without prior and written consent, illegal and predatory," Theo said, easily switching over from the combat-oriented mindset to one he often employed in the past when dealing with the royal officials as a quasi tenth rank. "What's more, the mere fact of bringing up an inquisitor of the faith I do not subscribe to into this meeting constitutes a heavy breach of both the camp's and the academy's protocol, which I've noted and will report to the appropriate authorities."
In the end, contrary to all the other teachers, the superintendent wasn't a military official. He was a bureaucrat. And the only thing that mattered when dealing with this kind of person was keeping the initiative. And the moment Theo allowed himself to lose it…
"You certainly are a well-informed one," the inquisitor spoke out for the very first time as he moved from the corner where he stood to the side of Castor's desk. He then rested his hands over the desk's edge before leaning over the whole thing, pinning his eyes straight on Theo's face. "Certainly more informed than what one would expect from a peasant-born cadet."
The smile on the inquisitor's face was as devoid of warmth as Castor's expression was devoid of any emotion whatsoever.
"You stand accused of espionage, monster collusion, and breaking the taboo," Castor stated, ignoring all of Theo's former remarks. "And while it is certainly true we are not in a lawful position to pursue you for those crimes, it's best if you don't forget," the superintendent finally revealed a confident smile as he leaned in over his desk, the spark in his eyes revealing how certain he was of having the upper hand, "while it's mostly just a tradition by now, it is well within my power to keep you from applying to any of the academy dormitories, whether you have points to afford it or not."
At this point, Theo couldn't help but smile.
Or rather, as someone with nigh-perfect control over his facial expressions, he decided it was alright for him to smile at this precise moment.
"You mean, the dormitory that's advertised as the most important choice for the cadets so that they never look into its predatory practices?" Theo asked with the same smile he allowed himself to wear since just a moment ago. "That works great because I never intended to apply for any."
"Do you really think you can just roam the kingdom freely with those heavy accusations weighing on you?" Feeling that the whole meeting wasn't going the way they planned, the inquisitor spoke again, this time turning to a threatening tone and sharp look on his face.
"Are you deaf, or do you simply pretend to be?" Theo snapped right back at the man. "I do not subscribe to your faith. And judging how you are the only figure of authority here, those alleged crimes are not backed by the royal investigative unit," he stated, only to spread his arms open and then shake them. "In other words, those with the power to pursue the crimes you mention didn't find the accusations solid enough to invest their time in them. That's why you are trying to scare me off into just… listening to you and doing whatever it is that you want of me, right?"
At this point, Theo allowed his smile to turn into an amused smirk.
"This insolence shall not go unpun…"
"Just to stay on the right side of the law," Theo interrupted the inquisitor, a man whose role was but a product of the author of the novel falling for the popular misconception of what this glorious institution actually stood for in history. And while the faith of this world, in general, had very little to do with the faiths Theo could remember from his original life back on Earth… the institution of inquisition still remained, portrayed in the very same way that anti-church propaganda painted it to be back in the real world.
"I am recording everything that's happening here, be it your threats, your attempts to scare me off, or now, an attempt to escalate the situation," Theo stated, only to raise his hand and pull the sleeve of his uniform down, revealing three rings of runic writing of pure mana written into his skin.
A sight that rooted the inquisitor in place as he squinted his eyes and looked closer at the runes, only for his face to then turn slightly whiter and for him to retreat a step.
'As if I had the qualifications to actually make those work,' Theo thought as he stopped himself from rolling his eyes.
As he was currently, Theo could, at most, flash his spells. As in, summon their effects for but the slightest of moments before the innate simplicity of what magic he could maintain would lead to the spell's collapse. Right now, he was a pure mage, not a runic, combat, or investigative one, greatly limiting what he could do. But as this wasn't something the other party could know…
"An investigative magic, huh?" Castor muttered, his face turning ugly right as Theo covered his arm with its sleeve before locking his hands behind his back. "You do realize that you just made those… alleged crimes of yours all the more believable right now?"
What Castor said… was right.
There was a very limited strata of people that would learn this kind of magic, that would spend years learning how it worked, how to control it, and then how to best use it. And the magic imprint Theo revealed just now was a skill even more exclusive, kept only for those who aimed not to be diplomats or investigative mages… but spies.
"As those are only alleged and backed merely by the Sect of Purity, they fail to classify as something that I should be concerned with," Theo stated before shrugging his shoulders. "Now that's settled, however, how about we move on to the interview and point allocation? Or should I keep recording this meeting so that I can later bring it up to the camp's chief attention?"
On his own, Theo couldn't deal with either of those two.
For now, he managed to gain the upper hand purely by how neither of those two ever expected a lowly cadet of peasant birth like him to even imagine the idea of talking back. If they were to implement the full extent of their authority to bring him down, however…
'And that's why, rather than dealing with them by my lonesome, it's best to make them think I'm about to turn this into a factional dispute.'
At this point, Theo couldn't be bothered to even hide his genuine smile.
"That…" Castor hesitated for a moment, only to breathe out and hang his head a bit lower than it was before. "That won't be necessary. But when it comes to the points, I can't help but be curious," sensing an opportunity, Castor raised his face with a renewed spark of confidence in his eyes. "If you have no plans to join any of the dormitories, nor the ability to do so unless you stop talking smack, be a good cadet and just do what you are asked to do, what would you like to allocate your score tokens for?"
Hearing this, Theo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'Here we go, jumping straight into deep waters and then diving deep as opposed to trying to stick to the surface,' he thought as he gathered his wits before slowly prying his eyes open and then locking them onto the intendent's face.
"I wish all of my points to be allocated to the service of raising my qualification rank," Theo stated as he raised his chin and looked at Castor along the bridge of his own nose. "As for whatever score points are left, I wish to exchange half of them for special class privilege while turning the rest of the tokens into the kingdom's hard currency."