"Why don't we make this quick, boy? I'm sure your mother is looking for you everywhere right now. So I hope you will be as honest with me during this investigation, sure?"
The man who sat before Noel spoke as he intertwined his aged and wrinkled fingers as he simply stared into Noel's eyes deeply with an expressionless gaze.
"I don't have a mother" Noel replied to the man, as he looked around the room in tranquil and mild interest.
'Though I can't really recall exactly, she died early on when I was around twelve. My memories have been foggy as of late. Sigh .... this, this really won't do. I need to find a solution to my shaking mentality that trembles at every chance like an aspen leaf'
The man nodded his head in understanding as he flipped opened a white binder filled with mildly white and yellow sheets of paper before he took out a ballpoint pen from his breast pocket.
He took out a sheet of paper from the binder seperatly, before writing down the information Noel had just conveyed to him, his pen moving rapidly across the sheet.
'Why am I even here in the first place?'
"Understandable, understandable. Then, in the seventy-six names of the Lord God Logos, the Geometrician of Wisdom, we start."
'Lord God Logos? Geometrician? Is that some kind of deity? But what's with the naming?' Noel wondered internally.
The man started writing down the oath at the top of the page, before licking the tip of his finger, and holding the sheet between his finger. He gave it a incongruent look, before he looked back to Noel with his impassive and hollowly aged gaze.
"Do you swear to speak the truth, and only the truth during this investigation, and that, in under Pope Leo X's Contraverge, should you lie, under the Firmament of the 32nd Clause of Witness Elim, under the 7th Subpart of should 'Man's Evil be spoken, A vicious Lie that ends humanity,' that you will be cursed with misfortune to Day of Rebirth, should man's evil be uttered', Lord God the Witness to this testimony?"
'What the hell is he going on about?'
Noel pondered for a moment as he struggled whether to agree or not.
'Should I agree to whatever this man said? But if I lie, wouldn't that mean that I would get cursed to whatever Day of Rebirth he meant? What should I do?'
'Should I agree?'
Noel's silence caused the man before him to let out a sigh and reach out his hand near hips as he seemed intent to pull something out from its holster.
'Well, shit'
"I agree, I agree!"
Noel spoke hurriedly as his eyes darted nervously to the man's hand that had retracted from his hips.
'What am I supposed to do when that bastard looked like he was on the brink of pulling out his handgun?!'
"Excellent, you seem like a smart boy as I had thought. I'm quite sure your mother would be proud of you" The man said as he wrote down Noel's words.
'What is he even writing? I don't think I said anything yet' Noel thought internally, confused.
"Oh my, I forgot you did not have a mother. How unfortunate. She would have been quite happy with such a happy young boy. You would no doubt make a great young man one day"
Noel frowned to the man's words, but did not comment.
Without looking back at him, the man took out a wrinkled sheet from his paper that apepared to be stained with some kind of bronze-colored oil, and crimson color?
"Then off to the first question"
The man placed down his pen, and stared into Noel's eyes. Noel's looked into the man's eyes that did not contain any emotions, before he spoke once more.
"Introduce yourself"
Noel frowned as he struggled to think up of a solution to his current predicament that he had not prepared for at all.
'Should I give him my real name? No, if I don't, wouldn't that mean I would get cursed by that deity he was talking about? But even if I told him the truth, where would I start? How the hell do I tell him I came from another world?'
'Would he even believe me?'
'If he assumed that I was lying, wouldn't that .... be my end?'
'Well, looks like getting cursed is the path'
Noel hesitated to take a decision.
He examined the man back, before he took a deep breath, and opened his lips.
"Um .... My name is Noel."
"Noel, is it? A unique name. So tell me Noel, how old are you currently?"
The man nodded his head approvingly, as he picked up his ballpoint pen, again, and started to write on the sheet of paper before him, unhurridely scribbling down the information.
"Twenty two"
The man who was writing the information down paused, as he slowly raised his gaze once more to Noel, silently inspected him, his eyes narrowing with a tilt of his head.
Noel, seeing this, tensed up, as his heart BPM spiked.
'What? Did I say something wrong? Was it my name? No, it was right after I said my age. Whats wrong with my age? Do I not look twenty-two?'
"Y,yes?"
"Are you positive that you are as you stated 'twenty two'?" The man repeated, as he narrowed his eyes and played with the tip of the ballpoint pen.
"Y,yes, when I was younger, my mother was unable to afford to save enough food for me and my siblings."
Noel's expression darkened as he stared down at the floor.
"She used to work as a prostitute and only came back late. All my siblings passed away, and only I was left. She later on passed away because of STDs"
Noel lowered his head slightly, as he silently prayed for the story to be believable to the interrogator before him.
'I don't think I missed anything in the story. Yes, perfect. The only thing left is for him to buy it.'
"Hm, I see. And how is that related to your current physique?"
"Its malnutrition, sir."
"Malnutrition, is it? I see"
The man nodded his head again, before writing down the information that Noel had just spoken to him.
'Still, does that man feel no pity for my story? What a cold hearted bastard'
"Next question. What is your religious affiliation, little Noel?"
'Fuck!'
Noel's body that had began to relax, tensed up once more.
"R,eligeous affiliation, ?" Noel repeated right after in confusion.
'What do I say, what do I say? Do I tell him I'm an atheist? No, no. If I do, then doesn't that mean that whatever Logo's witness is invalid? But I got no idea what religeons exist in this world. What do I say, damn it.'
"Repeating? Do you not know? Or do you intend to come up with another lie?"
The man said without looking back to Noel, as if delibratly waiting for his next words.
"I believe in the supreme God" Noel replied as he gritted his teeth, as if praying that his lie would pass smoothly.
Hearing this, the man before him, dropped his ballpoint pen on the sheet of paper he was writing, before rubbing his forehead in visible distress.
The man took off his lenses, tiredly rubbing his reddened eyes.
'Ah, I fucked up'
That was the only thought that ran though Noel's mind. As he had previously assessed by looking around the room, there was no room to escape. Only one door existed behind the large man.
But even if he somehow was able to slip away, with a single command, he would end up as a slab of meat riddled with holes by the soldiers bullets.
Ah.
Such was his end.
"Playing games, are we? I asked a clear question, did I not?"
Noel's face paled, as he raised his hands, trying to explain.
"No, no, sir! Sir, listen to me for a moment, I'm actually-"
"Jarvis!"
The man before Noel violently shouted, startling him. Noel shrunk back, as the man placed his lenses once more, closing the binder he was writing in.
The moment he had called the foreign name, the door burst open, and the soldier who had battered him earlier entered the room with the rifle across his back.
The soldier carefully held a neatly wrapped white package in his hand that resembled a cylinder.
He shot Noel a sneer, before handing the package to the man before Noel. The man grunted as he roughly took the package out of the man's hand, and with his grubby fingers ripped the package open.
Noel's eyes widened as he saw what the man was unwrapping.
'What is wrong with that man?'
From the white package, the man took out a six foot inch sandwich filled to the brim with different types of legumes and meat.
The man stuffed his mouth with the food, and began chewing peacefully, closing his eyes, and occasionally nodding his head as if savoring the food.
Noel kept glancing at the man and the soldier standing besides him that was staring right at the wall. He sat at the edge of the seat, as if awaiting his fate.
'I have to make a run for it'
Noel grit his teeth, his hands trembling as his mind clashed between the two opposing thoughts of staying in his spot, or running away.
'But how the fuck am I supposed to do that when God knows how many soldiers are waiting outside'
Noel started biting his fingernails in anxiety.
'What do I do?'
Noel's thoughts were interrupted as the soldier took out a crystal transparent bottle filled with a clear liquid from his pouch. The man wordlessly finished his sandwich, and received the swirling liquid.
"Ah, quite the fragrance"
The man commented as a strong ethanol smell erupted from the small bottle that contained the liquid.
'Alcohol?'
A sudden question came upon Noel's mind as he saw the man drinking the liquid, and giving off a small chuckle as he continued to drink it in small sips.
"Um...."
Noel blurted out a question before he was able to stop himself.
"Are ... Believers in the Lord God Logos allowed to drink Alcohol?"
'Oh'
'Fuck'
Realizing what he just said, Noel snapped his mouth shut in horror. His trembling eyes slowly moved to watch how the man would react.
The man, as if perhaps hearing Noel's question, or not hearing it all, did not answer immediately, instead, he continued sipping the liquid.
The man went on sipping the liquid for a few minutes until he finished it completely.
He shifted his focus back to the shrinking Noel.
"A splendid question you asked boy"
He turned his dead-like eyes that seemed as tranquil as the dead sea towards Noel as if thinking on his well-though question.
"To satisfy your curiosity, yes, we Priests are allowed to drink alcohol, while stopping shortly from intoxication, following the devote Follower of Lord God, Elim who had drunk up to drunkenness so as to avoid the Mistress of Eript's wife intention of adultery."
The man chuckled as if the story itself had rekindled old memories of the Church. Or perhaps it was the alcohol at play here.
"So you aren't a follower of the Lord God, Boy. Correct?"
Noel's mouth was closed shut in fear at the man's words, fearing that an incorrect word could make him end up in a state worse than death.
"Alas, it seems you have no intention of continuing this interrogation?"
Noel lowered his head, as he stared back to the floor, his mind frantically trying to come up with a solution to his current predicament. Of course as usual, nothing came up.
"Understood, understood. Don't mind me then"
The man said as he swatted his hand in the air with a smile.
'Fuck it all'
The man pushed his seat back, as he stood up.
"Well then Jarvis, you take it from here"
'One'
The soldier approached Noel, before pulling out a knife, tilting it with a sneer.
"Lets have a talk, me and you, shall we?"
'Two'
The soldier came closer to Noel.
'Now!'
The moment the soldier stood in front of Noel, Noel suddenly kicked the soldiers chin in hope of him falling, and stood upm pushing his chair to collide with the soldier's head.
Instead, the soldier as if caught of hard, swung his knife towards Noel's face.
With his heart pounding in his chest, Noel tilted his face just in time of having his carotid severed. However, a thin trickle of blood seeped out from Noe;'s wound.
As if anticipating that the soldier would soon recover, and that the man would no doubt point his gun soon at him, Noel raced towards the door.
'Shit, I messed up. I need to get to the door in time before the man is able to make a move! If I slow down for a moment, I'll-!'
Noel's eyes scanned around the room, before stopping at the man.
The man maintained calm eye contact with Noel before flashing an oily smile as if he had awaited Noel's move, and pulling something from his waistband.
Furthermore, the soldier was beginning to recover, his initial sneer twisting into pure fury and rage, as he stood up.
Noel raced with time as he reached out for the door. However, the moment his head reached out to touch the bronze knob.
"Oh my, did I come at a wrong time? Care to tell me what exactly is happening here, Flaunt?"
A seven-foot tall man with a beard opened the door right before Noel was able to.
'I'm fucked'
Noel's heart dropped to the deepest layer of the abyss as he watched the very large man look around the room in interest, before falling on the frozen Noel in front of the door.
The man let out a hearty chuckled with his raised eyebrows, placing his hand on Noel's head.
"And just who might be this young man?"