Chương 182: Chapter 179 - Meeting Captain Petrae

This time, I was not taken to the grand hall like yesterday. Instead, I was guided to the mansion's eastern wing and brought into Captain Petrae's office. At first, I thought this might be some kind of tactic to make me uncomfortable, but as soon as I entered the office, I realized it was the opposite. He was trying to make me feel at ease. There were only five people inside the office, and I knew two of them. Captain Petrae sat in the main chair. To his right was a young noble lady.

Since Leif had already warned me, it was safe to assume she was Lady Flavia. To the Captain's left sat a middle-aged man, who was most likely one of his lieutenants. Beside Lady Flavia stood Lela, and beside the lieutenant stood Leif. After entering, my squad and I saluted Captain Petrae.

"At ease, Sergeant," the Captain said. He turned to Peter and gave him a quick nod of acknowledgment, then pointed to the chair opposite him.

"Take a seat, Sergeant." I thanked him and sat down, unsure how to proceed. Looking at me, Captain Petrae said, "You don't need to be uncomfortable. This was meant to be a meeting between the older generation and the younger generation. Do not think of it as some form of manipulation." He paused before continuing.

"I know yesterday's incident might have left you with a poor impression of House Petrae. But if it reassures you, your master and I are close friends, and so is my senior lieutenant." Then, taking out a small vial of potion, he passed it across the table.

"This is not from me, but from Senior Lieutenant Caeso. He was impressed by your healing skills and prepared this potion for you. It is infused with highly concentrated water mana and healing herbs. When poured directly onto a wound, it can heal even deadly injuries." I remembered who Caeso was. He was the blue-haired man who controlled the silver liquid. Yesterday, he had been the one to attack Julius, and he had looked genuinely furious with him. I picked up the potion bottle.

It was not as small as I had first thought. In fact, it was large enough to treat several serious wounds.

"Thank you, Captain. Please thank Senior Lieutenant Caeso for me. This is extremely precious, and I will cherish it," I replied. If it had been some kind of artifact, I would have rejected it, but a life-saving potion of this quantity was something I would accept even from Julius.

"I will," the Captain said with a nod.

"Now, let us move on to the questions I had for you." He looked at me carefully.

"I have read your report on the mission to the northern frontier village. I also know that not everything makes it into an official report. That is what I want to hear from you. Your assumptions, your suspicions, or anything you felt was too minor to include." Hearing that, the guard I had lowered quickly rose again. During my interrogation, the officer from Stonegate had also tried a soft approach to make me relax and speak carelessly.

And while Rowan was only a minor noble, his house was still based in Stonegate, so there was a chance Captain Petrae knew about him. Thankfully, his next sentence eased some of my suspicion.

"What I am trying to determine is Frosthallow's intention," Captain Petrae said.

"Your report mentioned that a member of your squad named Barry discovered that the village head had been in contact with a Blood Chief of the barbarians. It also stated that Barry had been inside the village head's compound, close enough to notice the Blood Chief's presence." The Captain looked toward my squad, who stood behind me.

"Is Barry present here today?" Before I could reply, Barry immediately waved his hand at the Captain and answered bluntly, "Yup." Fuck. Barry is dead, I thought. Thankfully, the Captain did not seem to take it as disrespect. Even more surprising was what he said next.

"So, Mr. Barry, did you get a look at that individual? Would you be able to remember his face or any noticeable features?" For the first time in the two and a half years I had known Barry, I saw him flush and go speechless. I could also see a twinkle in Peter's eyes. Looks like Young Master Peter had just found a title he could use to tease Barry.

"N-no," Barry replied.

"As soon as I sensed someone flying over the village head's house, I made my escape."

"Hmm. Flight is usually associated with Tier-4, so that is a valid conclusion," the Captain said.

"But were that and the Frosthallow coins we discovered the only reasons? Is it possible the person was from a mercenary group, perhaps a Tier-3 mage with wind affinity?" A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"No, sir," I said, jumping into the conversation before Barry could reply. I was afraid Barry might scoff at the Captain and tell him he knew the difference between a Tier-3 and a Tier-4.

"Private Peter, Lieutenant Cicero, and I all concluded that the person was from Frosthallow."

"The biggest reason is our survival. Two days after Barry escaped, three squads, mine, Sergeant Rowan's, and Sergeant Aaron's, were attacked by mercenary units that included four Tier-3 individuals. If we add a Tier-3 wind mage to that equation, they should have been able to cause far more damage to the squads involved."

"Another reason is our lack of knowledge about their activities. For a mercenary company to collude with a village head and remain undiscovered by the Royal Army would be almost impossible without support from a high-tier individual."

"Moreover, without Frosthallow's involvement, the mercenaries' presence makes little sense. With the Royal Army operating heavily in this region, a mercenary company would have a difficult time making any profit."

"Our hypothesis is that someone powerful from Frosthallow is operating inside Avalon. Since the village head did not know Barry was an Avalon soldier, the Frosthallow agent likely decided that eliminating him was not worth the risk of exposing their presence to the Royal Army."

"Also, there is this." I pulled out the talisman we had found at the village head's compound and passed it to the Captain.

"This was recovered from the village head's residence."

"Hmm..." The Captain did not pick up the talisman. Instead, Lady Flavia took it while he processed what I had said.

"It is also possible they underestimated you," Captain Petrae said.

"In my experience with Frosthallow, they tend to be extremely biased toward higher-tier individuals. In their eyes, four Tier-3s should have been more than enough to deal with all of you. So why would a Blood Chief waste his time chasing a few lowly Tier-2s?" I nodded. This was also one of the conclusions Peter and I had reached. To both of us, leaving a loose end during such an important mission had felt absurd. If it had been me, I would have made sure to eliminate anyone who could identify me.

But overconfidence could lead to exactly these kinds of mistakes.

"Uncle, this did come from Frosthallow," Lady Flavia said, waving the talisman slightly.

"I have researched Frosthallow's rune arts. This has almost all their markers. The runes are crude, the strokes are uneven, and most of the effect seems to come from recharging the talisman with a large amount of mana."

"This is useful information," Captain Petrae said.

"Flavia, see if you can devise a method to counter these kinds of talismans. Lieutenant, investigate whether we can create practical countermeasures against them." Then he looked back at me.

"Sergeant, all the reports we have received suggest that Frosthallow began its operations inside Avalon at least six months ago. Do you agree with that assessment?"

"Yes, maybe even earlier," I replied.

"I worked closely with Halvar in the northern frontier village. He mentioned that the village's atmosphere changed drastically almost a year ago, shortly after the grand beast tide."

"Communal violence had been common in the village even before the tide, but after that, it felt as though the Draknir were being blamed for every attack." Captain Petrae struck the table with his fist.

"How could I miss this? The grand beast tide. A perfect natural distraction. Thank you, Sergeant Edward." After that, we discussed the missions my squad had taken, mainly those connected to Frosthallow. Once the Captain was satisfied, we moved on to the subject I had been dreading.

"Sergeant Edward, now that you are the disciple of House Cicero, do you know what that means? Do you know what rights you have? Did Tullius explain everything to you?" the Captain asked.

"No, Captain. All I know is that I do not have to share any of my research results, and I receive some protection from nobles." After hearing my answer, the Captain sighed and rubbed his temple.

"For someone who likes to explain almost everything, it surprises me that Tullius failed to teach his own disciple some of the most important things." I felt the urge to defend Lieutenant Cicero after those words. The Captain knew how much it affected the Lieutenant to talk about his house. I assumed he had been afraid that if he reported my experiments without giving me any protection, some noble might try to snatch the research from me. That was probably the only reason he had taken me as his disciple.

Otherwise, I was sure he would have been happy to let his house die with him. But since the Captain and the Lieutenant were on a first-name basis, I held my tongue.

"It is true that you do not have to share your research results with anyone," Captain Petrae said.

"However, because of House Cicero's past, you will have to submit a report to your commanding captain once a month."

"And it does not end with you. Your captain also has the authority to question the people close to you, which includes your squad and, in the future, even your subordinates." I frowned at that. If my future subordinates had to answer questions about me, it could affect my authority over them. Some might even use those interviews as an opportunity to undermine my leadership.

"You do not have to worry," Captain Petrae said.

"These interviews will not damage your reputation. It is common practice to evaluate a new lieutenant's performance."

"Moreover, from what I know, you are only halfway to Tier-3. While you have a great deal of military merit, perhaps even enough to justify a promotion, your experience is still lacking. So I would say you have nothing to worry about for the next four or five years." I nodded. If I became a lieutenant with only seven years of service, I might end up as the youngest non-mage lieutenant in the Royal Army.

"But it is not all bad," Captain Petrae continued.

"One of the benefits you receive as Tullius's disciple, something no amount of wealth could buy, is that once you have enough merit and reach the rank of lieutenant, you can establish your own house." He paused for a moment.

"Or, after Tullius dies, you could continue his house, though House Cicero has almost no wealth left."

"But do not underestimate the value of a noble title. It is far more useful than you imagine. The merit required to establish a noble house is enormous. Your current merit is nothing compared to that requirement, and most lieutenants do not earn enough merit in their entire lives to found a house." I tried to listen with as much focus as I could muster, but the moment I heard that I could establish my own house, my thoughts began to stumble. It was not something I had ever expected.

As soon as the possibility entered my mind, my ability to process the rest of his explanation dropped by half. Before I could properly process my emotions, Lady Flavia's voice pulled my attention back to the meeting.

"So, Sergeant Edward, I was impressed by your Silent Step rune. How did you come up with that idea?"

"Barry, one of my squad members, has the skill [Silent Steps]. I simply tried to replicate its effect."

"Barry, how did you contribute to that experiment?" the lieutenant, who had been silent the entire time, asked. This time, I sensed mana spreading through the room.

"I just showed him how I use my skill by running around the yard a few times," Barry replied. It was obvious that my squad had not sensed that we were under some kind of skill.

"What about your other runes?" the lieutenant asked, still maintaining his skill.

"I have seen some unusual runes on your squad's equipment and read about them in Sergeant Rowan's report. Do they all come from your squadmates?"

"No. Some came from runes I studied at the fort, and others were inspired by beasts." As more questions about my runes followed, I gradually realized what they were truly aimed at. They were not only interested in the runes themselves. They were trying to determine whether my research had any connection to human experimentation. I answered honestly and without fear because human experiments were something I had never even considered, not even when I was at my lowest.