Chương 89: Chapter 88 – Interrogation

By the time Lealia and I finished packing and prepared to leave, a crowd had already gathered in front of the inn to stop us. The moment I saw the mayor of Grasiva and Kamarti standing at the very front, I immediately understood what was going on. I quietly pulled up my hood of my cloak and stepped aside. The mayor cheerfully walked forward.

"Miss Lealia, everyone gathered here because they wanted to thank you for what you did for Grasiva. It was only after hearing Sir Kamarti's story that we realized how dangerous things truly were. If it hadn't been for you, everyone here might have been in terrible danger."

"That's right, that's right! If it weren't for you and your assistant, who knows if anyone would've discovered something so dangerous up in the mountains!"

"My father's poisoning symptoms have already gotten much better. But I'll definitely keep making him take the medicine you prescribed." The people around us immediately burst into a storm of grateful voices. Lealia looked completely overwhelmed and instinctively turned to look for me. I gave her a wink, telling her to just accept the credit already.

She understood that I was trying to use this opportunity to boost her reputation, so after pressing her lips together for a moment, she reluctantly accepted the gratitude pouring in from all directions. Across the street, I could see Iris and Edgar being surrounded by a smaller crowd outside another inn. Iris's two assistants were loudly singing praises about all the wonderful things she had supposedly done.

A few people who finished thanking Lealia even awkwardly shuffled over there afterward, probably out of politeness. Only after smiling so long that her face practically froze solid did Lealia finally escape the crowd. She rubbed her cheeks and muttered:"You and Nathan are the ones who really deserve those thanks." I shrugged.

"You should probably start getting used to this. A good reputation raises your chances of becoming a Hero."

"Really? The Goddess actually cares about something like that when choosing Heroes?"

"Yep. Cares a lot, actually."

"That's… kind of weird." I had spent a lot of time thinking about the Reputation stat myself. Out of every stat, it was probably the easiest one to raise, which meant its weight definitely couldn't be underestimated. The question was why something like that mattered in defeating the Demon King. Unless it didn't matter to the Heroes themselves, but instead mattered to the one the Heroes represented - the Goddess. That was the only conclusion I could come to with the information I currently had.

And unfortunately, I wasn't exactly in a position to question the rules of the game. I could only play along with them. After saying our goodbyes to the people of Grasiva and the church soldiers, we headed to the church to return to the Cathedral in the capital through a magic teleportation platform. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I kept my hood up the whole time to avoid unnecessary attention, but the people at the Cathedral were not idiots.

Once they pieced together the testimonies of everyone involved and what had been discovered beneath the basement, they would immediately realize I had been the key to stopping the disaster. So the moment Lealia and I appeared at the teleportation platform inside the Cathedral, a group of clerics approached us and politely requested that we come with them. I had already warned Lealia this might happen, so she wasn't surprised, though she still looked a little nervous.

After all, to ordinary people, the Church had always been something both respectable and terrifying. We were brought into the same room where I had once spoken with Henry when he came to "bail me out." Three clerics were already waiting inside. Honestly, I swore I'd seen these guys before somewhere. At first, they simply repeated old questions to confirm previous information. Then suddenly, the conversation shifted toward my relationship with Lealia.

"Why did Miss Lealia register a false name for her assistant when reporting to the Church?" Lealia visibly tensed up, so I spoke first.

"That was my idea. I'm sure all of you know I had a bit of an… incident with the Church recently. I only wanted to help my friend without causing any unnecessary trouble." The three clerics turned toward Lealia again.

"When did you become acquainted with him?" Lealia stammered slightly.

"At… at the celebration party after the Debut Ceremony. At the time, Asher was with Jullius Griffin."

"Did Asher approach you first?"

"No, we just happened to run into each other."

"Who proposed the idea of him becoming your assistant during this mission?"

"That was… it was…" Lealia unconsciously glanced toward me. I already knew she wasn't the type who could hide things well, so beforehand I had told her to just tell the truth. After all, what I'd done this time had helped the Church. If anything, they should've been thanking me. But to my surprise, she said:"It was my suggestion. Asher was the only person at the academy I knew, so I asked him to come with me." The three clerics exchanged glances without showing any emotion.

Then one of them said:"Thank you, Miss Lealia. Please wait outside for a moment." The second the door closed behind her, the three of them immediately threw warning looks my way.

"I hope you clearly remember the agreement between Knight Henry McCaley and the Church, Asher Griffin." I deliberately put on an annoyed expression.

"Of course I remember. It's not exactly the kind of thing I'd proudly brag about anyway. Being betrayed by my family and turned into a mana slave isn't exactly a pleasant story."

"Good. We do not know the internal affairs of either the Griffin or McCaley families, nor do we intend to interfere. As long as you do not create further problems for the Church."

"I have absolutely no intention of doing that, sir."

"Then is there anything else we should know regarding the Grasiva incident? For example, why exactly were the ghouls beneath the basement released? And how were you able to escape that place so safely?"

"Safely? I wouldn't really call it safe. Nathan and I went down to investigate and overheard their conversation, then we got discovered. While escaping, my mind was kind of a mess. By the time I regained consciousness, Lealia had already rescued me and hidden me on the second floor."

"And your injuries?"

"Probably from falling while climbing the mountain."

"Your testimony is full of holes. Do you really expect us to believe it?" I put on the most innocent face I could manage.

"But I'm telling the truth!"

"What exactly did you overhear?"

"I already explained that earlier, didn't I? Though… did I mention they were planning to do something in Yathen?"

"... Fine. You may leave." When I stepped outside, Lealia was waiting for me. She clearly looked like she wanted to ask something, but kept holding herself back. As we walked out together, I spoke first.

"Thanks for covering for me in there." Lealia looked a little dazed.

"Yeah… I don't know why either. Lying feels really uncomfortable, but I had this feeling that if I told the truth, you'd end up in even more trouble." I laughed.

"Exactly. Lying feels awful. I know there are a lot of things you want to ask, but there are also reasons why I can't talk about some of them. As for the things I can tell you, if you want answers, I'll try to answer honestly."

"Oh, there is one thing I want to know."

"What is it?"

"What exactly is your relationship with the Vice Captain of the Knights?"

"Huh?"

"Because he's standing over there waiting for you."