Captain Kaynan slowly rose to his feet. His relaxed expression vanished, replaced by a wary gaze.
"No. That's a convoy from the Supreme Authority."
"The highest authority in the racial alliance?" Erhan asked, his eyes widening.
"If there's anything higher, it might be the creator of the universe," I replied. "And I don't want to meet either of them today."
The convoy stopped directly in front of the inspectors' office. The vehicle doors opened almost simultaneously. The officers stepped out in dark uniforms, equipped with chest armor and magic weapons. Some were Human, while others had short horns, long ears, or thin scales on their necks. Not one of them looked like an ordinary soldier.
A tall, black-haired woman stepped out of the lead vehicle. An authority insignia was fixed to her shoulder, while a blue crystal floated near the palm of her hand.
"Search unit, split into three groups!" she ordered.
"Check the ruins, the surrounding streets, and every location with a direct view of this office. Look for anything that wasn't listed in the initial report. Don't touch any foreign object until it's examined with a detection crystal."
The officers immediately got to work. They combed through the ruins, opened the remains of cabinets, checked between the stones, and even inspected the drainage channels along the roadside. Several civilians still near the scene were ordered to stand in a line.
"They're looking for something," Rin whispered.
"Obviously, they didn't come here to buy roasted corn," Erhan replied casually while eating roasted corn. He raised his corn.
"Though the corn here is pretty good."
The captain shot him a sharp look. "Put your food away and stop talking so much."
An officer approached the group of civilians and asked whether anyone had found any other evidence of the crime or anything belonging to the terrorists.
"Did any of you find anything after the fire?" he asked.
The civilians looked at one another. Some shook their heads, while others said they didn't know. The officer then headed toward our restaurant.
My throat went dry. I was certain the thing they were looking for was that unburned cloth.
"Captain," I whispered, "look at what you've done..."
"Don't panic," he cut me off. "Just relax. This isn't our first time doing something like this, right? Hahaha..."
I didn't even know what to say about our captain's behavior.
"Now keep calm and act natural."
The restaurant door opened. Two officers entered first, followed by the black-haired woman. The restaurant, which had been bustling moments earlier, immediately fell silent.
"I am Commander Veyra of the Supreme Authority of the racial alliance," she said. "We're investigating a missing object and several pieces of evidence from the attack site. Has anyone found any foreign object here?"
------Rose Veyra------ ------Power: Star Light Magic------
The restaurant owner raised both hands. "Nothing, Commander. We only found a few broken plates and a burned table." He pointed to the table scorched by the fire in front of the restaurant.
"Commander Rose, long time no see," the captain greeted the alliance corps commander casually.
"We've been here since before the attack started. If you need a statement, I can help."
Veyra looked him up and down. "Ugh... Call me Veyra. I'm on duty right now," she said firmly.
"Have you found anything yet?"
The captain smiled—the same smile he usually used when haggling over prices with merchants or stubborn customers.
"We found shards of glass, splinters of wood, and ash. Nothing else worth reporting... Oh, and if you're looking to sell the scrap, we'll take it."
Rin glanced at the captain, visibly impressed by how skillfully he was talking circles around an Alliance commander. Erhan enjoyed the scene like a theater performance while eating his roasted corn.
"Huh... Ed, we'll talk after this!" Veyra said sternly.
The captain didn't answer right away. He picked up his drink, took a small sip, then casually set it back down. Smiling, he looked at Commander Veyra. Ugh, I knew what this old man was about to say.
"Is that an invitation to a date?" the captain asked shamelessly, throwing out words completely inappropriate for his age.
"Ugh, I knew he'd say that... but hearing it firsthand makes me sick," I said, covering my mouth as if disgusted by Captain Kaynan's words. I saw Rin and Erhan trying to hold back their laughter.
Rin lowered her head and pretended to pick up a spoon. Erhan kept eating and nearly choked on the captain's words.
Veyra narrowed her eyes. "Hmm. Sure. How about a date in the interrogation room?" Commander Veyra slammed the table in front of Captain Kaynan as she said it.
The captain laughed loudly. "HAHAHA! You never change, Rose."
"You're the one who should change, you moron," Veyra shot back as she moved away from us.
I held my breath. The captain often looked like a money-grubber, but whenever he faced someone stronger, he always transformed into a battle maniac who wanted to fight anyone on the planet.
Veyra walked toward her troops, then looked back at the captain and stared at him for a long moment. Then she shifted her gaze to us, wearing a mocking smile and a sharp look, her aura oppressive and frightening.
"Did any of you see someone leave the office before the fire grew larger?" Veyra asked in an intimidating tone, her aura suffocatingly powerful.
Rin started to open her mouth, but the captain answered first.
"We were inside because we had business concerning my caravan, and they attacked us at that moment..."
"I asked them, not you. Is your crew's mouth broken?"
The captain smiled faintly. "How are they supposed to talk while I'm releasing such a powerful killing aura? Stop your aura, Rose. The other customers are uncomfortable."
Rin elbowed my leg beneath the table. I understood what she meant: Don't say anything. For some reason, I was the only one unaffected by Commander Veyra's intimidation.
Veyra studied us one by one, then noticed that I remained unaffected even though everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be struggling under her aura.
With a faint smile, she said, "Hmm. You've got an interesting subordinate, Ed."
Her gaze continued until it stopped on Erhan, who was still clutching his roasted corn and trembling beneath the aura she was releasing.
"You. Did you see anything strange?"
Erhan swallowed his food too quickly and choked.
"I... I saw some burned corn, Commander. But it still tastes good." Erhan answered nervously. Thankfully, he didn't let anything slip. At least this kid was so focused on food that he couldn't think of anything else.
I covered my face with my palm.
Veyra looked unimpressed. "That's not what I asked."
"Hey, Rose, you're asking questions like you suspect my group," the captain said quickly, releasing a powerful mana aura that neutralized Commander Veyra's. It had been a long time since I'd seen the captain this serious, even though this was all his fault.
Commander Veyra's aura slowly began to fade.
"Hah, Ed, you're really annoying. I'll come see you again later."
Commander Veyra began walking back toward her troops. The soldiers looked nervous as the two expert-level auras clashed. Once the investigation was over, the elite troop convoy began to leave, leaving only a few soldiers behind to stand guard.
After that powerful clash, everyone here tried to return to their own activities. Then again, things like this happened often around here. It was only rare for two experts to clash without anything being destroyed.
"This kid really has never seen anything besides food," Captain Kaynan remarked as he watched Erhan casually continue eating.
Rin looked at him. So did I.
"Wow, that was seriously scary, Captain. What if a clash had broken out?" Rin said, repeatedly patting the captain on the shoulder.
"Relax. Besides, Rose wouldn't go too far. HAHAHAH"