Syl: Chapter 244

Chapter 244: Interrogation

I'd expected Vee to have some trouble sleeping, but after she made a small nest for herself, it wasn't long until she was out like a light.

Meanwhile, my mind kept racing about what would happen when I was questioned in the morning. I also knew that my secret would likely be revealed, whether I liked it or not.

I just have to hope that the elves don't announce it to the world or anything. Although I guess I should put some more emphasis on getting out of here alive.

Worst case, I could throw everything I had, detonating what little slime I had cast every offensive spell imaginable, and so forth. I was already missing my giant worm form, as that would have been ideal for causing enough collateral damage and hopefully escaping during the chaos.

However, despite some neurotic panicking, I eventually succumbed to sleep after leaving some defensive orders for my cores.

I woke up to the sound of Vee snacking on more fruit. It looked like our wardens had provided more food and drink for our captivity, and after greeting Vee good morning, I began devouring what I could in hopes of replenishing whatever slime mass I could.

Vee and I casually continued our lessons the rest of the morning. While we didn't want to waste the time, we also didn't want to expend too much of our resources—well, Vee's in this case. We both knew that if it came down to a fight, we would likely need every scrap of Mana she had available.

Eventually, the door began to form in the wooden wall, and Loreleia, Llewel, Paeris, and a newcomer entered. He looked rather elderly for an elf, which was odd as everyone else appeared almost eternally youthful.

<[Identify] has been blocked.>

Well, at least it was not blocked and not just his name. I honestly find those a bit more terrifying.

"I trust the accommodations have been well?" Loreleia asked, to my surprise.

"Yes, thank you," I responded.

"Good. I'd hate to have mistreated both of you if your story is proven entirely true," Loreleia added.

Great. I think that definitely improves our chances.

Loreleia instructed the old elf to begin, and he began chanting out a strange spell that created a magical circle glowing with silvery runes. Once complete, he simply nodded and informed her that it was done.

"Please enter the circle," the old elf instructed me.

I hesitated and looked at the other elves in question.

"It's a circle of truth," Llewel explained. "It won't force you to tell the truth; however, it will judge the validity of your words. Speak true, and it will remain silver; speak falsehoods and blacken, while half-truths or misdirections will simply cause it to tarnish."

"You didn't need to explain that much," Paeris grumbled.

"I disagree," Llewel objected. "If we expect Syl to be truthful, we should reciprocate the intentions."

"I appreciate it," I responded, walking to the circle.

"I really wish we weren't doing this here," Vee complained mentally. "This entire room has its coordinates messed up. If we fight here, I'm at a severe disadvantage."

I had to agree; this was arguably the worst situation for us. If Vee couldn't use [Warp] or was limited in her tricks, then we were severely on the back foot. Thankfully, it seemed like the elves genuinely wanted to get the truth of the matter and were highly respectful to us.

Or maybe that's all a trick, so we will drop our guard? Or perhaps I'm being paranoid again. Hah… This sucks; if I had more slime mass, I'd feel more confident—I haven't even recreated Alpha!

Once I was in the circle, the old elf nodded and informed everyone that the circle was working and not being blocked.

"Wonderful, thank you for your services," Loreleai said. Now, please deafen yourself and observe the circle's fluctuations."

The old elf bowed and, to my surprise, put in earplugs. After securing them, he fetched a chair, sat, and stared intently at the circle.

He won't know the context but will inform them if I lie. Well, not that I'm planning on doing so, so I should have nothing to worry about.

"Were you involved in the plot to isolate and kill my daughter?" Loreleai asked.

"No."

"Did she truly bond you?"

"Yes, she did."

"Why did you accept her bond? Were you not sapient before the bond?"

That's an odd question…

"I was alone and rather desperate for some form of ally. Before that, everything I had encountered was either trying to eat or kill me. I was honestly just as surprised when I received a system message, and I couldn't understand her words until after I accepted the bond."

"So you could think and reason but lacked [Universal Language] until it was granted via the bond?"

"Yes, that's right."

Loreleia paused and looked at the old elf. He hadn't budged or moved at all, and from my observations, I noticed zero change in the circle.

"What are you?" she finally asked, sounding genuinely curious at this point.

I knew it was coming and gave a defeated sigh before finally responding.

"I'm a slime."

"Preposterous!" Paeris cried out.

"The circle isn't changing," Llewel pointed out.

The old elf hadn't moved at all, and since he was deafened and focused entirely on the circle, he hadn't heard my outlandish answer.

"You're a slime?" Loreleia repeated in question.

"A blue slime, to be exact," I replied. "Although I've evolved a few times since my humble beginnings."

Paeris continued to make odd noises like he was being strangled, clearly not willing to believe the situation. But no matter his protests, I was telling the truth, and the magic circle was on my side.

"I suppose that would explain your abundance of Mana," Llewel mused.

"I can provide some further proof if you'd like," I explained. "I revert one of my arms to slime or grow some [Pseudopods]."

"Please don't," Loreleia interjected. "The truthseeker believes you to be my daughter, and we are questioning you to see if your mind hasn't been tampered with in your absence."

"Why the subterfuge?" I asked.

"The situation is… delicate," Llewel responded.

"That's putting it mildly," Paeris snorted.

"I promise to give you some answers afterward," Loreleia offered. "But I first need further confirmation of what happened and that you are truly no threat."

"Alright," I agreed.

"Can you please tell a lie," Loreleia requested, much to my surprise.

"I'd rather not upset the truth spell, no offense."

"While I'm ultimately grateful that you've remained so truthful. I just wish to confirm that it is behaving correctly," she replied.

"I'm actually a demon working for the Outeatus Kingdom contracted to kill all elves," I replied in a deadpan voice.

The circle flashed black rather violently before returning almost to its previous state, but there was definitely some lost luster.

"A blatant lie," the old elf spoke up but otherwise didn't flinch or behave differently.

"At least we've confirmed it's working and that Syl is indeed being very truthful," Llewel said, sounding relatively pleased.

"Very well, let's continue then," Loreleia said. "Can you please tell us what happened, to the best of your knowledge?"

I nodded and began a somewhat lengthy retelling of my story. Since this was now the third time I had told it, I was growing rather tired of rehashing the same old topics over and over, but I didn't want to offend the elves who presently appeared to be on my side.

I explained that Sylthaeryn was ultimately betrayed by Keaton Stanton and that he had even attacked me to finish the job, but I had killed him. Thanks to the recent revelation, I could also add that the Stantons worked for the Outeatus Kingdom.

I glossed over most of my adventuring stuff since it seemed irrelevant to their interests. Still, I emphasized that I had befriended Trixie the pixie just in case—she had mentioned relatively positive relations with the elves.

I told them of the elf assassin attack shortly after meeting Tamnaeth, the additional attack from Outeatus knights and squires during the kobold siege, and that they had even summoned a demon.

Overall, it was quite a lengthy recollection, only aided by the fact that I wasn't constantly interrupted for further questions or clarifications as the elves mostly silently absorbed the information.

"You've lived quite a storied life," Llewel commented with a dry chuckle. "Although, as the circle proves, it's not false."

"It pains me to admit it, but yes," Paeris reluctantly agreed.

Loreleia seemed lost in thought before she tapped the old elf on the shoulder five times in succession.

"Other than the one blatant lie, whatever has been said has been true," the old elf spoke. "However, I do sense that a crucial detail is being avoided, although I cannot confirm if it's intentional or accidental."

Paeris glared at me as if deeply troubled that he might have to rescind his previous statement.

"Anything you can think of?" Llewel asked, clearly giving me the benefit of the doubt.

"I skipped over a few adventuring things, but I don't think it really matters for the situation," I murmured.

The elves and I were left in silent thought. I tried thinking of if there was something I should be telling and even asked Vee for a lifeline.

"Actually..." Paeris spoke up. "Now that I think about it, you've explained the situation and actions taken, but you've not explained why you, as a simple slime, could do all of this."

"Oh, that's simple. I'm an [Experiment] and also what is known as an old soul," I answered.

The magical truth circle suddenly flared and regained its previous luster, to everyone's surprise. Our conversation had been going on for so long that I'd almost forgotten it had started brighter.

"You're an old soul?" Llewel asked, sounding genuinely curious and perhaps a little impressed.

"That's what I've been told," I answered. "Supposedly, my previous life was wasted, and I was reborn as a slime."

The three elves in the room actually trembled a little at my answer.

"I must admit, I did not know the gods punished souls that way," Loreleia said.

"Does that mean we've been unintentionally slaying old souls when culling monsters?" Llewel asked.

"No… Surely not?" Paeris said hesitantly. "Surely the tamers would have mentioned something if that was the case."

I raised my hand to interrupt them before it got out of control: "It's a very recent thing only. That's why I said I'm an [Experiment]. As far as I know, it hasn't happened before, so I don't think you need to worry about killing old souls accidentally in the past."

"That's a relief," Llewel sighed.

"What's an [Experiment]?" Paeris asked.

"I'm not entirely sure of the full answer myself," I answered honestly. "But from what I've gathered, it seems almost like a sort of competition with bets amongst the gods. Then, they also have their own agendas; Gramps is trying to spread the words of traits, while Mother is trying to see monsters use magic more creatively. There are probably other tests, but I'm not sure. They might be thinking of using this as a punishment, to recoup reincarnation points, or perhaps even as a viable option for souls who want it. But that's about the gist of it. It's a little petty if you ask me."

"Extremely petty," Vee agreed. "Although you forgot to tell them about me, and I'm not an old soul, so I'm not exactly sure why I'm being punished as a spider."

The three elves stared at me, and then each glanced at the circle. There had been no change in it. I knew I had perhaps dropped a bit of a bombshell on them, but indeed, it wasn't that mindblowing.

"Is something wrong?" I asked cautiously

"I'm sorry, but a vast portion of whatever you said was incomprehensible," Llewel said.

"What? I spoke like I normally do, right Vee?"

The spider nodded.

"And the circle didn't change, so I definitely was telling the truth, at least from my perspective," I added.

Loreleia nodded, "I think what may have happened was that you were censored by the gods."

"Does that happen often?" I asked.

"No… It's almost entirely unheard of," Loreleia answered. "I'm unsure of the human or dwarf history, but the only recorded case for us elves was our progenitor."

"Oh, the one who set up the whole [Elven Legacy] and chosen paths," I replied.

Llewel bit his lip, "Please don't speak of our ancestor in such a casual manner. But you are correct."

"Which means we should stop this line of questioning in case we receive tribulations," Loreleia said firmly.

"Well, I hope my answers satisfy you," I said. "I really had no intention of harming your daughter or your people."

She nodded, "You have. Thank you. And the fact you are an old soul has added more legitimacy to your claims. Even though you spoke truthfully, the mere fact that you are a slime is baffling. Some of our greatest tamers have tried to bond with every creature at least once, and many decades were spent trying to find some method to bond a slime due to their resource generation."

I shuddered, "Slime farms…"

"You'll be happy to know that we do not engage in the practice like the humans or dwarves," Llewel replied. "We have some domesticated slimes that live freely on our farmlands."

That made me feel far more at ease. If the elves were also building Mana potion farms, then I would be a walking treasure for them.

"Thank you once again, Syl," Loreleia said. "After I dismiss the truthseeker, and we've had some food and drink, I believe you've more than earned some answers of your own."

"Thank goodness!" Vee exclaimed.

"Are you really that hungry?" I teased back mentally.

"Yes, but no!" Vee protested. "I'm celebrating the fact that the elves won't be killing us!"