"I cannot explain it," Althea shrugged, keeping up her lie fluidly. "Maybe it's because I suspected they were up to something already, so when I entered the exotic plane, my senses were heightened."

The Emissary stared at her with a blank, unreadable gaze, as if he was lost in thought. It made it hard to tell whether he believed her or not.

Then abruptly, he turned his head to Finn and asked:

"What about you, Finnegan Slade? What did you feel after entering the plane—?"

"...not Finnegan." A gritty, disgruntled rasp escaped Finn's lips.

"What was that?"

Finn quickly caught himself and cleared his throat, leveling his gaze with the Emissary's. "It's Finn, not Finnegan…"

The Preceptor, who was content to watch from where he sat at the head of the table on the other end, frowned slightly. He observed Finn with more scrutiny and deliberation. He had picked up on the fact that Finn's debts were resurfacing yet again.

And so had the Emissary. The young man stared at Finn for a silent second before curtly nodding his head.

"Alright… Finn. Did you feel the same thing your colleague did after entering the plane?"

"No. I did not. She's a higher ranked Ossuarist than I am, so maybe that's why she felt what she did." Finn had no choice but to continue the lie, knowing fully well that there had been witnesses. All the Emissary needed to do was have people verify their words against the reports of the other Grade 1 Ossuarists — Brock, Sian, Jie, and the freckled-faced girl — who had been there too.

No. The Ossuary can bind them not to speak. Aethelos' matter is with us only. Finn surmised.

But then there were the Arcanists too. Riley Amadeus, and the Master Ranked Arcanists that had attacked them. They weren't bound by the Ossuary. Finn knew some of them had survived. And he knew Althea knew the same too. So why had she come up with this easily disprovable lie?

He was also planning to lie, but at least whatever he would've spun up wouldn't be as drastic as this was.

I hope she knows what she's doing…

Finn said nothing more, despite the fact that the Emissary kept staring at him in waiting.

It should've been an awkward silence, but Finn was being influenced by traces of the Ferropteryx debt — in particular, the Ferropteryx's ego. So he only stared at the Emissary with a defiant gaze as if to convey: You can keep staring till your eyes pop out, but that is all I'll say.

A small, amused smile tugged at the edges of the Emissary's lips and he tore his gaze away, glancing slightly at the Preceptor with meaning before he refocused on Althea.

"Alright, Althea Seneschal. I know I said I wouldn't interrupt, but your claim makes me question a few things. Would you permit me to ask?"

Althea nodded curtly.

"Good. First, to my knowledge, Ossuarists are the only people who can stabilize a Chaos Breach, only then can the barrier be crossable by anyone else… The Chaos Breach you both entered… why didn't the Ossuarists — senior Ossuarists, I presume — who originally opened the breach, sense anything like you did?"

"I do not know."

"No. Let's both work this out together," the Emissary leaned forward in his seat.

"From what you narrated, Riley Amadeus, and by extension, the Amadeus family, knew of this 'second space' within the exotic plane. And they were using it for their own benefit because of the high mana density? An Ossuarist must have—"

"I can't speak for any senior Ossuarist. And I can't know for sure what the Amadeus family were doing in that second space since I cannot feel mana myself," Althea cut in. "But isn't higher mana density the case with most exotic planes?"

"This one was much more special and unique. I imagine its mana density must have been off the charts, considering Riley Amadeus had risen in grade from a Grade 1 Adept to a Grade 3 within a very short span."

That finally made the Emissary pause in surprise. He jotted quickly in his notes then looked up at Althea again.

"We shall return to the matter of your 'special sense' later, but for now, please detail your entry into this 'second space.'"

Althea nodded and started to narrate a new version of what had happened. She briefly skimmed over the fight and the ambush from the Master Ranked Arcanists together with Riley, moving on quickly to the pocket space imposing itself onto the exotic plane.

She didn't mention anything about pulling the space open like a veil… Finn noted thankfully as he listened with attention. He also wanted to know how Althea had ended up in the temple. But considering she'd just spun the story in a totally different way, he questioned whether even that would be true.

But as he heard her narration, he realized not much differed in her experience to his. While he had arrived earlier, it seemed she had arrived just a step later. Though Finn knew he didn't see anyone around him for miles back then…

Maybe it was some space magic shenanigan…?

That didn't seem too far-fetched, considering the nature of the figure they met in the temple.

"So you met Finn already inside this temple?" The Emissary shifted his attention to Finn, who took a deep, stabilizing breath and started to narrate his own arrival at the temple and watching Althea enter.

After that, both Althea and Finn switched back and forth to narrate the rest of the happenings within the temple, the change in the figure, him rising up into the sky, and both their eventual escape from the space and into the real world, leading up to the moment of spatial destruction, and finally, the Queen and Preceptor Elias' arrival.

The Emissary did not interrupt them a single time throughout the rest of their narration. And even after they finished, he stayed silent and kept jotting things down in his note, pausing every now and then as he would appear in deep thought.

By now Finn was anxious for the interrogation to end. It had taken everything in him to maintain a level tone and not let haughtiness or rashness leak into his voice as he narrated.

Everyone in the room knew he was presently struggling with a debt, but weren't fazed in the slightest. Only Althea had shown a bit of concern, and even a subtle confusion, as if wondering why her Order magic's effect had started to wear off so quickly.

"So, 'space magic…' from someone with the body figure of a young boy. Whose features seemed similar to someone you had read of in the Ossuary's history records. Someone reported missing, but eventually classified as dead…" The Emissary muttered while tapping a finger against his lips.

Suddenly, the scraping sound of a chair against the ground resounded through the room, startling everyone as the Preceptor stood. "With this. The cordial relationship between the Ossuary and Aethelos can still be maintained. We have conceded and given you the information you want," he walked round the table and towards the two Initiates.

"...We did not sully the prestige or authority of your Queen. The deal has been finalized. So now, it is time for us to leave."

The Emissary looked up in a frown, ready to retort, but the Preceptor hadn't even finished his statement when a rapid knock in a specific pattern was heard from the door.

The Preceptor's gaze turned cold immediately. "I thought I made it clear that we were not to be disturbed!" He roared at the person who dared to knock.

But the Emissary quickly raised a hand in apology with a heavy frown on his face. "I'm sorry, Preceptor. But that is my aide," he stood up and walked to the door. "I gave them the same order not to interrupt no matter what happens. He would never dare to disregard that order unless…"

The Emissary swung the heavy door open and locked his gaze onto the frantic-looking aide holding a specially sealed envelope in his shaky hand.

"E—Emissary. A red-priority level report for you from Feraxia!"

"Feraxia?" The Emissary had already snatched the envelope and broken the special seal open before the aide finished speaking.

He spread the report wide and skimmed over it very quickly, and immediately, his expression went grim.

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