Questioning

19 Mensis Aprilis, Year 704

Lena was talking with Victoria, Yuna, Sarah, and Maxim as she prepared to head into the city for another meeting with her uncle. “I wish I could hang out with you guys now, but alas, I have to head into the city. My Uncle Michael and I have to discuss some things, hopefully not controversial things like last time.”

“Aw man,” Sarah replied, bummed out that Lena would not be around for much of the day. “What time will you get back?”

“Probably around nine at night,” Victoria explained. “Me and Lena also have to have dinner with him, or, well, Lena is going to have dinner with him. I have to help the maids and servants at his home in the city.”

“I keep forgetting that being a maid is your actual job,” Sarah remarked with a chuckle.

“She’s not just a maid,” Lena pointed out. “She’s my friend, and she’s been with me for a long time. Not everyone in my family agrees with me being so close to her given her role, but I don’t tend to care too much about what they think.”

Maxim asked her next, “So, got any plans for tomorrow?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ll have to finish some homework that day, but when I’m free, I’ll let you guys know.” She and Victoria then turned to head out of the dorms, telling the others, “We’ll see you guys later. Bye-bye!”

“Goodbye, Lena,” Yuna waved at them. “Goodbye, Victoria!”

Once the two of them had left, Maxim asked the remaining two girls, “So, now what?”

“I’m going to go meet up with Werner,” Sarah replied. “He actually asked me to visit the village today.”

“Oh yeah,” then replied Yuna, remembering what her brother had mentioned to her earlier in the morning. “Werner mentioned that to me when we ate breakfast together. What about you, Maxim?”

“To be honest, I don’t have a clue,” Maxim shrugged, being completely genuine this time. “I’ve been busy these past two weeks, so I might just sit back and relax at my dorm without doing much else today. It’s not like Lena can take us monster hunting today.”

…

In his dorm room, Maxim was going over a series of notes he had written about Rimnan Castle School’s universe and story. He had been keeping track of the plot progression so far in comparison to what he knew as the series canon, comparing events in the original story to what had happened up to now. So far, he had averted one death, and he hoped to avert a second very soon.

Said second death would be Lena’s.

In the series canon, Lena would be killed in a battle tomorrow while trying to protect Victoria. Yuna and Sarah would be watching it all go down on the sidelines, terrified of what had transpired in front of them, before Kana would swoop in and save the day. Lena’s death had been a watershed moment for the story. Already established as being darker than originally thought of by readers thanks to Paulo’s disappearance and death, Lena’s death would have firmly entrenched the story’s reputation for tragedy. Maxim, as Jordan, had been devastated by Lena’s death in his old world, and he wanted to stop it if he could.

However, a small part of him feared that if he did, something might change so drastically in the story that it would cause something worse to happen instead. He sighed as he looked over his work, thinking of the potential scenarios in his head that could play out depending on what decision he made. “Fuck, man… Do I save her or do I let her go?”

Then, Paulo suddenly opened the door to the dorm, causing Maxim to hurriedly close up the journal he had been writing in and studying. “Hey Max, what’s up?”

“Not much,” he replied to him as nonchalantly as possible. “You’re back early.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “The first practice for the school lightball team ended a bit earlier than expected. I’m glad I managed to make the cut. We got our first game on the Twenty-Ninth of Mensis Aprilis, so we’ll be practicing almost every evening after school next week.”

“Are you guys confident in the team you’ve built?”

“To be honest… Eh…?” Paulo shrugged. “It’s just… Some of the guys that made the cut really confused me, like… How the Hell did some of these guys make it? We got enough magic users on the team to pitch lightballs, but that’s the only thing for certain we have right now.”

“I heard that Rimnan normally had a great lightball team. What gives?”

“Well, in the past, yes, but I’ve heard in recent years that the team isn’t doing as good as it once did. We went from winning the national high school lightball tournament in Year 698 to not even making the playoffs last year, which apparently was the first time we hadn’t in over fifteen years. I’d like to make it to the playoffs at least once in my time as a student here.”

“I’m sure you will,” Maxim assured him with a smile. “You’re pretty good at the game, after all.”

“Yeah, but even the best players can’t do well if they have a shitty team to back them up.” Paulo then set his bookbag and his lightball bag down on the floor, stretching his arms after doing so before starting to get changed out of his team uniform. “You don’t mind, right?”

“I don’t give a shit,” Maxim waved him off. “I got studying to do anyway.”

“Works for me.”

Maxim then put the journal away under his bed in the dorm room before pulling out a math textbook, intending to do some actual studying. As he flipped the pages and started a new chapter of the book, however, he found himself unable to concentrate, still thinking about what could potentially happen to Lena. He also thought about the consequences of keeping her alive, from the best case scenarios to the worst case ones. He had to make a decision, and he had only a twenty-four hour period to do so.

…

In Chanan once again, Lena and Victoria had just arrived at the house of her uncle, the exquisite interior, well-built walls, and gated entrance a stark contrast to the poverty she had seen in Wanta just a few days prior. As the two walked in, a servant of the family who had clearly been rather busy given his exhausted expression greeted the girls with a bow. “Thank you for coming, Your Grace. Your uncle has been expecting you.” The servant then turned to Victoria and informed her, “And as for you, Miss Kristen, you shall come with me to get changed into a proper maid uniform.”

Victoria, somewhat annoyed, replied, “This soon?”

“We’re a bit short-staffed today,” the servant explained. “I’ve been running around constantly to get ready for the Duchess’s visit. I’m afraid you won’t have much time to settle down.”

“It’s fine,” Lena assured Victoria with a pat on the shoulder. “We’ll see each other soon anyway, Victoria.”

“Alright, I’ll go,” Victoria agreed as she left to go with the servant. “I’ll be back, Len-“ The servant then shot her a glare to remind her to call Lena by her formal title and speak in a more polite and refined tone of voice. “I mean, I will return, Your Grace.”

Michael Vale then walked over, coming down a flight of stairs with a maid by his side. “Lena! So good to see you again, my beloved niece.”

“It’s good to be back,” she replied with a smile before the two hugged. “So, what do you want to do first?”

“Let’s go over some things in my study,” Michael replied. “Follow me. It won’t be anything too urgent, just some things I want to catch up on.”

…

In the personal study of Michael Vale, Lena sat down next to him, having picked up a book on magic that she had pulled from the shelves upon shelves of books that filled the room. “I heard you had quite the day a few days ago in Wanta,” Michael said to start the conversation. “Do you mind explaining to me what that was all about?”

Lena knew that Michael was not too pleased with her activities as a monster hunter, but chose to answer him honestly. “I went into Wanta after school to follow a friend of mine who was going into the city from Rimnan with a girl from her class. I was worried about what could happen, since I suspected this girl was up to no good.”

“So that’s why you went into such a dangerous and uncivilized part of the city?”

“It’s dangerous,” Lena corrected him. “But I wouldn’t call it uncivilized. The people there are underprivileged, not monsters. It’s a good thing I followed my friend into Wanta, because I managed to kill the Beast of Wanta.”

“I heard. Did you get the reward money the neighborhood was offering?”

“I got half since another monster hunter helped me. I gave my half to another monster hunter from the same neighborhood since she helped me before the battle.”

Michael was annoyed by what Lena had done. “Why didn’t you keep the money? You fought for it, after all.”

“Because I don’t really need more money on top of what the Vale family already has,” Lena shrugged. “We’re pretty rich, Uncle Michael.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can go giving everything we have to others,” he tried to correct her with. “I know it feels nice, but you can’t just give everything away, Lena.”

Incensed by this comment but not wanting to start an argument, Lena sighed and replied, “I understand.“

“Good. Now, let’s move on to another topic. It’s about Prince Gannon.”

Lena knew that this was coming. “Prince Gannon, eh… What about him?” She knew what her uncle was about to say, but wanted to maintain plausible deniability.

“He’s interested in you,” Michael explained, confirming Lena’s suspicions. “He had a good time with you at the dance during your cousin’s wedding to his brother. I’ve heard he would like to meet with you at Rimnan sometime next week or the week after, but I haven’t heard exactly when he would be available just yet.”

“If I marry him,” Lena replied. “It would mean the end of our family’s independence from the Imperial Family, since I’m the current Duchess of Vale.”

“Unless you sign away the title to someone else in the family.”

Lena, once again displeased with a comment that her uncle had made, replied, “I would prefer not to.”

“Why not? Doing so when you marry him would guarantee the title lives on independently.”

“First of all, why did you say ‘when’ and not ‘if,’ Uncle Michael? I don’t recall agreeing to marry him.” Lena then set her book down, pulling out a small locket from behind her dress and opening it up. “Second, the title of Duchess gives me a connection to my Mother and Father.” Inside the locket was a tiny and faded black and white photograph of a younger Lena sitting between her parents. “I don’t wear this locket too often so I don’t lose it, but I made damn sure to wear it today because I knew you would suggest something like me giving up our family’s title.”

Michael had painted himself into a corner. He did not want to make it seem like he was disrespecting his deceased brother and sister-in-law, but he also wanted to make sure he advanced his own agenda. “Why did you have to bring him up? You really shouldn’t do tha-“

“I have every right to do that as the daughter of George Vale, the sixth Duke of Vale and the twentieth head of our family.” Lena was firm with her displeasure with the idea of giving up her title and being part of an arranged marriage with Prince Gannon. “As the seventh Duchess of Vale and the twenty-first head of the family, I still have the final say and the right to veto any decision you make as regent. I will not give up my title merely on account of marrying Prince Gannon, assuming I do marry him in the first place. I will not give up my education, either. I will complete it, come Hell or high water.”

Michael realized he was going to get nowhere with Lena at that moment. He sighed and told her, “You’re just like your father, you know.”

“I know I am,” she nodded.

“Anyway, let’s just move on from that topic. I can see we’re going to get nowhere if we keep talking about this.”

“Agreed.”

Then, they both heard knocking on the door to the study. Michael, annoyed, asked whoever was knocking, “Who is it? We’re discussing private family matters in here.”

“The military police are here,” said a maid of the family. “They want to speak to the Duchess.”

Lena looked at Michael with confusion, saying to him, “I don’t know anything about this.”

“You probably do and just aren’t telling me,” Michael replied, not believing her. He then told the maid, “Alright, send the military police in.”

The door then opened to reveal two detectives of the military police, both of them dressed in business suits. As they both walked in and flashed their badges, the leader of the two introduced himself and his partner with, “I’m Captain Reed Onner and this is my partner, Lieutenant Saburo Yates. We’re here in regard to a disappearance we believe you might have a connection to, Your Grace.”

Lena got up from her chair, asking the two detectives, “Disappearance? Who are you talking about?”

Saburo asked Lena, “Your Grace, did you meet with a certain Serena Tull a few days ago?”

Growing concerned, Lena replied, “I did, yes. What happened to her?”

“She went missing on the seventeenth,” Reed explained. “She was last seen outside of a bar that she frequented in Wanta just a few blocks from where she lives. Do you have any information that could help us investigate her disappearance?”

Lena was shocked. “She… She just vanished?!”

“I’m afraid so,” Saburo nodded before passing Lena a small note with contact information. “If you have anything at all that could help us find her, you can reach either one of us with these contacts. We can be reached by telephone or by letter, Your Grace.”

Reed then asked her, “Do you know when you last saw her?”

Michael tried to intervene, telling the detectives, “Hang on a minute. She doesn’t have to say anything. How does she even know someone from Wanta like her anyway?”

“Uncle Michael,” Lena then told him to make him stop. “Let me speak to the military police, alone preferably.”

Michael, realizing it would be easier if he did as told in this case, got up and left the study, telling Lena, “Just be careful, okay?”

With Michael gone, Lena now felt more comfortable telling the detectives what she knew about Serena. “Anyway, to answer your question, I last saw her at her apartment building before I left to head back to Rimnan. That was around a quarter to eight in the evening.”

“How did you know Miss Tull?”

“I had only met her that day. I went into the city with three friends of mine because one of them knew Miss Tull from when she used to live in Wanta.” Lena partially lied to investigators and described Kana as a friend despite the two actually being rivals. “We ended up hunting a monster together that had been terrorizing Wanta, and when I was given half of the reward money, I gave my half to Serena since she needed the money more than I did.”

“So you know Serena because you’re both monster hunters?”

“Yes,” Lena nodded. “I mean, I don’t do it as often as she does, since she needs to do it more to make money, but we’ve been doing it roughly for the same amount of time as each other, six years.”

“What’s the name of her friend that you went into the city with?”

“Kana Demas. She’s also a student at Rimnan Castle School just like me. She grew up in Wanta and worked with Serena when she was younger before moving to Rimnan earlier this year, or at least, that’s what she told me.” She then asked the detectives a question of her own. “Let me ask you this. Are you two aware of a group called the Order of the Shining Light?”

“How is that relevant to this investigation?”

“Because I’m beginning to suspect that they may have something to do with a series of disappearances and murders that tend to occur right before some monster attacks. Perhaps they have something to do with Miss Tull’s disappearance.”

Curious about the information she had, Reed asked her, “Go on…”