Chapter 7: Eye of Truth

The guard didn’t let go of Peace’s shoulder as he hoisted him up and guided him out into the streets.

After they exited, a large crowd gathered around them, their faces filled with shock and confusion.

"It’s one of them!"

"There’s still some running around?! I thought they were finally culled!"

"How many more are left?!"

The guard flipped down his visor and continued escorting Peace.

Peace tried to piece everything together. As he did, a semblance of understanding began to take shape in his mind.

His current reality clearly didn’t match the game.

No group like that had ever existed, and there had been no obscene prejudice against Night Elves or elves in general.

The problem was that he had no idea what that event had even been.

Talking his way out of this wasn’t going to be easy, especially when he knew the guards certainly had the tools to force the truth out of him. More accurately, tools to detect lies.

Still, he was confident he’d be able to talk his way out of being a Night Parade remnant; however, a far greater problem demanded his attention: he was a Soul Stealer — or at least, he assumed he was.

If questioned, he would undoubtedly be asked about it. A counter was essential. Unfortunately, he didn’t have one.

The crowd looked as if it wanted to throw stones or fruit at him, but one thing remained constant between this world and the game...

’Angering a guard seems to be a death sentence.’

None of the citizens dared act on their hatred.

Peace had once accidentally struck a guard while playing his giant swordsman, a character he’d spent a month cultivating, only for the character to be immediately executed for the mistake. His poor sister had to abandon her Tier 3 elven archer just so she could keep playing with him.

The memory drew a small smile from Peace.

On their last playthrough, they had gotten revenge for those lost characters, hadn’t they? They had dethroned the nameless despot to get the key.

The guard scoffed.

"You think this is funny?"

"No, sir..."

***

After a couple more minutes of walking, Peace was led into a building called the Inspection Agency and made to wait in a holding cell. Two of the guards departed, leaving him alone with the nervous guard, who kept one hand on the pommel of his blade.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like they would outright kill him.

Peace spent nearly three hours seated on the hard plank, deep in thought, before the nervous guard turned around.

By the end of his rumination, he had found his answer... or, more accurately, had decided to tell the truth.

"F-follow me. D-do anything funny and I’ll kill you!"

Peace rolled his red eyes and then responded:

"Understood..."

The guard unlocked the door and forced Peace out of the cell and into an adjoining room. The room held two chairs and a single desk between them. A young woman with thick, dark blue hair sat in one chair, dressed in a military-style button-up shirt. Shackles were attached to one side of the table, while a colorless crystal rested in its center.

’That doesn’t look like hair dye... is it natural?’

Either way...

A dubious little smile tugged at his lips as a crude joke slipped into his mind:

’Perhaps getting arrested wasn’t too bad.’

Peace sauntered over, sat down, and leaned back in the plain chair with a smile directed at the woman across from him.

The guard shook, then said:

"D-don’t resist."

The guard cautiously approached Peace then clamped the shackles around Peace’s wrists and locked them before scampering away to hide in the corner of the room.

Peace smiled at the man, then said:

"Congratulations, you’ve apprehended a vicious criminal."

The woman across from him stared him straight in the eyes, then jotted something down.

’Ah, no jokes. My bad.’

Picking her head up, the woman sitting across from Peace offered him a warm, welcoming smile — one ripe with mischievous guile.

"Hello, I’m Ashren Bolivard. You can just call me Ashren. You’ve been brought in today under suspicion of being a remnant of the Night Parade... Seeing as you’re quite docile and responsive, these accusations seem false, but I’ll need you to answer a few questions before you can go."

’Before I can go...?’

That seemed like a good sign.

They didn’t seem to have it in mind to experiment on him... yet, at least.

Though there was also the chance they always intended to let him go only to follow him. Trying to find more of his kind or something.

Peace grew the most amicable mask he could manage.

"That’s alright... this mistake is a given with my appearance, after all."

Peace delivered the opening line he’d prepared in his head while staring at the colorless crystal on the table.

’Of course...’

The crystal was an SR-ranked item called the Eye of Truth. Though somewhat common when compared with more powerful items, it was still one of the most sought-after.

Deceitful NPCs were common in Enemies of Corruption, and having even one such charlatan in your cohort spelled imminent doom. An item capable of distinguishing truth from lies was therefore highly valued.

Of course, its function here was bound to be a little different from its game counterpart. In the game, activating it allowed the player to select someone and interact with them. The player would then type a question, and the AI of the NPC would respond while the item glowed red or green — red for a lie and green for the truth. No color to show ambivalence as the AI was coded to only give whole lies or whole truths.

Then, after a certain period, it would render itself dormant and go on cooldown.

It was tedious to use and often yielded few useful results, but considering how many playthroughs it had saved, Peace could easily declare it one of the most valuable items in the entire game.

The woman gestured toward the crystal.

"I trust you know what this is..."

Peace gave Ashren a slow nod.

"Good... This shouldn’t take long. Please answer my questions with haste lest you make yourself suspicious."

Peace matched her boundless smile.

"Of course..."

Ashren slid one hand across the table, then rested it on the crystal and activated it. A moment later, the Eye of Truth lit up blue.

"First question... are you a remnant of the Night Parade?"