“Denied….. his words do make sense Dom” The Squad Captain said, as Dom audibly grinded his teeth under his mask.
He felt a minor discomfort watching Leo wear a Virex mask, the second he entered the room, however, his attitude only made the situation seem even worse.
“Why is he wearing a Virex mask, Captain? He’s not even one of us-” Dom protested, as the squad captain remained awkwardly calm for a few seconds.
“Well, the Corps Leader has determined that the mask he’s wearing belonged to a dead Virex Corps member.
And family members of dead corps members are allowed to keep and use the mask as per our bylaws, so there’s nothing we can do about it” The Squad Captain said, as he moved his focus from Leo to the rest of the room.
He carefully noticed every detail of the room, opening all closets and checking the windows as he tried to determine whether or not an intruder had entered this room or not.
“What were you up to all night, Contestant? I want a breakdown of your activities since the curfew began-” the Virex Squad Captain said, as he noticed how clean and untouched Leo’s bed was.
Since Leo was not present within the room throughout the night, he had not sat on the plush and comfortable bed even once as she sheets looked completely taught, with not a single crease on it.
“Why must you know? Whatever I was up to was my own private affair. What does it have to do with you?” Leo said, rudely, as he tried to buy time and think more about what he would answer.
According to Lin Mu’s plan, he needed to behave innocently and unaware of anything that had happened, which was why every answer that he gave needed to be well thought of and cautious.
“Don’t try to act oversmart with the Captain boy, or we shall send you to the gulags for no reason.
Don’t test our patience” Dom said angrily, as he pointed his index finger straight towards Leo.
He was visibly seething, as never in his life had he seen someone talk to a Virex Corps member with such disrespect.
Amongst the commoners they were treated as an urban legend, whereas amongst nobles they were feared like the grim reapers.
Not even an Arch-Duke talked with a Virex member with disrespect, yet a small boy dared to do the same.
“Captain, please give me permission to cut him where he stands-” Dom requested, as shaking his head, The Squad Captain denied.
“Denied, he’s a contestant on-track to compete in the Quarter Finals of the grand tournament, so we can’t just cut him down.
But not answering is also not an option. This is an active investigation and just like my junior said, we will send you to the gulags if you don’t cooperate in this investigation” The Squad Captain said, maintaining his calm as his voice showed hardly any fluctuations at all.
“Fine, if you must, then after entering first for a few minutes, I was trying to change into my usual clothes, however, these damn golden buttons were too hard to open.
Then, I began wondering if I had to return the clothes now that the Gala had ended and realized that while the fabric is not too special the gold buttons have to be worth a small fortune, so I plucked them off one by one…..” Leo said, as he began his story with an elaborate lie.
He had taken off the buttons because they did not camouflage well in darkness, not because he was interested in its gold worth, however, by making it sound like he was a greedy and stingy bastard, he averted two compromising questions at once.
Pulling out the broken buttons from his suit pocket, Leo dropped them on the ground, reinforcing his story.
“What? What a poor, stingy and dumb brat. Do you really think the Royal family is so poor that we would ask for a worn dress back?
It’s clearly a custom fit. It won’t even fit anyone else properly….” Dom said, finding Leo’s antics ridiculous, however, while he mocked him for being stupid, he did buy his story as to why he tore his buttons.
Even the Virex Squad Captain nodded, as he felt like this was reasonable behavior from a commoner who may have been raised in extreme poverty.
“Okay, you tore the buttons first, what then?” The Captain asked, as Leo fell flat to the floor and began hitting push-ups.
Just like Luke, he too had a habit of hitting push-ups whenever he was free, so he went with the excuse of working out, which could also explain why he was sweating.
“Then I started hitting push-ups, while recalling the events that happened at the Gala and how inferior I was compared to the strength of the masters present in the room.
I was pretty frustrated, so I kept hitting push-ups non-stop until I heard the alarms go off-” Leo said, in a well thought excuse that the Virex Squad Captain could find no flaws with.
Since he did not mention how long he was working out for, the Captain could not scrutinize his story, as whatever he said up till now was pretty airtight.
“Once I heard the alarm, I walked up to the window, trying to see what was going on, but quickly lost interest when the only thing I could see was royal guards running here and there” Leo continued, as the Virex Squad Captain nodded, believing that the story he was narrating made sense.
“So I came back here and started to hit push-ups, until there was audible chaos in the hall outside my room….” Leo said, as it was at this point that the Virex Squad Captain finally began his cross-questioning.