Death, Devotion, Dissonance

What happened after Evin's confession was much different than his imagination of being thrown into a jail and getting questioned.

The guard struggled to make sense of the situation, but he contacted his superior, which had Evin bring him to the place of murder.

Evin calmly explained the situation to them, which revealed the fact that Evin was a mage. The fact shocked and put fear into the two, but they didn't seem to consider Evin a threat, as he confessed to his crimes personally. It also seemed to make things easier for them in a way, as they then swiftly brought Evin to the Citizens Bureau. Before that point, Evin hadn't known about a specialized sector in the Bureau created for dealing with criminal mages, but the day's events enlightened him somewhat.

Evin recited his explanation to a stern-looking man there, who asked for the two guards for confirmation time to time.

Naturally, the most confusing part of the story was Evin's vision of the golem. Obviously, the inspector relentlessly questioned Evin on this point. Evin had to share his story of fighting a golem a month ago and losing his leg in the fight. This prompted the inspector to call in someone from the Academy, which thankfully, wasn't someone Evin knew. The newcomer, of course, attested to Evin's story, also bringing up some documents that described Evin's fight with the other students and some of the golems.

Eventually, the inspector came to the scene of murder himself. The man didn't even bother to restrain Evin in any way even after hearing Evin's battle capabilities, which meant that he was either very confident or very stupid. The previous conversation made Evin tilt towards the former.

On the site of murder, the inspector used some magical powder, which seemed capable of revealing what World energies were used inside an area. Different Worlds had different colors to them, this powder could reveal traces of them to the naked eye.

For the most part, the scene seemed to match Evin's testimony. But a comment from the inspector made Evin want to sigh out loud, though of course, he was careful not to actually do it.

"There's mostly Ivelisi's energy in this room, but on the body of the victim, there's a trace of Lochra's energy. They're barely noticeable because of the ice that the boy used to encase the body in, but they're definitely there."

This was proof that the Voice was responsible for Evin's murder of his father. It must've used illusions to make his father look like the Type 12 in his eyes.

The inspector continued. "Did you use illusion magic on your father?"

"No."

"Then what about its traces on his body?"

"I don't know."

"Why did you encase your father in ice?"

"It just felt like the proper thing to do."

"…"

It felt like Evin was answering the questions to the best of his abilities. Maybe even too well. He was sure that others from his age would be either bawling their eye out or staring at blank space, too shocked to speak.

The inspector seemed to think similarly and after having everyone else leave, began to change the nature of his questions.

"What was your relationship with your father like?"

"Bad. He was abusive till I was 10. Didn't want me to become a mage even after he learned I had a mana-core… with the help of a teacher in the Academy named Leanne, I managed to escape his grasp and become a mage. I haven't met him for five months. Until today."

"Where's your mother?"

"Don't know. I think she left us when I was young."

These were exceedingly personal questions: how his father abused him, how the atmosphere in the house was like, whether or not anyone tried to help Evin… questions continuing to grow more and more complex thanks to the details that Evin provided. He, of course, mentioned the Voice a few times here and there, but didn't make it seem like something important.

He didn't want to hide this fact, as the man could easily learn about it from the neighbors and maybe even Baker's group. It would make it seem like the Voice that Evin deliberately hid away from the inspector had some kind of role in it all.

At the end of it all, the inspector sighed and looked through the notebook he was writing on for the past hour or so.

"Some details of the story might be wrong," Evin added at the end. "So please be careful."

"What?" the inspector sounded annoyed, startled, even.

Evin would probably act the same if he wrote all those stuff and heard that it might be false information.

"Ah, it's just something I heard somewhere. That people tend to misremember things a lot. Of course, it wouldn't seem that way to them, so it looks like they're lying. But they're just saying they themselves believe what they think the truth is."

The words made the inspector think for a bit, but inevitably, a frown appeared on the man's face. Such a concept would be nightmarish for someone who was a detective. People could be telling lies thinking it was the truth?

"That's something I'd rather not know. Who did you even hear it from, anyway?"

"I'm afraid it's something the Voice had told me at some point."

The man wore another annoyed frown on his face, making it extremely difficult for Evin to not smile. The inspector read his notes, though there was an air of skepticism around him now.

Finally, the man stood up and ordered Evin to follow. They went back to the Citizens Bureau.

"Your case will be treated as an accident," the inspector said, writing the same words on a piece of paper.

"Really?"

"Yes. Although it's a rather brutal incident, I can only make that conclusion."

"What about me seeing a golem in place of my father?"

"That was most likely the work of the grass he burnt beneath you - flyweed. It's a cheap, but effective drug that's becoming more popular among the lowlifes. It makes you see things and some even say it has the ability to cleanse one's souls. It's bullshit, so don't think of trying it. Anyway, its smoke must've made you seen that illusion instead of your father when you woke up."

"But I should've felt off even after the fact, right?"

"Perhaps, but I could tell that not much of the grass managed to burn, so you wouldn't be so high."

"And that trace of Lochra energy?" Evin didn't know why he was asking so much questions.

"No idea. But I've learned to ignore some clues in cases like these. Most of them tend to be dead ends and even if they're not, they're rarely useful. Now take this paper and show it to the receptionist outside. He'll send you to someone who will help you through the funeral."

"That's all?" Evin was baffled. Wasn't there supposed to be a trial or something? Didn't these things take weeks to conclude?

"Boy," the inspector suddenly said, his tone turning deadly serious. "Do you want punishment?"

"I…" Evin wanted to say no, but perhaps that was what he needed.

"I knew it," the man sighed. "Do you know what's the punishment for a mage who kills a non-mage?"

"I don't know. The Academy only told us to never hurt anyone ever… that's all."

Not supervised, at least.

"Well, I'll tell you. The punishment for a mage murdering a non-mage is taking an Oath of Restraint in the name of the kingdom."

"An Oath of Restraint?"