Chapter 396 – Interrogation

“Your name is Shang, correct?” an older True Mage with grey robes said as he looked at Shang.

Right now, Shang was in a closed-off room with the grey-robed True Mage.

“Correct,” Shang said with a wide grin. “It’s been so long since I used my true name. It feels weird to hear it from someone else’s mouth.”

Shockingly enough, Shang’s legs were on the table.

Usually, Shang would never act like this.

He was a serious person that wanted to get things over with as quickly as possible.

But this time, Shang was acting differently.

After talking with Duke Whirlwind, they decided that Shang should take on an entirely different personality when he returned.

After all, Shang had one eye, and the warrior that had come from the Spirit Spring Kingdom six months ago also only had one eye.

In order to make the Aura between these two people as different as possible, Duke Whirlwind instructed Shang to act differently.

True Mages couldn’t recognize people by their Auras, but they still felt it subconsciously. Instead of knowing what was different, they simply felt that something was different, but they didn’t know why.

The grey-robed True Mage only looked at Shang evenly.

He was an Inquisitor, and it was his job to make sure that Shang was not some sort of exotic spy.

“Tell me what happened. How did you leave the Skythunder Kingdom, what happened in the Grandmountain Kingdom, and how did you return?” the Inquisitor asked.

Shang’s grin only widened, looking like he was elated at the prospect of telling his grand story.

Of course, Duke Whirlwind and Shang had already gone over the story he should use thoroughly.

During the attack of the Storm Eagle, Shang fell into the black structure at the bottom of the Storm Eagle Zone. In the hope of escaping, Shang entered a portal, which brought him to another black structure.

When Shang talked about the powerful Mage that had teleported him, the Inquisitor didn’t believe him.

However, at the urging of Shang, the Inquisitor contacted Duke Whirlwind to confirm.

Duke Whirlwind put on an amazing performance of being shocked that Shang had returned.

After that, Duke Whirlwind gave a recounting of the event that happened in the Storm Eagle Zone.

Something had thrown the Storm Eagle away without injuring it too heavily, which meant that there had been something with insane power near the Storm Eagle at that time.

Duke Whirlwind also ordered the Inquisitor to keep quiet about that matter and that he would inform King Skythunder. He also told the Inquisitor that he would send someone over to receive Shang.

The Inquisitor made it clear that Duke Whirlwind wasn’t allowed to order him since he wasn’t in Duke Whirlwind’s forces, but he did it in the politest way possible.

He also told Duke Whirlwind that Shang had to clear the inquisitorial inspection first.

Duke Whirlwind said that he never intended to interfere in it.

He was simply convinced of Shang’s innocence, which was why he was sending someone.

They could continue investigating him until they were satisfied.

After having that cleared up, the Inquisitor returned to listening to Shang’s story.

According to Shang, he had managed to stay hidden during the first couple of years until he was found by a Governor.

Of course, there had been a Truth Verification Spell active this entire time, but Duke Whirlwind had obviously thought about that.

Shang was currently under a Spell that fooled the Inquisition’s Truth Verification Spells. Shang could control the results the Spell showed.

If he wanted it to show truth, it would show truth. If he wanted it to show a lie, it would show a lie.

However, Shang’s story still had to be logically sound, or the Inquisitor would become suspicious.

After Shang had allegedly been found by a Governor, he had been sent to the northern frontlines.

The important difference between this story and the truth was that, in this version, Shang had already reached the Commander Stage before being found.

Of course, the Mages were surprised that an unknown barbarian had reached the Champion Stage and inspected him.

And what they found shocked them.

The very thing they had been desperately searching for was right in front of them.

Over the next couple of years, Shang was under constant supervision by the Grandmountain Kingdom’s best researchers.

Shang had only said that he had eaten something funny.

One would think that such a wild bunch of researchers would kill and dissect Shang, but that would be stupid.

He was the only living member with the perfect body they had always wanted, and if they killed him, they couldn’t keep experimenting on him.

Shang only brushed the years of torture off as unimportant.

Eventually, Shang managed to go to a Tribe and live there after the researchers were finished experimenting on him.

A couple of years of calm training followed.

But then, the Mages were urging Shang to get a wife and have kids.

They wanted to see if that body could be given to his kids.

They didn’t want to force him since they were afraid that he would do something stupid and kill himself, which would kill the only person with the perfect body in the world, according to their knowledge.

That was why they only pushed him in that direction.

Eventually, Shang managed to get the Mages to allow him to change tribes for the reason that all the women there were ugly.

And he managed to get to the closest tribe towards the south of the Kingdom.

After that, Shang kept watching over the frontlines from a distance.

Until today, when he saw several Mages leave the encampment.

Shang charged in, wreaked havoc in the encampment, and that was how he had returned.

Of course, the Inquisitor asked many questions to verify everything Shang had said, but Shang and Duke Whirlwind had already planned out everything in excruciating detail.

The interrogation took nearly six hours.

By the end of it, the Inquisitor had no more questions.

However, Shang could still see some suspicion and doubt in the Inquisitor’s eyes.

“The interrogation is over,” the Inquisitor said.

“However, there is one last thing I must do to verify the truth.”

Shang furrowed his brows.

The Inquisitor stood up and looked at Shang.

“I need to read your mind to confirm that everything you have said is the truth.”