Murph glanced at Heimfher's legs as he tapped his foot onto the ground constantly which meant that he was anxious, and for someone that had worked in the bureau for a few years, Murph knew that people gets anxious when they have something to hide.
'...Heimfher Veilshroud, a student in the Monetre Swordmanship Academy, ranked the lowest out of all students, currently living in poverty, his father is dead, his mother worked as a shop crew in the slums, he has two siblings, one sister and one brother.. Based on our investigation, he seems to have been a frequent bullying target, if that's true then that might contribute to this case.'
Murph stayed silent for approximately 30 seconds, the atmosphere was getting awkward, and Heimfher also doesn't seem to have anything to say beside answering his questions.
Seeing as how no one wanted to speak first, Murph then decided to break the silence himself.
"We'll start with the interrogation." He said, his upper half moved closer to Heimfher as he leaned into the table.
"Okay.." Heimfher replied, he somehow had a feeling that he might be in deep trouble.
'What the fuck is happening.. What did i do.. No wait, maybe.. Did the previous Heimfher did something?!'
Heimfher kept thinking for a while, but he couldn't find a single reason as to what the previous Heimfher did wrong, atleast to his knowledge.
Murph took his face closer towards Heimfher while one of his hand pulled out something from within his pocket, it was a paper portrait of another man that looked the same age as Murph.
"Do you know this person?" He asked to Heimfher.
Heimfher looked at the portrait, he tried to remember about the person, from his memories with the previous Heimfher, and after he possesed him, but there was no one in his memories that resembles the man in the portrait.
"Uhh, i have no idea.." He responded to Murph, his eyes showed genuine confusion, and Murph could see the honesty in Heimfher's words.
"I see, how about this.. Have you purchased something in the past couple of days? Preferably some sort of a drink." Murph asked again, he changed his question after realizing that Heimfher had somehow forgot about the person in the portrait.
"Drink?.." Heimfher was startled by the question, but he stayed firm and calm.
'A drink?.. I didn't buy anything since the morning though?..' Heimfher thought, he seems to not remember anything, that us until a specific memory came up to his brain.
'Wait.. Maybe— That poison?!' Heimfher recalled the time when he found the poison bottle beneath his bedsheet, at that time he thought that it was poison and that it was the reason why the previous Heimfher died.
As soon as he remembered the poison he drank, Heimfher then admitted it to Murph.
"Ah, yes.. I remember buying a drink a few days ago.." He said.
Murph's eyes instantly widened upon hearing Heimfher's answer before it went back to normal, he then asked him further about the drink as his hand reached out to the inside of his pocket.
"Is it this one?" Murph said calmly before pulling out the same empty poison bottle that was beneath Heimfher's bed and placed it on the table.
"H- Huh?!..." Heimfher was shocked to see the poison bottle infront of him, he didn't remember bringing it outside or throwing it into the trashbin, if that poison bottle is in the hands of Murph, then that means he had sneaked into his inn while he was away.
'FUCK! So i can't escape huh!' Heimfher couldn't think of any other way beside admitting the truth.
"Y- Yes.." He responded with a few stutter.
Murph didn't show any significant reaction, he just kept both of his hands crossed and stayed silent while Heimfher was sweating.
"Do you know what this drink is?" Murph asked again.
"Uhh.. Poison?" Heimfher reluctantly answered, he had already been caught red handed, and he knew that he wont be able to beat Murph.
But despite expecting Murph to agree and scold him for drinking poison, Heimfher instead was met with a confused gaze.
"What?!" Murph said, for the first time since the interrogation started, he broke his character and was left baffled by Heimfher's words. "Okay, but this isn't just an ordinary poison—
"This bottle right here, contains what we call blight mana, it's a double edge swords if you'd like to call it—
"Heimfher, do you know.. About the Awakened?" Murph suddenly asked Heimfher a different question amidst his confusion.
"Awakened?.. I don't know.." Heimfher was also starting to become confused, he never heard about the term Awakened, but he had a few guesses in his mind.
'Awakened?! What is that? Some kind of superhuman? Like Cadriel who can use magic?' He thought.
It didn't take long before Murph explained it to him.
"In this world, there are two supernatural powers, one is Aura, the ones that everyone knows and learn in your academy.. Then, there's another one, Magic– God's Magic—
"Doubt thy eyes and fall, Mirabelis."
Click!
A sudden breeze of strong wind broke into the room, throwing Heimfher away from his chair as he hit the walls behind and made a crack in it.
"KAAGHH!!" He screamed in pain before he fell to the ground.
Heimfher looked up while he was still laying down and what he saw next almost drove him mad, the entire room started to shrink, Murph had frozen in his place like a statue, only Heimfher remained alive, and as the room was beginning to get tighten, Heimfher begged for help for the person outside the room, he shouted, yet no one came. In the end, the room squeezed him and Heimfher was crushed under the pressure, his body exploded as the blood began to boil after the room had shrunked into the size of an atom.
Heimfher thought his life had ended, then when he opened his eyes, he was back to the same room, with Murph still on his chair looking at him, he moved his fingers to convince Heimfher that he was no longer frozen, and the room also no longer shrinking, it looks like he was back to the real world.
"HAAHH!!" He screamed in horror, his expression was similar to the time when he first awoke in that building.
"Calm down, you're back." Murph said, he told Heimfher to take a deep breath and calm himself.
"W- What was that!? THAT WAS YOU!?" Heimfher couldn't believe it that Murph was the guy that put him into that illusory world from earlier, the one he met in the dark alleyway, and the one that almost caused his death multiple times.
Heimfher kept gasping for air, and as he was trying to slow down his heartbeat, Murph began his explanation on what he just did.
"That's the power of Mirabelis, the Goddess of Illusion." He said. "You can put anyone into an illusory world that you can think of as long as your spells hit them."
"Huff.. Huff... The Goddess of Illusion? What are you talking— Is that another religion?.." Heimfher responded, he was lost, and couldn't understand what Murph was saying the first he explained it.
"The God of Fire, Ignis– the Goddess of Life, Vitassia– the Goddess of Harvest, Lemessis– the God of Knowledge, Scientes– And the God of Combat, Arcturus— That's the 5 Gods that represent each churches, however.. There's more beyond that, the power i wield, for example.. Comes from the Goddess of Illusion, Mirabelis—
"The awakened, are people that had acquired the power of the gods through rituals, similar to aura, the awakened uses mana in their body to use their magic, unlike aura which is easy to learn and only possible when holding a weapon or an object, the power of God's Magic can be used freely." Murph explained, his sitting position changed to be more relaxed as he stare into the ceiling.
Heimfher's jaw was slightly open the whole time he was hearing Murph's explanation, he had no idea that there was such people in this wolrd, and the concept of gods being abundant was so crazy that he almost couldn't believe it.
"The Awakened.. So like mages?.. Then- What about the Gods?! Just how many are they?.." Heimfher asked, he was a bit scared since he thought that talking about Gods would be taboo, but it seems like Murph doesn't really care about that.
"How many Gods are there?.. Well, do you seriously want to know? You'll regret it—
Murph then saw the curious face Heimfher was putting and it made him let out a deep sigh.
"However, if you insist, then i'd be more than willing.. But first, i have to tell you this, i did some investigation to your body when you were still unconcious, and i found that.. Your body has mutated, not in a literal sense, but your mana veins, your mana storage, its no longer normal—
"No one in the bureau had ever seen a mana vein this vast, the blight mana liquid you consumed somehow bloated your mana storage almost ten folds– Usually, consuming blight mana that much in one gulp would means certain death, that's because blight mana is basically mana that has been corrupted and modified—
"However, the myth said if you were to survive after consuming blight mana, then your mana vein would increase drastically.. I never thought it was true— If you were to become an awakened, you'd undoubtedly be one of the best here—
"...I can give you two choices, you can join our organization and help us solve crimes in the city, that way you can also avoid jail time because if you don't know, purchasing illegal substance, especially when its connected with an awakened material, is against the law– Or do you want to continue your academy life? To your normal days." Murph said, he let out a smile after explaining everything, all while Heimfher was contemplating.
"Join the Bureau?..."
Heimfher was faced with a heavy decision, hearing Murph's explanation about awakened and God's Magic was enough to intrigues him to the point where his heart was aching to go wild, he was right at one thing, he wasn't talented with swordmanship, but magic.
'An awakened.. So like i can use magic too?.. Is this real?' Heimfher thought.
'Going back to my academy life?... To that?.. To that!? LIKE HELL I WOULD!'
"I will do it.. I'll join you." Heimfher answered firmly, his eyes was determined, and his mouth was slightly frowning as if nothing could change his mind.
Murph looked at Heimfher with his violet eyes and he smiled again for Heimfher's decision.
"I see, that's glad to hear, then welcome to the Monetre Protection Bureau, Division 0– Heimfher Veilshroud." He said.
"Oh, and the answer to your question.. How many gods are there? Countless. More than you think, each God's seat is available to anyone– And the rest.. I have no idea aswell."