Chapter 36: Interrogation
Sakuro's house has fallen into silence, but it's not as uncomfortable as it should be. I have my elbows on the table, my head resting on my hands. I've been watching Ureksa sleep for the past few minutes. I wonder what the look in my face is like? I wonder if it's curious, bored or loving...
Kouren clears her throat and I wake from my daze. There is a plate of curry in front of me and I cannot precise at what moment in time it was placed there. I blink at the curry that apparently came out of nowhere then watch as Sakuro pokes Ureksa. "Five more minutes Rumari..."
I giggle in amusement. Right now Master Ureksa is like a child who doesn't want to get up to go to school. It's so cute! But for some reason, Kouren isn't amused at all. "Wake up Ureksa, we have a situation."
In his half asleep state, Ureksa registers the voice as not being Rumari's and fully wakes up. "Sakuro? Kouren?" His gaze pauses on me and he speaks my name as well. I'm the only one here who isn't a craft lord and thus the odd one out.
"Well, at least he remembers who we are." I can tell that Master Sakuro is trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn't seem to be working on Kouren.
Ureksa isn't happy about it either, "of course I know!"
Pouso comes from the next room yawning. "Pouso! I didn't see you yesterday, where were you?"
Pouso squeaks in response and Ureksa explains. "He was helping 'back stage' all along." I have a feeling that Master Ureksa overloaded poor Pouso with work to prevent him from trying to find him dates.
"What a good little helper." I'm glad the topic has shifted to something less serious, but eventually the interrogation had to start.
"Ureksa, do you know what this is?" Kouren holds the small bottle for Ureksa to see.
"It looks like a normal bottle to me, just very small." Why doesn't Master Ureksa know about this? I heard Master Sakuro and Master Kouren were craft lords before Master Ureksa. It makes me think that something might have happened related to a similar situation when Rumari was still the craft lord of Jade. Ureksa continues to look at the bottle. "Wait, there is something unusual about it. I feel a presence but it's very weak."
"It's a portion of a summon creature's soul, it's only a piece so the presence is hard to sense," Kouren explains. I couldn't sense it. I guess I'm not skilled enough. I'm definitely not at craft lord level.
"I take it there's a story to go along with it?" Ureksa asks.
"Yes, this happened when Rumari was still the active craft lord of Jade. It was when Shintetsu still lived..." Somehow, I know it's hard for Master Kouren to tell that story. Is it that what I've heard is true? Was Master Kouren in love with Shintetsu who married Amariss and fathered Cleru and Pratty? "This is from a summon creature empowered by the moon. It's a trickster that offers certain things in exchange for help in taking over a human body. The original soul occupying the body would be pushed out when the spell is completed, thus killing the person. The body will continue to live with the soul of the summon creature occupying it." Now Kouren is looking directly at me and it makes me nervous. "Who was the target?"
"Huh? What?" I'm not sure what she's talking about. I'm so nervous I can't even finish such a simple thought process.
"The body that the creature wished to overtake; whose body was that?" Kouren clarified.
I swallowed and took a deep breath. "Master Sakuro, he promised... he said..." Kouren shakes her head as if to indicate I don't need to reveal what I was offered since I didn't accept it anyway. But I can't leave things like this and I fully intend to bend the truth. "He promised me power, but I didn't fall for it." I wasn't entirely lying, other than Sakuro as my lover I was promised power.
"Power?" Kouren raised an eye brow. "You're saying that you were promised power instead of a lover?"
My face becomes ghostly pale; I don't know where all the blood that had accumulated in my cheeks suddenly disappeared to. My eyes are open wide and my mouth is hanging open.
"You need to answer this question accurately," now that the tension seems to have shifted from Kouren's story to my story, she has regained her cool, calm and collected expression and I'm the one wishing that the floor would just swallow me whole. "I can't sense what kind of creature this is. Some feed on desire, others feed on greed; I had thought it was the first. They are very different and must be confronted in diverse ways."
A soft breeze blows but it's not coming from the windows. I look towards the origin of the breeze and see Sakuro waving a paper fan at me. "It's a hot day; I think you might be suffering from a heat stroke."
I twitch then force my head to turn away from Sakuro's direction, face becoming scarlet, hands sweating like crazy, mouth still hanging open. Pouso flies by and pushes my jaw up with his tiny yellow paw and my mouth finally closes.
"What's wrong?" Ureksa decides to speak up. "Is it that you're having trouble remembering? Did that creature do something to your memories?"
I want to say yes, but Kouren speaks first. "It doesn't work that way, Ureksa."
"How do you know unless you've..." Ureksa stops, realizing that Kouren must have indeed experienced this. "Is it that hard to say?"
I shake my head and swallow the lump in my throat. "Sorry that just caught me off guard. I mean, summon creatures and evil spirits offering power, that's something that appears in children's stories all the time, and usually the motto in the end is not to trust strangers. I was remembering all the things he said."
"Well then, did he offer you a lover or power? If he offered a lover, was it Sakuro?" How can Kouren ask something this mortifying, that casually?
"Kouren, isn't that a bit personal?" Thank you Sakuro, but please don't get the wrong idea.
"Not at all; I'm not accusing her. I already said she did the right thing." Kouren remains cool, calm and collected.
I think I finally came up with a way to answer truthfully without sounding too bad. "He wants to take over Wystern using Master Sakuro. He said I would rule Wystern with him... I guess that would make me the queen of Wystern or something, if he was planning to become king. But I told him there was no way I would help him kill Master Sakuro. If his soul is pushed out of his body, then it would be like dying, right?"
"Yes, that is true," Kouren nods. "Well it seems that he offered you power but also wanted it for himself." I don't like were this is going. I didn't lie but I didn't explain the truth clearly enough. I don't want to cause serious trouble with this inaccurate information. What should I do? I feel as lost and out of place as ever.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I do not own Summon Night: A Swordcraft Story. To clarify, Kouren isn't being mean, she's just trying to figure out exactly what type of summon creature spirit they're up against.