Interrogated

Scarlet Whisper's question was met with silence for a good twenty seconds before Sakura put on a tone of disbelief and asked "What? Why would any of us be one of the princess of earth?"

Trin nodded fervently "True, none of them are the blood of the dragons."

Scarlet Whisper glanced back and forth appraisingly "Interesting, though you agree one of you is lying and the other believes what they are saying."

The two of them went still as her eyes turned to Shirou "Do you have any input here?"

Shirou deftly deflected the question in a most Shirou like way "You are saying that we are Exalted as we saved those citizens, I ask you; do we need to have powers to try and save people?"

Scarlet Whisper looked carefully at him "No but it would help you almost single-handedly fight off those slave catchers."

There was silence as she continued "The new citizens of Paragon claim that while you had them prepare for battle, they only needed to help at the end as before that you were handling it by yourself."

"But still," Sakura cut in almost pleading "We didn't do anything special, we are just skilled guards." Her words were filled with the lying power of her patron but none there could sense it.

Scarlet Whisper looked in her eyes and smiled. She then closed her eyes and spoke "I'm sorry, I understand you are trying hard-"

Her eyes sprang open "But your lie is revealed by actions seen by the citizens of Paragon."

She took a breath before continuing, everyone else was too surprised to react "When you fought the bandits, your friend," at this she nodded at Rin "Was seen riding a demon."

She looked between the party again as she spoke "Now there are two possibilities for that; either your diabolists and the demon allowed you to ride it due to the situation there or you were Exalted with access to the surrender pacts along with sorcerous bindings."

Scarlet Whisper put on a beautiful smile as she continued "As we kill diabolists, don't you all think you should tell the truth?"

There was silence before Trin looked like he wanted to speak, a look from Sakura shut him up.

Sakura looked towards their interrogator and spoke "Fine we are dragon-blooded Exalted. You got us."

"No," Scarlet Whisper spoke firmly before she continued "If you had been members of the Terrestrial Exalted you wouldn't have hidden it for this long unless you were spies."

An eyebrow rose slightly "If you were a spy then you would have your choice of swearing to the Perfect of Paragon or dying. Again however your actions remind me more of the curious than a spy."

She closed her eyes as if building up to something before speaking with an imposing voice "I, Scarlet Whisper, Diplomat of the sun, do question your natures. Speak now or be seen as enemies of creation."

Shirou felt the magic in those words as they twisted into him, demanding he answer one simple question, demanding him to tell what sort of exalted he was. He focused his integrity yet still wouldn't hold for long.

Luckily Trin spoke first and it was less than clear "Demons, you are all demons and destroyers of the rightful rulers of earth, vile Anathema slaves of hell!"

He kept going like that for a few moments before Sakura lightly tapped on his shoulder, that shut him up.

More silence ensued before Scarlet Whisper coughed "Well, that answered that. Now are you Lunars, Solars or Sidereal?"

Sakura raised a hand "I and Shirou are Solars, Rin is a Lunar." A partial lie to cover herself.

Scarlet Whisper sighed "Now that wasn't hard now was it?"

The interrogation soon became just a conversation. Scarlet Whisper it seemed was the lead diplomat for Paragon so she enjoyed hearing about what was going on in other parts of the world. When she had heard about Shirou's time on the blessed isle she asked in a quiet whisper "How far from the civil war do you think we are?"

Shirou shrugged "A few months, maybe less."

Scarlet Whisper looked perked up a bit before looking sad. Shirou didn't question her about it though.

She also told them more about Paragon. It turned out that only people of importance wearing colourful clothing had a use. The Perfect of Pargon had traded away "The colour of the city" for various boons from the gods.

Eventually the conversation came to an end.

Scarlet Whisper looked sad as if she expected the answer to her next question "You wouldn't want to stay here by any chance."

A round of no was her reply so she continued "We have many artifacts we could offer you, we could offer Rin books of sorcery spells and you Shirou could be allowed to use our magic item creation workshops.

Again the party refused.

"Will you at least stay a few days to rest?" A final question.

The party spoke between themselves for a few moments before agreeing to stay a few days. At that they were brought to a few guest rooms within the Manse and left alone.

The moon was high in the sky when Sakura woke up, she felt something within her pound.

Her Coadjutor spoke quickly but calmly as if awaiting a storm "Sakura, you will soon pass the line at which they will inflict torment upon you."

Sakura jumped to her feet quickly as her Coadjutor continued "I don't know exactly how long you have but your options are ever the same; Either you go to Shirou now and ask him to run with you or you go out into the town and perform acts of villainy."

Sakura leaped through the window, her answer ever the same.

As she stalked the town she found someone hiding in a gutter. Likely someone who had broken the laws of Paragon then. She slew him slowly, a spear in the gut and walking away. Even in the best case if he got treatment his blood would still be poisoned by the waste in his gut.

It was enough to lower her limit slightly, enough to be safe a bit longer.

Unfortunately she had been seen.

End of chapter