Interrogation

With the entrance shut, the celler was almost completely shrouded in darkness. Only the flickering light of my oil-lamp gave a faint expression of what was going on. The pastor, still seemingly unconcious and bound sat on the chair across.

However I couldn't help but notice that his chair was about half a meter from his original place. Sneaky bastard.

Calmly I started talking, "You can stop pretending now. I know you're awake."

As he didn't react I slowly came closer. "Alright I think you still have to learn what it means to disobey me". With those words I grabbed his ring finger with an iron grip, and before he could react I bend it over until I heard the satisfying cracking sound.

A scream escaped his throat. With wide eyes he stared at me. "Okay, okay I'm awake goddammit! What do you want from me?"

Good. He was scared now. Ignoring his question I continued.

"You have two options now. I will ask you a few very simple questions. If you answer every one of them truthfully and with great detail, you will walk out here with nothing more than a broken finger. However, if I'm not satisfied with your answers or you try to alert someone in any way, I will make sure to kill you before you can regret your actions. Is that clear?"

For the first time in our interactions, actual fear was evident on his face. "Yes yes I understand. What do you want to know?"

At that words I cheerfully smiled in his face. "Excellent! My first question is, what are those and how much are they worth?" I took out one of each type of coin I had stolen from him.

He furrowed his brow. "Uh the copper coin is simply called copper. It's the kind of money you would buy food or some new furniture with. The silver ones are lir, they are worth 50 copper. Here in Loreh mainly upperclass citizens or merchants use them. It's said they are magically inscribed by the king himself!"

I apruptly interrupted his torrent of words. "Alright before you tell me about the golden one I have two questions. First of all, how did you acquire the golden ones if even a lir is so special? And secondly, what do you mean with magically inscribed?"

He looked down with an expression that almost was.. shame? It wasn't like I would care but it still managed to surprise me. Who would have thought he could feel ashamed?

"You wouldn't believe me if I'd say I have got them through a live filled with hardships and a frugal lifestyle, would you?"

Confirming his suspicious I lightly nodded.

"Well in your place I probably wouldn't either", he said with a long sigh. I've got them from the trust of my followers. Originally they were meant for the poorest of the poor, the ones who live on Loreh's streets and have nothing to sustain their lives. But then the crisis came and I got scared. People everywhere lost their jobs and fell from public grace."

Again he let loose a long sigh. "I was just scared okay? I don't want to live on the streets. I'm not made for such a life!"

He seemed sincere but I still took it with a grain of salt. His answer had come too fast. However, I decided to not pursue it. With the same emotionless voice I made him continue.

"Okay but I don't know what you expect me to answer to your second question. Even if you grew up on the streets and never had money, you must know about the king's outstanding magical talent. Especially his creations are widely known, even outside the kingdom!"

Again. Magic. Why did that keep popping up the longer I was here? Magic didn't exist. Or at least it didn't in the world I came from. Could it be different here?

"Tell me everything you know about magic. And explain it like you would to someone who had never heard of it."

I could tell from his face that he was itching to ask a question, but a quick swing with the knife reminded him of his priorities.

"Of course young lady." As he continued I saw small drop of sweat tickeling down his forehead.

Taking a deep breath he finally started talking, "Magic is the art of bending and abusing the laws of nature to achieve the desired results. In order to do that mages use mana. Although I have heard that there are other sorts of energy as well I have never met any of it's users. To be able to use mana or any other form of energy you need to have a connection to a source. Don't ask me what sources are, I don't know either but it is publicly known as the core of a mages power!"

Interesting. Looking back at the dream I had before I arrived here, it most likely had something to do with magic. Thinking like that I couldn't help but ask.

"How do you become a mage?"

He let out a hoarse laugh. "You have no idea how often people ask me this question and I can only answer the same every time. Without a source there is no magic. And in order to connect to a source you either need a affinity of some sort, or very powerful friends."

So it is doable. Excellent.

"Alright and how can I find out if I have a affinity for something?"

Again he sighed. "Well usually you get tested at birth. If you have any noteworthy affinities, the kingdom will put you up for auction so to say. Magic schools, sects, institutions and even certified mages can all aproach you then and offer you education in exchange for various things. For example they could demand money, loyality and basically everything in between. If you didn't get tested or want a source and education despite having a low affinity you can only apply at a magic academy. For a fee you can then study as well. However those fees are usually pretty high and the results are on average a lot worse if you have a low affinity.

I won't lie this whole magic thing really got me excited and worried at the same time. If what he said was correct there was a whole new stage of powers that people had access too. In my head I pictured horrorsceanrios of people reading my thoughts or worse, even controlling them! If this whole thing was real I had to get access to it as soon as possible. There was absolutely no way for me to stay weak in such an unforgiving world.

I didn't let my inner conflicts come to the surface and calmly contined. "Very interesting. You can no proceed to tell me about the golden coin."

Slightly startled he finally looked up. "Uh okay. The golden coin is called doubloon, and worth 50 lir again. You will usually only see them in grand transactions, for example when you buy a house."

Before I could reply he started talking again, "But you said you'd only ask me a few questions. Can you let me free now?"

Without hesitation I replied. "Sure. I only have one last question."

He nodded. "Go on then."

"Tell me about the citys near Loreh."

Visibly nervous he started biting around his lip. He definitely was getting itchy. It was almost time for me to end this.

"Uhm there are countless little towns around here but only few actual citys I'm afraid. The only ones I know about are Teyuna and New Hantra. New Hantra is a ex mining town that grew over time, and now its one of the most important trading hubs in all of Lesotho empire."

After a dramatic pause he continued. "However the one I believe will interest you more is Teyuna. It's also known as "The city of magic" and as the name implies it is one of the biggest hotspots in magic society. If you want to learn magic, it is probably the right choice. However even if you are on horseback, it will take at least a week to reach it."

"But I gave you what you wanted. You can untie..."

Before he could finish his sentence I dashed forward and swiftly cut his throat. I would have much prefered to vanish from here without leaving behind corpses but he was just too much of a liability.

With a deep sigh I started carefully cleaning the crime scene. I even paid special attention to not leave behind any hair or other bodyparts from me. Although I didn't know how magic really worked in this world it was better to be save than sorry. And getting cursed by some sort of bloodcurse was at the very bottom of my wishlist.

Fortunately with the food from before I was now in a much better shape than before and had regained a lot of my dexterity. Due to that, the whole cleaning process didn't take more than 15 minutes and I could quickly leave the house.

When I finally left through the backdoor I was deep in thought. The priest had given me much to think about. Some of it good, but most of it worrying. What I needed now was a plan.