Chapter 8: The Pale Green Eye

"I am just a familiar, responsible for monitoring intruders, and I have some knowledge about this house," the black cat spoke with a child's voice that was hard to distinguish between male and female, "But if you want to ask what my Master is... I don't know..."

Jeanne looked at the cat in her hand from head to toes with a cold gaze, then sneered. She completely ignored the cat's words and turned to ask Salser, "Dark wizard, do you have any mind control spells up your sleeve?"

"Its success is uncertain, but I can try."

"Good." The Inquisitor nodded.

She gripped the cat's head with her fingers and lifted it. Inevitably, the cat's eyes met Salser's gaze. The wide, gloomy corridor was silent, the windows on both sides covered with burgundy curtains, blocking out the light, with only a few blue candles flickering like the blue eyes of ghosts. If it weren't for the cat's slowly expanding, consciousness-lost pupils, Jeanne might have thought no spell had been cast.

"It's different from our usual principles," she said, surprisingly not showing any aversion.

"Indeed, it differs from your crude mental spells employed to torment prisoners," Salser taunted her, "This is one of the soul spells we construct, albeit ineffective on certain species, it is straightforward, secure, and simple to operate and construct."

"Start by telling us how you came here," the Dark wizard continued to ask it. He took the cat from Jeanne's hand; its pupils were lifeless and unfocused, as if someone had forcibly pried open its eyelids while it was dreaming.

"A long time ago," the cat spoke with a girl's voice completely different from before, "I was originally heading home to weave a fishing net, me and my father—"

The unexpected development left him somewhat stunned.

"......Wait," Jeanne said, "Tell me where your home is?"

"I live in a small fishing village near Kahn, respected sir knight ," the girl's voice said.

"Sir knight ?"

"A fictional role enacted by the interrogator, stemming from the most esteemed profession in her heart," Salser answered her, this spell exploited many human heart's weaknesses.

Jeanne glanced at him, as if she wanted to comment on the spell, but finally held back.

"Around June last year, the Third Squad of the Ninth Cavalry Regiment of the Romans rolled through there. One hundred and thirty-five grunts, plus one hundred and fifty-four warhorses," the Inquisitor lowered her voice, "All bit the dust in the sticks. Most folks blamed some fugitive dark wizard, but your Empress—Nero Claudius—claimed it'd blow up into a big international incident and pushed for a look into the nearby Church members."

"Judging by your tone, you investigated?"

"Yeah," she responded, "Back then, I was sent to the scene to dig into it—all the soldiers' bodies were chewed up, limbs and guts all over the place.—And that ain't all, the residents from three nearby fishing villages got wiped out too, over four hundred civilians dead. Bodies were so messed up, some even got eaten by who-knows-what, so we couldn't even count them right." Jeanne spoke, her tone revealing no emotion, "It was summer, the scene, the stench—had all the new knights and priests under my command puking their guts out."

"Is there a connection to our matter?" Salser asked her, like the Inquisitor, he was impatient with matters unrelated to him.

"At the time, we combed through every wooden house in those fishing villages, a few were empty, with no bodies inside," Jeanne glanced at the cat in his hand, "According to the investigation, one of the empty houses was home to a man and a girl."

"Fascinating information, yet it does not aid our current situation," Salser remarked with a smirk.

"The Church back then suspected that a fugitive dark wizard was trying to stoke the fires between us and the Romans," Jeanne looked at him indifferently, "But your Empress seemed to be pleased with how things were going."

"It's to be expected, the Holy Cross Church came from another continent, whereas we have resided here for centuries."

This seemed to sting Jeanne, a sarcastic smile appeared on her face, "I don't want to discuss this topic with you."

Salser shrugged, thinking, I don't want to discuss this topic with you either.

"So, how did you find yourself in this place?" The Dark wizard continued to ask it, or her.

"Several people wearing black robes... they brought many strange-looking monsters, some died, some were thrown here. My father and I followed that gray bird into this house..." she spoke in a calm tone, "Later, we got lost in this house, my father took me to a kitchen. A person we couldn't see asked my father for me, saying it wanted to cook me, but my father said no, so that person chopped him up and boiled him in a pot. Gurgle gurgle, gurgle gurgle. I was supposed to be boiled too, but after my father was cooked, the Master of the house spared me and turned me into what I am now."

"......This spell," Jeanne breathed in the slightly warmer air, meeting the Dark wizard's gaze, "Surprisingly, it's a bit disgusting."

"Only by narrating one's past from a sufficiently rational observer's perspective can one avoid being misled by language and emotions," Salser said indifferently.

She snorted coldly, which brought a sense of relief to the Dark wizard.

"What is your Master?" The Inquisitor asked her.

"I don't know what it is, but it has always stayed on the top floor of the house and never went out," the cat said, "My duty is merely to guide intruders, and besides that, I roam within the area I'm allowed to move, and eat in the kitchen."

"A question, you know if any critters other than humans have ended up in this place? Like cattle, fish, or—"

"Is your mind solely occupied by foods?"

"Shut up, Dark wizard, I've been starving for ages," Jeanne gave him a loathsome look, "I can't stand eating people, but if you're up for chopping off your own head, I'd be real thankful to gnaw on that thing till there's nothing but bones left."

"A while ago, I witnessed a white creature with three joints in its legs and arms fall into this place, followed by several people in black robes... they appeared to be enslaved. That thing simply walked along the street, then, monsters from various houses went berserk and began slaughtering each other, and those people in black robes also took their own lives, nearly drawing us into the chaos... but eventually, it vanished without a trace, no one knows where it went." The cat continued.

"The Forkrul..." Jeanne's eyebrows twitched, she seemed to recall some unpleasant memories.

"You, an illiterate peasant girl, are also aware of the Forkrul?"

"Shut your trap," Jeanne glared at him again, then lowered her head to meet the cat's gaze, "Forget about the Forkrul for now, tell me, is there anything around here that's fit to eat?"

"There are some animals raised in the kitchen and garden..."

"Then take us there."

"But there are guards on the way." The cat replied to her.

"The guards are oblivious to our presence," Salser cast a dispassionate look at the cat, "I detected the vibrations you caused while walking on the floor from dozens of meters away. You can perceive us because I intentionally left a loophole for you, not due to your senses being sharp enough to pierce through my spell."

"How long can the spell you cast on this thing last?" Jeanne asked him.

"Long enough for it to walk through this house."

Salser threw the black cat to the ground and ordered it to lead the way.

Jeanne didn't make a sound, just followed behind the cat, stepping on bloodstains invisible to humans, and walked away.

After the two of them left, the corridor remained silent, only, in a cluster of blue flickering candlelight, an eye quietly opened. It was a pale green eye, it blinked lightly, then vanished without a trace.

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