Bai En looked at the office cautiously. The room was large and luxuriously decorated, which was completely different from what he expected. He thought it was a torture chamber or a cell, but he didn't expect this. Nevertheless, the two soldiers followed them in, leaning against the far wall, motionless. Bai En noticed that a lighter in uniform came in with a small ladder. He climbed a cone-shaped ladder with a lit candle and lit the candle in the huge chandelier. Its light dimmed the sunset light coming from the narrow window.

The tall man made a gesture to the huge leather armchair in front of his equally large table. "Mr. Bai En, please sit down."

Bai En let himself sit in the chair. The tall man walked up to the window, stared at the window for a while, and then drew the heavy brocade curtains. He looked closely at the window as if he saw it for the first time. It is very narrow and is obviously designed as a slit archery hole.

"This place used to be a fortress, but later became a palace," he said.

The man's words were hanging in half, and he was not finished. Bai En thought that if they were translated, they might know if there was anything hidden in it. He did not answer, but just waited for the man to continue, if he wanted to explain further. The man seemed to think about it and laughed for the first time. His teeth were shiny white, even his pale skin was waxy.

"Please forgive me, Mr. Bai En; you are not the same as I thought."

"So what do you expect, sir?"

The man bowed, like his opponent who had just scored a point in the fencing match. "Forgive me, again. It was a long and painful day, and I completely forgot my etiquette. I am Ronemos-Osterwald. I am His Highness's personal secretary."

Bai En is not sure if he should stand up and bow. But he did not get the opportunity. Ostwald quickly walked behind the table and sat down. Bai En noticed that even in that comfortable chair, he would straighten his waist, just like a person who is used to military iron discipline.

"Regarding your question, from my description of you, I have lower expectations for others. But you are more elegant than yourself. I think I deserve it." He opened a book in front of him. "I know, you are part of the Fatalin family. Okay. Very good."

"So why am I here?" Bai En asked, tilting his head, and the name of the Fatalin family was created by Dean and Falheim to solve the problem of not having a family name. As apprentices of the Black Tower, it is certainly good to remember your name, but most people ’s name is just a code name, just like Bai En ’s own name can even be called Baine, Byrne, Borne in different languages. Bain and so on.

"Dieter! John! You can wait outside." Ostwald made a gesture to the soldiers. They opened the door and quietly left the room. After they left, Ostwald put his fingers in a tower and started again.

"Tell me, Mr. Bai En, are you familiar with those ratmen?"

Bai En feels that his heart is about to stop beating. He suddenly felt dry. He did consider his words carefully. "I've heard of it. I personally don't know any such people."

Osterwald laughed again. It was a cold mechanical laugh, with no sense of humor. "Very good. I know this is not the case."

"What do you mean?" Bai En deliberately expressed nervousness and made his voice sound irritable. He did not know the direction of this conversation, but he could imagine several possible outcomes, none of which was pleasant. But if you can let the other party despise yourself, it may be more beneficial to you. He suddenly regretted changing such a good dress, which made the other party's heart raise his expectations for himself.

"Just saying that you are on duty at the sewer, you report to the superior there that you met them. Isn't it?"

"Then you should understand." Bai En made a disdainful expression after hearing the word "superior".

"Yes. I understand." Ostwald smiled again. "In my opinion, you don't look like a typical trench worker, Mr. Bai En. The sons of wealthy businessmen rarely take the opportunity to hunt Goblin in our sewers."

Bai En is now used to the rhythm of the other party. The other party was not as surprised as he might have been by the unexpected nature of this sentence. Regardless of whether the other party really believes in such a Fatalin family, or doubts about the connection between the Fatalin family and the Fatalin association. He could see that all this was only part of Ostwald's interrogation skills. He likes to make people who deal with him lose balance. It's like measuring your opponent in a duel. Bai En thought about the expression he should make next, and then smiled at him.

"I am the black sheep at home."

"It is true. How interesting. You have to explain to me what is going on."

"I think you already know." It worked, Bai En thought. The identities that Falheim and Dean built for him have been understood by these people. All he has to do now is try to perfect this identity.

"Maybe. Maybe. Let's go back to Ratman, Mr. Bai En, or should I call you Mr. Fatalin?"

"Bai En just fine, I don't like people calling me ... father's name.".

"Trust me, I can understand what you think. Powerful people generally tend to surpass something that the family brings." Ostwald smiled at Bain's answer and asked. "Have you seen them many times?"

"There are indeed several times ~ lightnovelpub.net ~ Bai En understands that the other party is trying to gain goodwill, so he smiled and nodded and replied.

"What is the exact number?"

Bai En counted the number of times he was prepared to admit. There was an encounter in the sewer. There was also an attack on the blind pig tavern. He had fought in the Moore Garden. He believes that in this case, mentioning his meeting with the ogres in von Hallstatt ’s house and his fight with the rat-man engineers and warlocks at the College of Engineering may not be in line Diplomatic strategy.

"Three times."

Osterwald looked at his book again. Bai En thought, another jigsaw puzzle was completed. He knew nothing. He is just fishing. His style is to scare people first, and then see what they say and miss. Of course, Bai En thought that if he ordered you to go to the dungeon to be tortured, this information would do you no good. He decided to try to ask a few questions to improve the status of both parties in the conversation.

"With whose authority do you have the power to do this?" Bai En asked.

"It was the elector Countess Emmanuelle," Ostwald said with absolute certainty. "Why are you asking this?"

"I just want to figure out what's going on." A loyal dog, with the other party's quick and affirmative answer, Bai En thought.

Osterwald gave him a meaningful cold smile. "On this point, I can easily explain to you, Mr. Bain. But let us continue with our question. How much do you know about Fritz von Hallstatt?"