“Meeri and Highthorn, you go get the wife. Have someone watch the kids, actually, have Liz do it if she wants. She understands their position and I trust her.” I said, giving directions to get this underway. I wanted the children to breathe easier, also their mother shouldn’t live in fear either.

“Yes, Lady Astrid. We are being looked up to ourselves so no one will do anything with Liz there.” Highthorn and Meeri left to do their assigned tasks. I couldn’t help but notice Meeri’s tail was stuck straight up on alert. Not the time to adore them!

“Minnette, lead the rest of us to a good area to place the first zone of truth.”

She thought about it for a moment before speaking, “Well, I think the first place should be near the cart platform so that we can use it to get honest answers from new citizens.”

“Oh. that info would be great for determining if their resume is accurate to do the job they are asking for. Would that be okay, Lady Astrid?” Peri asked, tails swishing back and forth.

“That is a great idea as long as it is only new citizens and others’ first-time visit. I don’t want people being harassed for traveling. Also, they need to be able to refuse and go back without repercussions unless they cause a scene. We used them in the library to determine plagiarism often. That doesn’t mean you can do that to children. We just took that a lot more seriously in the library.”

“Yes, Lady Astrid. We still need to figure out what questions we should ask. I will send you the list for approval.” She said, leading us down to the railcar platforms. The air became rather stale, so I decided to come back later that night before bed and add some ventilation with wind magic.

She and I talked for a few minutes about the design and she gave me a rough outline of an intake tunnel where people would go in single file and be asked questions then come out the other side if they passed.

“Alright, I like the idea, but anyone that you are unsure of or anyone that has a family that is being rejected must be brought to my attention before being rejected until we get things formalized. We can offer families to split up if one parent is a no go or even if both are, but I really hope that doesn’t happen.” I said, conveying what I wanted to be done for the intake. We had a lot of things to work out before we could settle down. I was hoping we could expand the council or even give them their own teams so that we could get it done even faster. That would mean I would get to read more.

I carved out the tunnelway for people to go through. It had a few rows of seats while people waited in an investigation room with the zone of truth. The guards could power it with their own mana. I wanted to spread this in gem tech form but it would be a controlled item. I didn’t want it to be used for tyranny as it had in the past. "Kalamoon’s Uprising" described how leaders had used zones of truth on all of their citizens getting rid of any opposition, but they had kicked out so many it was easy for those who were targeted to come back and take over. I also put in a guard waiting room and a holding room for people that needed to be sent back or interviewed by me.

Everyone smiled when they saw me using magic. At least this time, they weren’t awestruck. I guessed it was like fireworks to them. OH, FIREWORKS! We can do that when we announce ourselves in the kingdom dome. hehe, that will be really fun.

Shortly thereafter, Highthorn came back with the traitor's wife, formerly a council member. She was extremely worried and agitated. Her muscles were tense and her eyes were red, possibly from crying. She seemed pale, almost wasting away.

“What was done to her?” I asked Highthorn with a slight edge. She wasn’t guilty of anything yet.

“Nothing. She was crying about her children but calmed down when Lizlen said she would take them in as her own if anything happened. I agreed as well.” Highthorn said, stating his innocence. I am glad I can lean on the Valwrecks.

The wife remained silent and sullen as she was led into the investigation room. As she came by me, I noticed the smell, she hadn’t bathed in days.

“Alright, stand in the center of the room. The rest of you stand to the side unless you want to voice your heart out.”

The other council members moved aside as the traitor's wife grew even more tense, confused at what was going to happen. She seemed to be trembling where she stood, legs shaking like a pillar hit by an earthquake spell.

“So this is how it works. We will start out with something easy so you understand and won’t be as worried unless you have something to hide. What is your name and origin?” I asked, then the floor glowed as I passed mana into it.

“My name is Le’Lian, a former noble child from the kingdom who was exiled for disgracing my family by being supposedly cursed. My red ears and tail disgraced them so I was disowned and sent here as a toddler.” She spewed out, then covered her mouth, looking shocked.

Everyone looked surprised again.

“That’s really amazing!” Highthorn exclaimed.

“This can clear my name!” Le’Lian shouted in pure joy, trembling in excitement. Light returned to her eyes.

“Yes, it can. Here, why don’t we clean you up? I have a feeling you aren’t responsible. Thus, you deserve some dignity.” I said, nodding my head, casting the beautification spell I used every morning. It instantly cleaned her up, clothes and all. The fur on her tail and ears shined. Her lack of bathing was no longer in the air.

“May I ask you some questions to clear your name as well as some confusion?” I asked, the ground not glowing.

“Yes, please Goddess. I mean Lady Astrid. I am sorr—”

I waved her off. There was no sense in correcting someone in such a distressed state. Her mind must be going faster than lightning. “Why did you come at me in our first meeting?”

“I didn’t think you were real. Just a fake trying to harm us. I am so sorry, I can never apologize enough for having offended you and calling you a fake. You have only ever provided for us and I harmed your image. Please do with me as you will.” she said, bearing her heart and guilt out. She got on her knees and wept.

“It ate at me hearing about all the good you brought. I, I nearly lost it for us. I constantly think about all the harm I nearly caused.”

I sighed and rubbed my temples. The goddess junk really needs to be dealt with. Maybe they need to learn I am forgiving? I don’t want to take away the one thing they hold onto by denying it completely. “That makes sense. Please stand up. Your heart was in the right place, your mind just went about it wrong. So far, the only thing you are guilty of is not thinking about your children. If you left them because of me, who would they have? Family is more important than me.” I said, missing my own parents, wishing my father had never gone to a nobles’ war. He could have helped take care of my mother till our family connections came through.

She looked up, eyes wide while she trembled in place. Her thoughts were probably in even more of a mess.

“Did you know what your husband planned or take any part in it?” I asked quickly, wanting to clear this up. She already wasn’t guilty, from what I was guessing. The floor glowed again.

“No, I had no part in my husband’s action. I wanted to split as soon as I heard and was scared for my children. If I had known anything I would have killed him myself,” she said, covering her mouth and trying to cover up what she admitted to.

“Thank you for your answer, but know that crime and punishment are left to the new law enforcement system.”

She nodded quickly. Standing up cleaning her face with her sleeve. Everyone's eyebrows were raised once she answered. Did they really think she did it? Come on it was super obvious she hadn’t even helped. This needed to go on a bit longer, their suspicions needed to be cleared.

“Why do you think suspicion was on you?” I asked.

She tried to cover her mouth, but when the light glowed, her arms were pulled to her side. It was a feature of the spell I had put in to prevent people from trying to hide the truth. It also stopped all self-harm attempts to stop the answer from coming out.

“I am married to the traitor, and I was rude to your chosen representative because he is a corporate enforcer that hurt our people for many years before he came here with a supposed change of heart. I also insulted you, the Goddess Of Knowledge”

Hmm, Corporate Enforcer. There was a lot of animosity there that I wanted to clear up. I trusted him, but I was interested in the story. Maybe I can get him to write it. “Firth, you don’t have to, but would you mind stepping into the circle? We should be able to get this cleared up so that this doesn’t happen again.”

He rubbed his chin before speaking, “I didn’t even think about using this for that. I have been wanting to clear things up for a long time. It would help Feinna because she get’s a few dirty looks when she is with me. There are those that put up with me because I am a valuable resource to Astraville.” He strolled to the center of the circle next to Le’Lian.

I balled my fists when I thought about my friend being punished for something she didn’t do. If I ever catch anyone doing that to her, I will show them a nightmare in their mind. “Firth, were you a corporate enforcer and what did you do while working for them?”

“Yes, I was a corporate enforcer. It was part of my job as a corporate executive. I subjected people to harsh punishment when they did not make quotas on production. That was everything from wage loss–beatings–exile. I didn’t handle anything harsher than that. Thankfully, no one did anything more serious in my time, like the Valwrecks incident.”

“YOU ONLY ATTACKED OTHERKIN!” Le’Lian shouted, lashing out, enraged by how passively he spoke about it.

“I am asking the questions here!” I barked harshly, I understand she is frustrated but I am only doing this to help her and firth. “It may seem like he is too calm, but the zone does weird things to how people talk about it. It varies from person to person. He is displaying someone who has come to terms with what they have done and is trying to move forward.”

Le’Lian was bemused, unsure of how to react, so I continued to ask questions. “Did you only abuse otherkin? Are you remorseful and why are you remorseful?”

“No, I enforced punishment on everyone from humans and otherkin–supervisors–managers–executives. Otherkin got it the most often because they were the cheapest to employ and have the highest mana density. I am extremely remorseful, it is why I took everything I could when I came here and try to use as many connections as I can to make this place better. No one should have to work in those conditions. I only became horrified at what I was doing when my granddaughter was born, then abandoned and I realized what life she would be subjected to. I never really thought about those lesser till I had someone in my life that would be treated as such.” He explained, eyes straining as he talked, his voice growing weaker.  He probably hadn’t gotten over it completely.

If I ever encounter the corpos, I would need to look into that situation myself. It isn’t my kingdom, so I can’t do much, but maybe there is something I could do. What really interested me was that otherkin had higher mana density. They seemed to be superior to non-otherkin, which is likely another reason for them to be targeted.

Quinn_Voidheart

 There is a retcon in chapter 17. I decided to keep the traitor alive but passed out for two reasons. One is it builds up more tension the other is so that I can keep the vibe lower and get it into libraries easier. All this trending stuff has me excited and scared at the same time hehe! 

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9zvdMLfYFkM

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