I blinked with a blank expression taking over my face. Why had I always been unable to properly express the severity of situations. Though, I didn't think of it as a big deal to begin with, my heartbeat felt otherwise. It had been calm this whole time but started beating gradually faster until that was all I could focus on.
"I said put your damn hands up! Are you hard of hearing punk?" said that same officer, guns pointed at me.
The World Magistral Army, or W.M.A. for short, was part of a system in place known as the Great Alliance or the World System. This alliance consisted of the Four Kingdoms and their Sub-Kingdoms, the W.M.A., and the Maven Lords, who, quite frankly, I did not know the purpose of.
Regardless, the W.M.A. had shown up, and we were supposedly on the same side, but…
"Look, officer, I think there's been a clear misunderstanding—"
"It looks to us like damage to public property, disturbance of peace, harming of innocent people—the list goes on. Want me to keep going?" another officer said.
Interrupted. But keeping a cool head, I put my hands in the air and responded cordially, "Yes… But not of my own hands."
"We have multiple witnesses reports telling us otherwise." the same officer said.
"Did they also tell you about the Grade 3 monster?" I replied.
"And just where is this Grade 3?" he asked. A very, very stupid question. I can tell he was rage baiting me.
"Is this your first day as a W.M.A.?" I couldn't help myself.
That's when I felt a jab on my head with the back of another officer's rifle. Well that was illegal.
These W.M.A. officers wore light padding and armor that was a blue tint. They each wore ballistic helmets, tactical goggles, and balaclavas that only had eye openings, leaving their mouths covered from the nose down. Each of them were decorated in weaponry of different kinds, but the most distinct one they were each armed with were guns the shape of rifles, which were black with blue lights on the sides that glowed, infusing with their own mana.
I let out a big exhale and said, "I'm an Arcane Knight of the Valley Kingdom. I was here on a mission to stop an unidentified Grade 3 monster, which I had just defeated before you showed up."
"And where's your uniform and authorization scroll?"
Oh yeah. I had thrown my jacket somewhere in this plaza, and the authorization scroll was… with Ophelia, last I remembered. By the Keeper.
"My jacket," I managed to say. "I threw my jacket somewhere here in this plaza while I was fighting. That's my uniform." I'd at least give them that since I didn't have the scroll.
"Keep your hands where we can see them. We will find your uniform," an officer said as he signaled a cadet to go look for my jacket.
Seconds passed. My stomach rumbled. Hungry and tired from my fight with the Grade 3. Guns locked in on me. And my only tickets out of this predicament were in the hands of a cadet and an unbelievable woman… No offense, Ophelia. Though, maybe it was my fault for letting her keep it when she took it the first time.
"I found the jacket!" the cadet yelled.
Another officer came around to check out the findings. He glanced over it and checked the pockets for any concealable items. That officer then presented the jacket to the one questioning me, whispering in his ear inaudibly.
"Your authorization." Not a question, a demand.
"I don't have it."
The officer took the jacket and held it up, showing me the back logo.
"Black Wolf Knights of the Valley Kingdom, right?" he retorted.
"Yes, that's correct," I said reluctantly, sensing his smugness.
"You do understand that if you don't provide your authorization, we are permitted to take you in due to alleged crimes within the Valley jurisdiction. Anything else that happened here would be probable cause," he said. A warning.
Of course… alleged was the key word here because they were crimes we didn't even commit. It's a long story, but ever since I was appointed Acting Captain of the Black Wolf Knights, there have been a number of reports outside of the Valley Kingdom. Reports of "Black Wolf Knights" participating in illegal medical trade, trafficking, and gang warfare. All of which we did not do, but these fake Black Wolves kept popping up and ruining our reputation.
I don't even know how it all started. It would be hard to back this up without plausible cause. Given my unfortunate circumstances, no matter what I said, it would be used against me… this situation sucked.
It was then, I felt a hand on my ankle. Female, and permeating out from the ground without the officers noticing. Then a face appeared from underneath, the ground like calm water to her. Her pretty face was unmistaken, and the eyepatch on her right eye was a dead giveaway… Ophelia. I thought, to my pleasant surprise, even though my face failed to express it.
She tapped my ankle, and with her other hand, she slipped the authorization scroll into my boot. She hid before anyone saw her. Good timing. Seems we may have just grazed past this one.
"My boot," I said, pretending I had forgotten. "I forgot I kept the authorization scroll in there." I used my eyes to point the officer to it.
The officer looked me up and down before he reluctantly went to check my boot, seeing if I was going to try anything. Taking his sweet time, he took it out and read the digital scroll to himself.
After reading it for a good thirty seconds, he looked at me again, put the scroll away into his front vest pocket, and then said, "Arrest him."
"What? I gave you everything you needed. What is it now?"
"The authorization is expired. You only had until 1600 to complete this mission and leave."
I recalled the time. This was ridiculous.
I completed the mission at 1550. But even so, there was no deadline for this mission unless I had completed it during the day, which I did, before 1600; only then was there was a deadline to collect it. But there was a grace period of at least two days during the hours of 0800-1600... Technically I was still in the right, So why were they arresting me?
"Just because I didn't collect my reward on time? I just beat the Grade 3 minutes ago. I have two days to collect it," I said, justifying my case.
The officer opened the scroll and its contents digitized. He swiped with his finger, scrolling it down to the very bottom and showed it to me. "Does it now?"
Though my mouth was but a thin line, the expression on my face finally shifted to something they could all read.
[DEADLINE TO COMPLETE MISSION IS 1600 THIS DAY. FUNDS MUST BE COLLECTED UPON COMPLETION OR MISSION IS VOID]
"And I'm assuming you don't have a Knight's Permit?"
The look on my face said it all.
"That's what I thought," he pompously concluded only seconds after asking.
No, this wasn't right. I would have collected my reward by 1600 if it weren't for these damn W.M.A. wasting my time. The reward collection... that was what they were going off of. That's all it took to give them a reason to arrest me. Why had I thought the mission was just like all the others? I couldn't believe how careless I had become.
The time was now 1605. At this time, one of the officers cuffed me and began reciting my Miranda rights.
I gave a sigh to myself as he did.
If I resisted arrest and the Kingdom found out one of their guild captains had done so, it would immediately link us to all the alleged crimes against the Black Wolves outside Valley Kingdom district with or without plausible cause. At this point, they were just waiting for any reason to take me in. I could practically their elated faces under all their face masks.
We scored big with this one!
Consider quota over-met!
We eatin' big today boys!
I thought I heard them say...
Were these really their thoughts or was I delusional? Was I making this up because the severity of the situation finally caught up to me?
I knew these Black Wolves were a trash Guild. What was their old captain's name... Asura? Yeah that guy had no clue how to raise proper members. Fucking idiot.
I had no idea why, but I was convinced that was what the one in front of me was thinking.
When I heard that thought, my expression changed to rage, and I looked at him with hostility etched onto every fiber of my being.
The officers stepped back as if sensing that hostility from my mere glance.
Guns flung to my direction and they readied themselves.
"Stop resisting or we'll have to use force!" an officer said. His tone didn't sound all to confident.
"You hit me earlier, what's stopping you from shooting?" I said menacingly.
Whatever they felt, they felt it in their bones. The officer's warning was even a bluff. Some of them were sweating and some trembling. They couldn't make a move.
I didn't know what was going on, but I used it to my advantage. I turned to the officer who questioned me.
"Can you voice out your thought more clearly please?" I said. Though calm, the only thing it carried was an intense weight behind the words.
"I—I said stop resisting!"
"No, that wasn't it."
A trembling gunshot whipped, grazing my face. I looked that officer dead in the eyes, unflinching as he did.
I walked toward him with a dreadful aura. I could only guess, from the reflection in his eyes, that it was haunting and menacing. An aura I didn't quite understand, for it was not produced by mana...
Frightened, he stepped back and attempted to fire again. Another graze. His aim unsteady. It was like fear took over him completely.
Then he cocked the gun again and this time aimed it directly at my forehead, to which I stood before him and pressed my head up to the barrel.
"Well? Go ahead."
I knew they all saw me as some psychopath by this point. They just had to go and talk bad about my captain, and treat all this like some game. This wasn't justice. And neither was I.
But little did they know I could deflect a bullet.
At that moment, I felt a strong presence. As if a ray of light shot through me. Completely different from this strange negative aura around I was emitting around us.
"Officers. If you could please release my good acquaintance. Under law of the Valley Kingdom." A familiar voice. The pride and the heart of the Valley Kingdom itself, holding a Knights Permit, and the reason I wouldn't have to pay the consequences for my actions…
He was the respected Vice Captain of the Crimson Dragon Knights. And, ironically, my best friend. Relief struck me at last.
"'Bout time, you damn bastard."