Chapter 20 – “Eep!”, and Possession of Illegal Specimens

“Sir, I’m not sure what you mean,” Daniel replied. He mentally double checked the brand on his chest that linked him to the [Knight], then checked his mana bar. The blue bar stood completely still, unmoving. “It doesn’t seem like I’m using mana?”

The burly black robed man in an inquisitor hat grabbed Daniel’s arm and yanked him backwards, as the other two inquisitors held him in place with an armlock. “Ow!” Daniel shouted, but the inquisitors paid no attention to his pain.

With a heave, the inquisitors began pulling Daniel away from the notice board and towards the exit of the chamber of commerce, when one of the inquisitor’s shoulders hit Daniel’s hood, crushing the small faerie inside.

“Eep!” Aerie yelped.

With a quick glance at each other and a fluid movement, the lead inquisitor yanked Daniel’s hood back, unfurling it, as the wind faerie with glowing skin and violet wings fell outwards into the second inquisitor’s waiting palm.

“What’s this?” asked the second man, his scowling features turning into a grin as his eyes shone with avarice. “An illegal alien specimen, this is… where did you get a hold of this contraband creature, boy?”

Daniel raised his hands in a panic, surrendering himself and showing to the inquisitors that he was no threat. “Sorry, sirs! I’m new here and didn’t know that it’s illegal to have one of them. It’s just a garden pixie I picked off the side of the road on my way to Raskal, I swear!”

His brain working quick as ever, Daniel began to shoot out bullshit like his life depended on it. He chose to masquerade Aerie as a pixie because it would make her seem like a less valuable species than a faerie. Whether or not that was true in this world had yet to be seen, as Daniel waited nervously for the inquisitor’s response.

“A pixie, eh?” the second inquisitor replied. “Todd, you ever seen a pixie before?”

The third inquisitor, a dopey looking man named Todd, scratched his head. “Eh a few years back, I reckon.” He leaned in closer for a look, his warm breath pouring onto the frightened faerie’s body. The man’s eyes narrowed as he studied her, poking at her stomach with his grubby hands. “Ye, that’s a pixie alright. Just the garden variety. You can find these if your own backyard if you look hard enough. This ‘uns a bit prettier than the usual lot, though.”

Daniel breathed a slight sigh of relief. It seemed like this Todd fellow just wanted to show off his knowledge to his comrades, even if it meant continuing on with Daniel’s bullshit train. Maybe pixies really were a thing in this world, and could be mistaken for faeries. Daniel had no idea, since he was new to this world.

“Well, alright,” the second inquisitor replied. He nodded at the lead inquisitor, who briefly scribbled something onto a notepad, then carefully tore the page out.

The lead inquisitor walked right up to Daniel’s face, the chestplate underneath his black robes bumping into Daniel’s torso rather aggressively, although Daniel still stood half a head above him.

He spoke in a gruff tone, waving the piece of paper in his face. “Listen here, boy. You’ve been caught with an illegal specimen on your person, as well as violated Raskal’s laws by evoking mana in the chamber of commerce. You have two choices– prison, or a one thousand gold first offense fine.”

Daniel shook his head. “I’m sorry sir, it was really an accident–”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say. Save it for the judge.” The lead inquisitor grabbed both of Daniel’s arms and began putting him in handcuffs. “Off to prison it is, then.”

“Wait…” Daniel said quickly. “I’ll pay the fine!”

A greedy glint appeared in the lead inquisitor’s eyes. “Ah, really? A thousand gold it is. Pay up.” He stuck out his hand, waving it in front of Daniel.

“Er, I don’t have the money yet, but I can take on a loan, I swear I’ll pay it back.” Daniel grasped at straws, not wanting to get thrown into prison for violating some obscure law he had no idea about.

The inquisitor stroked his chin in thought. “A loan can be arranged. But if you fail to pay back the loan within the specified time frame, there will be consequences. Do you agree?”

Daniel bit his tongue. “I’d like to know what the terms are first, but a loan is fine with me. And please give me my garden pixie back, it’s getting frightened. That species sometimes poops when they’re frightened, you don’t want to deal with that on your hand.”

Aerie gave Daniel a wide-eyed shocked look at the outrageous lie he just made up, but Daniel couldn’t respond. He watched nervously as the lead inquisitor gave the inquisitor named Todd a glance, which Todd returned with a shrug, indicating he had no idea if that was true or not.

“Very well, you may have your pixie back.” The lead inquisitor tossed over the ‘pixie’ towards Daniel, who caught her gently and quickly put her back into his hood.