Lord Brock thought his luck was on a hot streak lately. First his business got expanded, then his position in the Guild of Latea rose significantly, even the deal with the tax department had gone well. He felt like the stars had listened to his wish last year and blessed him with good luck. That was until a leather bag covered his head and his body was lifted up and snatched away like a pig on the street. He struggled, but both his hands and legs were tighted by ropes and the only thing that came out of his mouth was a few grunts that one could barely hear two meters away.

The merchant from the Rat tribe didn’t know how long he was carried until finally he was set on what seemed like a wooden chair.

“Open it up.” There was a bland voice, one that didn’t seem to care about anything. Then Brock felt some movements under his neck and the bag was removed, his eyes squinted as the bright light on the ceiling stroke him right away.

“What is the meaning of this, who are you people?” He let out a few angry words before his vision returned. Then the merchant saw the uniform of the beastman sitting on the opposite side of the table and the words got stuck in his long, pointy mouth. Black, long sleeve jacket with red outlines buttoned up all the way to the neck, a golden eye on top of a white scale on the chest, an Inquisitor. He was a beastman from the Dog tribe, brown fur, small dark eyes, round, black noses with fluffy ears relaxing on both side of his face. From the first look, one would think he was a friendly person, but Lord Brock knew better, friendly is hardly a word one uses to describe the Inquisition.

“Hello, Lord Brock of the Merchant Guild of Latea, I’m Krane Harding, of His Majesty’s Inquisition.” The dogman introduced himself. “Behind me is Enforcer Ieta.” He pointed at the girl from the Cat tribe wearing similar uniform, only with two grey stripes instead of the golden eye. “You probably couln’t see them from there, but behind you are Enforcer Udun and Mirza, they were the ones that invited you here.”

The merchant looked nervously around him as the Inquisitor talked, but his vision was limited as he was tighted by ropes on the chair. He couldn’t make out where he was, the room was extremely simple with no windows, no paintings, only a single light on the ceiling and a set of table and chairs.

“What is this? This must be a mistake. I’ve done nothing wrong.” He said, voice stuttering.

First the confusion. Inquisitor Krane watched as the ratman tried to explain his innocence. He rested his arms on the table, eyes squinted as his lips curled up to a fainted smile.

“You must release me this instant! My Guild won’t let this slide, this is an insult to our honour as merchants!”

And the threats come after. Krane nodded, then one of the Enforcer stepped up from behind and landed a punch onto Brock’s stomach, the merchant’s voice turned into that of a painful cough. Taking a punch from one of the Tiger tribe had never been easy, especially when you are from the weak Rat tribe and was tighted to a wooden chair. The Inquisitor tapped his fingers on the table, the leather glove created a gentle sound as it touched the wooden surface. But that sound was like a call from hell in Brock’s round ears.

“Now then, we all know that you have a lot of connections and know many powerful friends. As a matter of fact, all the people that were invited here have friends and allies that they can rely on.” Krane said, his voice wasn’t particularly fast or slow. “But another fact is that none of them are here right now. It’s only you, me and my three friendly Enforcers. I would love to end this without using the help of my Enforcers, so it would be best if you would cooperate.”

The Inquisitor put his hand under the table and brought out two papers.

“I’ve had a little chat with your friends from the tax department earlier. That didn’t really go well for them as they were quite … stubborn. But in the end I got what I wanted.” He pointed to one paper. “A confession of crime. They confessed that they had received money and in exchange used their influence to overlook some shipments. Coincidentally, the name they mentioned that gave them the money is yours, Lord Brock of the Merchant Guild Latea”

“No, no, I haven’t done any of this! You must believe me!” The merchant from the Rat tribe looked at the paper, his small eyes widened and his pointy nose shaken in horror. “I can prove it to you. Just let me out of here, I can get the papers. I’m innocent!”

Then come the proof of innocence. Krane took back the confession, index finger tapped at the other paper. “Now to the main topic of this meeting. Your confession.” He shoved the blank paper to Brock. “We are all smart men here, so let’s avoid the embarrassing game of hide and seek and be honest. I’ve told you what I want, and we both know that I have the tools to get it. The point here is when I get out of this room with your confession, will you still have all the parts of your body intact or not.”

As Krane was talking, the white tiger Enforcer, Mirza stepped up and put down a wooden box on the table, there were sounds of metal touching each other when the box was put down. Brock didn’t need to think so hard to guess what was the content of the box.

“No, this can’t be true.” The ratman’s spirit started breaking down. He shook his head in denial, lips trembling with fear.

“Now now, this is not good, Lord Brock.” The Inquisitor waved his index finger. “Enforcer Udun, would you mind reminding our merchant that what we need is the confession, not useless muttering.”

There was a loud bang as the ratman head slammed on the table. His head then got pulled up again, just to be slammed a second time. Brock felt like his head was about to explode from the pain, his ears were ringing and his nose bleeding red blood all over the table.

“Painful, isn’t it?” Krane asked in a soft tone, as if he was a mother seeing her child getting hurt. “But wounds like that will heal in no time. A broken bone will take longer to heal, and once fingers or teeth are lost, they won’t return.” His voice then turned to a commanding one. “So, before that happen. Confess!”

The Enforcer from the Cat tribe, Ieta, stepped up from behind Krane, her black fur completely mixed together with the uniform highlighting the yellow eyes. She opened the box, revealed the variety of interrogation tools, metal shining under the light. Then the other two enforcers behind Brock came up, the three of them surrounded the merchant, each with their own tool and cold face, ready to work.

“Confess!” Shouted Mirza, his hammer came crashing down onto Brock’s knee. The ratman squeezed down on the table, let out a series of screaming and cursing. His legs starting kicking the table, his thin tail waving furiously.

“Confess, you worthless worm!” The enforcer from the Leopard tribe, Udun, slapped Brock in the face. He then pulled the chair away from the table, Ieta stepped up, yellow eyes glaring at her prey, right boot trampled on the merchant’s toes, twisting. Then they shouted and cut, and broke, the ratman could only scream, and squeeze. His teeth clenched tight, saliva drooled from the long mouth. His muscles trembled in pain and his head exploded with horror.

“Please, mercy, I’m begging you.” Brock’s voice was weak and faint, almost couldn’t be heard.

Next the plead for mercy. Krane rested his back, let out a disappointing sigh. “You know what I want, Brock, the paper. I must warn you that my enforcers here are professionals. And trust me, they haven’t even started yet, so I strongly advise you to start confessing soon.”

“No, no, please, have mercy.” The ratman begged again, tears and blood dropping from his face.

The Inquisitor sighed again as Ieta plucked out a nail from Brock’s toe with her pincer, blood splatting on her black uniform. “Confess, you filthy rat!” She hissed at Brock’s broken face. The ratman once again screamed in agony, but the three enforcers didn’t show any shred of empathy. Mirza’s hammer still stroke down his knees, Udun’s fist landed one punch after another and Ieta’s pincer moved from one toe to the next.

“I, I confess, I will confess, so please, stop.” Brock could barely breath after the torture.

Finally the good part. Krane nodded to his enforcers and they brought Brock’s chair closer to the table, where a set of paper and pen had been waiting. At that time, the only part that hadn’t been touched on Brock’s body was his right hand. His fingers were trembling from the pain, but soon the blank paper had been filled with the merchant’s confession, black ink mixed with red blood.

“Very good, we have what we were looking for.” Krane took a good look at the paper, nodding. “Put him in the cell.” He waved his hand, didn’t seem to bother with the catman anymore. Mirza dragged Brock out of the room, his big body soon disappeared, only a few painful grunts could still be heard from far away.

“Now, what should we do next?” Ieta asked, her voice was cold and emotionless.

“What is next?” The inquisitor waved the confession paper in his hand. “Do you see this list of accomplices? Go get them. We still have more questions to ask and more papers to fill. And contact the City Watch as well, they might want to raid these warehouses.”

Soon after, another body was dragged into the room, struggling under the bag.

“What is this, who are you people? Why am I here?” Shouted the beastman.

First the confusion. The Inquisitor fixed his collar, gave a pity look at the prisoner, the look a butcher has for his livestock.

“Open it up.”

When Krane reached the Inquisition Headquarter in the third layer of Edion the sky had already turned dark. So my last day of the Festival passed just like that, what a watse. He walked passed the black iron gate guarded by two men of the City Watch into the property of the Inquisition, hand full of papers. The Headquarter of the Inquisition was surrounded by a vast grass field together with three fountains in the front and both sides, there were benches under the trees here and there just like what one could find in a park. But no matter how green the Crown Enquirer tried to decorate his palace, the eight-floors building of the Inquisition still seemed very dark and gloomy, mostly by the atmosphere that surrounded it. Beastman in their black uniform wearing a cold face walking in and out with their confession papers, leading a team of enforcers for a raid or an abduction, whispering secrets, preparing blackmails. Contained within this building were dark secrets that once discovered could shake the foundation of Palomar itself.

The Crown Enquirer’s office was on the eight floor, together with it was the Grand Inquisitor of Edion’s office and the Inquisition’s Archive. Krane waited patiently outside of the golden gate while the head assistant went in and reported to the Crown Enquirer. After a short while the assistant from the Rabbit tribe came out and nodded to the inquisitor.

“His Excellency summons you, inquisitor Krane.”

Krane breathed out, calmed himself down then walked into the office with the best manner he could. No matter how many times he had met Crown Enquirer Astern, Krane must admit that it wasn’t an easy task. The Crown Enquirer from the Lion tribe was signing some papers when Krane walked in, his dark eyes sweeping through the letters one after another. He dressed all in black with the only exception of the Crown Enquirer emblem, the golden eye wearing a crown on top of a white scale. Everyone who had the chance to meet the Crown Inquirer face to face all describe that he had an omnious aura around him that makes them immediately feel their inferiority.

“Krane.” The Crown Inquirer called, his dark mane waving slightly as he looked up.

“Your Excellency.” The inquisitor from the Dog tribe bowed as low as he could, his back facing the ceiling, brown ears dropping on both sides.

“You can sit down.” Crown Inquirer Astern’s voice was low, but it had a commanding tone that one couldn’t resist.

Krane sat down on the wooden chair opposite to the Crown Inquirer. He didn’t seem too comfortable with it, and the four personal enforcers of Astern standing in the corners of the room didn’t help him to ease up much. The inquisitor put the papers of confession on the table, talked in the most silvery tongue he could:

“The investigation of Lord Brock of the Guild Latea was a success, we have clear evidence that they have violated the rules of His Majesty. As of now, the City Watch are raiding the warehouses that contain these undeclared goods.”

“Very good, this will strike a big blow to the Guild of Latea.” Crown Inquirer Astern took a glance at the papers. “Not enough for a mortal wound, but at least they will have to give up some of their trade rights to the Royal Business if they don’t want to be exposed. You have done a good job, Inquisitor Krane.”

“You are too kind, Your Excellency.” The dogman bowed his head low. “Should I continue on this line of investigation, Your Excellency?”

“This will suffice for now. These worthless merchants, if you squeeze them from time to time, they are willing to sacrifice some of their profit, but if you push them too much, then they will retaliate. I have another task for you.” The man from the Lion signed another document as he talked. “You need to keep a close watch on a house of the second layer. 47 of the Barasti road is the address. The owner of the house is Eria Bannesi, I’m sure you won’t have any problem finding this place. I want to know immediately if anything abnormal happens.”

Pausing for a second, his dark eyes glanced at the inquisitor.

“But you need to be very careful and very discreet. You must not let any resident of that house notice that we, the Inquisition, are watching them. And that will be exactly what you do, just watch, nothing else. Am I understood, Inquisitor?” The Crown Inquirer said in a throaty but demanding tone.

“It will be done as you wish, Your Excellency.” The inquisitor bowed his head again.

“Then you are dismissed.”

After that, the Crown Inquirer said no more, dark eyes once again focused on his documents. Inquisitor Krane stood up from his chair and walked to the door, taking another bow before he left.

The cool wind of the night sent a chill down Krane’s spine. Only then he realized that he had been sweating all that time in the Crown Inquirer’s office. It had never been easy, talking face to face with Crown Inquirer Astern.

Eria Bannesi, this won’t be simple. The inquisitor thought, watching a mage of the Lamia’s Follower is a dangerous job. One false step and he would be done, the fury of the mages was never to be judged lightly. I’m pretty sure His Excellency won’t risk himself covering for me if things go sour. But the inquisitor didn’t really have any choice. The beastmans that dared to say no to the Crown Enquirer did exist, but Krane was sure he wasn’t one of them. The inquisitor had only been in the Inquisition for five years, but in those five years he had learnt a lot of lessons.

Once His Excellency gives you a task, you better look like you are doing it.

That was the first lesson Krane learnt.