Chapter 257 - Clueless

“High treason?” Finn hesitated, “I didn’t realize Char Char was a national threat.”

His mind started racing as he evaluated the new information. Prior to this, Char Char had merely been a person of interest. The White Maiden was suspected of playing a role in the sabotage of the core artifact in the Tye-An Cathedral, but there was only circumstantial evidence.

Had there been recent developments on the White Maiden?

“These are simply the orders from the Ministry.” Gwynn shrugged, “Is there a problem with bringing her in?”

“No, I’ll handle it.” Finn calmly lied through his teeth. He mirrored Gwynn’s mannerisms, shrugging nonchalantly, “I was planning to head to the Zhao estate today regardless.”

Of course, Finn had no way of following through on this promise. Not only was Char Char across the province, he didn’t even know exactly where she was. There was no way to bring her back without exposing himself— that would be a straight ticket to a life in prison.

Therefore he had no choice but to promise the impossible.

“Good.” Gwynn nodded, closing the topic, “There’s one final thing to discuss, then. You’ve gained clearance to advance to Apprentice.”

Finn nodded, not terribly surprised. Given his accomplishments he figured it was only a matter of time before he would be given the chance.

“The military will be responsible for preparing the catalyst, you don’t have to do anything.” Gwynn said, “Your advancement ceremony will take place in three days.”

Finn’s ears perked up as he heard the time, but he only nodded again.

“Any objections?”

“No.” Finn said, pausing before adding, “I’ll do it.”

Gwynn nodded, gathering the documents that Finn had prepared as she stood up to leave, “You don’t have to do anything special for the ceremony. Apprentice catalyst isn’t something to be worried about. With the current formula and all the proper procedures followed the typical success rate is about ninety percent.

“Just get a good sleep the night before.”

~

Finn saw Gwynn off, then made his way back to his office.

“Sleep, right.” Finn muttered, noting the time on a clock in the hall. He’d been awake for twenty six hours. Though he’d felt a bit tired when writing out the reports in Plunes, he was now wide awake, his mind buzzing with the things that he had to do.

“If I get everything done in time, I might be able to sleep by midnight tonight…” Finn muttered to himself.

Though I may be sleeping in a prison cell. Finn noted with morbid humour, imagining how the Ministry would handle him showing up empty handed at the Cathedral, if he were unable to fulfill the decree to bring Char Char in.

Something for future Finn to worry about.

The door to his office was ajar, and he heard familiar voices inside.

“Good morning.” “Good morning, sir.”

The bright, serious faces of Officers Damien Niles and Minnie Kim greeted him as he entered the room. They were sitting in his visitor chairs, which they had pulled away from the desk to give them more space to talk.

From their casual postures they had probably been waiting for him for a little while.

“Good morning.” Finn nodded, making his way over to his desk, “I have a task that I need your help with.”

The two officers turned their chairs to face him as he sat down in his chair, pulling out two folders and passing them out. “Last night there was an altercation in Plunes involving an unknown exalted assailant. The assailant’s domain is unclear, but he’s assumed to be at least at the Disciple level. The assailant is still at large, and the Plunes police have asked us to assist them in the investigation.”

Damien was the most capable officer on the team, a Disciple Astromancer who had originally worked under Chief Yun, and then briefly for Chief Bear as part of the special cross-department investigation team that was tasked with investigating the failed Special Ops mission.

This team was the same team that had been incapacitated by Ming Ru in the forest cave, which Finn had subsequently saved. Following Chief Bear’s death, Finn found himself in charge of the team himself.

Damien was the only member on Finn’s team who had originally been part of Special Ops. The middle aged officer had a reliable personality, and had accepted Finn’s leadership seriously without complaint.

Damien thumbed through the file, carefully reading it through before commenting, “This seems like a complicated case, there aren’t many leads, either.”

“The bodyguard, Firuzeh Asvadani, believed that the attacker was injured, which prompted them to flee.” Finn nodded, “There’s a good chance that the attacker might come back to finish the job once they recover. It’s also possible that the attacker has accomplices. We should be open to any possibility.”

“Are we sure that the attacker was after Mr. Nao?” Minnie asked, rubbing her lips thoughtfully, “Based on their testimony it could almost have been coincidental. A chance meeting in the night.”

“That’s likely not the case.” Finn said, “Even if it is, Mr. Nao is our best lead. It would be good to start the investigation by ensuring his safety.”

Of course, Finn had information beyond what was written in the reports. That is, Char Char was in Plunes with Corbin, on a secret mission to contact the White Maiden. His plan was to keep control of the investigation while also providing assistance to Corbin in the off-chance that they needed it, killing two birds with one stone.

His original plan was to share the nature of the secret mission with his team to reduce complications in the future. However, after learning that aiding Char Char was now considered treason, he decided against it.

“Call it a hunch, I think the chances of the attacker coming after Mr. Nao again is quite high.”

Minnie frowned, but seemed to accept his vague explanation.

“The attacker might be cautious knowing that Mr. Nao had been interrogated by the police. We can set up some warding rituals, while getting the local officers to run checks on the attacker’s description.” Officer Niles said, “It will probably be a waiting game unless the attacker is careless.”

“If nothing happens in a few days, we can evaluate our actions.” Finn said, finding that outcome acceptable. If nothing happens for a few days, Char Char should have finished her investigation of the shrine and might have some results for me. With luck, she’ll be able to contact the White Maiden and we can make some progress…

“We’ll get going right away, then.” Niles nodded, “Who knows when the attacker will show up again.”

Finn nodded to Niles, dismissing him before turning to Minnie, “Minnie, I need to talk to you for a moment.”

When they were alone, with the door closed and locked, Finn looked seriously at Minnie, “I have some news. I just finished a meeting with Chief Gwynn— They’re promoting me to National Inspector.”

Minnie’s lips grew ever so slightly taut as she looked Finn in the eyes, trying to gauge his feelings on the topic. Seeing that he wasn’t saying it in a boastful or celebratory manner, she responded with a cautious, “Is that so? Congratulations.”

“The promotion also extends to the team. I’ll get the details later, but it will likely mean better pay and benefits, and further opportunities for advancement.” Finn said, “Our team has been quite solid the last few weeks, I think our synergy is good. Can you help me to share the news with everyone and get them on board with the change?”

“That’s a pretty big change… Isn’t National Inspector a military position?” Minnie frowned. “What kind of cases would we investigate?”

“Primarily, continuation of the smuggled catalyst case.” Finn said, “Instead of handing the case off to another team, they want us to follow the trail to Huan.”

“I don’t know if that will work. Damien is a father of two, and Wren’s parents are in poor health. This last month has been hard on them since we’ve been taking care of chasing down the Cloud Peak monks.” Minnie said, “If we’re operating outside of Noga, I imagine we wouldn’t have access to portals.”

“That’s probably true.” Finn nodded.

“…It seems like a lot to consider.” Minnie frowned.

“That’s why I’m asking you to help. If they don’t want to join the new team that’s fine, we don’t need to force them.” Finn said, “Same for you, I know you enjoy being on the force, staying close to Noga City. If you don’t want to join the military I’d understand.”

Minnie paused, looking into Finn’s eyes with a hardened gaze. She didn’t say anything for a moment, but it was clear that something was bothering her. A subtle twitch of her lips indicated to Finn that she was angry about something.

A few seconds of silence passed before Finn ventured to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Finn, if I didn’t know you so well I’d be so mad at you right now.” Minnie said, “You know how heartless you sounded when you said we don’t need to force our teammates to join?”

“How is that heartless? I’m literally saying that because I care about their personal situation.” Finn frowned, “You said before I needed to lean on everyone more, well that’s why I asked you to help me ask the team about the promotion.”

“It’s heartless because you don’t understand us at all, Finn!” Minnie said with a start as she pressed her hands against the edge of the desk and stood up, “Every one of us look up to you and rely on you for leadership. Our team has done incredible things together and we’re just starting to gel, and yet you can so casually suggest something like they don’t have to join the new team.”

“What am I supposed to do, then? You said it yourself, Damien has a family, wouldn’t forcing him to join be the heartless thing to do?” Finn asked incredulously.

“I mean, you could have asked us before you made the decision to accept the promotion.” Minnie said.

“I wasn’t given much of a choice.” Finn replied.

“Then you should understand that we’re in the same position.” Minnie said, “Why would you think we wouldn’t follow you?”

“I really don’t see the problem with giving everyone the option to refuse.” Finn sighed.

“The problem is—“ Minnie’s face grew flustered as she bit her lip, suddenly coming to a rash decision, “The problem is you’re so damn clueless!”

Before Finn could react she grabbed him, leaned forward over his desk and pulled him into a kiss.