Lord Fujioka and Akihiro stared at each other for a moment before Fujioka spoke. "To my office, now."
The two of them quickly moved into his office in silence. Lord Fujioka unlocked the door and when they were inside, he locked it behind them.
It was a good-sized office with one big window opposite the door. In front of the window was a desk. There were papers and classic office stuff on the desk. Behind it was a fine leather chair that Lord Fujioka sat on.
He sat behind his desk and Akihiro Sato grabbed a spare chair from the room's corner and placed it across from Fujioka and sat down.
"So, I'll give you the basic rundown and then we will get to the good stuff."
"I'm listening."
"His full name is Reiji Kurozuma. He was born into a serf family, nothing that stood out in any way besides the parents having only two children, Reiji and his older brother. His brother, if he's still alive, is 32. He is eight years older than our 24-year-old Reiji. He felt neglected by his-"
"Yes, yes. I'm aware. His parents died when he was seventeen from illness and his older brother left. He swore to protect some village that he failed to protect."
"But do you know what caused him to fail?" Akihiro Sato pointed a gloved finger at Lord Fujioka. Fujioka waited for Akihiro to tell him.
"From a demon of all things!...Well, not exactly. He killed a scavenger, the weakest kind of demon. It was starved, weak and desperate which allowed him to win. He killed it by cutting off its head."
"And the body?" Lord Fujioka asked.
"It was buried under the snow in the backyard of someone's house, that someone being Haruto Hishino's parents."
"Let me guess. The demon's strong smell, which humans can't pick up on, eventually reached the supernatural creatures in the area and lured them in, destroying the village?"
"Yes, it took about seven days, and the village was burned down, not a single corpse was found. Whatever caused that fire devoured the demon, absorbing its power before eating the village population."
"Maybe it was a Feuer." Akihiro thought for a moment. "Maybe so but that isn't important. So he went back to his campsite before the village was left to burn and Haruto visited him, alone. The same day as Haruto's unexpected visit they saw a glow in the distance when night fell. They went to the village and saw nothing but ashes which loops us back to the Feuer theory."
Lord Fujioka was silent for a moment. "...Wait, where was Kurozuma born in the first place?" Akihiro looked down at a piece of paper from the stack. "Verlaten." He answered.
"Ah, that city. People are very benevolent there. What happened?"
"Sorry, Sir, I have no idea. It seems that memory was tucked away. Do I continue?" "Yes."
"Well, soon after they decided to go back to Reiji's campsite where he lived. On their way he killed a skinwalker and fought with a spindler."
"Spindler? I'm guessing that it was stronger than the starved demon. Spindlers are known for being on par with weaker demons."
"Yes, you are correct, Lord Fujioka. It was stronger and the only reason Reiji didn't die was because it prioritized absorbing the demon's powers, not knowing that it was already eaten by another creature at the time."
"I understand, please, continue." The lord gestured with his hand.
"He then traveled for a few days before directly encountering Lord Saionji and his escort which he single-handedly took out and stole some silver coins, leaving him to die in the winter."
"How many men did Lord Saionji's escort have again? An old man's mind is not exactly reliable."
"Twenty, sir. Reiji took out twenty soldiers. He knew exactly when to press and when to retreat, taking them out one by one. Quite effective if I say so myself."
Lord Fujioka stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Kurozuma was able to kill a demon, not be completely outmatched by a spindler and take out twenty men. It seems he's a formidable opponent even before our training."
"Oh, and one more thing. He was able to kill a Frostgnasher all by himself, but it was distracted by the platoon that was sent out to recover Lord Saionji. That gave him the opportunity to catch it off guard and kill it."
"...I understand. He seems to be quite crafty." Lord Fujioka stood up and walked over to the window behind him. He looked out for a moment, admiring the mountains in the distance.
He turned to Akihiro and asked. "Do you think he'll be a good Whisperer?"
Akihiro smiled in response. "Oh, is someone playing favorites? Personally, I think he'd be perfect for the Lucid route. To fight the mentioned opponents, I think you need to be quite perceptive."
"...Yes, that is true. What about the other two?"
"Those two?" Akihiro's face dropped into a sour expression, his voice far less enthusiastic. "Well, one is a barbarian that has raped multiple women in front of their children and did so to a few other smaller men in prison. The other is a cunning thief that seduces men and women alike and in the best case she just steals from her victims."
"And worst case?" "She kills the whole family. She even confessed that she murdered a six-month-old baby, claiming it was too loud."
"...My, are you sure you're not hiding anything from me regarding Kurozuma? He sounds like an angel compared to the other two."
Akihiro Sato leaned back in his chair. "He kind of is. Well, he is directly or indirectly responsible for the death of…" Akihiro leafed through the report on Reiji. "Over a hundred people."
"Could have led with that." The lord commented. "Well, he knocked out twenty men, fatally injuring one. The rest froze to death along with the Lord they were escorting. The fifty sent out to find him tried to recover what Reiji stole from them, but the Frostgnasher killed nearly all of them, 41 to be exact. That adds up to 62 people, including one Lord. The rest were the people that died in the village he swore to protect but I guess those don't count."
"Of course they don't. He was involved but to say he was responsible for their deaths is a blatant lie. Lord Saionji was arrogant and had a fitting death." Akihiro looked surprised by Lord Fujioka's words. "...Soooo, 61 people murdered?"
Lord Fujioka continued. "Write off those 19 soldiers that died in the winter but keep the one that was mortally wounded. As for that platoon that was sent out, dismiss all their deaths, it was the Frostgnasher that killed them after all and you could say Kurozuma even saved nine of those soldiers."
Akihiro looked around for a moment. "Can I use your quill and ink, Sir?" "Yes, of course."
Lord Fujioka turned away from Akihiro and kept looking out the window. "I did send our hot-headed general and a trusted soldier to investigate the platoon while they were on their mission. Their captain was accused of a few crimes but since he was a part of the military it wasn't properly investigated."
Akihiro listened while crossing out certain lines in his report. "Akihiro." Akihiro looked up at Lord Fujioka. "Yes?"
"...Keep an eye on Masaru Kurogane and Kurotsuki Reina." "Understood." Akihiro Sato was just sixteen years old, and he loved when Lord Fujioka didn't follow the rules, so he didn't even think to question his decisions.
…
Reiji Kurozuma stared at Kurogane, who was casually standing in the doorway, his hand still on the door's handle. Haruto Hishino stood behind Reiji, holding onto his umanori.
"It seems we have a problem here, you fu-" Reiji stopped himself, realizing there was a child behind him. After a moment he turned his attention back to Kurogane and Reina. "What I meant to say was that we seem to have a problem here, you washed up pigs."