Machinist of Mana

My next couple of hours were rather hectic. I began by writing letters, writing letters was easy and could get people who would believe me to do so. Perhaps the local police would not, perhaps they'd insist that I'd been seeing things, or that there were no monsters in the sewers. Honestly I didn't know and it didn't matter, because there were, and I knew at the very least my grandfather wouldn't turn his back on me. He knew how serious monsters were, he'd seen a goblin, albeit a very different one, and he'd taken that seriously enough, he would help. That meant that I of course had to inform my parents as well, for their peace of mind if nothing else.

Sadly though we met at the restaurant nobody was in much a mood to eat. Nor were we allowed in, half of our party being rather foul smelling and quite under-dressed for the occasion. After managing to get hold of our carriage we'd returned to the school early, me to my letters and the other boys to meet with their friends and regale them with the story of the whole incident.

While I was writing I was interrupted several times by curious students, eager to hear about the monster I'd faced. Even if it had come to naught I'd still gone up against something most of them foolishly dreamed of, something they'd love to pit themselves against to test their mettle. I'm not sorry to say that my dry, almost clinical telling of it didn't really thrill them, but it did make them pay attention, which was what I wanted.

Attention I got too, as I was pulled out of Civics, one of my favorite subjects, the very next morning. The Headmaster wanted to see me, in his office this time, not a dojo, and I was not alone. All four of us were marched in before the bear of a man and gestured to seats. The owner of the space took his own in a high backed chair behind his desk.

The office was, in a word, neat. There was not a speck of dust to be found, not a paper was out of place. Everything had its place and each place had its thing. Stacks of documents, all with edges perfectly aligned were upon his desk, books lined up like soldiers on shelves, titles and dates shining. Only one thing seemed not to belong, a lanky man in a black suit in the corner.

“Allow me to make sure that I understand things correctly. For misunderstanding leads to misaligned results,” the ruler of this school declared. “The four of you heard a screaming woman, and decided to take it upon yourselves to investigate?”

“Yes sir,” we chorused.

“Upon finding a girl and learning of a kidnapping you two,” he indicated the pair in question. “Remained with her while you,” Lucas and myself this time. “Went to attempt to stop the kidnapping in question?”

“Yes sir,” we said again.

“You had no aid should something go awry, no way to get any, no idea what you were getting yourselves into. I may add that that nearly got one of you killed and the other taken. Yet you charged forwards, with hardly a thought.”

Our group awaited his decision, but not one of us looked away. I wouldn't have done anything different, and if I knew my friends they felt similarly. We'd done the right thing, and his tone implied we were wrong for it. We were not wrong, and I wouldn't bow under any pressure for that.

“I'm quite proud of you,” he finally announced with an almost, but not quite, smile. “Execution needs work, but we can, and will, improve that. Without the gumption to step forward we get nowhere. I'll be arranging for some extra training as a reward. Simon, Reese, you are dismissed.”

After it was ascertained that he'd seen nothing Lucas too was sent out, leaving only myself, the Headmaster, and the unknown man left.

“Let us hear what happened,” the Headmaster declared, and once more I repeated my story, blow for blow, word for word. I had a pretty good memory, and this I'd seared into it, it was too important for anything else. When I was done the teacher looked towards the other man, who stepped forward.

“Good afternoon young lord Percival. First, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ignus, an investigator in the service of His Grace the Duke.”

“A pleasure to meet you sir,” I said with a nod.

“And you young man. Now, we saw that sample of blood you brought back and I can agree that it is certainly not human, whatever it is. That has been sent of for experts to look at, but for the moment, please stop,” he said, firmly.

“Stop?” I asked.

“Yes, stop trying to convince people of what you saw, and with these if you will.” He held up a number of envelopes that I recognized. It wasn't lost on me that they were opened either.

“You read my mail,” I nearly yelled, scandalized.

“As part of my duties, yes. Something I don't regret and will do again if needed. The situation is... delicate, and must be handled as such.”

I stood, struggling to resist the urge to strike the man. “You're hiding it? The fact that there are dangerous monsters in the city? How many people will you let get kidnapped? How many will disappear and never return?” I said through my teeth.

“We are hiding that you suspect, and we are concerned, that there may be intelligent monsters about. If it stays a rumor that is that, but if it becomes published there will be a panic and that helps no one.” With a placating hand he stopped me from speaking. “That does not mean however that we're not taking the situation seriously.”

“Taking it seriously? By what, letting people get taken?” I accused.

“No, by scouring the parts of the city sewers and tunnels that we can and increasing the guard patrols significantly. The papers will also have an article about an unknown kidnapper capable of using physical type magic this evening. I will do what I must to avoid a panic, but that doesn't mean leaving people to themselves.” He wasn't being completely unreasonable there.

“And if I refused to stop telling people what I saw?” I questioned.

“I will do what I must to avoid a panic.” At my look he continued. “Goodness boy, I'm not going to have you killed, how unneeded would that be? But I can see to it that you're sent back to your family's country estate, and that you remain there for a time. I can also have you restricted to the school if I feel that better, and left unable to spread worry. In time the truth will come out, but for now, until we know more, keep yourself reserved. I'd express concern about the other boys, but they didn't see anything themselves. You don't even need to lie, just refuse to talk about it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Fine, for now. However, if I don't think you're taking this seriously, or if I don't see that warning in the papers I'll make you regret it.” Nothing said panic like pamphlets released from a drone, something I could definitely manage if I wanted to burn some bridges.

He laughed, and looked at the Headmaster. “See why you like this one old friend. I believe he'd actually do it.”

“I would,” I confirmed.

“Well then, I best go and keep my word shouldn't I? Just see to it you do the same and we'll have no issues at all.” With that he left.