Dungeon Raider System

The woman placed a small folder in the table in front of her and opened it, then she started turning the pages in the most dramatic way possible, only to be embarrassed after realizing it was just three sheets of paper. She hurriedly looked at the floor thinking that maybe she dropped some of the files, but that wasn't the case.

"How is this possible!? There's no information about this guy!" Seiren exclaimed.

"Are you dumb? He's obviously from the slums, do you think even the Mapple corp. has enough resources to investigate everyone in there?" The man mocked her.

"No, but... he doesn't have any online presence up to this year. Aren't kids obsessed with social media?" She was flabbergasted.

"I didn't have a phone." Uriel shrugged.

"Just ask the questions, would you?" The man scoffed at the woman.

Even though it was Uriel the one being interrogated, the only flustered person in the room was Seiren. Both Uriel and the man were amused by her embarrassment, especially when she flushed in bright red, though she quickly composed herself and proceeded with her job.

"Are you an ascended?" She asked after looking at the files.

"Yes."

"Did you participate on the expedition to Chichén Itzá funded by the Mapple corp?"

"Yes."

"Did you kill Flanagan?"

"Yes." Uriel replied just like the other times, only now her reaction was different. The woman's ears twitched, her eyes widened but then became sharp as daggers.

"That was a lie. I don't care why you lied about it. One more lie and you're done."

"Hey! You called me in here because this was supposed to be an emergency. If this kid is not dangerous then I'm out." The man said as he intended to leave, but the woman stopped him. Stay updated through empire

"I think you'll want to stay for the next questions." The woman said piquing his interest, then she asked Uriel another question. "Did you steal the orichalcum dagger you found in the tomb?" When Seiren mentioned the dagger the man dropped any intention to leave and remained seated waiting for Uriel to answer.

"No." He stuck to short answers to avoid being forced to lie. This time, her ears didn't move, but she kept pushing.

"You see, I know you're not lying now, but here's what I don't understand. Stella, one of the bodyguards assigned to you, said you found an orichalcum dagger with strange carvings on it and you unrightfully claimed its ownership. So, let me rephrase the question. Did you take the dagger?"

"I did, but then it was lost."

The woman was evidently distraught by his answer. What she expected to be an easy pass for a promotion after making Uriel confess, turned out to be a fluke. If he didn't steal the dagger then there was nothing else she could do.

"I'm sorry Jon, he's innocent." She said apologetically.

"You got all my hopes up for no reason. I really wanted to get my hands on another ancient artifact." The man sighed.

The woman then proceeded to remove Uriel's restraints as he had been cooperative so far and she also proved his innocence. The only thing she wanted was to retrieve any artifacts he might have stolen, but if he was innocent there was nothing to retrieve hence there was no need to keep him under arrest.

"You're free to go." Seiren said.

"What about my friends?"

"They were released right after they were brought in. Apparently, one of them comes from a well respected family and they negotiated their immediate release." She explained.

Uriel stood up and readied himself to leave, but something bothered him. From what he gathered, it was obvious the man named Jon was stronger and also in a higher position than Seiren. But he did look like an explorer and Uriel thought he might be a researcher like him.

"Hey, why are you so interested in ancient artifacts?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just writing a book and I thought it could be helpful."

"A book? About what?"

"Archaeology."

"You're an archaeologist? What is your book about?" Uriel asked with curiosity.

"It's too complicated for a kid like yourself, but if you have to know, it's about material culture in archaic settlements as an effect of the linear and appositional growth of their youth."

"I see... so you're claiming that the size of a culture's artifacts depends on the development of their children, which would imply that most civilizations made their utensils smaller to accommodate them. In short, you think they made their kids work and that's why artifacts became increasingly smaller with time."

"Now I see why that old fart took you on his foolish expedition." Jon said with a smirk that triggered Uriel.

"Foolish? I think it's more foolish to write a book about something that can be easily explained by the change in population stature due to environmental factors." Uriel scoffed.

"That's pretty rich coming from someone who got themselves arrested. There's nothing wrong with my hypothesis, there's a lot of evidence supporting it. The only explanation to utensils being made smaller is infant labor."

"That's stupid. Maybe humans just used to be taller."

"Alright, I got it. Stop calling me names for a second and let's have a civil conversation. Why do you think humans used to be taller?"

Uriel realized to late his blunder. He couldn't say he thought so because he'd seen how tall some members of a civilization that preceeded the archaic era were because that would expose him, but he also couldn't lie because Seiren was still present. Before falling into panic, he realized something.

The man he was talking to thought of him as nothing but a child and that gave him the chance to act like one.

"I just do."

"Hahaha, just as I expected." He laughed as he patted Uriel on the back prompting him to exit the room. Both Jon and Seiren accompanied him to the exit but before parting ways Jon addressed him again. "Hey kid, if you're interested in archaeology maybe you could stop by the national museum to have a chat."

"I don't even know your name." Uriel replied.

"Right, sorry about that. My name is Jon Hunter."

"Jon Hunter!? 'The' Jon hunter!?" Uriel asked so loudly he was almost yelling.