Claire proceeded to interrogate the remaining employees at random for the next hour. She had no further plan of action, and no more leads after they ruled out the five people who weren't in the building at the time of the theft.
...five?
She shuffled through the papers and lists in the table. Sure enough, the list of absentees had five names, while she was pretty sure there were only four before. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Hey, did we check Evelyn Fritz?" She asked Julliette.
"Hm? I... I don't think we did. Though I could have sworn we-"
She was cut off by her walkie-talkie going off.
"A woman took another employee hostage! She demands to be let out!"
Claire and Julliette rushed out of the room, and soon they came upon a blonde woman in a business suit holding another woman, a brunette intern shaking in fear, by the shoulder and holding a dagger to her hostage's throat. The blade gleamed with oddly refracting light - some sort of enchantment.
"Let me go or I'll slice her fucking head off!" The hostage taker spar at Julliette when she approached. "I'm after two evolutions, she'll be dead before you can shoot me!"
Claire stood there, frozen in fear as the Julliette neither moved to intercept the blade wielder nor gave orders to release her.
Until finally, after the few too-long moments, the gargoyle woman raised her leg, clearly intending to stomp on the floor to activate some kind of Skill.
"Wrong move!" The blonde said, pressing her blade against her hostage's neck.
The dagger bounced off of the now stone-coated skin of the brunette.
Julliette used the woman's resulting confusion to twist her blade-wielding arm in a direction the limb was decidedly unsuited for, given the cracking noise, and pinned the woman to the ground, all in the span of a mere second.
"Claire, do your thing." Julliette instructed in an almost casual tone.
It took several seconds for the words to register, and another few to break out of the shock of the life-or-death situation.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Eat shit." The woman on the ground responded.
Julliette pulled slightly on the oddly-bent limb she still held, eliciting a cry of pain.
"Answer the questions, or I'll tear you apart."
"I demand a fair trial!"
"Unlucky for you, we aren't cops." Claire responded, trying to regain initiative. "Now, what's your name?"
The woman stayed silent for a moment, but before Julliette could apply more "enhanced interrogation", she reluctantly answered.
"Fritz. Evelyn Fritz."
"Did you steal the prototype?"
Fritz didn't answer until Julliette nearly pulled her arm out of the socket. The resulting scream shook everyone present, which finally made Claire aware they were being watched by the remaining crowd of the employees.
"Let's get her to the office."
---
Evelyn Fritz was sitting cuffed to the chair and glaring at Claire.
"Before this goes any further, I'd like to make you an offer."
Fritz didn't react.
"I'm going to write a magically-binding contract. You'll tell us where the prototype is, and we will release you without further violence. No prison, no further retaliation. After you answer out questions, you're free to disappear."
After a few minutes, the contract was composed, with signatures from Claire and Julliette both, and Fritz got her good arm released so she could sign it.
"All of my knowledge regarding the prototype and its theft for a pardon and healing of my arm. How do I know you even have a contract making ability?"
"I have a curse that makes me incapable of lying." Claire answered.
"How do I know that is true?"
Claire thought for a moment.
"I'll make a test contract that will give you a piece of my soul for twenty seconds. If it works, you'll know I can officiate contracts."
Still sceptical, Fritz nodded.
The contract was drafted and signed by both women.
Contract officiated.
Due to conditions of one of your contracts, you've lost 2 units of Ether.
Twenty seconds later, the contract has ran its course.
You gained 2 units of Ether.
"Reay creepy feeling." Fritz noted as she signed the actual contract.
Contract officiated.
"Now, how the fuck did you steal this thing?"
Fritz smiled smugly, then her eyes widened, until she rushed to speak. "My class lets me make others forget me. Fuck! I really hoped I could just break it and die from backlash."
"You'd rather die than admit to the theft?"
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"Uh, yeah! Do you know what Clovers do to agents who get found out? I'd honestly rather just break my soul and get it over with quick."
"Clovers?"
Fritz once again struggled to keep her mouth closed, to no avail. "I've been recruited by the Clover family to spy on Draxon inc. When I told them about the prototype, they instructed me to steal it. Now, for failure, they'll torture me to death at best, or sell me off to slaves at worst.
Claire gulped. She started to feel like this situation was way above her qualifications. Even more so than ar the beginning.
"I'm guessing you didn't enter the business voluntarily."
"Duh! I... oh, thank fuck, this doesn't pertain to the theft, so I don't have to tell you."
"Fair enough. So, you walked into the lab with the forget-me Skill active, and then what?"
"Previously, I lifted some spatial tech from a few departments. It's not my main area, but I dabble. Makes it easier to run away after a job, unless of course some asshat places wards. I had to disable the cameras first, though, because the Skill triggers whenever someone tries to pay attention to me, and so leaving evidence would just drain my mana until I ran out and you'd find my face. Like what happened when for some reason you kept trying to think of me for over an hour just now. Wow, this forced answering thing is annoying.
"So I placed the EMP charges, made from scrap I stole from the supply closet, walked into the lab shrouded, then pulled the trigger and put the prototype into a pocket dimension. And then I just walked out of here. I would have just skipped town, but Clovers still wanted a mole here, so I had to stay and get caught like a chump. And so they'll punish me for their own mistake, the fuckers. Fuck. Fuck!"
Fritz begun slamming her fist on the desk, fuming with anger.
"Shit. Okay, but where is the device now?"
"Still in a pocket, which I left at my apartment."
Claire felt a weight fall of her shoulders. Soon, this would all be over, and she would be free to go home.
But Fritz won't be so lucky.
Claire knew the thief's fate would weigh on her conscience, even though she wasn't the one that put her in this situation. For now, though, she put that into a far away corner of her mind, and focused on dealing with her own burden.
"Alright then, Julliette, tell your people to let everyone go, get someone to patch her up, and we're going to Fritz's."
--
The thief's apartment wasn't anything special. Fritz kept it clean, except for a room that looked to be her office/workshop, where post-it notes and rune-making implements were scattered about, the mess constructed in a way only its creator could find their way through.
Fritz used her formerly broken hand to reach under a pile of mana-insulated circuits and retrieved a burlap sack covered in a bunch of runic symbols.
As the sack was handed over to Julliette, Claire felt the contract with Fritz shift. The thief must have felt it too, as she sighed in resignation, then disappeared.
"Don't try to chase after her, the contract now protects her." Claire reminded the two guards that went with them.
Julliette poked her head into the sack briefly.
"That's the device."
You gained 10 Soul Power, 10 Mana Core, 10 Soul Shell.
"Thank fuck!" Claire shouted.
A few seconds later, her phone rang.
"I felt it. You got the device back?" Draxon asked when she picked up.
"Yep. I'm exhausted, if you want to talk about it, call me tomorrow earliest." She replied and hung up.
She began making her way to the door, noticing the stunned looks on the faces of Draxon's employees.
She groaned. "Listen, I have little patience for respecting authority at the best of times, let alone after a day of probably-illegal interrogation and witnessing a hostage situation. Now, could you give me a ride home?"
--
Alright, let's see what I can get from my payment.
Available Soul Shell advancements:
[Diplomatic Immunity] Cost: 5
Perk, Mental, Defensive
Your mind is less susceptible to foreign influence, such as compulsions or memory reading. This protection is much stronger against wide scale manipulation, such as domains of certain magical entities.
[Dossier] Cost: 6
Skill, Divination, Spiritual
Focus on a sentient target to receive their system information, such as Class, number of evolutions, and most recently used Skill.
[Demon's Hide] Cost: 4
Perk, Physical, Defensive
Your skin is more resistant to damage, akin to several layers of thick leather. Your body is non-flammable, and suffers reduced negative effects from heat.
Interesting. Two of the abilities are defensive, which makes sense for them coming from soul shell, but the other one seems ill-fitting. What am I missing?
Available Mana Core advancements:
[Scribe's Cantrip] Cost: 2
Skill, Conjuration, Force
Manifest office supplies, such as paper, folders, and writing tools out of mana. Telekinetically move office supplies, command them to take specific places, clean themselves up, or have a writing implement transcribe the words spoken around it.
[Beginner Diabolist] Cost: 7
Perk, Summoning, Arcane, Demonic
You are naturally proficient at learning magic pertaining to summoning and making deals with demonic entities. Upon gaining this perk, you gain knowledge of a simple summoning ritual, and the true name of a demon known by the System to be cooperative when summoned.
[Baleful Fire] Cost: 6
Skill, Conjuration, Fire, Demonic
Conjure and control corruptive flames that burn hot enough to soften iron and corrupt non-flammable material. Corrupted material will be easier to damage and shape by you.
Still shaken by the hostage situation that played out mere hours earlier, Claire almost immediately purchased [Demon's Hide].
You have obtained the perk [Demon's Hide]. -4 Soul Shell.
Claire felt itching spread throughout her whole body as her human skin got remade by the perk. When it was done, she examined her arms, and found that her skin was now a light purple color.
"Fuck. Yes."
With that impulse purchase out of the way, she examined the other options. She noticed there was no section for Soul Power, and asked the system for an explanation.
Soul Power does not have defined form, and instead serves to create other components of a soul. You may spend it in place of any other soul components in a 1:1 ratio.
So a universal currency rather than its own thing. For now, I'll set aside what to put it into, and just focus on spending the parts.
She had 6 units of Soul Shell and 10 of Mana Core left. For a while, she couldn't decide between [Dossier] and [Diplomatic Immunity], but ultimately went with the latter.
You have obtained the perk [Diplomatic Immunity]. -6 Soul Shell.
Claire didn't feel any effect, which she decided was a good thing, as it meant she wasn't under the effect of anything mind-altering to feel its absence.
With Soul Shell purchases made for now, she moved on to the Mana Core options. [Scribe's Cantrip] was a no-brainer, but she had to choose between the two big options. She really wanted an offensive ability, but [Beginner Diabolist] felt more in line with her class.
System, can I preview the demon whose name I'll get if I take [Beginner Diabolist]?
You would choose between the following options:
The Huntmaster: a 6th evolution demon specialising in hunting of animals and people alike. He offers defense contracts, assassinations, and weaponry.
The Embalmer: a 5th evolution demon-lich talented in thanaturgy and soul magic. They offer knowledge of anatomy, thanaturgy, and soul manipulation.
The Embalmer didn't sound appealing to Claire. When she was younger, she would daydream about being a lich-queen of an undead army, with skeletal servants serving her whims. But then she realised how gross and smelly corpses were. Plus, even if I mummify them, if I'm to have loyal minions, I'd much rather they be warm to the touch.
The Huntmaster, on the other hand, was perfect for her current needs.
You have obtained the skill Scribe's Cantrip]. -2 Mana Core.
You have obtained the perk [Beginner Diabolist]. -7 Mana Core.
You chose to learn the name of the Huntmaster. His true name is: Barristan Flavius Kaiser.
New knowledge flooded her mind, and she stood up from the bed to gather the ingredients she now knew she needed for a summoning ritual.
