"I see. We shall discuss more in my office." The silver haired woman said.
Noctar watched the silver-haired knight, Ardyn Vermont as his Appraisal Eyes informed him stride away, her crimson cape swirling with an authority that was both intimidating and, he had to admit, intriguing.
The name and title hung in his vision.
// Name:Ardyn Vermont
Class: Knight(Rose Knight)
Level: 150
Rank: A
Level 150. A-Rank. It was a respectable power level, a testament to a life of brutal combat. But compared to the scale of his own existence, it felt... local. Maybe it was because she commanded more attention that what her rank defined but Noctar felt there was more to her.
He was escorted by a team of vigilant security personnel through the stark corridors of the Hunter's Authority Guild. They didn't speak at all, their knuckles white on their weapon hilts, treating Noctar like a contained explosion. He didn't mind the silence; it gave him time to think, to refine the narrative he'd just uttered.
They took the lift arriving at the fourth floor. The guards opened the door and slightly pushed him inside while shutting the door behind him. He was made to wait in Ardyn's office. Seeing the shut door. Noctar decided to look around the office space.
It was as functional and no-nonsense,
There were no personal touches. This was a room for war councils, not relaxation. After having his fill of the room, Noctar sat down slowly meditating to help regulate his mental energies after using Root Access.
Thirty minutes later, the door hissed open.
The woman who entered was a transformation. The enchanted plate armor was gone, replaced by a beautifully tailored black office suit that hugged her form with a tailor's precision, accentuating every curve with a lethal elegance.
Her silver hair was pulled back in a severe but stylish bun. The heels she wore weren't just footwear; they were statements of power, clicking against the polished floor with a rhythm that promised consequences. It was a sound that would make most men shrink.
For Noctar, it had the opposite effect. It was a challenge. A complex, beautiful, and dangerous piece of code he suddenly felt a very human urge to decompile.
// Ooooh, boss. Biometric spike detected. Heart rate elevated, pupil dilation increased. Are you developing a... *kernel-level error* for the scary lady? S.A.R.A. purred in his mind.
`Shut it,` Noctar thought, keeping his face a mask of calm neutrality.
Ardyn sat behind her desk, steepling her fingers. Her golden eyes, no less piercing without the helmet, fixed on him. And the interrogation began.
She was thorough, her questions sharp and precise, digging into the details of his "stasis dungeon." Noctar was ready. He wove a tapestry of half-truths and plausible fiction, his voice a steady, convincing monotone.
He spoke of a pocket dimension where time flowed differently, of his body mutating to survive the unstable mana, of years spent in solitary, forced physical conditioning to maintain his sanity. It was a story of tragic resilience.
// You know, you're basically plagiarizing the plot of that terrible sci-fi novel you coded an AI to write for you back on Earth. 'The Man Who Fell Through Time'. I'm impressed. And a little disgusted, S.A.R.A. remarked.
`It's called using available resources. Now be quiet, she's almost convinced.`
And she was. Ardyn's posture slowly relaxed with each proven point that Noctar stated. The story, while extraordinary, fit all the facts. It explained his anachronistic lack of identity, his bizarre power, even his social awkwardness. He wasn't a threat; he was a victim of the Apocalypse itself, a living piece of history.
Finally, she leaned back. "Your story checks out against the historical records of missing persons during the Emergence period. Welcome back to the world, Mr. Ville and apologies for all this procedures."
She tapped a command into her desk. "As an S-Rank returnee, you are entitled to significant resources from the Hunter's Authority Guild as it is the main force regulating our city's adventurers. You'll need a guild for support and integration. Do you have a preference? And we can arrange housing for the mean time. What are your needs?"
This was the moment. The payoff. He needed a base of operations, a place to work from while he hunted bugs. His mind, still anchored in his past life, defaulted to what he knew.
"A high-rise apartment," he said smoothly. "Somewhere with a view. The 200th floor should suffice."
The clicking of Ardyn's fingers on the keyboard stopped.
The room went silent.
Ardyn slowly raised her head, her golden eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. The air, which had been thawing, instantly froze over.
"No building in Ethron," she said, her voice dangerously soft, "has ever come close to reaching two hundred floors. The structural demands, the mana-drain and attacks from aerial monsters... it's an architectural impossibility. The tallest building in the capital is the Aethel Spire. It has sixty floors."
`Oh, shit,` Noctar thought.
// HA! S.A.R.A. cackled, the sound echoing gleefully in his skull. // You absolute moron! You just failed the compatibility test! You were so busy looking at her suit you forgot to check the local architecture files I uploaded!
Noctar kept his face impassive, but it was a near thing. He had fumbled. He'd been so focused on the grand lie, he'd tripped over a mundane, physical detail. His kind hadn't fully registered that he was no longer on Earth but in Ethron, a magical world full of monsters and dungeons.
Ardyn Vermont did not look convinced anymore. She looked like a hunter who had just seen her prey twitch.
The interrogation was far from over.