"Please, you are making a mistake." The man kept repeating himself with more and more urgency.
His eyes wandered around the room, observing Cyril and his own body, trying to find anything out of the ordinary.
"Just open the—" Suddenly his words were cut off.
Not because of any outside force, he simply shut his own mouth.
However, that seemed to be an unintentional action on his part.
Jeff moved his head to the sides in a panic, attempting to say anything, but it was like his mouth refused to listen to him.
Soon this became the least of his concerns, as an unimaginable pain suddenly struck his very being.
Not a pain in some particular place, but an agonizing feeling that seemed to come from everywhere all at once. Teeth, limbs, muscles, eyes, tongue, nails, and so on—everything hurt like hell.
Jeff couldn't even scream to show how he felt; only his eyes could move sporadically.
One would think he should've passed out long ago, but somehow he persevered until the end.
The pain disappeared like it was just an illusion, though the memory it left was a rather vivid one.
Jeff found that his mouth was capable of moving now. "...A-Ah-..." Only a weak, quiet groan came out at long last.
Cyril crouched down in front of the man, his face still devoid of emotion. "How about now? Do you still not know anything?"
Jeff's whole body stiffened, and then, moving as though a puppet on strings, he got up from the ground in shaky, uncanny movements.
Cyril was somewhat surprised too, as he stood up and looked at Jeff's renewed vigor, though these movements appeared slightly unnatural for a human to do.
Judging from Jeff's pained expression, this really wasn't how humans should move either.
At last he stood up, then, in a clumsy manner, he genuflected. They looked like a servant and his lord at the moment.
From Jeff's eyes filled with terror, one could surmise these weren't actions he wanted to take. It looks like his body decided to betray him today.
"Well?" Cyril asked again, his arms crossed.
"I-I am sorry! Please forgive me," whispered the man, with his eyes gradually becoming wet.
Before Cyril could even reply, Jeff's eyes shook again, though his body kept the same posture.
The pain returned again, lasting this time a few seconds more, before similarly disappearing.
Jeff opened his mouth and greedily breathed in air, his eyes slowly losing their spark.
"I'll talk! Please, stop!" He desperately yelled out after a second, like his life depended on it.
It looks like Rhamn's interrogation proved itself effective.
"Piece of cake!"
"I am listening." Cyril nodded in satisfaction as he took out a vial of blue liquid and drank it.
This was a mana potion; he now carried a few with him at all times. Right now every action Jeff's body took, he felt a drain on his mana, so a little recovery was needed.
"Sorry, there is no going around this."
This is manageable, it's fine.
"My name is Jeff. I am a member of the Pyrite group within Lapis. I haven't undertaken any missions recently..." He hastily began vomiting out all kinds of information.
"Hold it." Cyril motioned for him to stop with a frown, but Jeff's mouth moved before he could finish saying these words, shutting up by itself.
You don't have to waste mana on this...
"Sorry."
Rhamn was getting a little bit too into it.
"I've heard that Lapis is preparing for something big lately; what do you know about that?" He asked what he and Myra wanted to know.
Jeff, again regaining control over his mouth, immediately said everything he knew: "I honestly don't know anything about it!" Which apparently wasn't a lot.
...
"I see, that's enough for now." Cyril nodded with some helplessness.
Lapis was extremely secretive, even to its members. People from the Pyrite group, which consists of those who lack personal strength, don't know anything important.
However, he learned where to look for someone who might actually know something. People responsible for relaying orders between members of Lapis were called moles, and Jeff told him where he could search for one.
I'll relay this to Myra. Though maybe she knew about this already... He wasn't too disappointed. This wasn't his true target anyways.
Jeff was standing in the same pose all this time, awaiting further questions with shaking eyes.
"Alright. Have you been given any orders to search for a black stone? What do you know of it?" Cyril switched to another question.
Jeff immediately opened his mouth: "Yes! Probably everyone received similar orders. They told me clues could be found in Ailanthus Academy, nothing else aside from that! But I investigated on my own a little."
Taking a quick breath, he continued, "Recently, Rennock Trading Company experienced a break-in. I suspect we stole it from them! Other than that, I've heard that the Power Society was involved too."
He said his piece and became quiet, careful not to disturb the young man in front of him.
Just now Cyril heard two familiar names. While the Power Society was just some criminal gang he had a brief encounter with at that abandoned park, Rennock Trading Company had bigger significance.
They are probably the 'boss' Kenneth mentioned.
They had deals in every market out there. From developing new magic items to creating luxury toilets. It would be hard to find an area they haven't dabbled in.
While Cyril never met anyone from there, Edmund might have.
Getting tired from this interrogation, Cyril pulled out the rectangular crystal and activated it.
Soon the front door was opened, and Kenneth walked in. "Sorry for the intrusion."
He carefully locked the door behind him, behaving as a normal guest.
At this moment Rhamn stopped controlling Jeff's body, and the Lapis member fell on the ground with a loud thud.
"Cyril... How should I say this... You should be more careful when breaking into people's homes in the future. If it wasn't for us, the whole apartment would've been alarmed over what was happening here," Kenneth carefully gave some advice.
"I am not—" Cyril started saying with a frown but froze. He wanted to say he didn't need to learn how to do things like that, as he wasn't a criminal.
However, upon thinking about Myra and their plans together, he couldn't say so with a clear conscience.
"I'll keep that in mind..." He slightly changed his words.