"Well, well, well... what do we have here~"

The blond man put his tea aside, then stood up before walking over to examine Qasim up close. His sudden closeness made Qasim nervous and even more confused. Where could he be? How did he even end up here?

The man then stepped back a little with a pleased smile, as if evaluating the boy.

The big bald man, as if he had waited long enough, started talking to the blond man.

"Valen, this boy—if we can even call him that—is clearly a spy. Maybe from another team, or worse, from another kingdom! We need to lock him up under investigation!"

The woman then tried speaking with her low, shy voice.

"W-What if he isn’t what you say, Doran? I can’t imagine us giving the poor child some kind of trauma..."

Doran raised an eyebrow and said,

"What the hell are you on about, Levia? Do you even hear yourself? This ’child’ literally spawned out of nowhere without any of us noticing!"

"B-But it’s just..." Levia looked into Qasim’s confused eyes before continuing, "He looks lost to me..."

The blond man then clapped his hands together before spreading them with a relaxed tone.

"Okay, okay, let’s chill for a bit, shall we? It’s just a boy who magically appeared inside the secret room of a secret building in a secret area occupied by a secret group... Sounds normal to me~"

He then lowered his tone a little, placed a finger on his lower lip, tilted his head slightly, and kept looking at the boy.

"But~ the only problem is that he appeared quite close to Nasun’s Stone... Well, that’s a bit sus."

"I knew it! Even our leader has the same feeling about this, Levia. This isn’t something we can joke about. The boy might’ve been sent by Team Three—"

Before Doran could finish speaking, Valen interrupted him.

"Though I highly doubt that anyone who wants to harm us or steal from us would send a mere weak boy."

He then looked at the girl holding the knife.

"Okay, Yasmin. Put him to sleep."

As soon as Valen gave the order, Qasim’s vision blurred as the girl struck the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

"Alright, let’s put him under the test now."

"Wait... are you telling me that...? Oh no, Valen. You are not going to do what I think you are."

Doran visibly wasn’t happy.

"Relax, my friend. If he passes, I’ll take responsibility for him. And if he doesn’t, we’ll do as you say."

"Hmph!"

As Doran and Valen spoke, Levia noticed Yasmin staring at her shaking hand.

"What happened?" Levia asked worriedly.

Yasmin shook her head and answered in a quiet voice.

"Nothing... It’s just that his neck was too hard. I used more strength than I wanted."

...

Qasim slowly started opening his eyes. It felt like he had been dreaming about something, but he couldn’t quite remember it.

"Ah, you’re awake! Good~"

The sudden voice made him look up, only to see Valen sitting backward on a chair, smiling while looking at him.

Qasim tried moving, but he was tied to a chair. He lowered his eyes and noticed a crystal-like ball sitting on the table in front of him.

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it? This is a device created by a famous maker to detect lies. It also has another funny feature..."

He lifted a finger and pointed it toward the boy before continuing.

"No pressure, but this will determine your fate, so relax and answer truthfully~"

"First, put both hands on the crystal."

As Qasim did so, the crystal started glowing with a weak white light.

"Okay~ First question. Do you think homeless people should be allowed to sleep outside?"

"...?"

Qasim was completely lost after hearing that question, but he answered anyway.

"Yes..."

"Hmmm... interesting. Next question. If you saw an old man fighting a pregnant woman, who would you help?"

"What the hell is he even talking about?"

Qasim started getting a weird feeling that this man was making fun of him. But when he saw the serious expression on Valen’s face, the little boy could only answer.

"Probably... the pregnant woman?"

"Hmm... interesting. Okay, next question. Would you rather kill ten strangers to save one person you love, or kill one person you love to save ten strangers?"

"Are you being serious right now, sir? This is just ridiculous!"

"Maybe... or maybe not. Anyway, I’m having fun, so answer the question."

Qasim stayed speechless for a moment before letting out a deep breath.

"I would kill myself to save them all."

"Oh, I see. Very clever what you did there... Okay, fun time’s over. Now we’re getting serious."

As soon as Valen said that, his tone became deeper, and the atmosphere grew tense.

"Your name, age, bloodline, place of birth, the kingdom or ideology you serve and why the hell you were at that particular room —

I want you to tell me everything."

Qasim analyzed the questions and the information they could reveal before answering honestly.

"My name is Qasim Bazz. I am thirteen. I am the son of David Bazz, and I was born in—"

Before he could finish, the crystal suddenly glowed bright red.

Upon seeing it change color, Valen’s face showed nothing but disappointment.

"I told you not to lie, boy~"

The next second, a surge of electricity shocked Qasim’s body, making him feel as if his flesh were burning from the inside.

The shock lasted only a fraction of a second, but its effects lingered painfully.

"Let’s repeat that little by little, shall we? What’s your name?"

"Q-Qasim."

Nothing happened, so he didn’t want to add his last name.

"And what is your age?"

"Thirteen—"

Another red light appeared, and Qasim was shocked once again.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Lying about your age? Really? What are you, an insecure woman?"

Qasim didn’t even hear what Valen was saying. He was too deep in his own thoughts.

Since he first woke up, he hadn’t had much time to think about what was happening. But now that he did, everything was obviously strange. First, his body had become healthy. Then there were the monsters, the terrifying creature that somehow sent him to what was apparently a secret place, and now this weird crystal and its questions...

He had watched enough anime and read enough web novels to understand one possibility.

He had transmigrated into another world.

"So if it’s true that I’ve transmigrated into another world and entered someone else’s body... then everything I knew from Earth is useless. I can’t even answer questions like my age or where I was born."

So far, the only thing that seemed to be correct was, weirdly enough, that both he and the previous owner of this body shared the same name.

After organizing his thoughts, he heard Valen’s voice again.

"C’mon, kid. I don’t want you getting into trouble you can’t handle. Just answer my ques—"

"I-I lost my memories."

The boy suddenly interrupted him.

Valen didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he immediately looked at the crystal.

It showed no sign of lying.

He leaned forward.

"Go on."

Qasim then explained everything that had happened from the moment he woke up until he arrived here, leaving out the fact that he came from another world.

After hearing his story and carefully watching the crystal for any sign of deception—which never came—Valen rested his hand on his chin and fell into deep thought.

After a few moments, his eyes softened.

"Alright... I understand the situation. According to the rules, you should be locked inside a containment cell until further evidence appears..."

The moment Qasim heard those words, his heart sank into despair.

"But..."

Valen smiled.

"Theoretically speaking, I am the law, so I’ll do exactly what I think is right. And for now?"

"I think you should take a shower... then change your clothes."

Valen stood up and walked toward the door. Before leaving, he looked back over his shoulder.

"I have a good feeling about what you’ll add to our team of weird members."

He gave Qasim a small wink before walking out.

Qasim looked down at his hands.

"That guy didn’t even untie me!"

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