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“You are?”

Even with countless considerations in his mind, the man referred to as the commander by the Inquisitor girl chose to speak directly and asked Steven a question.

Steven, who had been rubbing Gladiia’s little head all this while, stopped his actions at this point. He looked at the man with the mask with interest.

Leaving aside other things, this guy looked quite handsome. Steven even felt like collecting an outfit like that.

Moreover, scratching his head, Steven couldn’t understand where he had offended this man. Why did he look at him as if he were staring at a fierce wild beast?

“Commander, these two Ægir individuals wanted to escape with the village chief, who had collaborated with the Church of the Deep. After seeing me, they voluntarily… surrendered.”

Even though she knew it sounded absurd to say such a thing, the girl stated the facts to her commander.

“He didn’t resist at all. Even this guy,” pointing to the now unconscious old man who had gone into a coma due to excessive excitement and bleeding, the girl made a serious judgment, “He subdued on his own. According to my judgment, I feel he’s not with the people in this village.”

The guy who called himself Steven might have had illogical logic in his actions since the beginning, but one thing the girl was sure of was that from start to finish, he never showed hostility towards her.

Even when he was initially misled by the village chief, he only adopted a neutral attitude and showed no intention of fighting against her.

Confident in her judgment, the girl continued, “That’s good. Once an Inquisitor makes a judgment, they need to stand firm in it, without wavering due to other things.”

The man with the mask nodded as if agreeing with the girl’s judgment. The guarded look in his eyes towards Steven also lessened a bit.

It was clear he trusted his subordinate a lot. He believed that just because of her judgment, Steven was not an enemy?

Steven suddenly felt that the relationship between these two might not be as simple as superior and subordinate. Judging from the bird feathers revealed in the man’s hair, could these two be father and daughter?

Father bringing his daughter out to gain experience?

As Steven casually speculated with playful thoughts, the man walked straight up to him.

After glancing at the not-so-normal Gladiia beside Steven, he re-focused his gaze on Steven.

“Hello, I am Dario, the High Inquisitor from the Inquisition. The one over there is my subordinate, Inquisitor Irene.”

Just when Steven thought he might get some harsh words or be arrested on the spot, the man simply extended his hand and introduced himself, along with the name of the girl in uniform beside him.

This suddenly shifted from an officer arresting a dangerous individual to a casual introduction between potential friends.

“Uh, hello, Steven, not an Ægir.”

Since the other party spoke politely and introduced himself, Steven, of course, wouldn’t continue with his playful attitude. He had always been willing to get along with people who treated him well.

Shaking hands with the man called Dario, Steven deliberately emphasized his race.

Whether he’s called a Minecraftian or whatever, it’s essential not to mix up these races like Ægir.

In case racial discrimination is severe in this world, wouldn’t he be born with a bad reputation? So, whenever there’s a chance to explain, he must clarify things first.

“You just called yourself Steve a while ago? You dare deceive an Inquisitor?”

Before the man could respond, Irene, the female Inquisitor, couldn’t help but jump in, pointing her delicate finger at Steven.

She distinctly remembered that Steven had told her his name was Steve. How come, within a few minutes, he had acquired another name?

“Names are just code names. I can be called Steve or Steven. Is there a conflict in that? Besides, compared to your attitude, I obviously prefer talking with this more mature, friendly, and reasonable gentleman.”

“—You!”

“In general, your boss knows that before asking my name, he should introduce himself first. You were just calling ‘hey hey,’ so using a code name to tease you a bit shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Steven first uttered a bunch of reasons even he didn’t believe, and when Irene’s face changed, he chuckled lightly and revealed the real reason.

The infuriated Liberi girl, silenced by Steven’s words, clenched her fists.

If it weren’t for her identity as an Inquisitor, she would have punched this annoying guy already.

How could someone be so insufferable?

Fortunately, the High Inquisitor standing nearby seemed to understand her thoughts. After patting her shoulder as a comforting gesture, he decisively changed the awkward topic.

“Well, Mr. Steven, considering the conflicts between you and the village chief here, would you mind coming with us to the Inquisition for a chat?”

The attitude of the High Inquisitor named Dario didn’t seem like that of someone who would arrest Steven and throw him into jail. The tone was more like an invitation between friends.

However, only Dario himself knew that the pressure emanating from the seemingly carefree youth in front of him was not something his mentor, Carmen, one of the twelve saints in all of Iberia, could match.

Forget what Steven said about not being human; even if he were some monster from the deep sea that couldn’t be named, Dario believed it.

Right now, in the eyes of this High Inquisitor, he was the biggest threat.

Perhaps the only reassuring thing was that Steven seemed surprisingly rational at the moment and unexpectedly easy to talk to. This was the main reason for Dario’s attitude.

The duty of the Inquisition was not to provoke mysterious creatures like him.

“I’m fine with it. Now is not the time to think about such things, is it? What we should consider right now is not how to talk our way out but how to break through from these strange creatures that have emerged from all directions in this village.”

Steven smiled. He really wanted to see what the Inquisition, described by the old man as a dangerous place, looked like.

Additionally, as an official organization of a country, they should be able to help him find information about Rhodes Island.

However, as he said, those were things to do later.

Currently, they needed to figure out how to break free from the strange creatures that had appeared from who knows where in the village.