Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.3] Quest 270- Interrogation Case, Thetis

November 5th, at the Moonlight Tower’s dungeon.

‘How long are they gonna keep me here?’

Thetis since her capture by Bete, she has been held captive under the Artemis Familia home. Nox and Circe have been the ones to monitor her in rotations.

Circe, however, has been conducting some tests on her.

Clack!

Clack!

Clack!

‘These footsteps… Nox… great, just what—‘

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

‘Who’s that? It’s too heavy to be Circe. Is it finally him?’

She first sees Nox come and sit, followed by Cirrus and Artemis who were walking alongside Cirrus. Cirrus of coursed hated Thetis but cooled himself off to do this interrogation.

“Well, well… Look at this. Finally, here to torture me personally? You even brought your goddess along to watch, huh?”

“She certainly differs from Fafnir,” Artemis said, looking at Thetis.

‘Fafnir?’ Thought Thetis.

“Yes, she’s a little shit,” Nox added.

“Go fuck yourself, grandma!” Thetis said, annoyed by Nox’s voice.

“So tough, need I remind you how much you cried when Circe ripped your nail? Maybe how she opened up your chest and felt up your magic stone?”

“It’s a Core!! Calling it a magic stone is like calling a tree a bush!”

“We are here,” Cirrus said, moving things along. “To ask some questions. Now Circe and Nox here tell me you have refused any answers, so Artemis here.” Cirrus patted Artemis’s head. “Finally, got around to help after helping the Xeno map out the Knossos and dealing with Dionysus.”

“Hah! Like I will say anything to a goddess who opens her legs for a hu—”

“My.” Artemis’s eyes sharpen. “Cirrus, if she doesn’t wish to talk, then I suggest cutting her foul tongue?” Artemis then pulls out her carving knife.

“!!” Thetis’s eyes immediately widen.

“Heh~ You got scared!” Nox said, enjoying Thetis’s expression.

“I suggest you mind your tone and emotions,” Cirrus said, squatting to match Thetis’s eyes. “You are warranted in your anger, but Artemis here is far more seasoned than Circe is in her carving.”

Thetis looks at Artemis as she twirls and spins her knife around.

Gulp!

‘What a brute of a goddess!’

“I-I still won’t say anything!”

“Hmm… Well, how about this? You tell us what you know, and we will give you some amenities?”

Amenities would be given to Thetis for information to make her time in a cell nicer. Cirrus knows whatever amenities she gets will be short-lived.

“Like what? A room with a better view? Better food?”

“Yes. So long as you tell us such things as… Ooh… I don’t know… Where Wu is?”

After the raid was finished, the Knossos was fully explored to find and deal with any Evilus members left. In their search, they found Wu was never spotted or accounted for.

“Hmm… Wu, huh? Fine then. I don’t like that smelly coward, so in exchange for new clothes and a bed, I’ll tell you where she is.”

“Deal. Snap!”

In Thetis’s cell, a nice bed comes out of the shadows, along with a nice dress on the bed’s covers.

“… Ooh.” Thetis was both impressed and scared of this immediate action.

Hecton’s presence was enough to completely shut any option of her possibly escaping.

“We’re waiting,” Artemis said. “Know that if you lie, those amenities are gone.”

“Fine… Wu is on the surface. Don’t know where exactly, but from what Ne—Gugalanna said, they parted ways in the desert where you killed Xuanlong, that black dragon.”

“Ah… I see. Artemis?” Cirrus asked.

“It’s the truth,” Artemis said, sheathing her carving knife.

“Next question. Where is the base you, Demi-Spirits are at? And I do not mean the Knossos.”

“I want high-class food and time under the sun,” Thetis said, seeing what she can get.

“Deal. You’ll get the food and sun later.”

“I don’t know. After the 80th floor, our minds go blank, and we just find ourselves in the Nursery.”

“Blank as in how?”

“Blank as in were walking, I blink and now I am in a fairy tale kind of blank.”

“Hmm… Tell me about the Nursery. How many spirits are there? Can I get some descriptions?”

“I want these shackles off me and a magic stone. I have been feeling lethargic ever since that wolf made me waste my magic.”

“I’ll loosen the shackles. You still hold the physical strength of a mid-level 4.”

“Fine. What about the magic stone?”

Cirrus points down.

Thetis looked down to see a small magic stone.

“It’s from a goblin on the first floor.”

Thetis swallowed it immediately.

Gulp!

“Ah~ Much better.” She licked her lips in satisfaction. “Now, the Nursery is where I, Revis, Gugalanna, and Arbuda were born. A rather dim place with only the light is of the crystal cocoons illuminating the dingy place. Those things like Xuanlong or that sham of a spirit those Loki Familia fought were, I guess you can say… experiments. I should also add Ein in there. She was also a short-lived experiment, but they gave valuable data for her for those she has been slowly cultivating.”

“I see…”

‘I am assuming they used them to perfect integration with monsters and people.’ Cirrus thought.

“So, how many are there?”

“Lots. I would say… 19 or so.”

“Nine… teen.”

Thetis could feel a rise in Cirrus’s tone.

“Yes, nineteen. But most are still in their cocoons, not yet ready to be born. Ah, I am counting ‘Her’ as well. Whatever body she is cooking it’s very particular and delicate, only the skeleton is formed.”

“Then can we get the appearances of the Spirits in the cocoons?”

“A few that Neze recognized.”

Cirrus twitched; his eyes grow cold.

“… Artemis.” He said solemnly.

“I’m sorry Cirrus.” She placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Ah~,” Thetis smirks. “That’s the face I wanted to see~,”

Cirrus was wearing a dark expression, one that delighted her.

“… You’ll get what we agreed to.” Cirrus stands up. “Fafnir.”

From Thetis’s side, Fafnir emerged from her shadow with her heavily tinted sunglasses.

“!?” Thetis shuttered a bit, looking at this thing before her.

“Master.” Fafnir kneels while glancing at Thetis.

Fafnir’s eyes intimidate Thetis down to her core.

“Fafnir. Can you find Wu?”

“I will master. Given Wu’s body, I should be able to find a strong, potent smell of poison.”

“Then find her and report to me. Stay hidden from as best as you can.”

“By your command.” Fafnir stands up and turns to face Thetis. “Heh!” Fafnir smirks before disappearing into the shadow.

From the shadows of the city, Fafnir quickly arrived at the city walls. She leaped from it and quickly rushed into the world outside Orario.

“This new body has its perks.” She then kicked off quickly, making it into the flora in the west of Orario where she blended back into the shadows quickly moving through them.

‘Heh! How funny. A water spirit captured… Pfft—’

“—Hahahahaha!! How ironic!!! I am freer than they will ever be stuck in that hole!!!”

Fafnir celebrates the fact that even though she was created to distract Cirrus, she gained a life that afforded far more liberty than whatever those who created had.

Back to the cell.

“Human,” Thetis said, looking at Cirrus. “Know this as a little extra on the side. Grand Spirits like that old bat over there are being cultivated.”

“Then I look forward to that day when I defeat them.” Cirrus turns and leaves. “Oh yeah. Your execution is tomorrow.”

“!?!?” Thetis shakes in anger. “WHAT!? YOU SACK OF SHIT!!” She got up and grabbed the cell’s bars. “YOU'RE JUST GONNA OFF ME!? I STILL HAVE—”

“We already got what we wanted,” Cirrus said coldly. “You’re lucky you get to die under the sun.”

Cirrus and Artemis then leave the tower’s dungeon.

“Nox!!” Thetis looked at her as she was writing some stuff in a book. “Did you know this will happen!? Nox!!!”

“Shut up,” Nox said, annoyed. “Your voice grates my ears.”

“I’m going to fucking die!? Why—”

“You should be thankful Circe allowed it. Cirrus would never have given you any final luxuries.”

“Tsk! That’s why he brought his goddess!”

“Yes. Be glad he is sparing you, or else he would have asked Circe to keep using you as a lab rat.”

“…” Thetis clenches her hands in fury.

‘… Piece of shit.’

Nox occasionally watched as Thetis comes to grips with her fate. There was nothing left for Circe to get from her, her experiments have been concluded, all but one thing left.

Eventually, Thetis concluded that this was the end for her. The moment she came into the Artemis’s Familia’s custody her fate was sealed shut.

Whether she told them nothing or something, she was gonna die anyway. This thought became even more prevalent as Cirrus could just build a device to get what he wants from her. The magic tool wrapped tightly around her core is proof enough to make her worries and ideas proven true by her imagination.

 ‘I’m dead…’

           For a single moment, she felt pitiful, confined, and scared.