Chapter 170: Official Incident Report

The first CMS officers entered the passage before Marek could press Rhovan further, and whatever satisfaction the guy had taken from the interruption disappeared once they started asking everyone to stay where they were.

Marek did not mind that part.

However, he minded being separated from Rhovan.

The officers moved them away from the damaged construction barrier and asked each person to explain what had happened without listening to the others. Eren was taken several meters toward the wider road, while Silas and Rafe remained near the opposite side of the passage. Rhovan was led farther away with another officer, leaving Marek close enough to see him but too far to continue asking about Blanche.

Rhovan noticed him staring, but the guy just smiled at him. Marek looked away.

The Errant received most of the attention. Two officers kept him seated near the wall while another examined the exposed section of his Astral Mark from a safe distance. The thin black defect crossing it was impossible to miss now that part of his coat had been torn away.

Marek had seen enough Errants on Earth to know that explaining what they were could take longer than explaining the fight itself.

The CMS officer questioning him did not need the explanation. “You identified him as an Errant during the confrontation?”

“Rhovan did,” Marek answered. “The black defect became visible after his coat tore.”

The officer recorded something on a small device. “And before that?”

“We thought he was just following us.”

“Why?”

Marek explained the gray jacket, the repeated appearances near the locations they had visited, and the way the man kept matching their route after they tried changing streets. He also made sure to explain that they had been leaving Lantern Verge before the confrontation happened.

The officer stopped recording for a moment. “You weren’t investigating him?”

“We didn’t even know who he was.”

“You were investigating the service providers.”

Marek considered the wording. “Correction, checking public addresses. We didn’t even know someone like him would show up because of it.”

They locked eyes for a while.

“We checked addresses and public notices,” Marek soon clarified. “We didn’t enter any restricted areas or ask anyone for private records. Eren had copies of schedules provided by someone else.”

The officer nodded. “What made the man confront you?”

“He told us we’d checked enough.”

The officer’s hand stopped over the device.

Marek noticed.

“He said that?”

“Then, he told us to stop checking the service addresses.”

“And after that?”

“We said we were already leaving. He could’ve watched us leave and saved everyone a lot of trouble.”

The officer’s mouth moved slightly before returning to a neutral expression. “Instead?”

“He saw Eren’s notes and told him to leave them.”

Marek continued through the rest of the confrontation, including the access tag that had fallen from the Errant’s coat. He left out nothing that mattered to the incident, though he kept the explanation of Spatial Parallax as simple as possible. It was an Astral Technique. He used it during the fight. The officer did not need a training lecture from Rhovan through him.

The woman who had entered the passage was harder to explain because Marek barely knew anything about her beyond the name Rhovan had used.

When the officer asked who she was, Marek answered, “Blanche.”

“And her family name?”

Marek glanced across the passage at Rhovan, who spoke to another CMS officer with such an easy expression that anyone watching from a distance might have thought he was discussing the weather instead of the woman who had just thrown an Errant through a construction barrier.

“Steelhide,” Marek said.

The officer looked up from the device. “You know her?”

“No. I learned her full name around ten minutes ago.”

That answer only raised another question. “From whom?”

Marek looked toward Rhovan again. The latter noticed and gave him a small wave.

Marek turned back to the officer. “Him.”

The officer followed his gaze before asking, “What is their relationship?”

“If you find out, tell me,” Marek replied instead.

The officer studied him for a few seconds.

While Marek was still answering questions, more CMS personnel arrived and started moving curious pedestrians away from the damaged section of the passage. Two officers took charge of the Errant after that and led him toward a secured transport vehicle, giving Marek a clear look at his face as they passed.

He did not look toward Marek. He looked toward Eren. More specifically, toward the place inside Eren’s clothing where the access tag had been secured.

Eren noticed too.

Their eyes met after the vehicle doors closed.

Neither of them said anything until the officers allowed the group to leave the passage. Rafe joined them first, followed by Silas. Rhovan took his time.

Marek waited.

Rhovan stopped beside him. “You look like you have a question.”

“I have several.”

“How unfortunate.”

Marek stared at him as Rhovan’s smile widened.

“You can start with Blanche when we get home,” Marek said. “And if you answer with ‘someone I was hoping not to meet yet’ again, I’m throwing something at you.”

“That depends entirely on what you throw.”

Silas walked past them without slowing. “Please wait until we’re somewhere that isn’t part of an official incident report.”

Marek considered that reasonable.

They returned to the CMS with one less peaceful afternoon than they had started with.

Irial was waiting in the same consultation area where they had left her, though someone from the CMS had moved her to a room farther inside the building. Her sister had already been relocated under protection, and according to the staff member outside the door, their parents had also been warned not to return to their usual residence without coordination.

Irial stood when they entered.

Her attention went across everyone once. “You’re all fine?”

“We’re fine,” Marek said. “Don’t pray us harm.”

Eren sat at the table and removed the access tag from inside his clothing. Irial’s eyes dropped toward it.

Whatever question she had been about to ask disappeared.

“Where did you get that?” she asked, eventually.

Eren placed the tag on the table without pushing it toward her. “It fell from the man who followed us.”

Irial came closer. The room grew quieter as she read the registration reference beneath the access code.

Marek watched her expression change.

“You recognize it,” he said.