Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 2

"Name?"

"Ashe...Ashe Heath."

"Age?"

"Don't know, I have amnesia."

"Gender?"

"Let me see...male."

"Race?"

"Probably not a dog?"

"Past experiences?"

"I really don't know, I have amnesia."

...

Blood Mad Hunter Emma observed the interrogation room through the two-way mirror, listening to the cult leader's nonchalant and reckless responses to the questioning. Her eyes turned to slits and her fingernails grew long in anger.

"Captain, does this scoundrel think everyone in the Heresy Court is an idiot? This interrogation is useless. Let me do it instead. During my school days I learned interrogation techniques from a priest. I even got a Level 1 Interrogation License. I swear on the priest's name that I'll make this bastard confess even the time he wet his bed as a child!"

"Burn that interrogation license. The 'Human Rights Act Amendment' abolished the interrogation profession and prohibited the Heresy Court from interrogating suspects 12 years ago. Violators will have their hunter licenses revoked at minimum and sentenced to over 100 years in prison at most. Parliament watches us very closely. We'll get in trouble if Ashe Heath loses even one night's sleep here. I won't stop you if you want Parliament to take a bite out of you."

"Hmph." Emma pouted angrily but also fearfully, changing the topic, "Where's the mnemonist? It's been so long since we caught him, how come no mnemonist has come to extract this scoundrel's memories?"

"The mnemonist won't come."

"Why not? For a major case like this, shouldn't a mnemonist come to extract memory evidence no matter what? I remember the Criminal Code stating that memories must be used as direct evidence for all criminal offenses, right?"

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"But he's different."

"How is he different?"

Gerard looked at her, "He has seen the Four Pillars."

Emma was slightly shocked, then understood.

"It's not just him, none of the cultists can have their memories extracted."

Gerard said, "Memory contamination is the Four Pillars' specialty. In the Four Pillars cult case I worked on 134 years ago, a mnemonist extracted the cultists' memories and unknowingly became a follower. That's why the Four Pillars cult has endlessly revived from its ashes."

"Then what should we do?" Emma was dumbfounded, "Asking yields no evidence, torture is prohibited, memory extraction is impossible... Don't tell me we have to let him go free? Or make a special exception?"

"No need for exceptions." Gerard said, "There is one death penalty fitting for such a heinous criminal who has stirred immense public outrage... The interrogation here is just a formality. The real judgement will take place at 8pm on the 15th, carried out collectively by all the city's people."

Emma immediately understood, but when she turned and saw the cult leader still claiming memory loss in the interrogation room, she couldn't help feeling irritated. She stuck out her tongue in contempt then left, dragging her sagging gray tail.

Gerard was still watching the unsubstantial interrogation. They had to pause for the suspect to rest, as required by the 'Human Rights Act' after 15 minutes of questioning.

The cult leader was drinking water, occasionally touching his recently pierced chest, a look of astonishment then worry in his eyes.

For some reason, Gerard felt he wasn't lying.

All his reactions - panic, curiosity, fear, confusion...really resembled an amnesiac ordinary person.

According to the 'Human Rights Act', symptoms like dissociative identity disorder, amnesia, and mental illness could be considered lack of capacity for self-governance, exempting one from criminal punishment.

If memory extraction revealed Ashe really had amnesia, he could even be found not guilty.

But that was irrelevant to Gerard, because memory extraction was impossible due to the Four Pillars. So...

"Judging you is the people's business. We just need to deliver you into their sight." Gerard left to pursue the next suspect.

...

...

"Now I really will be dying early and reincarnating quickly..."

Lying on the clean soft bed, Ashe put down the documents in his hand and looked around the bright, spacious cell with its own bathroom. His heart was filled with gloom.

Although he had already guessed the truth after seeing the ugly downfall of those 'angels', he still didn't expect reality to be even worse than his imagination - the hunters' accusations were completely valid. He really was a bona fide cult leader through and through.

The gods who granted Ashe power were the world's most infamous Four Pillars. They had many titles, but were most known for always appearing together and stirring endless chaos in this world.

The Lord of Billion Lights, also called the Tyrant, pursued endless war and seas of corpses to drown the world. His followers would slaughter all they saw, even themselves.

The Lord of Wind, Rain and Snow, also called the Conspirator, was known for manipulating mortals with schemes and plots. He loved fulfilling his followers' wishes, though granting their wishes would also drive them to utter madness.

The Eternal Blazing Heart, also called the Compassionate Father, was the source of all plagues and diseases, the final destination for all rotten things. His followers would become hotbeds of illness, living painfully, horrifically, and desperately, yet never dying.

The Dreaming Free Soul, also called the Debauched Prince, represented the endless desires of creatures. He was also the most extensively documented of the four - intelligent creatures were easiest for him to corrupt with desire, turning them into instinctual animals that could never be satisfied once corrupted, their rationality completely swallowed by instinct.

Ashe had doubted the information was fake to deceive him, but firstly, his captors could make him appear however they wished since he was already captured. Secondly, the information contained illustrated details of Heath's crimes and heinous methods. Just reading it made Ashe want to vomit out the mushroom chicken noodle soup he just ate.

Since Heath was evil, the Four Pillars must be wicked gods.

Then by contrast, the Blood Mad Hunters who captured him represented justice...or at least forces that maintained societal stability.

In just half a day, Ashe had experienced a dramatic emotional rollercoaster - at first he thought he was a novice hero just leaving beginner's village, but it turned out he was actually a fledgling cult leader who had just accepted his first batch of angels preparing to start a business.

Then he was mobbed like a wild elite monster by groups of heroes.

Not only had he transmigrated as a cult leader, but it happened right when the hunters were encircling and suppressing the cult...So did I cross over specifically to give the hunters performance points?!

Ashe tossed and turned in bed, blaming fate's unfairness while also wondering if he had actually just died from overwork and this was his afterlife. But all his thoughts converged into one realization - how will they execute me?

Although the interrogation had been extremely polite, providing free meals and a luxury private room, and the only discomfort was the stylish bracelets and anklets he had to wear, Ashe still felt this was clearly meant as his last trip.

But he vaguely sensed this world was quite civilized. Perhaps they had abolished the death penalty, leaving him a ray of hope...

Suddenly, a crisp notification chime rang in his mind.

"Ding dong!"

Ashe felt his neck grow warm, then a screen of light unfurled before his eyes.

His heart shook. With countless hopes, he focused on deciphering the unfamiliar words on the screen -

"Dear Mr. Ashe Heath, prisoner number 4001623. The Caimon City Hall formally invites you to be a special guest on the Caimon Channel 1 'Blood Moon Tribunal' TV program at 8pm on the 15th. Please pay attention to your attire and grooming then. We will send an escort to bring you to the live studio. Reply 'TC' if you wish to decline this invitation."

Although Ashe didn't know what this 'Blood Moon Tribunal' was, the name didn't sound like anything good. He immediately tried to type 'TC' in the reply box.

But when he focused his mind to do so, another prompt popped up on the screen:

"You are currently under arrest and investigation. Messaging functions have been disabled."

Damnit! So the last part of the notice was just to bait me!?

Ashe then turned his attention to studying this new gadget in front of him.

He touched the back of his neck but couldn't feel any obvious bumps or protrusions. Yet he could clearly sense the screen was intimately connected to his neck, as if its settings were implanted there.

Since something like a 'death verdict' notification would be sent to him this way, Ashe figured this must be a communication tool everyone used here, not something exclusive to him.

Sure enough, when he focused on the "?" icon in the top left corner, a whole series of information immediately popped up:

"Name: 'Heath's' 'Mind Screen'"

"Version: 14.4.1"

"Chip Model: Miracle 13"

"Current Status: Messaging functions disabled, internet functions disabled, accessing channels disabled, recording disabled, energy output restricted, virtual world access disabled, arcane energy output disabled..."

"Main Number: 459105198"

"Service Provider: Caimon Psychic Hotline"

Ashe casually changed the name to "Ashe's Mind Screen". He thought this world's technology was quite advanced, possessing supernatural abilities that enhanced individuals' combat strength as well as widespread tech external aids like this.

Ironically, Ashe had just thought this was a crossover cheat, never expecting it to be a mass-produced gadget. It was like an ancient person transmigrating to modern times and picking up a cell phone, mistakenly thinking it was an artifact.

Thinking of his previous chuunibyou thoughts, Ashe felt somewhat embarrassed.

Although Ashe was very curious to research this new toy, most of its functions were prohibited. Aside from the calendar, messaging, memos, and calculator, all that was left was...

Aurora's Spellcaster Handbook?

Ashe was puzzled.