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"Don\'t stand there shocked; the food will get cold," the man by the table said while pointing with his hand at the chairs on the opposite end of the table.

Castor turned his head to the side, stealing a short glance at Catlea.

\'Damn it,\' he thought as soon as he noticed his own habitual reaction. He stopped his head from moving at the last moment... even if there was no way for the Auditor to miss such an obvious detail. \'She wants to be as far detached from this matter as possible, so I have to do everything in my power to make her wish come true,\' he thought, gulping down his saliva.

\'That\'s the least I owe her,\' Castor decided, taking a breath to prepare himself before stepping forward.

The man by the table... Didn\'t appear to be any different than the thousands of people Castor saw in his past. He was so normal... that upon closer inspection it weirded the overseer out.

\'No bioimplants, full in flesh, no external pods...\' he thought, taxing the man with his eyes.

Normally, such an intense stare could easily be taken for a lack of respect if not a direct insult.

\'But I\'m dead already so what does it matter?\' Caster thought, grabbing the chair and pulling it out before sitting down by the table.

The auditor raised his eyes from his own plate, throwing Castor a curious glance. His eyes then moved to Catlea who followed suit and sat down by Castor\'s side.

It wasn\'t that she had much choice. Even though there were two chairs to the sides of the table, she knew better than to try to vie for such a high-importance spot.

"Not going to pull the chair for your assistant?" the auditor asked in a plain, casual voice while taking a small, bite-sized piece of meat off his fork and into his mouth.

"She didn\'t have anything to do with it," Castor started, trying to push his agenda right away.

"You are not going to pull the chair for your assistant?" the auditor replied, raising his eyebrows and putting his cutlery down on his place while he gave Castor an intense stare.

\'Gulp.\'

"Yes, sir," Castor muttered, standing right up.

The look on Catlea\'s face turned even darker when she stood up as well and moved away from the table. And then, as if they were some kids whose parents decided to teach them manners, they sat down at the table again.

This time, however, Castor properly pulled the chair out for Cat and helped her to push it forward once she sat. Then and only then did Castor dare to take his place again.

"I said it already, but the food will get cold if all you do is stare at it," the auditor said, picking up his cutlery and going back to his meal.

\'No,\' Castor thought, fighting off the desire to cast a quick glance at the woman by his side.

\'Is this a trap? An elaborate form of mental torture?\' he thought, gritting his teeth as he lowered his eyes over to the table.

The food on the display was of extreme quality. Every finest detail was taken care of. The drops of sauce created literal art on the side of the meat. The finely cut vegetables turned into impressive structures.

All in all, even if he were to see such a table in a friend\'s garage during a party, Castor wouldn\'t dare to touch it for fear of ruining the job that went into preparing this display.

And yet... This time, he had no other choice. Refusing to obey Auditor\'s orders was the worst thing he could do, after all.

Castor picked up a fork from the side of his plate before helping himself to some of the meats and vegetables.

\'Is this going to be some sort of poison? A way to give me hope only to turn it into despair?\' he thought while raising the piece of meat to his mouth.

He then bit down... only for the meat\'s juice to explode in his mouth, filling its every nook and cranny with an extremely delicate, herbal aroma.

"It\'s..." Castor uttered with the piece still in his mouth.

The auditor raised his eyebrow.

Gulp.

Castor properly swallowed, ignoring the sense of sacrilege caused by swallowing something so unimaginably good.

\'It\'s real meat,\' he thought. An article that only the highest of the highest ranks of the hegemony could enjoy, normally limited to only the populace living on the surface of arable planets.

An article one had to give up when deciding to go into space.

"I bet you guys are terrified to be here," Auditor said, finally showing a small smile while raising a napkin to clean an imaginary speck of dust from his extremely normal mouth. "So before we begin, I will let you form a plea," he said, turning his eyes to Castor. "Is there anything you wish to plead for?"

Castor looked at the auditor\'s raised eyebrow. He then lowered his eyes and swallowed the extremely tasty juices left in his mouth.

\'At least I got the best kind of last meal one could ask for,\' he thought before taking a deep breath and raising his head.

"She didn\'t do anything wrong. Whatever crime I committed is mine and my alone. As such, I wish to assume full responsibility," Castor uttered, staring right into Auditor\'s face.

The man\'s expression remained unchanged, causing Castor to lower his eyes.

\'It seems... I failed,\' he thought.

The memories he shared with Catlea flashed through his mind. From their childhood shenanigans through the years of passion they enjoyed together, all the way to the tense yet cooperative job in the sanctuary.

"Is what he said true?" Auditor asked after turning his glance over to the girl by Castor\'s side.

"Your Auditorial Highness..." the girl muttered, unable to keep her face straight under the scrutiny of the man\'s eyes.

She then stole a quick glance at Castor before her face twisted in terror.

"That\'s correct, Your Auditorial Highness," she said, hammering down the last nail to Castor\'s coffin.

"I see..." the auditor muttered. And then, as if nothing happened at all, he returned to his meal.

For the next few minutes, the two of them were forced to watch in silence and anticipation as one of the highest officers of the hegemony casually continued his meal.

"Let\'s see," the auditor said once he ate enough. He then cleaned his mouth with a different napkin than before. And then, he jerked his hand to the side, only for a pagebook to materialize right in his palm.

\'Physical summoning!\' Castor\'s mind went blank. \'What a display of power!\'

Mana was extremely abundant in the world. Yet, living beings were even more so. As such, most people would only ever use mana through extremely complicated devices that all aimed to limit its waste.

And here this man wasted quite a lot of it... just to pick up something he found himself too lazy to stand up and walk over to get in a normal way!

"I\'ve seen your records," the auditor muttered. He then raised his eyes, looking right into Castor\'s eyes... only to then move them over to Catlea\'s face. "Yet, I still gave you a chance," he said, placing the pagebook down on the table.

Snap.

Snapping his fingers together was all it took for the auditor to summon two massive elites out of nowhere.

This time, however, it wasn\'t a mana summoning. It was just a display of those elite skills of remaining hidden in plain sight.

\'So that\'s how it ends,\' Castor thought, lowering his head and getting ready for his life to be forfeited.

"Take her to the re-education center," he then ordered.

Castor waited... but no hand touched him. Instead, a small commotion appeared right by his side, where the elites grabbed Catlea by her arms.

"Or wait," the auditor changed his mind as soon as the men pulled Catlea up by her arms, ready to drag her away despite her powerless struggle. The man then pushed the pagebook towards Castor, clearly encouraging him to take a look.

"You weren\'t summoned here to be punished," he stated, forcing the man to look up even before he could even read a single letter. "Through no fault or achievement of your own, you managed to discover something of extreme importance," he informed.

"Huh?" Castor shook. "I did?" he then asked, too shocked to watch his mouth.

"I\'ve summoned here to relieve you of your duty as the management of this planet will be transferred away from you," the auditor informed. "Yet, as I was thinking about how the fleet should compensate you for the trouble, I happened to chance upon those records," he added, raising his hand and pointing it at the pagebook.

"As for you," Auditor muttered, turning his eyes towards the shocked and terrified face of the girl who hung on the arms of the fleet elites. His face also visibly darkened. "Assistant will offer their utmost to support the operators in their endeavor," he muttered a string of words that made no sense to Caster.

And yet, those words made Catlea\'s face turn completely blank.

"I was willing to overlook your transgressions against the fleet\'s moral code," he stated. "That\'s what this entire ruse was all about," he added. "But just like I expected," he shook his head, "you were so eager to save yourself, you were willing to throw your operator under the bus, even going as far as to guilt-trip him into trying to save your unworthy skin."

"Wait!" Castor shot up from his chair, slamming his hands against the desk. "She didn\'t do anything!" he screamed out, ignoring two more elites that appeared right behind him when he dared to abruptly move.

"You really are not a fast reader," Auditor commented, his voice suddenly turning weak and... sad?

"I\'ve changed my mind again," he then stated, looking over at Catlea. "You won\'t be taken to a reeducation center. Instead," he turned his eyes back to Castor. "You will be the one to decide what fate awaits her," he announced, only for a devilish grin to appear on his lips. "After you read the entirety of those records, that is!"