It took a few hours before anyone came into the interrogation room. They likely realized Damien wasn't going to break easily and chose to stop doing meaningless things like psychologically pressuring him.
The one who appeared was a rough man with the gait of a gorilla. As he sat down at the table, his gaze was stoic yet filled with flames that put an immense pressure on whoever he looked at.
'Pressure this, pressure that, I guess this is how criminals get treated, huh,'
Damien couldn't really do anything about it, but he didn't care to either. This would inevitably be resolved peacefully since his intentions weren't anything hidden or crazy.
"You, who are you?" The gorilla man said.
"You can call me Damien Grey," Damien responded lightly.
His last name was already noticeable in the lower universe, but what about in the Heavenly World where there was an entire Void Palace?
There was no way it was a common surname, so he made the decision to keep it unsaid until he learned more about the Heavenly World and the Void Palace.
"Damien Grey…"
The gorilla man glanced at the one-way mirror for a second before turning back to him.
"There is nobody like that in the records. Where did you come from?"
"Eh?"
Damien made the sound inadvertently.
"Records? Do you have records of everyone in the world?"
The gorilla man scowled.
"Are you treating me like an idiot? Obviously we only have records for those who have allowed themselves to be registered. But, is there any good person who hasn't registered? Don't joke around!"
'Hmm…I guess this is something like social security? But how does that work on the scale I'm imagining?'
The world he saw from the Void wasn't one that could have a social security system that accurately noted every existence within it.
'But I can't just steal anyone's identity without knowing anything. Should I try that?'
Damien scratched his head awkwardly, a strange motion with his wrists still cuffed.
"Actually, I haven't left the mountains in my entire life, and I have never seen another human aside from my master. How can I be on the records?"
It was an extremely common excuse, but Damien really had the qualifications to use it.
He knew exactly nothing except the environment and ecosystem of the forest region he appeared in, so he could guarantee its success.
As expected, the gorilla man didn't let him off easy. He asked many questions about the area, which Damien was able to answer because he spent some time there instead of immediately trying to leave, and asked more questions about the Heavenly World to test Damien's responses.
He glanced at the one-way mirror every few minutes to gauge what those behind it were saying, and from the responses he received, there was really only one explanation for Damien's existence.
He was truly a mountain man, a country bumpkin!
"Wow!" The gorilla man exclaimed inadvertently.
"You, you are the first one! I can't believe I finally saw this excuse actually turn out to be the truth!"
He laughed boisterously and explained that the members of every ship crew had an ongoing bet about when they would meet the first real mysterious mountain man instead of a con artist whenever they heard this excuse.
The ratio seemed to be thousands to zero, but Damien had just turned that zero into a one!
'Well, I guess the lower universe also counts as the mountains…?'
He felt a bit bad, but it didn't matter.
"Why did you board our ship, mountain man?"
The gorilla man's tone became much lighter after the primary interrogation ended. Damien's identity as a bumpkin actually made him far more trustworthy than those with status or identity, especially the type who usually illegally boarded ships like these.
In response to the question, Damien tilted his head a little, fully immersing himself in his role.
With a wide, toothy grin, he said only a single word that stumped everyone watching the conversation.
"Hitchhiking!"
It was naive enough to be expected of a mountain man, and without much else to do with him, they threw him in a cell until the higher authorities came to a decision.
'I guess they don't treat human life poorly around here. If I was in the lower universe, I'd probably have been thrown out to fall to my death nine out of ten times. That's good to know.'
Regardless of whether it was cell or suite, he didn't care as long as he could reach his destination.
With that mentality, he calmly sat in the cell and meditated, accustoming himself to the Heavenly World's mana once again.
He didn't know how long the trip would take, but if they were taking this many precautions, it would probably be a while before they docked.
'What a good way to start this adventure.'
Damien smiled.
He was once again a young genius in the wide and unknown world.
And frankly, despite the harsher treatment, he was enjoying it quite a bit!
***
The starship and three floors and its length was around that of a football field. Each floor could house thousands of people, but naturally, for a paid service like this one, there were multiple levels.
The bottom floor was for the common people. There weren't many amenities, and rooms had to be shared, but one could be relatively comfortable for the journey and their meals would be provided.
As for the second floor, it was for those of higher class. This was the floor Damien was taken through, filled with various services and entertainments that could be used to pass the time. Rooms were individual and among them, there were some luxury suites that couldn't be imagined by normal people.
As for the third floor, it was for operations. The starship's crew and their facilities were present here. Just like the passengers, there were thousands of crew members, a number necessary to maintain the starship during long-distance voyages.
Its mechanisms were many, and many groups of specialists were needed to ensure they would never malfunction.
After all, this was a business. If anything went wrong, how would those of immense power react?
People were especially unreasonable sometimes. If some beast figure died aboard a starship, the entire company could be destroyed, or in the worst case, countless lives would be lost to rage.
Nevertheless, that was a separate matter.
"Captain, there's news."
A shadow appeared next to the ship's captain. She was a woman roughly in her forties with an impressive figure and face that didn't match her rugged attire and demeanor.
She glanced over at the shadow, scowling without taking the cigar out of her mouth, and motioned for him to speak.
"The intruder that was caught earlier has yet to be identified. The interrogators believe he is a bumpkin from the mountains, however, it is still unknown if this is a front."
The captain glanced in another direction, her eyes piercing through the layers of metal that made up the ship.
Her eyes focused on the man calmly sitting in his cell as if nothing was wrong, narrowing as they spent more time observing him.
She grinned.
She didn't care what the shadow was saying, because she'd been observing this man's presence from the moment he arrived on the hull.
'He knows I'm watching.'
She understood when he was waiting in the interrogation room that he was well aware of her presence, and as he started meditating in the cell and the mana in the air started reacting strangely, she realized the protections taken against him were meaningless.
'Looks like I've stumbled across a hidden gem.'
"Bring him to me."
She didn't really have a reason to see him, but her curiosity got the best of her.
'Let's see what you're hiding, Damien Grey.'
