Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 16: The Weed in the Garden

"I'm telling you, Sergeant, I did inventory twice, as always. Nothing was out of place."

"How can that be!? I know he broke in here last night!"

"I don't know what to tell you. Inventory is exactly the same as it was when we closed up shop last night."

"Th-... Then, he must have done something!" Treia, the gatonine night watchstander, insists passionately. It's clear she saw Daniel doing something in the vicinity of the storehouse, but there's no evidence anything was touched.

"We don't have any signs of contaminating anything, and nothing was even moved."

Gwenesphia, the morning lieutenant about to go on watch, approaches for her watch station's rations. "What's going on here?"

Verbeinne replies, "This one here believes Daniel broke into the storehouse last night."

"What? Why would he do that?"

Verbeinne answers, "Well, I can say with certainty he didn't steal anything. And he always seems to need a blanket."

Treia retorts, "I saw him break in last night."

"You did?" asks Gwenesphia. "Did you not raise the alarm?"

Treia flinches. "I... I didn't ACTUALLY see him enter, but... But, I know he did! He was sneaking around, and I saw him study the door."

"Sergeant, accusing Daniel without actually witnessing it isn't helping anything."
"I know what I saw, Lieutenant! Why would you defend him? He's scheming something at night!"

"This looks like a heated conversation." All three of them snap to attention and salute the Commander as she approaches. "Is there a problem?"

Verbeinne catches her up on the conversation so far.

"I see."

Gwenesphia states, "Daniel doesn't seem like the type to do that, though, Commander. He's quiet and keeps to himself, and he seems rather polite."

"Do you have evidence of this, Gwenesphia?"

"I... don't. No, Commander. O-Other than any time I've interacted with him, he's quiet and polite."

Treia states, "He's hiding something. We need to be careful."

"We should be wary of traitors, spies, and enemies in all forms. We should not treat our allies as such without cause." She looks specifically at Treia, who flinches. However, the Commander states without changing the target of her gaze, "Quartermaster, I'd like you to verify the cooling unit is broken before I send off the repair request."

Surprised, Verbeinne hesitates. Leiwelles looks at her, and she flinches this time. "Uh, o-of course, Commander. But, it's been out of service for a few weeks now, as I mentioned yesterday."

With a nod, Leiwelles instructs, "Show me."

The four walk into the back of the shop, and Verbeinne opens the door of the trunk-sized box with a cooling crystal powering it. She puts her hand inside, explaining, "It should be cold enough to..." She flinches, staring at the device.

Leiwelles walks forward, placing her hand inside. "I don't understand. It feels quite cold to my hand. Should it be colder?"

"No... It's... It wasn't working yesterday... Commander."

"Are you certain?" The Commander makes a point to look at Treia. "Is it possible the issue could have corrected itself?"

"N-No..." Verbeinne suddenly gasps. "Daniel..."