Eventually, before Toz or Yill could do sothing drastic, Dyra, who had been too stunned to react, opened her mouth.
"Granny, take a step back, please."
Dyra looked a little conflicted as she spoke, and Yill could see that, so she unwillingly followed Dyra's request after letting out a reluctant sigh.
"That's right. If you want to listen to you, you need to do at least this much."
Since Yill was a transcendent, trying to negotiate with them would imdiately put Toz at a disadvantage. If Dyra or Yill were dissatisfied with sothing, they could just do what they wanted and put a slave collar on Toz.
But if Toz had Dyra as a hostage, they would have to reach an agreent both parties could agree to before moving on. Otherwise, both parties would only suffer. Dyra seed to have realized this as she willingly let herself beco Toz's hostage.
Toz changed his position so that he stood behind Dyra, with her between him and Yill, before he started conveying his demands.
"Where are my cats? And where is Brunswick?"
"In a few different cellblocks in this prison."
Dyra answered Toz's question before she continued.
"I can use a token to call a servant and bring them here if you want."
"If you're prepared to die if you lie, I can't really say no. I will cut off a limb or two as soon as I suspect sothing. And if you call reinforcents, I am taking you down with ."
Toz could hear Dyra gulp in response to his threats, but she stayed calm, and her voice didn't even tremble as she gave her assent. Dyra slowly pulled out a wooden token from a spatial bracelet. The token was marked with a cube in the corner and had the words 'Overseer' written on it. It seed like a token given to an overseer of the prison. Considering Dyra's supposed status, Toz didn't think it weird for her to have such a token, but he was still ready to react.
After Toz nodded, Dyra injected so mana into the token. The enchantnts on it glowed slightly. Toz used his mana vision to see that the token was indeed a communication token and that Dyra had sent a ssage. However, he couldn't tell what the ssage was, so he didn't relax just yet.
Toz t Yill's hatred-filled gaze before he turned back to Dyra.
"While we wait, how about you tell what I want to know?"
"Alright. I might not be able to tell you so things, but ask away."
It seed like having her life threatened made Dyra quite cooperative. Toz was a little suspicious, but it wasn't enough for him to cut off a finger, so he only maintained his vigilance.
"First off, what is this place?"
"It is a prison."
"You don't say. Where the fuck is it, and why am I and the others here?"
Toz lashing out in irritation at Dyra's basic answer seed to have intimidated her slightly, and she rushed to give a better explanation.
"It's a prison for political hostages, and it's located not far away from the high level battlefield. You and the others are here to beco more compliant and willing to participate in the war."
Dyra's explanation seed like it had revealed a lot, but it only made Toz more confused. Toz stopped his face from showing his confusion, but his mouth moved before he could do anything about it.
"Why is there a prison for political hostages right next to a realm war?"
"Well… It's for political hostages from the war."
Dyra answered Toz's question as if it was obvious, to which he could only sigh.
"Miss, did you forget that you're talking to a country bumpkin?"
Dyra looked a little confused before she looked at Toz in surprise.
"Right! I did forget about that. It seems I'll have to take it from the beginning, then."
Toz's eyebrow twitched a little.
"Keep it short."
Dyra noticed that Toz had gotten even more irritated, so she explained as best as she could while still not drawing it out.
"Ahem. What you call a 'realm war' is, in reality, a proxy war between the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death. Instead of those transcendent factions waging war, the Dragonglass Mortal Realm's factions fight on their behalf."
Toz was reeling at the shock of Dyra's revelation, and he did his best not to let it show on his face. But he had limited success. However, his mouth didn't stop, and he reflexively asked what was on his mind.
"And the political hostages?"
"Descendants, disciples, or mbers of different transcendent factions fighting in the proxy war in order to gain experience, make achievents, or because they're hired to increase one side's chance of winning. They're taken as hostages instead of being killed in order not to incur the wrath of those factions, but they are usually worth a pretty ransom, so it works out well for everyone."
"Okay, I think I'm catching up. But why the fuck am I here. I'm not part of any transcendent faction. Why should I take part in this stupid proxy war?"
"You should have guessed it already, but I am part of the Obsidian imperial family. I was sent here as punishnt, but it's also a way for to make contributions. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to participate in the battle directly since I am part of one of the opposing factions. If the Tribe of Death captures , they're practically guaranteed victory."
"What's that got to do with ?"
"Well… I can get contribution by recruiting strong combatants to fight in my place. And honestly, you're one of the strongest people I have seen below the transcendent level."
"So your plan was to kidnap , put in prison to soften my attitude, make fight in the war, and if that didn't work, put a slave collar on ? And do the sa with my cats and friend?"
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