CH.289 Interrogating the Adventurers
“Wilma?” I called, as I rushed to her. She was within the Swords of Revealing Light I used to immobilize the ‘adventurers’ that called for our help, but it doesn’t seem like she is frozen because of them.
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Between Lua’s healing magic, and the card I just activated, we quickly closed the wound on Wilma’s back, and I finally took a nice deep breath.
As I turned back to look at the group of ‘adventurers’, the reality of what I just did hit in the face.
A group of six people, frozen in place by Swords of Revealing Light. And one small child, well, I don’t know if he is a child, but still. One small cat-folk, with a hole in his chest, caused by my sword. My sword, which I ordered to end him, and even threw at him.
It didn’t quite make feel sick, because in all honesty, he deserved it. But still, I did have a mild regret for what I did. I have the strength to be better, so I shouldn’t do things like that. I could have just activated a card like Shadow Spell or sothing else like that.
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I tossed the cat-folk girl in front of Mariina, and then put my Red-Eyes Sword right next to her neck. She was visibly shaking, looking at my sword, then at , then at Mariina, and finally taking a glance at her dead brother.
“She will question you, and you will answer.” I said, before I let Mariina take it the rest of the way.
Mariina squatted down so she could better look the cat-folk in the eyes, before she began her interrogation.
“Do you know who I am?” Mariina asked.
“...” The cat-folk didn’t answer, but she did shake her head a bit.
“Why did you attack us?”
“...” Again, no answer, just a small shake of her head.
“Which one of you is the one that summoned the lightning tiger?”
“... I …” This ti, we got a one word answer.
Wait? That tiger was a summoned monster? … well, I guess it breaking apart like that makes sense then. And this little catgirl is the summoner? I guess she does have a staff, so.
“Good. Just keep doing that, and this will all end well.” Mariina said. Her voice sounded extrely calming, hopefully getting the catgirl to drop her defense even more.
“Bring the next one, please.” Mariina said.
We didn’t get too much from the catgirl, but we did learn a few things. One, she has no idea why they attacked us, or who most of us are. Two, she and her brother, yes, the other cat-kin is in fact her brother, are slaves belonging to one of the ‘adventurers’. Three, she can summon a few cat monsters, the strongest being that lightning tiger, while her brother is a tar and the killer tigers that ca with the lightning tiger were tad by him, as were the forest lynxes that attacked us earlier in the day. Fourth, they were ordered to kill the bearded lady, aka. Wilma, by using the tigers to take away our attention, and then they were supposed to run away. We were just a lot faster in dealing with the tigers than they expected, so they didn’t have ti to run away. Or at least, that is what seems to be the case, based on the one or two word answers we got from the catgirl.
Because of Mariina’s orders, I took the cat-folk back to the Swords of Revealing Light. Before letting go of her, I asked her to point out her Master, and she weakly pointed at one of the ‘adventurers’. Alright. So he is probably the one in charge.
I set the catgirl on the ground, not quite gently, but I wasn’t hard on her either, making sure she had at least an alright position, before I let go of her and let the Swords freeze her up.
Alright. Next subject shall be … let’s go with you. I didn’t pick the master of the slave cat-folk, as he is likely the leader, so let’s just leave him for last. Then we can cross-examine him based on the info we get from the others.
“Alright. Your turn.” I said to the one that was the master of the cat-folk slaves.
We had gone through the rest of them already, he was the last. We mostly got cursed from the adventurers, but Mariina was able to make two of them talk by crushing their fingers one by one. Lucky for them fingers are easy to fix with healing magic, but it would still hurt quite a bit.
Just like all the others, the ‘leader’ struggled as I dragged him out of the Swords, but that doesn’t matter.
Like with the others, I set him out in front of Mariina and placed my sword next to his neck.
“... look at .” Mariina commanded. Unlike with the cat-folk, she was using a very cold voice with the others.
“Fuck off.”
“Brian, if you would. I want him to look in the eyes.” Mariina asked.
This wasn’t the first of them she asked that with, so I knew what to do. I, not so gently, took a hold of his head and turned it so that he was forced to face Mariina, while also pushing my left knee into his back, just to make the position a bit more uncomfortable.
“Do you know who I am?” Mariina asked. Every ti, it had been the first question she asked, but none of them had answered her correctly.
“A Bitch!” The man answered, so I pushed my knee into his back a bit more.
“Answer correctly.” I quietly told him, putting even more pressure on him with my knee, to the point where he scread out. Then I let back just a bit, so he could actually speak.
“How in the fuck should I know?” He yelped, in between so grunts he let out.
“See. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I comnded him, as I lessened the pressure on his back. Maybe if he understands that all we want is answered, even if they aren’t the truth, we will get sowhere with this.
“Yes. Just keep that up and we will be done soon.” Mariina agreed. “But since you don’t know , I may as well tell you. My na is Mariina Sawyer, the fourth daughter of Earl Sawyer. And you, mister Fuck off, have just attacked my caravan. Do you know what the punishnt for that is?”
After hearing that, I felt just a tiny shiver in the man, so maybe he actually realized how badly he just fucked up. Now, let’s just get the info we need, so we can… actually, I have no clue what we are going to do with them.
“Alright. You can go join your ‘friends’.” I told the leader as I tossed him back into the Swords of Revealing Light. I wasn’t careful with any of them, outside the little catgirl, because they honestly don’t deserve it. They’d likely not have a good ti when I release the swords, but that is their problem.
We had both learned stuff, as well as not learned stuff.
One, they had no idea about us. As in, they didn’t actually know we were nobles.
Two, they were actually legit adventurers. Just doing not so legit work. They had paid quite a bit of money for the two cat-folk, so they needed a loan for it. And were sowhat desperate to pay it off. So when the one holding their debt gave them an out, in the form of killing just one person, they agreed to it. We tried to find out who that was, but that is info we didn’t get. Even what we got was in bits and pieces from the five of them and might not be true.
So yeah. Now we have a bit of a conundrum on our hands. What to do with them?
“I think we should kill them.” Alice gave her opinion.
“Agreed. For them to attack my Master, they deserve to burn.” Agunan agreed with her.
“... are you sure that is a good idea? They are just people following orders.” Lua comnted.
“Are they?” I asked. “They had a choice. Pay their debt the normal way, but they picked murder. … I do feel bad for the slaves though. They didn’t have a choice.”
“Then just don’t kill them? But then we would need to…” Alice didn’t say everything she wanted, because while Mariina does know about Monster Reborn, her companions don’t. At least I think they don’t.
“It also isn’t quite that simple.” Mariina stated. “Here. Look at this slave mark.” She pointed out the dead catboy.
It looked… Well, it was a bit different from the one Ria has on her body, but I cannot tell the real difference.
“... so, why is it different from other ones?” I asked.
“It is an older slave mark. It has long since been made illegal in the three Kingdoms and the Hero’s country. Even the Crystal Empire has banned its use. That is because it lacks so of the protections the newer ones have.” Mariina began to explain. “This slave mark, unlike the modern ones, doesn’t limit the orders the slave is given. For example, Brian, if you ordered Rhianna to kill herself, she wouldn’t have to do it, because the mark would protect her from that order. This one doesn’t. The sa goes for orders to take other people's lives and so on. The modern one protects the slave from having to execute orders of that kind.”
“... alright, but so what? Won’t they be free if we kill their master?” I asked.
“No. That is the sad part. This seal… if their master dies, will kill the slave.” Mariina said. “It was made illegal for a reason. It is extrely inhumane.”
“... alright. So we will have to keep at least the leader alive.” I deduced. “Can that slave mark be transferred to be under a different master?”
“It can… but again, it is illegal. It isn’t common knowledge how to do that. We would have to get access to soone who knows more about it.” Mariina told .
“Anyone that would know?”
“The Sages should know. I think the Sage’s towers library’s limited section should have info about it.”
“... I see. But there would have to be soone who transferred the slaves to that guy, right? They would have to know, wouldn’t they?”
“And do you think we can get that information? No one will admit to it, as that will get them executed. And in all likelihood, there won’t be any proof of the transaction.” Mariina reasoned. “But we should still warn the local lords that there is a slave trader in this area using this mark.”
“Then perhaps we should just keep them all alive and head back to Pekkers? And because this is a special situation, I don’t mind if we use one of my ships for it.” I offered. “But at the end of the day, you are the one we are working for, so it is your call.” I reminded Mariina.
“Well, since you are offering your airship, we should head back.” Mariina quickly decided. “We will head back in the morning. I’m sorry, but you have to add keeping an eye on them to your nightwatch. Can the others use that immobilizing card?”
“Yes. Alice, Lua and Ria can.” I confird.
“Good. Please do your best.” Mariina said, before her group headed back to bed.
It was about ti for and Wilma to also say good night, as our turn guarding had co to an end so ti ago, but I still had one more thing to do. Actually two. Or maybe even three?
I first gave both Alice and Lua two copies of Swords of Revealing Light, so they could use them on our ‘friends’. Actually, let’s just give Ria two as well. It isn’t like I don’t have enough of them. And they could co in handy, so why not? And maybe having more cards will help Lua and Ria get LV.3 Card Summoner, so that they can have that deck feature.
Then the second thing. The dead cat boy. I used both Soul of the Pure and Blue dicine to heal up the hole in his stomach. Then after Lua checked his corpse out and said he should be fine, I dropped a Monster Reborn on him to resurrect him. Then, before he had ti to wake up, I moved him to be inside the Swords of Revealing Light.
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If anyone asks, he didn’t die and was just badly injured, alright. That is the truth, if I tell people that is the truth. That is how it works, right?
Last thing last. One quick request.
(Laura, can you Mia and Kekri look into that slave mark? Do we have ways of transfering the ownership to with one of my cards? Like Snatch Steal, Brain Control or sothing like that? Or maybe just ask the system about how it works?)
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(Yes. I’ll have it done by the ti you wake up.) Laura responded, so I was able to go to sleep with a relatively clear mind.
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