The Prisoners' Reckoning
Five prisoners. In the secret basement of Stony Fortress, five humans sat bound to chairs. Two white-robed captains who had surrendered to Neromeltia after failing to hunt dwarves. A commander and a pilot captain captured by Beriberi and Oun during their raid on Caboni Forest. An infantry captain seized by Nella while attempting to infiltrate Taego Forest. They were the defeated of the war they themselves had started, no more than livestock awaiting slaughter, clinging only to the enemy's mercy.
“Lusteria, stay here.” Before descending into the basement where the captives waited, Neromeltia stopped Lusteria, who had been following close behind. The moment Neromeltia returned to the Demon Lord Castle, Lusteria had rushed into her arms; ever since, she had refused to leave her master's side for even a moment. After the recent threat, Lusteria seemed anxious, so Neromeltia had kept her nearby while receiving reports. Yet she hesitated to bring her down to the basement.
“I want to go with you, Master!”
“No. This is no place for you, Lusteria.”
“But……”
At Neromeltia's firm refusal, Lusteria drooped her head with a sullen expression. She had assumed the only task awaiting them below was extracting information from the humans, and she felt slighted that the Demon Lord's secretary was barred from such an important duty. Of course, her desire to remain at Neromeltia's side played a part, but the sense of exclusion stung more deeply. Still, Lusteria did not yet understand what would truly unfold in the basement, so she could not grasp the others' intentions.
“Master. I shall look after Lady Lusteria. Please go without worry.”
“Oh my, then I suppose I must stay as well? Someone has to prepare sweet cookies for our adorable little secretary.”
“……Both of you are treating me like a child!”
Beatrice and Hestinia, reading Neromeltia's intent, immediately offered to remain with Lusteria. Their words sounded as though they were volunteering to babysit, and Lusteria flared up in protest. In truth, that was precisely what they meant, so her reaction was not mistaken.
“Thank you, both of you. Lusteria, I’ll be back soon, so behave yourself, all right?”
“M-Master too…… Hng……”
Leaving the rapidly flushing and sulking Lusteria behind, Neromeltia and the rest of the party descended into the basement. Beriberi, who had been following Neromeltia, glanced back and cautiously addressed Nella.
“Nella, you too……”
“I don’t want to.”
Beriberi had intended to suggest taking his precious younger sister down with them, but Nella rejected him outright without even listening. Unable to find any official pretext to stop the Engineering Captain, Beriberi could only trudge onward with a gloomy expression.
Cadistella, who could not understand Neromeltia or Beriberi’s behavior at all, quietly asked Crawford.
“Why is everyone making such a fuss about not taking certain people along?”
“Ah…… The things we are about to witness in the basement will be rather cruel. They simply wish to spare them the sight.”
Cadistella frowned at Crawford’s answer, still unable to comprehend. She pressed him again, genuinely puzzled.
“Do Demon Lord Army executives really deserve that kind of consideration?”
“Heh…… Lady Lusteria is quite innocent, and Lord Beriberi dotes on Lady Nella as though she were his only daughter.”
“Everyone’s so delicate.”
The desire for one’s precious child to see only good things and remain unaccustomed to the bad was a natural feeling any proper parent would hold. The problem was that Lusteria and Nella were fully grown adults and high-ranking officers of the Demon Lord Army who would have to wage war. Both had already killed humans on multiple occasions. Cadistella found Neromeltia and Beriberi’s sentiment difficult to relate to on that point. Most decisively, neither Neromeltia nor Beriberi were actually parents. Neromeltia shared a bed with Lusteria, and Beriberi was merely Nella’s older brother. Intellectually she could think, “Ah, so that’s the parental feeling,” yet emotionally it remained distant.
The moment the Demon Lord and her officers entered the basement, the prisoners began shouting over one another, desperate to offer information.
“I can tell you exactly where the captured personnel are being sold!”
“I’ll reveal the location of Esteronan!”
“Th-the weakness of the magic colossi……!!”
“I’m the commander! My rank is the highest, so I can give you the most valuable information!”
Four prisoners actively offered cooperation. Only one remained silent—the infantry captain. Surprisingly calm, he simply kept his head bowed and his mouth shut. Neromeltia approached him.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t you want to live?”
“……If I speak, will you spare me?”
The infantry captain had already abandoned any hope of survival. He knew that no matter what he revealed, the end would be death. This was his small, final act of resistance: he would not give the enemy the satisfaction of useful information.
Neromeltia spoke quietly to his resolute attitude.
“One.”
She then moved to the pilot captain. The man’s eyes burned with eagerness to answer any question. He clung desperately to the hope that he could win the strong’s favor and somehow survive.
“What is this weakness of the magic colossi you mentioned?”
“At the center of a magic colossus lies a massive mana core that is softer than metal! If you destroy it, the interior becomes exposed! Pouring attacks into that empty space will destroy the inside without needing to breach the alloy armor!”
After revealing the critical weakness, the pilot captain waited for approval, his gaze blazing. He believed no greater weakness existed for the magic colossus he had brought to war, and that information about the final weapon of humanity would surely earn him mercy. Yet Neromeltia ignored his expectation and asked something else.
“The magic colossus you brought—is it the latest model?”
“Huh……?”
“I asked if it is the latest model.”
“I-It is the latest model!!!”
The pilot captain hesitated for a moment before giving a frantic affirmation. Neromeltia merely added one quiet word.
“Two.”
“……?”
The prisoners could not understand the numbers Neromeltia attached to her light interrogation, yet none dared voice their confusion. They could only rack their brains in silence, wondering what the numbers meant. If the sound of mental gears turning existed, the basement would have been filled with a deafening roar.
“You said you were the commander.”
“Y-Yes!! Please give your order!!”
“Tell me the location of your main base.”
“Ugh……!!”
The commander clamped his mouth shut in sudden panic. He had already suspected the Demon Lord Army would not spare them. After hearing the exchange between Neromeltia and the infantry captain, that despair had felt increasingly certain. Still, he had hoped that buying a little time might allow rescue from the Northern Outpost, their headquarters. If the main force failed to return and the commander reported to Esteronan, salvation might arrive. He believed that Esteronan’s cutting-edge magic army and Kerdihak launching a joint assault could annihilate the hastily assembled Demon Lord Army in an instant. But if the base’s location was revealed and it was attacked before any message could be sent, with most of their forces already lost, total annihilation would be inevitable. In that case, any rescue from Esteronan would be lost as well.
“Three.”
“I-I’ll talk!!”
“Too late.”
Neromeltia counted the number and turned her back on the commander without a trace of regret. With an extremely leisurely gait, she approached Beriberi. The orc lord bowed his head, ready to receive his master’s command. Neromeltia placed a hand on his shoulder.
“They defied me three times. The sin of petty bravado. The sin of lying. The sin of hiding the truth. It seems their education was lacking.”
“I shall gladly administer punishment, Your Majesty.”
Beriberi dropped to one knee. Sensing despair in their exchange, the commander tried to speak in desperation, but Neromeltia raised a single finger, forbidding any further words from the prisoners.
“First. You, who launched a surprise war with filthy motives, tried to preserve a shred of pride as prisoners. You should have begged for forgiveness before asking whether we would spare you.”
“Kuh……!!”
Every prisoner in the room glared at the infantry captain. Receiving their reproachful stares, he could not look pleased either. His resignation had helped drive the others’ hopes of survival into the abyss.
“Second. The magic colossus you brought was manufactured five hundred years ago.”
“H-Hiik……!!”
“We confirmed the manufacturing date from the wreckage. Did you think we could not read human script? Naturally, supplies would not reach a northern base so far from Esteronan. It must have been brought in during an era when Terraris’s pollution was not yet severe. The current Astaris continent is so polluted and dangerous that the army sent to kill the Demon Lord was annihilated. There would have been no capacity to transport the latest models all the way to the north.”
Neromeltia’s precise deduction, as though she had peered into human history itself, drained the color from the pilot captain’s face. His complexion turned ashen, and his upper body twitched intermittently as though nausea rose from the intense tension. Standing behind Neromeltia, Cadistella, Crawford, Beriberi, Artis, and Moka—the internal affairs director of the ogre tribe who had come in Oun’s stead—all nodded or applauded in admiration of their lord’s insight.
Like the commander, the pilot captain had counted on rescue from Esteronan. If the Demon Lord Army prepared for the latest models, their rescue would be jeopardized. He had intended to deceive them by claiming his colossus was new. If they believed it was the latest model and let their guard down, he had thought the truly cutting-edge, overwhelmingly powerful newest colossi could catch the Demon Lord Army off guard. Yet his opponent had seen through everything and even understood the internal situation of humanity. She had surely seen through his petty scheme as well. Realizing he was already a dead man, his mind went blank.
“Third. It seems you still intend to hide the truth and scheme. The fact that you stammered and could not name your base’s location—were you truly too stupid, or were you still trying to play clever?”
“I-I was stupid……!!”
“Lying again. That makes four.”
“Hic……!!”
With no further interest, Neromeltia turned to leave the basement. Just before stepping out, she gave Beriberi one last quiet order.
“Make them come to their senses. Ensure they can never defy us again.”
“Understood!”
“Ah, one more thing.”
As though remembering something, Neromeltia stopped and turned back to her officers. She slipped an arm around Nella’s waist, pulled her close, and smiled.
“I’ll be taking this pretty lady with me.”
Nella, being led away in Neromeltia’s embrace, looked extremely flustered. Her face flushed with embarrassment and she moved in a somewhat hurried manner. Beriberi, however, paid no attention to his sister’s discomfort. He was simply moved by the Demon Lord’s deep consideration in sparing his sister from the basement, where screams and blood would soon flow. With his only worry gone, Beriberi began to wear a cruel smile rarely seen on his face.
“Normally this would be the torturer’s job, but unfortunately we love peace so much that we have no one in that profession. So regrettably, the officers must handle it themselves.”
“P-Please forgive…… Forgive us……!!”
Ignoring the prisoners’ desperate pleas, Beriberi quietly approached the dusty, moldy curtain in the corner of the basement. When he forcefully pulled it aside, a collection of horrifying instruments came into view. Steel tongs for pulling things out. Leather whips studded with sharp barbs. Sinister hooks and needles. A wooden frame fitted with long screws that had handles. Small, sharp knives and glass bottles filled with liquids of various colors. No one was foolish enough not to understand what these tools were for.
“Just because we have no torturer doesn’t mean we lack the tools of torture. You will come to regret not dying honorably on the battlefield.”
“I’ll join in. I was disappointed I couldn’t see any red blood while dealing with that dragon.”
“Heh. If Lady Cadistella participates, we have nothing to worry about.”
“Right? Heh. Let’s have some fun, shall we?”
Beriberi, who harbored intense fury toward the humans who had tried to turn everyone in Caboni Forest into slaves, could be merciless. Cadistella, a vampire who drank blood and possessed a cruel nature, and who had been denied the taste of human blood throughout this war, could be equally merciless. The terrifying sight of the orc lord and the Empress of Fresh Blood struck pure terror into the prisoners, making them wish they could bite their own tongues and die. The infantry captain did attempt to chew off his tongue and commit suicide, but Cadistella’s powerful healing magic simply restored it, leaving him with nothing but meaningless self-inflicted pain.
Before long, the prisoners’ wretched pleas and agonized screams began to echo violently through the basement. For some reason, Crawford and Artis appeared visibly shaken, occasionally trembling as though chills ran down their spines, proving it was no illusion. The only spectator who could watch the bloody scene of torture without any emotion was Moka alone.