Chapter 578
Chapter 578
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 578
Chapter Title: A Good Friend to Meet
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The interrogation proceeded remarkably smoothly.
Elise smashed the heretic's feet and shins with an iron mace, then cast Heal to stop the bleeding. Once the bleeding was stanched, she repeated the process.
It was an incredibly simple and straightforward form of torture.
Legs didn't have vital organs, so as long as you watched for excessive blood loss, you could inflict pain almost indefinitely. No one dies just from shattered foot or shin bones, after all.
Elise wrecked one heretic like that without asking a single question.
He tried to say something, but it was in a language we couldn't understand. Since he couldn't speak our tongue, he had no value, so we made an example of him by slaughtering him in front of the others.
She subjected the relevant heretic to two hours of iron mace torture before deliberately letting him bleed out to death.
"Phew. I did tell you there'd be no need to die, but mistakes happen. As you've all seen, gentlemen heretics, this is how I plan to conduct the interrogations."
Elise wiped the blood caked on the iron mace with impassive eyes.
"Of course, I won't be making any more mistakes from now on."
I brought over paper and pen, along with a desk and chair, then sat down to record the interrogation. Elise was in a state of extreme fury right now.
"I won't kill you until I hear what I want."
The heretics had corrupted the villagers and engaged in vile human trafficking. That evil had to be crushed no matter what.
"Guh... Guh...!"
Heretics were fair game to kill anyway.
"Feeling like talking now?"
"Just as expected from the filthy hunting dogs of Idzemart!! We will never yield to torture! For our god, for the greater cause! We will never be defeated!!!"
"Hmm."
Even after watching one of them get utterly demolished in real time, the heretic hadn't lost his spirit. What kind of faith turned people into such mad zealots?
It was enough to raise questions.
There were certainly a fair number of saints who threw away their lives for justice—people who sought righteousness and followed their conscience.
But throwing your life away for evil acts? That was incomprehensible.
Scritch, scritch.
No need to insert personal opinions... but I had to record what the heretic said. These were all clues, after all.
Claudia and Winia watched Elise's torture for a while before leaving, apparently fed up. They were probably planning to wash up and rest now. I wanted to wrap this up quickly and do the same.
"Hey, hey. Quit the bullshit and spill it already, punk. Everyone cracks in under ten minutes after a few mace hits anyway. Chatty bastards."
"Kuhahaha!! Verdi's paladin, was it? You lot will never understand! What will happen from now on!"
"Fuck, you keep making me curious like that? Huh? Just tell me, seriously. I'm dying to know. Sorry for poking your eye earlier."
"Foolish, ignorant wretch!"
This guy was acting like a kid, refusing to share what he knew. Of course, he hadn't been beaten enough yet for his mouth to loosen.
Elise, having wiped all the blood from the iron mace, stepped in front of the blustering heretic.
"Then let's begin the proper interrogation. If you feel like saying something, speak up anytime."
"You will learn nothing!!"
The heretic bellowed, and Elise shattered his shinbone.
Exactly thirty minutes later, we extracted meaningful information.
"Guh...! Guhak! I don't know the business's location...! We just receive funding...!"
"Heh heh heh, this bastard's gonna spill it all eventually. Making everyone tired for nothing."
"Kek...! Guhk!"
The heretic, broken by Elise's relentless shin-smashing, broke down sobbing and began spilling everything he knew.
Apparently, they had a trump card of sorts.
A self-destruct technique of sorts, where they activated a wicked curse that burned away their own life to curse their foe.
But Holy Silence had completely sealed it off.
He'd held out this long purely hoping the effect would wear off eventually, but it was too potent and didn't fade. Combined with Elise's accelerating torture, he cracked.
"Good. So where's your home base? Where'd you stash the trafficking victims?"
"North from the village... if you go... it's there... I know, I..."
"Heh heh heh, got it."
We'd need him to guide us personally for the location.
Honestly, that was all we needed anyway.
"Now tell me about your god. What god do you serve, and why the human trafficking? Sacrifices?"
"..."
Strangely, though, whenever questions about their god came up, he'd clamp his mouth shut. No amount of torture could pry that loose.
But he'd wail answers to other questions.
"...This is odd."
Just as Elise said—odd.
"Definitely strange."
The more we interrogated, the clearer it became: this guy didn't seem entirely right in the head. Well, heretics being insane was par for the course, but this felt different.
"Guhk...! Hic... I-I've told you everything...! I'll guide you there, so please stop.... Daoc, Tulsordec... please stop...!"
He confessed everything in that manner, but never breathed a word about his faith.
"What god do you worship?"
"..."
"Can't say 'cause it's some fucking retarded god?"
It was like he didn't understand the question—or hadn't heard it? Hard to tell. He either couldn't register it or was dodging on purpose.
"...Mental manipulation."
Elise said after observing closely.
"High chance he's under mental manipulation."
"Mental manipulation? What's that?"
Manipulating what?
"A wicked curse that twists the mind to prevent speaking certain concepts or words. A forgotten curse, you might say. Even those who knew it were hunted down by the church. The last known use was ages ago."
Such a thing existed?
"This looks just like it. No way to confirm, of course..."
In other words, mind control tech that's been eradicated now. And it's popped up here.
"Just acting?"
"Possible. We'll need to interrogate more."
In the end, we spent nearly a full day torturing the heretics.
We got a rough grasp of their base location. But that's it. He didn't know much else and said zilch about goals or faith.
Plenty of lingering questions, but Elise concluded from her own torture that it resembled mental manipulation and halted it. I wrote the report accordingly.
Truth be told, we'd achieved the main goal of finding the location, so no more torture was needed.
That was the priority.
"Elise. Let's drag these bastards to their hideout and raid it."
We needed to hit their place ASAP. No more delays. Know what we need to know? Time to move.
"Ah, we'll head out right away, so call Claudia and Winia. Load these guys into the carriage too. I'll pop over to Captain Barkerel real quick."
"Understood. I'll prepare for departure."
"Good."
Stepping out of the barn, it was early morning already.
Time had flown.
I headed straight to the lodging where the holy knights were staying.
The holy knights were waiting inside. I handed Captain Barkerel the compiled documents.
"You've done splendid work, paladin. I'm truly sorry it came to this."
"Heh heh heh, no worries. I'm plenty compensated."
Barkerel looked apologetic as he spoke. The holy knights and priests had searched the village outskirts from dawn till dusk, then holed up in the lodging like mice.
"Right, so this is the interrogation summary... I understand the situation. Location intel from them is the key, regardless. Let's head out at once."
We couldn't ride with the holy knights and heretics together, so we'd load the heretics in our carriage for guidance.
Two carriages anyway.
We lead from the front; they'd follow behind.
"Captain Barkerel. Just to be safe: don't touch the heretics. They have to guide us. Exact spot requires their directions."
"Hah hah hah! Worry not! They're fully briefed! Honestly, without your restraint, we might've killed them all—but you stopped us!"
Barkerel clapped my back with booming laughter.
"We've been suppressing our killing intent through constant mental discipline. Rest easy!"
"Uh... yes. I'll trust you."
I headed out and boarded the carriage.
Inside were the two tightly bound heretics, plus Claudia, Winia, and Elise already aboard. Time to force the heretic to guide us.
"Claudia. Winia. No trouble?"
"Nope, hasn't said a word."
"Totally silent."
The two women glanced indifferently at the heretic before turning to me.
"Really?"
Not a peep, huh.
Definitely, he looked drugged out, eyes glazed, drool flowing. After hours of agony from utterly pulverized legs, it was no wonder.
"Hey! Heretic!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Instant response when I called.
"They say you haven't said a word!"
"I-I'm sorry!!!!!"
"What? Sorry? Did I ask if you were sorry?"
"No, sir!!"
"Then why apologize!! You hiding something, you fucker!!!"
"No, sir!!!!"
His face a mess of bizarre tattoos, but he'd developed some proper discipline.
A full day of torture had reshaped his spirit.
"Shut up!! No speaking unless asked!!"
"Yes, sir!!!"
Of course, they might lead us into a trap.
But I trusted Elise's judgment. Despite suspicions, she—the epitome of thoroughness—had stopped the torture and greenlit departure.
That made it fine.
"Heretic. Begin guiding us now. Lead us wrong, and I'll make you a fate worse than death."
"Understood! Straight ahead!"
The heretic became an excellent navigator, starting directions.
"Ah, Elise. What about Holy Silence? No need for more?"
"I asked the priests; they said it's fine. The heretic can't use any curses for a while."
"Heh heh heh, good enough."
And so we headed for the heretics' base.
More like a branch office than main base, apparently. Couldn't extract more. Nor why he only spilled the location.
The heretics' true nature remained shrouded in mystery.
Maybe because members like this one were mentally manipulated.
Mind control strong enough to withstand torture... Chilling just thinking about it. Tech that advanced could turn a human into a monster effortlessly.
Perhaps even their faith stemmed from it?
Suspicions deepened.
But no point dwelling on unknowns now.
Just focus on moving.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Th-this is the place...! O-our branch is this way..."
Cough, cough!
In less than two days, the heretic had withered away. Black smoke billowed from his coughs.
Sign of death?
Didn't matter. If this was right, he had no more use.
One of the other two died en route anyway.
"Heh heh heh, yeah? It better not be bullshit. If you're lying..."
"Hiiik...!!"
Whispering in his ear made him tremble violently, drool pouring.
"Stop! Pleeease...!"
The prolonged torture had shattered his mind.
Twitch, twitch.
He vibrated like a toy, frantically pawing his legs. That terrified? Perfect for the finisher.
"I'll smash your shins again."
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Heh heh heh, not bullshit?"
"No! It's true!!!"
"Good, good! I'll believe you, my heretic pal! Let's get off!"
We disembarked with the heretic. Unable to stand on ruined legs, he needed my help to crawl out and slithered along the ground.
"Captain Barkerel!! We're here! Let them down!!"
"Got it!!!"
The holy knights and priests dismounted too.
"Hey! Where's your house?!"
"Th-that way! Over there!!!"
"Can't see shit."
"The entrance is hidden!"
"Lead on!"
The tightly bound heretic crawled like a maggot toward the front. Ahead loomed a massive mountain range—I guessed it bordered the Fog Plains like a wall.
"Grrgh...!"
Captain Barkerel and the holy knights breathed heavily, faces contorted.
"Let's go."
We followed the crawling heretic cautiously, alert for traps. Thankfully, no knightly outbursts.
"Here it is!"
About twenty minutes later.
We found an entrance leading somewhere.