Guess How Many Hits You'll Take (1)
Guess How Many Hits You'll Take (1)
I had prided myself on having been through every kind of hell.
The days I'd scraped through back alleys on sheer venom alone.
The day I became commander of the Shadow Knight Order, I thought I had put fear far behind me.
Fear? Terror? I thought those were for cowards.
But.
"Oh? Not talking, are we?"
"Grrrrrgle."
That had been a grave miscalculation.
Thud.
Seth, whose sheer toughness was among the best in the order, collapsed foaming at the mouth.
He was already the eighth one.
Seth, who had initially endured a full thirty minutes, found his endurance dropping at some point until he was losing consciousness every three minutes.
I had been confident I could endure any torture.
The Night Crows were thoroughly trained and were prepared to self-terminate at any moment. That was why they hid a poison capsule behind their left molars.
The same was true moments ago.
'Seth.'
'Understood.'
As soon as Olivia approached to question them, they bit down on their capsules.
Crunch.
The poison slid down their esophagi with a sharp scent.
It was a deadly poison that could liquefy even a troll in seconds. Since it melted the bones as well, raising them as undead was impossible.
I had been certain there was no more effective method for preventing information leaks.
After all, the pain was only momentary.
A peaceful rest would follow soon after.
'...It was supposed to be that way.'
Why!
Weren't they dying!
The poison had spread successfully. Whatever else might be unclear, that much was certain.
The proof was that their Aura had stopped moving and their heartbeats had gradually slowed.
"Hey now. Who said you could just die?"
But Olivia had countered them perfectly by forcing their mouths open and shoving a Potion down their throats.
Just like now.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.
The moment Seth fainted, Olivia shoved a Potion into his mouth.
Seth's unconscious instincts could not resist the restorative power flooding into him.
Not knowing what consequences that choice would bring.
That overwhelming regenerative power forced his eyes to fly open and vitality to surge violently through his entire body.
"Kuh-hurk! Hurgh..."
It was nothing short of a miracle.
But Seth could not feel the slightest joy.
"What number is this now?"
Seth's whole body trembled.
"Th-The ninth one."
Ordinarily, the rule was to say nothing when being tortured.
But if he kept silent, she would beat him until he fainted, so he had no choice but to answer.
"Right. Isn't it about time you talked?"
"..."
"I guess not? Fine, then keep not talking."
Deep sighs came from both of them, but Olivia looked utterly unbothered.
"You know, I wasn't originally the type to beat people up like this?"
Calliope stared at Olivia with an expression that said, 'What fresh bullshit is this?'
"But, see, after beating one guy, two guys, ten guys, a hundred guys, I realized: ah, I have to beat these bastards for them to talk. Being nice and going easy on them is completely useless."
As she said this, Olivia wore the face of a prophet proclaiming enlightenment.
After all, playing thousands of rounds of Lactea, how many users had suffered unfair setbacks because of these stubborn, obstinate NPCs?
Of course, the Night Crows, who had no way of knowing the details, would probably think of Olivia as a madwoman who had spent her entire life studying how to beat people.
"And."
Olivia looked down at them with sharp eyes.
"What you all did and what I'm doing are basically the same thing."
"...What do you mean?"
"You attacked me because I wouldn't answer. Said you'd cut off my arm."
"..."
Well, no, that was true, but.
"Did I try to kill you? Did I cut off your arms? If all I'm doing is hitting you, you should be grateful. Honestly, being too nice is my problem. Too nice."
"..."
Calliope squeezed her eyes shut.
If that was nice, then the back alleys should be called utopia and the Demon World should be called a heaven full of angels.
She had met many villains in her time, but none so vicious as this.
'And it was even more infuriating because nothing she said was wrong.'
The one who attacked first was Calliope, and the one who had issued a lethal command was Calliope. Olivia had merely provoked them.
It was true...
It was definitely true...
So why did it feel so unjust?
"Nothing to say? Shall I keep hitting you?"
It was the moment Olivia raised her staff with a horrific smile.
"W-Wait!"
"Hm? You finally feel like talking?"
Seth shouted with all his might.
"Why, why do you keep hitting only me!"
"You want to know the reason?"
Seth nodded.
"If you talk, I'll tell you."
"That is..."
"You don't want to, right? Honestly, you probably can't bring yourself to talk now because you don't want to waste all the suffering you've endured so far."
"..."
Seth's eyes, having missed his chance to speak, filled with deep despair.
'So you just want to hit me.'
Those were not the eyes of someone trying to extract information. They were the eyes of a madman who saw people as punching bags for stress relief.
"Hold still. You bastard."
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
It's said that sometimes watching someone get beaten is more terrifying than being beaten yourself, isn't it?
For Calliope, that moment was now.
In just that short time, Seth's entire body had swollen up. It was now hard to tell if this thing was a person or a steamed bun.
'She's growing.'
A talent that shouldn't be growing was growing.
"Drink it, you bastard!"
"W-Wait...!"
"Gah! I don't want to hear it!"
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.
It was a sight that was impossible to watch with open eyes.
And what kind of witch carried that many Potions around, anyway?
She had seen plenty of people who killed without a shred of hesitation, but this was the first time she'd seen someone repeatedly beat someone to the brink of death and then heal them.
If the empire's torture technicians had seen this, they would have praised her as a pioneer who had opened a new horizon in torture.
"Gr, grrrrk..."
Seth, revived for the tenth time, groaned. He was already at his limit physically and mentally.
"W-Why not use magic..."
"No."
"...Why?"
"Because that would kill you. No way."
Oh, what a beautiful heart she had. She was even worrying about her enemy dying!
Calliope let out a deeply satisfied smile.
'Just kill him. You damn bastard!'
At this rate, his mind would break first.
Living as an imbecile was meaningless.
"Stop this at once!"
Unable to bear it any longer, Calliope shouted. Olivia halted the beating and looked at Calliope.
"Why? You'll talk instead of him?"
"...Yes."
Calliope accepted reality.
If the pain was repeated for eternity without death, even the most iron-willed knight would eventually have to open their mouth.
If Calliope, who was merely watching, felt that way, then what must Seth, who was actually suffering, have felt?
It was only a matter of time.
'Helpless.'
It was simply regrettable that her entire body was frozen and she couldn't resist in the slightest.
"The ones who sent us..."
"Commander."
"Seth. I am no longer certain of myself."
"Commander!"
"I shall bear the full weight of this dishonor. Blame me even in death. I am sorry to have been this sort of commander."
Calliope spoke with a composed face.
She had thought a day like this would come someday. Although she had never imagined it would end in such a disgraceful death, there was no point splitting hairs about that now.
Still, if she had to die, she wanted to die with dignity.
"Listen well, Witch. The ones who sent us..."
"Wait!"
Calliope turned her head toward the sound, her face deeply creased.
She was about to talk, so what was the problem now...
Seth?
"Why is that for you to decide, Commander! I refuse to accept this—aaaaaghk!"
Seth was shrieking, foam spewing from his mouth as hard as he could force it.
"Did the Commander get hit? Did you faint? All you've done is watch this whole time! And now, only now that you think it's your turn to get hit, you want to spill everything just like that—what kind of treacherous, thieving bullshit is that!"
"C-Calm down..."
"Aaaarrrggghhh! This is so unjust! I can't live with how unjust this is! And all because of you, the Commander!"
"..."
Calliope's eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
'Was I hearing this correctly?'
"If anyone talks, I'll talk! I will! I wiiiiill! After enduring all that—aaaaaaghk!"
"..."
They say one is struck speechless when too bewildered.
Calliope was a textbook example of that.
"Hmm, you're right. Even if you talk, you're the one who got beaten, so it's only right that you talk."
And why was she siding with him?
Calliope stared at Olivia in disbelief.
Olivia had already started agreeing with Seth.
"Wow, what a total psycho. Not even hit once herself yet. She should at least get hit about the same amount before you'd be satisfied. Right?"
Nod nod.
"What a real piece of work she is. What should we do about that? Should we beat her up, too?"
Seth glared at Calliope for a split second.
And then...
Nod nod.
"Can't be helped. He says he wants me to hit you. You should get hit for a bit, too."
Calliope's face quivered.
'Hey, you crazy son of a bitch!'
'You sold me out first, Commander!'
'When did I ever!'
If their hands and feet hadn't been frozen, they would have lunged at each other immediately.
Watching the Night Crows collapse into pandemonium in real time, Olivia wiped her nose.
'This is way more effective than I thought.'
Though they were tight-lipped bastards, it didn't mean there was no way to make them open their mouths.
This was the most representative method.
Pound on just one of them.
And sow dissension.
"D-Don't come any closer! Stop! I said I'll talk. I'll talk!"
"And like I said, if you want to talk, you have to get hit more than this guy, right?"
No, why was the logic going there?
He wanted to talk to avoid getting hit, and she was telling him to get hit if he wanted to talk?
"What kind of bullshit is that..."
Calliope's words never continued.
Smack!
Olivia's staff had slammed right into Calliope's head.
'G-Gaaack...'
My, my consciousness...
"Khehehehehehe!"
Past her fading consciousness, the sound of the cowardly traitor's laughter echoed.