Chapter 77
**Line 1:** `CHAPTER_TITLE: The Captive's Scream`
Yo, you bastard!
Teraden turned on his heel the moment he left the room, chasing after the messenger. Suddenly he shouted straight at the messenger’s back, who was trudging along far away.
His voice froze the messenger in place, even as his legs—twisting as if he were possessed by a plague—stopped dead in their tracks.
“...?”
The messenger spun around, saw Teraden, scanned the surroundings in a quick glance, and finally stared at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes.
“That’s right, you bastard. There’s only you here. I’ve got something to discuss with you, so come here.”
Teraden wiggled his palm up and down in front of the bewildered messenger.
“Grrk! That little brat actually went crazy.”
“Heh heh heh heh!”
The messenger’s face burned even redder. As he lumbered toward them swinging his arms, Teraden laughed and strode over to meet him halfway.
And the instant the two drew close—
Thud! Thump.
“G-grk... ggrk...”
With a dull thud the messenger collapsed sideways, utterly powerless.
It wasn’t clear what had happened, but judging by the way he fell, he had most likely been struck by Teraden’s fist.
“Lord Teraden, we don’t have much time, so please lend us one empty room.”
Teraden roughly hauled the fallen messenger to his feet and called for the deputy master.
“Ah, yes. This way...”
The deputy master looked uneasy and clicked his tongue as he led us unsteadily toward the empty room.
Once inside, Teraden bound the messenger to a chair with a rope so tight he couldn’t even twitch.
“G-grk, ghr...”
“Oh man, what a stink! What is this smell?!”
The messenger groaned in pain. Teraden beside him wrinkled his nose and fanned the air.
“W-what is this?!”
His eyes cleared. He looked around in confusion, spotted strangers staring at him, and realized his body was bound so he couldn’t move. He looked genuinely startled.
“If you cooperate quietly, I promise you won’t be harmed. Please calm down first.”
His confusion lasted only a moment. The messenger suddenly flared up, as if lightning had struck him.
“You bastards, you’re not untieing me?! You wanna see me tortured like a hostage?!”
It was clear he had no intention of cooperating.
“I didn’t want to do this... Teraden, this is going to be annoying, but I’ve got a job for you.”
He whispered into Teraden’s ear so the messenger couldn’t hear.
“Whoa, I can hear the head rolling all the way from here.... Hm? What’s that?”
“Just like you said earlier, we don’t have much time. We’re not sure whether the people who snatched away the Lord’s daughter would actually harm her even if we touch the bait.”
“That’s true.”
“I need to gather information. Quickly. Before they notice.”
Swish, swish, swish.
Teraden kept swinging his fists through empty air, then rolled his shoulders twice before turning to the messenger.
“Got it. I’ll just punch a few times and you’ll spill everything. No need to make this hard. I’ll do it.”
Clearly Teraden was more suited for this than me, so I left the rest to him.
“You dare commit such a crime and think you’ll get away with it?!”
“I haven’t done anything yet, though.”
“Shut up and untie me already!!”
The messenger’s voice snapped back to clarity. His previous slurred speech had vanished.
“You’ll see right now what kind of crime this is. Here, first I have to gag you so no one outside hears your screams...”
Teraden had a thick cloth in his hands now.
“Come on, just a little- mmmph, mmmph!”
As the messenger yelled, Teraden shoved the cloth into his mouth and cupped his ear as if listening intently.
“Mmmph mmmph mmmph mmmph!”
“Huh? What did you say? You swore you wouldn’t talk under any circumstances? Your willpower is impressive! I’ll give you full marks!”
“He’s probably just bluffing—look at his eyes, he wants us to spare him...”
“Hah! What are you saying? Didn’t you hear me just now? You said you wouldn’t talk!”
Teraden shook his head in mock disgust and blew hot breath on his fist.
“I didn’t want to do this either. It’s really sad. Haaaaaa. Now the ear-melting technique is about to begin?”
“Teraden.”
“U-um? Why?”
“Don’t mess with his face. It’ll be obvious too fast.”
“Good advice. I’ll listen. All right, then. I’ll make a cave in his belly.”
Thud. Thud thud.
Teraden’s face was smug, but the sounds coming from his fists were terrifying.
“Mmmph mmmph mmmph mmmph!!”
Teraden’s sadistic sense of humor worked wonders.
He curled his fists tightly and slowly pulled his shoulders back, as if preparing to pummel them to pulp.
The messenger thrashed wildly, his eyes bloodshot and bulging, as if about to explode any second.
He convulsed in pure terror, as if death itself was staring him down.
“Have you changed your mind and decided to cooperate?”
To be safe, I stopped him for a moment, then pulled the cloth slightly from his mouth and asked.
“Puh-ah!”
The messenger’s eyes widened in shock as he nodded frantically.
“I-I’ll tell you everything!!”
“Really? How disappointing. Tsk.”
Teraden clicked his tongue and pulled back his fist.
“Good choice. As long as you cooperate properly, you won’t be hurt. First, what is the current condition of the Lord’s daughter? Is she safe?”
“S-she is. After all, she’s not that valuable as a hostage to us. We just keep her locked in a private room, and nobody gets near her.”
The messenger panted and kept talking nonstop.
Teraden’s torture had clearly worked well.
“Nobody gets near her. Is there a special reason?”
“I don’t know what he’s been eating, but his body is as hard as steel.”
Well, remembering the portrait of the Lord’s daughter the Lord had shown earlier, the messenger’s words were believable.
“You’re not saying she’s actually a steel-bodied immortal, are you?”
“Even one of the Seven Stars was said to have had a body tougher than any material.”
“But that was because he possessed the power of invulnerability, right?”
“Well, the important part is that the Lord’s daughter is safe. Moving on. Next, where is your base, and how many people does your group have?”
“About one hundred and fifty of us are gathered at our base, about twenty ri northeast.”
“Hmph, not bad.”
Teraden narrowed his eyes as he stroked his chin.
“Of course.”
“Good. I’ve asked all the questions I need to. Now, as promised, I’ll untie you.”
Teraden patted the messenger’s shoulder as he freed him.
“But listen. If you go back and tell them what happened here, I’ll chase you to the ends of hell and make you pay at least twenty times over, got it?”
“Y-yes, I remember.”
“Then you can go. But disappear before you change your mind. Oh, wait.”
Teraden called after the messenger, who was slouching away with his shoulders hanging low.
“W-what? What else do you have left?”
“You took gold coins from the Lord earlier, right? Give me five of them.”
“W-what?! No, I’ll be killed by the boss if I don’t return the coins properly.”
“Look at you. You didn’t earn them fairly and you robbed the Lord! And I heard everything the Lord said earlier. You said you were supposed to hand over fifteen coins a few days ago, didn’t you? You were inflating them to steal some, weren’t you? I’ll drill a hole straight through your belly!”
“...”
Teraden curled his fists again. The messenger’s eyes darted in panic. He pulled out a pouch from his pocket and handed it over without a word.
“The business is done, so go now. Don’t waste time. Run quickly, and don’t stop anywhere else on the way.”
“Y-yes.”
With Teraden’s order ringing in his ears, the messenger hurried away without even looking back.
“Hmph, he’s walking all slumped over like a defeated dog.”
Meanwhile, watching Haru and Teraden with the role of silent observer, Jubern scratched the back of his head at the unexpected sight.
“Hmm... he wasn’t supposed to be like this... was he?”
* * *
“Is this really true?”
After delivering the information the messenger had given us, the Lord’s face—previously wrinkled with worry—smoothly smoothed out.
“Yes, that’s correct. You can rest easy regarding the daughter.”
“The probability that he was lying...?”
“His eyes and breathing seemed honest.”
The deputy master hesitated, clearly not ready to believe it, but Jubern stepped in to reassure him.
“It’s all right. Thank you, Jubern-nim.”
Jubern’s insight was that of a top-tier master. He would have been right.
“You probably won’t need to prepare a hundred gold coins. Tonight, Teraden and I will go there and bring the daughter back.”
“Oppa.”
“Hm? Yes, Maru.”
“Maru is staying here alone? Maru wants to go with Oppa too...”
Pfft.
“Maru, can you stay here to prepare for any unexpected situations?”
“O-of course.”
“Jubern-nim, can you stay here with Maru as well?”
“I understand, Lord Haru.”
After briefing Maru and Jubern with a few instructions, we departed with Teraden.
Following the messenger’s directions, we headed northeast. Before long we reached the place he had described.
Our base was built into the mountain, and though it wasn’t as grand as Okjeo or even this city, the surrounding fence showed that at least some organization was in place.
First we hid ourselves where they couldn’t see us and spent half a shikjin scouting the area.
“Whoa, look at them setting up a watch like that. They’ve got some kind of password, huh?”
Teraden snorted and his one eye widened in disbelief.
“Why does it feel so empty? Did they all go loot another village together?”
“No one inside means the rescue will be easier. We’ve figured out the entry method, so let’s slip in.”
“Wait a second.”
Just as Teraden’s bent leg was about to straighten, he grabbed my arm and stopped me.
“Why?”
“Same as Dongye and Okjeo. We didn’t know what was inside, so we always sneaked in like rats. That kind of disadvantageous method is giving me the creeps now.”
“What should we do, then?”
“This time we’re going to force them to come out by themselves.”
“...How?”
“The key to this kind of thing is surprise and a big opening. Just watch quietly for now.”
“That’s worrying...”
“Don’t worry. Heh heh heh heh!”
Teraden flashed a confident smile, patted my shoulder, stood up, and slipped away alone into the nearby thicket.
Teraden looked up at the fence, then slowly began approaching it.
“Huu... Gaebang.”