Food Torture (1)
Ah, Interrogator Phillion! I heard the news. You caught yourself a big one.
A large man in uniform strode toward me with a hearty laugh.
“Have you had dinner yet, General Rommel?”
“Truth be told, I ate so much I can barely move. Had myself a massive turkey sandwich. Not some ordinary thing— this thing was the size of an actual mountain range.”
The general patted his belly with a satisfied thump. Meanwhile, I had just gotten off work and hadn’t eaten a thing. The murderous impulse rising in me was very real.
General Rommel was the commander-in-chief of the Western Border Guard. He was in charge of the entire border defense force in this region.
“Then I washed it all down with a whole mug of warm latte. My stomach’s basically turned into a supply depot at this point.”
“Perhaps you should have lain down for a bit.”
“How could I stay still after hearing your news? Besides, the doctor keeps telling me I need daily exercise.”
The barracks weren’t far from the checkpoint. Less than a kilometer. If he considered walking that distance and back actual exercise, this man was headed straight for hypertension.
“Ever since you were assigned here, your results have been nothing short of incredible. Bandits, dark mages, radicals—you catch them all without missing a single one. We’re running out of room in the detention facilities.”
“Were there many escapes before?”
“Ah, there were some issues. You remember the rebellion in the Amund Countship a few months back, right?”
“I think I read about it in the papers.”
“It turned out to be sabotage by radicals who had slipped in from the Allied Kingdoms. They were trying to seize imperial territory and declare independence.”
General Rommel loved to talk. He would bring up the strangest gossip and ramble on endlessly. As a general, he held a very high position. In the Empire’s military, which was largely split between knight orders and infantry corps, he commanded one of the four major infantry corps. Naturally, his mouth spilled all sorts of information that ordinary people would never hear.
I sometimes worried he might accidentally leak classified secrets.
“After hating each other for hundreds of years, their own countries collapse and they come running to our Empire to stir up trouble? The world is full of people who don’t know their place.”
“Knowing one’s place is important. I, too, do my best to benefit the Empire within the scope of my abilities.”
“Haha, you really are too modest. A man should have some ambition, don’t you think? Since we were born with the equipment, we ought to aim for the top.”
“Wise words indeed.”
General Rommel was definitely suffering from dementia. He would forget what he had said five seconds ago. In fact, he usually had to repeat the same story to me about five times before the topic finally died.
“Thanks to that countship incident, our Border Guard got properly chewed out too. You’ve served at the imperial palace, so you know how fiery Her Majesty can be.”
She was basically a living ball of hysteria. That woman needed hormone therapy.
“So the blame reached all the way out here.”
“It was revealed that we had failed to filter out the radicals. Counterfeit passports and entry permits were found among their belongings. The one who had let them through was your predecessor, the previous interrogator.”
“I had a predecessor?”
“Oh, of course. Though he no longer exists in this world. Her Majesty personally issued an execution decree.”
Shit. No wonder the pay was so good. The raised salary was basically hazard pay. My lifespan might be cut to a tenth, and the compensation was only double? I suddenly felt very wronged.
“Your predecessor really wasn’t suited for the job. He was a soft-hearted man. He would tear up at stories about waiting families and stamp the papers anyway.”
“Logically speaking, it would be difficult for someone from the Allied Kingdoms to have blood relatives in the Empire.”
“Exactly my point. How long has the border been sealed now?”
“It just means people’s thoughts are all the same. That’s about the best lie a smuggler could come up with, isn’t it?”
It was the same with the dark mage we caught earlier today. The stories were almost always predictable. They had relatives in the Empire, a sibling had called for them, they were just traveling. At least preparing a lie showed some effort.
But what about that princess we caught earlier? She hadn’t even offered an excuse.
“Regarding that suspected princess you apprehended—have you confirmed her identity?”
I pulled out my report.
“Based on her belongings, I believe she is from the Perlos Kingdom. She was hiding a seal.”
“Perlos, huh. One of the Allied Kingdoms. I heard it fell to the Northern Coalition not long ago.”
“Why would she attempt smuggling instead of seeking asylum?”
“That’s what we need to find out. Whether she was in contact with radicals planning to attack the Empire, or something else. As royalty, she must know quite a few secrets.”
Looked like overtime was confirmed tonight. I sighed inwardly.
General Rommel handed me something. It was a gag used to restrain prisoners.
“Since she attempted illegal entry, she is a Class One criminal under imperial law. Extract as much information as you can.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Hahaha. If you uncover important secrets, who knows? Her Majesty might grant you a personal reward!”
The Emperor’s idea of a reward was usually stepping on her subjects’ heads. Something like, Rejoice, for I have taken notice of you. A completely arbitrary attitude. Unfortunately, I had no masochistic tendencies, so any reward I received from her would likely be those violent breasts. Or perhaps her rear.
“There’s also a public hearing scheduled for tomorrow. Do your best to coax her through the night.”
Talking about overtime without offering any extra pay. I headed for the prison with a sigh.
“Insolent wretch! This is the presence of royalty! Show proper respect!”
As soon as I entered the cell, the Princess of Perlos glared at me, both hands bound in handcuffs.
“Since you are a VIP, I prepared a private cell. I believe I have already shown sufficient courtesy.”
“Tying a person up like livestock is courtesy? Ha, there is a limit to nonsense!”
“Wasn’t it you who failed to show courtesy first? I cannot trust someone who lies about their name.”
“Ugh……”
The princess’s momentum faltered slightly.
“Illegal entry is a Class One felony. Smuggling is the same. Add violent resistance during arrest, assaulting a knight, and refusing to confirm identity… I can’t even imagine how many charges that would be.”
“When did I ever assault a knight? You’re slandering me! You were the ones who handled me roughly first!”
“You kicked a knight while being dragged away.”
“……”
“You also spat on them.”
“That was……”
“That’s four major felonies. The minimum sentence will definitely be sixty years.”
“S-sixty years?!”
The princess’s mouth fell open. Her wide blue eyes grew watery.
“This is too much! I only chose what was best for my people, so why…….”
“Stepping onto imperial soil for the sake of your people—what exactly does that mean?”
“……”
The princess shut her mouth. The way she avoided my gaze suggested she was hiding something.
“It’s not all bad news.”
I snapped my fingers. The guards waiting outside the iron bars carried in an interrogation table.
“Sit down.”
“If you think I will obediently—”
“Sit.”
I forced her into the chair across from me. For all her resistance, she had no strength. She clearly hadn’t eaten for several days.
“I have one proposal for you.”
“What… kind of proposal?”
“A plea deal. In exchange for providing information, we reduce your sentence.”
“Information……”
“Details on impure elements that threaten the Empire, or international intelligence that could benefit us.”
Bang! The princess slammed both hands on the table. The handcuffs clattered.
“Ha! Do you take me for a traitorous dog who would sell out her country over such crude threats? You’ve miscalculated, you imperial mutt. Why don’t you spend your life doing tricks for the Empire like the good little dog you are.”
“I’ll graciously accept the compliment.”
“What?”
Apparently not expecting that response, the princess’s face twisted.
“You don’t seem to understand what an excellent position an imperial dog holds. The Empire is the strongest nation on the continent, possessing the greatest military power and the most advanced technology. Our rivers run clean, our land is fertile enough that wheat fields stretch as far as the eye can see even from afar. To be personally nurtured by such a nation—what greater compliment could there be?”
“Ugh… Don’t you have any pride?”
“Pride doesn’t put food on the table.”
That was exactly why I had endured for ten years under that foul-tempered Emperor, working as a bureaucrat. The Empire’s underbelly was warm and comfortable. Surrounded by mountains, it was safe from foreign invaders. Its large population kept the domestic economy thriving. Thanks to its enormous grain belt, it was said that even beggars in the Empire never went hungry. You could dig anywhere and find magic stones, so magic had developed greatly as well.
While countless nations in the west rose and fell, formed alliances and splintered, and descended into civil war—while hell itself unfolded—the Empire had used its surplus wealth to build its own Great Wall. It was practically an overpowered beginner village map. Long live the glorious Empire.
“Pride doesn’t feed you? Ha! I would rather be a starving intellectual than a well-fed pig.”
“So you refuse the deal?”
“I will not let my dignity be broken by such pathetic threats.”
“If you won’t open your mouth, there are other methods.”
Only then did the princess’s gaze fall on the object in my hand. It was the intimidation gag.
“W-what are you going to do……”
“If you attempt illegal entry, you should have been prepared for at least this much.”
“Stop it right now—mmph! Mmph!”
I shoved the gag into her mouth and tied it tight. Her mouth was now completely sealed. The princess glared at me as if she wanted to kill me. As expected of high nobility, her killing intent was on another level. But I wasn’t the type to be intimidated by that.
“Let the torture begin.”
“Mmph! Mmph!!”
At my signal, the guards opened the iron bars and brought in the items I had prepared.
“Mmph, mmph! Mmmph…?”
The princess’s eyes widened the moment she saw it.
“Mmm. That aroma is perfect.”
What the guards had brought was none other than dinner. A moist steak with a perfectly crispy exterior. Carefully mashed potatoes. A colorful garnish of lightly blanched vegetables. It had just been cooked, so it was still piping hot and carried a wonderful scent.
I picked up a fork and knife and elegantly sliced into the steak. Juices burst out and flowed between the cuts. I put a piece in my mouth and chewed vigorously.
“Did you know? The Empire grades its beef. Cattle raised on the cornfields of the south have abundant fat that delivers an entirely different level of savory flavor. Just look at this marbling.”
I lifted a piece of meat on my fork and waved it in front of the princess’s eyes.
“This is 1+++ grade Empire-produced wagyu.”
Her eyes followed the meat, spinning left and right. After showing it off sufficiently, I popped it into my mouth.
Nom nom.
“Mmph! Mmmph……!”
“Hmm? I can’t quite understand what you’re saying.”
“Mmph!”
Gurgle.
A loud rumble echoed through the solitary cell. At some point, the gag in the princess’s mouth had become soaked with her drool.
Although my title was interrogator, I had no taste for medieval-style torture. Pulling out fingernails, burning with fire—ugh, just imagining it was horrible. Anyone who could endure that with a sane mind wasn’t a person, but a psycho.
Therefore, the torture method I had come up with was this.
Nobody dislikes delicious food. When you watch mukbang videos late at night, your hand unconsciously reaches for the delivery app.
“Mmmph……”
“What was that?”
“Mmmph.”
I loosened the gag slightly. She gasped.
Her face was flushed bright red. Looking up at me with teary eyes, the princess spoke.
“……Just one bite.”
I answered immediately.
“No thanks.”