LS – Chapter 128: What must be solved next

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The next day, we escorted Raheight and arrived at the Kuama headquarters.

I have been to Taizu which is small but fancy, and Gahne whose growth stands out, but I let out my voice in admiration at the scenery of Kuama.

It is the very picture that I imagined of a castle town in an isekai before coming to this world. There’s an especially high amount of adventurers.

Taizu has knights, Gahne has their army, and Mejis has the Yugura Church to properly keep public order, so there’s barely any work for the adventurers.

Compared to that, Kuama has the defensive walls, the threat of the monsters is low, the soldiers of the nation assure the bare minimum public order, and have the tendency to use adventurers for more flexibility.

Therefore, most adventurers use Kuama as their base of operations.

I leave the driving of the carriage to Ilias and enjoy the view as we head to the Kuama castle. We have thrown Raheight inside the wooden box over there while still restrained.

“Speaking of which, were you working in Kuama when you were an adventurer?”

“Yes, so I can guide you if it is in the city of Kuama! I would have been able to guide you sooner if you hadn’t said you were going to shut yourself in Lilbe.” (Mix)

“I can also guide you in Kuama. I did stay here for some time after all.” (Ekdoik)

Ekdoik cuts into the conversation. He was completely energetic now after sleeping for a night.

His skin color has changed to wheat color because of the effect of turning into a demon, and his hair and eyes have changed from a deep purple to a slightly bluish purple.

I heard from stories that demons have black hair and eyes, but there might be a difference depending on the Demon Lord turning you into a demon.

If I just think of his skin being tanned, it doesn’t feel off, and it is a difference that would just make me think it is a rare sight when looking at the color of his hair and eyes closely.

And so, there’s no noteworthy issue at present. If any more changes happen, we can just change the color with the spell that Nora invented.

But according to Ilias and the others, the quality of his mana has become even more dangerous.

Others already found him different because he was raised by a devil, but it has gotten even more pronounced, huh.

Strong people may be able to tell, but it might be effective to pressure someone.

“Speaking of which, where is Ekdoik-dono affiliated to? It was Morgana for me.” (Mix)

“Morgana, huh. A proper guild. Mine was Riodo.” (Ekdoik)

“Hmm, Riodo, huh… A place that stands out for their shady jobs.” (Mix)

The adventurers are affiliated to a guild, and those adventurer guilds have factions.

Morgana is a guild that only accepts adventurers that not only have strength but also have had their virtue acknowledged.

They have many branches in each nation, and are the guild that has the most requests received by countries and nobles.

Riodo is a completely power driven guild. It is a guild that even wanderers, people of unknown origins, and deranged individuals can join.

There’s a lot of dangerous and hard to publicize requests, and there’s rumors that they even lend a hand to crimes.

There’s a lot of cases where the rowdy individuals that are confident in their skills would join this guild. They would cause trouble at times, but they were relatively low priced, so merchants would often use this avenue.

Shunait is a guild with an extremely wide acceptance range.

Even new adventurers can join, but it is hard to get high difficulty requests.

The adventurers that have gained experience would often move to other guilds, but the skilled and attentive adventurers would stay at Shunait, and there are even times when they would return from other guilds.

There’s also a number of influential guilds who have specialized requests, but these 3 are apparently the main faces.

“Adventurer guilds, huh. I have heard a decent degree about them. I was hired by Marito soon after, so it was left inconclusive, but it might not be a bad idea to join one.”

“If you register to the guild, you can receive requests from branches of the guild in other countries, and it is also good that you can use their affiliated facilities. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to join one.” (Ekdoik)

“Mister Friend can obtain a recommendation from Ani-sama, so you could join Morgana!” (Mix)

“I don’t know about a guy that has Demon Lords as allies joining.”

“Right. Comrade would be able to act in a wider spectrum in Riodo.” (Ekdoik)

“Hngh, but if you want to earn trust, Morgana is leaps and bounds better-desu zo!” (Mix)

What’s with these two? Even though they are putting aside their adventurer job and accompanying me, they are still attached to their guilds.

“Anyways, what comes first is the interrogation of Raheight. Our time to accept requests will be gone depending on the information we get after all.”

Joining an adventurer guild was high up in my list of things I wanted to do if I were to come to an isekai, but it really does feel like I just missed my opportunity.

I am the one in charge of the ideas for the king, and am already researching magic that takes advantage of the difference in culture.

Rising from a beginner adventurer at this point doesn’t really excite me much now.

That said, as long as we are calling ourselves a 3rd Faction, there’s a high chance that we won’t be able to stay in Taizu for some reason.

I have to secure enough funds to not worry about the food and lodging of me and Wolfe. I really should consider a method to earn for our meals.

There’s the option of Gold taking care of us, but it is obvious that she would get ahead of herself.

Purple…there’s a high chance I won’t be able to return to society, yup.

Thinking about it calmly, I need to earn operation funds for the 3rd Faction, too. What should I do?

I have been thinking of ways to earn money, but maybe I should begin seriously…

“Shishou, are you worrying about something?” (Wolfe)

“I want to earn for the sake of living, and avoid living for the sake of earning.”

“I see?” (Wolfe)

I think about the future as we arrive at the Kuama Castle.

The Taizu Castle gives off a clean and traditional atmosphere, but the one here gives off the pressure of a wild seasoned castle.

The Gahne Castle has a strange shape because of the taste of Gold, but when talking about a castle, this is what it should look like.

There’s already a number of soldiers and clerics on standby at the entrance and they let us in without any objections.

However, because of how bold we were before, they don’t have that good of an impression on us.

They are not showing it in their attitude, but they are surely spitting out poison internally.

We were guided to an interrogation room inside the castle by the side of the prison.

A square room with a tall ceiling. In the surroundings there’s tools for interrogation… Those are torture devices.

It is not too hygienic, and it is humid and dark. It is not like they are trying to entertain the one being interrogated, so this does make sense.

Wolfe is frowning a whole lot here. Is she remembering the past? Or is the smell stinging her nose? …It must be both.

I looked around the room and there were things that looked like windows at the walls.

For ventilation? No, that’s most likely a one way mirror.

I can’t see them from here, but Archbishop Seraes and King Zenotta probably plan on watching from there.

There’s a lot of echo here too, so it is made well for big shots to watch the progress of an interrogation.

I asked Ekdoik and Mix to bring out Raheight from the wooden box, and attach him to the handcuffs that are set at the wall.

We had him sleep with a drug so that he wouldn’t cause trouble on the way, so his sleeping face can only be seen like that of a child, and it gives off that criminal vibe.

I had his whole body wrapped up with the chains of Ekdoik that have magic seal stones set in them just in case, and put on restraining devices so that he doesn’t bite off his tongue.

Then, had Mix wake Raheight up with an energizing spell.

I say energizing spell, but it is pretty much a light electric shock. It is not something nice to witness.

Now then, it is about time for me to switch.

“…Hn.”

“Good morning, Raheight. How’s your body feeling?”

Raheight dizzily opened his eyes and looked around.

And then, after seeing my face, he made a smile unlike that of a child and answered.

“I barely feel anything because of the poison. That’s quite the cruel thing to pull on the body of a child.” (Raheight)

“If you were to resist, we would have to go to more extreme measures after all. I am hoping things will wrap up peacefully here.”

“Want to try torturing me? The torture of Yugura’s planet might serve as a reference for the future, so I am looking forward to it a bit.” (Raheight)

“I unfortunately don’t have a truth serum, and the physical torture might look lukewarm in the standards of this world.”

“Then it will be your normal interrogation, huh. That’s a shame.” (Raheight)

There’s 2 major interrogation methods in this world. One of them is torturing them and have them spill the beans.

But the body of Raheight currently is that of a child. There’s a high chance the body will give out faster than his mind.

The other method is to use magic that will affect his mind.

According to the check of Mix, Raheight has a small magic seal stone embedded in his head just like the time with the bandits. The mind manipulation spells would be erased.

I could call Purple and have her use the Enticement, but I find it hard to believe that someone who moves in the shadows the whole time would act while using his real name.

With the power of the Stomach of Perplexion that Dyuvuleori inherited from Feibyushasu, you can read the memories of someone, but people that excel in mind manipulation spells can fake their memories.

I asked the Blue Demon Lord if we could do the same as Dokora: threaten him with using necromancy on his body that’s still stored at Mejis. The problem is that it is not clear whether that body is his real body, so it is not certain.

Also, judging from how relaxed he is here, I can’t throw away the possibility that his soul might move once his body dies.

…Well, that doesn’t matter though.

I direct my gaze at Ilias. She doesn’t seem too into the idea, but she agreed to it.

I place a chair in front of Raheight and sit down.

His face and mine were facing each other at close range.

“…What are you trying to pull here?” (Raheight)

“Now then, let’s begin the interrogation. First question: You made contact with each mayor of Kuama, and then you were going to take advantage of the incident the Blue Demon Lord was causing to wreak havoc in the chain of command, but you were also trying to pull off other things, right?”

“…”

“Then, was that going to be through the use of adventurers?”

“…!”

“Thanks. The guilds are Riodo, Morgana, Shunait… What, so all of them?”

The face of Raheight began to cloud. Even though he is expressionless and hasn’t opened his mouth once, yet the right answers are coming out one after the other, so of course his face would turn like that.

“I see… So that’s your weapon… That’s scary.” (Raheight)

“Don’t call it something dangerous like a weapon. It is a technique, a technique.”

Application of Comprehension: by narrowing the questions to a yes or no answer, I discern the truth by observing their reactions… But that’s not really the technique here.

This is what I inferred through the information that Girista investigated. I am showing this to Raheight as if I had pulled it out from him just now.

This may look like a farce of an interrogation, but there’s a proper objective to this.

It is to shake the mind of Raheight.

No matter how silent you want to stay, information is being extracted as if his thoughts are being read. With that illusion in place, the expressions of Raheight are beginning to show more vividly in his face.

Now that it has reached this point, my usual method can work. Telling what’s true or false will become comparatively easier now.

But if I shoot questions blindly with this method over and over, there’s the risk of him reading my intention, making it even harder to draw out details from them.

And so, I narrow it to only important questions and see through the general picture.

“The reason why you were stingy in the incident caused by the Blue Demon Lord despite laying all that groundwork was not only because I cornered you with precision, right? You planned on using it at a future junction…related to the objective of the Scarlet Demon Lord.”

“Your way of cornering me was so perfect that I couldn’t send the order.”

“The reason why the Scarlet Demon Lord instigated the Blue Demon Lord was because he wanted to spread the reality that the Demon Lords have resurrected to the world. Also, the reason why the Scarlet Demon Lord didn’t act immediately was for the sake of letting the humans get ready, right?”

“You don’t even care about what I say, huh. This is quite the terrible way to interrogate someone.” (Raheight)

“Thanks. Looks like the Scarlet Demon Lord wants to cause a full blown war against the humans. He continued amassing troops, and once he judged that the threat of Yugura was not present, he made the Blue Demon Lord take the front as if saying ‘now’s the moment’.”

“What are you saying here? It is as if…!” (Raheight)

I am not simply reading the truth from his expression. He can’t lie through his words.

There’s Rakura at my back who has learned the Yugura Church’s technique to see through lies.

Making things unclear with bullcrap won’t be allowed.

“How much time has the Scarlet Demon Lord given to the humans? Shorter than a month… So longer. 2 months… 3 months… I see, 3 months, huh. Thanks.”

“You really are one troublesome man… I regret not having been more thorough with my methods to eliminate you.” (Raheight)

“There’s no need to give such an exaggerated evaluation towards the man that’s even weaker than that form of yours. But in that case, a point of worry has shown up. The Scarlet Demon Lord wants an orthodox war against the humans, but creating chaos within the humans by using adventurers doesn’t match with that intention… Meaning that you are doing this by your own volition, isn’t it?”

“…”

“You want the Scarlet Demon Lord to fight with as much of an advantage as possible, but it is not out of loyalty. What’s your objective?”

The real objective of Raheight is not something within the range of what I can guess.

No one knows about the origins of Raheight and his past. There’s not enough information.

Wrapping it up here would be the safe choice, but let’s set him up a bit here.

I use the term that might be connected here from the information I heard from Gold and Purple.

“Illegitimate, huh.”

“—!”

This reaction is a bingo. It is the topic the Green and Colorless Demon Lords shared, but I am surprised it was related to Raheight.

But the state of Raheight changed a bit here. These are eyes that are certain I don’t have information about this Illegitimate.

And he is raising his guard to the max in order to not leak any information no matter what.

If we knew something about this ‘Illegitimate’, our actions would most likely be contradictory here.

The shaking I am doing now has barely any effect on someone who has wholeheartedly decided to not spill out information.

It is time to withdraw. I obtained the information I needed, so let’s be satisfied with this.

It is going to be more useful for me in the future to maintain the threat that I have etched in the heart of Raheight just now rather than just pushing it and messing up.

I ended the interrogation and left the place without saying anything more.

The fake smile of Raheight had already crumbled, and the look he is giving me is without doubt that of hostility.

I left the interrogation room and was guided to the guest room.

I rub the cheeks of Wolfe as I return my standing to normal.

It seems like the I me is not that popular with them. That’s understandable though.

“Haah, being interrogated by Counselor-sama in that state gives chills.” (Rakura)

“What, Rakura. Have you been hit by that technique of Comrade before?” (Ekdoik)

Yes, I have interrogated her when she drank the alcohol that I was hiding.

It was in the me state instead of the me state, but this was extremely effective with Rakura who is bad at lying.

By the way, I uncovered the endless list of snacks she was hiding one after the other, and scolded her to the point that she was on the verge of crying.

“You simply got your just desserts. No room for sympathy.”

“Uuh, even though I simply took a bit of your booze… It still shows up in my dreams, you know?!” (Rakura)

“Makes sense it would. My condolences-desu zo.” (Mix)

Why is everyone showing gazes of pity towards Rakura? Am I the one in the wrong here?

I thought ‘who cares’ and sat on the chair. A soldier eventually showed up and told us to please come to the throne room.

We followed along to the throne room, and there was King Zenotta and Archbishop Seraes waiting.

The grumpy face of Archbishop Seraes is the same as usual, but King Zenotta’s face is terribly pale.

“First of all, allow me to praise your interrogation skills. A terribly big problem arose from this though…” (Zenotta)

“Regarding the adventurers, I have a list of the people that he might have made contact with. I shall make a copy of this later.”

“That would be a great help. By the way, what’s this ‘Illegitimate’ about?” (Zenotta)

“According to the other Demon Lords allied with me, the Colorless Demon Lord mentioned this when talking to the Green Demon Lord. I don’t know the details.”

King Zenotta glanced at Archbishop Seraes. He simply shook his head in silence.

I understand that they don’t trust me, but brazenly confirming it right in front of my eyes does sour my mood, yup.

“We will also perform an interrogation of Raheight on our side. And so, I would like to request one thing from you.” (Zenotta)

“Depends on what it is.”

“About the adventurers that Raheight made contact with and used on his schemes, were they controlled by magic or was it out of their own will?” (Zenotta)

“Can’t say for sure on either of those. There’s even the possibility of both being the case.”

“Right. But if that’s the case, it would be hard for our country alone to get rid of this danger. Adventurers can move through the nations, so the harm wouldn’t stop at just Kuama.” (Zenotta)

“You are right.”

The one who will be harmed the most will be Kuama, but I don’t go out of my way to point it out.

King Zenotta most likely understands that already. Most adventurers use Kuama as their base after all.

“As a country, there’s the need to prepare for the approaching threat that is the Scarlet Demon Lord. I would like to borrow your wits here. Of course, we will provide assistance as a nation.” (Zenotta)

I feel like they are pushing a troublesome problem to us, but King Zenotta does have a point here.

If the Scarlet Demon Lord plans on attacking the nations in 3 months, there’s the need to prioritize the preparations for this or the casualties will increase drastically. This not only applies for Kuama but the other countries too.

Even if I don’t accept the request here, he will ask Marito and Gold anyway. There’s no reason not to accept if Kuama is going to assist.

We are simply on an equal footing in our power dynamics now. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have them owe us one.

I doubt Archbishop Seraes will feel indebted, but King Zenotta is a different story.

“Understood. Entrust the method to us, and as for the assistance, we will ask for it within the range of what you can do. Any issues with that?”

“So you will accept! Yeah, there’s no issue with that!” (Zenotta)

King Zenotta gave a broad smile. Seems like he is very happy.

It seems like he is not acting here and is happy from the bottom of his heart. Could it be that this guy is the most honest out of all the nation representatives?

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