Volume 8 Chapter 5 Part 2
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Translator: Kell
“Did you learn anything about the contents of the ruins from the old adventurers?” I asked.
“They didn’t seem to know much about it. It’s been eighty years, after all. It’s hard to remember anything from that long ago.”
“Not even a little?”
“No. I heard there was a lizard monster in there, though. Does that count as intel?”
Lizard monsters, huh? That’s actually not a bad intel at all.
There were many places in BBO where lizard monsters could be found, but when it comes to ruins, there’s only a few. There are two types that I know of. Well, that is, of course, if the combination of monsters and ruins is the same as in BBO.
“What color were those lizards?”
“Does their color matter?”
“Yeah. If you don’t know, I can just check on-site, so it’s not like it’s absolutely necessary.”
I have almost every combination of BBO ruins, labyrinths and monsters memorized. Even the color of the monsters is valuable information.
If the combination doesn’t match anything in BBO, then “this world is not like BBO” is also valid information in itself.
“Give me a minute,” the king said. “The results of the survey are summarized here, but I’m not sure if it even mentions the color of the lizards… It does.”
The king looked over the documents on his desk and pointed to the results of the questioning. It says that there was a large blue lizard monster in the ruins that the survey team had difficulty dealing with. The old adventurer who was interviewed couldn’t remember the name of the monster, but its appearance left such an impression on him that he still remembers it decades later.
“Blue, huh?”
I have an idea about the ruins where blue lizard monsters appear. It doesn’t necessarily mean this one’s the same, but it does provide some reference.
If my guess is right about where they found the Enchant Shaft, it’s a type of ruins called ‘Ancient Ruins of Hubris’ in BBO. It’s almost similar to dungeons, with special monsters that only appear in ruins, and the terrain itself is almost buried underground.
It’s not a great location to search for the Altar of Bestowal because of the narrow terrain and poor visibility, but let’s hope that it only extends the investigation by a few days. For those trying to protect the Altar, the terrain makes it relatively easy to defend, so it would be troublesome if the Empire came butting in.
“Does this help you?” the king asked.
“Yeah. I got some good information. Can I have this report?”
“Sure. I knew you would say that, so I had a copy ready for you.”
The king then handed me the data. Considering the thickness of the document, it didn’t seem to contain much information, but since there were no clues other than a single Enchant Shaft, I should be thankful that this much information was available.
“Is this all the information you have?” I asked.
“Yes. I’ve got the research institute checking quickly to see if there’s any information left, but they say it will still take some time.”
“Okay. This is enough information for now. It’s going to be faster to personally check the site than to keep looking for old data.”
Unlike the royal palace, the research institutes were not occupied by the Empire, so there may be some information left, but that information is eighty years old. It may not be reliable, and I’d still head to the site anyway, so there’s really no point in lounging around here.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door. It could be really important since they were interrupting my conversation with the king. The king’s tight expression said he shared the same thought.
“Come in,” the king said.
The door opened. Several soldiers saluted the king.
“What happened?”
“Your Majesty. Just moments ago, we caught an intruder entering the royal palace.”
“An intruder? I don’t think it’s that unusual, but if you came here to report it right away, you must have a reason. Were they trying to steal the nail?”
“Indeed, Your Majesty.”
So they came to steal the Enchant Shaft. The Empire sure is quick in making their move. Although the fact that they were captured so easily indicates they didn’t exactly send elite agents.
Incidentally, the Enchant Shaft is with me, so what exactly did the thief try to steal? Well, I can somewhat guess.
“So you had your people make a fake nail,” I said.
“Yeah,” the king replied. “I had them prepare fakes, thinking the Empire might come to steal it, but I didn’t think they’d take the bait so quickly.” He shifted his gaze to the soldier. “I take it you captured them alive?”
“Yes, sir. They attempted to commit suicide by poison, but we neutralized it in time. We are holding them in the dungeon and keeping them under guard to avoid assassination.”
“Well done. You think you can look into their background?”
“With your order, we can begin interrogation immediately. However, seeing that they attempted suicide without hesitation, it may be difficult to get them to divulge anything.”
The king thought about it a bit. You could interrogate them, but there’s a good chance that the agent doesn’t even have much information at all. Somehow I doubt that someone who got caught so easily would have valuable intel.
Rather than taking countermeasures against interrogation, it’s much easier to just not give them much intel in the first place. If I were the Empire, I would just tell the thief, ‘Go steal that nail,’ and not give him any detail about what the nail is. Even if it’s just info that the kingdom already knows, there’s no reason to tell them that the Empire is aware.
It’s probably best to assume that there’s no information that can be extracted from the captured agent, even by using some sort of a confession drug. But there’s one thing bothering me. If I’m lucky, I might get some hint, or some kind of confirmation.
“Can I join the interrogation?” I asked.
“Of course,” the king said. “Do you have some good spells you can use?”
“I’m not sure how useful it is, but I have something that’s perfect for interrogation.”
The most obvious interrogation-type magic is Deadly Pain. Since it’s magic that inflicts only pain without any physical damage, it’s probably the best spell for interrogation without the worry of accidentally killing the subject. There is a risk of heart attack due to the pain, but it’s much safer than physical means of interrogation.
However, the effectiveness of interrogation is not determined purely by the amount of pain. The purpose of interrogation is not to hurt the subject, but to extract information.
A professional interrogator is probably much better at effectively forcing the subject to confess. Needless to say, BBO didn’t have an interrogation function.
I know some of the interrogation methods that exist on Earth, but a professional in that field is probably better than someone who just read stuff on the internet. I only have some spells that interrogators might use.
But in this case, we don’t need to worry too much about the method of interrogation. If my guess is right, that is.
“That would be great,” the king said. “You might know some interrogation methods that we have not even considered.”
“I’ll do what I can. If I’m right, though, we can’t interrogate them.”
And so I went on my way to the one who tried to steal the Enchant Shaft.
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