abcnovels
Chapter 97
Chapter 97
Chapter 97
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
Chapter 97: Evidence (1)
***
Michael swung his sword down, cleaving through the ogre’s head. With that, the last of the ogres was slain. Michael wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed in relief.
Looking around, he saw that the orcs had also been mostly dealt with. The knights were chasing down the remaining orc stragglers.
“One, two, three… four! I got one more than you! So I win, right?”
Veronica spoke with a triumphant smile right next to him. Michael gave her a puzzled look.
“You stole two of my kills! This victory mine.”
“What are you talking about? I still killed more!”
“You have to consider the process. What are you complaining about when you’re stealing someone else’s prey?”
Michael and Veronica glared at each other and growled.
“Whatever. I’m going to go see Damien… no, brother Damien. You can have fun on your own.”
Michael finally managed to shake off Veronica, who was still grumbling in dissatisfaction, and headed towards Damien.
He had been watching even while fighting the ogres. The way Damien fought the chimera.
‘Brother is really amazing.’
Michael also knew a thing or two about chimeras.
One of the most horrific monsters in this world.
Creatures that should never be taken lightly.
The nicknames for the chimera were numerous. That’s how dangerous a monster it was.
Damien had chased down such a monster without any difficulty.
Michael was always confident, but he didn’t think he could do what Damien did.
‘The technique he used to cut down the chimera at the end was especially amazing.’
Originally, the aura was strongest when it was on the sword of the aura. If it was released outside, it was bound to diminish in power.
However, Damien had released the aura and still exerted tremendous power. Michael, who was far away, could feel it.
Michael had no idea how to do that.
‘Now that the subjugation is over, I need to learn a lot from brother.’
The teachings he had received from Damien that day had greatly raised his power very quickly.
Without Damien’s help, he would not have been able to become a middle-class in such a short period of time.
‘Maybe this time, if I learn from brother, I’ll be able to get a clue on how to get to high-class…’
It was while Michael was lost in thought.
“Ahaaaaa!”
A sudden scream broke Michael’s reverie. Michael was startled and quickened his steps.
And he could clearly see the very cruel scene.
A dark mage lying on the ground, screaming in agony.
“P-please stop! Aaaah! Kyaaaah!”
The dark mage’s eyes rolled back and her body trembled.
Michael looked at the sight with a puzzled face.
There was no trace of torture on the dark mage’s body.
But he couldn’t understand why she was in so much pain.
“This shouldn’t be this painful. I still have more to show you.”
Damien tapped the woman’s back with his finger. The woman’s eyes widened.
“P-please, just kill me! Kill me… Aaaah! Aaaah!”
Michael, who was watching the dark mage, could not help but be horrified.
As soon as Damien touched her back, her muscles began to squirm like snakes.
It was so obvious that it could be seen with the naked eye. Every time the muscles squirmed, the woman’s screams grew louder.
“Aaaah! Aaaah!”
“It’s not working well. Was that not the way to do it before?”
As Damien tapped the dark mage’s shoulder, a horrible sound of joints twisting could be heard.
Now the dark mage couldn’t even scream properly.
‘Bone Crushing and Muscle Separation…?’
He had seen it before when the Marquis’s knights used it on criminals.
A torture method that artificially twists muscles and joints by injecting mana into the opponent’s body.
According to rumors, it was created by the empire’s greatest torturers and designed to interrogate heinous criminals like traitors and heretics.
No, it’s different from Bone Crushing and Muscle Separation.
Bone Crushing and Muscle Separation required constant physical contact with the target’s body.
But in Damien’s case, he was inflicting pain just by jabbing them with his fingers.
It was a technique far superior to it, though I couldn’t be sure.
“Please! Stop it! Please! Just kill me!”
“If you want the pain to stop, just talk. How did you communicate with your partners in the capital?”
“Th, through letters… I told you, through letters!”
“You haven’t woken up yet. Spouting such nonsense.”
“Kyaaak!”
Damien jabbed the dark mage’s body again with his finger.
The sounds of tearing muscles and crunching bones echoed vividly.
Michael trembled at the horrific sound.
But the most terrifying thing here wasn’t the technique itself.
“Talk. Then I’ll stop this pain.”
It was Damien, smiling as he tortured the dark mage.
Damien’s smile was clearly imbued with pleasure as if he were deliriously happy in this moment.
That was what scared Michael more than anything.
“Brother.. Da, Damien…”
Michael cautiously called out to Damien. Damien paused mid-jab towards the dark mage’s body.
“Have you dealt with the orcs and ogres?”
“Y, yes, I’m done. I’m done, but…”
Michael gulped. Staring intently at the dark mage who was still screaming, he asked,
“Do, do we need to continue? It, it seems like enough already.”
Having said that, Michael couldn’t help but be startled by his own words.
Defending a dark mage? It was something he wouldn’t dare do openly in front of ally of the Church.
“Enough… enough…”
Fortunately, Damien didn’t take offense to Michael’s actions. He simply questioned him.
“Are you by any chance sympathizing with these motherfuckers?”
“It’s not that…”
It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel a sliver of pity.
After all, the sight of Damien using bone-crushing and Muscle Separation was horrifying.
“You’re wasting emotions needlessly. Since it’s a good opportunity, let me enlighten you about what kind of scum these dark mages are.”
Damien jabbed his finger into the throat of the haggard woman. The muscles went limp then.
With the pain gone, the screams ceased. The haggard woman lay face down on the floor, gasping for air.
“What sacrifice did you pay to use the dark magic that controls orcs?”
“Th, that’s… well…”
The haggard woman wheezed. She was still not fully conscious after being freed from the pain.
“Seeing how long it takes you to answer, it seems you haven’t recovered yet.”
“I, I offered sacrifices… sacrifices! I threw p, people to the orcs and while they were being eaten, I cast a s, enslavement spell with dark magic…”
“How many people did you kill?”
“Th, three hundred! Three hundred! I, I went around the v, villages to s, secure sacrifices!”
Michael felt as though he had been struck in the back of the head by the hag’s words.
Three hundred people were thrown to the orcs? And an enslavement spell was cast while they were being eaten?
“Your turn. What did you do to create the poison?”
Damien looked at the gaunt woman. The woman stammered.
“I hear no answer.”
“I, I didn’t kill many! I only kidnapped people to t, test new poisons!”
“You kidnapped people and tested poisons?”
“Yes, yes! But, but I didn’t waste test subjects! If they seemed like they were going to die, I somehow saved them and used them again! Really!”
Michael’s face hardened.
In other words, she forcibly saved people and kept using them for poison testing.
Those who became test subjects must have suffered for a long time.
“Michael, do you get it now? All dark mages are like this. They deserve no sympathy.”
At Damien’s words, Michael slowly nodded.
“Then step back. There’s still a lot of information we can squeeze out of these scum.”
As soon as Damien finished speaking, Michael retreated further away.
He understood how terrible dark mages were. But Michael was worried.
The smile that crept onto Damien’s lips while torturing the dark mages wouldn’t leave Michael’s mind.
***
“Sir Damien, what on earth… are you talking about?”
After returning to Walnut Castle, Damien told Oliver the truth.
“You mean my uncle joined hands with the dark mages… and planned to drive us into a corner by making the expedition fail…?”
“That’s not all. All the incidents that he has solved so far were actually self-directed plays by these dark mages.”
Oliver staggered at the sudden truth.
“W, why… why on earth would he do that? Why…?”
“Don’t you know the answer, Your Highness?”
At Damien’s words, Oliver hardened his expression.
“It’s for the throne… isn’t it?”
Oliver took a deep breath. It seemed that he still couldn’t accept the truth.
“Sir Damien, what should I do?”
“There is only one thing you can do, Your Highness. Expose the truth and expose that traitor in front of the king.”
Oliver’s eyes shook at those words.
Oliver respected his uncle. He admired his charisma and outstanding abilities.
He couldn’t help but hesitate at the thought of having to deal with his family and expose his own uncle’s with his own hands.
“Your Highness, come to your senses. Now is not the time to be conflicted.”
Damien urged Oliver.
“Alexander Apple is a royal who has joined hands with the dark mages. Not only that, he deliberately caused chaos in the kingdom in order to grow his own power. On top of that, he tried to harm you.”
Damien was right. Alexander had crossed the line a long time ago.
It was foolish, to show mercy to such a man.
“……Sir Damien is right. Alexander Apple is nothing but a traitor who caused chaos in the kingdom.”
Oliver looked back at the dark mages. The dark mages were out of their minds due to the long torture.
“I will take them and expose the whole truth.”
Damien smiled with satisfaction at the decisive answer.
“Thank you for making a wise decision. However, we cannot bring down Alexander just like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it possible that Alexander will deny his relationship with the dark mages and claim that we framed him?”
Oliver could only nod at Damien’s words.
“We need more solid evidence or witnesses cut off his breath.”
“What should we do?”
“I happen to have a good plan.”
Damien took something out of his pocket. It was a parchment paper that was old and stained.
“This is a magical tool that the dark mages used to communicate with each other. I figured out how to use it after interrogating them.”
Damien whispered something in Oliver’s ear.
Oliver laughed out loud after hearing the whole story.
“That sounds interesting. I’ll do as Sir Damien says.”
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]