Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 281 – Grand Coalition(9)

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We became really busy after our victory.

Our army had captured a considerable number of prisoners.
We had to interrogate them thoroughly.

Occasionally, information was more important than a single victory.
Our range of actions will increase vastly once we figure out when Henrietta dispatched them.
Thus, torturing prisoners was essential.
Human rights? The only right humans have is the right to die.

“Kuaaaaagh!”

We didn’t get any information no matter how many common soldiers we tortured, so we focused on torturing soldiers that were officers or above.
A majority of them were nobles.

“I do not expect a lot from you.”

I held a skewer that was heated in a fire and smiled.

“I simply wish to know what the situation is like within the royal palace of Frankia.
How is Her Excellency the Empress Dowager doing? How bad is His Excellency the Emperor’s illness? Are these not simple questions?”

“Guuugh……You……damn devil.”

The aristocrat prisoner foamed at the mouth and refused to give any information to the very end.

It was impressive.
His endurance was undoubtedly superhuman.
If I were tortured with a skewer, then I was confident that I could give out every last bit of information without any hesitation.

“Very well, then.
I give my respect to your perseverance.
I will bestow upon you a gift as a sign of respect.
I do hope that you accept it.”

On that night, a full-course torture session was carried out magnificently.

I even gave a prisoner some aphrodisiacs before letting a couple orcs rape them.
Every time they refused to say anything, I brought out an innocent soldier and executed them before their eyes.
Whenever they lost consciousness because of the pain, I hired a succubus to torture them in their dreams as well.

The result was concise.

“……Her Excellency the Empress Dowager……has been confined to a detached palace……for the past three years…….”

“His Excellency the Emperor has been in critical condition since a few days ago…….”

“P-Please.
I’ll tell you anything, so please spare me!”

It only took two hours for all six aristocrat prisoners to spill the information.

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I verified everything by cross-referencing the respective pieces of information they gave.
I only had to ask all six of them the same questions and compare their answers.
There was a chance that one of them could’ve been lying, so it was a procedure that we had to take.
Thus, it was confirmed that they had all told the truth.

Such satisfaction.
Thanks to this, we were able to get our hands on a considerable amount of information.

Why did they resist if they were going to give us the information anyway? It would’ve been better if they cooperated from the beginning.
They would’ve had a good time because they wouldn’t have been tortured, and we wouldn’t have had to waste time torturing them.
This could’ve been a win-win situation no matter how you looked at it.
Humans are quite strange.

“Your Highness Dantalian.”

An envoy arrived while I was in the middle of my torturing session.
It was an elf.
The elf, which was a race with an excellent sense of smell, made a face as soon as they entered the torture room.
The room was filled with the smell of blood, drugs, and orc secretions, after all.

I put down my skewer.

“What is it?”

“Pardon me.
A guard picked up a suspicious individual.
They willingly surrendered as they asked to meet the girl who carried out the duel today.
They politely requested to be treated as a prisoner.”

I furrowed my brows.
Someone who knows Daisy? There was no way a human like that could exist.
Daisy lived her whole life in a slash-and-burn village on a mountainside.

Right when I was about to treat it as nonsense, I couldn’t hold back my surprise when the envoy revealed the surrenderer’s name.

“The human man introduced himself as Baronet Bercy.”

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* * *

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“Sir Baronet! How long has it been!?”

Baronet Bercy was kneeling in a tent with all of his limbs bound.
The position he was in was humiliating, but his expression remained dignified.
He resembled a grand tree that had remained firm after experiencing all sorts of hardships.

Baronet Bercy was surprised when I entered the tent.

“Jean Bole? Are you perhaps Priest Jean Bole?”

“If there are not two Jean Boles in the world, then yes.
It is I.”

I responded with a laugh.
Yup.
I was currently wearing the skin mask that I wore while acting as Jean Bole.

Baronet Bercy muttered.

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“I thought that there would be a chance to meet you, but I did not expect you would actually be here…….”

“I never would have imagined that we would reunite in a place like this.
Now then, leave it to me.”

I took out a knife and carefully cut the Baronet’s bonds.
The Baronet’s limbs soon became free.

“……Thank you.
But, even if we knew each other before, is it really all right for you to release me like this?”

“I trust you, Baronet Bercy.”

I smiled.

“The Baronet I met four years ago was undoubtedly a virtuous and wise lord.
If you were so weak that you could not overcome a mere four years, then what I did would become foolish.
So? Are you a weak individual, Baronet Bercy?”

“It seems I cannot win against you, Priest.”

Baronet Bercy smiled wryly.
No further words had to be said.
We spread our arms out and hugged each other.
I felt his friendly and rough hands on my back.
At the same time, I heard a sound effect.

「Baron Bercy’s affection has risen by 7.」

The Baronet released me from his arms and looked me in the face.
He was smiling, but it seemed strangely bitter.

“Priest Jean Bole, I have hundreds of questions.
How did you end serving the Demon Lord……no, Rudolf von Habsburg’s army?”

“I, too, have a lot of questions.
Are the kind people of your land doing well? One or two hours would not be enough for us to catch up.”

We sat across from each other at a table.
I brought out some wine.
We gave our regards to each other a few times before we got to the main conversation.

“It would probably be pointless to hide secrets here.
Your Excellency Baronet, I actually have a close relationship with the Republic of Batavia.”

“……I see.
I expected as much.”

Baronet Bercy nodded.

“Oh? You already knew?”

“I did not.
However, I heard rumors about your venture even after your departure.
I did not think that a normal person could have rallied the northern nobles of Frankia in order to retaliate against Brittany while also getting Batavia involved…….”

Baronet Bercy rocked his wine glass.

“Priest Jean Bole, it, however, becomes believable if you were the one behind it.
You undoubtedly have the ability to shake the northern region.
Do you perhaps remember the words you said to me before you left Bercy?”

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“Of course.”

I smiled.

“If Your Excellency does not believe in the Gods, then you must not believe in status since people claim that it was the Gods who determined people’s ranks.”

“Exactly.
I am unsure if you are aware, but I fell into great contemplation about the state of affairs within Frankia after your group’s departure…….”

Bingo.

I cheered in my mind.
Baronet Bercy was, in other words, one of the people I had sown a seed in four years ago during the civil war.
The name of the seed was republicanism.
The murkier the world became, the more the seed was able to grow by using that dark fog as fertilizer.

Baronet Bercy was a capable lord.
He considered the act of protecting his people as his lifelong pride.
What would a person like that think while watching the Emperor of Frankia?

He brought in a foreign power without any hesitation to protect his authority and he even sinned against heaven by confining his own mother.
Was it fine for him to swear his loyalty to a person like that? Was it fine to leave the fate of the country and the safety of the people to the existence known as the emperor……?

The seed that I had sown had successfully bloomed into a flower.

I wanted to let out a shout of joy, but I held it back.
If I immediately try to pry further, then it would reveal my intentions too much.
Let’s change the subject for a moment.

“If it is not rude of me to ask, how did you end up here?”

“The Emperor issued a draft.
All of the eastern lords of Frankia were convened with their armies.
On a side note, I became a baron three years ago.
I was able to bring a lot of people out to war thanks to that…….”

Baronet Bercy gulped down his wine.
Going up in rank must’ve not been a very honorable thing for him.
He went up in rank when the emperor had become a puppet and the Empress Dowager was confined.
Therefore, it happened because of Brittany.

“Was that the price of neutrality……? I understand why you have been grieving.”

During the previous civil war, a majority of the nobles in the north participated in the revolt.
Despite being in the northeast, Baronet Bercy firmly maintained his neutrality.
He didn’t do anything.
This contrarily put him in a good eye.

Baronet Bercy scorned himself.

“While my compatriots were falling for the sake of the nation, I did not budge an inch due to my resolve to protect my people.”

“That is a natural choice as a lord.”

“No, I was foolish.
I never would have imagined that the Queen of Brittany would get this big.
My countrymen saw a future that I failed to see…….
I foolishly acted selfishly.”

We clinked our glasses together quietly.
The sound rang clearly.

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“Was her name Daisy? I was surprised when I saw her step out for the duel.
I thought that you might also be here.
You are not someone who would leave your adopted daughter alone, after all.
I slipped out from the retreat of our defeated army.”

“…….”

I took a sip of wine and carefully observed Baronet Bercy’s eyes.

“Your Excellency, you can stop the act now.”

“……Act?”

“You said that I would not leave my adopted daughter, but I would like to return those words back to you.
You must have participated in this battle while leading your people.
If Your Excellency’s desertion is revealed, then there is no way your people would be safe.”

Their leader had deserted them.
His people would be treated horrendously.

“I personally cannot believe that you would abandon your people solely for the sake of meeting me.
You are a role model lord who treats his duty as a noble more sacredly than anyone else.”

“…….”

“Your Excellency most likely persuaded the other commanders.
You must have stated that I may be present and that you could negotiate with me.
The other commanders must have allowed this temporary desertion because of your claim.”

They’re an army of Frankia, not Brittany.

They must be struggling to understand why they were fighting for the Queen of Brittany.
If we were simply troops from the Demon Lord army, then even if they were fighting for the Queen of Brittany, it would be possible for them to at least fight under the cause of ‘protecting mankind as a whole’.

However, due to the battle yesterday, our side had gained a fair bit of weight in being an army of mankind.
The generals of Frankia must have started contemplating.
If they keep fighting like this, then they would be fighting their fellow man for the sake of the Queen of Brittany.
What other meaning could this have……?

In this situation, Baronet Bercy volunteered to act as an envoy.
Considering Baronet Bercy’s usual conduct, he must have built a fair bit of trust among his allies.
His comrades trusted him and sent him here…….

“In other words, Your Excellency is not a surrendering soldier but a special envoy from Frankia? Am I correct?”

“……I really cannot beat you, Priest.”

Baronet Bercy gave a weak laugh.

He put his wine glass down and grabbed my hands.
Baronet Bercy’s eyes were cold but also ablaze with passion.

“Frankia is in a desperate crisis.
If things continue like this, we will end up disappearing from history without being able to even scream once.
If that were all, then I could gladly see Frankia off.
However, history has always requested the blood of the people.”

“…….”

“Priest Jean Bole, please cooperate with us.
Please help us chase out Brittany’s lunatic queen and return Frankia to its people.”

This was the offer that I had been waiting for.