In pre-modern society, one of the most common methods to extract information was torture.
They sought to uncover the truth by inflicting pain through torture, and indeed, they obtained information about numerous rebellions and various crimes this way.
However, in modern society, based on bioethical principles, torture is not used as a method for information gathering…
This is actually a dignified way to explain why torture is not practiced, but in reality, it is quite different.
The primary reason for not practicing torture is, as stated, because it is unethical to tear or break a person’s limbs, sometimes even gouging out their skin or eyes to extract information.
Another reason is that information obtained through torture is often unreliable because the person being tortured would say anything to survive.
If the torturer suggests that Duke Maxburg did it and that torture would end, most spineless criminals would agree, even if the real culprit is Count Petersburg.
Therefore, I will extract information in a more efficient way without breaking limbs or conducting sexual torture.
A room where prisoners are confined, filled with the stench of rotten water, the chill rising from the floor, and cockroaches and rats crawling around.
Upon entering, one prisoner was eating a live rat, his face and mouth dripping with the rat’s blood, but he was too hungry to care as he hurriedly gnawed on the rat.
I was shocked to see a former executive eating a rat from the gutter, but as the interrogator, I couldn’t show fear, so I forced a calm expression and asked.
“Who said a rat like you could eat rats here? Can a rat like you eat its own family? What a disgrace.”
Hearing this, the prisoner thought the torturer had arrived and put down the rat, kneeling and begging.
“Please, sir, give me just a bit of bread or porridge… I’m so hungry. I feel like I’m going to die from hunger.”
“That depends on how much sincerity you show me. If you answer well, I’ll give you meat instead of porridge… Otherwise, I’ll have to let you talk to these friends.”
After I clapped twice, the torturer behind me brought in sharp and heavy stones for crushing bones, pliers for pulling out fingers, and a hammer for breaking bones.
All these tools were stained with the blood of previous victims, sending shivers down my spine even though I had nothing to do with it.
The prisoner, seeing the tools, began to tremble in terror.
“Ahhh, I’ll tell you everything! Please, don’t use those!! Spare me!!!”
The torturer, wearing a black leather mask, sneered at the prisoner.
“That’s up to His Excellency the Count. These are just decorations… In the inner room, there’s a lovely lady with spikes and a warm iron to touch your skin… Oh, and a magical device to stretch your limbs and make you taller…”
“Aaaaah, spare me!! I’ll tell everything. I’ll tell you everything I know, sir…”
“Good, good… Very nice. Okay, let’s start with just breaking two toes? It’ll hurt a bit, but don’t bite your tongue, okay?”
Hearing this, the torturers calmly tried to seat the prisoner on a chair with short iron spikes attached to the backrest and seat.
I raised my hand to stop them and said.
“It seems you’re ready to talk, so wait a moment. Yes, you rat. What exactly did you do in the organization?”
“I mainly interacted with district executives under the jurisdiction of the 5th District Manager, supplying women and alcohol to the noble executives of Blueport. I also kidnapped and sold people from rival noble families.”
“That’s honest. Did the lower-ranking subordinates under the District Manager directly assist you?”
“No. The District Manager said that in this territory, even if you offer a lot of money, people with jobs would never betray Count Croilet… So I only used orphans and beggars from each district.”
At this point, I recalled my professor’s words about how the Luddite movement and communism would be temporary actions for people who were somewhat well-off…
Perhaps in our territory, due to my policies, people with jobs can live comfortably enough that there are few participants in such criminal organizations.
Otherwise, a criminal organization supported so generously with hundreds of gold coins wouldn’t have been caught so quickly.
Perhaps, just like Gangilsan or Hong Gildong, even though they were trash pretending to be righteous, the majority of the people protected them just because they threw a bit of money for survival.
The Blue Mold organization would also have been protected.
“Where are most of the organization’s executives from?”
“They’re from Petersburg… They acted under the orders of Count Petersburg, especially Nikolai. He promised to grant a baronetcy if things went well…”
While the prisoner seemed to be spilling everything out of fear of torture…
Through Lieutenant Short, I already knew that Nikolai and the other executives were disguised as Romanians using northern cuisine, culture, and accents, so I wasn’t fooled.
So, to seek cooperation from the prisoner in front of me, I smiled and signaled the torturer.
The torturer immediately forced the prisoner onto the spiked chair and crushed his right big toe with a hammer.
The toenail split into several pieces, and blood gushed out as the bone became visible.
As the prisoner screamed, the torturer stuffed a rotten rag into his mouth to muffle the noise.
After about 30 minutes, the prisoner, unable to scream, calmed down a bit, and the torturer removed the gag.
“Ahhh, ahhh… I’m really from Petersburg. Believe me… Really, really Petersburg…”
At this point, further torture might not be meaningful yet.
He’d likely keep saying Petersburg even near death.
“Calm down, calm down. It hurts, I know.”
The prisoner glared at me with eyes that seemed to say, “You’ve broken my toe and now you’re telling me to calm down, you insane bastard,” but I ignored him and continued gently.
“Your comrades have already spilled everything. So, if you talk, it’s all over. And don’t you want to live? Now, your only option is to save yourself. You can’t keep loyalty to the organization or your lord anymore. Even if I were your lord, others have already revealed the facts; how would you know you’re the only one who didn’t betray?”
Hearing this, the prisoner’s determination began to waver, as he fluttered his eyes.
“So, tell me the truth. If you talk, I’ll feed you well and… give you a special opportunity.”
“Opportunity? What opportunity…”
“If you tell me who SIEL von Croilet’s real enemy is… I’ll reward you. Wouldn’t it be better to live as a free citizen with land in another country than to die in agony with your limbs severed or organs pulled out as a criminal?”
Now, with nothing left but to die, the prisoner’s eyes began to burn with a desire to live.
“If you want to live, talk. Your death will be determined by the value of the information you provide. Whether you die comfortably in bed or face a horrific end you can’t describe… It’s up to you. So, I’ll give you one last chance. Who sent you?”
After about five minutes of silence, the scent of fragrant meat and bread began to waft from beyond the prisoner’s cell.
So good was the smell that even though I had eaten lunch two hours ago, the aroma of meat and bread made me hungry again.
If I was this hungry, how much hungrier was the prisoner who had only eaten a bowl of clear porridge and water for the past few days…
Though I had starved the prisoner deliberately to shake him, I didn’t expect the effect to extend to me…
Ugh, this is food torture, or rather, food violence.
“Ah, it seems the prisoners in the other rooms have already confessed and received special meals. It must be delicious. Roast beef slathered with a sauce full of sugar, white bread made with wheat, butter, and milk, creamy soup with clams and fish made with fine flour and rich milk… Even I feel like having a bite. How about you? Talk quickly, and it’s yours.”
Though this is actually to pressure the prisoners in the slow-confessing rooms, where the guards eat in front of them to arouse their hunger.
But if they provide truly valuable information, a final feast isn’t out of the question.
A moment later, the prisoner in front of me, seemingly resigned, spoke with a blank expression.
“Nikolai is originally a bastard from a collateral branch of Baron Horshoff, a vassal of Count Petersburg. So, he was a knight granted thirty marks of land, but he committed adultery with Baron Horshoff’s concubine and was exiled abroad. He then joined Duke Maxburg’s forces. Some of our executives are Nikolai’s vassals, and the rest are knights from the Romanian border region near the Northern Union who were exiled for causing trouble.”
“Continue talking.”
“Until we were assigned to this mission, we were guests at the Duke’s mansion. Nikolai received one gold coin monthly, and we executives received five silver coins each, performing all kinds of tasks. Then, one day, the Duke called us and gave us three thousand gold coins, ordering us to wreak havoc in Blueport. Following that order, we burned warehouses and kidnapped nobles.”
Currently, Duke Maxburg might be aware of the cultural exchange and trade alliance between Croilet and the King of the Northern Union exporting luxury goods.
From Maxburg’s perspective, forming a trade alliance would naturally lead to a marital alliance, so they framed it as Count Petersburg’s doing to weaken the alliance without war.
If we had fallen for Duke Maxburg’s well-calculated move, we might have had to consider joining Maxburg.
Because if betrayed by the Northern Union, we’d have to consider allying with Romania, and once allied with Romania, Duke Brussels might rally the great nobles around Elaline to attack.
This would be due to my position being an entrance to Elaline and having vast wealth…
Fortunately, since we knew it wasn’t the Northern Union’s conspiracy, Romania is now in a position where only their weaknesses are exposed.
This level of luck is almost divine.
So, I decided to grant the pitiful fellow before me a final act of mercy.
To let him die comfortably, the last meal should be luxurious, with a slow-acting poison, so he can enjoy the aftertaste and die peacefully.
If the information holds.
“Understood, thank you. I’ll get you a delicious meal once I confirm your information. For now, have this to quell your hunger.”
I tossed a bundle of rusks, about the length of two fingers, to the floor.
The prisoner, without caring about the dirt, began to gnaw on them.
If it were a serf or a beggar from our territory, it would have looked pitiful, but seeing someone who tried to harm our territory like this just made him seem ridiculous.
After sharing the initial information with all interrogators, we successfully outlined the perfect crime orchestrated by Maxburg.
Once the outline was clear, I kept my promise to the prisoner I interrogated personally, moving him to a luxurious room after a bath.
I then served him a lavish meal laced with a slow-acting poison, and he enjoyed the feast before dying in bed.
The other executives were executed by gruesome public execution, the simple participants were broken on the wheel, and I ordered a month of imprisonment for prostitutes who tried to seduce the torturers and me.
I began planning to counter Duke Maxburg, who tried to trick me.
Since you tried to feed me a thick piece of taffy, I’ll repay you with a bigger, thicker piece with an excellent taste that rivals Jeolla’s pumpkin taffy.
