Chapter 923: Act 96 – Interrogating the Captive
QiYala muttered to herself nearby, and Romaine seemed to finally regain her composure. She turned back and asked, “What are you saying, QiYala? I know that woman; she’s a bad one.”
“That’s your opinion of her and that guy,” QiYala chuckled. “Though it’s not entirely out of the question that the Empire’s chancellor and his daughter are at odds, the likelihood is very small. Just look at that woman’s arrogant obsession; a daughter who doesn’t have her father’s affection can’t be like that, hm!” She lightly sniffed, clearly not fond of the chancellor’s daughter. However, Romaine did not inquire where QiYala had seen this chancellor’s daughter; she quickly shifted the topic, focusing on Poli Fireanvil and continued, “In my opinion, a greater possibility is that this guy might be a spy—”
QiYala fixed her feline-like gaze on the poor Mr. Poli, her sapphire-like beautiful eyes filled with dangerous implications: “In other words, the Nidwen chancellor might not be the traitor, but at the very least, this traitor is not far from the Empire’s upper echelons—”
Poli Fireanvil began to tremble; he had initially thought the other party was merely an ill-tempered willful noble girl who would let him go after venting her frustrations on him. And concerning the chancellor’s daughter, he dared not utter a word, thinking this would help him escape calamity. Little did he realize he was only half-right; this young lady indeed didn’t like discussing reason with her subordinates but possessed a shrewdness beyond her years. He hadn’t said a single word, yet she had guessed most of it correctly.
Poli Fireanvil started to feel he had chosen to undertake the wrong task at the wrong time. Looking at QiYala, he felt as if he was witnessing one of the legendary demons lurking in the depths of hell who could see into people’s hearts.
“Why do you say that, QiYala?” Romaine asked.
“Isn’t it simple? What do Jotungrunds want with a chancellor’s daughter? If their target were the chancellor, they wouldn’t dare lay a hand on that woman, Delphine. Although Young Nidwen might not compare to her father, she certainly wouldn’t betray the Empire just for the sake of a daughter. On the contrary, doing so would only infuriate him.” QiYala disdainfully answered, as if these conspiracies were laid out in an open book with no secrets to them: “So, knowing full well this would anger the Empire’s chancellor yet still doing it, what kind of person would have such an idea? That person must be an enemy of Young Nidwen; it could be mere revenge or an attempt to make the chancellor make a mistake.”
“Yet, regardless of either scenario, an ordinary person wouldn’t hold a grudge against the chancellor. Even if they did, they wouldn’t have the ability to retaliate. The only people who can achieve this would at least have a status and position comparable to the Empire’s chancellor—”
“Because only a conflict of interest could breed hatred. A mediocre lower-tier noble or a small workshop owner toiling for a living would never intersect with the Empire’s chancellor. Is that what you mean?” Romaine responded with the logic typical of a merchant.
“That’s a good metaphor. In fact, such people within the Empire are few and far between—only a few dukes, some legion commanders, the leaders of local nobility, or high-ranking members of the Temple of Fire.” QiYala nodded.
The sprite beside them was quite confused, glancing at the demon-slaying spear stuck in the mouth of the ogre, pondering for a moment before slightly disgusted, she pulled it out and rubbed it against the grass nearby, trying to wipe away the filthy blood.
QiYala raised an eyebrow, as if she had found a new clue: “There’s something even more interesting here. This guy is mingling with the goblins and is related to Jotungrund. More likely, the person connected to Jotungrund isn’t him but the big figure behind him. That’s interesting; someone at the Empire’s high level has betrayed the Empire. No wonder the Jotungrund invasion could be so impeccably timed and have such a clear understanding of the surface situation.”
“Stop talking, you demon!” Poli Fireanvil’s face turned pale.
“Daring to tell me to shut up; it seems you still don’t understand your situation,” QiYala retorted harshly. But when she saw the dwarf display a pleading expression, she changed her mind: “Fine, considering your pitiful state, I can agree not to say anything, but in exchange, you must tell me what you guys plan to do about that woman Delphine. She has a grudge against that guy, but what a coincidence to show up here at this time. You wouldn’t tell me that’s just a coincidence, would you?”
“It’s Earl Fleuruit,” the dwarf shivered and replied. “His son Alman died because of that Erluin fellow, but he believes Miss Delphine incited his son to seek revenge on Faina, thus she should bear some responsibility. He deliberately lent the demon-slaying spear to Miss Delphine in hopes that she would die along with that Erluin.”
“What is a demon-slaying spear?” Romaine asked.
“It’s a family heirloom of the Fleuruit family; it’s said to possess the power close to that of a sub-artifact.”
“Ah, that Brendel won’t come to any harm, right?” The merchant miss was startled.
“Rest assured; that guy is so lucky that even demons can’t kill him. A mere demon-slaying spear can’t do anything to him.” QiYala replied disdainfully, kicking the dwarf slightly: “The Earl Fleuruit hopes the chancellor’s daughter and that guy will perish together. What, does the demon-slaying spear also have a self-detonation feature? I haven’t read much; don’t you dare fool me.”
Poli Fireanvil shuddered: “Miss Delphine originally intended to wait for that Erluin to arrive in the imperial capital before making her move, and my task was mainly to persuade her to come here and then find an opportunity to expose her to the Jotungrund…”
“How did you persuade her? Did you tell her that guy wouldn’t go to the capital because he leads these troglodytes, who are here to cause trouble for the Empire? He would march all the way to Rustra; even if he couldn’t make it, he would retreat back to Erluin. You informed her that the Erluin and Jotungrund have already formed an alliance with Toquinin, right? Let me think, that guy has a squad of troglodyte guards under him. With that, this scheme isn’t too unreasonable.”
QiYala analyzed as she tapped her magic wand, while Poli Fireanvil seemed to hear something unbelievable; he couldn’t help but gradually widen his mouth because what she said was exactly aligned with their original plan.
“But now there remains a question: why does Earl Fleuruit know so well that the Jotungrund would appear here?”
“Because he’s a traitor?” The sprite confusedly interjected.
Poor Poli Fireanvil seemed to have just realized this problem; he couldn’t help but look at QiYala with a pleading gaze, hoping she could at least be a little dim-witted or perhaps just temporarily confused.
Unfortunately, QiYala clearly let his hopes down; she confidently shook her head: “If Earl Fleuruit is a traitor, why would he offend the Empire’s chancellor over such a small matter? Wouldn’t that reveal himself? This guy has a loose mouth; in my view, it’s most likely that Earl Fleuruit is also in the dark—he’s just being used.”
She looked at Mr. Poli Fireanvil with a somewhat teasing gaze: “Didn’t expect you to be a double agent. This person intends to deal with the Empire’s chancellor while ensuring the Earl Fleuruit takes the blame for him. Looks like he’s a big shot. Can you tell me who your employer behind the scenes is?”
The dwarf trembled in fear but dared not say a word.
“You must think that by refusing to say a word while I’m the soft-hearted little girl, I won’t dare to do anything to you, right?” QiYala grew angry: “Fine, I won’t kill you, but now that I know so much, I can certainly declare that it was you who told me. You see, you can’t possibly tell your master that I guessed all this out of thin air, right?”
“You can’t do that! I didn’t tell you anything; you can’t lie, you demon!” Poor Poli Fireanvil shouted.
Xainne whispered to the sprite, “What a soft-hearted little girl…”
The two secretly shuddered.
“You can’t stop me from saying it, just as I can’t force you to speak,” QiYala said to the dwarf. “But if you tell me the cause and effect, I can let you go. In this war, no one knows you are still alive, right?”
The dwarf gasped for breath but still dared not speak.
“Hm, it seems that the person behind this makes you feel very scared, scared enough that even if you were to hide your identity, he could still find you. This person must possess unimaginable power; thus, while you may have kept silent, the number of people we can suspect has further decreased to only two or three.” QiYala observed the dwarf’s expression, seeming to read information from the fear in his eyes within moments.
“Kill me, you demon,” Poli Fireanvil weakly shouted. “You might as well just kill me.”
“I wouldn’t kill you; I’m a lady. But sometimes I wish I weren’t such an elegant noblewoman. That way, I could cast some spells on you, as there are very few secrets a person can keep.”
Romaine seemed to suddenly remember something and said, “QiYala, it seems I can also use such a spell.”
QiYala paused slightly; she had only meant to intimidate this poor old dwarf, but unexpectedly someone nearby could use this spell. Divining the future belonged to the realm of astrology, while probing into people’s hearts fell under dark magic. She looked at Romaine in surprise, having more or less formed some guesses about the other person’s identity. She curiously asked the merchant miss: “Do you want to give it a try? I haven’t seen that kind of spell before.”
“I can’t be sure,” Romaine replied excitedly. “Because it’s a dangerous spell, it poses unknown dangers to both the caster and the subject, so I haven’t tried it. The effect may be limited, or it could turn someone into a drooling idiot. How about we try it?”
“I beg you, two esteemed human ladies, for the sake of your bodies, since this is a dangerous spell, I think we should avoid such dangers!” The thought of turning into a drooling idiot finally made Poli Fireanvil unable to hold back his wailing.
“That won’t do,” QiYala shook her head in displeasure. “The attitude of seeking truth does not fear hardship. How can one flinch in the face of mere danger?”
Romaine nodded vigorously, feeling that this young girl truly spoke to her heart; curious and having fun were far more important than danger.
“Get ready to cast the spell, Miss Romaine,” QiYala said seriously, looking at the dwarf. “Knowledge and truth will remember your contributions, Mr. Dwarf. Before that, may I have the honor of knowing your name?”
Poor Mr. Poli Fireanvil finally broke down, unable to contain himself, he cried out like a child, “Damn it, don’t turn me into an idiot! I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“That won’t do!” Romaine anxiously exclaimed, as if fearing to lose the chance to cast this spell, but this time QiYala stopped the merchant miss. This dwarf was already on the verge of being scared to death; she pointed her wand at the tip of his nose: “Useless, still crying like a child at this age. Speak, who is the person behind you?”
With a runny nose and tears, the dwarf replied: “Damn it, boo-hoo, I really don’t know who it is, but I know the guy who contacted me; his name is Freeman, from the Royal Archaeological Society.”
“Who is that?” Romaine asked.
“Freeman Riley. My brother told me about this person; he is the vice president of the Cruz Royal Archaeological Society, from the Riley family. Have you heard of this family? It’s from the Cecil faction.”
Romaine sat on a moss-covered rock, her knees together, the round-tipped leather boots resting on a rotten wood, her elbows propped on her thighs supporting her chin, her eyes sparkling as she looked at QiYala—meaning she didn’t understand anything.
However, QiYala remained undeterred: “The Cecil family is the noble family closest to the Temple of Fire in the Empire. Since he comes from this faction, it means he is connected to the temple. But the Temple of Fire absolutely cannot conspire with Jotungrund. This contact person they chose is quite interesting; this person is likely a pawn they specifically chose just to muddy the waters.”
“So does that mean we can’t know who is plotting against us?” Xainne leaned over on the sprite’s head and asked, while the latter was still lost in confusion, sitting on the ground bored, counting ants, lucky for her there were all kinds of colorful insects in the forest to identify.
“Has he plotted against you?” QiYala asked curiously, looking at the pseudo-dragon lady.
“Not exactly, but according to your human phrases, when we find ourselves in such a massive conspiracy, doesn’t that make my description seem more immersive?” Xainne shrugged her claws in response.
“That’s true; it really is a fun game,” QiYala’s eyes brightened. “But Miss Xainne, you’ve made a mistake; while the clues stop here, conversely, it also contains other information. The person designing all this even dares to implicate the Temple of Fire, which at least suggests two things: either he’s unafraid of the Temple of Fire, or he’s a fearless fool. However, if a fool can reach this point, I’d have to admit I’m a fool. Thus, there is only one possibility.”
“Perhaps you are mistaken; that person might be a high-level spy placed in the Temple of Fire by the Hallowed Temple of Earth,” Xainne rested her paws on her chin, deliberately asking, as if she had grown fond of this deduction game.
“First, I cannot be mistaken. Second, why do I say I cannot be mistaken? Because if that person were a spy within the Temple of Fire, any spy would always have points of suspicion; it’s just a matter of more or fewer. The only way such a person would not be discovered is not by having no points of suspicion but rather by minimizing others’ attention. So what he should do is not let anyone suspect him. Yet, he has precisely done this; therefore, when we think it’s him, the answer may actually contradict our assumptions.”
The pseudo-dragon lady, after hearing this, felt deeply impressed by this human for the first time. What surprised her was that this human, at first glance, was just a little girl around ten years old, and even her tone of voice still hadn’t matured.
QiYala poked the already dejected dwarf with her magic wand: “Since these goblins can recognize you, you must have a contact among the Jotungrunds, right?”
“It’s Sargoss,” Poli Fireanvil replied weakly.
“Who is that?”
“A subterranean lizard person, I only know her name, but she should know I exist.”
“So she is aware of your tasks, or at least knows you are here for some reason?”
The dwarf’s face changed: “W-What do you want?”
“Nothing much, you can take a break for now.” QiYala smiled victoriously, turned around, and secretly high-fived Romaine.
“Do we not need to cast that spell anymore?” Romaine asked curiously, hugging her bag.
“Not for now,” QiYala shook her head. “But can you really do that spell?”
“A bit, but as for the heart-probing technique, it can only reveal a person’s current emotions, for example, whether you are angry or happy. This spell can display your true emotions, allowing the caster to feel them.” Romaine thought for a moment and answered earnestly and softly.
“Isn’t that in the realm of dark magic? Can this spell really turn someone into an idiot?” QiYala asked.
Romaine looked at the dwarf and said, “No spell can turn an idiot into an idiot again, QiYala.”
QiYala agreed wholeheartedly: “I think so too.”
……
(PS: I must solemnly warn those who allege in the review section that I can’t even count—let me tell you, after 2 comes 4. The essence of this world is that there is no 3; 3 is something you all imagined, a conspiracy of mechanisms! Hmph!)
