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Now then, there were some slightly unexpected developments, but we managed to successfully capture the man that was with Gestaf. 

But a man that didn’t falter even in the face of Ilias lost consciousness the moment he saw my face. Just what kind of reason was behind that? 

Him seeing through me wouldn’t be enough to explain this. There must be some sort of different reason. 

“Wake up.” 

We restrained him in a room of our base just like the other guides and had Ilias smack the cheek of the man. 

“Uh…”

“Good morning. Sorry, but I will have you keep that blindfold on.” 

It would just be extra work if he were to lose consciousness again while I am interrogating him, so I wrapped a bandana around the man’s eyes.

Moreover, I have sneaked in magic seal stones all over his clothes so that he can’t use detection magic on his surroundings. 

“…Who are you people? What do you plan on doing by capturing me?”

The man made this question while understanding his current situation.

He is trying to gain as much information as possible. He is silently performing his own job. 

“Looks like you can avoid losing consciousness if it is just my voice.” 

“So you really are the man from that time. Seriously, just what in the world are you? This is the first time Instinct-sama has gone this wild.” 

“Instinct-sama, huh. You must trust your instincts quite a great deal.” 

“It is thanks to this sense that a man like me has been able to survive until now after all. I will at least show respect.” 

“You don’t think it is your own talent?” 

“Not really. In my opinion, it is talent that’s wasted on me.” 

He has sharp instincts and holds faith in it. This type of people are truly troublesome. 

Getting rid of him at an early stage is a strong option, but this is not the time for that. 

“There’s a number of questions I had for you, you see.” 

“Questions? Don’t you mean interrogation?” 

“If you will spit out the information with violent means, we could switch to an interrogation.” 

“You think I will say things that will benefit you people? If that’s the case, that’s hillarious.” 

“Let’s explain the rules first. We will alternate one question each. You are free to refuse, but when you do that, the right to ask a question will stay on the person. You can understand at least that much, right?” 

“Are you even listening to what I am saying?!” 

“You first. Go ahead and ask one thing.” 

“You…” 

The man went silent for a moment and then spoke. 

“Are you the guys that captured Hasa and the others?” 

“That’s right.” 

“Where are they right now?” 

“You will have to answer our question first before I answer that.” 

“…Damn it.” 

“What’s your full name?” 

“…Haakudoku.” (Haaku)

“I am asking for your full name though.” 

“I was originally an orphan. I don’t remember my dirt old family name.” (Haaku)

There’s a high chance we can’t use Purple’s power in this case. 

I confirmed with the person herself and the condition to use Enticement is to use the name that was given by their parents. 

It might be possible with someone like Wolfe who was given a name afterwards, but we can’t just test that. 

“We have sent Hasa and the others to the Kuama Castle.” 

“I see… Meaning that you are connected to King Zenotta, huh. Never doing anything decent for his people. Make your next question quick.” (Haaku)

“Too bad, but I don’t have anything more I want to ask out of you.” 

“Hah?! There should be!” (Haaku)

“Gestaf, Chenias, Robito; we already know that the guild advisors are trying to take over the nation. Do you know more information than that?” 

“Wa?!” (Haaku)

The way he is getting surprised here serves just nicely to compare answers. 

It seems like he is decently airheaded aside from his instincts and battle power. 

Of course, I had Mix and the others investigate the movements of Chenias and Robito, and we know that both moved to their respective residences from the same direction.

“If you wish for me to ask questions, let’s just ask whatever. What do you like eating?” 

“Meat. Did Hasa speak?” (Haaku)

“No, I simply set him up and he made a very blatant reaction just like you just now.” 

“…Damn it! I am not in a position that can criticize him. Give me a question!” (Haaku)

“Hobbies?” 

“Practice the flute. Who are you?” (Haaku)

“Someone who has made contact with Raheight and has been asked by King Zenotta to do something about all of this when the Scarlet Demon Lord tried to bring chaos with his invasion.” 

“…So you are the helper that’s said to have stopped the invasion of the Blue Demon Lord. How much do you guys know?” (Haaku)

“I can’t think of a question.” 

“Come on! You can show more interest in me, right?!” (Haaku)

He is a pretty fun guy to talk to. I might end up accidentally switching to me.

But Ilias is making a dubious look, so let’s be serious already.

“I would like to know the details of why you lost consciousness.” 

“Hmmmm… I can’t answer that. Or more like, I can’t put it in words.” (Haaku)

“Try to. We have time.” 

“…There’s a lot of stuff mixed in you, yet it feels like there’s a darkish something deep inside of you… I felt like that was unbelievably dangerous. That danger was so dangerous I couldn’t maintain my consciousness.” (Haaku)

“You need to read a dictionary.” 

“Shut up!” (Haaku)

The something that Haakudoku felt…I may have an idea about it, but I don’t have the time to investigate that. 

It is not a matter that I can do anything about even if I were certain of it after all. 

“Ok, let’s consider that as a question answered. Even if you ask me how much we have a grasp of… You are pretty much just hiding on the surface until the Scarlet Demon Lord moves, right? If you know that Hasa has been captured, you won’t be able to do meetings from here on. As for the scale, we would have a pretty decent guess if we were to take into account the private army Gestaf has amassed and the total number of adventurers, right?” 

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Damn it, I wasted a question.” (Haaku)

“That goes for both of us.” 

“Well, excuse me! Sorry that my personal information is useless! Good grief. Even though I have been captured, I barely feel any threat to my life.” (Haaku)

“Yeah, your instincts are right. We plan on throwing you at a random place once the questions are over after all.” 

“…I am the right arm of Bro Gestaf, you know?! Don’t you have something else?!” (Haaku)

“If I were Gestaf, I wouldn’t tell you anything important.” 

“Wa?! What do you even know about Bro?!” (Haaku)

“Right. ‘If you think it is necessary, move as you please. You won’t be able to get reckless if moving alone after all’ -I trust him enough to believe he must have told you something similar to this to get your trust and to keep himself out of it.” 

“?!” 

Looks like I was right. 

But maybe my words were too on the mark, his wariness has shot up. 

Even so, it is great to see that my analysis of Gestaf is more accurate than I thought. 

“Last question. I am asking this not expecting much, but do you have information of Raheight who made contact with Riodo…and the surroundings of it?” 

“…I don’t.” (Haaku)

“I knew.” 

“You piss me off so much!” (Haaku)

In the end, there was barely any point in capturing Haakudoku when it comes to gathering information. 

But the story is different on other fronts. 

“Haakudoku, the true reason why we captured you was because we wanted you to bring back the information to Gestaf and keep him at bay. If he doesn’t move, he would simply be a descendant of the family that has made contributions in history. There may be gratitude here, and there would be no need to become enemies.” 

“You saying Bro would falter with just that?” (Haaku)

“It will at least be clear that he will be glared at by King Zenotta. If he is resolved to go ahead despite that…” 

I take off the bandana covering the eyes of Haakudoku. 

The moment we made eye-contact, he began to visibly panic.

“Wa—hngh?!” (Haaku)

“At that time, I will become an enemy that will steal away everything from you. If you value the future of Gestaf, you better think your steps.” 

Haakudoku’s eyes rolled back and he fainted instead of answering. 

This happening twice makes it sad, but there’s no reason not to use a method that can instill fear. 

“Now then, Ilias, let’s go throw him away somewhere random.” 

“Is that okay? You were wary of this man, right?” (Ilias)

“Of course. If we leave him be, he is the type of man that will surely sniff out our weak point and stab it.” 

“I won’t go as far as telling you we should kill him, but wouldn’t it be better to give him away to King Zenotta?” (Ilias)

“I already thought of that option. It is true that we would be able to proceed with things if we were to imprison him in the Kuama Castle by distancing ourselves from dangerous factors. But that won’t do -because Gestaf and his group would be able to move freely.” 

“Even though it would simply make them wary.” (Ilias)

“That’s the aim. When I think of Raheight, I can’t help but imagine there’s a power hidden elsewhere. We have to create some waves in order to make them show their faces.” 

I find it hard to believe that the entities that are trying to use others to make things happen will show up to the surface if we were to incapacitate Gestaf and the others. 

That’s why, our best move as of present is to leave Gestaf and the others as the main axis of their plans to limit their movements. 

If they try to pull something, there’s a high chance we will be able to detect it through Gestaf and the others. 

“Fine. Then, let’s carry him quickly.” (Ilias)

“Before that, we have managed to make contact with Haakudoku and managed to make an outline of a plan. I would like to return already.” 

“…Are you telling me to lend you my face?” (Ilias)

“I feel like I would be able to return if I played a prank on the face of Haakudoku. Want to try it out together?” 

“I don’t know what he felt, but don’t bully a guy that lost consciousness from seeing you any further than you have already.” (Ilias)

“There’s rarely anyone who stimulates my sadistic side, you know.” 

◇◇

“And so, you were freed.” 

“Yes. I got caught off-guard here… My apologies!” 

I was in a mountain of trash by the time I regained consciousness. That bastard, he threw me away just like he said. 

I tried using detection magic and they weren’t tailing me. They left me be completely. 

In the end, that man simply gave me all the information and drew almost no information from me. 

He looked down on me as someone below that. The reality is that that’s exactly the case, but it still pisses me off. 

But what’s more important right now is to report to Bro, so I came straight to him.

“…This is information I learned from somewhere else, but there’s a certain man who has taken in several Demon Lords and has called themselves a 3rd Faction. He is a black haired and black eyed man. It is most likely the man we saw that time.” (Gestaf)

“Taken in Demon Lords, you say… Seriously?!” (Haaku)

No, no, that’s a bit too farfetched… Or is it?

I felt no threat at all from that man in terms of combat power, but he had something else.

“His appearance also matches the helper that helped out King Zenotta in stopping the invasion of the Blue Demon Lord. It should be safe to assume they are the same person.” (Gestaf)

“We haven’t heard about the Blue Demon Lord having been defeated, right…? Then, could it be that he has the Blue Demon Lord under him too?!” (Haaku)

Even the Blue Demon Lord that destroyed the stupidly big defensive walls…

No, he has Ekdoik, Girista, and even that female knight as comrades, so having Demon Lords…no, no, no…

“Good grief, your face is like an open book.” (Gestaf)

“Bro, that man is bad news! Should we stop?!” (Haaku)

“Don’t be hasty. Why do you think they haven’t informed King Zenotta of us and haven’t come to capture us?” (Gestaf)

“That’s… Why is it?” (Haaku)

“At least notice the reason why they simply left it with keeping us at bay despite knowing about the involvement of Chenias and Robito, too.” (Gestaf)

Uhm… Aah, speaking of which, he did have a question similar to that. 

“Speaking of which, he was probing for information regarding the surroundings of Raheight.” (Haaku)

“Figures. He has noticed…that we are the people that were stirred up to act. His real aim is the people who stirred us up.” (Gestaf)

“…Who?” (Haaku)

“That’s something that’s not needed inside your brain. Be grateful to him. It is because he understood that you are in that position that he allowed you to live.” (Gestaf)

“I can’t be grateful to him!” (Haaku)

“No, you will be. The only one who has drawn out information from him has been you after all.” (Gestaf)

“Uuh, what do you mean…?” (Haaku)

“Let’s see if they have the power to crush our ambitions. We can decide whether to give up from there, right?” (Gestaf)

Bro smiled boldly. 

I don’t really get it, but there’s no doubt Bro has thought up something incredible. 

When Bro smiles boldly, he is always cool, hardboiled, and reliable.

Bro learned of how much of a threat that man is, yet he is smiling boldly. I am sure it will be fine.

It will be, right…? No, my role is to make this be fine. 

“Bro, if there’s anything I can do, tell me without hesitation! I will do whatever you ask! I am your right hand after all!” (Haaku)

“Yeah, go wash yourself first and change clothes. I am not a senile man who doesn’t wash his own right hand.” (Gestaf)

“Right?! Sorry!” (Haaku)

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