Enlightened Empire

Chapter 348: Interview With the Devil

Corco had been attacked by his own people. That much became clear with one look at his prisoners. Since the details of his enemies still eluded him for now, he ordered his men set up proper restraints for the caught warriors that would allow the king to interrogate them. They needed to find out the details of Saniya‘s newest, shadowy enemy as soon as possible.

Based on these considerations, Corco had his people set up three tents. The first tent would house all the captives for now. A wooden cage inside would keep all of them honest. Against the power of warriors, the cheap, improvised pen wouldn‘t hold for long, but it didn’t have to. The warriors were disarmed, and there were always guards inside the tent and around the pen to keep an eye on any potential attempts at escape.

The second tent was right next to the first, and was where the prisoners would be questioned. This one was almost empty, with only a few cheap chairs his guards had brought along for Corco to sit on whenever the army was resting. A king couldn’t just sit on the floor after all, or so his people told him..

Finally, a third tent was set up next to the second and contained another cage like the first, though for now, it was kept empty.

Once everything was set up, Corco entered the second tent, and then asked his soldiers to bring him the first prisoner. This time, without Sumaci and her experts around, he lead do the interrogation himself. In all honesty, he was looking forward to it, just a little bit.

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At first, Suyana had thought that their mission would be an easy one. Just cross the river and break down an earthen wall. They didn‘t expect to find any warriors on the other side to oppose them, and the wall wouldn‘t hit back either. In high spirits, they went to fulfill their master’s orders, all of them eager to finish their work and then get back home and out of the cold.

However, everything went wrong shortly after they had begun taking apart the embankment. Their foes had come from nowhere and without warning. Before they knew it, they had been scattered, and then caught one by one.

I should have run north instead, Suyana thought as he looked around the overcrowded prison cell. Surely, many of his fellow prisoners thought the same. Surely, they also all cursed the others for taking up so much space.

As he tried to make more room for himself, his back pressed against the rough wooden stakes that kept them stuck together. A little bit of wood wouldn’t hold a warrior like him for long, but the guards outside were armed with lances and hand cannons.

No matter how weak these people were – and the soldiers of Saniya were famed for their physical weakness – their weapons would be enough to take out the few dozen unarmed warriors before they made their way through their wooden prison.

While Suyana continued to stare at the crowd before him – because where else would he look with nothing but warriors around him – he wondered what would happen to them. Since escape was out of the question for now, he expected the usual behavior from this King Corcopaca. He was said to be evil and not much of a noble, but surely he would still abide by the most basic rules of polite society.

If that were true, their accommodations would get better as soon as it was possible. In that sense, he could excuse the poor conditions they were under right now. In the wilderness, one had to allow for imperfect manners sometimes. After a few days in a proper prison, they would eventually be returned back to their master for a ransom. There wasn’t much wrong with a few days of boredom, so Suyana was willing to show leniency for their captors, at least for now.

While he was thinking about various things, he barely realized when someone opened the gate to their prison. He didn’t even move when all his fellow prisoners stepped back, away from the visitors. All he thought was finally some space. As a result, he stood all alone at the front of their cell when the guard soldiers entered.

“You!” the rude guard barked at him, “Come with us.”

Suyana noticed only then that all other warriors around him had disappeared. Now he had all the room he wanted, but he suddenly hoped they hadn’t been so considerate. He didn’t know where he would be sent, but it couldn’t be very good. He wanted to argue, but wouldn’t that put his fellow warriors in danger as well? A good warrior would always consider the well-being of his equals, so he didn’t quibble.

“Very well,” he said with a raised head that showed his size compared to the puny commoner guard, before he followed him outside. At least he was allowed to leave the cramped prison for now. Maybe, he fantasized, they had finally finished building the first of many more appropriate cells for them, and he would be the first one to receive proper accommodations, simply by virtue of his bravery.

However, the guards didn’t lead him into any better room, and they didn’t lead him far either. Instead, he ended up in another tent right next door, though at least it was more spacious. Inside, there was nothing but two chairs and ten or so guards spread around the tent’s perimeter. One of the chairs was empty, while a somewhat short warrior with a friendly smile stood next to the other. The entire scene was surreal, and gave Suyana an eerie feeling.

“Ah, are you the first one then?” the warrior asked Sunyana. Before anyone could reply, the man motioned towards one of the empty chairs. “Please, have a seat.”

Since he was still surrounded by guards and inside the enemy camp, Suyana decided that it would be best to follow the strange man’s orders for now, at least until he felt threatened or saw a chance to escape. Once he had sat down, the strange man spoke up again.

“You want anything to drink? Mulled wine? Tea?”

The more Suyana was in this tent, the more suspicious he became. This strange man was asking strange questions, and the room was weird as well. What was the purpose of this place? It certainly didn’t look like a torture chamber set up to get answers from him. That much, he would have expected.

Their enemies still didn’t know about their allegiance, and for now, it was important that they remained in the dark for a while longer. Of course, their enemies would be eager to learn about their master’s identity, or about the nature of their mission. When he was stuffed into the prison, Suyana had been ready to withstand any torture they could think of, to protect his master’s plan to the last moment.

However, there were no torture instruments inside the room, and the man who was asking questions wasn’t asking anything of substance, nor did he look like someone who would torture others. Rather, he looked more like a merchant trying to sell him defective goods. Nothing was fitting together. Though he was a true warrior, so he still managed to retain his calm.

“What is this? Who are you?” he asked the suspicious questioner.

“It’s an interrogation of course.” The man bowed lightly, with a playful smile on his face. “And I’m your king. Corcopaca Titu Pluritac, at your service.”

When he heard the name, Suyana rose on reflex. This was the man they had tried to kill in their operation at the embankment. He was also the one who was fighting Suyana’s master, the one who had taken Kapra’s prosperity and ruined his family’s fortune.

Year on year, his family’s life had become harder as a result of the king’s actions. In that time, his hatred towards the distant king had been fostered, and now the culprit was right in front of him, to punish as he deserved. However, as soon as Suyana stood from his seat, the evil king stepped back and revealed a small hand cannon from inside his robes.

“Ah, for your own safety, please keep your arms and legs inside the cart at all times.”

His words were as mysterious as before, but the threat from the hand cannon was unmistakable. Once he was confronted with his own mortality, Suyana’s hot blood cooled again. All around the room, the guards had closed in as well, ready to strike him down as soon as he made another step. At the same time, the king in front of him still held that calm smile, as if he was in control of everything. No matter how much he hated this evil king, he felt like he had no chance where he to act now. So Suyana sat back down and waited for his chance.

“Good,” the king said as he finally sat down on the chair opposite the warrior. “Now then, I’ve already introduced myself. Don’t you think it’s rude that you still haven’t done the same?”

The more he saw of the evil king’s smile, the more he realized how fake his politeness was.

“I will not say a word,” he growled back.

“You already have though.” The king laughed at his own joke, though Suyana didn’t care.

“No matter how you torture me, it will be useless.”

“That’s good.” The evil king shrugged. “I don’t believe in torture anyways. It’s not very useful in most cases. And there’s also humanitarian concerns, I guess. But don’t worry, we can still have a good talk. I have my own methods, no torture needed.”

This time, Suyana was completely silent, ready to sit out the king’s questioning. The king’s arrogance would make things much easier for him. What could that king do without torturing him? When he realized that Suyana wouldn’t respond anymore, the evil king continued.

“Okay, if you wanna act like a kid, that’s fine.” The evil king’s smile widened. “Since you’re not useful, I’ll just have to get someone else from the prison next door. Though I’ll have to warn you that I’ll have to give the others an incentive for talking. Otherwise, they’d all be as stubborn as you, right? And then Tama will make fun of me, and will torture you anyways. So to spare you and your colleagues, I’ll just quickly take you back over to the others and shoot you in the head.”

“Wait!” Confused and shocked at the sudden turn, Suyana broke his silence. The king stopped, already half out of his chair.

“What?” he asked in an impatient tone. “I said I don’t believe in torture. This method is way faster and way more humane, right? Only one guy dies, rather than all of them, and there will be no pain at all.”

“I am a warrior!” Suyana protested. “You cannot do that!”

This wasn’t the way a proper warrior was to be treated in Medala. There were rules of conduct! Could this king really ignore all the rules of the ancients and mistreat him so? Wouldn’t all the other warriors in the kingdom stand up against him? However, the king’s answer shocked him.

“Oh, you’re a warrior? That’s a pretty big claim from someone without a name. You know what the penalty is for those who impersonate warriors in my kingdom? I’m actually not sure myself, but I’m the king, so I’m sure I can decide these things. Let’s just say you get capital punishment, so we’re done with it.”

“No, wait! If I die, no one will pay my ransom!” This time, Suyana tired to lure the king with wealth. He had heard that the king had been a base merchant before, and that he was obsessed with money. Yet again, he had thought things too simply.

“And who would I demand the ransom from if you’re not even telling me who your master is?” The king shrugged. “Not to mention, I’m the guy who’s filthy rich, right? The one swimming in blood-drenched silver, according to the stories. You really think I care about a little bit of ransom over finding out who’s trying to kill me?”

Again, the king cut off Suyana’s escape path. If he didn’t want to die a pointless death, all he could do was talk. However, he wouldn’t just obediently tell the truth. He would never play along with the evil king’s games. Couldn’t he just lie and then coordinate his story with the others once he returned to them? Maybe, once he screamed out everything he had said in front of the other prisoners, he would still end up dead, but at least his death would not be pointless.

“Very well,” he said after some thought, ready to die for a good cause. “My name is Qollqe di Macuy. Lord Macuy ordered us-”

The fake story was already laid out in his head, but the king interrupted him.

“Wait! Before you introduce yourself, I’ll explain to you how this will work. Otherwise, you might make some choices you may regret, and I don’t want to be unfair.” The king winked. “I will ask you questions, and then you will answer. So far so simple, right? Some of those questions will be very specific, but don’t worry, that’s part of the method. You don’t need to think about why I’m asking, you just need to answer. After we’re done playing twenty questions, you’ll be led to a neighboring tent. Not the one with all the prisoners of course, it’ll be an empty one that we’ve prepared specifically for you. And then, once you’re out of sight and can no longer be heard by anyone else, my guards will bring in the next prisoner, and I’ll ask him the same questions. Should I find out that either of you lied to me, both of you die. And don’t even think about dying a martyr to protect your master. Not everyone thinks like you. I got so many of you guys, there’s always gonna be a coward who will talk. So your death would be completely pointless.”

As he spoke, the friendly smile never left the king’s face. However, now it looked the grin of a demon. Cold sweat had collected on Suyana’s back throughout the speech. Now he understood that his lies would not only be pointless, they would also endanger the life of the man who would come after him. He could make the decision to die for his house for himself, but he couldn’t do it for his fellow warriors. Suyana was caught in a trap, his confidence drained.

“Now then,” the king said after a prolonged pause to steep the warrior in his dread. “Let’s start again. What is your name? And why are you here?”

Finally, Suyana relented, and betrayed his master.

“My name is Suyana D’Ogulno. And my master sent me to kill you.”

Once the dam was broken, the truth spilled out like a flood, while the devil looked on with a smile.