1077: Derrick Weston

Satia’s interrogation, or rather, torture, was incredibly gruesome. Frankly speaking, I think I would vomit the contents of my stomach if I still had one. How can Fran and Urushi even bear to watch?

The spy certainly had pain nullification, so he felt zero pain. However, not feeling pain is not the same as not feeling anything.

Rather than pain, he felt other incredible sensations. His four limbs slowly melting apart, fingers stroking his brain and heart directly, having his stomach ripped open and his insides filled with countless tiny insects.

By instilling all these various fears, Satia drove him into a corner mentally.

The man’s completely expressionless face gradually turned into one entirely distorted in fear. I almost forgot how he nearly killed Flut and felt sympathy for him.

No matter how badly his body was beaten, Satia restored him to normal so that the torment never ended. Rather than melting away his arms again, she now shaved off the flesh little by little until his bones were revealed. Then after restoring him again, she covered him in tentacles.

To the man, this was nothing short of a nightmare.

Yet the man still kept his mouth shut after all this. At this point, I could only be impressed. However, Satia was in no hurry. She must have anticipated that the man might endure.

「Your endurance is very impressive. But can you withstand this now that your heart so vulnerable?」

「…!」

Ronowe grabbed the man’s torso and lifted him up. He was quite weakened due to the damage from Fran, but he apparently had no problem exerting himself slightly.

Despite being in front of a huge demon’s mouth, the man gave not the slightest scream. Rather, he glared back at Ronowe, as if to say that he would never give in.

Ronowe sprayed gray smoke from her mouth at the man.

「Guh…」

Poison? After taking repeated blasts of smoke, the man’s behavior gradually changed.

I tried appraising him again, and found he had multiple status effects applied: Daze, Confusion, Stupefaction, and more. That smoke must contain several different types of poison.

「Ah… ah…」

The man’s face was now drained of emotion, and he started staring at the sky as if in a stupor. After examining the man’s state, Satia asked him a question.

「What is your name?」

「…Derrick Weston.」

He answered honestly! The multitude of status effects must have rendered him completely complacent. This is seriously amazing.

However, the name he gave was different from the one shown in the appraisal… No wait, the appraisal name changed to “Derrick Weston” just now. Also, some new skills started showing up. In addition to Appraisal Camouflage, he had been using the “Data Concealment” skill to disguise his appraisal information.

I see. He had tricked us by purposely allowing us to see his appraisal, when in actuality he had hidden the most important parts. That’s similar to how we always use Appraisal Blocking and Appraisal Camouflage.

Satia widened her eyes slightly upon hearing his name.

「This man is Weston? I never thought I’d find him in a place like this.」

「Is he famous?」

「Yes, everyone in the upper echelons of my country has heard his name. He’s the head of the West Conquest Duke’s intelligence division. In other words, his right-hand man.」

Whoa, seriously?! He’s a super big deal then!

Apparently, they had only learned his name when interrogating a spy they captured in the past. His face, age, etc were still unknown, so many thought of him as a legendary intelligence operative always lurking in the shadows.

His combat abilities may only be equivalent to your average Rank B adventurer, but he was incredibly talented as a spy.

He could hide his identity with the Disguise and Appraisal Camouflage skills, as well as alter his name and face with illusion magic. The Acting and Drama skills allow him to turn into anyone he wants to replace. After infiltrating enemy territory, he can use his Transcription, Trap-Setting, and Fraud skills to carry out all kinds of interference.

Also of note was his high levels in Covert and Presence Concealment. No wonder he hasn’t been found up until now.

「Urushi, amazing job!」

「Woof!」

「What was your goal?」

「Capturing a demon knight…」

「What do you mean? Explain everything.」

「Okay…」

Still in a hypnotic state, Derrick began slowly describing the details.

There were several reasons why they chose a village in Kranzel for the curse. As Satia expected, the curse was intended to debilitate Phyllius and to damage the relationship between Phyllius and Kranzel.

However, their main goal was to lure out a demon knight into stopping the curse, assassinate them, and obtain their body. Derrick would then copy the demon knight’s appearance, infiltrate Phyllius’s inner circle, and seize their divine sword.

Apparently, the East Conquest Duke also requested they take a demon knight corpse for his research. Since the West Duke needed the East Duke’s support and supplies, he could not refuse the request.

Either way, the appearance of Flut and Satia was a miscalculation on Derrick’s part. He did not expect royalty, their most valuable forces, to be deployed to the border when they were taking pressure from the north as well as the seas.

「We were originally assigned to defend the Phyllius coast, but then the Raydoss fleet suddenly vanished.」

It seems our rampage in Bulbora and Dars caused their plan to break down. Or rather, Fran’s arrival at Metelmam ended up being his biggest miscalculation.

Derrick realized he stood no chance against Fran after a single glance. That’s when he switched his objective to assassinating Flut.

「We know Diabolos can only be inherited by the male members of the royal family. Taking out the prince would be more than enough to make up for the operation’s failure.」

「…! I can’t believe they’ve figured out that much… F-Fran-san! P-Please pretend you didn’t hear that…!」

「Nn. Okay.」

「Thank you.」

Only male royals can inherit it…? That explains why Flut was a priority target.

Derrick then tried to escape and ended up getting caught by Urushi. It seems he was confident in his feet, but Urushi’s tracking ability exceeded his capabilities. That said, the chase lasted several hours, so he would have easily escaped anyone else.

Fran patted Urushi on the head again.

「Urushi, good boy.」

「Woof!」

After that, we learned several things about the West Conquest Duke’s plans and internal affairs. This should allow us to gain the advantage in case we need to take him on again.

「Hey, I want to ask you something.」

「Please do.」

「…Illegal slaves have been shipped to Raydoss from western Kranzel. Is the West Duke the one buying them?」

「That’s correct.」

「…Why does he buy slaves?」

It seems Fran was interested in the West Duke’s involvement in the slave trade. This was a very personal issue since she might have ended up in Raydoss if she was still a slave.

「To obtain soldiers, miners, farmers, servants, etc. Adults can be used anywhere. Children can be sent further north.」

「North?」

「The North Conquest Duke buys up all the children. I have no clue what he uses them for, but even the less popular races such as black cats and fishmen can be sold at a premium.」

「North Conquest Duke…」

He’s one of Raydoss’s four dukes, so there’s no way he has any decent reason for buying slaves. That moment, the North Duke was added to the upper ranks of Fran’s kill list.

「The old and wounded without any other use are sacrificed.」

「Sacrificed?」

Fran’s mutter was filled with murderous intent. However, Derrick continued speaking in a matter-of-face tone without any pause.

「Sacrifices supply the mana and curses for the demon slayer knives. It takes over a hundred to make one knife, so we can never have enough slaves.」

「…!」

『Fran! He’ll die if you hit him! We need him alive since he’s still a valuable info source!』

「…!」

Fran punched a nearby tree to vent her bottled-up anger. The trunk snapped with a violent impact, leaving Fran’s hand covered in blood.

『Save your anger for later. We’ll be fighting Raydoss soon enough.』

「…Nn.」

Nothing can stop Fran now. In all likelihood, she will start actively involving herself in the war with Raydoss. The fierce killing intent she gave off was enough to make me sure of it.

That said, to think the demon slayer knives could be mass-produced like that… Derrick said he didn’t know the detailed forging process, but he of course knew the man behind them. They were created by an alchemist named Ansel, who was their lead researcher on divine swords and a disciple of the notorious Zelyse.

Divine sword research, Zelyse’s magic stone knowledge, the data from the psuedo-Fanatics, and the stolen demon slayer sword. No doubt the combination of all four is what allowed them to successful produce the knives.

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