129 What should be resolved next?

The next day, we took Raheit with us and arrived at the mainland of Quama.

Although I had visited two countries before, Taze, which had a somewhat fashionable image, and Gane, which was developing at a remarkable pace, I couldn't help but be impressed by the scenery of Quama.

It was exactly the castle town of the fantasy world that I had imagined before coming to this world, with a particularly large percentage of adventurers.

The knights in Taze, the soldiers in Ghane, and the Yugra cult in Mejis are the ones who keep the city safe, so there is little work for the adventurers.

In contrast, in Quama, where the walls are fortified and the threat of demons is low, the soldiers of the state guarantee a minimum level of security and make use of adventurers who are able to work in small groups.

This is why most adventurers base their activities in Quama.

While Ilias is driving the carriage to Quama Castle, enjoying the scenery, Rahite throws him in a crate there.

I'll leave the carriage to Ilias and enjoy the scenery as we head towards Quama Castle.

Yes, and I can show you the streets of Quama!　If your friend hadn't insisted on staying in Rilbe, I would have shown you around sooner.

I can show you around Quama, I was there for a while.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.

As a result of the demonization process, his skin color changed to a wheatish color, and his hair and eyes changed from a deep purple to a slightly blue-purple color.

I had heard in the lore that the hair and eye color of the demon race is black, but this may be different depending on which demon lord's demon race you become.

If you look closely at the color of her hair and eyes, you can see that they are unusual.

So there's no problem at present, and if there's any further alteration, we can use the magic invented by Nora to change the color.

However, according to Ilias and the others, the quality of her magic has become even more dangerous.

The fact that she was originally raised by a demon made her feel different from others, and now she's even more so.

It may be understood by the powerful, but it may be effective when used as intimidation.

I'm not sure what guild you belong to, Ecdysium.　I belong to Morgana.

Morgana, that's a legitimate guild. I'm Riod.

Hmm, Riod. ...... A prominent place for backstabbing.

Adventurers belong to one of the guilds, and even those guilds have their own factions.

It's a good idea to take a look at the website and see if you can find anything that might be of interest to you.

The guild has many branches in various countries and receives the most requests from countries and nobles.

Liod, a guild with a complete meritocracy, where even drifters with unknown backgrounds or broken personalities can join.

The guild is rumored to be involved in a number of disturbing and not-so-public requests, and is even rumored to be involved in criminal activities.

The guild is often joined by roughnecks who are confident in their skills, and although they sometimes cause trouble, merchants often use this guild because they can make requests at relatively low prices.

Schneid, a guild that accepts a wide range of people.

Even new adventurers can join, but it's hard to get high-degree requests.

Many skilled adventurers move on to other guilds, but skilled adventurers who are well taken care of stay in Schneid, and sometimes return from other guilds.

There are a few other guilds that are more prominent and focus on specialized requests, but these three seem to be the main faces of the guild.

The Adventurer's Guild, I'd heard so much about it. I was hired by Marit right away, so I've been in the dark, but it might not be a bad idea to join.

If you register with the guild, you can take requests from guild branches in other countries and use related facilities easily. It might be a good idea to join.

If you're a friend of mine, you can get a letter of recommendation from your brother and join Morgana!

I'm not sure a man who has a demon lord as a friend should join.

Yes, I think Riod will have a wider range of activities for his people.

Mmm, but if you're looking for credibility, Morgana is definitely the one!

What's with these guys, they're ditching their adventuring jobs to go along with other people's activities, but they're also very attached to the guild.

I'm not sure what to do with it.

Joining the Adventurer's Guild was high on my list of things I wanted to do when I came to the other world, but I feel like I missed the right time.

I've already become the king's idea man, and I'm already researching magic that takes advantage of the differences in civilizations.

I don't really feel like starting from scratch as a new adventurer now.

However, since we call ourselves the Third Camp, there's a good chance that we won't be able to stay in Tarz for some reason or another.

At the very least, we should be able to secure a source of income that will allow us and the Wolfe to eat, drink, and sleep, and we should be looking at a number of ways to earn our food.

There is also the option of having the money feed you, but that is a sure way to get carried away.

The Purple ...... will most likely not be able to come back into society, yes.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I've been thinking about a money plan for a long time, but I think I'll start in earnest. .......

What's troubling you, Shishou?

We earn to live, we don't want to live to earn.

Isn't that right?

Thinking about the future, we arrived at Quama Castle.

In comparison to the clean and traditional Taize Castle, the Quama Castle has the intimidating feel of a rugged warrior's castle.

Garne's castle has a strange shape due to his taste for gold, but this is what a castle should look like.

At the entrance, a few soldiers and clergymen are already waiting for you, and you are easily let in.

The only thing is that they don't have a good impression of me because I dared them so much.

Although he doesn't show it in his attitude, I'm sure he's poisoning himself inside.

I was led to the interrogation room next to the prison in the castle.

It's a rectangular room with a high ceiling, surrounded by what looks like interrogation ...... torture equipment.

It's not very hygienic, it's gloomy and dark, but that's what you get when you don't entertain your interrogator.

Wolfe is very frowning, either remembering the old days or the nosy smell, ...... or both.

As you look around the room, you see that there is a window-like structure on the wall near the ceiling.

It may be a vent, or perhaps a peephole.

You can't see it clearly from here, but I guess Archbishop Serraes and King Zenotta are planning to watch from there.

It's a good structure for the high priests to watch the interrogation.

I asked Ekuik and Mikus to take Raheit out of the crate and tie him to the shackles on the wall.

He's been drugged to keep him from causing problems on the road, and if you only look at his sleeping face, he looks like a child and smells like a criminal.

I have prepared a chain of ecdysium with a magic seal stone wrapped around his body, and a restraint to prevent him from biting off his tongue, and I am ready.

I'm going to ask Mikus to use a distraction spell to wake up Raheit.

It's called a distraction spell, but it's more like a mild electric shock, and it's not pleasant to watch.

Now it's time for me to switch over.

"......

Good morning Raheit, how are you feeling?

Raheit opens his eyes vaguely and looks around.

It's a good thing I'm not the only one.

The poison has left you almost numb, what a terrible thing to do to a child's body.

"If he resists, I'll have to put him out of his misery. Let's just hope it goes off without a hitch.

Do you want to torture him?　Torture on Juglar's planet might be useful for future reference, so I'm a little hopeful.

I'm afraid we don't have any kind of truth serum, and physical torture might be too warm by the standards of this world.

So it's just a standard interrogation, I'm afraid.

There are two main methods of interrogation in this world, one is to torture a person into opening his mouth.

But Raheit's body is that of a child, and it is more likely that his body will run out of steam before he can break his spirit.

The other option is to use mind-altering magic.

This is also the same as the bandit's case, according to Mix's check, Rahite's head is embedded with a tiny magic seal stone, so any magic that involves the mind will be canceled out.

I've been thinking about calling the purple and relying on the power of the cage, but it's hard to believe that someone who's always in the dark would be acting under his own name.

It is said that the method of reading memories with the power of the Lost Belly that Duvraeori inherited from Favus Hath can be used to disguise memories by those who are familiar with the magic of mental interference.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot more information on this topic in the coming weeks.

It is also possible that the soul will be able to travel when the body dies, as you can guess from this margin.

...... Well, that's irrelevant.

You'll be able to find a lot more than just a few of them.

Place a chair in front of Raheit and sit down.

Rahite's face and mine face each other at close range.

"What is this?

"Well, let's start with the first question. I'm sure you're not the only one who's trying to do something about it.

"......

So you're using adventurers to do this?

......

Thank you. The guilds are Riod, Morgana, Schneid, and - what's all that?

It's a good idea to keep your eyes and ears open for the latest news.

I see. ...... So that's your weapon. ...... That's terrible.

"I hope you don't say 'weapon' like that. It's a technique, a technique.

It is not the application of comprehension behavior, such as ...... asking a question with two choices, yes or no, and determining the truth by the response.

These are just guesses based on Gillista's information, and now he's making it look like he got it from Lahite.

This interrogation looks like a farce, but it has a definite purpose.

It is to shake Raheit's spirit.

No matter how much silence he maintains, the information will be extracted from him as if he is being read, and the expression on his face is beginning to change more than at first.

Once you've reached that point, you can use your usual methods, and it will be relatively easy to determine if you're lying or not.

However, this method has the disadvantage that there is a risk that your intentions will be read if you repeatedly ask questions in a guesswork manner, and also that you will not be able to get the details of the information.

Therefore, I focus on the big picture by asking questions that focus on the main points.

I'm sure that the reason why you had all of these tricks up your sleeve and didn't use them in the wake of the Blue Demon King was not only because I had you cornered correctly, right?　I had plans to use it in the future, it's related to the Scarlet Witch King's purpose.

The way you cornered me was too good for me to give you any instructions.

The reason why the Scarlet Witch King incited the Blue Witch King was to tell the world that the Witch King is back. And the reason why the Scarlet Witch King didn't act immediately was to prepare the humans, right?

You don't care what I say? What a terrible way to interrogate someone.

Thank you, it seems that the Scarlet Witch King wants to start a full-scale war with the humans. I'm not sure what to make of that.

I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but it's like .......

It's not just that they can read the truth from your complexion, but that you can't tell a lie with words.

In the background is Lakra, who has mastered the Yugoslavian art of detecting lies.

The Scarlet Witch is the only one who can tell the truth.

How much time has the Scarlet Witch given the humans?　It's shorter ...... than a month, or longer. Two months, three months, that's right, three months. Thank you.

It's really a ...... pain in the ass, and I regret that I didn't take a more careful approach to dealing with it.

You don't need to be so overrated for a man who is softer than you are in that form. But then there are some things that bother me. It's a good thing that you're not the only one who has a problem with this.

"......

I'm not sure what you mean by that. What is the purpose of this?

I'm not sure what Rahite's real purpose is, but it's not something I can guess.

No one knows Raheit's identity or past, and there is not enough information.

It's probably safest to cut it short here, but let me give you a little credit.

Take into account the information you've heard from Gold and Purple, and the words that might be connected: .......

"The Bastard.

"What?

You'll be able to find a lot more information on this topic in the following article.

But Raheit's demeanor was a little different, his eyes convinced that I was not supposed to know anything about the bastard.

And he's on full alert to prevent me from revealing any information at all.

Perhaps if he knew something about the Bastard, it would contradict the actions we are taking now.

The shaking we are doing now will have little effect on a person who has honestly decided not to give up any information.

This is the time to pull back.

It will be more useful to maintain the threat to me that I have now imprinted in Raheit's mind than to forcefully ask him to reveal himself.

He ended the interrogation and left without saying another word.

Raheit's fake smile had already broken, and the look he gave me was unmistakably hostile.

I left the interrogation room and was led to the guest room.

He rubbed Wolfe's cheek and returned to his normal position.

Apparently, I'm not popular with everyone, of course I am.

"Huh, that interrogation by the Shosho-sama is creeping me out, even when it's happening to other people.

"What, Lakra, did your compatriot just do that to you?

Yes, I have interrogated Lakra before when she drank from a bottle that someone had hidden.

It was not "I" but "me," but it was very effective for Lakra, who is not good at lying.

Incidentally, after that, I exposed her hidden misdeeds one after another, and lectured her until she was half in tears.

"It's just your own fault, I have no sympathy for you.

"Ugh, I just had a few drinks and I'm still dreaming about ......?

I'm sure you will, I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm not sure why they're all looking at Lacla with pity, is it our fault?

As I sat in my chair, thinking that it was none of my business, one of the soldiers appeared and asked me to come to the throne room.

When I went to the throne room, I saw King Zenotta and Archbishop Serraes.

The Archbishop of Ceraes still has the same stern look on his face, but King Zenotta looks very pale.

"First of all, your interrogation was excellent. A very difficult problem has arisen, though. ......

"As for the adventurers, we have a small list of those who may have come into contact with you. I'll have a copy for you later.

That would be great. By the way, what is a "bastard"?

"It's a term that the Blue Demon Lord and the Colorless Demon Lord talked about, according to what I've heard from other Demon Lords who belong here. I don't know the details.

King Zenotta glanced at Archbishop Ceraes. Archbishop Ceraes silently shook his head.

I know you don't trust me, but I don't like it when you confirm things right in front of me, yeah.

We'll be interrogating Raheit in the future, but there's one thing I'd like to ask you to do.

That depends.

The adventurer that Raheit has been in contact with and working with, have you determined if he is being manipulated by magic or if he is doing it of his own volition?

"No, I can't say for sure. It could be both.

I suppose so. But then it would be difficult for our country alone to eliminate those dangers. Adventurers can travel to many countries, so the damage won't be limited to Kuama.

"I'm sure it will.

I don't dare to say that Quama will be the one to suffer the most.

I'm sure King Zenotta knows that, since most of the adventurers are based here in Quama.

The country needs to prepare for the threat of the Scarlet Witch King. So we need your wisdom, and of course, we'll help you as a nation.

I can feel that he wants to impose a troublesome problem on us, but King Zenotta has a point.

If the Scarlet Demon King is planning to invade your country in three months, you need to focus on preparing for it or the damage will be even greater, and that goes for Quama as well as the other countries.

Even if we don't accept the request here, Marito and Gold will probably ask us to do so, and if Quama is willing to help us, there's no way we can avoid it.

It's not a bad idea to owe Quama a favor, now that you're on equal footing in terms of power.

I don't think Archbishop Serraes will feel indebted to you, but King Zenotta will.

I understand. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out a way to make this work, and I'm sure you'll be able to help me to the extent you can.

Will you do it?　Yes, no problem!

King Zenotta looks very happy.

He's not acting, he's genuinely happy, and I think he's the most honest of all the representatives.