The spies surrendered meekly.
It wasn’t as if I had done anything particularly incredible. I had merely made a careful suggestion to the fellows suffering from the poison.
“If it’s the poison Aizen mentioned, then in just a little while longer, you’ll be pouring everything out from inside your bodies.”
“Don’t try to endure it. Don’t you think surrendering with your human dignity intact would make everyone happier?”
Honestly, if they had holed up in the cockpit and held out to the bitter end, we would have been shedding tears of blood on our side too. But perhaps thanks to the security measures I had set in advance and the chain effects of the poison, the spies gave up and came out obediently.
Now, after being tied up tight, Mina had used divine arts on them to lessen their pain a little, and perhaps because of that, they had expressions as if they had been saved.
“Treatment fee will be double.”
“You didn’t treat them, though.”
“I simply didn’t cure them completely. If I reduced their pain, that is treatment.”
Mina said it like a joke, but it wasn’t as though she was being spiteful for no reason.
She was taking into account the possibility that the spies might change their attitude if she detoxified them completely.
“If I don’t use divine arts every twenty minutes, the symptoms will immediately relapse.”
Seeing that even something like that was possible, it seemed divine arts could be used in far more varied ways than I had thought.
In fact, considering that potato poison was by no means a weak poison, divine arts might actually be incredibly impressive in that they could reduce or completely cure the symptoms of natural toxins.
“But why isn’t there a Saintess Death Beam?”
“There is a Saintess Blackjack, so I’ll demonstrate it for you soon.”
When I looked at Mina’s waist, I saw a pouch that seemed to be stuffed full of gold coins.
It looked like it would hurt if she swung it at someone.
In any case, the spies’ objective was far too obvious, so there didn’t seem to be any need to ask further. Just as I was thinking we only needed to decide what to do with them, I heard something flying in from the direction of the entrance.
“Lord Aizen, are you safe?!”
“I really need to research that magic as soon as possible.”
I said that while watching Noel fly in, scattering electricity.
She must have flown over the moment she heard the noise from the manor, because she wasn’t even holding her staff.
And just a little behind her, Erica came running in beyond the door with the clatter of armor.
“Aizen! I’m here!”
“Is the lord safe?!”
It seemed all the combatants who had been at the manor, including Daniel and Sir Galed, had rushed over.
And when I pointed to the two limp spies and told them the situation was over, everyone seemed relieved.
“I’m so glad….”
“Honestly, I almost died about three times.”
I wasn’t joking. If these guys hadn’t initially intended to persuade me, there was an extremely high chance I would have died then and there.
After that, there had been two more clashes, so three times was right.
Noel glared at me with her eyes half-lidded, and when Erica, who had come up at some point, handed over Noel’s staff, Noel leaned on it and descended to the ground.
“If that’s true, then it’s impressive, but it isn’t something you should speak of so lightly as if it were a joke.”
“Yes.”
She was probably telling me to take care of myself rather than brag about my heroic exploits.
Still, perhaps because she understood I was safe, Noel didn’t press me any further there.
Instead, she looked down at the spies with cold eyes and said,
“…I had my suspicions, but to think they would try to seize the golem again….”
“That means they’ve been aiming for it ever since the Phoenix County incident.”
I had heard about it afterward too. While I had gone out to deal with the monsters back then, spies had actually barged in, and the group including Professor Reina had stopped them.
“From the Empire’s perspective, the Cyclops must be an extremely tempting weapon. It’s worth persistently targeting.”
“I’ll have to tell Father that this happened and set up a double-layered security system.”
It seemed they believed this time, the enemy had come because the territory still lacked a proper defensive system, making this the most plausible moment to attempt it.
And Daniel, who had come up at some point, looked down at the spies for a moment.
“But how on earth did you catch them? They don’t seem as injured as I expected.”
“I poisoned them with potato sprouts.”
“I treated them.”
Perhaps because they had heard something beyond common sense, even Noel and Erica seemed at a loss for words for a moment.
Then, belatedly, Erica clapped her hands together and said,
“Come to think of it, you always did carefully gather up the potatoes that had sprouted!”
“I heard you once sprayed Professor Reina with powder made from potato peels too… How do you even come up with things like this?”
“A lot happened.”
It was a fairly long time ago now.
There had been a time when Mark, unable to manage with only his own subordinates, even mobilized knights to try to physically suppress us, so I had devised that weapon to repel them easily.
Since the former Arclight territory had rotten potatoes overflowing everywhere, I naturally ended up using potatoes.
Well, potato sprouts were genuinely dangerous, so I had only carried them around; this was the first time I had actually used them.
“I only threw it this time because Mina was here. It’s not as if I’d normally just toss poisonous powder at people.”
“If you have any left, hand some over to me.”
Perhaps it seemed useful, because Mina spoke quite seriously.
And Noel immediately struck her staff against the ground and spoke.
“…I would prefer it if you didn’t trade in poisonous substances. More importantly, those prisoners are the problem.”
“Their objective is obviously seizure, and if we want to extract information, we should send them somewhere else….”
Spies generally knew a great deal, so many places would surely ask us to send them over.
In particular, the knights of House Phoenix seemed to be itching to find out for themselves.
“The Cyclops is now also an important asset of the royal palace, so this isn’t a matter to be handed over lightly. Even if the ones here are meant to be sold as products.”
“House Phoenix has a specialized detention facility. The royal palace has likely become even more chaotic recently, so sending them to the count’s house out of concern for sabotage might be best.”
Daniel and Sir Galed each said their piece and looked at me.
They were telling me to make the decision.
“Then I’ll take charge of them.”
“Lord Aizen?”
Noel asked cautiously, as if wondering whether that was all right.
In truth, the territory didn’t have any proper military facilities, so we didn’t have suitable places to imprison them. With the spies’ skills, she probably thought there might be enough opportunity for them to escape.
“I’m the lord. And I need to deal with these guys myself.”
I looked down at the prisoners and spoke quietly.
“How dare they talk about efficiency and say we should start by attaching tracks first.”
Mina muttered softly that I acknowledged that would be more efficient too, didn’t I? But acknowledgment was one thing, and I simply didn’t want to do it.
The prisoners flinched for a moment before hurriedly opening their mouths.
“That was merely the intention of the Imperial military, not our own…!”
“There’s something I want to make you do, so tie them up and lock them away until preparations are complete.”
If I invested just a little time, I could prepare it quickly.
I immediately thought about the structure of the territory and began planning their comfortable lodging in my head….
“Aizen, treatment fee.”
“Ah, right.”
At Mina’s reminder, I turned my body back around as I was about to leave and confiscated everything the spies had been carrying.
“I’ll be taking the lightning whip and the Imperial mana metal.”
It was the most precious gift I had received before returning to the academy.
****
Daniel was feeling a great sense of relief inwardly.
‘If the baron had truly gone over to the Empire, it would have been a disaster itself.’
Honestly, if the Cyclops had fallen into their hands, he had been prepared to think of it as something that was bound to happen sooner or later.
Given the Empire’s capabilities, it was obvious they would continue sending the elite of the elite to seize it or obtain information. And in the first place, because of Avatus’s needless schemes, the contract had become awkwardly tangled, and the Cyclops had ended up divided into models for the royal palace and models for civilian use.
If the royal palace had properly supported everything, they could have prevented the Krista Trading Company from getting involved, but Avatus’s deranged politicking had instead created a situation where the royal palace had nothing to say.
…Of course, looking at it another way, it was also possible to say that thanks to the current abnormal arrangement, Avatus would find it difficult to do something like obstruct Cyclops production. So it was amusing that the situation had become one where it was hard to say one side was simply good and the other bad….
In any case, if the Empire somehow got their hands on the civilian model, the Cyclops’s structure would eventually be analyzed.
Mina’s Krista Trading Company might be selective about its customers, but Daniel privately thought there would certainly be someone who handed one over.
Even so, the Empire wouldn’t be able to immediately set up a system that produced them consistently like the royal palace, so the balance of power wouldn’t be overturned in an instant just because a few units were taken.
And Daniel believed that as long as Aizen was in the kingdom, he would create something surpassing the Cyclops within that time.
‘He’s already created something called the Knight, so it’s certainly possible.’
That being the situation, Daniel had believed it would be fine as long as the Cyclops didn’t fall into enemy hands before being properly deployed on the front lines first.
In conclusion, the Cyclops could be replaced.
‘But Aizen cannot be replaced.’
That was why it was truly fortunate that Aizen had not fallen for their persuasion.
He had already seemed sick and tired of Avatus’s scheming, so it was a result worth feeling sincerely relieved over.
‘If only not for Avatus, there would have been no reason to worry like this.’
So, if they wanted to avoid such worries, then surely… Daniel thought, briefly looking at Noel, Erica, and Mina.
It might be considered a bit much, but after all, the best way to hold on to a person was….
“…It seems the parties involved aren’t entirely without thoughts on the matter either….”
He was actually looking forward to it a little.
All three women seemed to have favorable feelings toward Aizen, so it should be easy.
Just as he was about to immediately formulate a plan, his squire spoke to him.
“Still, it’s impressive no matter how many times I see it. To think he can make a dedicated prison in an instant.”
The squire was watching Aizen create something with magic from a short distance away.
At his words, Daniel also looked at Aizen’s construction site and asked,
“So what is he making?”
“I told you, a prison. Apparently, he’s making all the walls out of rock, and meals will be lowered from above by rope. Water will run inside too.”
In other words, hygiene and drinking water would continuously be provided through the water.
If it was made of rock and the surroundings were full of earth, digging through the walls would be difficult.
Then they would have to jump up, but as long as they were careful at mealtimes, escape would be impossible.
“…He thought it through well. But what is he planning to make them do?”
“He said he’ll have them sculpt.”
What was that supposed to mean now?
When Daniel looked at him, the squire waved his hand and said,
“You know those statues in the baron’s office that look like the Cyclops, don’t you? Apparently, he’s going to make them create those by hand.”
“…There won’t be only that, will there?”
“He said that’s the only thing he’ll make them do. In a place surrounded on all sides by rock walls, with only water flowing and just a little light coming in from the ceiling, he’ll make them keep touching nothing but clay until they produce the information he wants.”
Daniel imagined, for a moment, what it would be like to be forced to do only one thing in a dark room.
Soon, he gave up imagining it.
“…And what information does the baron want?”
“He says there isn’t any.”
Daniel blinked.
The squire trembled slightly and said,
“To be precise, he says since he himself doesn’t know what he wants to know, no matter what the other side says, he’ll keep telling them that isn’t the information he wants and see how they react. Since if he shows he wants to extract something in particular, they’ll lie anyway.”
“What’s the time limit?”
“He said they can think about that once those guys start crying and begging.”
In other words, he intended to lock them in a dark room, make them keep touching only clay, and no matter what they said, simply tell them that wasn’t what he wanted to know, in order to make them spill everything.
“The baron said that since he made the prison anyway, he’ll name it the Room of Truth and Conscience.”
“What an impressive name. It’s worth trying at least once, but I wonder where he got such an idea.”
Daniel thought it was fortunate Aizen was an ally.
And then.
“For reference, he says Lord Daniel will manage it.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you got hired as his proxy.”
It was a gaze asking what he planned to do about it.
Belatedly, Daniel realized the price he had to pay for his own prank.