Chapter 594: Interrogation Again
Editor: Tseirp
The two ice sellers—no, Ryo and Abel—returned to the mansion ‘Rondo Manor’.
The time was close to five in the evening.
“Yeah, it’d be a bit much to have the Censorate come over now.”
“Pretty much.”
The six ice coffins were lowered into the garden.
When Ryo gave a meaningful wave of his hand, the refractive index of the ice seemed to change, and the inside became visible.
“Hey, Ryo.”
“What is it, Abel?”
“You did that before too, didn’t you?”“Did what?”
“The thing where you wave your hand and the inside of the ice becomes visible.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“But really, even if you don’t do that, the inside would become visible, right?”
“How… did you figure that out…?”
“Mm, I figured it was something like that.”
Ryo was aghast; Abel gave a small shake of his head.
Abel saw right through him.
“You’re doing it because it looks cool, aren’t you?”
“I thought, you know, if I waved my hand it might look more meaningful…”
“Yeah, figures…”
The six who were now visible inside all had their eyes closed.
“This is… sus… something? They’re unconscious…”
“Yes, yes—suspended animation due to very low temperature. I’m impressed you remembered.”
“They’re not conscious, right?”
“Right, they aren’t. So they can’t hear what we’re saying, and even if they were people who could cast magic without trigger words, this way it’s fine.”
At Abel’s question, Ryo nodded decisively.
Abel noticed Ryo was silently manipulating something.
Looking at the ice coffins, it seemed like something was moving inside.
As if slimes were writhing inside the coffins…
After a while, something was pushed out from four of the ice coffins.
“Are those adventurer cards?”
Abel asked, remembering the card from the Adventurers’ Mutual Aid Association that he had as well.
“Yeah, that’s right. Which means these four are adventurers.”
So saying, Ryo examined the four adventurer cards one after another.
Abel peered in from behind.
“All four…”
“Third-Rank adventurers.”
“The advanced-hall adventurers who were away on jobs…”
“Got reassigned to this kind of work.”
Both Abel and Ryo tilted their heads.
Adventurers are by no means suited to covert spy-type work.
Of course, if they’re scouts, they can manage some surveillance without being noticed, but… they aren’t trained by a so-called intelligence organization, so it’s hard to think they’re really well-suited to surveillance missions.
In fact, these four had been sensed not only by Ryo but, toward the end, even by Abel.
And that was in such a crowded location.
“Proper placement of personnel is the most important point in an organization. Put people in the wrong place, and they’ll just accumulate stress and wear down without ever showing their strength.”
“Right. It’s one of the things people in charge always have to watch out for.”
Both Ryo and Abel recognized that human resources are the treasure of an organization.
At the same time, they didn’t think you could just make anyone do any job.
Everyone has jobs they’re suited for and jobs they aren’t.
If you’re going to have people work hard, it’s better to let them happily do what suits them—it leads to better results for the organization as a whole…an obvious truth.
It’s obvious… and yet, in practice, very difficult…
“The four just now are adventurers and humans, but…”
Ryo said this as he turned toward the two who hadn’t had cards.
“Humans, but? The way you said that…”
“Yeah, I have a feeling these two are Phantomkins.”
“Whoa, seriously…?”
“The one we caught before—Seven-Star General Yun Chen, right? They feel similar to him. Except…”
“Except?”
“Phantomkins, unlike akumas or djinns, are extremely close to humans in appearance and structure… so it’s probably in the mental part that they’re ‘mixed’. I mean, well, by having the mind dominate the body, maybe they can pull off movements normal humans can’t…”
“So in ordinary states they’re extremely close to human.”
“That’s right.”
At Abel’s conclusion, Ryo nodded,
then continued.
“Let’s have the Censorate use the helmet-type information collector they used on General Yun last time.”
“Ah… the thing you put on the head to extract information. But they haven’t finished analyzing what they pulled from Yun yet, have they? That’ll take a fair amount of time.”
“It can’t be helped. People like this probably won’t talk even if you torture them.”
Ryo shrugged.
If they won’t spill anything, then even if it takes time, it’s better to extract information with alchemy tools.
The next day.
The Censorate arrived.
With over three times the personnel as last time.
And leading them, of course…
“Sorry to trouble you to come yourself, Shau-san.”
“No, Duke Rondo, think nothing of it. His Majesty has told us to cooperate fully. And according to the report I received yesterday, you captured more Phantomkins?”
“Yes. We captured six who were watching us, and two of them were Phantomkins.”
“The analysis of the information extracted from General Yun last time is also scheduled to finish today. Including these new ones, we may obtain useful intelligence.”
Behind the progress of diplomatic negotiations, information gathering mixed with the use of force was being carried out…
That happens in any era, in any world.
If anything, in Earth’s history, it was more common for diplomacy to be conducted as a stalling tactic or as camouflage for the use of force.
As before, the interrogation was conducted in the garden.
The four adventurers and two Phantomkins were questioned a short distance apart.
What hadn’t changed was that all six were still frozen from the neck down.
Apparently, the four adventurers in particular couldn’t grasp their situation at first; they repeatedly looked from their bodies below the neck to the adventurers around them.
Once they finally understood they were frozen, next they recognized the Censorate personnel surrounding them.
Only then did the Censorate men announce that they would conduct an interrogation.
“By order of His Imperial Majesty, you will be interrogated.”
The instant they understood that opening line, the four adventurers’ eyes went wide.
They realized it.
They had done something they mustn’t do.
Being surrounded by nearly a hundred Censorate officers and expressly told “by order of His Imperial Majesty” before being interrogated—that was not normal.
They could tell this place wasn’t the Censorate, but the garden of some mansion… but more than that, the number of Censorate men was extraordinary.
They rushed to speak first.
“W-we just accepted a request.”
“We only did the surveillance as instructed by the employer…”
“We weren’t even told who we were watching.”
They answered one after another, before being asked.
But to the next question, they hesitated.
“Who hired you?”
At that question, they all fell silent at once.
All four of them, perfectly in sync.
They were Third-Rank adventurers.
In Darwei, that’s called Advanced-Rank.
In the imperial capital, there might be hundreds, but in a local city’s mutual aid association, third-rank is top tier.
They had that pride.
So when it came to the information that must be handled with the greatest care—that is, the client—they hesitated to speak.
So, what to do?
“Duke Rondo, may I borrow a somewhat larger garden?”
“Of course.”
Ryo nodded at Secretary Shau’s question.
It seemed Secretary Shau would return to interrogation basics.
Namely: keep suspects separated.
The four adventurers were moved to separate gardens.
Rondo Manor is spacious, so there are several gardens…
To each separated adventurer, they naturally announced the following:
“Whoever first reveals the client’s name will be released without charge.”
Then they added this:
“The others will go to the high-security prison. His Majesty is enraged over this surveillance matter.”
The moment they heard it, all four turned deathly pale.
Surely not because they were cold from being frozen.
“Falling into the prisoner’s dilemma.”
Ryo murmured as he watched the four.
The famous ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ from game theory.
It shows that people don’t act solely on rational judgments.
Skillfully using emotions to move the other side is very effective… the dilemma was proof of that.
“Well, if no one says anything… in that case, all four will go to the high-security prison.”
Secretary Shau announced.
“So it wasn’t even a prisoner’s dilemma…”
In the prisoner’s dilemma, if all the prisoners keep silent, the outcome isn’t that bad…in other words, no one saying anything is the most rational.
But the tale is that there’s often someone who tries to sneak ahead and save just themselves.
However, if staying silent puts you in the worst situation anyway… there’s no point in remaining silent.
“It was Prince Bin, the Fourth Imperial Prince…”
From there, it was quick.
Yesterday, most of the third- and second-rank adventurers belonging to the Imperial Capital Adventurers’ Mutual Aid Association were hired by Prince Bin.
Those currently on other jobs are to be hired by Prince Bin as soon as those jobs end.
Most of them at the third rank have been put on surveillance missions like this one.
They didn’t know what the second ranks were doing.
“Why were you watching Duke Rondo?”
They hadn’t been told the surveillance target was Duke Rondo.
Originally, they’d been watching Count Bashu’s movements, but word came that Count Bashu had hired third-rank adventurers from his own domain.
When they watched those third-rank adventurers, the two here happened to have lunch with them, so from that afternoon, the two were also added as targets.
All direct instructions came from Prince Bin’s close aide, Lin Sui-dono.
“Lin Sui, huh…”
Hearing the report, Secretary Shau couldn’t help murmuring.
“What kind of person is this Lin Sui-san?”
Ryo asked.
Since this whole issue started with surveillance on Ryo and company, it should be fine to ask a bit.
“Lin Sui is Prince Bin’s closest of close aides; it’s no exaggeration to say he manages everything in the Bin Royal Residence.”
“Ho hoh, so he’s capable.”
“Yes, capable he certainly is, but…”
“But?”
“Within Prince Bin’s camp, he rose in power quite rapidly. So rapidly it’s unnatural…”
“I see. If he were a spy planted by someone else…a worm in the lion’s body, an enemy within—that’d be something.”
“…We hadn’t considered that.”
Secretary Shau was startled by Ryo’s offhand conjecture.
Abel, listening beside him, only gave a small shake of his head, used to Ryo’s off-the-cuff guesses.
It didn’t take long for the four adventurers to spill their guts.
“Before three o’clock, is it. As interrogations go, that’s not bad.”
Secretary Shau said while drinking tea.
Of course, during that time, the interrogation of the two Phantomkins continued as well.
However, they maintained total silence.
That had been anticipated, so the Censorate’s special helmet-type information collector had been placed on their heads to extract information from there.
The questioning was likely a camouflage for that.
But things did not end there.
Ryo suddenly lifted his head as if he had noticed something.
Abel beside him noticed and asked,
“What is it?”
“Out front… a carriage just stopped. And about twenty mounted men?”
“At our place?”
“Yeah. And, maybe…”
Ryo smiled slightly and continued.
“More Phantomkins.”
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