Chapter 82: Wait for Me, Rossweisse ( Part 2 )
The knife moved slowly toward Nacho’s carotid artery. The blade began to cut into his skin, and blood started to seep out.
“Wait!” Nacho shouted suddenly.
“What?”
“How did Scott tell you?”
“That’s none of your business. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be walking away with the Heartguard Dragon Scale. Too bad you won’t get to see it. Such a shame.”
The knife inched downward.
“Scott only knows where it’s stored! He doesn’t know the changing guard schedules or the passcodes!”
Fear and fury drove Nacho to finally use the information to save his life and his position.
Death itself didn’t scare Nacho. The moment he took power, he knew this day might come. But he couldn’t stand the idea of Scott taking over everything he had worked for over twenty years. He could not allow that.
“Oh? Betraying the Empire, aren’t you afraid someone will find out later?” Leon asked lazily.
“Just put all the blame on Scott,” Nacho replied.
Hearing this, Leon raised an eyebrow. He understood the hidden meaning behind those words. “Yes, sometimes dead men are more useful than the living because the dead can’t talk.”
As someone who had been used as a dead man more useful than the living type himself, General Leon felt this deeply.
Leon tossed a pen and paper at Nacho. “Write down everything you know about the Heartguard Dragon Scale. If it doesn’t match up with what Scott just told me, I’ll kill you both.”
Nacho struggled to pick up the pen with his bound hands and began scribbling. He was so focused he didn’t notice the barely suppressed smile creeping onto Leon’s face.
Ten minutes later, Leon walked out of the storage room, and at the same moment, Noa emerged from the adjacent room.
Father and daughter exchanged glances, and in each other’s eyes, they saw one word:
“Success!”
“Wow! It worked~” Moon, once again transformed into her dad’s number one fan, showered him with praise.
Even Aurora, witnessing this method for the first time, was amazed. This interrogation was purely done through talking, yet it extracted all the information they needed.
“If you capture two or more prisoners, the Prisoner’s Dilemma is practically an unbeatable interrogation method,” Leon explained.
“When facing the Prisoner’s Dilemma, Nacho and Scott only had two choices: remain silent or betray each other.”
“But they couldn’t communicate.”
“So, whether they decided to protect their comrade through silence or to betray them to protect themselves… Who knows?”
“But either way, the initiative is in our hands. With a few interrogation tricks, getting the information is a piece of cake.”
Moon let out a long “Oooh,” her admiration for her father only growing stronger, even if she didn’t fully understand.
Leon and Noa cross-checked the information from both men. The location of the Heartguard Dragon Scale matched perfectly.
“What should we do with them?” Noa asked.
“Knock them out and keep them here as hostages,” Leon replied. “We don’t know what other trouble might come, and having hostages as leverage is always a good idea. Even if the Empire doesn’t care about them and decides to burn everything down, we can still deal with them in time.”
Noa nodded, “Understood. Then I will set up illusion magic here to prevent people from the empire from finding it.”
“Good.”
Leon looked down at the information in his hand.
As long as you get the Heart Protecting Dragon Scale, you can activate the reversal magic.
He wants to go back.
He must go back.
Rossweisse…wait for me, you must…wait for me.
…
Under the cover of darkness, Leon led Noa through a secret passage into the imperial city.
This passage wouldn’t trigger the perception barrier’s alarm and was far from the main road inside the imperial city, where patrols rarely passed.
According to the information provided by Nacho, this secret passage was built five years ago, known only to people of his rank or higher.
It must be said, that little civil servant from back in the day has made something of himself, working his way up to such a high position. Seems like working for the Imperial Court isn’t such a bad gig.
But Leon didn’t have time to marvel at his “old colleague’s” success; he had to hurry and find the Heartguard Dragon Scales.
Based on the intel from Nacho and Scott, Leon and Noa sneaked their way along the outer edge of the imperial city, heading inward.
Just as Nacho said, there weren’t many patrols near the secret passage, and Leon and Noa easily found the place where the Heartguard Dragon Scales were stored.
It was an underground facility, with only an entrance visible above ground, guarded by four fully armed sentries.
Apart from that, there was a perception barrier around it, just as strong as the one on the outer walls.
If they forced their way in, it would undoubtedly trigger the barrier’s defensive measures, and if they took too long, it would attract more enemies.
Only those four guards could deactivate the barrier, allowing visitors to safely enter and exit.
Leon and Noa pressed against a wall, observing the four guards.
“Nacho’s intel mentioned something about a password or code,” Leon said. “To get into that underground facility, we’ll have to exchange the correct code with those guards.”
“So, we’re just going to walk up there and give the code?”
“We don’t have any other choice. These guards won’t switch shifts; it’ll be the same four of them all night. We don’t have any window of opportunity to sneak in.”
Noa blinked and asked, “What if they recognize you?”
