Chapter 146 Searching for traces, finding the cause (Part 2)
When Theo regained his consciousness, he could still feel a stabbing pain from the back of his neck.
Damn, that brute of a woman had hit him really hard. He opened his eyes and tried to move, only to discover that his hands were tied behind his back and his legs were tied to the legs of the chair he was sitting on.
“He woke up,” suddenly the voice of a woman could be heard.
“What is your name?” One person stepped in front of him and raised his chin. “I suggest that you do not lie, or tomorrow you will already have become just another floating corpse in the moat.”
Theo had to blink to see clearer, the woman in front of him was wearing a veil, and her body was shrouded in a robe, apparently, she didn’t want him to be able to recognize her appearance.
“Theo,” he answered truthfully, at the same time he secretly looked around.
It was a narrow room, and his surrounding was covered in dust and pieces of plaster from a broken statue, even though it was once complete, now merely one-half of it was left. The accumulated dust and plaster had already begun to turn brown as if it had already been abandoned for a long time. The room was without windows, so no sky could be seen and he could only speculate on how late it was. The only light in the room came from an oil lamp hanging on the wall.
“From the Fallen Dragon Ridge to Silver City, such a long way,” continued the woman in a cold voice, “Why are you looking for us?
“I am not looking for you, it’s the Witch Cooperation Association who is looking for you.”
“What is an Association?”
“It’s a group of witches just like you. They had entrusted me with the task of spreading their news.”
“Nonsense,” the woman snapped, “I do not know where you had heard their name, but they are located far to the East, in the Seawind Region. Do you think that just by randomly throwing names into the room we would believe you?” The Women drew a knife from her waist and Theo had to discover that it was the knife that he had previously used. “I’ll give you one last chance, don’t challenge my patience!”
“What I said was the truth!” He stated in a loud voice, he wanted to continue to shout, but in the end, he didn’t dare, so he said with a suppressed voice, “They had originally intended to go into the Impassable Mountain Range, trying to find the Holy Mountain, unable to find the Holy Mountain, they had to settle down in Border Town, only to discover that the symptoms of the demon’s bite had disappeared. When they realized this, they naturally wanted to save other witches, I swear I did not lie!”
“Then why would they send you?”
“’Cause I helped them, I helped them when one of their members was chased by the Church’s Army of Judges, I helped her by distracting her pursuers. Their mentor is called Cara, and there are also Wendy and Scroll, they asked me to go! ”
After listening to his explanation, the masked woman turned silent, she put the dagger back to her waist and stepped behind him. Soon, Theo could hear how the two women whispered behind his back.
Fledglings, he commented in his heart, even though the two of them act like criminals, it is still clear that they are entirely new to interrogating.
During an interrogation, it is absolutely taboo to ask questions that had only one answer, in the case that they didn’t get their answer, the questioner only had the choice to kill or not to kill? If they decide to kill, they will lose any further possibility of receiving any more information, if they didn’t kill, it’s is equivalent to losing their threat of dying. This would severely damage the interrogator’s position of power, and the effectiveness of the next threat would be substantially reduced.
If he were the interrogator, he would start the torture with the fingers, for every lie one finger would be cut off. So even if there were an error in judgment, it would become a big problem. Under this threatening atmosphere the enemy’s heart would quickly collapse, but without professional training, it would be very tough to carry out such a trial.
As long as he would show a frightened look, the interrogator would become unsure, which is equally to exposing that they just cannot tell whether he was lying or telling the truth.
And Cara, Holy Mountain, and the Witch Cooperation Association were reliable and genuine information, which would further strengthen the persuasiveness of his information.
It didn’t take long before the masked woman appeared once more in front of him, “When was it that they entered the Western Territory?”
“Two or three months before the Months of Demons, and directly after the end of winter, they returned to the town, claiming that they had found the Holy Mountain.
“How many people are they?”
“Up to 40? I’m not sure of it, in addition to Cara, there are almost no other witches who decided to show themselves,” Theo decided to add another bit of information, “Cara the Snake Witch, have you heard of her? She has the ability to summon magical snakes, one of them is called ‘nothingness’. With her, she can quickly erase every toxin. I have seen it myself, it was very powerful.”
“You actually do not fear the witches?” The woman’s voice seemed to be a bit puzzled.
“Why should I be afraid, the witches are very… beautiful, they don’t possess claws like demonic beasts, and furthermore they don’t hurt ordinary people. If I feared them, I would have never gone so far to spread the news.”
“If someone went to Border Town, how could they contact them?”
“Some of them can naturally see magic, so if there is a witch, they will find her.”
“Shadow, what do you think?” The masked women looked into the direction behind Theo.
“I’m not sure,” the witch, known as Shadow, hesitated. “Shouldn’t we wait for our sister and then make a decision? She surely will know what to do.”
“All right.” She nodded and took a clean chair, sitting herself in front of Theo.
“Who is your older sister?”
“The guide,” the masked woman’s attitude had softened a lot compared to before. Probably his statement that he didn’t fear the witches, changed her thoughts and feelings a lot, “she will take us away from here.”
“You will leave? Where will you go to?”
The spoken too just shook her head and didn’t answer.
“You are not a witch from Silver City, right?” Theo continued, “Your accent is not the same as the accent of the King. Silver City was near the capital, so the inhabitants here are proud of imitating the king’s accent.”
She hesitated for a moment, “I… am from the South.”
Witches from all over the Kingdom have gathered here, and soon they will be lead away from here… Theo thought to himself, there is no doubt, they are another witch organization. They are also attracting witches, just like the Witch Cooperation Association had done before. However, in the end, where do they want to go?
At this moment, from outside the sound of footsteps could be heard.
“Sister came back!” Shadow shouted cheerfully. With the creaking sound of the door opening, Theo began to hold his breath.
“Is he the one who has been using the underground channels to spread the news?” The newcomer’s voice was mature and steady. “What have you asked him?”
“What he had said seems to be true.” Began the masked women to explain how she saw the questioning, “He could not have been so clear in his explanation if he had not been in contact with the Witch Cooperation Association.”
“Well, there’s that,” she went by Theo, stepping in front of him. There was a big difference between her and the masked woman, she didn’t hide her face. Her long black hair nearly reached her waist, and she seemed to be around twenty-five years old. Taking her in whole, the most eye-catching part of her were her eyes. Theo discovered that she unexpectedly had golden irises, even standing in the dim light, her eyes were still clearly visible just like the stars during the night.
Theo had often been at His Highness side, but the unknown woman’s appearance could still be considered as belonging the top category. She had a visible scar over her left eye, beginning at her brow and going down to her cheek. This scar not only did not destroy her beauty but instead added another harsh touch to it. From the first moment that he saw her, Theo felt that this woman was a full-fledged warrior.
“If the Witch Cooperation Association had indeed found the Holy Mountain, they would have never sent people to spread such news.” She shook her head, “This wouldn’t only let the Church getting wind of it and let them arrive, no they would even have to leave Border Town as soon as possible, I’m afraid they would only bring a great calamity over themselves.”
“Then… what should we do?” Shadow asked.
“The ship will arrive today at midnight, and you aren’t the only witches, so you will have to leave,” she said without hesitation, “I’ll escort you to the ship. As for the Wi…” The black-haired woman looked at Theo who was still tied to the chair, “Please help me to say hello to Tilly, tell her I’ll be late for a few days and perhaps I’m even be able to bring some more witches with me.”
“You want to go with him to Border Town?” Shadow asked surprised, “But, in case this is a hoax…”
She smiled a little and said full of confidence, “if that were the case, it would be the same as killing oneself.”
