The soldier tries to turn his head, to see who’s holding him at sword-point, but I press the blade a bit harder against his skin, just enough to nick him, causing a thin line of blood to form on his neck.
“Ah-ah, no turning around for you,” I chide, my tone playful but laced with obvious threat. “Let’s keep this exchange free of blood, shall we? I’ve got some questions, and you’re going to give me answers. I’m not a murderer, so if I like what I hear, I will only knock you out and let you live.” I lie through my teeth as naturally as I breathe.
The soldier gulps, clearly terrified, but nods slightly.
“Good. Now, tell me, how did you end up in this delightful situation? What happened?”
He answers with a shaky voice after swallowing a large lump. “I… I woke up, had breakfast, and started my shift. Everything was normal until my squad-mates and I started getting sick. We… we all ate the same bad food.”
I nod thoughtfully, confirming that the poison worked its way into their breakfast as intended. “And the others? How many of you are there and what are their levels?”
“The squad itself is made up of ten of us. There’s about three hundred of us in total at the outpost.” he replies with a trembling voice. “Most are between level 7 and 10 , around a hundred and fifty, me and my teammates included. Then there’s seventy-five in the 10 to 20 range, about fifty between 20 and 30, and the remaining twenty five between 30 and 40. And… and then there’s the Aegis Vanguard.
The five of them are all above level 40.”
I raise a nervous eyebrow as I exchange a glance with Ayame. She’d already told me who the Aegis soldiers are- the special ops unit of the king who only listen to his direct orders and no one else’s. I didn’t expect them to have so many here, if any at all. Furthermore, even without the five of them, they have some extremely serious firepower stationed here.
Ayame estimated Kai, the mithril ranked adventurer with a complete battle slave harem who bossed Ian and Grunt around to be around level 25, and even Broderick likely isn’t at level 30 yet, though I hadn’t asked him directly and only know what Ayame thinks him to be.
It just shows how big beasts these people really are.
If they even manage to glance at me or my girls we are not going to engage in combat but be straight up executed, thus all I can do is hope for Blossom to do her part successfully while I wait for her machinations to throw the outpost into chaos, for I know full well that even if they drank the poisoned water, these people would barely even feel it as a slight discomfort, if they feel it at all in the first place.
Why? Simply because of their high Vitality stat, which not only increases one’s Health Points, but also their natural resistances.
“Alright, let’s change the subject,” I say, adjusting my grip on the saber. “Where do you keep the Geimroot?”
“G-Geimroot? I don’t know what that is,” he stammers, genuinely confused. “I have no clue what that might be.”
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I frown, slightly disappointed but not surprised. “Alright, then. Do you have a treasury? Some place where you keep valuables?”
He shakes his head quickly. “No, no treasury. This is a military outpost, not a bank. We’ve only got a warehouse for supplies.”
I sigh, disappointed by the lack of useful information. “Well, you’re not exactly making yourself invaluable here, are you?”
The soldier suddenly remembers something. “Wait! I-I’ve got a coin pouch in my barracks! I can give it to you if you let me go…! It’s all the savings I’ve accumulated after a decade of working as a soldier!”
I look at him rather dismissively after learning this new information. “You are still below level 10 after working for such a long time as a combatant?”
“Well…! I made a mistake early in my career and got sent here… To Dead End, where one’s career ends. If I try to leave I’m considered a deserter, and if I try to resign from being a soldier then I’m to be executed… You are literally the first invaders in the last thousand years, so I couldn’t exactly level up proficiently…” He speaks in his defense with some aggressiveness in his voice.
I guess my disappointed tone hurt his ego.
I see, so the army dumps their filth here. Now I feel even better about devouring them in the form of XP.
There’s no reason to continue this conversation any longer, but as I hold the blade to the soldier’s throat, I can’t help but let my mind wander. There’s a morbid curiosity bubbling up within me, a fascination with the mechanics of what’s about to happen. What if instead of just slicing his neck…
How will it look? How will it feel? The way the blade will slice through the soft flesh of his neck, severing muscle and bone, the warmth of his blood spraying out in those final, frantic heartbeats. It’s clinical- scientific even- the thought of ending a life reduced to an experiment in cause and effect.
I’ve never decapitated someone before, but in this position I can’t help but wish to try my hand at it. Will it be like slicing through a piece of meat, the way the muscle gives way beneath the sharpness of my blade? Or will there be resistance, the saber snagging on the vertebrae, forcing me to put more strength into the cut? And the blood… How much will there be?
Enough to soak my hands, my clothes, the ground beneath us? Or just a quick burst before it all slows to a trickle?
I can almost see it in my mind, the vivid imagery playing out as if it’s already happened. The severed head hitting the ground, rolling slightly before coming to a stop, the expression frozen in those final moments of terror. The body crumpling, lifeless, as the last shudders of life leave it.
The soldier interrupts my thoughts, his voice a shaky whisper. “You said… you’d only knock me out…”
I smile, though there’s no warmth in it, only a cold detachment. “I obviously only said that to make you talk obediently. It’s interrogation tactics 101, my guy… You have my most sincere condolences.”