Chapter 2061: Make Sure They’re Not Lying

Before long, the surviving perpetrators were dragged to the Guild House for interrogation, and Karl reluctantly went to meet them in the basement.

The Darklight Host didn’t actually have a proper interrogation room, or cells. But they did have an empty stone basement with a single chair in the middle, and that seemed to be enough to intimidate.

The Dark Elven Priestesses, who had volunteered for the job of interrogating prisoners to find out who they were going to ambush and why, thought that this was actually an excellent interrogation room.

Having your friends chained to the wall, while you were tied to the only chair in the room, right over the central floor drain, was an impressive psychological play.

"Alright, since the Branch Leader is too nice of a guy to do this properly, I will introduce myself. I am Anziss, High Priestess of the Spider Goddess, and I will be your interrogator today.

Let’s start with the easy questions. Why were you trying to ambush someone within Blackwoods Village, and who were you targeting?"

The prisoner tied to the chair didn’t answer for a moment, as he was much more concerned about the way that she was snapping that pair of scissors in her hand than the words coming out of her mouth.

"Are we going to have to do this the hard way? You do know that there are three more survivors, right? I don’t have to keep you."

That was enough to snap him out of it.

"High Priestess, we truly meant no insult to your territory. We were just paid to teach a lesson to an enemy of our Guild Master. We found out that he has been resting here for the last week, and has a habit of going fishing every afternoon.

Thirty minutes after we were apprehended, he should have passed by that alley, on his way to the docks.

I swear, it was nothing to do with the Darklight Host, or their interests, strictly a personal matter," the man pleaded.

"Interesting. Did you know that the Darklight Host prohibits such actions within city limits?"

"Doesn’t everyone? That’s just lip service, to keep the local Clan out of the mess. Nobody actually enforces that."

The man did have a point. Even the New Home Merchant Clan would have just looked the other way if two outside Clans got into a fight in the city, as long as it didn’t harm the locals or damage property.

It was not their business.

"The Darklight Host takes their tourist city status very seriously. All ambushes must be done outside of the city limits," the high priestess explained.

The man nodded eagerly. "Yes, High Priestess. We won’t forget."

From the wall, Karl heard one of the survivors mutter that if they were going to be so reasonable now, why did the rest of the group have to die?

But he knew the answer to that.

They had been caught by Wrath Demon security guards. Even though they were constructs, they were based on the actual demons, and people were remarkably well-behaved inside the city.

So, they were bored.

To a bunch of Wrath Demons, that was more than enough reason to kill someone, given even the smallest reason. Going so long without a good fight outside of training was practically torture.

And the constructs didn’t even have to train to keep their skills up.

They just did it for the love of the game.

"Who were you targeting, specifically? There is more than one fisherman visiting the city," the High Priestess demanded.

"The trade Elder of the Yizimon Clan," the man admitted.

That was a bold move.

Anyone who knew anything about the Darklight Host would know that they had a working agreement and alliance with the Yizimon Clan. If they had two functional brain cells, they should have known not to attack the local Clan’s allies within their city.

Especially when that ally was one with a mining dungeon.

"Oh, that is truly unfortunate. What thoughtless Clan might have ordered that?"

The man remained silent, unwilling to give up their employer. Karl suspected that it might be their own Clan, but they didn’t have their affiliation displayed.

The High Priestess snapped the scissors as she lowered her hand, and the man began to panic as he realized where she was looking.

"No, no. I swear, it’s just a personal grudge. Not an attack on the Guild or its alliances. Personal."

"Did you know, my healing magic can regrow any lost limb? Or heal you without regrowing the limb."

The man remained silent, and the Elf’s hand shot forward. He squealed in panic, but her hand changed targets at the last second and removed his left thumb with a metallic snip.

"I don’t think that you’ll be holding any weapons with no thumbs. But I’m a kind woman, so I left you your dominant hand.

Now, I suggest that you reconsider your answer."

"The Aksos Clan. The Trade Elder of the Aksos Clan hired us."

Karl nodded. Aksos was the next major city north of Yizimon. They were neighbours and rivals, as Aksos had a large dungeon, while Yizimon had the mining dungeon. They traded different items, but they were close enough that they were always competing for the best resources.

That made it very likely that the grudge between the Trade Elders of the two clans really was a personal grudge.

Karl turned to the Priestess. "I will go talk to the Trade Elder. I will leave you to ensure that they’re not lying."

He started up the stairs, and the men chained to the wall all began to panic.

Being left alone with the Dark Elf was a far worse fate than simply being interrogated by one. The fact that the Darklight Host’s Branch Leader would do something so cruel seemed out of character for him, as he looked like such a reasonable sort of person.

Of course, the human form Karl was in was fake, but they didn’t know that.