Ryo breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Hugh wasn’t angry with him. Abel only shook his head.
“’Cause this is the Empire we’re talkin’ ’bout. Now they’re gonna come chargin’ in to reclaim their people and alchemical tools.”
“Wouldn’t that lead to war?” Ryo asked, concerned.
“Maybe with the old king, but with the current one ’n’ his outfit... I doubt they have the stomach to wage an actual war with the Empire.” Hugh frowned.
“Are you suggesting they’ll just apologize? Even if the Empire attacks us?”
“If the Empire tries to conquer us, there might be resistance. But if it’s just a single attack? Knightley prolly ain’t goin’ to war.”
“Ah, I think I understand now.”
If Knightley’s military might was inferior to the Empire’s, that was its only option.
“If war breaks out with the Kingdom, the Empire will do whatever it can to win,” Abel said. “But Knightley doesn’t have the resolve to do the same. A difference in power creates a difference in response.”
“Those imperial bastards’ll do anythin’ to get Rancius and Jurgen back, at the very least.”
“Yeeeah. I’m not disagreeing with you.”
Both Hugh and Abel knew the score.
“Then we need to act as soon as possible. Nina,” Hugh said, calling to the receptionist who’d been listening silently.
“Yes, sir.”
“Report everythin’ we just discussed to His Lordship. Also, tell him that we wanna use nineteen stun shackles and as many mind-break chairs as he can spare.”
“Understood,” Nina said, promptly leaving the storage room.
“Abel, what’s a ‘stun shackle’?” Ryo asked, unfamiliar with the term. He hadn’t understood what “mind-break chairs” were either, but he’d decided to start with the less disturbing one.
“It’s a collar you put on dangerous criminals. Keeps them unconscious. You usually need several soldiers to transport a single criminal, which is a logistical hassle, so the device ensures they won’t escape. No one, regardless of whether they’re a powerful fighter or magician, can run if they’re out cold.”
“Amazing. These stun shackles definitely use alchemy, right?”
“Yup. The original design was developed during King Richard’s reign, and the magic formula has been closely guarded since. Right, Hugh? ’Cuz it’d be real freaking bad if it fell into the wrong hands. Still, there shouldn’t be that many in the Kingdom, so how the heck does Lune have nineteen on hand?”
“’Cause we’re out in the middle o’ bloody nowhere. We got the most after the capital,” Hugh answered with a sly grin.
Although he knew Hugh pretty well by now, Ryo found that smile frightening. Nevertheless, he couldn’t hide his relief.
“I thought I was going to have to personally stay with them the whole time.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Hugh was a sensible guild master.
Ryo, unable to help his morbid curiosity, asked, “And what is a ‘mind-break chair’?”
“Pretty much exactly what it sounds like,” Abel answered. “It’s a chair that forces its way into the person’s mind and extracts information.”
“Whoa...”
“I’ve never seen one myself either... It takes time, but apparently, it lets you get a lot more information than you’d ever get asking questions one by one. What makes it even more useful is that you can transfer the information to a dedicated alchemical device and check it later. However...”
“However?”
“It can’t be made using modern alchemy.”
“So it’s also from King Richard’s era?”
“Yup.”
“Well, thank goodness for small favors,” Ryo said. The device might’ve been cleverer than old-fashioned torture, but he still didn’t like the idea of forcing information out against someone’s will. Of course, he also knew that when the fate of the country or the lives of many people depended on obtaining sensitive information, such evils were sometimes necessary.
“Ryo, I get how you feel, but...”
“Stop right there, Abel. I simply don’t like the idea of coercion.”
“Typical.”
“I decide when I want to eat cake, and I decide how much of it I eat. I think that’s the only way for a person to live their life.”
Abel shook his head, exasperated. “Yuuup. Classic Ryo.”
Perhaps levity suited them better than seriousness.
After all nineteen people were fitted with the stun shackles, Ryo was free from maintaining his Ice Caskets.
“They’re not being sent to the royal capital, are they?”
“No. They’d probably escape within the day.”
“Because traitors would help them, right?!” Ryo asked, unable to help himself. It was a thrilling idea, since it truly wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Excitement is just human nature, and Ryo, like any other, couldn’t control it consciously!
“Why do you look so happy?”
“Just an unavoidable part of being human.”
“If you say so.”
The unconscious prisoners were carried past them as they talked. Ryo recognized a few of the transporters as Margrave Lune’s knights. If the Empire sent agents to reclaim the nineteen captives, these knights would be the first line of defense.
“Do you really think they’ll send people to rescue them? I mean, Lune’s in southern Knightley. Isn’t it quite far from the Empire?”
“Yeah. I have a feeling they’re keeping these guys in Lune instead of the capital for that exact reason. Lune’s farther from the Empire. The guild master reported to Finley Forsyth, who agreed that it would be better to interrogate them here.”
“Finley Forsyth, the Grand Master in the capital? The father of the woman Hugh rejected?”
“You should probably come up with a more tactful way to put it, man.”
Three years ago, Hugh McGlass had refused a marriage proposal from Elsie, Finley Forsyth’s daughter, even though the two had mutual feelings for each other. What a waste.
“Relationships sure are complicated,” Abel muttered.
Ryo looked at him in surprise.
“What?” Abel asked.
“Sometimes you say sensible things, Abel.”
“Sometimes? More often than you, at least.”
“Aaand there you go, ruining it.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, screw you too!”
They were both just as bad...