And so, seeing as we’d been able to capture the majority of the group masquerading as bandits, we sent one person ahead to Stonegaze and had them send some escorts to take the men into custody. We were able to do this because, unlike a carriage, a single man on horseback could travel pretty damn quickly when needed to.
This all had, of course, been arranged with Count Farlon ahead of time. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been any chance they’d send enough carts to bring twenty-ish people back so easily.
“I’m glad you’ve returned safely... And what a skillful job,” the count said when he met us back in town, happy it went well. But his expression was a little bit conflicted. I mean, yeah, the whole plan was done by men from the Special Battalion, with the brigade only being asked to do the cleanup.
“Oh, no, it was all thanks to the brigade being garrisoned here that I was able to act as bait,” I said, hyping them up and getting a little bit more of a smile out of him. For someone in his position, and most likely also his personality, staying back at home was probably unbearable for him.
“We kept as many alive as possible, but do you think they’ll spit anything out?” I asked him once all of the greetings were out of the way. Seeing as we needed both space and people to question such a big group, I had asked the brigade to handle it for now.
“I don’t know if they will have any useful information. It seems that the ones most likely to talk don’t know much at all.”
“So you think that way too.”
Count Farlon had answered with little change in expression, so I nodded back. He must’ve been used to this sort of case too.
Spies infiltrating other nations were, of course, likely to be caught. This was why there were typically two types of spies: underlings who didn’t know much, and higher-ups who knew things but were drilled not to spit them out. In this case, the guys who’d freaked out and run were probably all underlings, while the leader who’d held his ground was a superior. There was also a chance that the archers who had been in the trees were in on things too.
“Whatever the case, the Kingdom of Sylvario will probably never admit they sent spies, so it doesn’t really matter if they talk or not, as long as we get some pretext to work with,” I said, fairly unbothered.
“That’s a bit... No, His Highness Prince Alphonse might be able to do it, but...”
Count Farlon gave me a forced smile back. It seemed that even the Order of Knights were familiar with His Highness’s wiles. Since we’d sent word back to the capital that we’d caught them, we’d probably be getting some sort of orders back soon enough.
“It will most likely take a few days to receive orders from His Highness, so please go ahead with the interrogations for now,” I requested.
“Understood. I shall do my best to bring you some good news,” the count replied, giving me a firm nod.
✦ ✦ ✦
A few days later...
“They say they weren’t sent by Sylvario?”
I had come to the brigade garrison after getting a report that they’d got some intel out of the prisoners, but what I was told in the drawing room as soon as I arrived was so unexpected that I ended up repeating it. Count Farlon, who was sitting across from me, had a sour, dubious look on his face.
“Yes. To be specific, they say that they weren’t from the Sylvarian military, but were private soldiers employed by a merchant named Gorthuk.”
“That’s a strange story. Gorthuk is that Sylvarian trader, isn’t he?” When I asked for confirmation, I immediately got a nod back.
Gorthuk was a prominent merchant in the Kingdom of Sylvario. He dealt in military supplies like food and arms to the point where he could be called a purveyor to the royal family. These men, hired by Gorthuk, had slipped inside the province and were making a right mess of things.
“No matter how you think about it, he must be a middleman,” I commented.
“Almost undoubtedly. But we don’t have definite proof.”
“And that’s because the guy who most likely knows something is keeping his mouth shut.”
“Precisely,” Count Farlon confirmed, heaving a sigh. He probably wanted to catch the Sylvarians out. He was a serious guy.
“But just knowing that they were hired by Gorthuk is plenty,” I said lightly.
“Huh?”
Count Farlon looked shocked. I mean, yeah, if one was serious and upright like the count was, that’d be the appropriate response.
“As long as we get a little thread linking them to Sylvario, that’s enough,” I explained. “His Highness is just going to thicken that thread up with half-truths.”
“No, that’s just... Huh? You’re serious?”
He’d tried to play off my statement, but from my face, he was eventually clued in to the fact that I was serious. His Highness was just the sort of person who’d do something like that easily. Actually, I was too, at least in this case.
“We’d actually been doing some investigating into Gorthuk too. He’d been contracted to provide a fair bit of the materials in the war, after all.”
“Oh? So there’s something real here after all?”
Count Farlon’s expression changed when I told him that. There were tons of merchants who would participate in wars, but none of the ones who would help out with plots like this were good guys, especially ones who were so directly involved.
“War means money. There’s a possibility he’s been hooked on it.”
“I see, which is why he lent his own men.”
“The lives of hired help don’t mean much to greedy people, after all.”
As awful as it was, mercenaries and sell-swords were often treated as disposable. And since they were treated as such, they would usually blab pretty easily. With that logic, one could argue that the information one may get from someone trained to keep their mouth shut would most likely have real value.
“So that means that if we get the guy who isn’t talking to speak, then we might learn something interesting,” the count said.
“Yes, it’s just as you’re thinking,” I confirmed. “If it’s quite all right, would you allow me to assist?”
“Really? You would show me the Special Battalion’s interrogation techniques?”
When I put the offer out there, the count seemed quite interested.
Yeah, we were interrogating, not torturing. Probably. Mostly.
“May I study them?” the count asked.
“I’m not sure if they would be of any help to you, but of course.”
The two of us then smiled at each other in a way I could never show Nia.