After that, Rest dug a moat spanning more than half the fort's perimeter all by himself.
He used Earth Magic to sprout spikes at the bottom to make it difficult to traverse, then filled the inside with water.
He also took on the task of repairing the damaged fort. He used Stone Magic to fill in the broken sections and created outcroppings along the top of the fort walls to make them harder to climb.
"...This is it."
And well... this was part of the job, if you could call it that.
Rest had come to the underground prison beneath the fort to meet with the Oni Tribe boy who had been captured during the attack.
The prison used to hold captives was naturally dark, damp, and the strong musty smell was quite overwhelming.
The moment he stepped inside, he felt like turning right back, but he held his composure and proceeded deeper.
Most of the cells were empty, but a guard was standing in front of one of them.
"Well, well, Count Clover. You've come to visit?"
"Yeah. Is now a good time to talk?"
"Yes. Today's interrogation has just finished. Please, go right in."
The guard soldier opened the cell door for him.
Rest hesitated for just a moment, but then stepped inside.
"Urgh..."
And he immediately regretted entering.
There was a single boy in the cell.
This was the boy who had once tried to take Rest's life. He was bound with shackles and chains on his wrists and ankles.
It must have been after a harsh interrogation. The boy's entire body was covered in wounds, and his face was painfully swollen.
That's awful... no...
(This is war. This is a battlefield. We're all trying to kill each other. Maybe this level of interrogation is to be expected...)
Looking back through history, torture and interrogation have always been carried out with disregard for human rights.
The boy was injured in many places, but none of the injuries seemed permanent.
In that sense, maybe it was still relatively humane treatment.
...
The boy lifted his head and stared vacantly at Rest.
Rather than resentment or hatred, his eyes seemed to hold emptiness and despair.
"You look like you're in pain. Are you alright?"
...
Of course, the boy didn't reply.
Rest frowned and cast a spell.
"Heal."
A white light enveloped the boy's body.
The injuries he had been carrying disappeared. The dirt didn't go away, but his skin was restored to a pristine condition.
"Why did you heal me?"
The boy, who had been quiet all along, finally spoke.
Rest shrugged and sat down cross-legged a short distance away from the boy.
"It's hard to talk like that, isn't it? To be honest, I don't like it either."
"There's nothing to talk about."
The boy said bluntly.
So far, it was going as expected, but it was better than nothing that he was actually talking.
"Don't say that... What I want to ask about is the curse caster."
"…………"
"I heard that the curse caster commanded you all and ordered you to attack. Is that true?"
"…………It's true."
I thought he'd clam up again, but he gave in surprisingly easily.
"A curse caster is the same as a magician, right? Is that guy from the foreign tribes too?"
"No! As if someone like him could ever be one of my kind!"
The boy shouted, snapping at me.
An emotion that wasn't there a moment ago appeared in the boy's eyes... anger and hatred.
(Seeing this, it didn't seem like the curse caster was an ally of the foreign tribes... But if that's the case, who is he?)
"I want to hear the details about him."
"…………"
I asked further, but the boy immediately clammed up again.
He wore a pained expression, gritting his teeth. It was obvious he had some kind of complicated history behind him.
"Go on, talk to me. Maybe I can help you out."
"...But you're a human. An enemy."
"Yeah, I'm human. I'm an enemy. But if there's something in it for both of us, we might be able to cooperate, right?"
"…………"
The boy fell silent once again.
Just as I suspected. Honestly, I hadn't expected him to talk to me.
This interrogation was a long shot anyway. I figured it would be lucky just to get a shred of information.
"Hostages,"
"Huh…?"
But after a long silence, the boy began to speak again.
What he said was entirely unexpected for Rest.
"The curse caster has our hostages. My little sister too. And some princesses from other tribes... They're the ones who told us to attack the humans. The curse caster did."
"…………!"
Rest's eyes flew wide open.
The information revealed by the boy.
It was that an unexpected mastermind lurked behind this attack by the foreign tribes.
—————— I've started a new novel.
"What If I Made the Hell-Destroying Witch My Fiancée? She's Just Too Cute!"
I'll be updating it daily.
I hope you'll check this one out too!