Lordo looked at the human in front of him. Shoulder-length blonde hair almost covered his slender and worn-out face. Closed gray eyes, sunk in their sockets, Showing a life experience that no one can imagine. The slashing scar cut across his right cheek to his lips, making his blond beard look even more terrifying.
Without needing to be told, Lordo knew that the human in front of him was the leader of the mage army. The aura that could be felt from his presence made his heart palpitate. Cold sweat drenched Lordo's body.
He had no other choice, this was the only way he could think of to sneak in and find the information he wanted.
As a being who couldn't use mana, Lordo couldn't possibly hide from the Detection Array. Even if he got past it, his whereabouts would soon be noticed by the mages at the camp.
Thus rather than hiding, Lordo decided to come openly. Humans have never seen monsters as a threat, even if he is caught, Lordo believes he will only be the toy of humans.
In particular, he was a small sylph who looked cute to humans.
"Hi little sylph, My name is Stent Gaht, I am the leader of this army" Gaht tried to smile but his hideous face made Lordo's body shiver reflexively.
"Don't be afraid, little sylph, I won't kill you" Seeing Lordo's face getting paler, Gaht tried to appear gentler. Gaht now understood why the sylph was the most popular pet among the nobility.
His cute little face, big eyes, and petite body can attract the hearts of noble ladies. But right now he didn't want to look for pets but for information about what had happened in the Bog forest in the past few months.
"Th.. Thank you, Your majesty. My na.. name is Lordo, I am sylph from Bog forest" Lordo ventured to introduce his name.
"Why did you come to our camp Little Lordo?"
In order to save time Gaht started his interrogation. Actually, he didn't care about Lordo sneaking into the camp. This little Sylph posed almost no threat to his army which is filled with mages.
However, he started with this question to cover up the real question he wanted to ask. That way Lordo wouldn't be able to hide his intentions if he had something to hide.
Gaht doesn't even suspect Lordo of being a spy sent by his enemies. How could a creature that couldn't sense mana be used as a spy to scout on the mage army?
Before entering the camp, Lordo had imagined the answer to Gaht's question many times. Even though he is currently being interrogated, the reality is that Lordo can also extract information from Gaht.
Because of that, he had to answer as ambiguously as possible to be able to provide a gap that Gaht could fill. While continuing to watch the change in Gaht's face, Lordo answered slowly.
"I deeply apologize Your Majesty. I didn't mean to disturb the human camp. I was just in a rush."
"In a rush? What made you rush?" Gaht asked quickly again.
The word 'In rush' can be interpreted in various forms. It could be that Lordo's intention was to be in a rush to get somewhere or to be in a rush because of something.
From the questions Gaht asked, Lordo analyzed that the 'In rush' that Gaht asked was the reason for 'In rush' itself not being in a rush to get somewhere. If Gaht wanted to know where Lordo was going, the question he would ask was "Why are you in rush?" not "What made you in rush?"
From this analysis, Lordo realized that in Gaht's mind, he had determined the reason why Lordo was in a rush was that something was chasing him. However, Lordo could not confirm this, so he answered ambiguously again to provoke Gaht's explanation.
"I.. I.. don't know Your Majesty"
Gaht's easy-going face suddenly turned serious. This little monster dared to hide something from him.
Where did this courage come from? Is there anything far more terrifying than being surrounded by an army of mages?
"What do you mean you don't know?" Gaht's aide who heard Lordo's vague answer also felt insulted. He immediately asked in a threatening tone. He would torture this sylph if he still didn't answer Gaht's questions.
The overreaction of Gaht and his aide made Lordo confirm that the thing chasing him was someone, not something. Then the anger that Gaht showed and the threats that were stored in the voice of his aide showed that Gaht was also looking for that someone.
Therefore the real reason for Gaht and his aide's overreaction was that they suspected that Lordo was siding with that person by hiding a secret from them. That way that person has abilities or information that can threaten Gaht and his troops.
So that it can be ascertained if the 'someone' is also mana species.
'Species mana? which one? elf? or warbeast?'
Lordo couldn't say for sure, but he had to answer before Gaht and his aide grew suspicious.
"I am scared, Your Majesty..." Lordo answered with a pale face and a body that was shaking even more.
This is the gamble answer. By saying 'I am scared', Lordo was like saying that he felt insecure even though he was surrounded by mages around him. Indirectly Lordo also said that someone who was chasing him could defeat Gaht and his troops.
Therefore, if according to Gaht, someone is not that strong then he will feel insulted by Lordo's words and because of this insult, Lordo will receive the consequences. However, Lordo did this to get Gaht to provide more information.
"My little friend... You don't need to be afraid, right now you are in the safest place. No harm will befall you, quickly tell me why you are in a rush" Gaht said softly and firmly. He ensures protection for Lordo and threatens him to open his mouth immediately.
'Jackpot!!'
Lordo won the gamble, and Gaht was not humiliated when Lordo was afraid of someone chasing him. He even guaranteed his safety by saying "right now you are in the safest place".
Gaht didn't say if Lordo would be safe with him but he said "the safest place". That meant, Gaht didn't have the confidence to take on someone who was after Lordo alone but he was confident that he and his man would be able to take on someone.
Lordo couldn't sense mana so he didn't know what constellation level Gaht was at. But he knew that Gaht was someone who was very strong and had the confidence that he was the strongest. So it's impossible for Gaht to be afraid of facing an enemy who is only alone.
That means it wasn't "someone" who was chasing Lordo but a "group" so powerful that Gaht had to face them along with his army. If so then why would the "group" chase a small sylph like Lordo?
The answer is, the "group" is not chasing Lordo but chasing all the sylphs and maybe all the existing monster species. The reason? Lordo had to confirm it but he had a guess if the reason was related to the monster's own characteristics.
It's not a characteristic of not being able to have mana, but a characteristic of monsters who have intelligence and the ability to communicate with humans, especially mages who have translation spells.
"I.. I... My... My tribe... Your Majesty..."
"Your tribe? What happened to your tribe?" Gaht became more eager.
"My tribe was destroyed, Your Majesty.. Everyone was slaughtered... only I managed to escape!" Lordo starts sobbing.
Lordo saw the corners of Gaht's lips pull back but his face immediately became expressionless again. Even so, this change in expression in the twinkling of an eye was caught by Lordo.
'That group intends to slaughter all the monsters!' Lordo concluded quickly.
"Do you still remember the characteristics of the creature that destroyed your tribe?" Gaht's aide asked enthusiastically.
"It happened at night, Your Majesty. Everything was so chaotic, the sylphs were running for their lives."
This was a very difficult question, Lordo couldn't have been lying as it would have been quickly discovered by Gaht. So he must answer with an answer that has a high probability of being wrong.
That way even if the answer is wrong, Gaht won't blame Lordo but thinks that Lordo was just negligent in knowing the truth.
"Let's try to remember. Did those creatures have red skin?"
Lordo did not answer, he was silent and seemed to think hard trying to recall the incident that traumatized him.
"Has two legs and four arms?" the aide asked again mentioning the characteristics of a group of creatures that massacred the Lordo tribe.
Lordo still didn't answer, he held his head trying to recall the events of that night. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he tried hard to fight the trauma.
"Two horns on the head?" the aide asked again.
This time Lordo's head lifted and his eyes opened brightly. He quickly nodded without saying anything.
Gaht and his aide looked at each other and saw the faces before them turning pale. They seemed to see something that had been haunting their minds.
"What kind of creature is that Your Majesty?" Lordo asked carefully but his voice sounded eager to know the answer.
"It's demon species" Gaht replied.
"My little friend, do you know where the demon who destroyed your tribe went?"
Hearing that question, Lordo fell silent. He already got the information he wanted, his mission should be done with this. Lordo also knew that Headquarters already knew the same thing.
But there is a side in his heart to do more than complete this reconnaissance mission. Deciding that, Lordo immediately thought quickly to come up with a plan which he immediately reported to Nerphyl.
Headquarters immediately analyzed Lordo's plan and considered the possibility of its success. Within seconds, Lordo's plan was approved and Lordo immediately answered Gaht's questions.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Hahahahaha... good... good... My little friend, can you lead us in that direction?"
"I... I... can... But... but..."
"Say it!" Gaht said firmly.
"Your Majesty, If.. if.. you can find that demon... will you avenge my tribe? I will give you everything that I have! I will become your pet and slave for eternity!"
"hahaha... That's it? Okay, I will avenge your tribe!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Lordo lowered his head, hiding the evil smile in his face.
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