Imperial Throne

Chapter 105: Interrogation

Every lord would build a dungeon within their estate.

The only difference lay in scale.

For instance, the dungeon within the City Lord’s Manor of White Mountain City could only detain five or six people.

The actual prison used for incarceration was another facility inside the city, but it too could only hold around twenty individuals.

Due to the former mercy of the Baron of White Mountain Territory, most of those imprisoned were there for disciplinary reasons, and it was even permitted to pay a certain fee to avoid imprisonment.

However, the dungeon here in Gem City was clearly different.

The moment Ion stepped inside, he felt a wave of chill and the stench of blood.

Moreover, this dungeon wasn’t small, larger even than the prison of White Mountain City.

Ion could immediately tell that during the tenure of former Gem Territory lord, Baron Hess, this dungeon had been in long-term use.

Only after Anna arrived were some modifications made. He didn’t know whether the prisoners once held here had all been executed or released, but Ion wasn’t in the mood to consider those things. His sole thought now was to see Barney as soon as possible.

Following behind a guard, because Anna’s physical condition made it difficult for her to move, and due to the dungeon’s unique environment, she did not come along. Likewise, Akar was currently staying with Anna, so Ion came alone.

As he proceeded deeper.

The sense of coldness within the dungeon grew even more intense, and the smell of blood thickened significantly.

Ion realized that he had entered the dungeon’s punishment sector. Most dungeons consisted of multiple sections, detention, interrogation, punishment, but some combined two or three of these functions.

For instance, the dungeon in the City Lord’s Manor of White Mountain City had its interrogation and punishment areas merged. But due to its larger size, Gem City’s dungeon evidently maintained distinct sections for each function.

Soon.

Ion saw Barney, strung up and suspended.

His entire body was lifted into the air, limbs stretched apart by iron chains, forming the shape of a large cross. His body was covered in open wounds, blood streaming everywhere.

Apparently hearing footsteps, Barney struggled to open his eyes. The moment he saw Ion, tears burst forth.

“Vice-Captain! Vice-Captain Ion, please save me! I truly know I was wrong! Please save me! I’m begging you!”

Ion gazed at Barney in silence.

He still remembered when this man had joined the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group, he was full of youthful vigor and passion, even willing to risk his life for the group.

He had saved the captain three times at the cost of grave injuries, and had even led his squad to rescue Ion himself during a brutal battle.

That was why Ion found it so hard to believe that Barney would betray the mercenary group.

“Lord Ion, if you have no other instructions, shall I take my leave?”

“Mm.” Ion nodded. “Thank you.”

“Lord Ion, what are you saying? There isn’t a single person in Fisher Village who doesn’t admire you.” The guard grinned, then swiftly turned and departed.

Watching the man’s retreating figure, Ion once again gained a deeper understanding of Anna.

Arranging for a villager from Fisher Village, someone who knew him, to lead the way, rather than sending someone else, was clearly a calculated move. She had anticipated the possibility that Barney might call out his name in panic, potentially leaking unnecessary information.

He was beginning to think perhaps his son wasn’t worthy of Anna.

“Lord Ion!” Barney cried urgently. “Please, save me! I truly know my mistake. I...”

“Start with Arsen.” Ion spoke in a deep tone. “You said Arsen didn’t die by accident. What do you mean?”

“Lord Ion, please save me...”

Ion said nothing more. Instead, he glanced around the room at the various torture instruments and picked up a long, conical needle with a very sharp tip. He then lightly pressed it to Barney’s knee.

“You know I used to be a border scout for the Kingdom’s army, right? Then you should also know, I’ve been trained in interrogation techniques, correct?”

He drove the needle into Barney’s knee at an upward angle, stopping only when it hit something hard.

By then, Barney had already begun screaming in agony.

“If I push this needle just a little deeper, I’ll completely cripple your leg, and the pain will linger. Even if I remove the needle, the suffering won’t stop. Want to try it?”

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” Barney writhed in panic. “I’ll tell you everything, Captain Ion!”

“Speak.” Ion pulled the needle out in one swift motion.

That constant, stabbing pain vanished instantly from Barney’s knee. Though the pain hadn’t disappeared entirely, compared to moments before, he felt as if he had come back to life. But the moment he saw the cold look in Ion’s eyes, he quickly resumed speaking.

“Arsen’s Rusty Sword wasn’t something he bought, it was something he found in some ruins!”

“Ruins? What ruins?”

"I don't know!" Barney shouted.

But when Ion picked up the long needle once more, he quickly added, "I really don't know! All I know is that discovering the ruins was an accident! That mission was led by Vice-Captain Raven. They stumbled upon a ruin by chance, and Arsen retrieved a Rusty Sword from it. As for whether the others found anything, I’m not sure."

As the reputation of the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group grew, so did its size. Naturally, it evolved from only being able to take on one task at a time to handling multiple missions simultaneously.

Unless it was guarding a village or escorting a merchant caravan across territories, the mercenary group could divide into several teams. So, Raven leading a separate team on a mission was nothing unusual.

"Who were the ones with Raven during that mission?"

"I don't know," Barney said loudly. "I just know Arsen and Lavens were there. Oh right, and Yawen too!"

The three people Barney mentioned were the same ones who brought back Arsen’s belongings after his death.

But of those two, Yawen later died during another mission, and Lavens was killed in the night raid on Iron Wolf Mountain by Baron Hess.

"How did you know about this?"

"Yawen mentioned it once when he was drunk," Barney quickly replied. "You know, Yawen joined my team later, while Lavens refused to."

Hearing that, Ion immediately understood.

Yawen had been silenced!

Raven clearly intended to hide the discovery of the ruins.

"Did Yawen tell you Arsen was murdered?"

"No." Barney shook his head. "Yawen only told me that Vice-Captain Raven discovered a ruin, and he might have gained something significant from it. At first, none of us thought much of it, just assumed it was some considerable wealth."

Upon hearing that, Ion realized Barney had misinterpreted the situation from the beginning.

Whatever Raven gained from that ruin wasn’t ordinary wealth. Given Raven’s personality, he wouldn’t have hidden it if it were just money. So, what he acquired from the ruin was clearly extraordinary, so valuable that he dared not reveal it.

The answer was now obvious.

Bloodline Awakening Potion.

Ion suddenly felt a bitter urge to laugh.

The camaraderie forged through life and death that he once believed in, turned out to be worthless in the face of true profit.

He finally began to understand the words Baron of White Mountain Territory had spoken to him when they were crossing the Eaglehead Mountains.

"Every person has their price. If they haven't betrayed you yet, it's only because the price hasn't been high enough."

In retrospect, Ion realized the baron likely knew he was doomed even back then. Perhaps he’d figured it out much earlier. That was why he fought so desperately in those later battles, even choosing to stay behind every time.

"And Arsen?"

"I heard from Yawen that before Arsen died, he had a quarrel with Captain Raven. But I don’t know the specifics," Barney said. "Anyway, after that argument, Arsen died in what was said to be an accident during a mission… Captain Ion, do you really think that’s a coincidence?"

Ion fell into silence.

He didn’t want to believe that the person who betrayed him was once a friend, the man who performed Arsen’s Baptism of Rebirth and even intended to marry his daughter to Arsen.

But now, with all these clues clearly laid before him, how could he deny it?

Ion clenched his fists tightly.

"One last question." Ion took a deep breath and then asked coldly, "Why were you looking for that Rusty Sword?"

Barney suddenly fell silent.

And Ion, with sharp awareness, caught on immediately.

He picked up the long needle again. This time, regardless of Barney’s pleas, he unflinchingly drove the needle into Barney’s other leg. "Yawen, you killed him, didn’t you? After he told you about the ruins, you must have gone to see Raven. You two came to an understanding… and one of Raven’s conditions for bringing you in was that you had to kill Yawen."

"Vice-Captain! Vice-Captain Ion, I was wrong, I swear!" Barney screamed in agony, writhing.

But this time, Ion showed no mercy.

"I’ll ask one more time. Why were you looking for that Rusty Sword?" Ion asked coldly. "What secret does that Rusty Sword hold?"

"I don’t know!" Barney struggled wildly. "Vice-Captain Raven did agree to bring me in and told me to kill Yawen, but after I killed him, he went back on his word. That’s why I reported to the lord of Gem Territory, saying that a mercenary group on Iron Wolf Mountain knew about a ruin filled with treasures. That’s when the lord sent troops to wipe out the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group!"

Fury appeared on Ion’s face.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

Why had the troops that night concentrated their main force at the mountain summit? Why had even the Bloodline Knights gone directly to the top? And why had one of the Bloodline Knights pursued Raven immediately after noticing his escape?

Raven had clearly discovered the traces Ion and his family left during their escape, so he faked his own escape path to lead the Bloodline Knight straight to Ion.

"You didn’t just want that Rusty Sword."

But Ion’s attention wasn’t swayed by that rage, if he hadn’t known the secret the Demonic Sword held, perhaps he might have been misled. But now that he knew the truth, the attack that night no longer mattered.

"I…" Barney’s mental defenses finally collapsed when Ion drove in the second needle. "Because that sword was extremely sharp! I needed a proper weapon, and I thought, since it came from that ruin, it couldn’t be bad. Maybe if I polished off the rust, it would become a great weapon… Vice-Captain Ion, I really believed that. Please, I beg you, spare me!"

"Alright."

Ion nodded and pulled both needles out of Barney’s legs.

Barney let out a slight sigh of relief.

But the next second, Ion moved behind him and drove a long spike through Barney’s heart.

"Why… why…"

"Because you lied," Ion said coldly. "You knew that Rusty Sword might be hiding a secret, and you didn’t want to reveal it. Since you won’t speak, then you’ll never speak again."

"Ha…" Barney coughed up a mouthful of blood.