"You're all... weaker than I expected."
They flinch at my words but in the presence of powerful enemies at every turn, they cannot refute.
"I have questions for you," I continue. "Answer them earnestly."
"Not even a 'and you will be spared' huh?" The gold class adventurer, Kadyn mutters under his breath.
"And your lives may be spared." I add with a grin.
"What kind of questions?" Banut asks, putting up his guard.
"You insolent piece of-" Orion fumes, but I stop him with a glance in his direction.
"Questions about the order, the tower, and how royalty works here." I state.
They all gasp, suspicious of my intentions.
"I'm an open book," Terys says, without a hint of deceit in his voice. The others in the group look at him in surprise.
"Forget it. I'm sorry to disappoint. But even if you threaten my life, I will not reveal those things to you." Banut states, stopping Terys from revealing anything.
"You can say that, but I wasn't really asking," I sigh, using an ancient spell which's circle has been embedded in my eyes.
Using mind control, I scan through bits and pieces of information scattered in the memories within his mind. His information on the tower is extremely limited, but the information on the order I receive is sufficient.
Turning to look at Maneva, a mage from the tower, I activate mind control again, and look within her memories. Just like with Banut, her information on the order is limited and her information on the tower is merely sufficient, but both have enough on the royalty of Halrio.
I think I've gotten enough of what I want, the rest don't really seem useful since I can easily get information on the adventurer's guild whenever I wish. Now what to do to them.
"I've gotten what I sought. So now what to do with you humans," I mumble, thinking of how I can put them to use. Or, should I just kill them?
"My lord," Falacer speaks up, stepping out to bow before me. "It is not my place, but if you no longer have any need for them, may I have them?"
The other generals flinch a little, knowing Falacer's true purpose for them.
"It's been a while since I had anything to dissect, and I'm starting to forget the taste of humans. May I please have them, my lord?" She pleads.
Fear fills the eyes of the humans, as the mage adventurer starts to tremble as tears spill from her eyes.
"In that case, my lord. May I have some of them for playtime as well?" Castor asks, joining Falacer to bow before me in request.
"What vulgarity. There's nothing beautiful about weak human trash. Why on earth would you want to keep one?" Orion asks, scrunching up his nose in disgust.
"And how is that any business of yours?" Castor retorts.
"And neither is it yours," Falacer remarks. "I'm keeping all of them."
"No you aren't!"
Oh dear. I was going to think of a random way to spare their lives but I can't really help it if Falacer wants to eat them, and Castor wants to play with them. Truly unfortunate timing. Though, I do think keeping at least one of them would be beneficial some way later.
"Agamemnon," I call, silencing the bickering going on over the humans.
"Yes, my lord?" He answers.
"Can you think of any uses for them?"
Agamemnon takes a second to think before saying, "I find them useless as is right now my lord. Though they could prove useful for the creation of undead soldiers, and their flesh can be used to feed the troops."
Harsh man. But he does have a point. It's not like I can just let them go. No actually, maybe I can let one go.
"If my lord is thinking of releasing one for the purpose of spreading the tale of power, then I suggest the magic knight." He adds, almost as if he read my mind.
"I see," I say, then turn to the group. "I will release one of you. Andre was it? You may leave."
"Huh?" The group exclaim, standing petrified in their spots.
"N-no! There's no way I can leave without you Sir Banut, or lady Maneva! If I'm leaving, then we're all leaving together!" He exclaims, gazing at his captain with concern.
"Again, I wasn't asking." I say, snapping my fingers, which forms a magic circle beneath him, and with a flash he disappears. I teleported him about a mile away from Dorma. He should return to the order and tell them what he's seen. What comes after should be entertaining.
"Tell me," I continue, glancing at Banut. "You should feel no surprise since you were sent here on a suicide mission. Right?"
The group of humans gasp as they turn to Banut.
"Eh?"
"The Order of Knights and the Mage's Tower only sent knights between First and Second class, and mages tier 5 and below, and a number of ten hired adventurers all below Adamantium class, to raid a SS-rank dungeon that suspiciously landed in this open region with reduced barriers. Did they really expect you to come back alive?"
"We are merely here to scout ahead..."
"Yes scout ahead. What good is the scouting if none of you will make it back. You should be grateful, I sent one of you to complete your mission."
"..." Banut gritted his teeth as he had no other way to refute back.
"Now tell me, what were you really sent here for?"
Banut doesn't answer, as he fixes his gaze to the ground. I guess he doesn't know either. In his memories, he was fed the bullshit 'scouting mission' as well, but I know he feels this is suspicious.
"Don't worry. I'll tell you. You were sent here to merely be a distraction."
He and the other knight, along with Maneva gasp in disbelief.
"Currently, I can feel the Mage's tower trying to access a way to take over Aeolia's barrier, and get past the ancient magic disrupting them from viewing Aeolia with magic. They've been trying since you got here. Their spells and magic are impressive, but they'll need a whole lot more if they want to render Aeolia defenseless."
They remain silent with disbelief, as they stare at themselves.
"Isn't it just sad that your lives were used like this?" I start. "Tell you what. I'll spare your lives if you do something for me."
"... That... That doesn't matter," Banut says firmly. "I'll gladly give my life if it will be used to rid the kingdom of any potential enemy."
Potential? Buddy, I'm after the throne.
"Even if they waste it by failing?"
"..."
I turn to the other four. Banut should speak for himself, three of them look frightened beyond belief, especially the one named Omettia who looks like she's going to pass out. I've prolonged this unnecessarily.
"You can take your pick of them Falacer," I sigh.
"Oh. Thank you, my lord."
"But..." I add, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, as I turn to the one human who looks unenthusiastic and calm. "You. You can stay if you want."
"Huh?"
"Pardon?" He asks.
"You're interesting. And Pollux likes you. You can stay." I repeat.
To be honest, he's too much of a rarity to just let go. I think he has potential.
"You mean... like stay among you?" He queries, looking at the faces of the strong in the room.
"Yes. You don't want to?"
"N-no, it's not that. Just... um... what, will you use me for?"
"I like collecting unpolished gem. And you, are a rarity. For now, seeing as you're an assassin, you can be under Damocles."
I turn to Damocles, who bows and says, "Yes, my lord."
"That's fine right?" I ask.
"Uh... yes." He answers.
"You can't be serious!" The remaining in the group exclaim.
"Follow me." I say to Terys, leaving the grand hall with Damocles, followed by the loud screams of the humans.