Og pulled the subordinate out of the bag. The subordinate was not light by any means, but Og still effortlessly laid him flat on the ground stomach-up. Og grabbed the cup from a nearby person. His action was so quick that the person took a moment to realise his cup was taken.
Og poured the alcohol in the cup into the subordinate's mouth and covered his mouth tightly, forcing him to swallow. Tar averted his eyes from the scene. Maybe because of past experience, but Tar empathised with the subordinate. Just slightly.
The subordinate choked himself awake. "Wh-what did you just give me?"
"You'll find out soon, filthy grey rat," Og said.
"How dare you! Do you know who I am? If you offend me, you better watch out for the…" The subordinate widened his eyes after seeing the unconscious general. The subordinate crawled to the general. "General! General!" He gave the general a strong shake, but the general did not wake up.
"You assholes… Did you kill the General!? I'll never forgive you!" The subordinate garnered all the strength left in his body and dashed toward Og. He clenched his fist and swung his fist at Og, who simply stood there. "Watch out!" Tar shouted, but was met with Og's nonchalant smile.
Right before the fist connected with Og's chin, the subordinate froze in place, still as a statue, and he remained so for the next five seconds. Og gave the subordinate a light tap on his forehead and he fell to the ground. The subordinate had his blood-shot eyes wide open, and blood was dripping from his nose and eyes. He stopped breathing.
Now knowing Tar told the truth, everyone immediately discarded their cups.
"I saw these two sneaking around so I caught them for you, but you people just had to treat me as an enemy. Truly stupid! Truly unsavable!" Og sighed and shook his head. Empty blushed and apologised to him.
Og waved his hands at Empty. "It's fine. Let's see what this guy is up to." Og splashed some water onto the general. The body spasmed violently, before waking up to a myriad of swords, each gently caressing his neck. The general stared coldly at Og, who was in front of him.
"Look who finally decided to wake up," Og said.
"The first thing I see when I wake up is a Eustacian's face. An old, scrawny, malnourished one too. What terrible luck."
Loch grazed the general's cheek with her sword. "Who sent you?"
The general shivered. Sounds could be heard from his clattering teeth. "A-alright, I'll tell you… Just don't hurt me… It was… It was…" Gradually, the general's voice softened from fear. For whom he was, yielding that easily was very unexpected, Tar thought.
"Say that again!" Loch shouted.
"I told you! It was…" The general mouthed something, but his voice was too small to be heard. Loch walked forward and pressed her ears close the general. "It was…"
"It was my undying loyalty to the kingdom, old hag." He now spoke confidently. The general found it terribly amusing that this old hag was tricked like how he would a three-year-old, and he chuckled.
Loch was furious. Her cheeks were bright red and there was almost smoke coming out of her head. She raised her fist and punched the general in his jaw. Several bloodied teeth were sent flying.
Despite being injured, the general remained calm. "What unsophisticated bunch. You Eustacians can't even properly extract information from a person who's unable to fight back."
Just as another punch was flying toward the general, Vidi stopped Loch and said, "You Tzappian rats keep suppressing us, tearing apart families and robbing away happiness…"
"I don't care about those," the general interrupted, but Vidi continued. "Give me a reason to not kill you now."
"Because you want information." The general smirked.
"It's good that you know. Then there is no need for any of this farce. We want information about Erzanon Parolle, and we'll guarantee your life."
"Mr Parolle? Oh! You're talking about my uncle!"
"Your uncle?"
"Yes! He is my stepmother's husband's grandson's mother's third brother!"
"Stepmother's husband's grandson's… grandson's… What?" Loch counted on her fingers the relationships between Erzanon and the general, and even drawn mental family tree diagrams. Sinless quickly stopped her upon realising the general was talking through his hat.
"You really don't treasure your life?" The floor shook when Vidi said that.
"What I want you can't give."
Vidi stared coldly at the general, expecting an answer.
"Greatest Honour."
Tar heard about Greatest Honour before. It was the title coined personally by the Tzappian emperor to people who display patriotism, honour, and eloquence. It was said that Greatest Honour was every Tzappian official's dream. Of course, very few achieved this title.
The general continued. "I want to be of service to the great Emperor. I want to bow down to no one except the great Emperor. I. Want. Legitimate power. One day, there will be thousands of elite soldiers parading the streets, all raising tall, lovely banners, on which was my family name. And my family will be in the centre, in a giant gold cart pulled by horses no shorter than two metres. You're telling me I should throw away my honour to save my life?" He spat on the floor. "Don't drag me down to your level! If you Eustacians hadn't clung onto life like a filthy beggar, you wouldn't have been conquered so easily!" His gaze swept across the entire room. "I will never betray my own kingdom. Unlike you."
Tar met the general's gaze and a complicated feeling brewed in his heart.
Suddenly, the door burst open and in came four people: an injured woman who was being supported by a very tall man, and two black-haired girls roughly Tar's age.
"Ruu!" Vidi rushed to the woman. The woman called Ruu forced a smirk.
Enn, who was silent the entire time, sprinted toward the man and asked, "What happened, Wren?"
"The heist was successful, but we were ambushed on our way here," the man called Wren glanced at Ruu. "She caught a knife to her waist trying to protect me. Why did you do that, Ruu…"
It turned out that although the general did not bring an army with him, he still instructed his men to provide reinforcement in case things went south.
"Hahaha, they're finally here! I'll meet you all in hell!" The general knew that he would be a liability if he was to be taken hostage once reinforcement arrived, so he used the opportunity when everyone was distracted to pull out his sword and slit his throat. "Plop"! His lifeless body collapsed onto the floor.
"This makes three… Three died in this very room… How many more will die today?" Tar thought, as he heard the marches from outside. The marches were growing rapidly in number and volume.