"Well, that was most certainly as expected. In fact, I'm quite surprised they took that long to act~ Either way we profited from this encounter so it matters not!" Ivan took his hands off the steering wheel as he set the airship on autopilot. As long as he took the route he traveled on before then he had confidence they wouldn't run into any trouble like mountains or hordes of flying monsters.
".....Ivan, what are we going to do with her?" Yue spoke as she lightly tapped the unconscious body laid face-first onto the floor with her foot. Unlike Ivan she had no confidence that they could get the demon to talk, if the demon was willing to carry around poison in its mouth then it was likely she'd rather die than say a word.
"Have some faith, Yue. Sure using traditional methods might not work but what we're doing ain't torture. Hell, she doesn't even need to say a word. All we gotta do is throw a couple of guesses at her and see what reaction her face makes. If we can ascertain some information out of that then it would all be worth it!"
For Ivan, it was a matter of 'there's no reason not to.' The worst thing that could happen is that they would get nothing out of her at all. It wasn't like they were going to devote their time out of the day torturing the lady anyways. A droid to interrogate her would also be a little overkill. Ivan believed in physiological pain rather than physical. After all, what's better than breaking the soul?
Having only brief contact with her should be enough to drive her insane in the lonesome room, to know that her loneliness could be swept away behind one door. "To me Yue, fear is not a reliable motivator." With that he managed to convey his thoughts to Yue, she nodded slightly before leaving the cockpit to get something out of the kitchen.
That left Tio and Felis with him. "Master, if you shall allow it may I be the one to conduct the torture? I promise you this one is more than capable of withdrawing information from the enemy~ My duty as the princess of the dragonmen demands it so!
"Oi, did you just not hear what I said to Yue?! We are not going to torture the girl at all… at least until we're absolutely sure my original method won't work." Ivan wondered where the sudden bloodlust came from.
"Father, what is 'torture'?" This time it was Felis' turn to join the conversation, Much to Ivan's dismay. He stared her in the eyes for a second before sighing. There were some quite graphic words he was waiting to tell her until she got older but unlike a human's development, it would seem a homunculus was significantly faster.
"Torture is… um, it's something you only do when you really, really hate someone! So don't go and do it alright?" Ivan hoped that answer would suffice.
"Then do you really hate this demon lady? What did she do wrong? Did she hurt you or Yue-sensei?" Felis' desire to learn new things was something Ivan praised from the bottom of his heart… except when it put him in quite a precarious situation.
"No, she didn't do anything at all… It's just that with her we could learn stuff that would protect us in the future. What we're doing could be considered more evil than the acts of the demons themselves. But I want you to understand that everything I do is for you all, even if it means hurting others…"
He knew his words were probably a little too blunt. However, he didn't want to beat around the bush when it came to her curiosity. The last thing he wanted to do was impede her development. If answering her question led her down a path of unforgiveness then he'd take responsibility for it all.
"Protect us in the future…? I see. Very well, I'll believe you, Father! Let's do whatever it takes to protect our family! UOOH!" Felis let out a war cry that made Ivan's lips curl up. He was happy she didn't see him as a deviant, or that she wasn't disgusted by the hypocrisy of his words or actions.
"Fufufufu~ I concur with Felis' statement! Me too, my master~ Whether it be my body, heart, or soul, I shall do whatever it takes to satisfy thine desire. Just say the words and I'll lay my body down before you~!" If there was anything to break up the mood then it would be the squirming and hyperventilating dragon princess coquettishly staring at him from the corner.
"By my first degree… please just stay over there, Tio…" Once again his words had the opposite effect on the masochistic dragon. To Ivan Tio was beautiful, smart, caring, and devoted, the only blemish in his eyes was the shameless display of her desires. To reiterate, there was nothing wrong with being a pervert. Just don't be one right before the eyes of people other than your lover!
"Felis, I promised to myself the day you were born to carve for you a path that would lead to you becoming anything you desired. A hero, a civilian, a peacekeeper, or hell even a god. However, today I forbid you from one path…!" Ivan spoke each word as if they were his last. The strong emotions in them affected Felis who had been watching from the other chair.
"Yes, Father… No matter what, I promise to never fall to the same level as Tio-sensei." Her eyes resolute, she uttered each word with faith. A prospect that brought Ivan to a serene smile.
"A-Ano, can you guys please not ignore that I stand right before you? Actually, continue on! Ahn~ What's better than one person neglecting you? That'd be two of course! Fufufufu~" Their one mistake was allowing this conversation to happen right in front of the subject itself. That's when Yue, who had been in the kitchen the whole time, finally returned.
".....What are you guys doing?" Her usual stoic voice extra vibrant.
"...."
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"We're home~!" Ivan burst open the doors to the manor, Ari having joined the group after they picked her up from the shop. Apart from that, the only other person home that would greet them is Claire, who departed from the kitchen with a smile on her face.
"Welcome back~" The smile on her face was particularly radiant. For Claire the best feeling was welcoming home those you love, to see that they've returned safely was all that mattered to her. She gave a small bow before leading the others to the dining room. Ivan had contacted her beforehand saying that they'd be heading home, in which she took that opportunity to make a meal for them as she expected they'd be hungry after their travels.
The group smiled happily, all taking their seats before digging in. As for the recent prisoner of the manor, she was already stored by Ivan in a high-security cell. He even had Tio disrobe her and equip the lady with a prisoner outfit just to make sure she wasn't hiding anything under her clothing. With no poisons, no tools, and no weapons, she had no advantage.
Even the room was specially equipped to stop the captive from harming themself. Though Ivan's former thoughts were wrong, there was one thing she still had to defend herself with. That being her physical strength. While not up to par on anyone other than Claire it was still an aspect she could use, this was one thing Ivan couldn't take away without restraining her.
Something he didn't want to do unless absolutely necessary, the less she felt like a captive the easier it would be to withdraw info. So with that being said, he forbade Claire from ever entering the cells. Claire nodded dutifully, vowing to never enter the cells unless he said otherwise.
"Hey, Claire. Did anything come up while we were gone?" Ivan wasn't sure if there had been any visitors on the day they were gone, it wouldn't surprise him if the Holy Church stopped by to visit considering he was already declared a heretic by the time he rescued the hero party. At least the hero party and Meld himself didn't see him as a criminal, that meant between the time he left and by the time he returned somewhere in that span was when he was declared a heretic.
"Hmmm, there were some templar knights that came over to take you down but they gave up the moment they realized they couldn't break through the barrier. Aside from that as you guessed we lost a few customers after we were criminalized. More than people fearing us it would seem more likely that they're afraid dealing with us would earn the ire of the Holy Church. Nothing major though, I'm sure those same customers that fled will come back in disguises."
Ivan nodded softly listening to her report. Everything had been going the way he expected, all that was left was for him to make a move himself. It'd change the dynamic but it was better than letting everything stagnate. The moment he lets his enemies settle down is the moment they stop, take a moment to think, and attack him with renewed vigor.
"U-Um, Ivan? What is that thing…?" Ari muttered aloud, her face peering out the window as she pointed out into the yard. There he stood, the grand magical turtle that had been under the control of the Demon Lady. It was a pain to stuff it into the airship after picking it up from Oscar's lair, where Ivan had Tio lead it while he and the others led the hero party to the surface. It was a gentle giant, only nibbling on plants and flowers that had naturally grown.
"He's pretty cute, ain't he? But if you're asking where I got it, it was being controlled by that demon lady. It never attacked us once and had quite the useful ability so I thought that it'd be a shame to kill it. So now here it is, it could steal the mana of other people's spells and store it in its shell."
Ivan spoke as he stood from his seat, carrying his bowl of salad to the window before whistling and dumping it out. The turtle monster let out a cry of satisfaction before slowly making its way over. It sniffed the salad for a few seconds before scarfing it all down almost instantaneously. Ivan grinned happily, he had always wanted a turtle when he was younger.
Though it would seem that turtles didn't naturally exist in this world. At least that's what he inferred after asking Tio or Yue if they've ever seen a creature like it, but smaller. The same went for Ari and Claire, and also Felis who got upset when he didn't ask her. None of them claimed to have seen anything like it. There was always the chance this was a rare monster only existing in the demon continent but it seemed quite unlikely that not even Tio or Yue wouldn't have heard of it. The same went for some of the monsters they saw being controlled by the demon lady. The black cats, the chimeras, and the horse-men, no one could vouch that they existed before that encounter.
That led him to come to an uncertain conclusion, the monsters were likely created and not found. Whatever ancient magic the demons got their hands on it was capable of making organic beings. "What a useful magic…" Ivan thought to himself. It only lit his fire to explore the dungeons even further.
When he finished his meal and everyone went back to doing their own thing, Ivan went down to the atelier. A plethora of documents appeared in his hands as he laid them out on the table. The diagrams of another human body, one just like Felis'.
"Well, here we go again!"
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Nice chapter for today. I gotta catch up on the source material. Once again I ain't sure If i'll do after story. I want to work on something new so I doubt it. The problem is that for the new thing Im gonna have to read a lot.
Thanks for reading my rant, and the author's note (lol). I wish yee all a great evening! See you guys soon!
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