Liam was seated with a cup of tea in front of him, but he couldn't drink it. Not because he didn't like tea, frankly he was quite the fan of the drink, but not the creator. The one who made it was the crazed mage, who clearly had no boundaries when it came to getting what he wanted. There could be poison in the drink, or a sleeping agent and he would wake up finding his legs missing or something else. Tons of dark fantasies spooked Liam's mind and the room merely helped in creating even more. The room looked darker than in the beginning, the windows were always covered, but now it felt like there weren't any in the first place.
Venion had the power to do anything and he was unhinged enough to do so. Hence Liam couldn't help but give in when he threatened his family. He just lost all his friends, to now lose his family would mentally break, if not kill, him. If his life was threatened he wouldn't mind pushing himself a bit further and risking a few things. But his family, especially his wife was his weak spot.
He was scared to be left alone with only a master who wasn't the brightest and a psychotic mage. Even Liam had to admit that Havi had the Baron title, but it was hollow and undeserved. After seeing what he had done to pursue his own desires and the shallowness he displayed openly, he started to regret soliciting to work as this baron's captain. His master had a few merchant instincts, but they were dulled and clearly not effective. Otherwise, the treasury wouldn't be running empty.
Now that he was confronted with the scary reality that Venion could do whatever he wanted in this mansion, Liam decided to sacrifice his good friend for his family. The pain in making that decision hurt his heart, yet it was all he could think of. But that didn't mean that he had to give away all the details. He simply had to create a story that was realistic enough to believe. If he was to hurt his friend he would rather limit it to the absolute maximum.
"I'm glad that you decided to speak the truth, I wouldn't want to hurt them after all. They look so lovable.", Liam really didn't like Venion talking about his family, the venom he spat only made Liam hate Venion more and more. Sadly, what was the prey to do in front of its predator?
'How do I tell a compelling story without saying too much?'
"We were surprised when Lucas told his story because he left out something crucial. We fought against a monster that was strong enough to kill most of the soldiers. It did indeed hit the walls a few times, but it wasn't the cause for the collapse of the mine. We artificially destroyed a part of the mine in the form of a trap. That way we dealt with most of the monsters prowling the cave."
"Hmm", Venion could tell that Liam wasn't exactly lying, he had experience in torturing people and felt whenever someone wasn't saying the truth. 'Why would he hide the collapse?'
For once, the mighty mage was stumped, there didn't seem to be any reason to hide the fact that they created a trap. 'Was it so that the mistake of the collapse wouldn't be placed on him? No, the baron wouldn't punish him for such a small thing if it cleared the monsters in the first place. Actually, the baron is probably stupid enough to do such a thing, but still. That can't be all of it.'
"So tell me, why do you think Lucas hid that detail for the baron?"
'Did it work?!', Liam had forced the attention on a certain point, which clearly caught Venion's attention. As long as he could spin some reason to it, Lucas could be left scot-free.
"I don't know for sure, but I do have an idea."
"Tell me."
"Robert and Lucas bonded a lot during our travel. They shared the same cart and even visited the home of Lucas. I assume that they talked a lot about their lives, especially since they are of the same age and don't have any other friends. I believe that Lucas learned from Robert that he liked to impress his father with his magic, and the trap in the mine was created by that very young master. I think that Lucas held back on explaining it in detail so that Robert could expound on it himself and earn the praise he deserves. I see it as a gift from Lucas to Robert, although small, it would do Robert a lot of good."
'Why is he so enthusiastic about telling me why Lucas hid it? This doesn't feel right, someone who is being interrogated would either not give anything or for something in return. After torture, they would gladly spill all their information, but not with so much enthusiasm. He seems glad to talk about it, yet wasn't interested in speaking not long ago.'
"Hmm, that very well could be, but I have another question. You said you fought a special monster, what kind of monster are you talking about?"
'Shit! Did I mess up somewhere?', Liam wasn't an actor or specialist in diplomacy. His emotions slipped out of his control every now and then, showing up on his face. This was enough to show Venion that he was going in the right direction. 'Would he know about it? Should I lie, no I don't know any monster strong enough to lose so many soldiers to. If I fabricate something, he would notice....FUCK!'
"It was a...euh...a Demonic Bear, it was a brutal and terrifying battle.", Liam didn't know what to say and stumbled over his words. As a captain he would normally never fail at speaking properly, but now that his hopes had been dashed. He needed to quickly create another cover for Lucas.
"A Demonic Bear you say, haha, please tell me how you killed it, I'm intrigued.", Venion couldn't help but laugh at what Liam said. 'If they actually encountered a Demonic Bear, there wouldn't be a Liam in front of me, they would've all died. Not even that toy of an artifact could do anything to that little bear.'
"It was a combined effort of Robert, Lucas, and myself, but we did succeed in killing it. I used my artifact to distract it and the magic from Robert and Lucas to actually hurt it during certain attacks. We used certain walls of the cave that stored coal. Using fire magic, it exploded on the bear, gruelly hurting it."
Venion stayed silent for a bit, what Liam was saying did seem like a reasonable way to eradicate the Demonic Bear, but Venion wasn't buying it. If Liam kept his calm as in the beginning, he might've let it slide, but the random fidgeting Liam would do tipped him off. "Who did the killing blow, did you finish it off with that powerful artifact?"
The artifact was a sword imbued with magic, it was indeed quite powerful. But Venion knew that it couldn't possibly scratch that beast, so he tried setting a trap, and the prey was hungry.
"That's right, it too-Aargh", looking down there was an ice needle puncturing his left thigh. The pain was immense, but it quickly disappeared when the ice spike vanished and the wound closed up. The only evidence of it being there was the hole in his clothes and the cold that spread from the wound. "For every lie you tell, there will be an additional ice needle, so be wary of what you say. That artifact is a low Rank 0 weapon, that couldn't have possibly killed the bear that's at peak Rank 0."
For Liam it happened a little too fast, his leg got punctured from one side to the other, just for the next second making it seem like a big illusion. Sweat started to collect on his forehead and back. He could still feel the cold when he touched his leg, a few more of those and he might experience frostbite. But if that was all it took to protect both his family and Lucas, he would gladly do so.
'Damnit, I can't think of anything else, c'mon, c'mon!'
"I used my artifact but it wasn't strong enough to kill it completely, but Robert's arrays taught to him were powerful enough to severely hurt it. Then we simply had to wait until it exhausted itself before striking a killing blow.", this time it took a second before Liam had to scream again. This time there were two needles in his legs.
'If that was really the case he didn't need to hide Robert's achievements as he previously talked about so enthusiastically.'
"It seems you really want to protect them, don't you? What are you hiding? Tell me! You won't get out of here before you do!", Venion started to lose his patience, "You know what, let's make it a little more interesting, for every lie you tell me now is a limb that your daughter will lose. If you tell more than 4 lies, I'll move on to your wife and so on, let's get started!"
With that Liam had to think a lot longer over his answer. Venion knew a lot more than he did about monsters, so he couldn't use that to confuse him. The magic aspect was also more known to Venion than him. If he got caught in a single lie now, he would hurt not only himself but also his kids. 'I'm sorry Lucas, you were a good kid, I saw you as a third child I never had. I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, but I can't take any more risks.'
Liam started to tell what actually happened, this time he wasn't interrupted with any ice needles. It seemed that Venion believed everything he said now. But just because he had to talk about what happened doesn't mean he had to spill the secret of Lucas using dark magic.
Yet he still did, he couldn't think of a way to kill the beast in any other way, at least not on the spot. Creating a convincing story that could fool Venion wasn't worth risking his children's life. Using dark magic was forbidden, but Venion also used it, so Liam thought it wouldn't be that bad.
"So Lucas used dark magic?"
"Yes, that's what I believe, Robert also thought it was dark magic, but we decided to stay quiet about it.", Venion started to laugh, almost hysterically. "Hahaha, how did he do it? How did he break the contract?"
"I don't know how he could've lied to the baron, the story he told was the truth in a certain sense, but leaving so many details behind probably would be seen as a lie."
"I'm not talking about that moron, he signed another contract with me never to use dark magic. But he still did it! Hahaha, what a perfect pupil, to circumvent his own teacher's rules. I need to look at his heart, now, where is he at?", Liam looked surprised but was also very apologetic at the moment. He felt sympathetic toward Lucas, he had saved his own hide at the cost of another. He felt weak and stupid.
"I don't know.", Venion's mouth flashed a single frown before smiling again.
"Thank you for the story, I'll leave your family alone for now. I have gotten myself a perfect subject that I need to see.", Venion left the study with a quick pace. Once he left the pressure decreased considerably and the atmosphere went back to normal. Liam was sweating bullets, but he had a serious face. What he did was against his own principles and he hated himself for ratting out Lucas. But he would do it again if it meant saving his family, he was steadfast in his decision.
'It had to be done, they would've found out no matter what. With all those soldiers dead, an investigation would happen, and traces of dark magic could be found which would link it to one of the two mages of this mansion. We were doomed before we even returned.'