"You have received the answers to your questions. Now, I would really appreciate it if the three beastmen you've locked up here for interrogation were released. We both know they are innocent."
Roshoka didn't expect that request. Distracted, he waved a forelimb indifferently.
"They're dead, quit worrying about them. They wouldn't answer anything I asked about you. How did they expect to be treated here with that attitude?"
The mage's expression hardened. Even Roshoka, subsumed within his own world of regret and reassessments, couldn't help but notice a deep-seated sensation of animosity radiating from his eyes.
Chuckling derisively, he asked, "What? Were they people you valued? You don't seem to be a beastman."
"They harbored much goodwill toward me. You could say they were the first friends I made in this city."
"My apologies, then. But that's all you're gonna get for having your feelings hurt. You should have surrendered earlier if you truly cared about them. The rumors of torture in this chamber and their very 'public' arrest didn't make your heart move, why make a scene now?"
The human nodded to himself in a daze. "So that's why the enforcers dragged them throughout the city after the arrest. And you were purposefully fanning the flames of the unsavory rumor about you torturing prisoners here. You wanted me to hear and surrender in guilt."
"It worked pretty well, from the looks of it," Roshoka said. "Now, about the things that actually matter, why don't you-"
"I wouldn't quite agree with that, Duke."
Roshoka paused. "Agree with what?"
"That your bait for me worked. You were right; if I really felt liable for their arrest, I would've surrendered earlier. Since I did not..."
"You have other motives behind your surrender?" Roshoka's pupils shrank.
"Correct," the mage said. "I originally wanted to take shelter under your shadow accompanying the goblin woman and her children. As someone who has been stuck in the Super Rank for many years, you should be quite desperate for a way to increase your strength without falling into the cesspit of the Ultimate Rank. But these children could very well be the first creatures to break past that rank. There isn't a single expert in this realm, including you, who would let the opportunity to control these children slip out of their grasp."
Roshoka nodded along in agreement. "While that's not an unexpected motive... What exactly has put such fear in you, making you choose me as your guardian?"
"I discovered that I'm not the only person who knows of their existence. The goblin woman has made other acquaintances in the city throughout her stay," the mage said with a strange smile, seemingly enjoying Roshoka's growing alarm.
"Let's just say that welcoming all sorts of foreigners into your city wasn't a great idea on your part. How difficult is it for spies to nest here and accumulate enough influence and power to defy your interests?"
"Who? Which race?" Roshoka's breathing became heavy. He had recently begun to notice the gap in the city's defense himself. There were too many foreigners living in the outer layer of Shamrock City, and the environment there was getting more chaotic each day. So his paranoia wasn't misdirected!
Finally, the vague, mirthless smile that had been flashing through the mage's face bloomed into a wide, clear emotion. With a hint of relish and cruelty, he replied, "You don't pay attention to details, Duke. Let me repeat myself, to surrender and ask for your protection was my original intention. But you've made it awfully clear that you aren't the sort of guardian I'd be safe around. So why would I continue to cooperate with you?"
Roshoka's black lips stretched into a ruthless sneer. Silently, he summoned a mutant totem parasite with the appearance of a small centipede. Closing in on the young human, he held the twitching, lively parasite above his head.
"Do you know what this is?" he hissed.
The mage looked unperturbed. "Do I need to? It's just further proof of my conclusion. It was a mistake to treat you as a potential ally. You seem to have absolutely no qualms against breaking rules, laws, and basic moral principles. There was no reason to kill those three beastmen. In fact, I don't even know one of them; just another man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ended up being tortured to death for it. There were also plenty of ways to figure out that these beastmen couldn't have been an accomplice in a scheme against you."
Roshoka silently lowered the parasite totem on top of the mage's forehead, where it began to crawl restlessly, looking for a hole to dive into.
"Old men like me don't appreciate being subjected to preaching, little human. After all you've said, it just comes down to you and your weaknesses. You realized after sitting here that your calculation was flawed, that I am not as easy to take advantage of as you thought. So now you're desperately trying to hoard a card to be used against me, to bargain with me, and the information about foreign spies in my city is indeed a good choice in that plan. Unfortunately for you, I can make you co-operate whether you want to or not. To know how they plan to attack me, I only need to use you. Now open your mouth..."
Even as the centipede crawled its way down the mage's face, he managed to maintain his composure. He spoke without a trace of fear in his eyes.
"To know how they plan to attack you, you could just ask me. I know, because I helped them plan and prepare one just before arriving here in chains.
Now, I'll give you two scenarios to pick from. One, I walk out of here as a free man and stop them. Two, we sit here and watch Shamrock City be torn apart."
Roshoka couldn't quite believe the audacity. "You dare threaten me when I'm one decision away from butchering you?"
The sound of rushing footsteps distracted both of them, and it was followed by a hurried banging on the door of the interrogation chamber. Roshoka watched three guards practically break in to address him face to face.
"My lord! There's trouble in the core city!"
Roshoka's gaze traveled back to the young mage's complacent face.
"Explain what you've heard," he said to the guards.
"The aristocrats' nurseries. All three of them are on fire. Spells aren't working! At least 50 young aristocrats have been trapped inside, and no matter how many men they send in to rescue them, not a single one makes it out. So far, half a dozen deaths have been confirmed, all of them children of big clans!" one of the guards said, his face twisted in shock and worry.