[Raul's POV]
The first day's exam had ended, and the students were now on their way back to the city of Murcia.
I stood at the bow of the ship, watching the beautiful sunset on the horizon.
Next up was the second stage of the exam, which would take place in the Empire's only desert region—the Tiamat Desert. This area bordered the nation of Kuwalid in the northwest of the Aragon Empire.
The students would have to survive the harsh desert climate and the monsters that inhabited it. Those without survival skills and knowledge of the terrain would surely not last long.
Twenty teams had already been eliminated in the first stage, leaving 140 students to proceed to the next.
As I lost myself in thought, I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
"Can we talk?"
It was Scarlett. She came to stand beside me, gazing at the sunset on the horizon.
"I've heard from the other students what happened after we got separated during the exam," she began, referring to the test that had concluded the day before.
"You could've beaten them all, couldn't you? Why did you hold back like that?" Scarlett asked, clearly aware of what I had done. "From what I've seen of your skills and guerrilla tactics, you could have wiped them out easily."
I had to hold back a laugh at her words.
Me? An adult with a mature mindset bullying a bunch of school kids like them? Only an immature man would do that, taking pleasure in overpowering younger and less experienced opponents.
What would I gain from bullying them? Adults should guide the younger generation, preparing them for the realities of the world they'll face as they grow older.
Sure, they were annoying, arrogant, and cringeworthy at times, but that's how adults see youth in every era. The new generation's behaviors and trends always seem wrong in the eyes of the old.
I had been young like them once, too. We did stupid things, making the adults around us angry.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Scarlett," I lied. "I did what I could during the test."
I turned to her, seeing her face beautifully illuminated by the setting sun.
Our eyes met, and it seemed like she had more to ask.
"Hey, earlier you said I didn't fully understand my own power, right?" Scarlett asked, her cheeks turning red. "Do you know how I can use it better?"
Hmm... Does Scarlett want me to teach her how to control her power?
"And why should I help you? What's in it for me?"
Scarlett took a deep breath and exhaled slowly at my response.
"I'll be joining the Disciplinary Committee when we return from this exam," she said seriously.
Scarlett, huh? A woman of her caliber would make my team stronger if she truly joined. The awakening of her Blessing would be invaluable in future battles.
"Why do you want to join?" I asked, curious about her motivation.
"I don't know... I guess seeing you up close might give me a clue as to why my magic didn't work when we fought."
Her attitude was right. She needed to figure out her own power, its weaknesses, and how to properly harness her Blessing.
I wasn't going to hand her all the answers.
One of my methods was to avoid spoon-feeding talented students like her. They needed to grow, to struggle, and to recognize their own shortcomings and flaws.
Because I wouldn't always be there for them. Slowly but surely, they had to learn to stand on their own before the time came.
We arrived in the city of Murcia that night, and all the students were directed back to their accommodations, as we would be heading to the next exam site the following day.
I made my way toward Karl Johnson's hideout, where the others were. Earlier, I had instructed the intelligence unit, led by Karl, to conduct an operation in Murcia to gather information on Count Juan.
Before long, I reached a large warehouse on the outskirts of Murcia. Two men were smoking by the entrance.
"Ah, Boss, you're here?"
The man with dark skin noticed my arrival. If I remembered correctly, his name was Black, and the big guy next to him was Big.
"Yeah, we just finished the exam," I said, walking closer. "Where are Karl and the other white guy?"
"Ah, you mean Fork. He and KJ are torturing the messenger we captured to get information on the faction that hired him," Black replied, stubbing out his cigarette.
"Call them both over here."
Big went inside and soon returned with KJ, who had bloodstains on his hands, and Fork, who looked more nervous than usual—probably from witnessing the torture.
"How did it go?" I asked KJ.
"S-sorry, Boss. The guy's tough," KJ said regretfully. "We've been torturing him for 12 hours, but he still won't talk. Right now, he's unconscious from exhaustion."
"What methods have you used?" I asked.
"Well... We beat him and broke a few bones to try to make him talk," KJ answered.
Hearing this, I mentally blamed myself a little. I probably needed to establish a proper SOP for forced interrogation procedures.
"Sigh... You two go gather some tools and supplies I'll need. I'll handle the interrogation myself," I said, walking toward the warehouse door. "And pay close attention to what I do, understand?"
KJ and the others nodded in understanding.
After giving them a list of tools I would need for the interrogation, KJ and Fork rushed off to find them in the city.
---
[???'s POV]
Ugh... How long have I been unconscious...?
I had been given orders by my superior to assist Count Juan, who was in trouble. He was one of the nobles in the faction I served.
But when I went to meet the person who was supposed to be Count Juan's informant, four men captured and locked me up here.
A muscular man with a buzz cut had tortured me, trying to get me to reveal all the information I had about my employer.
I was just an ordinary man... My employer forced me to work for him, threatening to ruin my life and my family's if I refused.
Clak.
I heard the warehouse door open. My vision was blurry from the injuries I had sustained from the buzz-cut man's torture.
A dark-haired man, dressed in all black, walked toward me, where I sat bound to a chair.
"You're awake?" the dark-haired man asked as he sat down in front of me. "Sorry you had to go through all that. If my people were more competent at interrogation, you wouldn't have had to suffer this much."
So, he's the boss of the men who kidnapped and imprisoned me.
"Whatever you do to me won't matter," I said weakly. "I'm not giving you any information."
Yes... I wouldn't talk. My family's future and safety were at stake. I was terrified my employer would do horrible things to them if he found out I had spilled any secrets.
Not long after, the buzz-cut man who had tortured me earlier entered the warehouse with another man. They brought a table and placed it between me and the dark-haired man.
One of them set down three covered buckets on the table.
I could faintly hear the sound of rodents inside one of them.
"Believe me, I don't hate you personally," the dark-haired man said as he stood up. "I'm just doing my job."
He then ordered the buzz-cut man to remove my shirt and place a bucket filled with rodents on my stomach.
"These are Deephole rats," the dark-haired man said, lighting a torch and walking to my side. "They like to dig their way out when they feel threatened, you know."
I didn't like the direction this was going. It seemed like he was about to do something horrific to me. But I would stay strong. I wouldn't give them any information.
"I won't stop until you tell me something," the dark-haired man said, bringing the torch closer to the metal bucket.
Soon, I heard the rats inside the bucket screeching loudly. A sharp, unbearable pain began to spread across my stomach.
"Aghhhh! Th-the rats! They're burrowing into my stomach!"
Damn it, damn it, damn it! These vile creatures were scratching and gnawing at my belly.
"Stop it! Please, stop!" I screamed.
Cyat! Cyat! Cyat!
The rats were frantically trying to dig their way out, clawing deeper into my abdomen as the heat from the torch grew.
The dark-haired man finally pulled the torch away. "That's enough, Karl. Take the bucket and the rats off."
As he spoke, the buzz-cut man—Karl—removed the bucket from my stomach.
"Hah... Hah... Hah..."
My breathing was ragged. The pain had been unbearable.
I looked down at my stomach. There were three holes there, and blood was oozing out, soaking the area. The wounds were gruesome—just a bit longer under that bucket, and my entire abdomen would've been torn apart.
"Let's move on to the next stage," the dark-haired man said in a calm tone. "Karl, insert that into his ear."
Huh? What does he mean? What's he going to put in my ear? Fear began creeping over me.
Soon, Karl opened the next bucket, revealing a hideous centipede. He carefully placed the centipede into my ear, and I felt a strange, unsettling sensation as it slithered inside.
"This is the Petricia centipede which hates loud noises," said the black-haired man who handed a pair of pliers to the short-haired man. "Try not to scream too loudly if you don't want the centipede to bite your ears off."
Huh? What does he mean? What does he want to put in my ear? Hearing him say that sent a wave of fear creeping through my mind.
Not long after, the man with the crew cut opened another bucket. In his hand was a terrifying centipede.
He then inserted the horrifying insect into my ear, and an unpleasant tickling sensation filled me as the centipede crawled in.
"This is a Petricia Centipede, and it hates loud noises," said the black-haired man, handing a pair of pliers to the crew-cut man. "Try not to scream too loudly if you don't want it to bite inside your ear."
Soon after, the crew-cut man started pulling off one of my toenails. An excruciating pain shot through my big toe.
"Aghhhh!"
I couldn't hold back the pain. A terrifying noise echoed inside my ear as the centipede started biting and stinging violently.
"Aghhhhhhh!"
The crew-cut man pulled off another toenail. My screams enraged the centipede inside my ear even more, making my hearing deteriorate.
"I told you, didn't I? Don't scream too loudly," the black-haired man said. "You have two choices: tell us what we want to know, and we'll give you a quick death, or stay silent, and your death will be agonizingly slow."
Is that so? Whether I talk or not, they're going to kill me. That makes perfect sense.
"But I will stop this if you can answer correctly," said the black-haired man, halting the crew-cut man's action of pulling my nails.
He leaned closer to my ear and said, "What's ten minus seven?"
Huh? What did he say? I don't understand the point of this.
"Agghhhh!"
The crew-cut man started pulling out another nail. The centipede's sounds in my ear were driving me insane.
"I told you, answer the question correctly if you don't want to feel more pain," said the black-haired man. "What's one thousand minus seven?"
I don't know what this black-haired psychopath is thinking. But I'll do my best to survive.
"Ni-nine hundred ninety-three..."
"Very good, let's continue," the man sat back in his chair, directly in front of me. "What's nine hundred ninety-three minus seven?"
This session dragged on for a long time. The man kept making me count, and if I answered wrong, the crew-cut man would pull out another nail.
My voice was growing faint, my hearing worsened, and my vision blurred as the pain from the centipede stings overwhelmed me.
I... I've reached my limit...
I... I can't take it anymore...
"What's thirteen minus seven?"
"S-s-six..."
I didn't care anymore about these calculations. All of my fingernails and toenails had been pulled out because I kept answering wrong.
My mind was exhausted, and my body had reached its breaking point...
This black-haired man was different. He wasn't just torturing me physically; he was breaking me mentally, making me fragile.
"Good job. Now, this is the last one," the man said, standing up from his chair again.
He opened the final bucket and revealed a disgusting worm.
"This is a Bloodsuck Worm, and it's dangerous if it enters the body," said the black-haired man, bringing the worm closer to the hole in my abdomen, which had been gnawed open by rats earlier. "This worm will suck your blood and slowly eat its host's flesh from the inside, growing larger as it consumes your organs."
Hearing those horrifying words made my resolve crumble even further.
What did I do to deserve such a fate...?
I just wanted to live happily and peacefully with my family.
Tears started rolling down my cheeks as I thought of my wife and child waiting for me at home.
I wanted to go hunting with my son in the village... My wife would surely welcome us home with a beautiful smile...
Ah... Those were happy times... I want to return to those days...
"If you talk, all of this will end quickly."
I'm sorry, Bell. Your father is just an ordinary man...
Winda... I hope you can raise Bell to be a successful man, unlike his father...
Thinking about it, I began to feel something stirring inside my stomach...
This slow death of an animal eating your insides is so horrible...