How to Tame That Gentle Male Lead - Chapter 5.3
“The bite marks will disappear soon. It’s fine since there’s no bleeding. There’s no wound, so it won’t get infected… Fortunately, being a priest, his bite strength wasn’t that strong…”
But even at those words, Renard frowned. It seemed that the fact that his sister almost had her fingers severed affected him more. Renard looked down at Resena’s hand and sighed deeply before addressing her.
“Sister. No matter how urgent it is, how could you just shove your fingers in like that? If it had been a knight, all your fingers could have been severed. You could have been wounded and infected. Even if you knew his identity was a priest, it was extremely reckless to immediately push your hand in. You understand?”
“Ahaha… Sorry, Renard. I’ll be more careful next time.”
“Sigh… It’s fortunate that your fingers weren’t wounded, but… Just in case, get treatment from a mage staying at the castle to prevent any complications. They might not be as good as priests, but most mages can heal with magic, so it’s better than nothing.”
Really, there’s no one better than Renard when it comes to worrying about her. Resena couldn’t help but smile at his kindness in worrying about his sister. Seeing that, Renard frowned even more, but Resena just smiled back at him.
“Alright, alright. I’ll definitely get treatment. But before that, I need to hear the rest of what that dark mage was saying.”
“About what kind of power they want?”
“Yes. That way we can predict how the dark mages will move. Of course, the information and identity we’ve uncovered so far will be crucial hints for catching the dark mages, but I want to know… what kind of power they’re trying to use to create a fair world.”
Renard crossed his arms defensively.
“But sister. You know we can’t assume all dark mages think like that, right? While the earth priests might dream of such an equal world, other priests… For example, those who betrayed the light god Sernaus might dream of a world governed by the logic of power.”
“Ah. I suppose that’s possible.”
Impressed, Resena listened as Renard continued.
“The light god Sernaus is also the god of knights, so most of the priests who serve him are also powerful in martial arts. So they desire even stronger power. Because of that, to easily obtain that power by offering sacrifices and betraying their god, they’re likely to be focused solely on overwhelming power, regardless of status. So the world they dream of would be one dominated by the law of the jungle.”
“That’s certainly true, isn’t it? …Still, Renard. I think we should ask this dark mage what kind of power they mainly want.”
“Why?”
Resena smiled but winced as she wrapped her bandaged hand with her other hand due to the pain in her fingers.
“Earth priests are spread widely throughout Crevasta. Their numbers would be enough to fill a small territory. And if we don’t find out what kind of power so many of them want, or about it, it won’t be easy to figure out which of the earth priests have fallen into dark magic.”
“That’s… true.”
“Right? Even if their reasons for wanting power differ, if they want a common power, we can predict how they’ll act. For example, if they want a specific power like this dark mage, we can know in advance the common sacrifices needed to obtain that specific power, which would help in catching them.”
“I see…”
Resena grinned and gestured to the knight.
Confident that the dark mage would no longer attempt to bite his tongue, the knight poured a mind-clouding drug into his mouth and blocked his nose. The dark mage seemed to hold his breath for a moment, but unable to endure, he swallowed the liquid in his throat with a gasp.
“…The drug’s effects will appear quickly in 1-2 minutes, so we can ask after waiting a bit. His willpower to withhold information from us will weaken, and his body will go limp, so even if he tries to bite his tongue, he won’t have the strength to commit suicide.”
“Right. We should have done this earlier. We should have given it to him before the truth serum.”
“Hmm… Let’s do that next time. It was a mistake because I’m not used to this kind of interrogation.”
After waiting a bit, the dark mage went limp. His head tilted forward as if he had no strength to lift it, and he was breathing heavily. Resena nodded to Renard and asked again.
“What kind of power do you want? Tell me in detail what common power you all desire.”
“That… We, the betrayers of the earth, want the power of pain that makes all people equal.”
‘Well, this is a crazy statement…’
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t wrong. Because all humans are the same in the face of pain. Although there are individual differences in the time it takes to endure and suffer, the proposition of experiencing pain is the same. Of course, there are rare cases of analgesia, but that wouldn’t apply here.
“Pain… So you can inflict pain of equal intensity on others?”
“Yes. That’s the power. Everyone can suffer and be in pain without discrimination. That power is what will make the world equal.”
Resena shrugged.
“As expected, I can’t understand the thinking of dark mages. Even if you become equal through pain, there are individual differences in pain, and above all, those who experience the pain wouldn’t want to be equal. If everyone has to experience pain, wouldn’t that rather lead to a world where everyone wants to be discriminated against, prioritizing not being in pain?”
“That’s…”
The dark mage seemed unable to find words to refute, his lips just quivering. Resena turned to look at Renard. Renard was nodding and stroking his chin.
Knowing that he agreed with her opinion, Resena smiled brightly. But soon she erased her smile.
It was time to deal with the dark mage.
“Finish it. But absolutely do not let him live and release him.”
“Understood.”
Resena grabbed Renard’s arm.
“Let’s go, Renard. The interrogation is over now.”
***
The sunlight fell harshly on the castle walls. As the cool morning passed and afternoon came, birds chirped and flitted between the low trees.
“It’s going that way. Catch it!”
“Eek!”
“Aww, I missed it!”
Resena enjoyed the peacefulness of the Arnasus territory as she watched the children chasing birds below. But soon, a shock was about to hit the nearby Earth Lumine Temple.
‘All the priests except Elura Tieo will be captured.’
There were many ways to identify dark mages. They retained black mana in their bodies, so if a small cut was made on the fingertip, black mana would seep out. Because of this, it was easy to distinguish between ordinary people and dark mages.
“Sister.”
“Yes, Renard.”
Renard was silent for a moment, then his lips moved.
“We won’t interrogate the dark mages anymore, and we’ll eradicate them all, right?”
“There’s no need to get more information from the dark mages. Why? Does it seem strange that we’re not asking about the leader of the dark mages?”
Renard nodded.
Soon after, he looked down at the castle wall, watching the children searching through the undergrowth. It reminded him of his carefree childhood days, running around without any worries.
But soon Resena’s answer came.
“The dark mages probably know very little about their leader.”
“….”
“If the leader happens to be among the earth betrayers we’ve caught, that’s good. Even if not, there’s no need to dig further. If there had been a leader, we wouldn’t have been able to catch the dark mages so easily.”
Renard quietly gazed at Resena. Resena continued speaking without taking her eyes off the children.
“From the beginning, these earth betrayers’ plan was too simple. That’s why it was easy to guess and easy to catch. If there had been a leader who planned for them… They would have known from the moment they offered the first sacrifice until now that damaging the sanctity of the land would be a clue to guess their routine.”
“….”
“So by the time we arrived, they would have either found another way to find sacrifices or hidden more secretly inside, waiting for the vigilance to drop. Instead of trying to move and offer sacrifices on such large lands. But they didn’t do that. They chose to damage the sanctity of large lands even if it was risky. And that, more than anything, gave me the certainty that there was no connection with a leader.”
Resena quietly felt the wind as she gazed at the distant sky. The blue sky reminded her of someone’s eyes. Even though it couldn’t be called love yet, just recalling the memory made her heart flutter.
“So there’s no need to torture them to find out information about the leader. It’s also a principle to eradicate dark mages as soon as we catch them, so there’s no need to violate that principle to find the leader.”
“…Sister, you seem to have become smarter lately.”
