“You’re in no position to negotiate, you know? Let’s do it this way: you tell me everything, without a shred of lie, and I’ll consider taking you in as my country’s people.”

When I said that, he opened his mouth without hesitation. Heck, he even had a smile on his face as he talked!

The information coming from him matched the other two, and even though I tried to pressure him, telling a lie that his information was different from the first two, he quickly denounced them as telling lies and that his word was true without doubt.

“I swear on my own system that I’m telling the complete truth!”

He even went as far as swearing to the system, just to prove that he wasn’t lying. Of course, such an act isn’t reinforced by the system, so that doesn’t make his words 100% true instantly. Rather, it was the highest level of swearing, compared to swearing to God back in my previous world.

“…”

Though I knew a few… No, a lot of people I knew swore to God and broke their promises the next second, so it’s hard for me to trust others just by swearing.

“Fina,”

Just to make sure, I tried to call for backup. Fina responded almost immediately, and after a short exchange, she told me that she was able to go at any time.

To save time, I used the system’s function, Recall, to immediately bring her to where I was. Along with a flash of light, Fina appeared right beside me and quickly looked around, surprise coloring her expression.

“And this is the one you mentioned?” 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜

Seeing the tied-up assassin before us, Fina quickly went to work. She sent a pink cloud toward him, intoxicating the assassin and catching him under the “charmed” condition.

With that, it became even easier to get information from him. However, even after getting charmed, his story didn’t change. Fina, who had some experience with interrogation, also gave her seal of approval, saying that the man wasn’t lying in any way.

“Alright… Fina, take him back to the Seimei and process his papers. From today onward, he’ll become a resident of our country.”

It was a bit abrupt, but well, it’s going to be more convenient if we have someone with inside information about the Empire. Although we can peek at them at any moment, it’s still better to have more details about their plans and such.

An assassin, and apparently one of the captains of the army under the Second Prince of the Empire, would probably have a lot of beneficial information!

After that, just in case, I also asked Fina to interrogate the last one. The same as the first two, it was harder to break them, but in the end, the information he said matched the other three. With that, we finally finished interrogating everyone.

I turned around and pushed Princess Hazel at the back gently as I opened a portal leading back to the Cleaver Kingdom’s castle. Before stepping in, I made sure to turn back and give an order to Fang, who was standing idly by the side.

“Well then, Fang, wrap things up here. After that, contact Ember to pick you up.”

“Got it, leader! Leave the rest to me!”

Fang replied with excitement, her tail wagging widely. Seeing her like that, she should be fine.

Princess Hazel, I, Fina, and the soldier who wanted to defect, Herman, entered the portal and appeared right at the front gates. Fina dragged the soldier toward the Teleportation Array leading back to the Heaven’s Republic, while I led Princess Hazel back to the castle.

After reaching her mother’s side, Queen Thalia, I quickly relayed what happened to her, causing a frown to appear on her face.

“So, you think the war is imminent?”

She asked with a grim expression, patting the head of her daughter, who hugged her tight as soon as she came in.

“Yes. I think they’re trying to sow confusion in our country by assassinating me, but of course, they failed.”

I did tell her about Herman, the soldier who defected, but she didn’t show even the slightest interest. I guess I can’t push him under Queen Thalia’s care now, can I?

After I reported the details, I quickly excused myself, leaving the mother-daughter pair alone. Although she was holding it quite well, I know that Princess Hazel was pretty shaken by the deaths she saw today. After all, unlike before, which was done by the Demons, this time it was humans against humans.

“I just hope this event doesn’t break her heart, dragging her to the dark side.”

After leaving the office, I returned to the Debauchery Hall in one jump. There, Fina was already done with the paperwork and giving Herman a proper identity as a member of the Seimei family’s guards.

Abuse of authority? I’m the head of the family, so who dares to pick on my decision? And I’m not kind enough to let him sit idly without working! Giving him work would also stabilize his position and let him earn for himself.

Of course, his schedule was already fixed. He was to guard the gates during the morning, spill out information during the nightly interrogation, and rest. Rinse and repeat. Rather than a resident, it was more like a free-reign prisoner, but the person himself said that he was fine with it.

“That idiot prince was completely set on going to war against you, saying that the God tamers aren’t to be feared. And as someone who is a firm skeptic, I believe that they have no chance of winning. Jumping to another boat is better than staying at a sinking one.”

Or so he said.

Anyway, with this, we gained another source of information regarding the empire’s war preparations. Adding the information obtained from visually spying across their borders using the satellite, we can get a general grasp of their preparation.

“As expected, a week… Two at most. Within that time, the war would begin.”

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