The Debt Of Fate
Chapter 139: Trick Them

Chapter 139: Trick Them

The man tailing the kidnappers had lost their trail in the dense forest. By the time he stumbled upon the cave, the sun was already sinking past midday.

By this time, Eldric had been severely tortured by the two men, but he had not said a word. The watcher kept his distance; close enough to listen, far enough to avoid discovery. He couldn’t risk getting caught. These men weren’t here to ask politely; they were here to break their prisoner.

Fortunately , the men intended to torture answers out of the commander, so they were not gentle. Their voices were loud enough for the man to hear.

"So does this mean he didn’t betray the kingdom?" the man wondered, raising his brows. After all, if Eldric had already betrayed them once, there was no reason for him to remain so stubborn about a location. What worried him the most was that he didn’t know who these men were, and he couldn’t interfere without a reply from the general.

"He has fainted again," one of the men’s voices came from the cave. From his tone, it was obvious this wasn’t the first time the commander had lost consciousness.

The second man scoffed. "He has a tough mind, but his strength is just so-so."

They had not been gentle with the commander in any way, as they wanted to extract the information about the princess as quickly as possible.

No one had ever lasted an hour in their hands without confessing before no matter how strong they were.

"Are you sure he knows where the princess is?" the scarred man asked the one wearing a mask after a moment of thought. After all, with their strength, Eldric should have confessed long ago if he truly knew anything.

"How can I be sure? The kidnapping of the princess has nothing to do with our Gube people. Why would we target a newly married woman? It’s not like she is the beloved of the prince. I heard the marriage was arranged by the king based on fortune," the masked man frowned as he spoke.

"I have a feeling this is an internal strife within the kingdom, or someone is deliberately trying to make our people and Nixel fight to the death. So, I have been following clues for a while. I didn’t dare investigate openly. No matter how capable I am, two fists can’t win against ten. So I paid someone to get information from that general in charge of the case, and his lead pointed to this commander," the masked man explained.

The scarred man frowned. "If that’s the case, why did we kidnap him? We could have just watched him to find out what was going on. We’ve spent so much effort, and now our actions might be discovered; all for a hint?" He felt like this was some kind of joke.

"What do you know? If the general comes this way to continue the investigation, how would we be able to follow and make the first move?" the masked man argued. They did not have time to watch him.

The scarred man still looked uneasy. "Now that he doesn’t have any useful information, what should we do?" he asked after some thought.

"Let’s just kill him," the masked man said.

"Are you crazy? Although he doesn’t hold a high position, killing him is out of the question. Anyway, he’s been badly tortured. We can leave him near their temporary camp and make it look like a robbery," the scarred man refused, even though he knew death was a possibility on this mission. If he could, he had to protect himself.

"Who would believe that? Just examine his wounds and you will know he was tortured. The scene would look fake. Kill him and let them search for him," the masked man replied.

"We are already stretched thin. If something happens to him, we will be hunted next. I am not afraid to die, but dying for nothing? That’s a fool’s end."

" the scarred man said.

The masked man fell silent. Death was not problem but without merit, he was unwilling. "Wake him up," he said after a while.

The scarred modded, Took out medicine, patched up the worst of the bleeding. After all, he didn’t truly want Eldric to die. Fortunately, they had been careful not to kill their victim before extracting information. So although Eldric was badly injured, none of his wounds were life-threatening unless he died from blood loss.

A needle to the arm snapped Eldric awake. His head hung low, blood dripping from his jaw. After hours of pain, death seemed like mercy.

"I will ask you one last time," the masked man said, voice sharp as steel. " where is the princess? If you answer, I will give you a quick death. No one punishes a dead soldier." He said the last part to remind Eldric that if he died no one could punish him.

"If you kill me, no one will be able to find the princess. Even if I tell you where she is, you still won’t find her. My face and voice are the key to locating her," Commander Eldric said.

The two men hadn’t expected to hear this. They had just concluded that he might truly be ignorant.

"Are you trying to fool us in order to escape?" the masked man asked suspiciously.

"Escape? Can I fool you two? You know my men are stationed at the temporary camp in Lowe. Who would come to save me? I just want the suffering to end," Eldric said. His face was already bruised beyond recognition, and his eyes were swollen shut. So this made it impossible for them to read his face.

The two men glanced at each other.

"Tell me where the princess is. We will send someone to verify. If you dare lie to us, we will give you a horrible death," the scarred man threatened.

"She’s currently in Wiwell," Commander Eldric answered.

The two men exchanged doubtful glances.

"Do you think we’re fools?" the scarred man’s gaze turned cold.

"No. Haven’t you heard that sometimes the best place to hide is in the open?" Eldric asked.

In truth, he had been pretending to faint, hoping to take a break from the torture. When he had passed out the last two times, the men had given him a few minutes after waking before continuing their torture. He hadn’t really expected them to fall for it but they had. And in doing so, he learned they knew nothing about the princess and were only working based on assumptions.

He figured he might be able to trick them to stop torturing him.

If he could keep the lie alive long enough, maybe they would make a mistake and he will get the opportunity to escape.