Chapter 012: Interrogation 1

Du Fan smiled faintly. He was extremely angry at Alfred’s previous failure to help, but he didn’t show it deliberately. Instead, he said in a low voice, “Lord Alfred, though you’re angry, you can’t beat this man anymore. If you kick him a few more times, he might die on the spot.”
Alfred glanced at Du Fan, looking somewhat embarrassed, but still nodded and said, “You’re right, Lord Du Fan. But this kid is really cunning—he almost got away.”
Du Fan replied, “If he weren’t cunning, would so many of us be struggling because of him tonight? Alright, I know Lord Alfred is furious. As for what to do with these four, let you decide.”
Alfred snorted, reached down to grab Casimir from the ground, and sent a burst of light magic at him. Casimir screamed in pain before slowly coming to his senses.
His face was pale, and his eyes scanned the Templar knights around before settling on Du Fan. “Lord Alfred, please… save me…”
Du Fan smiled faintly and said nothing.
Alfred, however, showed a hint of anger. Without hesitation, he raised his hand and slapped Casimir, spitting out, “I’m right in front of you, and you still dare to beg for mercy? Have you never died before?”
Confused by this, Casimir couldn’t help but look at Du Fan again.
Du Fan just smiled without responding.
One of the nearby Templar knights, unable to stand by, quietlyremindeded, “It’s Lord Alfred who’s holding you. As for that other man…”
Before he could finish, Du Fan glanced at him.
Although this Templar knight was several times stronger than Du Fan, that glance made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar—every part of his body felt cold. He almost slapped himself for being so talkative.
But Casimir, upon hearing this, seemed to suddenly understand. His eyes sharpened as he stared at Du Fan, blood dripping from his mouth as he spoke indistinctly, “I see… I see… I’ve always wondered. You seemed so shrewd before, but then suddenly became an idiot… If you’re not really an idiot, then you must be a hypocrite pretending to be someone else… I, Casimir, was wrong to think of harming you. It’s no one’s fault…”

Seeing that Casimir ignored him completely, Alfred grew even angrier. He slapped him twice more, swelling Casimir’s face. As he struck, he cursed, “Lord Du Fan is holy and noble, devout and compassionate—how dare you, a wretch like you, insult him?” With a forceful throw, he kicked him again. Casimir spun several times in the air before falling in front of the three Snow Fox Mercenary Group members who were tied up. Blood gushed from his mouth as soon as he opened it. Seeing such a pitiful sight, even Du Fan felt some pity, but he said nothing more, merely smiling at Alfred, curious about what he would do next. Unexpectedly, after that throw, Alfred didn’t look at Casimir again. Instead, he stepped forward to Du Fan and asked, “Lord Du Fan, in your opinion, are these guys a problem?” Du Fan replied, “They shouldn’t be a problem, but keeping them around would only bring trouble. Perhaps Lord Alfred could just take care of them.” Seeing Du Fan’s half-smiling expression, Alfred felt awkward again. After stammering for a while, he said, “Lord Du Fan, since you’re the one who captured them, you should handle them. Also…” His voice dropped slightly. “Just now… it wasn’t that I didn’t want to save Lord Du Fan. It’s just that our mission couldn’t afford any mistakes… that’s why I had no choice…” Du Fan sneered inwardly, thinking, Good. Even if I say nothing, I can still do nothing to you. But better pray you don’t encounter any trouble in the future. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you know what true death means—my name written backward. Though he thought this, Du Fan’s expression remained calm. He clasped his hands in a prayerful gesture and said, “For the Light God, even sacrificing my life is no problem. How could I blame Lord Alfred for such a thing? To put it bluntly, if I were in Lord Alfred’s situation, I would make the same choice. So, Lord Alfred, please don’t worry.” Alfred laughed heartily. Though he wasn’t sure how much of Du Fan’s words was true, he understood the principle that everyone wants to be praised. After exchanging a few polite words, the two subtly shifted the conversation to other topics.

But after the conversation kept circling back, it eventually came down to the Snow Fox Mercenary Group. Alfred, for some reason, refused to deal with those guys and instead pushed the matter onto Du Fan. His reasoning was that these men had initially caused Du Fan to nearly die at the hands of magical beasts, then tried to harm him, and most unforgivably, they had even allowed some so-called magician to seduce Du Fan—this was not only an insult to Du Fan but also a blatant desecration of the gods. So, for such people, it naturally fell to Du Fan, the priest, to convict them. Du Fan thought to himself, “I’m not from the Inquisition; what crime can I impose on them?” But he still had a few questions for Casimir, so he didn’t refuse anymore. Instead, he ordered a few Temple Knights to tie up the four men and bring them to his tent. After Du Fan entered the tent as well, Nicholas finally stood up, trembling. After complaining about the horrible weather, he said, “Alfred, why did you send these people to Du Fan? From what I know of him, he seems to be a kind-hearted person. I’m afraid he might have a change of heart and release them, which would be troublesome.” Alfred replied respectfully, “Lord Nicholas, there’s no need to worry about that. I know a bit about Du Fan. Though he is pious and compassionate, he’s not that inflexible. I’m just thinking… if he can’t be ruthless, it will be detrimental to our mission… If he approaches Roland Academy with any hope of luck, it’s very likely that we’ll all be wiped out this time…” If Du Fan had heard their words at that moment, he wouldn’t know whether to sigh bitterly or laugh heartily for three days thanks to his years of acting skills. Nicholas shook his head and rubbed his hands several times. Alfred quickly took off his cloak and draped it over him, while the light martial aura around him formed a shield to protect Nicholas. Only when Nicholas’s complexion returned to normal did Alfred retract his aura and say, “Lord Nicholas, you’ve really gone through a lot on this mission.” A faint smile appeared on Nicholas’s pale face as he said, “If it weren’t to preserve my strength, how could I fear such cold? But the outcome of this mission is uncertain, and we don’t know when we’ll encounter the people from Roland Academy. More strength means more security.”

Alfred nodded slightly in agreement. He made a gesture, and the Templar knights surrounding him dispersed. Looking at the empty camp and the flickering campfires, Alfred suddenly felt a sense of doubt—perhaps the outcome of this journey wouldn’t be as perfect as he had imagined…

Casimir was dropped right in the center of the tent, his toes just able to touch the ground, but unable to stand firmly, suffering immensely.

As for the other three mercenaries, they were thrown carelessly to one side of the tent, their fate unknown.

Du Fan paced back and forth inside the tent, his expression unchanged. Only Fei Re remained by his side; the other Templar knights had long since left.

Fei Re seemed to come from an unremarkable background. Though he now worshipped the God of Light, he hadn’t forgotten his old tricks, including this method of tormenting others, which he had devised himself.

Du Fan said little, simply accepting it as settled.

Casimir, trapped there with nowhere to climb up or down, suffered greatly. His combat energy had been sealed by Alfred, leaving him powerless to struggle and forcing him to gasp for breath repeatedly.

Du Fan watched him for a long time before thoughtfully touching his chin and saying, “Lord Casimir, we’ve talked about many things, but there’s one topic we’ve never discussed. You’ve also deliberately avoided it. Now, you should be able to tell me, right?”

Casimir took a breath and asked with difficulty, “What… do you want to know?”

Du Fan smiled faintly and said, “Actually, what I want to know isn’t anything serious. I just want to know what led your Snow Fox Mercenaries to enter the Northern Ice Plains at such a time. Though I’m not very knowledgeable, I do know that spring in the Northern Ice Plains is the coldest time of the year. Unless there’s a special reason, we wouldn’t enter there at this time. So, I’m really curious about your purpose!”