Vending Machine - 141 - Hevoy's Interrogation Technique (Patreon)

“By the way, where is that person now?”

“Don’t worry, Mister Bear. Kuroyata is watching from above.”

Following Kikoyu’s gaze, we saw a black bird flapping its black wings gracefully in the sky.

Kuroyata, who I already deemed smarter than most humans, could track people from the sky, was a great asset to any group.

By the way, we, that is Director Bear and Hyurumi, have decided not to disclose Kikoyu’s mind reading ability. Therefore, only a limited number of people know about it. This includes me, of course.

“Mister Hakkon, thus far, of the people who received food from you, no others have obvious connection with the King of the Netherworld. However, if they consciously try not to think about something, I may miss it.”

This was another reason why we did not reveal her abilities. Because Director Bear wanted her help in weeding out any potential spies planted on our side. While I do want to believe in Shui and Hevoy, they were part of the Whimsical Fools, so we cannot rule them out yet. There is no way to know whether they had truly left the group or was just pretending.

So, Kikoyu was asked to investigate their inner thoughts too.

“Miss Shui only have thoughts about food. Mister Hevoy only thinks about shoes.”

I am sorry for making her read these dirty adults’ minds.

So, I guess this means they are alright? At any rate, the voices of their desires were so great that it was really not helpful when it came to reading their inner thoughts.

Still, it was thanks to Kikoyu’s power that we can confirm that there are no enemies among the people close to us.

“As soon as we have their location, the plan is to capture them and have Hevoy and Kikoyu interrogate them. That’s the plan, right?”

“Yes, that is fine with me. I can extract information through illusions and auditory hallucinations. We just need to shake their resolve, yes?”

“I shall also use my Gift to help you.”

We have all agreed to keep Kikoyu’s mindreading abilities vague. Now that we have the consent from the two main players, the method of interrogation have been decided.

Now all that was left is to catch the Commander. I guess it’s best to surround them and capture them in one go.

“Will you leave the role of capturing that person to me? The scandal happened in my place, I shall make sure to take my revenge on them.”

I cannot tell for sure since I cannot see the expression on his completely dark face, but I can feel the hidden anger underlying his voice.

As the Director of the Dark Forest Floor, he must want to clean up the mess by himself.

“That’s fine with me, but if possible, please knock her out without her knowing what was happening.”

“Right, I shall knock her out immediately.”

Wow, he was so angry that he did not even try to make a ‘knock-knock’ joke?

Suddenly, the golden coat he was wearing looked like it was being swallowed into tge darkness. Then, his entire humanoid person sank to the floor, leaving nothing but a round black shadow on the ground.

This must be a Dark Demon’s special ability. The pool of shadow shot forward and smoothly entered into a dark alley. Just as suddenly, the shadow shot back and the Director of Darkness’ voice said, “So, um, where is the Commander, actually?”

That’s right, we haven’t told him about that yet.

“Please wait a moment,” said Kikoyu. Then, she placed her thumb and index finger to her lips and whistled loudly.

Kuroyata made a turn in the sky and then descended.

“You’ve worked hard. Please tell us where that person is,” said Kikoyu as she stroked the crow. It looked like she was stroking the bird to comfort it, but she was really reading Kuroyata’s mind.

"Thank you, Kuroyata. Um, I shall tell you what he tells me,” she said naturally. [1] To anyone looking, it looks like she knows how to speak with birds. Especially with the amount of detail she gave about the place that the Commander had gone to.

The Director of Darkness appeared to know the place and immediately rushed off again. This time, he did not return.

“He’s the guy who handles all reconnaissance and information in our party,” said Director Bear. “So, it’s fine to leave it to him.”

The elderly couple nodded. Since the three of them were former party members with the Director of Darkness, their unwavering trust was proof of the guy’s ability.

While waiting, let’s offer up some food for Director Bear and everyone else who had been so busy that they hadn’t even eaten yet.

A short while later, the Director of Darkness, still in his pool of shadow form, returned. A short discussion later, we followed him to a different location.

It was decided that all the people who knew about the Commander, with the exception of the Big Eater members, would come along for the interrogation. Personally, I still think that there were too many people for an interrogation.

Anyway, a large group of us walked down a sparsely populated path. Aside from trees and bushes, there was nothing to see. It looked like the Director of Darkness must have captured the Commander efficiently and left her tied up somewhere.

Five minutes later, we came to a small wooden hut. At a glance, it was too small for everyone to fit inside.

“Hold on a minute,” said Director of Darkness. He morphed from his flat shadow form into a humanoid and opened the door. Then, he lifted up a trapdoor on the floor of the hut.

Is it some kind of trend to have rooms with secret trapdoors on their floor?

“The room below has excellent soundproofing, so you can do whatever you want.”

In short, it was a room most suitable for interrogation. When the Director of Darkness entered, we all followed after him.

At the bottom of the dimly lit staircase was an old wooden door. When pushed open, it revealed a room that was the size of a normal classroom.

However, it was empty. Not empty as in ‘bare’, but the most crucial person that should be there, the Commander, could not be seen. The room was just bare enough that there was nowhere for her to hide. So, just what is going on?

“Since everyone is here, I shall bring her out now. Urk- blech…”

Hey, did he just… oh, wow, a woman bound in black ropes suddenly emerged from the Director of Darkness. Did he just vomit her out?

Goodness, you can even store people in your own shadow? That’s a pretty handy body type. I must have been in this world long enough, because I was hardly fazed by this scene.

“I’ve dosed her with sleeping medicine. You can do whatever you like with her, put her in obscene poses or doodle on her face, whatever, I’ll leave it up to you.”

Whatever sleeping medicine it was, it must be pretty strong. She showed no signs of waking even after having been thrown to the floor.

“Then, I shall first erase her sense of touch and pain, adjust her other senses to make her think this is all a dream. Shall I make it so that it felt like she was looking at the King of the Netherworld?”

“If her sense of touch is gone, I can hold her up and she won’t know, right?” said the shadowy Director of Darkness as the woman’s body was lifted up by spiralling shadows. [1] It was pretty creepy looking.

Kikoyu stepped forward and stood behind the woman, a hand on the woman’s back.

“What about the rest of us? Should we leave?” [1] asked the ever-practical Hyurumi.

“It’s fine, all she would see in this room, is the illusion of the King of the Netherworld.”

Once again, I have to admit that sensory manipulation is a pretty convenient Gift. I heard that it is less effective on opponents who are more powerful than you, however, since Hevoy is pretty powerful, it should work against most opponents.

Also, it seems like people with simple and honest personalities are more easily susceptible, so Ramis might have to be more careful.

“I shall start now. Her hearing is unimpeded, so please keep your voices down.”

Once everyone had quieted down, Hevoy gently tapped the woman’s forehead with her finger.

The Commander slowly opened her eyes, and blinked sleepily. It looked like she was just waking up.

Gradually, her eyes gained more animation and her mouth widened in shock. However, she could not move her body at all.

“I am speaking to you directly in your dreams. Do you know who I am?”

“Y-yes, I-it’s the King of the Netherworld… yes?”

Good, looks like things are going well. Although the woman looked frightened, she believed that she was in a dream due to a lack of certain sensations. She appeared to have regained some composure too.

“Looks like you know this much. Now, recite our meeting as well your duties, word for word. If you cannot remember this much, perhaps a new Commander is needed.”

Y-yes!”

The approached appears a bit forced, but at least it looks like she believed it. At this rate, we may be able to extract everything we need from her.

“Yes, um, about two months ago, your greatness appeared before me in human form and offered me a deal. If I listen and help you, you’d pay off all my gambling debts and give me enough money to play for the rest of my life.”

So, the King of the Netherworld can transform into a human form? I should remember that.

Still, this quiet and inconspicuous-looking person have a gambling debt? We really can’t judge people by their looks.

Commanders from other floors also said the same thing. None of them had any connection with the King of the Netherworld before they were approached.

They were roped in to become Commanders to fulfil their desire for money or other things. None of them have any detailed knowledge of the King of the Netherworld.

“What was the offer?”

"Yes! While remaining as a hunter and working behind the defence line, I am to give orders to the monsters to attack through this ring. So long as I have this ring, I shall not be attacked.”

These was all information we already knew. Looks like we can’t really get anything valuable from this Commander either.

Was this how he was keeping others from grasping his true plan? No wonder the people we encountered were not particularly competent.

"Is that all?"

"Th-there’s also that thing! About two weeks ago, I met the Leader of the Whimsical Fools. They said they were looking for a certain person. Someone essential for conquering the dungeon.”

Oh, well this is new information. So Leader stopped by this floor. I have some idea who they were looking for. It was probably the remaining two original members.

“Were they on this floor?”

“N-no, I heard their descriptions, but there were no such people on this floor. After I told the leader that, the party left.”

So, they could not find what they wanted here. That was somewhat reassuring. However, if they could freely move between the floors, they have a much higher chance of finding those two people.

Further questioning brought no further useful information and the interrogation ended.

“One final thing, would you take off your shoes?”

Hey, what are you saying while in the King of Netherworld’s form?!

“My shoes? This is a dream, right? I can’t move the way I want to…”

“If that’s the case, I shall carefully remove them in a way that allows the aroma to waft out gently-”

His abominable speech was cut off by Shui kicking him in the back of the head.

The sight of the ‘King of the Netherworld’ falling to the ground at a single kick was actually quite pitiful.

"Eh, the King of the Netherworld... eh! Who are you people?!"

[1] Was it the shock of seeing the King of the Netherworld being kicked in the head that made her fall out of the dream state or did the kick make Hevoy lose control enough for her to break out of the illusion herself?

Not that it really matters, since the end result was the same.

The woman got over her shock enough to start screaming when she suddenly turned pale and became silent when the shadows on the floor gathered itself into a humanoid form and pulled on a golden coat.

“You have a love of gambling and can be quite reckless. However, I believed in you. The last time I lent you money, you cried and swore to never gamble again… I believed you.”

The woman hung her head as the words poured over her head. The Director of Darkness must have a lot of thoughts and feelings lodged in his chest over her betrayal.

It was a bitter ending, but it looked like the Commander issue had been resolved at least.

All that was left to do was to return the residents who had transformed into trees back to their original form. To do this, we would have to defeat the Floor Master.

[Gumihou: Woah, that was unexpected]

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