Eira could wake up at any
moment now, and it would only be a matter of of time before they discover the
interrogation taking place in this room.
He had to get Kyle to confess before then, no matter what it took "...Bring me the Slave collar," Bahram ordered in a low voice.
The surrounding knights all widened their eyes in surprise. "I-It's a felony to
use the slave colar on a suspect without permission!" one of the other
knights stammered.
The slave colar was a magic artifact that bound the free will of the
wearer and compelled them to obey the orders of their registered owner. If the
wearer rebelled against the order, the owner could chant a phrase to inflict
sharp pain upon the wearer's body. Furthermore, because the artifact had a
history of being abused for malicious intentions, there were strict national laws
imposed around its usage. Such laws included the wearer being limited to either
slaves or criminals, and its actual use had to be reported to the government.
Bahram, having lost his rational mind, was going against protocol.
"Just,bring it —"
On Bahram orders,One of the knights present there went to fetch the slave collar.
After some time the knight came in with a black metallic collar in his hands and gave it to Bahram.
Bahram took it and then came near to Kyle and said "Brat you forced me to do this."
Bahram poured his magic essence in the collar and then extended his hand to put the collar on Kyle.
But just as he was about to put the collar on Kyle, Kyle broke the shackles placed upon himself and landed a kick on Bahram's chest which sent Bahram flying straight into the wall.
On seeing this the knights present in the room unsheathed their swords from their scabbards but before they can attack Kyle a voice told them to stop.
"What do you think you all are doing"
the door to the underground room slammed
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open. Startled, all the knights in the room whirled to face it. In the open doorway stood Alice , the female knight that escorted Kyle to the castle. She took in the state of the room and furrowed her brow.
" What do you think you're doing, Lord Turner?" she asked in a furious voice.
"...An official interrogation by the authority of the deputy commander of the Royal Guard."Bahram nearly stumbled over his words, but he answered
immediately, his reply bold and calculated.
"I assigned one of my own subordinates to the investigation," Alice objected.
"That person had a mission arise. I was available and took over instead."
"...Why was there a need for the deputy commander of the Royal Guard to
personally take over this investigation?"
"That's because this investigation is partially my fault. I felt a sense of duty
over it. Is there a problem with that?" Bahram asked nonchalantly.
"I believe I sent a message for the boy to be treated gently, as there was a
possibility he was Princess Eira's saviour" Alice looked over at Kyle hanging
suspended in the air.
"Hmph. Something like that may have been mentioned. However, I highly
suspect that this boy is deeply involved with Her Highness' kidnapping," Bahram
said, feigning ignorance.
"Do you have proof of any crimes outside of his statement?"
"I merely deduced it from the circumstantial evidence. The possibility exists,
wouldn't you say?"
"...True, but shouldn't you have waited until Princess Eira woke up?"
Alice inquired.
"We'll agree to disagree there. Or are you saying I can't be rough against Her
Highness' savior? That will only make the truth more difficult to uncover."
It was just one excuse after another. He sure knows how to talk in circles,
Alice thought.
"...Well, it seems like he's Princess Eira's savior after all. Did you find any
connection to the kidnapping?"
"Fortunately, he seems uninvolved. His Majesty would have been most upset if she were to find that Her Highness' savior was a criminal, after all. Oh, but this kid had attacked me during the interrogation I think we need to look into that too." Bahram said while removing stains of blood he coughed up due to kyle's attack from his lips.
"Oh, Lord turner, do you think I didn't see you trying to place a submission collar on him.
Not to mention I don't know how will people react when they hear a small seven year old orphan child was able to successfully land a hit on the deputy commander of the Royal guard."
On hearing this Bahram face turned black. Not to mention using a slave collar without the permission of King with his current condition even the news about Kyle successfully landing a hit on him would be enough to make him lose his position and he would even become a subject of joke between knights and nobles.
Bahram said"Ahem, well I had also been careless in this matter so let's end it here.
"Then I'd like you to stop the interrogation here. Princess Eira's savior should
not be treated so rudely. His Majesty wanted to meet him as well."
"In that case, I will gladly step down here. Hey. Remove the shackles," Bahram
ordered. The knights hurried to remove Kyle's shackles. With no energy to
remain standing, the boy fell to the ground.
"We'll be taking our leave now. I have other things to do, after all."
With those words, Bahram and the other knights left the dungeons hastily.
The only ones left behind were Kyle and Alice.
"...My apologies. I'll call a sorcerer who can use Cura immediately," Alice
said as she approached Kyle, who was lying face down. "Can you stand?"
Kyle ignored Alice's voice and tried to rise on his own.
"Ugh..."
Intense pain ran throughout his body, causing Kyle to fall instantly to the
ground again.
"Don't push yourself. Your bones might be fractured. I'll carry you, just stay
still—" Alice said, reaching out to Kyle with a careful hand.
"Don't... touch me..." Kyle slapped the hand away.
Alice paused, staring at her hand in shock.
"Umm. I'm sorry. I'll call a healer here, so just stay put." With a conflicted
expression on her face, Alice left the dungeon.
