Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)
chapter-74

Chapter 74: Interrogation (2)

The interrogation focused on gathering information on the Thunder Kingdom’s troops, since the information provided by the academy was extremely limited. A few of them even felt that, if they could dig out the troop’s defense formations from the merchants, they could possibly complete the optional tasks with ease.

The notion was perfect, but reality was nowhere near that. No matter how much they hurt the captives, they could not gain any information. They did not know if the Normans really did not know, or if they were just extremely stubborn.

Of course they managed to gain some random bits of information, such as the number of troops the enemy had. The Thunder Kingdom currently had two large infantry squadrons and one medium wolf cavalry squadron stationed at the border, totalling up to about five thousand troops.

Xiao Lin kept on observing by the side. When he heard that, he caught a perplexed expression on Gu Xiaoyue’s face; the girl knew what he was going to ask, so she said, “The humans on Planet Norma organize their armies by small, medium and large squadrons followed by legions. One small squadron is around 100 people, one medium squadron comprises 10 small squadrons and one large squadron is made of 10 medium squadrons. The Thunder Kingdom has two large squadrons and one medium squadron stationed here, so they would normally number about twenty thousand people.

Xiao Lin pointed at the bruised Norman, asking, “So he’s lying?”

Gu Xiaoyue shook her head, “That might not be it. I’m referring to normal circumstances. However, the simulation we’re working on is set in 45 N.C., what I know about this era is not more than what you know.”

They followed by interrogating several other people and arrived at almost the same information. At the very least, they knew that the troops stationed at the border were not as numerous as they initially thought. In truth, Thunder Kingdom was a very small country, so it was hard for them to recruit soldiers. The troops stationed at the border were always extremely lacking in soldiers, and they did not even have enough supplies for themselves. Otherwise, they would not have needed to resort to buying alcohol from merchants.

Xiao Lin quickly noted all that information, since it could be counted toward the task of obtaining information about the troops. As for the combat strength and defenses, the Normans seem to not know anything.

“Bro, I think we need to ask that woman!” The one speaking was called Zhou Feng. He was bald, not very tall, and quite skinny, but he had a look of someone who would always give it his all. He was the one who was saved by Xiao Lin’s ice bullet when they battled the desert iguana, so this guy was looking at Xiao Lin like his savior. He would listen to anything he said. However, he was not used to calling Xiao Lin ‘monitor’, so he stuck to ‘bro’.

That was why when he brought up the idea of interrogation the day before, the others were a bit conflicted, but Zhou Feng stood right up and embraced the task. He even looked to be really skilled at torturing people, being heavy on his hits, but never actually threatening their lives. He had said, “It doesn’t matter if we understand them or not, as long as the Normans know what pain was, then I’ll be able to pry open their mouths.” The Normans that were interrogated by him were left breathing heavily, constantly repeating the same phrase. After asking Gu Xiaoyue, it turned out that they were calling him a demon.

“These are all small fry, so they won’t know much.” Zhou Feng wiped sweat off his forehead as he took a large gulp from a canteen. He had filled it with alcohol, and it seemed to be quite strong, so he would drink it every time he felt uncomfortable.

The rest of them looked to Xiao Lin; they had labored for an entire day, and a lot of them were not very good at interrogation. However, Zhou Feng’s instructions allowed them to more or less pick some things up, causing them to gain quite a bit of information by the evening, but it was all more or less the same.

It was obvious that those small fries did not know a lot, and the real one at the helm was still the woman. However, Xiao Lin had told them not to touch her and everyone had obeyed.

After the battle the day before, even though these students were not to the degree of worshiping Xiao Lin, they had all recognized Xiao Lin as the monitor in their hearts, at least for the exam.

The most important thing was that, even though they did not choose any magic-based classes, they still knew a lot from discussions on the forums. In just one month, Xiao Lin had mastered two skills. There was nothing more shocking than that. Even Gu Xiaoyue could only look at Xiao Lin’s flame shield in shock and disbelief during the battle.

Those who were injured or poisoned were especially grateful and respectful to Xiao Lin, since technically they owed him for saving them.

That was why the question of interrogating the woman was ultimately left to Xiao Lin to decide. With everyone’s gazes on him, Xiao Lin was deep in thought, then finally walked toward the woman. Zhou Feng gaped and hurriedly followed him alongside Gu Xiaoyue.

“@#￥%…&;*” The woman spat at Xiao Lin when she saw him, spewing out a string of words with intense passion.

The woman was thrown out of the cave for the whole day. Other than occasionally feeding her a few mouthfuls of water, she had been left under the scorching sun. He was not intentionally trying to torture her, but rather just could not help but be wary of her.

The merchants were not that big of a threat, and all of them could be left unattended. The only problem was this mage. According to Gu Xiaoyue, casting a spell was a process requiring manipulation of the elements. In the early stages, it still required a wand or some hand movements to speed up the process. However, experienced mages could completely ignore that step.

They were still not sure what level the woman was at, so before they could get a better picture, all they could do was temporarily enact some measures. Making her stay in the scorching heat and only feeding her a minimal amount of food and water were all to weaken her mentally, and her hands were bound so that she could not make any movements.

Other than that, Lu Renyi was tasked with guarding her with a bow about two meters away. He was meant to be on full alert and could kill the woman at the slightest movement, not giving her any chance to cast a spell. If it was only two meters, Lu Renyi was guaranteed to hit her, especially after getting ample rest.

Xiao Lin stopped Gu Xiaoyue, who was about to speak, “You don’t have to translate that; I know she’s cursing at me. Ask her if she wants to save her companions.”

Gu Xiaoyue tried to translate the words with her limited vocabulary, and got an answer very quickly, “She rejected the offer. It seems like all those people are just slaves from her family or some unimportant folk? I don’t really understand the words, but the general meaning is she doesn’t care.”

Xiao Lin huffed and pointed to the man who was kneeling not far from her. “How about him? Do you not care about him either?”

The man was the one who was the first to drop his weapon and surrender the day before, so Xiao Lin had a bigger impression of him. During the interrogation that day, Xiao Lin accidentally noticed that, even though the Norman woman was enduring the heat outside, every time Zhou Feng interrogated this man, she would try to shoot a few sneaky glances inside.

Xiao Lin did not pay it any mind initially, but after a day, especially after he had purposely asked Zhou Feng to pay more attention to the man, he reached a conclusion. Whatever status the man had, the woman seemed to care about him a lot!