Chapter 187
Hypnosis Magic
Translator : PolterGlast
Seeing him in a daze, I cast further Hypnosis Magic
on the captured humanoid monster. Although his eyes were open, there was no
light in them, indicating he had completely lost consciousness.
"Answer my questions. Understood?"
"...Yes."
He replied so dispassionately that it was hard to believe he
was the same person who had sworn he wouldn't talk just minutes ago. Now, it
was simply a task of extracting information from this humanoid monster.
"First, what is your name? If you have one, tell
me."
"I am Cougar."
"Cougar, huh?
What is your race?"
"Kijin."
So this monster was an Kijin. A higher species of the
Red Ogre, which I had fought near Biodasdal.
As long as the racial name includes 'Ogre,' they tend to
just get larger as they grow stronger, but I had heard that when they evolve
into Kijin, they become sharper... Looking at Cougar, it seems
that information was correct.
"I see. Are you the only Kijin in the Demon
King's territory?"
"No. There are five, including me."
"Five of you? Are you the leader?"
"Our leader is still Rasetsu-sama."
"Rasetsu...-sama? Is this Rasetsu of a
different caliber, even among Kijin?"
"Rasetsu-sama is not Kijin. He is an Ogre
God."
Ogre God. That's a
race name I haven't heard before. Just from the name, it's certainly a species
superior to Kijin, and if such a monster is waiting in the wings, it
remains nothing but a threat.
"Where is this Rasetsu?"
"He is no longer in this
world. He lost his life in the recent battle with the humans."
Hearing Cougar's words, I exchanged glances with Nagi
and Ran. The battle where Rasetsu lost his life must refer to the
battle at Furo Village where I lost my arm.
Realizing that I was the one who killed Rasetsu, Cougar's
leader, made things a bit awkward, but it was the Demon King's Army that
attacked in the first place. Since the fault lay entirely with the Demon
King's Army, I stopped feeling awkward about it.
"That was unfortunate. So, what are you doing here?"
"Surveillance and inspection. I came to verify whether the
humans were attacking."
"So you weren't making plans to invade?"
"The current Demon King's Army does not have
that military strength. I often hear that they are currently gathering monsters
from other regions and stockpiling forces."
It seems the peace everyone in Furo Village felt
wasn't just their imagination. Just learning that the Demon King's Army
had poured all their military might into that battle made forcefully extracting
this information worth it.
"Do you have information on the rest of the Demon
King's Army, or the Demon King?"
"No, I don't know. We just receive vague orders; we
aren't part of the core."
"I thought you were executive class since you were
giving orders to monsters, but you aren't in an important position, Cougar?"
"Those monsters are Hangs, which are
domesticated by the Ogre species. A messenger from the Demon King's Army
comes only once a month just to check on our safety and ensure there are no
abnormalities."
I thought killing him would be the best plan after extracting
information, but if he's not part of the core, it might be better to erase his
memory and send him back. Intuitively, it feels like Cougar is being
used as bait by the Demon King's Army.
While constantly having him check for abnormalities, the Demon
King's Army would likely judge that humans are making a move the moment Cougar's
safety can no longer be confirmed. It would be troublesome for us if our
movements were exposed.
"You've been helpful with the information. Cougar,
you—never met us. The Hangs were attacked and killed by wild
monsters."
"...Yes."
After implanting the additional hypnosis, I stopped the Hypnosis
Magic. The moment the Hypnosis Magic was lifted, Cougar
collapsed to the ground powerlessly, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
I then carried the completely unconscious Cougar back
to the spot where I took him from and left him there sleeping. Now I just have
to pray the hypnosis holds. Ideally, I would want to watch until he wakes up,
but there is nothing more I can do, so I decided to leave the area and return
to Furo Village.
"We should be safe once we're this far! —My heart was
pounding so fast! It was my first time abducting a monster, and I didn't know Graham
could use that kind of magic!"
"Me too. I wanted you to tell us first."
"It was my first time using it on a monster too, and I
didn't think it would go that well. The fact that the opponent was impulsive
played a big part."
"Impulsive? I don't really get it, but it was
fun!"
To explain simply, Aoi and Ran have impulsive
personalities. Conversely, if I say Ginia and Nagi have rational
personalities, it should be easy to understand. And Hypnosis Magic works
easier on opponents with impulsive personalities.
"If you could pull out information that well, you
should have done it sooner."
"There are a lot of things you don't know until you
actually try. Besides, the activation conditions for Hypnosis Magic are
truly strict. As for susceptibility to hypnosis, it depends on the target's personality, so it certainly wasn't something I could try
during the desperate situations we faced before."
It feels like it went too well this time, and I can't yet
predict what will happen when Cougar wakes up. There is a sufficient
possibility that the memory manipulation hypnosis didn't work and our existence
will be reported to the Demon King's Army.
"Hmm, so it's that risky of a magic."
"Personally, I want to investigate more though!"
"There is no need for us to make any clumsy moves. We
managed to find out that the Demon King's Army is in a very critical
state, after all."
"Right! It was huge that Graham devastated them!
Especially that dragon, it was truly too dangerous!"
"I was relieved to learn that dragon was the strongest
monster in the Demon King's Army. The number of times I see it in my
dreams will surely decrease."
I won't tell the two of them, but I also dream of the Ancient
Dragon occasionally. If I hadn't been able to bring out my hidden strength
in the heat of the moment, I definitely would have died, and most of the nightmares
I have are of losing to the Ancient Dragon. Knowing there are no
monsters stronger than that was extremely good for me as well.
Anyway... finding out that the Demon King's Army appeared to be making strange movements simply because they were on the brink of collapse is a major harvest. While the three of us reviewed the information we had obtained, we returned to Furo Village.
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