Trust (part 2)

When he sent the knight named Luke as a messenger, he forgot to mention bringing one extra carriage from the barracks to this location. And now, we seemed to be one carriage short.

"That's fine. I'll stay behind with four other guys. The rest of you, board the carriages with the prisoners."

"""Yes, sir!"""

Gilbert commanded the knights, and then he turned to me.

"You go with them. You'll be the one explaining this to the knight captain, though."

"Naturally."

He nodded at me, and stared at me for a few seconds before finally turning around.

That stare was pretty weird, but I understood why he did it. He did it because he was reminiscing over things that he could miss, thinking about the stuff to say to me before we part.

Because once we part, it will all be handled to me.

But, it's not like we haven't planned this already.

Me and Tyland alongside two of his friends and two other knights boarded a single carriage. The six of us plus a knight as a driver began moving with the carriage towards the nearest knights barracks, which shouldn't be quite far from this position.

During the trip there, me and Tyland got to know each other even better. I told him about the fake me some more, like the fact that I am like an idol to the people, as if I'm a hero or something.

That part wasn't wrong, but Tyland doesn't need to know the length of the truth.

The trip didn't even take twenty minutes, and we finally arrived at the barracks. When we arrived, there seemed to be quite a few knights waiting outside for us. And right after the carriage stopped, I jumped down first while everyone else stayed.

I walked towards the knights waiting by the entrance to the barracks, and the most front knight stepped forward.

"Are you with commander Gilbert--"

"Wait, captain!"

Seems to me that this captain doesn't know who I am, but at least the man behind him does. The knight then quickly whispered some stuff to the captain's ears, and the captain panicked immediately.

He turned his eyes back to me, and he was about to kneel in front of me, but I quickly placed my finger in front of my mouth. 

I gestured to him to stay silent, and not say or do a single thing, and he seemed to understand it.

"Greetings, captain of the barracks. Do you mind if you show us the way to the dungeon?"

I said with a light tone to the captain, and he nodded heavily.

Before long, the knights who came with me jumped down the carriage while still guarding the prisoners. The prisoners were forced to wear a bag on their faces, so that they wouldn't be able to see anything. The reason was so that they can't memorize the path to the jail cells, and that they won't notice exactly where they are.

"Sorry, Tyland. But this is still the custom. Please follow along."

I said to Tyland right after we arrived at the cell. He alongside his friends were already untied from the ropes and is no longer wearing bags on their heads. They have been freed inside this cell, and as long as they stay in the cell, they will be okay.

"I understand. Can you truly guarantee our safety…?"

"Please trust me for now. At the very least, you will still be kept alive."

I said with a grin, but their expressions still looked grim. There is nothing I can do about that, so I turned around and left them.

The captain was waiting right outside the door upstairs, and he quickly bowed to me after I arrived on the top.

"G-Greetings to the greatest hero… I was not expecting you of all people to visit."

I lifted my palms at him, and he stood straight again.

"You were expecting Squadron Commander Gilbert. Have you sent a carriage for him?"

"Yes, his men told me everything, already. A carriage has been sent to Commander Gilbert's location, he should be arriving in less than an hour."

"Very well. Until he arrives, I need you to do somethings."

"Y-Yes, sir?"

I turned my gaze to the stairs below me that leads to the dungeon cells, and the captain knows that I am going to talk about the ethelen prisoners.

"For now, I need you to treat them nicely. Bring them meals, a change of clothes, and anything necessary to make them feel welcomed. Make sure you do everything before Gilbert arrives, because we will start the next step of the mission once he is here."

"Understood!!"

Before long, the captain got busy. He commanded his men here and there to tell them what to do. 

I can see some knights entering and exiting the dungeon with lots of clothes and meals, even pillows for some reason.

The captain is doing his job well…

About forty minutes later, Gilbert arrives. He looked quite disappointed for some reason, and he immediately explained to me about it.

"I thought you'd be able to take care of everything without me… looks like you still needed me."

"I just didn't want to make any mistakes. This is no time to be teaching people, commander."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So, how's your new friends?"

I explained to him the condition with the ethelen prisoners, and he understood what I was trying to do. I was trying to win their hearts by making them comfortable, and then led them to trusting me even more.

"Fantastic. In that case, we can ask anything we want from them."

"What is it exactly that we want, anyway?"

"Well, quite a few things…"

Me and Gilbert then began discussing. It was mainly about what we will do with the ethelens, like what are we going to use them for, and what are we going to do afterwards.

After a long talk with him, we finally have a solid plan.

.

"Tyland."

I called to him coldly from the other side of the cell bars, and he seemed to notice me getting called by me.

Everyone in the cell seemed to be comfortable. Despite the ground being dirty, everyone really enjoyed the new clothes and meal very well. The pillows also seemed to be used, a lot.

Someone was definitely sleeping… Those pillows looked messy.

"It's time we begin."

I said with a cold tone again, and Tyland knows what's up.

He stood up and walked to the door of the cell. I opened it with the key, and he exited. I locked the door again, and I turned to the stairs.

"Follow me."

Tyland followed me up the stairs. We exited the dungeon, and kept on walking on the barracks building. There were a few knights around us watching as we walked, and we ignored all those eyes.

We arrived at a door, still on the first floor. I knocked on the door, and the person inside opened it.

"Welcome. Please, come in."

Gilbert said with a really soft voice. It made me feel disgusted, but this is our acting.

I entered, and followed by Tyland. Gilbert closed the door again behind us as we studied the room.

It's a simple square room with no windows, no air flow, no holes. There was a table and chairs placed around it in the middle of the room. The door that we entered from was made out of metal.

Tyland can easily tell that this place is an interrogation room.

"Don't mind the interrogation room. We won't do anything, we just want some privacy in the building."

I said calmly to calm him down, and he nodded awkwardly. 

I walked towards one of the chairs, and he sat down across from me. Gilbert sat down next to me, and he took out a pen and paper to note things down.

"Now, then. As we have previously agreed, we will be asking you some questions and you will answer them honestly."

I opened the conversation, and Tyland nodded firmly.

"No worries. I will not tell any lies, as long as it is unrelated to me."

"Understood."

I turned to Gilbert, and I nodded.

Gilbert is a master of interrogation techniques. He is a knight commander, especially the one that has been dealing with ethelens a lot. He knows exactly what to say, where to start, and how to deal with any form of interrogation. Including this one, where the subject is cooperating very much with us.

"In that case, let's start from your side first. What exactly are you expecting from our cooperation?"

Gilbert said with his fake soft tone to Tyland. 

The first thing he is asking is what Tyland wants back out of this partnership. I am amazed, Gilbert is indeed a genius.

Because now, Tyland is falling even deeper and deeper into the hole.

"I-In that case…

First, I want the full safety of my friends. The ones right there at the jail cell, I want full protection over them.

Second, I want us to have a place in your human society. While it is true that humans and ethelens are enemies, I still wished to stay with humans since staying with ethelens are… no longer a possibility for us. I want us to have a place to live, a job to get money from, and a new identity to hide our ethelen traits.

And last… I want you to promise that whatever requests or questions you are going to ask, have nothing to do with me or my friends. Promise me all three, and I will comply with everything."

Hearing him giving us all of his requests simply shows us that Tyland is already falling at the deepest hell that we prepared for him. He is already going to trust us with everything, and he is already not going to doubt us anymore.

This is amazing… It makes things so much easier for us.

And yet…

The deepest parts of me…

Does feel a little bad.

But,

"I promise."

I said it anyway.

I continued anyway.

The golden path that will allow me to finish the holy mission.

The dark bloody path that will forever haunt me.

"Then, let us continue."

And so… it continues.

"Tyland, all I have was a simple favor. Just one favor, that was it. I don't have any question, and I don't have anything to ask of you, aside from this.

I want you… to sneak me into Velborn."