At midnight, in an abandoned wine cellar, Leon and his daughters were discussing how to extract the information.
Leon rubbed his wrist, his knuckles stained with traces of blood.
"Torture is useless now. If they were going to talk, they would have after the first punch. If not, no amount of beating will change that."
"Come on, Dad, can you compare your punch to a normal person's?"
Aurora seemed to realize something. "Wait, I need to check if those two are still alive."
Leon held his youngest daughter back. "Relax, I controlled my strength. I have experience with interrogations from my soldiering days, though I didn't do it often."
Noah raised an eyebrow. "During wartime, intelligence is crucial. If you didn't interrogate prisoners often, where did your information come from?"
The old father shrugged. "We just bulldozed through. Didn't need much intel."
Noah rolled her eyes.
"Well, that's… simple and brutal. Very much your style, Dad," Aurora concluded seriously.
"But this time, we can't bulldoze through. We're outnumbered, and there are too many unknowns. To find the exact location of the Heart Scale, we have to get it from those two," Noah stated.
Leon thought for a moment. "Your mother used a spell to read prisoners' memories. Do any of you know it?"
The three sisters exchanged glances, then shook their heads in unison.
"You didn't learn such a useful spell?"
"Did you?"
"I didn't either. Haha… oh, crap!"
Noah elbowed her father in the ribs.
Ah, the good old days of bantering with that dragon…
"So, what now? Torture is useless, none of us can read minds, do we just wait here?" Aurora asked.
"The Blade Unit went to the manor and didn't find Nacho. They'll likely inform the Empire to launch a search soon. We don't have much time; we need to hurry," Noah added.
Despite the urgency, no immediate solution presented itself.
After a moment, Leon spoke up. "Do you know about… the Prisoner's Dilemma?"
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Leon opened the door to the storage room where only Nacho remained, bound hand and foot. Seeing Leon, Nacho snorted.
"You monster… why couldn't you just stay in that rift? Twenty years, and you still come back to cause trouble?"
By now, Nacho had regained some composure. Whatever the reason for Leon's return, it was clear he was after Nacho.
But Nacho hadn't survived the last twenty years for nothing. He eyed Leon slowly, speaking with deliberate calm.
"Ah… whatever the case, I've fallen into your hands. But… even so, the current situation must be quite troublesome for you, right?"
Leon stood before him, silent.
"You captured me in such a hurry, seeking information about the Heart Scale. That thing must be crucial to you, correct? But you don't have much time, otherwise you wouldn't have risked provoking the royal family."
"If you can't get what you want from me, even killing me won't advance your plan, and you'll only draw the Empire's wrath."
"The Silver Dragons are disbanded, Cosmodeous. You have no backup. If you fail, your fate will be far worse than mine. Am I right?"
Twenty years in politics had taught Nacho a thing or two about negotiation. If both sides held cards, there was no need to fold immediately.
He looked at Leon with a hint of smugness, as if flaunting his position to the unkillable man before him.
"Yes, you're right," Leon replied.
Nacho was taken aback. He hadn't expected such a ready admission.
He pursed his lips, preparing to elaborate on Leon's disadvantages to pressure him further. He relished that feeling—being loathed yet untouchable.
Until Leon pulled a dinner knife from his pocket, one taken from the manor.
Nacho panicked, swallowing hard. "W-what are you doing? You can't kill me. You wouldn't dare. I'm a member of the royal court, and I have the information you need. Kill me, and you'll never find the Heart Scale!"
"And! And!—After this, you won't capture anyone else who knows. The Empire will be on high alert."
"No matter how strong you are, you can't snatch a royal official from a fortified net!"
Leon rubbed his brow impatiently. "Are you done?"
"…"
"Your adjutant, Scott, already told me the Heart Scale's location. So…"
Leon shrugged, feigning regret. "You're useless to me now."
He waved the knife before Nacho, its cold gleam reflecting in his eyes.
"No, impossible, Leon, you're bluffing."
Nacho fought down fear and rage. "Scott would never betray the Empire."
"I don't know about the Empire, but ten minutes ago, he certainly betrayed you. My people knocked him out and took him away. By the time he wakes up, we'll be gone. As for you…" Leon tapped Nacho's cheek with the blade.
"Think about it. If you die, who takes your place?"
That line was the spark that ignited Nacho's suppressed emotions. He struggled violently against his bonds.
Leon smirked inwardly. As expected. This old man is too attached to his power to let it go.
His master had been right—these officials were all the same.
"Alright, calm down. The more you struggle, the less accurate my cut, and I'd feel guilty if you suffered too much." Leon's tone was dripping with false concern.
The knife edged toward Nacho's carotid artery. The blade bit into his skin, drawing blood.
"Wait!" Nacho shouted.
"What?"
"How did Scott tell you?"
"None of your business. By this time tomorrow, I'll have the Heart Scale. Pity you won't see it. Such a shame."
The knife pressed deeper.
"Scott only knows the storage location! He doesn't know the guard schedules or the passcodes!"
Driven by fear and fury, Nacho finally used his information to barter for his life and position.
Death didn't terrify Nacho. The moment he took power, he knew this day might come. But he couldn't stomach the thought of Scott inheriting everything he'd built over twenty years. He would not allow it.
"Oh? Betraying the Empire? Not afraid someone will find out later?" Leon asked lazily.
"Pin it all on Scott," Nacho replied.
Leon raised an eyebrow, understanding the implication. "Yes, sometimes the dead are more useful than the living. They can't talk."
As someone who had often been more useful 'dead' than alive, General Leon felt this deeply.
He tossed a pen and paper to Nacho. "Write down everything you know about the Heart Scale. If it doesn't match what Scott said, I'll kill you both."
Struggling with bound hands, Nacho began to scribble, too focused to notice the suppressed smile on Leon's face.
Ten minutes later, Leon exited the storage room just as Noah emerged from the adjacent one.
Father and daughter exchanged a glance. In each other's eyes, they saw one word:
Success!
"Wow! It worked~" Muen, once again her father's biggest fan, showered him with praise.
Even Aurora, witnessing the method for the first time, was impressed. Pure psychology had extracted everything they needed.
"With two or more prisoners, the Prisoner's Dilemma is almost an unbeatable interrogation tactic," Leon explained.
"Faced with it, Nacho and Scott had two choices: remain silent or betray each other."
"But they couldn't communicate."
"So, whether they chose to protect their comrade through silence or betray them to save themselves… who knows?"
"But either way, the initiative was ours. With a few tricks, getting the information was easy."
Muen let out a long "Oooh," her admiration for her father growing, even if she didn't fully grasp it.
Leon and Noah cross-referenced the information from both men. The Heart Scale's location matched perfectly.
"What do we do with them?" Noah asked.
"Knock them out, keep them here as hostages," Leon decided. "We don't know what trouble might come. Hostages are leverage. Even if the Empire decides to burn this place down, we can deal with them in time."
Noah nodded. "Understood. I'll set up illusion magic to prevent the Empire from finding them."
"Good."
Leon looked down at the information in his hand.
Get the Heart Scale, activate the reversal magic.
I will go back.
I must go back.
Rossweise… wait for me. You must… wait for me.
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Under the cover of darkness, Leon led Noah through a secret passage into the Imperial City. This passage wouldn't trigger the perception barrier and was far from the main routes, rarely patrolled.
According to Nacho's intelligence, this passage was built five years ago, known only to those of his rank or higher.
That little clerk from back then has certainly climbed high. Seems serving the Imperial Court isn't so bad.
But Leon had no time to marvel at his "old colleague's" success. He needed to find the Heart Scale.
Following the intel from Nacho and Scott, Leon and Noah skirted the Imperial City's edge, moving inward.
Just as Nacho said, patrols were sparse near the secret passage. They soon found the Heart Scale storage facility—an underground structure with only an entrance visible above ground, guarded by four fully armed sentries. A perception barrier, as strong as the outer wall's, surrounded it.
Forcing their way in would trigger the barrier's defenses and attract more enemies. Only those four guards could deactivate the barrier for safe entry and exit.
Leon and Noah pressed against a wall, observing the guards.
"Nacho's intel mentioned a passcode," Leon murmured. "We need to give the correct code to those guards to get in."
"So we just walk up and give the code?"
"No other choice. These guards don't change shifts; it's the same four all night. No window to sneak in."
Noah blinked. "What if they recognize you?"