The Regressed Mercenary's Machinations-Chapter 331: I Have So Many Questions (3)

Manus continued speaking, oblivious to the cold expression on Amelia's face.

"Yes, the Forest of Beasts is a place shrouded in secrecy. I’ve been as far as the spot where the Runestone was located. I believe I’m entitled to fair compensation."

"Oh, really..."

Amelia nodded slowly, her frosty smile unchanged.

Technically, he wasn’t wrong. Even trivial information deserved compensation; it was a principle of nobility to pay what was owed.

"Fine. How much do you want?"

"Two thousand gold."

At that, the expressions of those present in the grand hall turned grim. Two thousand gold was enough to change the fate of an average commoner.

The audacity to demand such an exorbitant amount under the pretense of information payment enraged them.

However, none dared to voice their anger. Before Amelia, even the most loyal retainers knew better than to act rashly.

"Meow!"

Only Bastet, the ever-indulgent feline, freely displayed her displeasure, her tail swishing irritably.

Amelia chuckled faintly and replied, "That’s quite steep for information."

"This is information that can’t be obtained anywhere else. I assure you, it’s worth every bit of that price."

Manus wasn’t acting recklessly. He believed he was safe.

‘The lord here is known to have a kind heart, right? They don’t kill people without reason. I’ll haggle a bit, let her lower the price, and settle for that.’

Even for a lord, executing a resident without just cause was difficult. A tyrant label could erode trust from their subjects. If the victim belonged to another territory, it could even spark a territorial war.

That’s why nobles fussed over duty, dignity, and reputation.

‘Besides, I was dragged straight from a tavern. Plenty of witnesses saw it. She can’t do anything drastic to me right away. If things look bad, I’ll just run.’

Manus knew that sometimes even lenient lords had subordinates who acted on impulse or framed people to justify punishments.

Although he trusted Amelia wasn’t one of those lords, his cautious nature compelled him to consider every possibility.

‘I’ll start high and settle for less. I never expected to get the full two thousand gold anyway. Don’t worry, my lady.’

It was a negotiation tactic honed from years as a mercenary. The party in greater need always lost.

Amelia finally responded to his demand.

"Two thousand gold is too much. However, since I am quite curious about this information, I’ll offer you two hundred gold. That should suffice, don’t you think?"

"Hmm... Could you make it fifteen hundred gold? I assure you, this information is truly astonishing."

The retainers’ expressions darkened further. Even two hundred gold was an immense sum, and this commoner dared to push for more.

But Manus wasn’t too intimidated. Haggling with nobles had been a regular part of his mercenary days. No matter how displeased the retainers appeared, they weren’t the ones negotiating. The kind-hearted lord was.

Amelia frowned slightly and leaned toward Bernaf, whispering softly.

"Where did you find him?"

"At a tavern," Bernaf replied.

She nodded a few times before addressing Manus.

"Fifteen hundred gold is still excessive. I’m curious, but not curious enough to justify such an expense. You may leave."

"Wait! My lady, this information will truly shock you!" Manus exclaimed, alarmed.

Amelia shook her head.

"It’s still too expensive. I cannot use the territory’s funds for something as trivial as my curiosity."

‘Tch. So she really is frugal and only spends for the sake of her subjects. It’s true, then.’

"Then... how about a thousand gold?"

"Still too much. Even two hundred gold is more than I can justify."

"Five hundred gold, then! Please, my lady!"

Even five hundred gold was an enormous amount. Manus had already resolved to accept the two hundred gold and leave the territory if necessary.

After a moment of deliberation, Amelia finally spoke.

"I’ll consider it. For now, leave. Bernaf, give him enough for a hearty meal and a comfortable stay tonight. He’s entitled to that much for the time we’ve taken from him."

"Understood," Bernaf said.

At Bernaf’s signal, a servant approached Manus and handed him a gold coin.

Manus took the coin, a sly grin spreading across his face.

‘Heh. She’s still interested. A bit more push, and I’ll win this negotiation. She’s hopeless at this game.’

Years of negotiation experience told Manus that Amelia’s lingering interest was evident.

‘She’s not used to haggling. You can tell she’s struggling. I bet this refined lady hasn’t had to deal with anything like this before. Poor thing. Doesn’t want to part with the money, but can’t resist her curiosity. Heh.’

Mocking her internally, Manus stepped back. The gold coin in his hand suddenly seemed beautiful.

"Man, calling me in and handing over money for nothing. Such a kind lord. She’ll get stabbed in the back a lot if she’s not careful. Tsk tsk."

Clicking his tongue, Manus pretended to feel pity for her. His spirits lifted as he began thinking about how to spend the gold.

For the first time in ages, he bought drinks with his own money. It had been a long time since he could afford such a luxury.

"Ah, this is the life. Damn, I should’ve stayed with them back then..."

As the alcohol took effect, old memories surfaced. At the time, he had fled the scene, unable to return to the Jymbar Mercenary Guild.

Even now, he knew Ghislain had survived. He had heard the rumors.

So, he wandered from territory to territory, taking odd jobs to scrape by. But the stories he heard grew more extraordinary over time.

"That rookie noble is now a count and the strongest in the North? And those rabid Wolfhound mercenaries became knights? Damn it... Even that piss-pants Gordon is a knight now, and they all learned mana techniques..."

The more he thought about it, the more his stomach churned. During every war, he had prayed for that bratty noble to die and for the territory to collapse.

Instead, they had all prospered. Ghislain had become the most prominent lord in the North, and Fenris’ knights were famous.

"Goddamn it. If I had stayed, I could’ve learned mana techniques too. I’d have done better than any of them."

Manus had no understanding of their hard work, seeing only the results and seething with envy.

Drunk and cursing Ghislain, Manus stumbled back to his lodging.

The rundown inn felt oddly comforting after his long stay there. Collapsing onto the rickety bed, he muttered to himself.

"Once I get some money from this lord, I’ll start a business elsewhere. Just wait... I’ll become so successful even that bratty noble will grovel before me... mmph..."

Manus drifted off to sleep. But something felt wrong, and he opened his eyes again.

His vision was blurry from the alcohol, but in the dim light, he saw a woman smiling seductively at him.

"Awake now? Feeling alert?"

"Huh... My lady?"

The beautiful woman in front of him was Amelia. For a moment, confusion flickered across Manus’ face, but then his expression turned lecherous.

"Hehe... If you were lonely, you could’ve just summoned me. No need to come to such a shabby place..."

Completely misunderstanding the situation, Manus uttered crude words and began moving toward her.

Clink.

But something restrained his hands. Bewildered, he blinked and turned his head.

"What?"

Chains bound his wrists to the wall. Alarmed, he scanned the room.

The dimly lit space wasn’t his lodging. The oppressive atmosphere suggested he was in a dungeon.

Only then did Manus sober up.

"Wh-where... am I?"

As Manus regained consciousness, a foul stench assaulted his nose. His experience as a mercenary allowed him to quickly identify it—the smell of iron and blood.

“Ugh... Aaaargh!”

Clank! Clank!

He struggled against his restraints, but the bindings held him firmly in place.

Step. Step.

A figure approached Amelia and bowed. The man’s face was rugged and menacing, his presence oppressive. Without a word, he laid out an assortment of tools in front of Manus.

That was when Manus fully realized where he was. This was a torture chamber.

Most likely, it was a hidden room buried deep beneath the castle.

“My lady! Why are you doing this?”

Manus screamed in desperation, but Amelia remained silent, her expression as composed as ever.

‘She’s supposed to be a kind lord! That’s what everyone said! And she seemed like it too!’

What kind of noble used their personal wealth to care for their people? Over the months Manus had observed Amelia, it was clear she was that kind of person.

Her subjects’ loyalty wasn’t something that could be bought with shallow acts of kindness or occasional generosity. It required genuine and long-term dedication to their well-being. Amelia had earned it.

But now, she was capable of something like this without even flinching?

Amelia glanced at the trembling Manus, then turned to the torturer and spoke.

“I have many questions, and I’m not the type to leave them unanswered.”

The torturer bowed, his voice confident.

“I’ll make him remember what he ate for dinner ten years ago.”

“‘Please spare me’ must not be the words I hear.”

“...Excuse me?”

The torturer faltered for a moment, but Amelia’s smile returned, sharper and colder this time.

“Make him beg for death instead.”

“...Understood.”

That would require precision. The torturer, with the meticulous care of an artisan, inspected his tools once more to ensure their condition.

Watching this, Manus felt his mind spiral into despair, his vision growing dim.

Amelia took a seat a short distance away, sipping her tea with serene composure.

Had Manus tempered his greed, things wouldn’t have come to this. She would have paid him a reasonable price and extracted the information amicably.

But he had dared to demand an outrageous sum, treating her as though she were a fool to be swindled.

‘What an idiot.’

She could have simply extracted the information and reclaimed the money afterward, but Amelia had no patience for someone like Manus.

He was clearly the type to exploit any leverage he had, dragging things out to milk every ounce of value from it. He would waste time and resources.

For Amelia, it was better to handle things quickly and decisively. She despised wasting time.

Shhhhhk.

A curtain was drawn across the entrance to the torture chamber. She didn’t shy away from violence when necessary, but there was no need to witness something unpleasant without reason.

“Aaaaargh!”

Manus’ screams echoed through the underground chamber. Amelia closed her eyes and sipped her tea, letting his cries serve as background music.

The torture didn’t take long. Manus, weak-willed and cowardly, confessed everything he knew before succumbing to death.

The process was so brutal that by the end, Manus wasn’t pleading for his life—he was begging for death.

As Manus’ revelations unfolded, Amelia’s expression grew increasingly mixed with disbelief and shock. She cross-examined his statements multiple times, but the details never changed.

Returning to her office, Amelia paced back and forth, her mind deep in thought.

“This makes no sense... He knew exactly what he would find and prepared for it?”

The Forest of Beasts was a forsaken place, abandoned long ago by those who had tried to explore or tame it. No reliable information existed about it. Yet Ghislain had navigated it as if he knew every inch.

Manus had described how Ghislain had predicted every encounter—every monster, every threat, and exactly how to fight and defeat them. The only exception was the Blood Python at the end.

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“He even knew the habits and weaknesses of monsters no one else has ever seen? That’s impossible... completely impossible.”

Considering Ghislain’s background and age at the time, it made even less sense. He lacked the experience and resources to have such knowledge.

Even seasoned mercenaries struggled to fully understand monsters and their behaviors. In the Forest of Beasts, crawling with unknown and bizarre creatures, it should have been inconceivable.

“And yet, he even knew the exact direction to the Runestone...”

The facts were undeniable, no matter how unbelievable they seemed. The results spoke for themselves.

Until now, Amelia had thought Ghislain’s success was due to exceptional skill combined with sheer luck. But Manus’ confession painted a completely different picture.

Stopping her restless pacing, Amelia muttered under her breath.

“That man... He must be getting his information from somewhere. Information no one else knows.”