CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: THE INTERROGATION

Dawn arrived. However, the army didn’t form ranks. Marissa and the general sighed in relief—they wouldn’t have to fight today.

"Can Hiro heal more soldiers?" the general asked. But healing required nutrients. While the supply was secure, it didn’t mean they had an abundance. So Hiro only tended to the most gravely injured.

"Erm... he seemed reluctant," Rebecca and the others said. However, since Hiro couldn’t speak, they could only guess his reasons. Luckily, Ralph was aware.

"I didn’t sense any mana or magic in there. Hiro must have used his own flesh to replace the missing limbs of the soldiers," Ralph said.

"I see," Seraphine nodded. "I thought such an ability could only be used on their own symbiote users, but since Hiro is compatible with all, he can heal anyone."

"Eh? You can do that too, Lord Ralph?" the general asked.

"Only for Seraphine. Jonathan can do it as well. We saw yesterday that Jonathan’s hand had recovered. This ability isn’t well known since symbiote users rarely get dismemberment. They either die in a duel or win without lasting wounds. Even permanent injuries can be healed with magic," Seraphine explained.

Healing magic was very rare, but it existed. Similar to Hiro’s flesh mending, it could restore limbs.

"Well, in that case, Hiro was right not to help everyone. I apologize—I thought it was a healing spell. Is he okay? Is there any long-term harm when he uses that skill?"

Hiro shook a tentacle. As long as he had time and nutrients, he could regrow his lost tissue. What he didn’t know was that, for others, regenerating entire limbs would take far more time.

"Report! We have deserters from the enemy ranks. Fifteen half-humans have surrendered," a soldier reported at HQ in Marissa’s manor.

"Well, bring them here. Let’s see what they have to say. Don’t trust a word of it yet," Seraphine said.

"Yes, sir."

And so, fifteen half-humans came to the manor. They bore a variety of beast traits. One had only hair covering his face, some resembled Luna with only tails and ears, and the rest leaned more into their bestial features—with tails, ears, and full-body fur.

Since all of them were male, Hiro had no interest in them. The fox ears on one of them were cute, but his bulging muscles ruined it.

"I heard you surrendered. Is that true?" Seraphine asked. His question seemed obvious, but Latvin was known to disregard the code of chivalry from time to time in this war, so he asked just to be sure.

"Yes. I... I mean, we. We don’t want to follow those Latvin scum anymore. I..." He turned toward the rest of his companions, and they nodded. "I mean, we. We would rather be slaves here than obey Latvin."

"We don’t do slavery here," the general snorted. The mere words that they would enslave them insult him and his code of chivalry.

"They’re looking for asylum," Rebecca clarified. "In Latvin, prisoners of war often treated like slaves and be worked in construction, farmers, or laborers."

"Well, we certainly could use some workers here and there, but we don’t do slavery. Before that, I need to know why you were attacking us. What happened to the Kingdom of Vertia? You’re from Vertia, right?" the general asked. From what he knew, the only beastmen country near Latvin was Vertia. Since Latvin had a human supremacist ideology, it was impossible for the beastmen to be from Latvin.

"Yes. We came from Vertia. Due to Latvin’s human-supremacist policies, we’ve been at war with them for as long as we can remember."

"Did you lose the war?" Seraphine asked. "Can you describe how? Did Latvin have some secret strategy?"

"Ten of our symbiote users were slain. Latvin then proposed we surrender and become a vassal. Without any symbiote users, we had no choice but to offer our princess—Princess Yelan—to their king," the beastman said.

"How were those symbiote users slain?" Seraphine asked. Killing a symbiote users was a rare feat. Moreover, ten at once would crush a small country. Even Litmus only had a handful.

Hiro perked up his tentacles. This might be related to him—he couldn’t afford to be distracted now.

"They had new weapons. They called them muskets. With muskets, even commoners and slaves could take up arms and be a match for level 30 soldiers."

"I see. I didn’t see such weapons yesterday," Seraphine said.

"Slaves weren’t given those weapons, of course. The main Latvin army will arrive tomorrow."

"These muskets—were they only lethal to normal soldiers?" the general asked. "They wouldn’t harm symbiote users, right?"

"Yes. At first, we thought so. But while our symbiote users were busy with their regular soldiers, their own symbiote users ambushed and killed ours."

"I see. Even we can get exhausted fighting an entire army alone. Then, once we’re drained, their symbiote users strike..." Seraphine frowned. "So all of this—the dungeon break, the beastman vanguard—it was all just to exhaust me."

"Hahaha. Other symbiote users might struggle. But Lord Seraphine specializes in fighting armies. No matter how big the army is, he wouldn’t lose!" the general laughed. Ralph specialized in fire. He was like an artillery canon and napalm bomber. Hiro couldn’t see him losing even against an army of millions.

"Brother. What do you think?" Marissa asked more seriously. Unlike the general, she didn’t worship Seraphine. She knew Seraphine was not omnipotent.

"To be honest, I’m not sure I could survive an ambush from Jonathan. That arrow... it was dangerous. Even for me," Seraphine admitted.

"Eh?" The general blinked, clearly stunned.

"I’m gonna kill that bitch! Don’t you chicken out now, Seraphine!" Ralph snapped.

"I’m not chickening out, Ralph. I’m being honest. Can you confidently block Jonathan’s strike?"

"I could! I held that bastard in place! We stopped his knife, remember?" Ralph snarled.

"Can you stop his dagger or an arrow aimed at our neck or chest? I remember him slashing through our armor," Seraphine said calmly.

"That was just a blunder! One lucky strike!"

"Exactly why we need to be cautious, Ralph. This village—no, the entire country—is depending on us. I’ve sent word to King Angus just now. This isn’t some skirmish. This is a full-scale invasion. If we fall, Litmus will meet the same fate as Vertia."

"Hmpf." Ralph didn’t answer. He turned away in disdain, but Seraphine knew his words had gotten through.

Hiro slithered out from Cecile and tapped on the prisoners.

"Hm? What’s the matter, Hiro?"

There had never been a moment Hiro cursed his inability to speak more than now. He wanted the prisoners to bring him one of the guns. He had thought about making guns before, but dismissed the idea, believing it would be useless in a world governed by stats.

Even weapons crafted by him behaved similarly. They performed poorly compared to weapons made by skilled smiths because those carried innate stats. He had assumed there was no way to kill someone with significantly higher stats. But if these guns were actually effective, Hiro could mass-produce them. In fact, making a simple flintlock gun was well within his capability. All he needed was gunpowder.

Hiro had merely been a NEET in his past life. He didn’t realize he might already possess a better form of gunpowder—something he’d refined when Marissa had once asked him to sieve through materials.

"We shouldn’t let Lord Seraphine do everything! We must contribute!" one knight suddenly declared.

"What do you propose, huh?" the general snapped. If he could do something, he would. But the fact remained— There is nothing a mere human could do against symbiote users. They couldn’t even make this so-called gun since there were no prototypes. Even if some were dropped by enemies, their production would not keep up. His hands were tied.

"We could strap ourselves to tower shields. That way, our fellow soldiers could advance and get close to their musketeers! Guns couldn’t penetrate corpses, right? We are ready to die for this country!"

"You’re insane!" the general said.

"We could also lure the enemy into the village. There, we could ambush them. Without range, the muskets would be useless!" another soldier offered another suggestion.

"What about the civilians?! Are you suggesting we sacrifice them!?"

"Our country is more important, Sir! If we fall here, then our chivalry—our values— will die with us," the knight replied, holding his ground even as the general glared him down.

The general sighed, collapsing back into his chair, drained.

"We will not let civilians die, soldiers," Seraphine said, stepping forward. "We will find a way—somehow."

"Yes, sir!" the knight saluted sharply.

"Good. Don’t be a coward. We’ll meet them tomorrow. We still have some tower shields, yes? I’ll reinforce them. They’ll be heavier, but we’ll make it work."

Hiro slithered out in excitement. Crafting things was his specialty. He quickly formed a sizable tower shield made of solid iron.

"Oh well, look at what our boy here can do. He can make a shield! Now we don’t have to worry about them charging in," the general snickered. Hiro’s antics brought a spark of morale back to the team.

Still, both the general and Seraphine knew the truth—they were at a severe disadvantage. The enemy had more soldiers, more weapons, and far better equipment. All they had were a few sturdy tower shields and a flimsy wooden wall. Nevertheless, they had to press on. They had to defend their homeland.

"Alright, rest up, everybody. We have tasks to do tomorrow," Seraphine announced. "And don’t forget the patrol group."

The night passed peacefully. Aside from the patrolling soldiers, the village was silent.

"Hiro... let’s play... ❤" Nana whispered seductively.

But Hiro ignored her. He had a duty tonight. Jonathan could strike at any moment. Many soldiers were still wounded. With fewer troops assigned to patrol, tonight was the perfect opportunity for an enemy ambush.

Hiro slithered his tentacle through the window and slipped it through the crevice of the door. He positioned himself silently, standing guard. Hiro didn’t need to sleep. On normal nights, he would’ve patted his girls or played with one of his girls. But tonight, he needed them to conserve their strength. He also needed to watch out for assassins. Jonathan might come after all.

Yet, nothing happened.

Danger never comes when you expect it.

"Hiro..." Nana whimpered. She had been stranded—untouched—for nearly a week now. Hiro wanted to play with her, too. But if they were late or distracted tomorrow... he couldn’t risk it. Jonathan was nearby. So, Hiro continued the abstinence play, much to Nana’s dismay.

She wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. Rebecca lay awake as well, staring out the window, the stars glimmering above.

"Hiro, are you okay?" she whispered. "You should get some rest. I can stand guard for you. I need you to do your best tomorrow."

She didn’t know Hiro didn’t need sleep—and he couldn’t tell her, either. So, he gently wrapped her in a tentacle and guided her to bed. He even created a cradle-like swing and rocked it softly, treating Rebecca like a child.

"I’m not a baby... Geez," Rebecca pouted. But through sense-sharing, Hiro knew—she enjoyed it. The warmth, the comfort, the headpats... she liked all of it.

Unlike Hiro, Rebecca was human. She had every intention of staying up with him, but once she was wrapped in those warm tentacles and tucked into a bed softer than anything she’d known, her fatigue overtook her.

She yawned once. Then twice. Then, she drifted off.

Before she knew it—dawn had arrived.

The alarm bell rang through the village.

It was time.

Soldiers scrambled to the frontline.