Chapter Thirteen: Nalia Frost Wasps

The room grew silent and only the barely audible sobbing of Meria can be heard. The atmosphere is getting awkward. Father was tightly knitting his brows as if in deep contemplation. Mother moved closer to Meria and put her in her embrace to comfort her. I was the only one with the usual calm expression, but deep inside, I was full of questions.

Who is the mastermind behind the attack? What are their motives? Is it enmity or is there something they want in this household? According to my calculations, the attack earlier should be just them testing the water. Or is it a provocation? Are they using fear of an unknown enemy for psychological warfare? Tsk, I need more information to get a better understanding of the enemy.

"If we are done with the discussion, I shall take my leave. I will be in my room." I announced before proceeding towards my room.

"...Yuki." Meria whispered worryingly.

...

Meria's ability... Could that God have something to do with her visions? I could understand if it's just once, but she foresaw two future events mostly involving my family, it’s just too much of a coincidence. Even though I don't know how her ability works, I'm pretty sure it's not normal. I could've asked her, but I refrained myself, as she'll most likely don't know either. By the looks of her when she announced what she foresaw, there's probably a low chance of changing the outcome. As I was having such thoughts, it suddenly hit me...

"Why did she have that expression when I first met her earlier?"

She had that melancholic expression, like we've done something irreversible that will lead to a tragedy. Which reminds me, she warned us of the attack, but she didn't tell us what the outcome she foresaw was. Something is amiss. She didn't tell a lie, but it doesn't mean she told us everything.

Should I go back to question her? No, if I'm going to inquire her about this, it should be in private. The possibility of her being an enemy is rising. If it's necessary... I would need to resort on using rougher methods to get her to answer. As I was having such thoughts, I noticed my mood becoming bad. I temporarily put aside such thoughts, as I need to focus on a task that I need to do.

I used 【Dominion: White City】, I closed my eyes and focused my mind. When I opened my eyes, the scenery has changed to a place where there were towering buildings everywhere, it was my domain, the 《White City》. Although only my consciousness is here and my body was still in my room.

I proceed towards the west side of the city. I stopped walking when I was in front of a small building. This small building was called an arcade back on Earth. I proceed through the entrance. There were many video games, redemption games, racing games and merchandisers all over the place, they don't function, though. In the middle of the arcade, there were three unconscious men tied on a chair, they were tied up by a magic reinforced rope to the chair. These people were the ones that I captured earlier, I suspect them to be the scout of the people behind the attack. Although I said I was the one that captured them, the ones that really captured them were my clones that were made with my magic called 【Shadow Clones】.

【Shadow Clones】 is one of the advance magic of Dark magic. My first thoughts on this particular magic was a certain blonde ninja doing mischiefs with the clones. But unlike the technique of that blonde ninja, the clones that were made by 【Shadow Clones】 looks like shadows of oneself. The clones that were made by 【Shadow Clones】 are generally weaker than the one who cast it, only having a third of the strength and agility of the caster. Worst of all, the clones can't use any kind of magic even a simple support spell.

It took 5 clones to take down a single one of them. This not only shows how weak the clones are, but it also shows how strong the enemies were. It was only a scout, yet it took 5 clones to defeat one of them. One must know, just 2 of these could take down any normal C-rank adventurer with ease and could fight evenly with 3 Minotaurs. Of course, it doesn't mean that a C-rank adventurer could even fight a single Minotaur, even if it was 3 C-rank adventurers they'll still have a hard time. Although Minotaurs are strong,I they're also dumber than a rock. A perfect example of brawns over brains. So for me who specializes in agility and strategy, they might as well be rocks.

These guys should, at least, have a strength of a B rank adventurer. Though they might have used magic to resist, but even though my clones only have a third of my speed, it’s still more than enough to dodge simple magic attacks. Their teamwork is top notch too!

To be able to employ people with the strength of a B rank adventurer as mere scouts. This shows that the ones behind the attack, are not ordinary. Judging from the tattoos on their arms, they should be part of the Assassin's Guild. The tattoos should be a rank of strength among the assassins'. Though I could search for the information in the 《Library》, I refrained myself momentarily from doing so, as there could be more information I need to search later. Using 【Library Magic】 to only search a single piece of information will be a waste. I need to interrogate them first. As I was having such thoughts, it seems that they have awakened from their fake sleep.

"It seems you guys have finally stopped pretending to be asleep. Did you get tired of thinking as to what my intentions are? Anyway, because I am generous, feel free to ask any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my ability. You better start now because soon, you will be the one answering my questions." I said in a mock-humble tone. Though it was not the case for my eyes, which was filled with indifference.

"Is your name, perhaps, Yuki Blacklion?" The one in the middle inquired.

"Hou, how surprising. Yes, I am indeed named Yuki Blacklion. For you to actually know of my existence is very surprising. Not only that, to firmly assume that I am named 'Yuki Blacklion', means that you more or less know that I was still alive. I wonder where you guys got that information. Or to be precise, where did your employers get such information." I asked.

The guy in the middle immediately shut his mouth, afraid that he will leak even more information. The other two was the same, they were definitely not going to talk. That's fine, the talking will continue later on. The question is how did they know that I'm still alive? The only ones that know that I'm still alive should only be my parents, Raul, Martha, Meria and her mother. Even the few maids and butlers don't know that I'm still alive.

The child that is named 'Yuki Blacklion' should be publicly known as already have been deceased, 2 years ago. Even the Human King should have no idea that I'm still currently breathing. Is it actually possible that Meria is really an enemy, and she is the one that gave them the information?

No, that shouldn't be possible, there are too many inconsistencies in that theory. First of all, the way that the 3 of this guys looked at me was full of suspicions and doubt whether I'm the real Yuki Blacklion. If Meria really gave information about us, she would've described my whole appearance to them. Secondly, I can't trace any hints of malicious intent from her. Although, from time to time, I see her having a creepy look on her face whenever she looks at me without me knowing. I temporarily erase such thoughts, as it is not necessary. I have three people here to answer my questions, thinking could be done later.

"Based on you silence, I assume you guys haven't got any questions left for me to answer. A pity, you didn't take advantage of my generosity. Now it’s time for my interrogation to start. I shall give another generous offer to you guys, you will give me all the information I want, in exchange for your freedom, that is the easy way. If not, then I will torture the information out of you, the hard way." I proclaim, smiling while I took out a dagger from my storage ring.

"Hahahaha. You think that you, a mere child, can make us, professional assassins, talk? Assassins are trained to have the endurance to resist torture. How can a child like you possibly make us talk?" The guy in the right sneered.

Hou, it looks like I have my candidate for the last one to be tortured. Judging by the tone of his voice, it seems he's rather afraid of being tortured, or, at least, have little experience in them. It would be better if he sees his comrades being tortured.

"Yeah, we ain't afraid of a stinkin' brat. Besides, you won't have enough time to torture us, they will soon activate the Curse magic that was set upon us. Once that happens, good luck getting information out of us! Hahahaha!" The guy in the left mocked.

For assassins, who I think should be quieter, these two guys seems a bit too noisy. Though I can't blame them, as they think this will be the last words they will say. Only the guy in the middle is quiet, he was drenched in cold sweat, he must've noticed it, unlike his two idiotic subordinates.

"Oh, you mean that curse? Your employers have already activated them, long before you guys work up." I said.

"Ridiculous!!" The right guy shouted.

"What nonsense are ye talking about brat? If that was the case, then why are we still alive?" The left guy questioned.

"Ridiculous? You've been here for at least 8 hours if your employer still hasn't activated the curse, wouldn't that be even more ridiculous?" I ridiculed.

Right after I said those words they've become silent for about a minute. It looks like they have at least a bit of intelligence to get the hint. Their expressions became sullen after contemplating, and they've begun releasing cold sweat.

"...Did you remove it?" The middle one inquired after being silent for awhile.

"Hou, how'd you guess that it was removed? Doesn't matter, I'm not really trying to hide it. Yes, I did remove the curse magic 【Detonate】 on your bodies, technically in your head. Though, on how I did it, will be my very own secret. But since I'm still feeling generous, I'll give you a hint. Did you know that Curse magic is connected to Dark Magic? In fact, Curse magic started as just a part of a branch spell in Dark Magic."

They wore a confused expression on their faces, it looks like they didn't get it. Well, that's normal, if I didn't have 【Library Magic】 then I would've never known about it either. It seems that book that I've found the information form, no longer exist in Isaiah. At least, it should already be among the ancient documents as the language of the book was unfamiliar to me. That language isn't used by any race in Isaiah that I know of, so it should already be an extinct language.

"Okay, my generosity has reached its limit. It seems that you won't pick the easy way, so I'll need to do it the hard way." I said taking out a jar of mist, filled with frost both externally and internally.

"W-what is that? What are you going to do with that?" The guy on the right started to panic and whined.

What a pathetic assassin, I thought assassins were more calm and collected. The other two have fear written all over their face, but at least, they aren't as pathetic as the guy on the right.

"Did you know of an insect type monster called Ice Wasp?" I answered his question with another question while tapping the frosted jar with the dagger I took out earlier.

"They are weak monsters that give you frostbites when stung and appears with the coming of winter. They are mostly called pests instead of monsters, though. People always post extermination requests for them, at the Adventurers Guild when it's winter season. Mostly it’s a rank D mission if it's just an infestation, rank C if there's a hive nearby. This tells how weak they are. But did you know it's not the same case in Nalia? They're the one of most, if not the most, dangerous monsters in Nalia. People even changed their name because of how the difference in danger levels they show in the two areas. They're called the Nalia Frost Wasps. They're 5 times smaller than Ice Wasps. I'll assume you don't know them or haven't seen one, as most who have seen them are either dead or currently being larvae food." I continued before they can answer, it was at that time that the mist inside the jar started to move. But if you look closely, you'll see that it wasn't a mist at all, instead, they were minuscule flying insects.

Their faces are now distorted with fear, the guy on the right was even chattering his teeth.

"The Ice Wasps' way of hunting food is interesting, you know? They first hide under the snow or ice, and when an unlucky prey comes near, they'll swarm the target. They also like to hunt when there's a blizzard, they look like snowflakes, so you won't know even if you were already surrounded. They'll get under your skin, pierce through your orifices and worst they'll even go through your genitals and rectum. They'll freeze your body from the inside out. Worst of all, the Nalia Frost Wasps larvae like eating their food is alive, so if you're really unlucky, you'll experience hell while being alive." I described while I accidentally let out a chuckle.

They were all pale now, their cold sweat gone, probably because they've been releasing them non-stop since earlier. I extend the hand that was holding the jar, towards the guy on the right.

"N-no, don't get those things near me!!" He bellowed while his face was distorted with fear.

"Shall we get started with the interrogation? Kufufu." I let out a short maniacal laugh.

End of chapter thirteen.

Footnote: He is 13 here, in case you forgot. And the event where he was assumed dead hasn't been in the chapters yet~

Author's Note: The plot thickens, awooo!! Anyway, the event that happened when he was 11 will be written in a side story. There's one point I've been noticing, Yuki has whip for a weapon, there's bondage, this chapter was full of torture info and there's that 'kufufu' laugh... It's happening earlier than I thought...

Thanks for reading~