Chapter 1758 - 244 - Battle of the Great Ocean, Part 1 (2)

"Now speak. Why the hell is someone like you in the Great Ocean? I'm not supposed to believe that the only thing you're interested in here is having sex with a mermaid, am I?" I asked while keeping my eyes fixed on him. "I'm going to count down from ten, and once I reach zero, I'm going to make you regret wasting my time."

"W-Wait, what are you..."

"Ten."

"You have absolutely no idea who you're up against!"

"Nine."

"I-I am a vice commander! Do you seriously think it's going to be easy for you to do something like that to me?!"

"Eight."

"If you actually do something like that, don't you have any idea what could happen to you?!"

"Seven."

"You're going to get killed! I swear! The commander I'm serving under will have you killed!"

It seemed like he was genuinely trying to remain loyal to his people, which, despite the circumstances, was honestly somewhat admirable. He was clearly terrified, yet he was still desperately trying to protect whatever information he had been entrusted with.

Unfortunately for him, loyalty could only get someone so far when they were sitting there with their life hanging in the balance.

"Six."

I continued counting down without paying much attention to his threats, and that seemed to convince him that I wasn't simply bluffing. His expression gradually changed as the numbers continued dropping, and the confidence he had displayed earlier was slowly replaced by genuine fear.

"Five."

"O-Okay, okay!" he finally shouted. "I'll tell you!"

He looked like he had spent those five seconds desperately debating whether he should continue keeping his mouth shut or simply give me the information I wanted.

"We want to topple the Mermaid Kingdom," he finally admitted.

That was something I already knew, of course, but until now, I had very little evidence to actually prove it. Hearing him say it himself was enough to confirm what I had already suspected.

They had come here to destroy the Mermaid Kingdom.

That wasn't simply another kingdom standing in their way, either. The Mermaid Kingdom was practically one of the greatest forms of protection surrounding the entire Great Ocean. If it were destroyed, crossing the region would become significantly easier for anyone who wanted to invade the countries beyond it.

That included the Bethlan Kingdom, which happened to be one of the places I wanted to protect.

"My commander said that we should create friction between the Mermaid Kingdom and the people living on the islands throughout the Great Ocean," he explained nervously. "The idea is to make the people turn against the Mermaid Kingdom themselves, so they can destroy it without us having to sacrifice any of our own soldiers."

He swallowed before continuing, clearly becoming more nervous as he realized that I was actually listening.

"The reason for doing that is because the Mermaid Kingdom makes it difficult for the republic to cross the Great Ocean without losing a significant amount of resources. If we manage to destroy it, we'll be able to move through the area freely, which will allow us to cross the ocean and invade the countries we're currently fighting."

"Sounds like that's not your only purpose, though," I said while watching him carefully.

"It is what I was ordered to do, that's all," he replied. "I don't know anything beyond that."

I stared at him for a few moments.

Then I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, making it clear that I wasn't particularly satisfied with his answer.

"Do you really mean that?" I asked as I slowly approached him with Samui's blade.

Samui immediately started complaining inside my head.

She was telling me not to use her for something like this because she absolutely did not want to be involved in the mess I was threatening him with. Apparently, the idea of being covered in a man's cock blood was enough to make her regret being associated with me in the first place.

I didn't actually intend to use her on him, though.

I was only using it to make the threat believable.

"I-I do!" he insisted desperately. "I don't know anything beyond what I've been ordered to do! I mean, I did stray from my orders by paying to have sex with a mermaid, but that's about it!"

I raised an eyebrow.

Well, that was certainly an unnecessary confession.

Still, it seemed like the people above him really hadn't told him anything beyond what he needed to know for his assignment. He knew about the plan to bring down the Mermaid Kingdom, but beyond that, his information was limited, even as a vice commander.

Even so, I was certain there was something else happening behind the scenes.

The problem was that I still had no idea what that something was.

I lowered the blade and reached down to remove the chain binding him.

The moment the restraints came loose, he stared at me in disbelief.

"Y-You're going to let me go?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Of course," I replied. "I was only trying to get information from you. Since you've told me what I wanted to know, I don't have much reason to kill you anymore."

He slowly stood up, still looking as though he couldn't quite believe that I was actually letting him leave.

"T-Thanks," he said with a nervous smile.

I smiled back at him.

For a brief moment, he probably thought everything had worked out perfectly.

Then I stepped forward and struck him hard in the crotch with my knee.

His entire body immediately folded from the impact.

"KuuuuuuuuuUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

His scream was so loud that the entire room seemed to shake around us.

I lowered my leg and looked down at him as he collapsed onto the floor, clutching himself while struggling to recover from the sudden blow. Whatever confidence he had managed to regain after being released had disappeared almost instantly. His crotch was also bleeding, so much so that it immediately pooled on the floor.

"You're welcome," I told him calmly.

I paused for a moment before adding one final remark.

"Oh, and that was for having sex with the mermaid."

His expression twisted in disbelief as he stared at me from the floor.

Considering what he had done, I wasn't feeling particularly generous on just letting him go unscathed.

I turned around and walked away, leaving him behind as he struggled on the floor.

At least he was still alive.

Whether he would remain that way for long was another question entirely, but that wasn't really my problem anymore.