American Isekai - Chapter 193

September 10, 624

“Shit.”

“Move over…”

I heard some curses as my steps took me toward one of the rec centers in the 2nd layer of the Treehouse. A few people scrambled out of the way when I approached a doorway. I couldn’t help but think that fear had begun to replace the respect I had spent so long cultivating. 

Once I went through the doorway and entered the building, dozens of eyes fell on me. The anxiety became palpable, amplified when the Chief to my right walked into view as well, a knight wearing full plate armor. 

I stood there and looked around, quickly finding my target. Everyone else put a stop to what they were doing, freezing in place and staring for a second before many started to salute, even those who were of higher rank than I. 

It was dead silent, so I smiled a bit. 

“At ease, everyone. I’m only here for one of you.”

I said that and started walking over to one of the clusters of couches. Sitting on the arm of a couch was a knight, a Commander sitting at Authority 7. 

He straightened up when I walked up to him. 

“Commander Ilmar, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“Sir? I-I’m not sure what’s going on. I didn’t think the Envoy would have any business with me…”

He stood and took a step back, making my brows raise. His nerves were screaming through his Aura. He was panicking, even though he tried to play it cool. 

I kept my face neutral.

“We need to ask you some questions about your recent mission.”

“W-What about it? I’m still recovering from it.”

“Sir, the matters we need to discuss are… sensitive. You need to come with us.”

The Chief beside me stepped up a bit more. We were trying to keep things subtle so people didn’t freak out, but people like this never made that easy. I also needed to get this guy before he tried disappearing within the base, or leaving altogether. This couldn’t wait until night even though I didn’t like doing this under the noon sun. 

He made a mistake, and I was capitalizing on it.

Ilmar took a side step, putting me between himself and the Chief just a bit more. 

“I don’t know what’s so sensitive about my mission, but it's nothing we can’t discuss here, no?”

“I’m not allowed to divulge the details of our investigation. Again, please come with us.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what this is about!”

My face fell as his voice raised. The Chief beside me took a step forward, but I put my hand up to stop him. 

Here goes another, trying to make a scene. 

Instead, I chose to bite a bit. 

“Your entire platoon was wiped out on your last mission. I’m here in order to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, and since you’re not only the last surviving member of your former platoon, but its leader, I need to bring you in and ask you some questions.”

“What is there to ask? I was the only one to survive precisely because I was the strongest in the platoon! I did my best, but even I was barely able to get away! There’s nothing more to say!”

“No? Are you sure you didn’t desert your soldiers?”

My brow raised when I watched his Aura grow hostile, like a dog being backed into a corner. 

“Or, perhaps you’ve done something worse. I can’t say, but no matter what, this matter needs to be investigated. You’re coming with us.”

“No! You’re just trying to make stuff up so you can kill me! Just like you’ve killed all the others! You think I haven’t heard about what you’ve done?! I’m not going to let you frame me!”

“Aiya…”

I sighed and brought out a Model 77E shotgun, swinging the barrel around and planting it right on his kneecap.

The explosion made my ears ring a bit.

“AAGHHH!”

His screaming made the ringing worse. Well, it took his leg off so I could understand. 

I leaned over, looking down at him.

“I’m not asking. You’re coming with us.”

“Fuck you!”

I firmed up the trigger when he swung his arm, pulling it right when my barrel was near his elbow. His forearm and hand went flying, blood splattering across one of the nearby couches. 

He screamed more while clutching his bicep. He didn’t have his armor so I wasn’t exactly afraid of him. It took a bit of Psyka but it wasn’t like I didn’t have plenty to spare. 12 gauge slugs could pack a lot of power in, making feats like this relatively easy. 

I racked the slide, letting the shell fly out. I kept it open for a few seconds after, getting a good whiff of the smoke before slotting in a buckshot shell and closing the bolt. 

I pointed the barrel at his other leg.

“How about now?”

“Haahhh!! Hahh… Fuck! FUCK  YO-!!”

My trigger pull interrupted him. I was pretty sure buckshot hurt more, especially to the thigh. 

After that, I waved. 

“Keep him alive until I get there.”

“Understood.”

The Chief beside me nodded and stepped forward, grabbing Commander Ilmar and dragging him out of the rec center. 

Once his screams died with the distance, I looked around and saw everyone staring. 

I put my shotgun away, eyeing a few people before smiling. 

“Apologies for the unsightly interruption, gentlemen, ladies. Have a good day.”

I turned on a heel and walked out, a few people stiffly saluting me when I went past them. 

I went to the relatively new prison near headquarters. I called it new because there used to only be two cells in an aboveground structure. Now it was a dungeon with two dozen cells. 

To say that I had cracked open a can of worms 4 months ago was an understatement. 

After getting promoted to Lieutenant Colonel I was put in charge of a new division within the Treehouse, specially created so that I could do the new job that nobody in this world had thought would ever need to be created. 

Counterespionage. 

The Scourge, through temptation, corruption, or otherwise, had sunk its claws into the various levels of the military. It picked out certain people and used them to sabotage our operations. The Treehouse was not the only base to have this problem, but apparently, we were the first to do something about it. I had to give my respect to Marshal Boores, because he had understood that fact and had created a division to that end. 

Boores was the head of the division and I was his executioner. He wanted the problem solved, and I solved it. He had to make the final calls, such as whether or not we killed, interrogated, or even released certain individuals, but everything else was basically left to me. 

Why was I the one to get this job? Well, like with my handbook on how to handle hazardous materials, toxins, and other contaminants, I had put together a text on what it meant to carry out counterespionage. It wasn’t like I had training on the subject from Earth but I had taken glimpses at the field and in the end, it all came down to surveillance, security, and psychology. My rudimentary knowledge on the subject was far more than anything these people had in this world. 

I had to remind myself, but the Kingdom of Dragon Tongue seldom has infighting. The eternal threat of the Scourge did a good job of forcing humanity to hold a united front. That’s why the only two governing entities in this world, encompassing all of humanity were the Kingdom and Church. There weren’t dozens of countries and there wasn’t a lot of technology to create dark corners for people to dissent from. 

What I put down was nothing more than the basics, things I took as common knowledge. Marshal Boores really liked it though and thus, I was placed in charge of our new counterespionage division, an organization underneath the intelligence division. 

I had been given an entire company of intelligence agents and soldiers to utilize as I saw fit. I was responsible for educating them and managing their tasks. Apparently, leading a company wasn’t that far from normal Lieutenant Colonel duties anyway. And since everything was left up to me, I got valuable experience being a leader. 

After walking a bit I arrived at the prison. There was plenty of screaming when I opened the door, a healer keeping our new friend alive. 

The Chief that brought him here saluted me. 

“Sir. What shall we do with him?”

“We shall get answers from him.”

“Understood. How much longer do we need him?”

“Today is good enough.”

I looked at the dismembered knight, feeling the familiar pangs of anger rise. I knew what this man had done and I wanted to know why he had done it. He had killed off three dozen soldiers, and it was for a reason. 

The Chief waved to the healer. 

“Come.”

“Yes sir.”

The healer stopped working on Ilmar, leaving with the Chief and leaving me alone in the cell with him. 

I stepped over. Ilmar had been stripped to his underwear, revealing certain tattoos that looked to be engraved across portions of his skin. They were red, fresh with the power of vitality, and looking particularly demonic. That alone was enough to condemn him to death.

A knife appeared in my hand, a Ka-Bar specifically. It was a good knife and I liked the way it felt in my hand. 

I smiled just a bit as I stabbed the blade into Ilmar’s thigh, the one that had been turned to mush from my buckshot blast. 

“AAHH! Fuck!”

“Why did you do it?”

“Fuck you! I didn’t do anything!”

“This inscription tells me otherwise.”

“Aaahhh!”

He screamed as I carved a circle around the demonic symbols on his chest. 

“I know exactly what you did. Now I need to know why. These inscriptions give you greater power, but I didn’t think that would be enough to make you turncoat. Then again, you suddenly advanced so maybe that was worth it to you.”

I ripped the knife out, making Ilmar scream again.

“That tired of being in Authority 6, huh?”

“Fuck you!”

“I mean, you are 54 years old. I can imagine being frustrated, especially since you’re still in the military. Old, worn, not enough talent to go any farther.”

“Shut it, fucking punk! Your worthless brain could never understand!”

“You’re right, and I take pride in that.”

“AGGH!”

I stabbed again, pinning his arm to the wooden bed underneath him, staring into his eyes. 

“I’m too fucking good to sit around worthlessly like you. And unlike you, I don’t need demonic power to get better! But at the same time, I guess I do understand a bit.”

I stabbed again, pinning his other arm. 

“No matter where you go, worthless piles of shit like you will always stoop to the lowest in an attempt to take power they don’t deserve. Thankfully, all of you are also idiots. It’s been almost too easy to catch you all!”

I ripped the knife down his arm, earning more guttural screams. 

At some point though I pulled it out and stood to the side, grabbing a wet cloth from a fresh water bucket and wiping down my blade. 

“So, Ilmar, tell me when, where, and who.”

“Haah… You’re going to kill me anyway. Why should I tell you?”

“I’m sorry, do you not fear the pain I’ll put you through? Since you know you’re going to die, then give me the information and let me end you quickly, painlessly. You wouldn’t want your last few hours to be spent in sheer agony. Besides, who the hell would you be fighting for? IT’s not like the Scourge cares about you.”

Once my knife was clean I looked over, seeing the blood stream out of Ilmar’s body. He was a knight so I had a few hours left with him. If I had locked away his Vigor then that time would’ve been shortened to minutes at best as he bled out. 

A blessing and a curse, being so tough. 

I walked over, tracing the tip of my knife over his body. I didn’t draw blood, didn’t even scratch him, yet he shuddered. I could practically taste the fear, the anticipation for what I would do. 

Guns were great tools to induce fear, but they hurt too quickly. Most often, it was the anticipation that got to people. That meant you had to brandish these slow, deliberate tools like a blade in order to grow that anticipation. 

“First question.”

I placed the knife near one of his fingers. He knew I’d cut it off if he didn’t give me a satisfactory answer. 

“Where did you meet the Royal who offered to help you?”

“...”

He was silent, looking at me and breathing heavily. 

Once 7 seconds passed, I sliced the knife across the wood bed, taking off half of his index finger. 

“Aaggh!”

“Answer me, Ilmar.”

“Just kill me, asshole!”

“When I get my answers, I will. Same question. You have 7 seconds.”

“Dammit! Fuck!”

He cursed a few times, counting down. His breathing got laborious when the 7 seconds approached, and he grit his teeth when it arrived. 

That’s when I suddenly reached over and grabbed a chunk of flesh on his scrambled thigh, twisting and pulling. 

“GAAHHH! Shit!”

“Answer me, Ilmar.”

My face fell, my anger rising. This guy had literally no reason to withhold this information from me beyond sheer spite. The stupidity was driving me up the wall, and I didn’t want to deal with it. 

I let my Aura bloom into the surroundings before concentrating it fully on him. His eyes widened, probably because he could actually feel me reaching into his mind. 

He didn’t have a powerful Aura. His talent ended when he reached Authority 6, which is why he sold his soul to acquire demonic power and reach Authority 7. It had been only been yesterday, right before he left for his mission, that he advanced. 

I knew how knew that my Aura trumped his own by magnitudes. However, there was one particular… ability that I had that only 4 other people I knew could boast. 

Anarchy.

I triumphed over Anarchy, which meant, to some extent, I could wield it. In a way, Anarchy never left my mind, nor the minds of my squad. We had just rationalized it, so suppressing it came unconsciously to us. It was never a worry, and I had never thought about it much after those days following Purple Sky. 

But there was no reason I couldn’t utilize that insanity. I had experienced it. I had succumbed to it. Now? I could wield it. 

Anarchy permeated my Aura and with my power of the mind, Ilmar’s psyche began to corrupt. The same insanity that Anarchy spread throughout Purple Sky began to take root in Ilmar’s mind. While it was severely watered down compared to the real thing, Ilmar was also facing one of the most powerful summoners in the world, someone who utilized illusions and mental trickery. 

His struggling began to fade, and after a dozen seconds, picked back up. He was already locked down to the bed and couldn’t move anywhere, but he pushed out his knightly power as best he could anyway, grinding against the metal and drawing blood as his skin tore. 

“Let me… Kill me!”

“Answer my question, and I will.”

“No… Please, I just… Kill me!”

“Answer my question!”

I pressed the knife against his throat. Now though, it wasn’t a threat. He wanted death, severely, and I was withholding it from him. 

“If you want what only I can give then you’ll answer my question. And don’t think that I can’t keep you alive. There’s a healer right outside that door.”

“Argh! Fuck!”

“Where did you meet the Royal who offered to help you?!”

“On a mission! When we went out to push back a contingent in the field! I met her on night watch…”

“Who’s her?”

“She… was a temptress.”

“No shit.”

I felt like rolling my eyes. Of course it was a temptress. Half of the people I’d caught were tempted by them. It was no wonder they got that name. It felt like I’d have to start blindfolding my troops so they didn’t get seduced by demonic whores. 

“Go on. When did you meet?”

“It was during a night watch. She said she could help me… Not just power, but she would pull back her troops and let us clear the area.”

“And it did it out of the goodness of its heart?”

“Well… She wanted me to help her… and then join her.”

“Yeah.”

I knew exactly what she wanted him to do. Kill off his platoon before ditching the base to join her. Except, he fucked up by returning to base and letting me get my hands on him. 

I thought about the records I had sifted through, well over a year’s worth of records that had taken me nearly 2 months to go through and find out how many people were not killed in action yet went mission anyway. People that never came back but never had a confirmed death. There were a few dozen of them, all of them in the middle ranks like this Commander. 

Well, Commander Ilmar had been promoted to commander not because he had reached the Authority 7 standard, but because he was old, experienced, and was a good leader. He was trusted and so he earned a rank one step higher than his Authority should warrant. 

Seems like he wasn’t satisfied and bit at the first sign of bait. That Temptress hooked him in and used him. He would’ve been another soldier added to the Scourge ranks if I hadn’t gotten my hands on him first. 

Of course, we’ve also lost three dozen soldiers due to him. An entire platoon whose combat power we could no longer use. 

I felt my anger rise. I was getting just about everything I needed from this guy. I was a few questions away from killing him. 

“So what, you just saw the temptress and left with it? Did you sneak out? Did it slip you a message somehow?”
“...It talked to me… In my mind.”

“Telepathically? Like a voice in your head?”

He nodded, making me narrow my eyes. That was new information. I had never been told that before. 

“It was the temptress that spoke to you in your mind?”

“...I think so.”

“When you met with it, were there any other beasts or monsters with it?”

“There was a Scout… and some weird mushy thing that she carried. It was alive, but had no eyes or ears, not even a mouth. It was… like a ball of flesh with arms.”

“What did it do?”

“I don’t know…”

I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh, feeling my blood pressure rising. Another species and I had no idea what it did. Part of me wanted to assume but I really couldn’t. Maybe it was the thing that was communicating with Ilmar telepathically. Maybe it was some kind of concealment species. Maybe the Temptress had telepathic powers and that thing was like some kind of pet. The pet part was unlikely since there was no way it wasn’t a specialized species, but I couldn’t know. I’d have to either watch or capture one to figure it out, and I doubted that would happen anytime soon. 

For now, all I knew was that the Scourge was drawing out troops via telepathy. It was a brilliant way to communicate and leave no trace, safe for both the Scourge and potential traitors. 

Did the Kingdom not have magic blockers or jammers or something? That would make my life so much easier. 

After calming myself a bit I resumed asking questions. I tried to get finer details out of him but the insanity was getting to him by now and his answers were marred by grunts, groans, and pleas for me to kill him. 

When I was finally done, I simply put a pistol against his head and pulled the trigger a few times. 

I closed my eyes again, taking a few deep breaths before walking out of the cell. The Chief on standby saluted. 

“He’s dead. Get rid of him.”

“Yes sir.”

“I’m going to bathe. Got that swine’s blood on me.”

“Sir, General Viskar has asked for your presence.”

“...Why?”

“The messenger didn’t say, but the Marshal is there too. They’re waiting.”

“Then they better like the smell of blood.”

I muttered while walking off. I had a feeling I knew what they wanted but I was too pissed to care whether they were upset or not. 

Since headquarters was right next door I simply popped over and went to the Marshal’s office. Inside was General Viskar.

Marshal Boores eyed me when I walked in. 

“Envoy. How was the prisoner?”

“He spilled what he knew. Another temptress, another weak willed man. Now though it seems we have an issue with these temptresses speaking into the minds of our soldiers, calling them out to tempt them, as well as a new species that I have little details on.”

“I see.”

He nodded, pondering a second before looking back at me. 

“You’ve been doing great work, Envoy. Your performance has always been exceptional, and the amount of traitors you’ve caught, while not yet affecting significant numbers like casualty rates and the like, has brought us great peace of mind. We know there are far fewer traitors in our midst and we have you to thank for that. So tell me…”

He leaned forward, anger marring his brows. 

“Why have I received orders from the rear saying that you’re going to be spending half your time back in the capital?”

I looked down at his desk when he threw forward a small bundle of papers, a letter from not just a general, but a Sovereign. I recognized the insignia stamped on it. 

Marshal Boores was not pleased.

“You’re going into enchanting? That’s the only reason for you leaving I can think of after hearing Sawn’s name.”

“...Yes sir. I’ve studied enchanting before and I feel I have valuable ideas to bring to the field.”

“You’re a smart man, and I don’t doubt that you do. But you’ve taken on a lot of responsibility here, you’re managing an entire division, and it's producing results. My question is, why are you doing this now? Unless you’ve trained someone to take on your role, your division will cease to be effective and I’ll likely have to disband it since you’ll be gone every other month. It’s a waste of resources, manpower, and most importantly, you’re throwing away everything you’ve built up! We need you here, not crunching designs at the Spire! So why do I have a transfer notice on my damn desk?!”

He slammed his palm into the wood, standing with his outburst. I was honestly surprised that he was so mad.

“...I’m sorry, sir. I’ve had a prior arrangement with Sawn for a while now. I can’t renege on our agreement.”

“No fucking shit! And here I thought you were going to be the one to succeed Major General Quill! You could say that’s the main reason I didn’t mind promoting you to Lieutenant Colonel! You’re a damn fine soldier, and an even better intelligence agent that’s earned my trust! I can trust in your competence and your integrity, but now I find out that you were never going to dedicate yourself to this base despite me giving you so much power! I’d expect something like that from any other summoner, but not from you!”

He suddenly reached out an arm and grabbed the side of the desk, sending it to the side of the room with a simple throw. Then he stepped up to me, getting in my face. I could feel his Aura bear down on the entire room. 

He was livid. 

“Tell me something, Cooper. Were you ever invested in this place? You’re the one who brought us here. You’re the one who’s tried so hard to give us the advantage. And yet you have no problem leaving just as you’ve started to shape this place up for the better. So tell me why. Tell me why and give me a damn good reason not to strip down your rank right here and now.”

I could feel the anger in his breath. I tried to keep as rigid as possible, as straight a face as possible. It sucked getting chewed out like this.

“...I don’t believe that my work here is doing enough good. I believe that I’ll be able to create machines that can help turn the tide of the war altogether. What I’ve been doing here has done nothing more than mask the real problems.”

“We’ve been fighting off the Scourge, much better than most other bases currently, I might add. That’s not good enough for you?”

“No. We should be reaching into their territories and sieging their nests like they do our bases. Yet we’re constantly on the back foot, doing nothing but defending because we can’t surpass their numbers advantage. That means we need to create weapons that render numbers obsolete.”

I looked down, straight into Marshal Boores’ eyes.

“Unless you can provide us with a feasible plan to not just push the incoming Scourge armies all the way back beyond the Pass, but march our legions over there and burn their nest to cinders, then I won’t spend my time here when I could be doing more in the capital. Unfortunately, I’m not a knight, and regardless of whether I’m here or there, I’m a summoner and my progress will be steady and constant. All else being equal, I’d prefer an environment where I can produce the most value. Sir.”

I concluded, the two of us staring at each other for what felt like hours. It felt like my Aura was battling back his in an attempt to make him realize that I was confident in my decision. 

At some point he suddenly stepped back, walking to his desk and yanking it back over to its original spot. I remained rooted in place, waiting. 

“Leave.”

I said nothing and saluted, turning and leaving the room. 

He was still pissed. As I walked back to my office for the counterespionage division, I had the feeling that I had just cashed in on all the respect, influence, and renown I had accumulated over my time here just to keep my rank. While I may not have plummeted all the way back down to the level of most ordinary intelligence agents, I didn’t feel that much further above it. 

I’d have to make preparations for my absence. I’d still be returning every other month, but those months I was gone would mean that I could no longer exercise control over anything or anyone. These systems would have to operate completely independently of me. 

I decided to start writing. I had this next month or so to train people to fill my shoes before I left for the capital and started my new schedule. That was my deal with Sawn, and I had already drawn out the 6 months as long as possible precisely because of this issue with the Marshal.