Otherworld Nation Founding Chronicles

Chapter 127: Breaking the curse

Torture officer: “Walk!! Who said you can sleep? Pig bitch!!”

Lydia: “…”

A pained expression could be seen on the face of Lydia, the Rozel Kingdom’s secret agent.

Lydia was forced to stay awake for four days straight.

Before she is sent to the camp of the Rosice Kingdom, Lydia underwent several tortures inflicted by the Equus tribe.

Whipping, nail plucking, water torture… etc.

Lydia withstood all of it.

She withstood all of it with her loyalty towards the Rozel Kingdom.

Well, she is under the curse where her heart would be ruptured if she does speak up, and that is another reason why she withstood all of it.

Lydia does not intend to die too.

When she was first captured by the Equus tribe, most tortures were inflicted with the intention to make her feel pain.

Lydia is an excellent sorcerer so she managed to alleviate the pain with her skills to a certain extent.

That’s why the torture officer has constantly used extreme methods…

Ever since she was passed over to the Rosice Kingdom as a prisoner, there was a change in the plan.

She was only given plain meals all along, but after she arrived in Rosice Kingdom, she’s properly given two meals a day.

There were also no tortures intended to inflict pain to her.

However, that does not mean that the tortures towards her have mellowed down.

It’s quite the contrary.

Torture officer: “Well then, walk. Thirty rounds! I will let you sit if you walk for thirty rounds!”

Lydia: “…I got it.”

She walked staggeringly in the prison cell.

Right at her sixth round, she lost her balance and collapsed.

Immediately, cold water was splashed over her head.

Torture officer: “Get up!!”

Lydia: “Ugh… P-please… L-let me sleep…”

Torture officer: “I will not allow that. Well, walk. I told you to walk, didn’t you hear that?!!”

The torture officer grabbed Lydia’s hair and shouted into her ears.

The torture officer actually wanted to let her sleep.

It may be easy to misunderstand that torture officers are sadists but the reality is different.

To prevent drastic actions, only honest and earnest ones were chosen to be torture officers.

The purpose of torturing is not to cause sufferings, but to force the information out of them.

However, the purpose of this torture is to cause suffering.

Or at least, that’s what the torture officer thinks.

The reason is because the instruction to force information out of her was not passed down.

Lydia: “W-will you let me sleep if I talk? P-please. I-I’ll do anything so…”

Torture officer: “I did not receive any instructions to force information out of you, bitch. I was just told to torture you.”

Lydia: “N-No way…”

Despair surfaced in Lydia’s eyes.

The torture officer forcibly made Lydia stand up.

Torture officer: “Well then! Walk!!”

Lydia: “Impossible, impossible… L-Let me sleep…”

She repeated deliriously as if she lost her mind.

Lydia could not walk even a single step further.

The torture officer sighed.

Torture officer: “Bring the feather over.”

The instruction was passed down to the subordinates.

Lydia’s facial color changed.

Lydia: “N-no!! N-not that… Forgive me, forgive me please… I-I will walk…”

Torture officer: “No way. Be quiet!!”

Lydia was bounded on the chair and her legs were forced open.

Her beautiful bare feet were exposed.

The slave brought the goose feather over.

White, beautiful feather-

The goose feather was placed on Lydia’s bare feet.

Lydia: “N-No… Hee!!”

The feather was stroke against Lydia’s white bare feet.

Lydia: “Hee, heehee, heehahahaha!! S-stop!! I’m turning weird. I’m breaking down!!!!”

Lydia’s laughter echoed…

Almus: “How is it, Yuria? She has been weakened this much.”

Yuria: “Yes. At this point, the curse can be broken.”

It was not that the Equus tribe or I were torturing Lydia because we were sadists.

It was all to break the curse that Lydia was under.

A curse is like a chain that’s wrapped around the mind.

To undo the curse, it is important to weaken the mind.

This is quite a difficult thing to do.

If Lydia spilled the information, her heart will be ruptured.

There was a need to torture Lydia constantly at a level where she could barely withstand it.

However, it is difficult to control physical tortures.

That’s why there was a need to attack the mind directly.

Yuria: “But you have really thought of the plan well, to not let her sleep and attack her with tickles.”

Almus: “Stop saying that with the implication that I am a pervert, I just happened to know about that. …Also, I tried my best to devise a plan to not leave scars on her body.”

If we were to instruct the torture officers in this world to weaken her mental state as much as possible, who knows what kind of dangerous torturing tools they will bring out?

Forcing the head into hot water, slicing off the nose and ears, changing the bone structures with crushing devices…

Tearing apart the heart and sexual organs…

Forcing down weeds and causing addiction dependency…

There are too many tortures that are too extreme for women.

For that matter, lack of sleep and tickling will not damage the physical body.

There is a huge damage to the mind but… it will take a week before she totally loses her mind.

It’s only the fourth day now.

I’m sure she will recover soon.

Well, it’s a little iffy since I’m the only who’s talking about it, but I think it is the right way to do it.

Or rather, I do have skepticism towards the effects of the torture.

It could be a case where one spouts nonsense to escape from the reality that one doesn’t want to know.

For accurate information, interrogation is better than torturing.

Yuria: “Well, I will quickly go and break the curse now. I will be back.”

Yuria grabbed a large amount of medicinal herb and headed for the prison.

After that, she will intrude into Lydia’s mind and break the curse.

By doing this, her heart will not be ruptured.

We will be able to retrieve accurate information from her.

Almus: “You have to make this a success. If not there’s no meaning to her receiving those tortures.”

Yuria: “Who do you think I am? I’m the best sorcerer in the Rosice Kingdom.”

Yuria closed one of her eyes.

I only realized that’s a wink, ten seconds after Yuria left.

It was just too terrible…

Yuria: “…”

Lydia gazed into the empty space with dead eyes.

Right now, Lydia was allowed to be seated.

However, since the chair was extremely unstable, it will topple over if she falls asleep.

Even so, she gets to sit and think of nothing, and that’s far better than walking.

Looking at Lydia in that state, Yuria apologized in her mind and started preparing for the sorcery.

Magic fragrance was imbued into weeds, opium and the others; these were then placed in several parts of the jail cell and lit up with fire.

A huge magic circle was drawn on the floor with Lydia in the center of it.

Lydia just looked at that with vacant eyes.

Yuria dripped blood onto the magic circle and mixed her own magical power into the magic circle.

She then placed both her hands and a huge amount of magic was poured into it.

With a magnitude that’s hundred times greater than that of the average person, the magic power surged into the magic circle all at once, and it illuminated with harsh lights.

After Yuria has activated the magic circle, she approached Lydia.

Yuria: “You can sleep now. Get down from the chair and lay on your side, on the floor.”

Lydia: “R-Really?”

Yuria: “Really”

Lydia collapsed from the chair.

She pressed her face on the ground and fell asleep.

Yuria placed her hand on Lydia’s face.

Yuria: “Well then… will the curse be broken?”

After sending Yuria off, I headed towards another prison.

In that prison, there was a blonde lady bounded by chains.

It was Alice.

There was no reason to torture Alice so only her physical movement was restricted.

The bed was also hard, but she was able to take some rest, and her meals were the same as those of the common soldiers.

Almus: “It has been a long time.”

Alice: “…It has been a long time. King Almus. What brings you here?”

Almus: “I came to implore you.”

I sat in front of the jail, and have my sight on the same level as Alice’s sight.

Alice quietly shook her head.

Alice: “I am happy about your intentions but that wouldn’t do.”

Almus: “Hmm. To be honest I don’t know the reason behind your loyalty for Prince Alde. From what I’ve heard… you haven’t been treated very well, weren’t you?”

I have already heard about Alice from a servant who worked at the palace in the Demorgal Kingdom.

It seems like Alice was always beaten up by Alde.

Also, she has received other terrible treatment from him.

I kind of suspect that it might be Stockholm syndrome but…

Almus: “Why did you pledge loyalty to him?”

Alice: “I did not exactly pledge loyalty to him. It’s just that…”

Just that?

Alice: “…It’s nothing.”

I see…

Almus: “Well, that’s fine. I will come here again tomorrow.”

After saying that, I left the place.