Chapter 230: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Prisoner Torture

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After finishing the executive council meeting, I had lunch with the captive, Lady Rike. The location was not the underground dungeon from the other day, but a guest room. Well, that went without saying. Prison cells were uncomfortable, after all. Since I was aiming to soften her attitude, keeping her locked up for a long period would have been a bad move. That was why I had her moved to a proper room starting this morning.

Of course, she was still under surveillance. Naturally, guards were posted in front of the room, and modifications had been made so she could not escape through the windows or the like. It took a fair amount of effort, but there was no helping it. She was a valuable sample, and there was also the calculated hope that, as long as she stayed with us, she would grow at least somewhat favorably inclined toward us of Liseben.

“Ah—ah… R-right now, Elfenia is run by the Council of Elders through a c-collective decision-making system, so the emperor’s actual authority is, uh… Ah, ah, th-that’s only the shallow surface-level stuff…!”

After the meal, I was interrogating Lady Rike. She was lying on the bed with her head resting on my lap, while I freely toyed with her bamboo-shoot-shaped pointed ears. Each time the ear pick I held moved, Lady Rike let out sounds that bordered on coquettish moans.

“Careful, careful. If I poke too deep, you’ll damage your eardrum. …So, a collective decision-making system, huh. Then the one who gave the order to attack us wasn’t the empress?”

“T-that’s r-right. Ah, ah… I-I was ordered by my clan chief, Berin-… P-please! Ah, there—harder…!”

Over the past few days, Lady Rike had become completely obedient. Judging that it would be safe to push things a little further, I had suggested cleaning her ears. At first, she had been embarrassed and refused, but after I stuffed her full of roast chicken and fine wine, she surrendered in no time. Well, she hadn’t seemed entirely opposed to it from the beginning. Once alcohol loosened her self-control, it was over in one shot.

Not to brag, but my ear-cleaning skills were quite something. After all, I had experience thoroughly digging out the ears of every single one of my peers in the juvenile knight corps. Even a formidable elven warrior became no different from a carp on a cutting board once things reached this point. She completely fell into pleasure and started rattling off information without restraint.

“Nope.”

After whispering that softly into her ear, I blew gently into her ear canal. Lady Rike let out a pitiful cry, her face and ears turning bright red. Man, this was fun. I got information, and Lady Rike got pleasure. A perfect win-win relationship.

It seemed the “North Wind and the Sun” approach had indeed been the right choice. Elves had lived harsh lives for so long that their tolerance for pain appeared quite high. On the other hand, their tolerance for pleasure was thinner than soaked shoji paper.

This was probably not a tendency unique to Lady Rike alone. This method would likely work on other elves as well. When negotiating with the elves, it might be best to bring male prostitutes along. …Given that they were barbarians, hazard pay would probably be necessary. Honestly, no matter how much money I had these days, it was never enough. What a headache.

“So this Council of Elders… Are they not very unified in their decisions?”

“The Council’s the kind of place where orders given in the morning get overturned by evening… Ah, there, that’s good… S-so nobody really feels like obeying them, and in the end, everyone just follows their own clan chief… Ah, ugh, m-more…”

“Flip-flopping from morning to night, huh. If the people at the top are like that, the ones below must have it rough. You really did your best in an environment like that. You’re amazing. Truly.”

I whispered that to her in a tone like lovers sharing sweet nothings. Well, I’d never actually had a lover in either my past life or this one, so it was purely based on imagination! …Still, why was it that I’d never had a lover, yet I’d cleaned the ears of dozens of women by the dozen, I wondered.

No, this one wasn’t my fault. One hundred percent of the blame lay with my peers from the juvenile knight corps, those childhood friends of mine. I’d tried to be gentle during breaks since training was so harsh, and they just got carried away. Seriously, what did they think I was?

“I-I’m not amazing or anything! Someone like me…”

“No, you are amazing. You can hold your head high. So for now, rest slowly. You’ve worked this hard. You’ve earned that right.”

As I murmured that, I gently stroked Lady Rike’s head. Thanks to eating three proper meals every day and bathing regularly, her hair was gradually regaining a radiant beauty.

No, not just her hair. Her skin had gained luster, and her complexion was healthy. In just a few days, Lady Rike had begun to grow astonishingly beautiful. Thinking about it, even while suffering from chronic malnutrition, elves had been that beautiful to begin with. Now that she was regaining a healthy body, she was practically invincible. It was almost like a cheat-level appearance. Elves were truly terrifying indeed.

“I-I… I… ah…!”

Lady Rike seemed overwhelmed with emotion, but I showed no mercy as I shoved the ear pick back into her ear canal.

“Ah!”

“By the way, I want to ask about your empress. The empress is Lind Dalaiya, correct? That old elf with the appearance of a little girl.”

“T-that’s right. Ah, ah… That old hag!”

“Hm.”

That confirmed what Lady Orphan had said. As expected, Lady Dalaiya was the “new” head of state. However, it meant the country was not under proper control. Hmmm, that made things tricky. Her claim that she wanted to build friendly relations with us might be genuine, but whether her subordinates were following that policy was questionable.

Well, New Elfenia itself already looked dysfunctional. It was practically a zombie state. Depending on the situation, it might become necessary to put it out of its misery altogether. Still, from our standpoint, we couldn’t just go stepping on visible landmines. We’d prefer the elves themselves to carry out the execution.

In other words, it was like the Meiji Restoration. …But the Meiji Restoration was practically a miracle. Honestly, things probably wouldn’t go that smoothly. In the end, we might need to intervene to some extent ourselves. Ugh, I hated that. I really didn’t want to get my hands dirty.

“Alright, next is the Council of Elders. It’s made up of elders and clan chiefs, right? I’d like to know their names and personalities.”

“T-that’s going too far… I-I’m still an elven soldier. I can’t just leak such important information to the enemy…”

“I see.”

I pulled the ear pick out of Lady Rike’s ear, then blew into it a bit more forcefully.

“Ahh!”

“I’m brushing off the earwax.”

Then I picked up the small feather duster by the pillow and gently traced the grooves of her distinctive long ears with the tip of the feather, tickling them. Her already-red face turned even redder. It seemed elves had particularly sensitive ears, and when treated gently like this, Lady Rike became completely undone.

“Ah—n-no, stop! D-don’t do that! T-that’s not right! Ugh! Aah!? I-I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”

“Good girl.”

Grinning, I set the feather duster aside. In its place, I blew into her ear once more.

“Ah!!”

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