Chapter 255 — Traces in the Webbing

"The ones patrolling in the mountains are just ordinary soldiers of the Cecil domain—the most ordinary kind. Yet they were enough to crush so-called 'elites' like you with ease. You might pause to consider what would happen if your comrades met an entire legion armed the same way. Your intelligence is far too backward, young men."

With that, Gao Yang withdrew his pressure outright. He did not continue trying to extract information from the prisoners, but strode toward the door, leaving a parting word to Wright: "I'm leaving these two in your care. Do your best to heal them."

Once they had left the holding room, Hetty caught up with Gao Yang. "Progenitor, are you planning to frighten those two, then have Pastor Wright heal them and create a chance for them to escape—so that they'll run to warn their companions of their own accord, and we can track them and catch the whole lot in one sweep?"

Amber, who had run out after them, was instantly astonished at Hetty's guess. "You can do that?"

Then she sighed in admiration. "You nobles have truly filthy minds."

Yet Gao Yang simply shook his head. "Don't count on it. Soldiers trained specifically for this kind of work have been through proper instruction—they won't fall for such a trick."

Hetty was greatly puzzled. "Then what you said to the two prisoners at the end was..."

"A few grand words before leaving makes you look more impressive."

Hetty: "..."

She had absolutely no idea how to respond to someone who could casually utter the words "look more impressive" and still expect her to appear respectful, filial, and elegant. So she simply hypnotized herself into forgetting what Gao Yang had just said and forced the conversation onward. "Then will you go back to interrogate those two prisoners again later?"

"Interrogation won't yield results in the short term, but their accomplices have likely already crept close to this area, and whether those fellows stir up major havoc in the near future is hard to say," Gao Yang said with a furrowed brow, looking toward the Dark Mountains. He was not worried about the defense of the domain proper—the watch posts in all directions, the walls, the magical traps and runic alarm devices were enough to guarantee its safety, and a small infiltration unit would never be foolish enough to attack a frontier town guarded by an army. But he was deeply worried about the mines, lumber camps, and pioneering outposts left isolated beyond the domain's borders. "I need to go into the mountains and take a look myself. Amber, you're coming with me."

"Huh?" Amber was taken aback for an instant, but then at last remembered her duty as a close guard, and her ears drooped. "Oh..."

The battlefield of the mountain skirmish had not yet been fully cleared; the patrol, short-handed, had only taken the prisoners and part of the captured goods back to the domain to report. By the time Gao Yang and Amber reached the scene, the Cecil soldiers sent afterward to finish up were carrying away the corpses still blocking the mountain path. Gao Yang took Amber through an inspection of every body and the entire combat area, and finally one thing suddenly caught his attention.

It was a scrap of paper that had fallen by the mountain path, apparently an order written by some superior to these soldiers. The paper itself had been half burned away by a searing ray, and on the remaining half were left only a few fragmented words that could not be strung together at all.

Yet it was those few fragmented words that made Gao Yang's brow knit slightly.

"What is it?" Seeing Gao Yang stop, Amber could not help but curiously lean in. "What's written on this paper... I can't make it out."

"This handwriting... looks a little familiar to me," Gao Yang said, an expression of disbelief on his face. "Could it be... that fellow?"