At his leisure, when Willem was done at the Army Training Grounds he made his way back to his Private Sanctum to see how the torture was going.
The spider demoness had plenty of subjects with which to relieve herself of the burden from being outfoxed by a human boy. As magical beings, her new toys had robust bodies and made exquisite sounds when they were tortured. This gave great pleasure to the spider demoness, so much so that she briefly thought it may have been her purpose in life.
Just as the spider demoness was about to move onto her next victim, Willem walked in to monitor her progress. The magical beings reacted to his presence with both awe and fear. The spider demoness clicked her tongue and kneeled before her master.
Within his mind, he had seen the progress she was making with the torture. Though it was mostly just her devouring her toys while they regenerated, they were giving up bits of information as a reprieve from her tactics.
"Now that you are mine, I should give you a name. Both Kinsey and Anna are curious about you, yet I have given them nothing." Willem mused over the subject.
After a moment, he had thought of an apt name.
"Arise, Arania." Willem commanded.
Arania stood from her kneeling position and her deep black eyes watched Willem carefully.
Willem quietly thumbed through some documents where Arania had written everything that the prisoners had spoke. Though he had all the information in his head, he found visual stimulation to be particularly helpful in finding connections and solutions. After drawing no obvious conclusions from this method, he looked out at the magical beings.
"I have forcefully taken you from your homes, and it is within my power to slay you as I did with the royal chef. I have not done so because you may yet prove useful." Willem placed a mithril dagger from his spatial spell onto the desk where the documents lay.
Seeing the dagger, a few of the more easily frightened magical beings began to squirm in panic. Willem took note of the ones who did so and continued.
"I am prepared you bring you back to your lives, so long as you agree to these stipulations. One, you give up any information you have about the approaching enemies. Two, you remain here in private seclusion until the end of the war. Three, you allow yourselves to be constantly surveilled to ensure that no harm comes to the Bastion of Hope or it's denizens." Willem picked up the mithril dagger from the desk.
He walked over to one of the prisoners who had previously been wriggling and cut the strap covering her mouth.
"What say you, Emily Marentil." Willem sent his magical force through her body to monitor her heart rate when she spoke.
After careful deliberation, the young woman spoke up.
"At first, I was sent here two hundred years ago to infiltrate and find the weakness of the Bastion of Hope. Though I traveled all around the Kingdom, I fell in love with the Bastion of Hope. In particular, I fell in love with a young man named Francis Bellford. In all my years of travel, I never felt at home like I did when I was in his arms. It was love at first sight for both of us, and we started an incredible life together. It was with great difficulty that I left him after bearing his child, as he had begun aging considerably while I did not. One day, I learned that he was on his deathbed. After nearly forty years of not seeing him, I decided to return to his side one last time. Though his mind was nearly gone, he recognized me instantly, and he asked me why I left him and why I looked the same as I did when I left. I told him the truth of my heritage and he grasped both of my hands tightly. 'Love knows no bounds, Emily" he said. 'If I had known you would leave me, I would have held you tighter.' That night he passed away in my arms peacefully. This is my home just as much now as it always has been, so I agree to your terms." Emily stared at Willem and awaited his response, while some tears began to well up in her eyes thinking about Francis.
Willem measured her response with her heart rate and found her not to be lying. Even more so, he himself felt that everything she said was the truth.
"Very well, you will be given your own room and are welcome to any facility while you remain in my Private Sanctum. When this war is over, I will return you to your home." Willem unfastened Emily's restraints and motioned for her to stand aside. "Who among you will join your sister."
A few more magical beings began to nod their head in agreement, including Emily's daughter.
"Swear to me that you accept the terms with which I have presented you." Willem spoke loudly while spreading his magical force through each magical being.
"We solemnly swear." Six magical beings spoke in unison.
One of the heartbeats was unlike the others. It skipped a beat.
Willem unfastened the restraints for five magical beings while he stared at the sixth person. Cold sweat began to pour down the man's face while he attempted to resist the bindings.
"I was beginning to think that my method of inquiry was faulty." Willem grinned to himself. Now he has some form of proof that he was correct in his methods of determining a truth from a lie. "You six can follow me, Arania, torture this one next." As Willem pointed to the liar, he left the torture chamber.
The six magical beings followed Willem obediently.
"These stipulations were something that both The One True King and I have come up with together, so you need not fear betrayal from us. We do not condemn the magical beings, but because they threaten us, we must ensure that nothing happens from the inside." Willem spoke openly to the magical beings as the walls of the Private Sanctum warped, and six new rooms began to form.
During the discussion Willem had with the King, the treatment of magical beings that called the Bastion of Hope home had come up. Despite The One True King's past with magical beings, he believed that peace was still possible as they still had much to learn from them. Willem was in agreeance, wasting such a good opportunity would definitely be a detriment if they wished to continue surviving. Thus the rules were made for any of the magical beings who still wished to remain in the Bastion of Hope.
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The magical beings looked on, bewildered, as they each chose a room and opened the doors. Inside each room was a large bed with soft quilts, desk, armoire and bathing facilities. In all the time that they had been in the Bastion of Hope, they had never stayed in a place so fancy.
"While you are here, you will be treated as my guests. Breakfast is served at sunrise, and subsequent meals you can cook for yourself. There are various equipment to occupy your time, such as spinning wheels and wood carving tools. We also have instruments, if any of you practice such things. Also, we have a White Tiger Cub as a pet, but she is still young and playful. The only place off limits to you all is my personal study room." Willem nodded his head in conclusion and slipped into the darkness of a nearby candelabra.
The magical beings stood still in shock at the complete difference in treatment from their previous position. They would have thought they were dreaming if it were not for them being interrupted by horrid screams of their kind from the torture chamber. Each of the six quietly closed their doors and for the first time in their lives, rested in a large comfy bed.
At the Royal Palace.
Kinsey had presented the letter to the guard of the Royal Palace, specifically showing the seal of Willem Reinhardt. The guards saluted and were about to send the letter along, but Kinsey stopped them.
"I have been asked by Master to personally deliver this letter. I dare not disobey his command. As I understand it, there has been a commotion so I will wait for as long as is necessary." Kinsey took the letter back and awaited a response.
The guard's looked at each other hesitantly, but nodded their head and escorted her personally to the King's throne room. How could they not know who Willem Reinhardt was, and what he meant to the Royal Palace. If he says it must be hand delivered then that is that.
The large double doors were slowly opened to the throne room, and Kinsey entered the room with the two guards.
"My King, an envoy has been sent on behalf of Willem Reinhardt, with a letter addressed to you." The guards kneeled before their King. "We have guaranteed it's authenticity."
Kinsey likewise bowed before the King.
"Arise, and present me the letter." The King spoke. In the throne room, his voice echoed out as large as a lion's roar.
As Kinsey stepped forward to present the letter, the Queen stopped hiding from behind a pillar and grasped Kinsey's arms.
"Please, dance with me!" The Queen hysterically said.
Before Kinsey could refuse, she found that she was having difficulty breaking the grip of the Queen.
"My Queen?" Kinsey could not present the letter as had been asked, and she did not understand what was happening.
As Kinsey's grip loosened, the letter fell from hand onto the floor. One of the guards immediately ran, picked it up, and presented it to the King as the Queen danced with Kinsey.
Though she was unsure what was happening, Kinsey did not dismiss the Queen and danced with her while she awaited a response from the King.
The King read over the letter detailing the killing of the royal chef to distract the populace from the forty magical beings taken against their will. As was agreed in their talks, anyone who treats the Bastion of Hope as their home would be treated with as much luxury as could be afforded as long as they spoke the truth and gave up any information.
He further explained that the ten senior inscriptionists had been chosen and that he was about to speak to Sir Gehrig about the fifty soldiers.
The King stood up from his throne, and forcefully broke the grip of his Queen from Kinsey. The Queen cried as she continued to dance, and the King asked Kinsey to follow him to his royal chambers.
"Forgive me asking, is the Queen sick?" Kinsey genuinely did not know, but did not wish to be rude.
"Ever since your Master gave her a potion to remove her sickness, all she wants to do is dance. At first it was refreshing, having my Queen back, but now I fear something has happened to her." The King scribbled down a letter of response for Kinsey to return with.
After accepting the letter from the King, Kinsey said she would see what she could find in helping aid the Queen to a recovery.
"Master, I have the King's response." Kinsey spoke as such inside her mind, and her vision distorted as she was teleported through darkness magic to Willem's location.
The King watched Kinsey be teleported away, as he somberly wrote another letter for his children.
Atop the mountain against the sea.
At the summit of the mountains against the sea where the Bastion of Hope was located, Willem and Kinsey watched the sun setting for the night. This was the first time in what seemed like a long time that they were both alone, and they both took their time watching the sun set. Kinsey passed the letter from the King to her Master, and brushed up against his arm with her body. Gently resting her head on his shoulder, she told him about how the Queen had forcibly grabbed her and begged her to dance.
"Is she sick?" Kinsey did not know the best way to approach the subject.
"Yes, though I do not know what ails her. The potion I gave her leaves her vulnerable after it's effect wanes." Willem looked perturbed hearing about Kinsey being mishandled.
Kinsey nodded but chose not to speak as the sun disappeared from the sky. The illumination of red over the horizon made her feel that any difficulties could be postponed for a little bit.
"Can we stay like this a little while longer?" Kinsey asked.
"Yes." Willem wrapped a quilt around Kinsey and himself and watched as the red faded from the sky, turning it completely black.
The stars shined particularly bright that night.