The journey forward was not one that was satisfying under any circumstances. There were far too many problems with the wagons that the ride was lumpy. Though, while he could possibly chalk that up to the issues with the roads, there were other issues. No sanding was done to the seats, making the act of sitting rather uncomfortable. The other problem came with the fact that the material used was rather problematic in itself.
The black wood was simply unaesthetic in all shape and form. This all lead to a constant stream of black and black, with the only semblance of change being the misshapen windows that acted as the sole means to look out the surroundings and the environment.
The Conquistador couldn’t help but sniff as several of the monsters pushed the caravan forward. The surrounding area was pathetic. A giant forest that seemed to lead off to somewhere? Please, as if he would go through such a problematic environment to move towards that town. No, he was going to merely go around the issue entirely. Why waste effort and monsters to conquer the wilds when he could simply avoid the problem completely?
Truly, these cooks could have at least tried a little harder to tempt him to march onwards to an imminent death. Unfortunately, they did not have the capacity for such logical thinking and with that, left him to his own devices. That meant he had a small bit of time to set everything up necessary for the group to move onwards.
The wagons were top priority and when they were done, everything important was packed up. Bits of metal, tools, incomplete projects, and work materials were all packed up for the journey ahead. Then every single last of his subjects were all crammed into a few wagons, each of them kept guard with one of his soldiers to ensure they didn’t do any kind of foolish endeavors to escape or sabotage the operation.
Well, in any case, the trip was taking far longer than he would have liked. Yet, there wasn’t much he could do. The only thing he could continue to do onwards was to continuously use his divine blessing to bring his soul down right onto their soul, allowing him to effectively increase his troop size even more.
He lost count of how many soldiers he did have, but one thing was for sure: with the amount he had, nothing could threaten this caravan, not anymore. Not while he lived and breathed. Besides, with even more beasts, that meant a steady supply of food for the villagers to feast on. Something he would need quite a decent amount of if he was to take this town as a new base of operations.
Speaking of that town…
“Tell me. What else do you know about this place that we are heading to?”
The cook from before, Eldge, seemed to have lost his voice at this point now. He seemed to keep his mouth shut, unable or unwilling to continue talking at this time. Something that was rather unfortunate for the Conquistador, as he did need all of that information for planning out his next moves.
He shrugged. Well, if the man wasn’t planning to talk, then no matter. All he would have to do was use his divine blessing to force him to give out the information. That was the only reason why the cook and the masseuse from earlier were riding alongside him in this wagon, after all.
Though, he didn’t really want to keep them here in his own private little cabin. Yet, sacrifices must be made, and this was the way to keep two of the necessary components for his future plans in his view.
“Not speaking? Or do you not know anything at all?”
Once more, the man chose to keep quiet. Well, he couldn’t say he didn’t try. He sighed as he lifted his hand and got ready to utilize his divine blessing to get the truth out when the masseuse spoke up.
“The place we’re going to never got the chance to be named. It was more of a settlement that was to be something, at least before the war. Then it got turned into a fortress and–”
“Mandeline, what are you doing?!” The man hissed angrily, “Why are you giving him this information?!”
“Do we have any other options?” She responded, defeat weighed heavily in her tone as she looked down, “Besides, I would rather have you still able to think and talk and not like… the others.”
“No, but even then–”
“Ah! So, you know more then, correct?” The Conquistador smiled as he held off on using his divine blessing, looking at the woman who was a gift that just kept on giving.
She looked pale and sick, before nodding.
“I–I do. I originally lived there. We started calling it Carver’s Rest because the place tended to be a resting place for all the soldiers that patrolled around the lands. I don’t know if the name got changed after being transformed into a fortress, but there shouldn’t have been many changes. The wall, the gates, and the buildings should probably be the same.”
“Intriguing.” He mused as he scratched his beard, “Then you must know the layout of the settlement, yes?”
“I– That, well…” She looked down, almost embarrassed, before turning and looking at the cook. “Eldge would know more than me. I’m… Not so good with directions.”
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“Hrm. That’s a shame.” He sighed, before turning and giving a dark look at the cook, “Tell me right now. Are you able to give me good information regarding the place we are heading to? Or do I need to force you to give up that knowledge?”
The cook looked down, his face one of pure hate and anger. He struggled to speak for a few seconds, something that was really annoying the Conquistador a good bit. Ah, forget this, if he wanted to get that specific information, then he could merely take control of the man’s mental facilities and call this entire interrogation off.
“Eldge, please, speak. You’re not helping anyone by not speaking!” The woman begged, trying her best to speak some sense into the stubborn old bastard. However, the cook merely shook his head.
“I already made a mistake talking. I’m not going to make another by giving him everything I know.”
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow at that statement, “Mind explaining to me why you think that’s the case? Might I remind you of the fact that I plan to help liberate the poor souls that are being abused by the Usurper? To grant them all a much higher purpose in life, doing whatever I can to ensure they’re fed and well treated?”
“Bah. As if that’s the truth.” The cook frowned at his words, “What do you call what you’ve done to my fellow people? How you have broken their minds and turned them into nothing more than your puppet soldiers to do your bidding? They can’t even talk anymore!”
“Oh, no need to be so melodramatic.” He waved his hand at the response, “Why, they’ve only gotten an improvement! Before, they were trying to undermine the village and do things to ruin the end result for both of us. But now? They’re able to understand their place in the world far better than before.”
“Y-you can’t be serious.” The cook leaned back with fear in his eyes, “You really think that what you’re doing is for the best for everyone?”
“The best for everyone?” He asked. He seemed to pause at that question, before chuckling. Then, that bit of laughter exploded even more.
“Oh please! I’m not so naive to think that my actions are benefitting everyone! No, I’m more grounded than that.”
“Oh? I fail to see that.” The cook seethed, to which the Conquistador merely smiled and opened his arms.
“What I’m doing is bringing salvation to everyone. By sacrificing the few for the war effort, that will lead us to achieving the end goal: killing the Usurper. Once he’s dead, the world will go back to normal, though there will still be one problem to all of this.”
“The fact that we need a God?”
“Precisely!” He snapped his finger and smiled, “You understand! God has been killed by the bastard in the tower. The rightful God, that is. Right now, the Usurper has done everything to absolutely ruin this world for the worse. All the animals are gone, replaced with monstrosities. He has gifted some of his most loyal soldiers with some powers, enough to wipe out settlements without much effort. Surely you get that I have to undergo some heinous acts to ensure the world is saved, yes?”
“How–What–” The cook was at a loss for words. His face got slightly red, before he took a deep breath and glared.
“Even if that is the case, how does any of that excuse the fact you have enslaved us? That you have destroyed the mind and soul of so many people? Those aren’t sacrifices at all! They’re just people you have turned into slaves for your own benefit!”
“Well, it’s simple: they were doing things to ruin the path forward. There simply wasn’t any other way forward.” The Conquistador sighed and shook his head, “Well, enough of this discussion. Let me know everything you know about the town, so that we may help the others.”
“I refuse.”
He sighed again. Great, this moron was going to try to block him from getting key information to move forward?
“You know that none of your actions will matter anyway because I’ll be getting it regardless?” He yawned, “All of this bravado and attempts at being a rebel are doing you no favor.”
“Fine. That’s alright with me.” The cook spat angrily, “I’d rather go down fighting than–”
Yeah, no. He wasn’t going to let this annoying rat get away with insulting him like that. Spitting in his cabin like that? What a filthy bastard.
He brought up his divine blessing and forced his will upon the upstart. The sight of the cook biting his tongue and his eyes rolling back was one of pure bliss. Though, he had to admit, witnessing the man convulse and dance around uncontrollably was not so great. There was so much limited space and the brainless moron was throwing his legs and arms all over the place.
Eventually, he stopped. Then, he sat up straight like a civilized person, all anger in his eyes wiped out in that instant.
“So you know the layout of this settlement, yes?” The Conquistador asked with a raised eyebrow. The cook simply nodded at his question, which allowed him to sigh in relief.
Fantastic. All he’d need now was a piece of parchment and some kind of writing utensil, and he’d be able to get a map of the place. Perhaps charcoal would be necessary? He couldn’t think of any other kind of material that could be used for writing, and he sincerely doubted ink would be available in this place.
“E-Elridge…” The woman sobbed as she stared at the brain-dead cook, before covering her face.
He couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head. The sight of the poor woman crying her soul out was far less amusing and more depressing to watch. He was a gentleman, after all.
He couldn’t bear to witness someone suffering like this, not when they had done nothing wrong. So, he went ahead and put a hand on her shoulder in the most comforting way he knew how.
“Ah, calm down. Don’t worry, he’ll be better than before.” He explained as he massaged the woman’s shoulder, “He won’t be a problem anymore. If anything, he’ll be able to cook even better than before. Just you wait, you’ll be able to have some of that delicious… green brick he was able to make before.”
That only seemed to get the woman to cry harder. At that, the Conquistador couldn’t help but turn away and look out the window. This trip had gotten far too annoying now, and the only thing he could hope for was for this whole thing to end.
Maybe bringing the woman and the cook onto his cabin was a mistake after all…