We continued for a bit with the weird bondage play she was trying to fake, and I played along with very audible sounds of pain. Maybe everyone in this world was so prideful, having a short woman beat the shit out of you was more humiliating than anything you'd want to know about. I wasn't going to shy away from a chance to gain an ally, though.

I'll have to assume these people now knew about the plans to occupy this world. The locals call it the Firma, so let's stick to calling it that. Since this whole village and the Obba knew of the plans, we'd have to either kill them or get them on our side. Obba, I knew, was a non-starter. I'll kill him sooner or later -- probably sooner. This feisty, pretty shorty, however? I could work with this.

Screaming in the most animated ways I could (out of respect, of course), we exchanged whispers of information with each other. Straddling me was a tree-elf named Treden, who was this village's chieftess. Among the intel I'd gotten from Treden, was one very important bit I'd definitely have to report to Ass-puffer.

Magic exists! It's sometimes bulletproof, too!

This village of wood elves was very good at using the "Knowledge of Nature," which seemed to be the reason why the midgets were practically bulletproof -- their bodies had somehow become one with the understanding of gravel. Weird shit, they were essentially walking sandbags.

"I've given you enough, dear. Why don't you pay it back?" Treden said with a smirk, twisting my fingers in all the noisiest ways. I moaned (in pain) lightly at the cracks of my fingers, and began to speak with the slightest grin.

"We have bows small enough to be handheld, with more range than any other bow you could make. We have better, longer bows that can shoot arrows in a deadly barrage. We have cannons, mortars as big as a man's arms -- more devastating than any other. Should you decide to kill us all, hundreds more will take our place. You cannot stop this."

I said this in the most "captured agent" impression I could. A scout could be captured and asked to divulge the details of an inevitable attack and do so willingly, elated at the knowledge that his enemies could do nothing to stop the impending doom. That was the kind of vibe I was going for, and it would have been perfect if I had ended it by spitting on her face. Strangely, I elected not to.

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Thinking to myself, I'd noticed the little cute things I could find about her. The way she twisted my fingers with a few delicate delicate strokes -- and then a sudden jerk, the way her voice sounded as she whispered into my ears, how good she smelled -- damn, what a fine lass.

Wait, what the fuck?

Ignoring my sudden fawning over the short woman, I gave her a little wink and she shot back with a wider smirk. She stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut, straightening herself out before stepping outside. Muffled voices began conversing outside, barely audible.

"Is he unconscious?" Asked a young voice, probably Obba's.

"Yes, my liege," answered Treden.

"What has he revealed?"

"I've gotten everything he was willing to divulge, it'll be in the report for later," she said, in a serious tone quite unlike her earlier seduction. "For the time being, I'll have to attempt other ways to gain information, if there is anything further to know."

"Do what you must, I cannot allow their plans to succeed. I need all the information I can get if I hope to stand a chance against these would-be invaders, even more so if I hope to unite the Association -- and by extension, the other territories against them," replied the young Obba.

"My liege, would it be wise to bring the Magi into this?" asked Treden. "Would it not suffice to form a coalition of Firma's territories?"

"Your elites have proven that magic is effective against their weaponry. All the world's armies could not hope to survive against thousands more of the Green Men, as was apparent during the battle on Mitfheld," Obba sighed as the last few words stuttered, as if in pain reliving that memory. "Only the magi stand a chance of repelling these invaders, the Association must be brought to bear against them."

"Probe the man's mind as he sleeps, I need everything there is to know about our enemies," continued Obba as shuffling footsteps began and faded away until only silence remained.

The things I'd heard were things I'd definitely have to report to Laurelle. If they had countermeasures to our weapons, the higher-ups needed to know -- and they needed to know it was effective. With hundreds of bullets, we'd managed to knock out just three of their guys. I am not letting my plans go awry because some stupid fucking voodoo bullshit decided it was better than a rifle.

Treden entered the room and her body language changed significantly, back to the seductress she'd shown previously. She walked across the room and propped me up onto one wall, untying my bindings, taking a chair and placing it down in front of me. She sat herself down and rested her head on two hands. She gazed up and down at me, searching for something.

I let her place her hand on my chest as a green glow began to grow around her. A strange sense of calm filled my senses, almost feeling like I was floating on water. The calm wafted over me in waves, like a current pushing me around in a body of water. I harkened back to the last thing I'd heard from Obba.

Hold up, probe whose mind, again?