As the man lay unconscious, I found a flat spot on a log and laid out a sheet of parchment I pulled from my ring as well as a quill. I began drawing the immediate area around us. I drew the city, the forest, and the path. It was at moments like this I wished I had wasted even a little bit of time leveling Cartographer. If I did, my map would assuredly be much better. As it was, it was barely passable.

“That’s incredible!” Ruby gasped as she watched me draw and finally realized what it was.

Well, it was pretty nice, but that had less to do with Cartographer and more to do with the fact I had the real map in front of me using my Map skill. I was just copying what I saw to paper, which was much easier than one a normal Cartographer did. I wasn’t going to attempt to explain this cheat. It was a part of me, and the tattoos all over my body were proof that I had earned it. When I was finally done with a rough copy of the area between the mountains and the city, I rolled it up and turned my attention to the unconscious man.

I didn’t like wasting magic on an enemy, but in this case, I didn’t want to wait. I lifted my hand and healed him. That was followed immediately by Refresh. He ended up waking up with a gasp a few minutes later. As his eyes grew focused, he tried to move, and finding he wasn’t able to, his eyes ended up narrowing on me. He had rightly determined I was in charge here.

“What do you want?” He demanded.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“What do you think?” I responded, unrolling the map. “I want troop positions. I want to know where your people are hidden.”

“I’m not telling you! And they’re not my people!”

“Funny, I wasn’t asking.” I said. “Miki?”

“Yes, Master… Pain!”

“Ahhhhhhh…Ahhhhh….” He screamed as Miki used a skill on him.

From what I understood, the feeling was like having a hundred needles jammed into your brain. It didn’t look comfortable.

“So, troop positions…”

“I… I won’t say anything! Just kill me?”

“Why, so you can get resurrected and report about us?”

“Y-you bastard!”

“Miki…”

“Ahhhhhhhh…Ahhhhhh!”

“Deek! That’s enough!” Ruby cried out. “Besides, nearby bandits might hear us and come to investigate!”

“Haven’t you noticed it’s a bit quiet?”

She blinked and then listened and looked around. She only realized now that there was a dark haze around them, and it appeared to be blocking sound.

“I can’t control sound like Celeste, but if it’s just muffling some screams, I can manage that much!” Shao chuckled.

Ruby looked like she was going to be sick while Miki stopped causing pain to the man. I kneeled down next to him.

“So, I hope you understand. We can keep doing this for ages. Troop… positions!”

“Y-you… you’re crazy!”

“Miki!”

“No! No… I’ll tell you! Anything!”

I looked up and nodded to Salicia. She cut a rope, freeing one hand of his. He pointed to a dozen spots. I highlighted each one on the map.

“That will do,” I said after he seemed to run out of places to point.

“Th-then you’ll let me go?”

I nodded. “Shao. Give him release.”

“Yes, Master!” She pulled her knife, and just as he thought it was going for the rope, it slid into his ribs.

He let out a single cry. “Y-you…”

Then he died.