I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 77

First, I dismissed all the other soldiers around. There was no point in letting the conversation leak out.

With only Lucas and Evangeline accompanying me, I sat facing the five condemned prisoners.

“I’ll start by confirming your identities.”

I took out the documents and made eye contact with the prisoners’ representative.

“Your name is… ‘Godhand’? Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The male prisoner representative, Godhand, bowed his head.

The eyes between his disheveled lime-green hair were a deep brown.

I couldn’t see his ears, but there was no doubt. He was a real elf.

The other four were the same. They tried hard to hide it, but upon closer inspection, it was clear. All five of them were elves.

“Affiliation?”

“Aegis Special Forces, Team 8.”

At the name Aegis Special Forces, Lucas and Evangeline looked quite surprised. And for good reason.

The dark side that handles all the dirty work of the Empire. A black ops team directly under the Imperial Family.

The shadow of the Imperial Family, the Emperor’s hunting dogs—that was the Aegis Special Forces.

I glared at Godhand.

“The name Godhand doesn’t seem like your real name.”

“Special Forces members don’t have real names. Our codenames are our names.”

“Okay, then… Godhand.”

“Yes.”

Godhand, who had been answering calmly until now, paused for a moment at my next question.

“I heard you committed treason. Is that true?”

“……”

The silence lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

After a moment, Godhand bowed his head deeply.

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you admit to all charges?”

“Excuse me, Your Highness.”

Godhand lowered his eyes and spoke softly.

“We were subjected to a military trial in the capital three months ago, and the verdict has already been handed down. All sentences have been finalized.”

“……”

“I don’t understand the purpose of your questions. You can just execute us quickly.”

That’s why I’m doing this, because that would be a problem. I grumbled inwardly.

‘I have to win them over and bring them under my command.’

I lightly licked my lips.

Shall we try a little sweet talk?

“I have a few questions. Since you’re going to die soon anyway, wouldn’t it be okay to answer a few things the Prince is curious about? I think I have that much authority.”

“……”

“I’ll take that as a yes and ask a few questions.”

At my next question, Godhand’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You and your team were last dispatched to the Bringer Principality. Is that correct?”

“How did you know that….”

“Just because I’m stuck in the southern backwoods doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes outside, Godhand.”

Actually, I don’t have eyes outside. I just read your profiles in the system.

‘I guess because they’re part of the dark side, there isn’t much information in their character profiles.’

Only public information. When and where they were dispatched, when they were sentenced to death, and so on.

But even with that, I can see the big picture.

And now that I know they’re elves, even more so.

“Your team was dispatched to the Bringer Principality a year ago. And our Everblack Empire’s ambassador to the Bringer Principality was assassinated nine months ago.”

The diplomatic situation between neighboring countries and the Empire also affects the game, so of course, having reset the 742nd game, I knew all the events inside and out.

“After that, the diplomacy between the two countries deteriorated, and war broke out half a year ago. The war is still ongoing.”

I continued to press Godhand, who was keeping his mouth shut.

“The Aegis Special Forces’ specialties are rear infiltration, sabotage, and assassination of key figures. Isn’t that right?”

“……”

“I’ll interpret all silence as agreement. Anyway, I’ve come up with a hypothesis.”

I grinned and clasped my hands together.

“Our Empire’s higher-ups wanted to swallow the Bringer Principality, but they didn’t have a good reason to start a war.”

“……”

“But what if our diplomat was assassinated inside the Principality? They could blame it on the Principality. It would be a good reason to start a war.”

Now Godhand no longer lowered his eyes. He was glaring at me.

“Send an ambassador, and have our own special forces assassinate him. Blame the Principality and start a war. How about that? It’s a pretty plausible hypothesis, isn’t it?”

“Your assumptions are excessive…”

“Three months ago, after completing your mission and returning to the Empire, your team was immediately arrested and sentenced to death for treason without any explanation.”

I shrugged playfully.

“Eliminating the execution team to keep them quiet… a very dark side way of doing things. Don’t you think?”

“……Your Highness.”

Godhand let out a soft sigh. It was the first emotional reaction he had shown today.

“Your assumptions are excessive, but even if everything you’ve said so far is true… then why are we so quietly waiting to die?”

I frowned. Godhand continued.

“According to you, we were unfairly discarded after completing our mission, so there’s no way we’d quietly wait for death, right? We should either make our case or run away….”

“Because you have hostages.”

At my answer, Godhand closed his mouth.

I smiled and continued.

“All of your kin are captured and living as slaves.”

“……”

“If you complete your mission and quietly die, there must be some benefit for your kin. Isn’t that right?”

Godhand bit his lip. It seemed I was right.

In this world, other races like elves and dwarves are all slave classes.

In the war against humans a hundred years ago, all the other races’ countries fell, and the survivors became slaves of humans.

The Everblack Empire, which led the humans to victory in this race war, gained control of the continent… well, that’s the gist of it.

Anyway, the number of elves is very small, and even those who remain are trapped in the elven autonomous region, living in poor conditions.

And those elves are working in the Empire’s special forces?

And they’re quietly waiting for execution? All five of them?

Then it’s obvious. Their kin’s lives are being held hostage.

‘The elf queen who appears after the third year also moves for similar reasons.’

Anyway, this is one of the most common ways the Empire uses other races.

Holding their kin’s lives hostage and forcing them to sacrifice themselves. It was almost a cliché in this game.

“Sacrificing yourselves for your kin… how beautiful. A noble spirit of sacrifice.”

I sneered.

“And foolish, too.”

“……Even if we concede that all of your assumptions are correct.”

Godhand sighed again.

“What changes, Your Highness?”

“Hmm?”

“We have been sentenced to death. You must have received the official documents as well.”

Godhand muttered in a tired voice.

“I don’t understand why you’re saying this to condemned prisoners who are about to lose their heads. Are you mocking us? Or is this just another game for the Imperial Family?”

I grinned and leaned my upper body towards Godhand.

“You know, Godhand?”

“……?”

“The official document I received says ‘execute them,’ but it doesn’t specify how to take your lives.”

“What does that….”

“Whether to hang you, behead you, burn you at the stake, or dismember you, there are no instructions. Therefore, I can take your lives as I please.”

I gestured with my chin towards the south.

“And this is the monster front. Monsters like disasters are pouring in every day.”

“……?”

“I give you a very difficult mission, and you disappear while carrying it out. I report to the higher-ups that the execution has been carried out… that’s also a possibility.”

“……!”

I have that much discretion.

The monster front is clearly the southern front of the Everblack Empire. It’s one of the borders on all sides.

The commander there is given the power of life and death over the entire defense zone.

‘…Of course, that’s only in name, and I don’t have as much authority here as other defense commanders.’

Still, the fact that they sent me five useful condemned prisoners after I requested reinforcements means, ‘Do as you please.’

I decided to interpret it that way.

“Before that, I’ll ask you first. Do you want to live?”

I looked into Godhand’s trembling eyes and asked.

“If no harm comes to your kin, do you have the will to prolong your wretched lives?”

“……What can we do by living longer?”

“Anything.”

“……”

“If you’re alive, you can eventually do anything.”

Godhand, who had been biting his trembling lip, growled.

“Don’t give us false hope, Your Highness.”

“Hmm?”

“You can whip us, cut us with swords, dismember us, and feed our heads to dogs. It doesn’t matter. However you dispose of us. But.”

Godhand shook his head slightly.

“Just don’t give us hope.”

“……”

“More than anything, hope hurts us.”

There are those who live accustomed to despair.

If they have expectations, if they dream of the future, they will be betrayed.

If they give up, at least they won’t get hurt.

“Don’t misunderstand. I have no intention of giving you anything like that.”

But, I have no intention of giving you hope in the first place. It’s not something I can give.

“I’m just trying to give you a chance. A chance not to end your lives.”

“……Why?”

Only now, Godhand asked me the reason.

“Why are you trying to save us?”

“Don’t ask the obvious. I need you here.”

I answered honestly.

“Let me be clear. I’m keeping you alive because I need you.”

It’s a poor excuse, but it’s right to explain why I really need them.

“Currently, the monster front is suffering from a chronic shortage of personnel. Talented combatants are desperately needed. If you help me, it will be much easier to defend this place.”

“……”

“The monster attacks are getting worse every day. If this place falls, the autonomous region where your kin live will also be in danger.”

The elven autonomous region is quite far from here, but it is clearly located in the southern part of the continent.

If the monster front is captured, it will certainly not be safe.

Protecting this place is also protecting their kin.

“Well, I’ve talked a lot, but the choice is yours.”

I crossed my arms and leaned back.

To live or to die.

That is always the question.

“But I would like to ask you. Not only to continue your own lives, but also to help protect your kin in the end.”

“……”

After a moment of silence.

“Your Highness.”

Godhand opened his mouth.

“As you said, Your Highness, we received a promise from the Special Forces. If the five of us succeed in our mission and are quietly ‘disposed of,’ our race will receive enough food to live for the next year.”

In fact, they were human sacrifices.

They accepted that fate.

“We also do not wish to die, of course. But our race’s situation is so dire that we must willingly throw away our lives. So much so that we must rush to volunteer for death.”

Godhand slowly looked back at the four subordinates who were kneeling, bound behind him.

“I dare to say, Your Highness. If you are not going to take responsibility for us, please just kill us here and now.”

“……”

“But if you are still going to take us in, please take responsibility for us until the end.”

“I will take responsibility until the end.”

I put my hand on my chest and affirmed.

“I swear on the blood and name of Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack, the third prince of the Everblack Empire.”

“Aegis Special Forces Team 8 hereby swears allegiance to Prince Ash.”

Clang-

A metallic sound rang out, and the chains binding Godhand’s body fell to the ground.

He was able to escape on his own, but he had been bound willingly.

Godhand waved his hand, and the chains binding his four subordinates also fell off.

The four subordinates slowly removed their gags and blindfolds.

“We are merely an arrow, a bullet, a gust of wind.”

Godhand came in front of me and slowly knelt on one knee. The four subordinates also knelt on one knee behind him in turn.

The five special forces members bowed their heads to me in unison.

“Please use us without reservation and discard us without mercy.”

I will never discard you, and I will cherish you until the end.

I grinned.

Finally, I secured a decent sub-party.