I Own A Brothel In Another World (Ch. 197+)

Chapter 203 - The Makers of Kings

Ross visibly tenses on the side. A serious frown adorns his forehead as he squints at the bound woman.

"What do you mean?" he asks with a certain edge to his tone.

Madeline looks directly at him for the very first time, possibly finally acknowledging his presence in the small prison. She's been focusing on me since we stepped inside, for obvious reasons. A ghost of recognition passes through her expression.

"Ah. The kid. Roch? Roz? Looks like you've fully grown up in the time I was absent. Though, it seems that you didn't really grow into what they wanted you to." She snorts while shaking her head. "No surprise there, honestly. It was bound to fail. But, not like I cared. It would have been convenient if they had been found out and wiped clean after sharing their knowledge with me. I could have returned as a prisoner of war and continued browsing the libraries."

I can see the King's brow twitch the more she talks, but it would be better for him not to get riled up at the very beginning of the interrogation. There's not much to be done about this so the best approach is to try and delay the main question for as long as possible. Hopefully, he will play along.

"You speak as if the mentioned goal of creating a strong barrier wasn't the final one but a step instead," I note loud enough to get their attention. "What was or is the whole plan if you are aware of it? Start from the beginning, preferably."

Sadly, I receive a glare from my royal friend, but I'll live through it. He will understand after calming down a bit. We don't want any accidents to happen.

The woman considers my order briefly, clearly rummaging through her memories to find the best place to start at. She then smiles to herself and nods.

"From the beginning it is, then. The King sent me and one elite squad on a mission to investigate a series of disappearances and murders. The victims, or what was left of them, had been grossly mutilated, so we assumed it might have been the work of some aggressive new monster in the area." Madeline smirks. "Unfortunately for the squad, and fortunately for me, there was no monster."

"The organisation." I stroke my chin ponderingly.

"Correct, My Lord." The egoistic lady grins. "We walked straight into an ambush that would render all of us dead in seconds if we chose to fight back. Thankfully, the representatives stepped forward and went right to business, bringing their offer to me right away. Later I learned that the duo in charge that had approached me came from the Lafayette and Corinsel family, a man and a woman respectively."

A quiet curse escapes Ross' lips and makes it obvious that he recognises at least one of the names. Recalling her earlier words, it's safe to assume that those are two quite influential noble or merchant families living in the main areas of the kingdom. We'll get all the names in a moment. Some tidying up might be upon us.

"Skipping all the pointless discussion, you already know that I agreed to their offer, aware of secrecy spells and the binding curse," she continues. "I tried to get them to bind the rest of the squad too since those men were quite skilled, but I was their only objective. They actually turned my request against me, setting up a requirement that if I wanted to join, I had to slay all of them myself, with the excuse that they wanted to witness my proficiency firsthand."

"And did you?" Ross' intense gaze practically drills into her skull.

The woman shrugs nonchalantly. "I'm sitting here, am I not?"

He notices my eyes on him and takes a deep breath, squeezing his fists. To further help himself keep control over his emotions, the King begins to pace around.

"Go on," I urge her to continue without wasting time on pointless teasing.

"Right. They took me to their main mage, who works all the magic into their slaves, and I mean everyone by that term. Then, I got access to the two ancient grimoires to study them. It wasn't easy to decipher most of the language, but I have a knack for this so it took me only about twenty days to achieve decent progress. I picked up only bits of their conversations here and there as they talked about Operation Kingslayer and Kingmaker. Many of the main members were unhappy with the King's assertiveness in certain subjects. Seriously, pompous noble assholes gossip more than prepubescent girls from rich households." She rolls her eyes.