As Auren approaches the pleading Gatekeeper lying on the ground, Leira immediately interjects.
"Perhaps... there is a peaceful solution to this situation?" she suggests.
He's vile, evil, and wanted to kill us. More importantly, he's a pathetic creature with no honor, probably exiled for a reason. Trusting someone like him is suicide. No, we'll be doing this the safe way... and results will follow. With Konrad, I can learn enough.
"Not this time," Auren orders. "Leira, Konrad, I need your help for the interrogation later. Now we need to act quickly."
"I'll call Kieran. This clearing is perfect for landing. With the tree gone, it should be easily recognizable. The ground is firm enough even for an airship to land on, and without the tree, there are no obstacles at all. We can secure not only the wolves' bodies, but also the fruits, the remains of the tree, and the moth."
He then looks at the others.
"Can you secure the perimeter around the tree and collect the remaining fruits? Also secure this damn moth...." he asks them, glaring at the angry moth.
"No problem," Leira says.
"Good... time to start..." Auren says, his eyes growing cold, as he stabs Eternity into the Gatekeeper.
"AAAAAAGHGHGH How... dare you?! I... you... my Aura..." the Gatekeeper immediately complains, but is utterly unable to muster even a sliver of resistance.
Auren drains some of his Aura, pulls out Eternity, and then chops at his neck, rendering him unconscious.
"Not too much Aura inside this guy," Auren complains, stomping on his body.
At the same time, he provides some first aid via Azure Restoration, which he is still keeping up in one hand, emitting some Aura onto his body, and stopping the bleeding on his limbs.
Finally, he calls Kieran.
"Vice-Leader, what is it? We are a little busy... many beasts around here... and nothing much else. The Hellbells are a little more difficult to deal with than we thought... we have two casualties, but they were mostly caused by overeager men," Kieran replies solemnly.
"Immediately retreat and organize an airship. Flying will be safe... I can guarantee it. The destination is a clearing around the middle of the island. We felled a tree, so you should be able to spot us from above. Make sure to not only bring soldiers, but also support staff," Auren explains.
"Understood," Kieran replies, obeying without asking any questions.
Going into a bit more detail, Auren swiftly ends the call.
Despite the group's careful search, no more wolves or snakes show up until the airship arrives.
An airship with hundreds of men inside lands, and the soldiers and workers storm out and quickly secure the perimeter.
After explaining the situation to the staff members and soldiers, they quickly get to work.
Under Auren's lead, they storm out and hunt a few more wolves and even a few unsuspecting snakes that Auren quickly freezes.
After just a couple more hours, with only a few injured soldiers among the Hollow Blade members, everyone returns with an unbridled sense of confidence.
Despite the harsh conditions and the sad news that two members of Kieran's squad passed away combating Hellbells earlier in the day, everyone is clearly excited about the news that is quickly spreading.
Among the soldiers and workers, every couple of minutes, a quiet but satisfied, "We conquered this island," is clearly audible, followed by expressions of pride and happiness.
After loading the remains of the dead tree trunk, a few healthy cut-off branches that weren't drained by Eternity, leaves, the fruits, the captured moth, the unconscious Gatekeeper, and many dead and captured wolves, as well as snakes, onto the airship, it quickly takes off with all their spoils.
As the airship flies over the island, Auren stands on the large main deck, his group behind him, minus Leira, who is taking care of the moth and other captured animals downstairs.
"The island feels different somehow, don't you think?" Auren asks the others, who are standing next to him.
"How so?" Goreinu asks. "Feels the same."
"Completely," Konrad says. "No threat in the air, and with what we've learned, this island is merely an artificial wildlife sanctuary used for breeding a new species of wolves. No wonder its entire ecosystem is fake and just there to support the wolves. The plants and insects feed small animals and the round beasts, who in turn snack on the small animals, only to become prey to the wolves. The snakes don't quite fit into the plan, but maybe they were too hard to get rid of."
"They might have a role as well," Neffi guesses.
"Exactly," Auren replies. "In any case, we've reached the centre of the island and solved most of the mysteries. There is no danger here... yet it could be said that this mission has been a failure. There is nothing here that warrants a further stay... but now that we can safely fly airships over it, we could simply purge it of the wolves. Maybe it could serve as an outpost. Depending on whether crops can be grown here. Hopefully our... prisoner will tell us more... not like he has a choice."
"Leira wouldn't like to hear that, hehe," Neffi says, smiling.
"The captured Gatekeeper is a much bigger reward!" Vanessa points out. "I wonder what he can tell us. He must know the truth about the Dark Continent. His Aura was strong... but not at a point where I'd despair... I can get there. It won't even take me long. I'm getting excited!"
"Indeed," Auren replies. "But remember, he was a disgraced, exiled Gatekeeper; using him as a benchmark is a bad idea. He was also a huge moron. Still... you'll get there, even if you're up against a competent one, I'm pretty sure."
Vanessa smiles in satisfaction before turning away, hiding her happiness.
"We did really well this time," Auren says. "I think we can be proud. This went as well as it could have gone."
At least I'm glad it's over... this could have gone way worse.
Back on the small island, everyone unloads the cargo, and Leira, escorted by dozens of people, secures each animal, blinding and tying up the snakes, doing the same to the wolves, and creating prisons out of a metal container.
Leira personally takes care of the moth, which appears to be quite important to her.
"Commander," Auren yells. "You told me we have a way to contact Rakshala... this might be the time. How often can we contact her?"
"Over such a distance... just once... every two weeks at most," Kieran replies, thinking for a second. "It's best we make it count. We also only have around 10 to 15 minutes."
I see....
"Then we first interrogate the prisoner and then call 'home'," Auren decides immediately. "I'm pretty confident in handling it, but perhaps there is a smarter way."
"I have just the man for it... but it only works on people who're weaker than himself," Kieran explains. "Which is... usually a huge issue. He's quite weak physically, and his Aura is not very strong. But we've had some great success if we simply knock out and starve the victim for a while."
"Good... however... a backup couldn't hurt..." Auren mutters.
I have Konrad double-check if his answers are truthful or if something weird is going on.
A few minutes later, in one of the playhouses, the unconscious body of the Gatekeeper is put onto a pink plastic chair.
Konrad, Kieran, Auren, as well as another man who looks extremely lean and like he hasn't slept properly in weeks, stand around him.
Looks like a stereotypical computer specialist. I hate stereotypes... but he's just too much of a fit. Should I encourage him to bulk up and work out? Maybe those fruits will help if we can use them.
Without saying anything, the man conjures what appears to be a computer. As it appears on the only table available, a pink plastic one, it looks extremely silly and out of place.
"Commander, Vice-Leader," the man says, holding a plug connected to the computer in his hand. "On your command."
"Go ahead," Auren says, gesturing towards the Gatekeeper.
The man puts the plug into the Gatekeeper, but it immediately shoots back out and hits the man in the face like a whip, a red lash from the cable, visible in addition to a red dot where the plug itself hit him.
"Not quite impressive," Auren comments drily.
"He's still not weak enough?" Kieran asks, his face shocked. "It looks to me like he's almost out of Aura, not to mention he lost four limbs and is unconscious. How can your Hatsu fail under these circumstances?"
"He's... a damn monster! His Aura is still massive...." the man replies, his hand shaking a little while he rubs his face.
"How far can I go..." Auren wonders, stabbing Eternity into him once again.
After just 10 seconds, the skin of the Gatekeeper dries up a little. He pulls out and sheathes his weapon.
"Try again," Auren tells the man.
"Okay..." he says, putting the plug into the Gatekeeper, despite there being no hole, making it magically sink into the Gatekeeper's skin.
"That worked," he says in relief.
"Auren..." Konrad whispers. "My glasses don't work like this."
Suddenly, the Gatekeeper opens his eyes and raises his body, sitting down as if he has no injuries.
"This one has barely any juice... I can do twenty to thirty minutes at most," the man explains.
"Which will suffice... Kieran, I give you the first five minutes; ask what you need to ask," Auren says, gesturing towards the controlled Gatekeeper.
Time to find out the truth!
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