15 Belathines Power Reshuffling (1/2)

Aruthos woke up as he felt pain all over his body, especially his face, as his senses cleared up gradually. He then realized that a beautiful human woman was staring at him with a composed manner with a book like device on her hand.

This woman must be the mighty witch who beat him up. Although the helmet was not there, and the clothes were different, the body shape and hair were the same. She looked to be in her 30s with an allure of a mature woman; she got all her curves right.

He tried to make sense of his surrounding as he realized he was placed on a sofa bed in an unknown underground location.

The air smelled sterile and the source of light came from a circular embeddened white stones on the four sides of the wall. The woman was sitting just beside him on a metal stool. It looked like she was waiting for him to wake up himself.

Aruthos was not sure whether it is morning or night; he had already lost track of time and he couldn't see the a window anywhere in this preconceived underground area.

Aruthos cleared his throat and asked restlessly in Belathinian language, ”Am I a prisoner?”

The woman kept quiet, pondered for a while, then sighed before answering in his mother tongue with a perfect accent, ”Nope, you are not at the moment. As long as you answer several questions honestly that is.”

The response made Aruthos became more vigilant and clammed up tight.

He suddenly jerked up and tried to grip the elder witch's throat. However it was grasped by her hand instead. The Elder Witch's eyes turned cold.

”Where is the girl?!” He tried to release his hand and showed a threatening glare.

Pasha scoffed off and clutched her fingers around the insolent Oni's fingers in a vise grip. The Oni showed a pained expression as he heard his finger bones emitting cracking sounds. At least half of them had broken again.

”Are you done?”

He stared daggers towards the witch. He needed to save both Leila and Helen from this monster.

[Is this lady a super spy hell-bent on his empire's destruction?]

Looking at Aruthos' reaction, Pasha sighed, ”Before you start thinking too much, listen first to this recording.”

Pasha played the recording of Roland's evening lecture. She knew the Oni would understand the human language. She had seen the ring on the finger of this Oni. It was the limited-edition ring that came together with a set of 100 serialized picture books known as comics.

Comics were popularized by His Highness at the early stage of the empire development with the help of an assistant witch, Soraya. All comics depicted the life story of a witch for propaganda to increase the empathy of the masses to them. The key witches became extremely popular as their life stories had been reprinted repeatedly.

For an Oni who could painstakingly purchase internally circulated comics from other empire and wore the limited-edition ring proudly on his pinky despite his stature, he must be a die-hard fan of the comic series.

Aruthos blushed when he saw Pasha staring at the ring. It was his deepest darkest secret, his guilty pleasure. No one knew, including his supplier, because he always camouflaged himself when he commissions for the underground delivery.

Only Helen, the woman he was in love with knew since she was the one who connected him to his supplier.

Since nobody else knew about the ring's origin and significance, he dared to wear it out in the open.

Pasha pretended not to notice his blushing and proceed with playing the record from her personal VIRCOF. She didn't want to know other unnecessary issues from the Oni.

As the recording played, Aruthos' concentrated and listened intently. Through this, he might know what the other party wanted from their empire. Maybe he could strike a deal somehow to save both Helen and Leila.

...

”Is this true?!” Pasha could see the stupid Oni was genuinely shaken by the revelations. All signs of resistance have disappeared.

”Unfortunately, yes. This lecture was only four hours ago. Still very fresh. I'm here because I wish to investigate the current conditions of your empire since it was the largest empire in this region.” Pasha replied patiently.

”How about the girl and the beautiful lady beside you? I want to see them now. Only by seeing that they are well will this discussion continue.” Aruthos repeated his request yet again; this time he withheld his temper. He knew he nearly played his card wrong again.

Pasha push a button on her coms to call the two agents in.

”Uncle Aruthos! Thank goodness you didn't die!” A snotty Leila ran towards the bedridden high general and gave him a hug while whimpering. Aruthos let a relieved sigh and ruffled the little girl's hair. He had treated this girl like his own kin after his sworn brother passed.

His eyes trailed towards the beautiful demure figure behind Leila. Although his body was totally battered, his eyes shone lively when they met with the pair of almond-colored eyes he adored so much. Like a love-struck teenager, he stared brazenly towards the love of his life who had resisted his advances time and time again.