Ch.95Black Magic Workshop – 4

“So, you’re asking me to believe this nonsense?”

“P-please. *cough* It’s not a lie, *hack*…”

The woman kept coughing repeatedly. With each cough, droplets of saliva mixed with bright red blood sprayed out. It seemed that something inside her mouth had burst after I slapped her cheeks a few times.

“…Well, fine. Since you insist it’s not a lie, I’ll pretend to believe you for now. Let’s go over everything from the beginning.”

I grabbed my throbbing forehead and let out a deep sigh. With Charlotte beside me, she probably wasn’t lying, but her story made absolutely no sense.

“First, your name is Catherine, and you’re a magician who’s been around these godforsaken back alleys for quite some time. Correct?”

“Y-yes. That’s, right.”

From what I’d gathered, this damned magician’s name was Catherine. She had been employed as a dedicated magician for a criminal organization for quite a long time.

Naturally, she’d done plenty of shady work. Human experimentation was the most notable example.

Things like transplanting a woman’s uterus into a man, or conversely, a man’s testicles into a woman. Apparently, it was an effort to see if changing one’s sex would alter their sensitivity to mana.

She hastily confessed to experimenting on humans as if she thought it was a grave sin, but such biological experiments weren’t what mattered to me.

Right after Charlotte ascended to the throne, when a bloody storm swept through the kingdom, hundreds were executed at the scaffold each day.

Christine completely annihilated dozens of religions by offering their followers as human sacrifices.

Serena had the least blood on her hands, but that was only in comparison to the other two—in absolute numbers, she’d killed quite a lot.

These were just the numbers I’d personally confirmed. If I included those I hadn’t verified, it would easily exceed five digits.

So, killing about a hundred people through biological experiments was nothing to me. When I showed an indifferent reaction, Catherine was actually bewildered.

“Second, you researched the black blood monsters because your boss Marietta ordered you to, and this entire building was the laboratory for that experiment. Is that correct?”

Catherine nodded, trembling violently.

Ever since Charlotte told me about the research on black blood monsters being conducted in the basement of this building, I’d sensed there was a specific reason why the entire building was covered in black.

At first, I simply thought whoever ruled this place had a preference for black.

After hearing from Charlotte about what was happening in the basement, I assumed it was to make it easier to disguise any incidents that might occur while researching black blood monsters.

In a way, that thought was half correct. Marietta, the boss here, had planned to use the entire building for experiments.

“At first, you tried to change the color of the black blood, but when that didn’t work, you did the opposite and changed all the building’s interior to black. And later, when the poison made from black blood was completed, you planned to test its toxicity by applying it to the building walls?”

“At-at first, we were going to do it in the basement, but she said it was too small. She said we needed a strong vaporizing poison that could fill a larger space.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. Not only were they researching black blood monsters on their own, but they were planning to conduct experiments with it in the middle of the city.

“How were you planning to deal with the aftermath?”

“I-I don’t really know that much. Hii, hiiiiek! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

When I raised my hand to press around my eyes, Catherine curled up as much as she could. Not that it did much good—the binding magic on her arms and legs only allowed her back to bend slightly.

“Well, fine. Let’s accept that too. Third, you gathered the experimental materials yourself by entering areas where black blood monsters had appeared. Right?”

Yes, this woman named Catherine was quite talented in her own way. If she had worked properly in the light, she might have easily secured a position as the head of a decent magic tower.

First, there was the fact that she could prevent the corrosion caused by black blood for at least a few hours, despite limitations. Then there was how she had crawled into battlegrounds against those creatures, returned with her limbs intact, and even brought back spoils.

When I first heard this, I was dumbfounded.

Areas where black blood monsters had been subjugated were officially designated as restricted zones, but they weren’t strictly monitored.

Unless someone had spare lives to throw away, there was no reason to crawl into such places.

Whether designated as restricted or not, ordinary people couldn’t even approach such areas. Entering would only result in throwing away one’s life.

Even adventurers couldn’t dream of it—only high priests or magic tower masters could attempt it, and those people were currently busy being summoned here and there.

Of course, that didn’t mean this woman possessed some extraordinary skill. By her own admission, she survived purely by luck and said she couldn’t do it twice.

She said she covered her entire body with protective magic, rushed in, grabbed whatever she could find, and then had to live on potions for a while afterward.

Among the things she randomly collected was black blood, so she was indeed lucky.

“And finally.”

The last and most important thing.

“You never researched black magic? Are you messing with me?”

“It’s, it’s true! Please believe—KYAAAAAAAAAAH!”

As a strong current flowed from the binding magic circle, Catherine’s body convulsed. Blood vessels burst, and her fingers and toes curled up.

A groan escaped through her clenched teeth: “Ungggggh.” Her limbs kept twitching. I gave Charlotte a signal, and the current flowing through the binding magic circle stopped.

Catherine’s body went limp. The tips of her fingers occasionally twitched.

“I told you. I found a scroll with a magic circle that mediates black magic among your pile of scrolls. I even showed it to your face. And yet what? You never did such a thing?”

“Kehek, kek… it’s not, a lie…”

“Nonsense.”

The current flowed again, and screams erupted. This time, a bit longer. I counted the time internally.

Whether Charlotte had calculated it perfectly or not, Catherine convulsed wildly in pain but never fainted or died.

She simply continued to suffer until I gave the signal to stop.

“That’s enough, Charlotte.”

After about five minutes had passed, the twitching stopped at my words. A deranged laugh—”Uhuhuh”—escaped from Catherine, who hung her head low.

“I’ll say this one last time. Listen carefully. Why do you think I’m only using electricity among the countless torture methods available? Because right now, it’s the simplest method. Since you’ve done some human experimentation yourself, you should know. People die very easily when their vital points are struck. Let’s flip that statement. Conversely, people don’t die so easily unless their vital points are struck.”

Having tortured and been tortured countless times over hundreds of years, I knew very well which parts of the human body to break and tear for maximum efficiency.

Charlotte’s frequent declaration—that she would inflict pain until the victim begged not for mercy but for death—was something I had taught her.

Well, I hadn’t had much occasion to use it myself, so it had been quite a while since I’d done it personally.

I grabbed Catherine’s neck and pulled her toward me.

“If I want, I can repeat this torture for an entire year. I can make you experience firsthand how many pieces a human can be torn into and still survive. I don’t even have to do it myself. If I nail you to a cross with healing magic stacked on your body, the insects will happily feast on your flesh. If you don’t want that, then talk. The black magic you were researching here—how far did you get with it?”

Catherine remained silent for a while. The grip of my hand on her neck tightened.

Just as I was starting to think I should break her neck once and then heal her before questioning her again, Catherine spoke in a dying voice.

“Black… magic…”

“What?”

“Black, magic is…”

Thinking she might be having trouble speaking because her throat was being squeezed, I loosened my grip, but her voice remained faint as if she were whispering. I frowned.

“Speak louder.”

“The magic circle… is…”

“The magic circle is what?”

“Black… blood…”

The gaps between her words were getting wider, making it increasingly difficult to understand what she was saying.

Frustrated, I brought my face a little closer, and at that very moment—

“What an impudent wench.”

With Charlotte’s words, a small magic circle appeared before my eyes. Judging by the type of formula, it seemed to be a defensive spell.

Stunned by the blue glowing magic circle right beside me, I took a step back. Only then could I see what Catherine looked like now.

Her mouth was wide open as if she were about to bite into something, frozen in a rigid posture where she could neither close nor open her mouth further due to the magic circle.

The woman who had been on the verge of death just moments ago had vanished, replaced by a magician who glared at Charlotte and me alternately with vicious eyes.

As I hesitated momentarily at this sudden change in atmosphere, Charlotte stared at Catherine, emanating a chilling coldness.

“You dared to try to harm my man while I was watching with my own eyes.”