Harrick walked down the steep, narrow stone staircase to the castle dungeon. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Fireworks burned from the torch hanging diagonally on the stone wall, and the pale blue light illuminated the surrounding walls and the stone staircase underfoot.

In the dark, damp dungeon, several fat black rats skewed around the corners, making 'squeak' sounds.

Two jailers guarding the cell were listlessly guarding the iron doors.

The jailers heard footsteps in the stone staircase, and they hurriedly straightened up, standing on either side with stern faces.

When Harrick's figure appeared in front of the two jailers, they saluted respectfully. "Lord Harrick. ”

Then, one of the jailers, Ammon, removed the key tied to his waist and opened the cell door behind him.

Harrick stepped forward, through the rusty iron door in front of him.

Another jailer, 'Leather', took a torch from the wall and followed the sheriff into the cell with his hand held aloft.

In the center of the dungeon is a torch stove held up by a triangular iron frame, and a pile of firewood is burning in the torch stove.

Near the wall was an iron prison frame, and the Assassin chained to the cage was staring coldly at Harrick as he appeared across from him.

"Who sent you?" said Harrick in a calm tone, trying to hide his anger. "As long as you tell me, I will instruct the soldiers to keep you from being tortured. ”

The assassin snorted coldly, not uttering a word.

Harrick was stunned and said angrily, "Come on, go to the punishment." ”

"Yes, sir. "Ammon with a pockmarked face should arrive.

He picked up a thumb-thick leather whip from the torture rack, walked up to the Assassin, raised the whip and shook it vigorously, slamming the whip on the Assassin's body.

The leather whip tore through the clothes he was wearing, and bloody whip marks cut through his intact skin.

The assassin gritted his teeth, holding back the pain and not saying a word.

"Are you recruited?" asked Harek sharply.

The Assassin's face was terrifyingly pale, and blood bubbled from the corners of his mouth, but his gaze was still cold.

"Go ahead," Harrick glared at each other with wide-eyed eyes. "Another torture instrument. ”

Ammon put down the whip and took out an iron from the torture instrument, which he put into the torch stove and grilled.

He did not take out the iron until the soldering in the torch furnace was burned red and smoking. He branded the hot iron on the Assassin's right shoulder.

The reddish iron scorched over the Assassin's skin through the thin clothing, and the smell of burnt meat filled the musty dungeon.

He fainted. Ammon reminded the sheriff.

"Wake him up for me. ”

A scoop of icy water poured over the Assassin's wound, a piercing pain that spread throughout his body and dragged him out of his stupor.

"Are you dumb, and since you are not going to speak, then I will fulfill you. Harrick spoke, "Pulled out his tongue." "He lost his patience.

"Yes, sir. Ammon rummaged through the torture apparatus for iron tongs.

As Ammon and Leather pry the assassin's tongue open, Harrick's voice rang out. "Wait......"

You can't pull out his tongue, but it may be useful to keep his tongue. Harrick calmed down and cleared his thoughts.

"Forget it, I'd better keep his tongue on," Harrick said. "Perhaps Count Arassis will interrogate him himself. ”

"Lord Harrick, the Count invites you to visit his study. A young soldier appeared beside him.

Harrick glanced at the Assassin opposite him with a disgusted gaze, and then he left the dungeon.

Ammon and Leather, who were guarding the dungeon, followed behind them, stopping outside the iron cell door and locking it again.

Out of the dungeon, Harrick made his way to the second floor, and walked to the end of the hallway, stopping at the doorway of the room.

Bolton and another knight were guarding the doorway when they saw from a distance that it was Sheriff Harrick.

Harrick pushed open the door and entered the room, where he saw Count Arassis and Rogge discussing something sitting on the sofa.

"Is there any result of your interrogation?" asked Count Aracis to his sheriff.

Although they had already received answers from the Silversword organization, the mastermind behind the serial assassination attempt was the 'Bloody Hand' Taisha Boye.

But was that really the case? was Tessapeyeh so arrogant? Only the news that came out of the Assassin's mouth could convince him of the doubt.

The Assassin didn't say a word. Harrick replied.

"Torture the Assassins?" continued Count Arassis.

Several kinds of torture were used, but he remained silent, and almost pulled his tongue out. Harrick's depressed tone was mixed with anxiety.

Count Arassis's face became a little surprised, he was somewhat surprised by the Assassin's ability to endure, and no one had yet been able to withstand the brutal torture in the dungeon.

"How's the recruiting going?" said Count Arassis, changing the subject.

"Your Excellency," Harrick replied truthfully. "So far, a total of 2,756 soldiers have been recruited. ”

Ever since Count Arassis announced that he was going to recruit new recruits throughout the city, signs of recruitment were plastered all over the streets of the city.

However, the wealthy freedmen in the city of Chanda enjoyed a peaceful and comfortable life, and the freedmen did not respond much to the call of the lord of Chanda.

On the contrary, those outsiders enthusiastically rushed to sign up. Among these were porters, hunters, down-and-out mercenaries, bounty hunters, wandering knights, and so on.

Especially for the refugees who were resettled outside the city, almost all the men joined the army of Lord Chanda in order to give their families a place to live in the castle.

"Continue to recruit until the number of legions is filled. "Count Arassis commanded. In addition, some knights were selected from the Free Knights to serve as instructors to assist Instructor Kai in training these recruits. ”

This amount was far from what Count Arassis demanded. The city of Chanda must have an army strong enough to hold its walls before the Dark Legion can reappear on the continent of Calradia.

"Maybe we can buy a bunch of strong slaves from Ramon," Rogge suggested. "This will allow us to multiply the city guard in a short period of time. ”

"Slaves, do you expect them to take up arms to defend the walls for us?" said Harrick with a tone of suspicion.

"Why not?" said Rogge. "With a little training, these slaves can become a qualified army, far superior to the recruits we recruit. ”

Harrick scathingly emphasized, "Those slaves are nothing more than captured water thieves, or escaped soldiers, or murderers. ”

"The Mamluk cavalry of the Salanders was an army made entirely of slaves. Rogge retorted.

Most of the members of the 'Mamluk' cavalry were selected from among slaves captured in the war and did not need to be paid much salary.

Known as the 'Blade of Allah', the Mamluks originally meant "slaves" in Saranda, and were also translated as "Mamluks".

Most of these slaves came from the interior of Calradia, where they were captured by the slave trader Ramon and sold to the Salander desert region, where they were then organized into mercenaries by the sultans.

Once these slaves have changed from animals without human rights to warriors with freedom and wealth, who will want to rebel?

For a monarch, a strong and obedient army is undoubtedly the best choice.

If you can't have both, then an obedient but not strong army is acceptable, and a strong but disobedient army is absolutely unacceptable!

Moreover, the equipment of this slave unit was supplied by the state and was very sophisticated. So the Mamluk cavalry was almost comparable to the royal knights of the Swadia kingdom.

Count Arassis was not without consideration of buying a group of strong slaves from slave traders to augment the city guard. But how to train and control these slaves is also a difficult problem.

"Rogge, I will consider your suggestion," said Count Aracis. "But the urgency of the delay now is to ensure that the merchant ships passing through the 'You River' are not harassed by pirates. ”

"Your Excellency," Rogge said firmly. "I will continue to lead the bandits out of the city to search for Nabal's traces and make sure he is not entrenched in the area of the Yuhe. ”

"Very well, even if you can't capture him, as long as you can expel him from the area of the Yu," Count Arassis then ordered. "Harrick, hurry up and recruit new recruits, and the mercenary group can't stop hiring. ”

"Everything is going on tightly and in order, my lord. ”

"Then it's hard for you, now let's all go and get busy!"