Chapter 316 Prisoner of War (1)
The office of the Commander of the Knights Dmitry.
Jonathan read the report with a stiff face.
“… It seems that there are allied prisoners in the Cronus Empire?”
“yes. I’m not sure yet, but 10 minutes ago I got a call with coordinates across the Western Front. As stated in the report, the entity that sent the communication listed short words like ‘Help me, a prisoner here’, but given that it was connected via direct magic communication to Dmitry, it’s likely a prisoner of war.”
It was a hypothesis.
Although no definitive evidence exists, fragmented information strongly suggests the possibility of prisoners of war.
“Currently, we are comparing the short voices left in the communication records with the voices of soldiers whose whereabouts could not be confirmed and who were treated as dead. If you really are a soldier belonging to Dmitry, you can confirm your identity within a few days at the latest.”
“Kuhm.”
Knight Commander Jonathan showed signs of trouble.
missing persons.
It was a truly ambiguous existence.
Those who have confirmed the corpse can mark it as dead, but those who have not returned without a corpse have no choice but to be classified as missing.
The problem is that they are not necessarily dead.
Some may have deserted during the war, others may have been taken prisoner.
However, most of them died so miserably that their bodies could not be identified, so they were often classified as ‘missing’.
if.
If there was any room for them to be alive, Dmitri would not have treated the missing persons as dead.
‘In negotiations of a truce with the Kronos Empire, they said they released all the prisoners. Indeed, some of the prisoners returned to Dmitry after the war. Master Roman didn’t let the prisoners of Cronus live in the first place, so naturally, there was no talk about the exchange of prisoners. If the communicator’s words are true. It can be concluded that the Kronos Empire lied at the negotiating table.’
It was a serious problem.
armistice negotiations.
There was a possibility that the Kronos Empire lied when they reached an agreement to end the war.
I mean.
It meant the cancellation of negotiations.
If the existence of prisoners of war were discovered and held accountable, the worst possibility was that war might break out again.
My head started pounding.
Dmitri is still in the process of finding stability, but the Kronos Empire’s thin lies are messing things up.
‘How will Master Roman react?’
when the war broke out.
Roman Dmitry was not bound by the presence of prisoners.
Rather than taking the sacrifice to save the life of an ally’s prisoner, he boldly slashed the enemy’s throat to achieve victory.
Everyone agreed with Roman Dmitri’s bold choice.
If he had been swayed by captivity against the great nation of Cronus, the war would have gone worse than it is now.
“Get your materials. We will report to Master Roman and proceed with the leadership meeting.”
at last.
The decision was up to Roman Dmitry.
* * *
That’s when Dmitri went crazy.
snap.
A black hand grabbed the man’s hair.
The man grabbed the communicator and tried to speak, but he let out a scream as he was kicked in the face.
Kwajik.
“Cheak!”
His nose was crushed and blood spurted out.
The man grabbed his face and lowered his head, and a booty foot stepped on his head.
Fuck!
“Hey kid. what did i say I made it clear that I would not kill, if not like a human, if I lived quietly and concentrating on my work. It’s a perfect dog. Why can’t I understand when people are talking?”
kicked in the head
He pulled him up by the collar and punched him in the cheek several times.
Damn!
Squeak clatter!
The head jerked back.
The man’s sturdy skeleton seemed stronger than the violent one, but his thin face was powerless to resist, perhaps because he hadn’t eaten.
The violence was never ending.
As his face was stained with blood and the man groaned as if he had lost his mind, the being presumed to be a knight frowned and brushed off the blood from his hands.
“My fucking hands hurt.”
his name.
It was Jason.
A knight from the Kronos Empire, he looked down at the man and growled like he was going to eat him.
“Thinking of taking the magic communicator and contacting Dmitri. You are great too. by the way. I’m asking because I’m really curious, but if you contact Dmitri, do you think Roman Dmitri will come running to save you in a month? I mean, it’s a gross misunderstanding. Roman Dmitri doesn’t care about prisoners.”
sat down on the floor.
He grabbed the face of the man who was moaning in pain, and whenever he didn’t respond, he slashed his cheek to wake him up.
Damn!
“Listen. In the war with us, Roman Dmitri killed all the soldiers of the Kronos Empire without thinking about the ‘prisoner exchange’ in the first place. That is the reality of the existence you serve. Dmitri is already getting back to his senses, so now he’s worried about being taken prisoner? The truce negotiations are over, you bastard. The fact that you weren’t mentioned at the negotiating table talking about a truce means that Dmitri knows about your existence and won’t force himself to bring prisoners.”
“Oh no… hey.”
“No.”
Jab-!
head turned
Drops of sweat and blood mingled and stained the ground.
The man slumped.
Jason got up from his seat as if he was not having fun and said to the soldiers waiting behind him.
“Take him to the torture chamber. I will take this opportunity to clearly show you how to deal with a rat that disobeys orders.”
“yes!”
The soldiers raised the man.
with this opportunity.
Dmitri’s captives will know for sure what the price for manly behavior is.
* * *
Pak-
“… Great.”
The man was thrown to the floor.
There were clear marks of torture all over his face and body.
The upper body was not healthy due to the knife cuts, and the fingernails and toenails were all torn off and pus formed.
Besides, the whole skin turned red.
Due to torture such as pouring hot water and shocking with electric magic, part of the skin was necrotic.
“Carol!”
“are you okay?!”
over the dark.
The men flocked.
This was a prison for prisoners, and Carol was abandoned here again after her torture.
“이 빌어먹을 새끼들!”
“How can humans make the same human being like this! If I ever get out of this prison alive. Jason I’m going to rip that demon limb from limb. I will definitely kill you!”
The men fell to evil.
all of them.
It was Dmitry’s prisoner.
Apparently, they were recorded as dead on paper, but how could they have been imprisoned here as prisoners?
at the time of war.
When the Kronos Empire attacked the Western Front, the castle collapsed and many soldiers were taken prisoner.
At that time, the captives were tortured and killed by Hannibal.
Prisoners, including Carol, were trembling in a situation where they did not know when they would die, but as the Cronus Empire decided to advance, some prisoners were taken to the rear.
It was because prisoners could act as a risk factor.
So the captives were moved to a manor called ‘Mcheaton’ in the eastern part of Kronos.
after a while
There were rumors that the war was over.
Looking at the enemy soldiers making noise outside, the prisoners were convinced that they could get out of this hellish place.
However, no matter how much time passed, there was no order to release the prisoners.
Obviously, the atmosphere of the return meant a ceasefire, but the eyes of the enemy soldiers looking at them were unusual.
One day.
said Jason.
“Dmitri abandoned you. I’ll give you a choice now. Either you will quietly follow our orders and remain McHeaton’s slaves, or you will just die now.”
at that time.
The captives who raised their voices had their heads cut off in front of everyone.
Prisoners chose slaves to survive.
It was the beginning of hell.
In McHeaton, there were many places where manpower was needed, such as quarries, and the prisoners carried out hard work while eating only enough food to sustain their lives.
It didn’t matter whether it was night or day.
The prisoners who went to work with equipment could not stop working even while watching the death of their comrades who were crushed by stones.
if you didn’t follow orders.
the pain came
The savage whiplash tore through the reddened skin.
I endured it though.
They believed that Dmitri would rescue them, but one of the captives received devastating news.
“… I think the Kronos Empire said in the truce negotiations that there are no more prisoners. That’s why Dmitri treated the soldiers who were classified as ‘missing’ as dead. So we are not living prisoners, but already dead people. Dmitri will not come to rescue us.”
fell into despair
Even a ray of hope is gone.
So Carol risked her life.
They hoped that Roman Dmitri would rescue the captives by somehow letting them know about their survival.
“Keuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”
swallowed a groan
A man said while looking at Carol in pain.
“… we’re done Carol couldn’t properly communicate and Dmitri wouldn’t want to mention our presence because he’s already signed a truce. You can’t go to war again with the Kronos Empire just to save dozens or hundreds of lives. cruel though. This is our reality.”
It was a self-deprecating voice.
They faced reality with stunned faces.
Like Carol, who was tortured, they will die as slaves here in McHeaton.
* * *
That time.
In McHeaton’s conference room, the top leaders exchanged conversations with serious expressions.
“… Could it be that Dmitri noticed the prisoner’s presence?”
“You will never ever notice. The time the POW connected the communication was extremely short and the flow of mana was not smooth, so the words would not have been delivered properly. Even if Dmitry received a communication. It is impossible to fully comprehend the situation on this side with fragmented words.”
“Kuhm.”
Even in Jason’s words.
Leaders were not relieved.
said Baron McHeatten.
“This is what happened when Roman Dmitri killed all the prisoners. What a double guy. Acting as if he was for Dmitri’s people on the outside, he killed all the soldiers of the Kronos Empire without thinking about exchanging prisoners. Roman Dmitri would have known. What will happen as a result of your actions? Yet he turned away from the truth and left no prisoners.”
“you’re right. This is all because of Roman Dmitri.”
armistice negotiations.
At that time, the Kronos Empire had already secured a number of prisoners.
But an order came from the top.
Since Dmitri does not have any prisoners to carry out the prisoner exchange, the Kronos Empire cannot allow the return of prisoners without payment.
That’s how I hid the existence of prisoners.
At the negotiating table, he said that he had already released the prisoners whose activities were revealed, and secretly sent some prisoners to the quarry to be used as slaves.
It was petty revenge.
I didn’t worry about getting caught.
If the prisoner’s existence was determined and concealed, Dmitry would have no way of knowing that the prisoner was still there.
however.
A problem occurred.
One of the captives had established a magical communication with Dmitri.
Jason, the person in charge, took control of the situation.
“You don’t have to worry too much. Dmitri does not know of the POWs’ existence, and even if he did know, turning the table upside down is not an easy task given that a truce has been signed. Besides, we didn’t proceed with this work by order from the upper level. There is no reason for us to take responsibility if things go wrong.”
Everyone’s expression softened.
Like Jason said.
There was no reason to worry about something that hadn’t been discovered.
It was then.
A soldier who opened the conference room door and entered delivered the news like a bolt from the blue sky.
“… Lady, my lord! I just got a report that Roman Dmitri crossed the border with his troops!”
Moment.
Everyone stopped.
Although various circumstances after the discovery were discussed.
The border invasion without notice was a development that they could not have thought of with their heads.
