Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

The man shuddered in horror hearing the coldness in Anton's voice, and his horror only tuned worse seeing the knives gleaming with darkness. "I'll answer. . .  I'll answer. . .  Ask me anything. . ." he repeated a couple of times in fear of Anton. 

"Good," Anton said. The coldness was still in his eyes as in the blades. "Davin," he looked at Davin, who seemed to be mesmerised by his act. "Davin," he asked again.

"Yes," Davin said, nodding. He moved towards the guy who was frightened still on the ground. "Tell me how Theiron got so many participants to work for him?"

The guy looked at Anton again before opening his mouth. "It's because of the flag. .. With the flag, anyone can be a king in the test ground for some time. Master Theiron found a flag just after teleporting here, and he claimed a region with it."

"That seems a valid reason," Anton said from behind. "What is the usage of the flag other than claiming a region?"

"Other than claiming a region, the flag can put a barrier against the chilly aura in the mana, moreover a map of a stronghold came with the flag. That place was way safer than outside, and we found better equipment there."

"So the flag can make one owner of the stronghold," Anton said, pondering. "How can one steal a flag from someone?" 

"I don't know, master Theiron never said anything about it," the guy repeated,  fearing Anton might not believe him. "I really don't know." 

"I believe you," Anton said, clicking his tongue. "Now tell us about what you're saying about the north." 

The guy waited a moment to open his lips. "I hear master Theiron say, there was a someone called Scythe there."

"Scythe?" Anton and Davin repeated at the same time.

"Yes," the guy continued. "Scythe is the uncrowned king in the north. Nobody can challenge him. Even master Theiron was fearful of this guy."

"So about the slave business?" Anton asked again, making a note on the name scythe in his head. "What is it?"

"I don't know," The captive became less fearful as Anton did not bother to impose more fear on him. "I just heard, after defeating an opponent, you can somehow make them your slave, and slaves have to follow your orders unconditionally. I heard the Scythe already had two hundred men, and half of them were slaves."

"How is this possible? Aren't the people from the tower watching us? How can someone take slaves?" Davin blurted with a lot of questions. 

"That can only mean, they allow slavery in the test, and probably would allow other inhuman acts as well," Anton said slowly. 

Davin sighed. He could make that out after hearing from the captive, but he was frightened to admit it.

"So, the interrogation is done," Anton said. He continued at the captive, seeing the nod from Davin. "Now you have one task for me. Tell your Master Theiron, I will come for him. Sleep well." 

After that, Anton knocked the captive out. He grinned at Davin. "How was my acting?"

"You are acting? I thought you would really do the things you said earlier if he did not answer," Davin said back, as he could not believe Anton was acting.

Anton smiled and did not explain anything else. "We should move to the north now," he said, looking at the other captive that Davin had knocked out earlier. "But before that. . ."

Anton kicked at the back of the head of the other guy. Not that hard, but hard enough to make him pass out. The guy had regained his consciousness, only acting as passed out. It would b quite a bother if dozen more fellows chase after them in the cold.

"Davin Davin, you should have hit harder."

.. . 

Aasan and Michelle were hiding just a few hundred metres away from a stronghold. It was just a few minutes ago they have come across it after following a couple of fellows.

Fortunately, none had noticed them yet. She had to thank that gentleman-looking Aasan for that. He was quite skilled in the regards of tailing, can tell just by noting few signs, and know-how far you should go with the tailing. 

As far as Michelle was concerned, she would have been caught immediately if she had gone along with her recklessness. That reminded her of another fellow, similarly hateful, yet she did not know why she would want to be with that hateful guy rather than Aasan here. Maybe because she could trust him better than Aasan. 

There were half a dozen guards guarding the stronghold in the entrance while they sensed a few more on the first floor. Probably archers. All of them were equipped with decent quality armours and weapons of the same quality and identity. Full body grey coloured light armour with spears, swords or axes. 

"What should do now?" she whispered at the gentleman—Aasan—who was frowning from the hidden spot.

"We should go and greet them?" he said, still not looking at her.

"Are you in the mood for jokes now?" Michelle almost said out loud, but stopped at the right time. This bastard always gets on her nerves.

"Well, I'm actually surprised," Aasan said, looking at the redhead. "I thought you would go greet them with your hot-headedness." 

Michelle snorted. "I may be hot-headed at times, but I'm not stupid," she said. "If I go alone, I can't do anything but flee with the tail between my legs." 

"Fortunately, you are not alone," Aasan said, looking at the two-storeyed stronghold again. "Do you want to steal their flag?"

Michelle blinked at him. "I always thought, you to be a smart person, yet you prove me wrong," She said as she knew the only consequences of the act will be getting captured or getting eliminated from the test, and she wanted none of them.

"I said stealing," Aasan said quietly. "I'll not go confront there when they have over a couple of dozen men in their ranks."

Michelle did not say anything, gave a look that asked for more.

"Look," Aasan said, gesturing at the first floor where an archer was, then to another direction. "As far as I figured out they have about thirty men in their ranks, they probably were not long they found this place, and still had not figured the optimal place to guard, moreover they did not have enough men to guard the entire stronghold."

"So what's your plan?" Michelle asked, she similarly noticed some of that.

"My plan is one between us, mess up with the guards while the other one sneaked in from the hidden door, steal the flag and capture the leader if possible."

"Wait a minute, how do you know there's a hidden gate there?" Michelle asked suspiciously.

"There is always a hidden path," Aasan said with a straight face, which still seemed like a lie. "Are you in or not?" 

Michelle went silent for a moment. Aasan did not bother her as well. After a moment of deliberation, she said, "As much as your plan looked unconvincing and dangerous, I still she some promise in it, but there's a big question."

"Which is?" Aasan asked, even though he could guess what the redhead was talking about.

"How can I trust you?"

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