Equipment Printing School Mage

Luo Lian shook her hands, but the rope was strangling her so much that she couldn't breathe. Finally, she could only reluctantly say, "...What do you want to know?"

"First, change back to your original appearance." Emilia said unhappily, "I have no interest in questioning myself in the mirror."

"But if you dare to escape, I will have no choice but to kill you - you have to think carefully."

Lorian glared at Emiya angrily, then his body shape changed slightly, and his white robe slipped back into his body like an ordinary shapeshifter, and the exposed grayish-white skin sank slightly under the tight rope.

However, there was one thing that was beyond Emilia's expectations.

Unlike her compatriots, Lorien's face was not blurred. Instead, she had beautiful female features and body curves, and she also had long golden hair on her head.

In short, Lorien's monster-like appearance wasn't that obvious, but rather more like a humanoid woman. However, her grayish-white face still proved her inhumanity.

In Emiya's opinion, given the wide range of sexual preferences among people in Faerun, this appearance can already be classified as "I can do it".

But he is one of the quite conservative ones.

Emilia raised her eyebrows: "--this little trick won't work on me."

Lorien clearly knew what he was talking about, and replied coldly, "My full name is Helena Lorien—I have a surname because a hundred years ago, my ancestors, like me, were called upon by others to participate in a coup on a large scale."

Then, her eyes were filled with sadness: "...Although they also failed, at least they didn't lose all their money on the first night like I did."

She gritted her teeth: "-What can we get if we surrender?"

"I don't care about your history. But you don't seem to understand the situation." Emilia waved her hand coldly. "Now I'm not trying to persuade you to surrender. You're fighting for your lives."

"You could try to escape at any time, and prison in the usual sense would be meaningless to you - which is usually a benefit, but in this case, it could be fatal."

"So, the Paladin and I had to make a choice."

Emiya said calmly: "Should we take the risk and try to capture you, or kill you now? Moreover, we must make a decision in a short time."

Emiya didn't deliberately lower her voice, so this murderous remark immediately caused a commotion among the shapeshifters.

He didn't bother to explain, but stared coldly in the direction of the shapeshifter.

Then the originally noisy sound disappeared instantly.

"...What a terrifying look." Lorian took a few quick breaths. "You're actually serious...! A paladin won't allow you to kill a captive!"

"So, this is your own problem." Emilia's voice was without hesitation. "It's true that a paladin can't harm those who give up resistance—but you could run away at any time."

"And we can't afford for you to escape."

"So, don't push us... understand?"

Luo Li'an's chest heaved a few times: "...You dare to kill us? If we all die, who are you going to interrogate?!"

"Of course I dare." Emilia said calmly, "I want to emphasize first that I don't like killing people, but I won't ignore the risk."

"If you refuse to cooperate, I will have no choice but to kill you. So, I'm telling you all this because I really want to save you."

Luo Li'an's eyes flickered, and she couldn't help but gasp: "...you...are you serious about what you said?!"

Obviously, in this non-combat state, the shapeshifters can unleash their mind-reading abilities at will—

However, at this moment, this trick was of limited use to Emilia: because he spoke from the heart, and the suggestions he made were carefully weighed, and there was no deception at all.

Because of this, the shapeshifter became even more helpless.

For the first time, obvious fear appeared on Lorien's face: "Are you really a kind hero?!"

"Whatever you think," Aimiya replied.

"As for the interrogation..." Emilia waved in the direction of Mars, "Paladin! Are there any druids still alive?"

At the foot of the city wall, the paladin replied, "Lucky! A druid survived the fireball and the fall."

This is obviously extremely bad news for the shapeshifters—

Lorian's skin color was already a little dull, and now it was so pale that it seemed transparent.

Aimiya nodded and said to Lorian, "By the way, I have some good news for you. There is a temple dedicated to the dwarf god, Garl Glittergold, in the Friendly Arms. The presiding officer is the boss's distant cousin, a three-ringed priest."

"And the Three Rings priest can talk to the dead."

As the name suggests - talking to the dead, of course it is used to talk to the dead.

Lorien shuddered. "...Talking with the dead...?! How can this be good news?"

Emiya replied, "Of course it's good news—it means that when the paladin is forced to kill you, he will definitely leave your body intact."

"you!"

Emilia didn't give her time to think, but said slowly: "-Now, your lives are in your own hands."

"Cooperate, and I will do everything in my power to keep you alive. The Paladin will not allow me to use you and then kill you."

"Uncooperative..." Emilia pointed towards the city wall.

There, the paladin was lifting a sturdy druid like a rag.

"Then we'll just have to keep fighting. Of course, I won't help you untie them. You can try to escape... but I have to warn you."

"The paladin's steed has only just warmed up tonight, so it should be able to run another dozen kilometers without any problem. And the gates of the Friendly Arm were shut by you yourselves not long ago. Opening them again won't be easy."

Now, everything that needs to be said has been said.

Emilia stared intently into Lorian's eyes: "Choose."

The wizard unabashedly placed his hands on his waist and gripped the hilt of his sword, making no attempt to conceal his intentions.

And Lorian knew very well that the magic weapon of this strange wizard was the sword at his waist.

"..." The shapeshifter gritted his teeth, "You always use the excuse of being a paladin to make excuses... I want you to give a direct answer. As long as we cooperate, will you do your best to get preferential treatment for us?"

Emiya answered without even a moment's hesitation: "Yes. As long as you sincerely cooperate."

The female shapeshifter's eyes closed several times before she finally let out a heavy breath. "...Surrender. I surrender. We will tell you whatever you want to know."

"We haven't killed anyone... We just want to survive."

Nineteen Friendly Arms

“Wow!!!!!”

The paladin's gray-haired warhorse Gao Gao tilted its head slightly, its nose twitching, and then it let out an earth-shaking neigh.

Emiya sighed deeply. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd have thought it was a lion's roar... Are all paladin horses like this?"

Mars's face was still hidden under his helmet, but the pride in his voice could not be concealed: "I believe that the silver ship is special."

Silver Ship was naturally the name of the warhorse. Like all paladins, when they became powerful enough, they would obtain their own mount. They had the ability to communicate with their masters within a kilometer, and also possessed the intelligence to communicate.

In the battle just now, this warhorse also made great achievements.

However, now it also has to take on the work of a jailer.

The silver boat snorted loudly, pawed the ground with its front legs, and then swung its hind legs heavily on the ground.

A large piece of land that was extremely muddy due to the heavy rain was easily lifted up into the air, rushing to a height of more than ten meters, and then fell heavily in front of the shapeshifters with a muffled sound.

And such an exceptionally strong warhorse was circling around the shapeshifter with ill intentions - of course, if any shapeshifter had ill intentions, these iron hooves would fall on them.

Emiya said expressionlessly, "Got it? You probably can't handle a full-strength attack from this behemoth."

"If you stay here quietly, you won't be in danger. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences at your own risk. Do you understand?"

The shapeshifters closed their mouths that were open in fear and began to nod frantically in unison.

Lorien turned her head nervously. The friction between the rope and her skin made her feel uncomfortable. "...That's enough, I've said enough nasty things."

Emilia replied, "I think it would be good for both of us to make some things clearer, dispel some unnecessary illusions, and prevent some attempts that are bound to fail."

Lorien snorted. "You're doing the most outrageous things, yet you're still saying these nice things. You're more of a paladin than a paladin."

Next, what they have to do is simple - to rescue all the imprisoned employees or civilians.

If they hadn't made proper preparations, the shapeshifters might have scattered while they were in the castle.

Emiya glanced in the direction of the paladin - there, Mars had already put the druid on the ground and was walking towards them.

He hesitated for a moment and asked, "That's it? No further care required?"

The paladin shrugged. "Take good care of the shadow druids? They love to bestow trials upon others, and now is their time to accept them. He won't return to nature for a while, but the time of his awakening is uncertain."

Emiya shook her head—that was enough.

Lorian is still a prisoner now - the thick ropes strictly restrict her movements, and the ropes on her wrists are held in Emilia's hands.

This treatment was naturally extremely disrespectful, but Emilia was more worried about the back of her head being smashed by a punch.

"Okay, Miss Lorian, tell me." Mars clapped his hands, "Where did you imprison the original employees here?"

"...It's actually very simple." Lorien whispered, "Our infiltration was actually quite hasty, mainly relying on tricking them into our residence one by one."

"This kind of imitation is inevitably imperfect and requires further study. And there's nowhere to put the prisoners..."

"So, they are in our room right now..."

Luo Lian paused, her expression a little unnatural: "...Of course, there are some, they are in their rooms right now."

"...? Why would you have any reason to enter someone else's room?"

"Uh." Lorien's expression became even more awkward. "Because we were invited in by the owner of the room."

A hint of surprise first appeared on Emilia's face: "Didn't you just arrive today... Never mind, just pretend I didn't ask."

This fit in perfectly with his stereotype of the people of Faerûn—a complete stranger? That wasn't a barrier to sexual pleasure at all.

Mars raised his head slightly: "Then why are Emilia and I imprisoned alone in the dungeon?"

"Because you're too strong. The Friendly Arm doesn't actually have many high-level warriors. The Friendly Arm has a temple, but it only has one priest with no combat experience, so we don't need to put much effort."

"But, you, Emya, your appearance was completely unexpected. Our intelligence didn't even mention the existence of a mage like you. In comparison, Eltoril's Hell Knights and Paladins were considered variables within our plan."

Luo Lian replied in a muffled voice: "I have given you drugs. I hope you can sleep a little longer due to the combined effects of alcohol and drugs."

Finally, she said indignantly, "...And then, I was away from you for just a few minutes, and when I came to my senses, I was a prisoner."

"Where on earth did you jump out from?"

"This has nothing to do with you." At this point, Emilia's footsteps suddenly paused: "So, the shapeshifter who pretended to be Cosette before was you."

Beside him, Lorian paused.

A moment later, the person held by Emilia's hand had turned into a beautiful waitress in the hotel.

Cosette shook her body, causing her soft white flesh to bounce slightly, and said in a voice that made one's bones melt: "Yes. So can you loosen the rope a little? I will repay you well tonight - why are you using more force!"

The shapeshifter's seduction attempt failed halfway, and the three of them finally reached their final destination.

Emiya hesitantly checked the doorplate, then looked around suspiciously, and finally looked at Lorian: "...This is the bedroom of the owner of the Friendly Arm."

Luo Lian coughed lightly: "...Yes."

"He's a dwarf, and he'll invite the Vistani?"

Although the Vistani were said to have some special abilities, their body shape was not significantly different from that of ordinary humans - the Vistani women were at least two or three heads taller than the plucked-out Mr. Niggins Mirrorshadow!

Just as Lorian showed a mischievous smile on her face, she found that Emilia was pinching the rope in her hand again.

She swallowed back the words that were about to come out of her mouth and coughed lightly: "Uh, not really. We contacted him because we discovered a secret of his."

Having said this, she unconsciously stood on tiptoe, probably because she felt that the item was a rare commodity.

But Emiya didn't buy her trick. Instead, she shook her head and said, "The ability to read minds without warning is indeed too powerful in intelligence warfare."

Niggins Mirror Shadow's biggest secret is naturally his other identity.

A greedy guy with a bad reputation, but secretly a harpist who deals in confidential information and fights for the innocent - not to mention others, even Emilia herself couldn't believe it.

The door was open and, as expected, no one was inside.

In the dark night, the luxurious room was lit up like daylight by several bright torches.

However, the velvet carpet on the ground was covered with visible mud - the mud had already dried and was obviously stuck there several hours ago.

Seeing this, Aimiya's eyebrows jumped. "That old guy obviously treasures his room very much. Normally, he requires others to clean their shoes before entering. How could you step in like this?"

Lorien replied, "This is the Harper... The one you know may be a complete disguise."

Aimiya turned her gaze to the paladin, who replied, "Don't look at me. Harpers are vastly different from one another. They can't be lumped together."

The wizard's face darkened slightly, and he stepped into the room without caring that his boots were still covered in stains.