Elite Mages' Academy Chapter 259: Interrogation

Chapter 259: Interrogation

The shaman was obviously a big fish, which was why everyone excitedly anticipated extracted information from him. After resting and preparing for the night, the acting class monitors immediately got up at the crack of dawn, bringing their trusted classmates and heading right into the interrogation process.
It was like everyone had anticipated; the shaman exhibited the typical orc stubbornness. It would take a lot of effort to get him to speak, and they could not avoid employing certain unsavory methods.
That included Xiao Lin and Cheng Ming. The two of them did not mind what methods were used as long as the shaman remained alive. They had already done similar things in past examinations, so they were already used to it.
However, the moment the interrogation started, the shaman seemed to be quite accommodating when faced with the interrogation team formed by the twelve classes. He answered most of their questions, even if his words were laced with contempt for humans. However, it did not matter as all they cared about were answers. Thanks to the fact that the shaman spoke their language, the process ended up being relatively easy.
“Your name!”
“Lightning.”
“Lightning? Then I’m called Thunder! If you’re not willing to be honest as our prisoner...”
“Ahem, the orcs name themselves differently from us humans. They usually name themselves based on their appearances, weapons or spells, or even family history. This guy uses lightning-based spells, so his name is quite normal. Don’t be surprised.”
“Fine. Gender.”
“Ahem...”
“Ah, we can just skip that question.”
Thanks to how accommodating the target was, the interrogation went quite smoothly. Some of them that had certain unique hobbies suddenly found the tools that they had specially prepared to be useless. As more and more people jumped in with their questions, it suddenly turned into asking about the orcs in general. Even though they had learned about the orcs in their history lessons, details were scarce, so everyone was quite interested in the orcs, especially for someone like Chen Dao who loved gaming back on Earth.
They had managed to ascertain the background of the shaman named Lightning. He claimed to be the second-in-command of the 13th Orc Legion. The students did not know what that meant, so they had to ask Captain Yu of the engineers about it.
Among the orcs, the second-in-command would always be the strategist, which meant it was a rank usually held by their priest shamans. Even though he was only the second-in-command, the importance of shamans amongst the orcs meant that he held a lot of power.
However, that made it all the more stranger. The fact that the second-in-command only had three thousand orc foot soldiers to lead, and the fact that he was so easily captured made Xiao Lin and the others suspicious.
Lightning’s explanations were quite reasonable. The fact that this supply depot had a large amount of resources and was a necessary part of their route toward Dawn City meant that the supply depot was extremely important.
The orcs had invested too much on the advancement of their vanguard, leaving them strapped for resources, which meant that Lightning could only afford to bring 3,000 foot soldiers over when the supply depot was captured. He mentioned that he had underestimated the humans, and his words felt a little like praise, which led to everyone happily accepting that answer.
The next questions were related to the orc army which led Lightning to get quieter. There was no way he would willingly expose things like the 13th Orc Legion’s movements and strength, which was all within expectations, leading to those who had prepared special tools to jump up in hope.
However, they were ultimately not used. After a simple beating and a few threats, the shaman started to spill everything.
The 13th Orc Legion was the only army stationed nearby. They numbered above 30,000, including almost 10,000 wolf cavalries. However, the cavalry had been sent to the frontlines, and the other 20,000 troops were scattered around various key points and supply lines, making it hard to gather them.
The 3,000 troops was the most amount of soldiers that Lightning could gather up in that half a month, and now that they had been defeated, with even the second-in-command captured, they would either need to organize some troops from the main orc camp or have their vanguard turn back.
The interrogation lasted for almost a whole day, but they did not neglect keeping up their defenses. However, after losing the priest shaman, the remaining orc troops had started to retreat, lending more weight to what Lightning had said.
The interrogation had left everyone quite happy. If Lightning’s words were true, then they would not have to worry about being attacked for quite a long time because the main orc camp was at least two months away. With that long a period, the orcs were unlikely to send anyone from their main camp.
If it was the vanguard that turned back, then their last objective for the examination would be accomplished, signalling the start of the end of the examination.
The week that followed, there was no movement from the orcs at all. The elves sat quietly on their warships as well, serving to confirm their thoughts.
The interrogation of Lightning did not stop, but with the changing of the situation and more and more questions being answered, their interest in the shaman started to wane. When it came to the third week, some of the monitors even started asking what hobbies and books the orcs liked.
Lightning’s straightforwardness saved a lot of time, even if some of them were sad that they could not use their interrogation techniques, so they started to treat Lightning better. He got three meals a day, and they made sure he got enough water and meat. Of course, they could not kill or let him go; no matter what, having a hostage like him at hand was a form of insurance.
After half a month of peace, everyone had started to get restless, and the construction of defensive towers was once again a priority. After witnessing the power of the towers while they were defending the fortress, everyone placed a lot of importance on their construction. Some of them had even painstakingly drawn out maps for strategic placement, which drew Chen Dao’s mocking comment likening it to a tower defense game.
However, the defensive towers were indeed not limited to just the foot of the hill. The monitors in the command room realized that they needed to expand the battlefield, but they once again started to argue over whether or not to construct the towers on the beach.
Having the towers on the beach would obviously be to target those silver warships that had unclear motives, but some of them were worried it would anger the elves and cause them to make a move.