The name William now had was Brand. He was the jailer responsible for taking care of the prisoners in a castle ruled by a powerful family.

He discovered that just by listening to conversations and talking to a few of the staff members.

William spoke with one of the staff members responsible for cleaning the rooms to find out where his room was. For that, he had to ask questions without sounding too suspicious. It was not an easy thing to do.

As he walked through the castle, William studied the layout and tried to understand what his mission was. The place was really luxurious, with many people working there, and most of them looked happy.

But he could also see that something else was going on. The first strange thing was the high number of people locked in the dungeons. It wasn’t a normal amount—there were just too many.

The guards also looked more concerned compared to the staff members working in the castle. So, William guessed there was more going on.

To be sure, he spoke with one of the guards who lived next to his room. The guard wasn’t on duty, so he was resting there. William found him as the two were heading to their rooms.

“Things aren’t easy, right?” William said.

He was trying to get the man to give him more information—and it worked.

“Right? Now that we’re conquering the nearby lands, there’s just too much to handle… I’m dreaming of a vacation someday,” the guard said.

William nodded. “Me too, man. But at least we’re winning.”

“For now. We’re in deep shit now that the kingdom is retaliating,” the guard said. “Anyway, I’ll go to bed, man. See you tomorrow.”

The guard was clearly tired and didn’t want to keep talking.

“No problem.”

William was happy he’d at least gotten some answers, and apparently, things weren’t so peaceful anymore. Whoever ruled that castle was conquering nearby lands, and things had been working well for them—but according to what the guard said, a kingdom was retaliating.

It was the neighboring kingdom. William knew that because he’d heard some of the staff mention the border.

“So this castle is near the border… and we’re at war,” William guessed.

The first day had gone pretty well for him. He discovered a few things.

William went to his room and decided to just meditate and read something. He wasn’t tired enough to sleep yet, so he had to wait a few hours until fatigue set in.

At one point during the night, as he was reading his newly acquired spell tomes and glancing out his window, he saw a group of guards show up.

The guards came carrying a cage packed with prisoners. They were war prisoners, and they would be placed in the dungeon—William’s domain.

On the following day, William officially started his first day at work as a jailer. His job wasn’t just to watch the prisoners and make sure they didn’t escape, but to torture them and get answers.

One of the people in charge of the castle came to talk to him that morning.

“Brand, we captured some soldiers and we need you to find out where their fort is. Do everything you can to get the answers for us, understood?” the man ordered.

William nodded. “Consider it done.”

The man looked pleased with the answer and said farewell.

William went downstairs to the dungeon again, and it was even more packed than the night before. Some of the new prisoners yelled when they saw him.

“Fuck you, jailer!” they shouted.

The new prisoners looked energetic and ready to mouth off at William, but the ones who were already there and knew him? Those sat in the corners of their cells, silent.

They had suffered by his hands—they knew he wasn’t someone to mess with.

William had many new prisoners to choose from, so he just picked one at random.

The process was simple: take one from the cell and bring him to another room where he’d torture him and get the answers he needed.

All the prisoners were cuffed and had their mana sealed, so they couldn’t cast spells or try anything funny. They were hopeless.

The room William brought them to was where the torture tools were kept—or rather, where Brand kept his tools. William was just there assuming the role.

“There’s nothing you can do to me that’ll make me break,” the prisoner said. “I’ll never give you the answers you need.”

William knew it wouldn’t be easy to get answers. It might be impossible, actually. People like that were trained to endure pain and die before revealing anything.

But what the man didn’t know was that William wasn’t planning on using normal torture methods. If he kept doing the same things over and over, the results wouldn’t change.

If he really wanted answers—real answers—he had to use a different method. He had to mess with the man’s mind.

William was capable of accessing the minds of other creatures using his Beast Taming abilities, and it worked on people too. He wouldn’t tame them, obviously, but he could still access their minds and torture them. He could dig out what they knew.

Asura was there to help with that.

“I can help you access this man’s mind—and make him suffer a pain he’s never felt before,” Asura said to William mentally. “Do you want to do it now?”

“Let’s do it,” William replied.

William placed both hands on the man’s head and closed his eyes. The dungeon room faded from focus as Asura’s presence surged forward, guiding him through the spell to enter the man’s mind.

The prisoner began to writhe and resist, gritting his teeth. “What are you—what are you doing?!”

But it was already too late.

With Asura’s help, William pierced through his mental defenses. What he found inside was a chaotic swirl of pain, memories, and fear. There were images of war, of comrades dying, of secret meetings—valuable information waiting to be plucked.

Inside the man’s mind, William conjured an illusion: a battlefield strewn with corpses, many of them familiar to the prisoner. Asura enhanced the scene, making the pain sharp and real.

“You left them to die,” William’s voice echoed through the illusion.

“Stop it! It’s not real!” the prisoner screamed, collapsing to his knees.

“But it feels real, doesn’t it?” William whispered.

Then, amidst the mental torment, a clear image emerged: a hidden pass behind a cliff, leading directly to the enemy’s stronghold. A perfect spot for an ambush. William memorized every detail.

That was enough.

He pulled out of the man’s mind. The prisoner slumped over, barely conscious—broken, but alive.

William stepped back, rubbing his temples. Using that spell always came with a price, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

Asura’s voice echoed within him. “He won’t even remember telling you. He’ll think he just cracked from the pressure. Not bad, right?”

“Very efficient,” William replied, already scribbling the details on a nearby scroll.

He locked the chamber and walked out, past the silent rows of prisoners. This time, no one dared say a word.

By afternoon, William handed the scroll to the officer who had given him the task.

“That was fast,” the man said, surprised.

“I have my ways.”

The officer smiled. “This could be just what we need to turn the tide. Keep it up, Brand. You’re doing excellent work for the family.”

William gave a curt nod and turned away.

As he walked back toward his quarters, his thoughts were racing.

“This family… this war… There’s more going on here than territory or revenge. I need to find out who’s really pulling the strings.”

The whole situation didn’t make sense. Why was that family suddenly trying to expand their territories—even going as far as provoking a nearby kingdom to do it?

It was just too risky if all they wanted was land. They could always get money and buy land from someone else, not just take it.

Anyway, on the following day, the man in charge came to speak with William again. But this time, he didn’t want William to extract information from the prisoners.

“Brand, I need you to go with the soldiers to conquer that fort,” he said. “We might need you there. You know, you have useful talents for information extraction.”

William couldn’t refuse a direct order from that man, and it wasn’t like he was planning to refuse in the first place. It was a good chance for him to spend more time with the soldiers.

“Really? That would be an honor for me,” William said, giving the man a gentle bow. “When are we leaving?”

“Now,” the man said. “They’re already waiting for you at the gate.”

He hadn’t expected it to be so soon, but he didn’t say a word. William left and met with the soldiers at the castle gate.

They already had a carriage waiting for him. Apparently, his position as jailer was well-respected, and the treatment he received was much better than most who worked in the castle. William even had a carriage, so he could travel without having to worry about anything.

“Soldiers, let’s move,” the captain of the soldiers yelled, “we have a fort to conquer!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep