Inside the door a few stairs led downwards, on the way down Ars could help but nod and praise.
"The person who designed the stairs did a good job, they are long and leave a bit of time for the criminals to imagine what's coming…"
Rook just answered seriously.
"They are just a pain in the ass to go up and down."
Shortly after they arrived at the jail cells, where 3 people were sitting with angry faces.
"Ho you brought your king here, what is he gonna do? Kill us?"
One of the spies said dismissively, and Ars looked at him calmly, and replied.
"No, I'm just gonna convert you to my side… by explaining why you should, kindly!"
Ars went to get a staff and approached the spy who spoke, it was a middle aged man, average looking, he could fit anywhere and wouldn't attract attention.
The man looked at Ars and had a bad feeling, he quickly questioned.
"What are you gonna do to me?"
Ars looked confusedly at him and then replied.
"I already told you, I'm going to convert you to my side."
Then Ars raised his staff, took a very nasty contract from his laboratory and started chanting.
"Wololo! Wololo! Wololo! Wololo!"
The spy became completely bewildered.
"Huh?"
Then Ars raised his staff and hit the spy with it. Then Ars showed a very happy smile and started hitting the spy more and more, while he chanted non stop.
"Wololo!"
After not even after a minute of getting bashed the spy screamed.
"What do you want from me? And believe me I'm converted…"
Ars looked at him and smiled, he didn't believe him but, he replied with a very happy expression.
"I just need you to sign this contract."
The spy looked at Ars and thought to himself.
'That' s it? You want me to sign a paper? You didn't need to turn my face into a deformed piece of meat for this… I will sign and escape the first moment I can escape!'
He quickly grabbed the contract and signed it off, thinking the contract would do nothing.
After he signed, Ars smiled pleased with himself, and asked the man.
"Do you know any more spies on the island?"
"We have 2 fail safes in case we don't contact our allies for a period of time… One is a man with white hair and red eyes that works in a farm, the other is a female that works as bartender in one tavern, she has brown hair and a scar from her left eye to the lips."
The man suddenly shivered, he had answered without thinking, and he could only look at Ars with a scared expression, before questioning in panic.
"That wasn't a normal contract was it?"
Ars looked at Rook, and complained before ordering him.
"See? You missed some… And now, go get them and bring them back here, alive or not."
Rook nodded and Ars looked at the man and questioned him once more.
"And you are a spy for who? And are those 2 friends that shared the same cell working for the same people?"
"I was working for the world government, and no, the other 2 are not with me. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? Why do I keep replying without wanting to?"
Ars and Reiju in the past made a few experiments with Vivre cards, and they discovered that when people entered the lab, the paper would only stop moving, but when he changed something using the machines, the paper would lose its connection and burn itself up, so Ars wasn't worried about people using the spies vivre cards to follow their location anymore.
The man that used to be a spy was now panicking, he was now very sure that the contract was anything but normal, finally he heard Ars.
"From now on your name is Roygu1, and you will be absolutely loyal to me and this kingdom and will never do anything that may cause harm to it!"
The man looked horrified at first then grabbed his head with both hands and started wailing and shortly after he started bleeding from his eyes, nose and mouth.
After around 1 minute the man stopped struggling and kneeled to Ars and said.
"I greet your majesty, I promise to uphold your words like a code of honour."
One of the guards of the jail looked at Ars disapprovingly, and Ars noticed so he asked.
"What? He was just a puppet, before was for the world government, and they treated him like a disposable pawn, at least here he will be treated better, will be allowed to be happy and have a life, an improvement to his previous situation in every sense."
The guard thought about it, and even though he didn't know much, he could indeed notice that they didn't have the best reputation and he had heard rumors about them since he remembered, so Ars was indeed right, it was an improvement.
When Ars looked at the other 2 spies on the cell, they both shivered, and the female quickly introduced herself, and explained her situation.
"I'm Megida, and i would like to explain who i am, but i would like to request to speak with you privately, before anything else!"
Ars thought about it and nodded, there was no harm in speaking with her privately.
"Follow me!"
Ars then led her to a nearby room that Ars assumed was used to talk with criminals in a solo environment, an interrogation room.
Ars took a seat and indicated for her to do the same in front of him, she nodded and quickly sat down. She was nervous but then took a deep breath and started.
"First, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you in private, and second I would like to apologize for getting in this mess."
Ars nodded and replied.
"No problem and I don't really care if you apologize or not, but you better have a good reason for the request to talk to me privately."
She nodded and explained.
"First, I'm not really a spy to your kingdom… More like, I went to the previous kingdom, from where you got your newest batch of people, to investigate the kingdom, but then I heard of people disappearing in large quantities and decided to investigate… Finally, I arrived here, not knowing what to do… And when I tried to communicate with my companions you guys caught me."
Ars raised his eyebrow and questioned her.
"And who are your companions?"
She took a deep breath and replied nervously.
"The revolutionary army!"
Ars nodded and went to get a den den mushi and started trying to communicate with the people he knew from that army. Shortly after Kuma did pick up.
"This is Kuma, who are you?"
Ars smiled, and replied calmly and started explaining the situation.
"It's Ars, it's my first time calling you, sorry about the confusion but I have a situation here that requires confirmation from your side. I have a female here that says she is part of your army."
Kuma thought about it and was confused.
"My kingdom army?"
Ars smiled and replied quickly.
"Yes, but the one with more friends of yours."
Kuma understood and quickly answered.
"I will be going over using my ability, i will arrive in the middle of the training area with one or 2 others that may know more, can i know the name of the person in question?"
"Megida."
"See you soon."
Ars finally went back to meet the female that was waiting for him, nodded at her and explained.
"If you really are who you say you are, soon you will be free, but for now you're going back to the cell. And you need to sing this contract instead of the previous one…"
She read it and realized it was just a confidentiality contract, so she signed it off. They started moving and when they arrived the other spy was already awaiting him and before Ars even asked, he quickly explained who he was and what he wanted to do.
"I'm Kaz, and I'm an information seller for the underworld."
Ars could only raise an eyebrow.
"Well… That was fast! I seriously wasn't expecting such a fast confession…"
The man looked at the previous guy, who now stood there silently and finally explained.
"I kinda want to avoid the screaming and the bleeding part… It sounded quite painfull…"
Ars nodded and gave him a contract.
"This one won't hurt me… Right?"
Ars put both hands up like he didn't know the answer and finally replied.
"I don't know… That depends on you… I think the more you resist, the more it hurts… But I can't say for sure. But I can assure you you will be treated like a human being and not a disposable asset."
The man took a deep breath and signed it.
Ars nodded and gave the same order he gave the previous one. He decided he would make new contracts already forcing loyalty, instead of having to say it every time… Even if he expected to say it.
"From now on your name is Roygu3, and you will be absolutely loyal to me and this kingdom and will never do anything that may cause harm to it!"
The man already gave up on resisting so he didn't actually feel that much pain, just a slight headache compared to the previous man.
"I guess your majesty was right, if i don't try to resist it doesn't hurt as much… Wow… I just called your majesty, your majesty without intending to…Scary…"
The man nodded but then he asked.
"So what will be my job?"
Ars realized he forgot to introduce their job so he quickly explained.
"Sorry I forgot to explain. Roygu stands for royal guard, and to become one you need to give 100% of your loyalty to me and the kingdom, and give up your past. Odd numbers are male, even numbers are female."
The man nodded, and then asked hopefully.
"So we really won't be treated horribly?"
Ars nodded and added.
"You actually will be treated pretty well, I think… Better than in some kingdoms, who treat their soldiers as problem solvers whose lives are worthless."
The man nodded, that sounded better than he thought at first. At least his personality didn't disappear.
Ars noticed the guy smiling happily and asked.
"You seem very happy about something?"
The man realized he had been smirking the whole time and explained, while pointing at the other man who signed before..
"I'm just happy I didn't lose my sense of self like him."
Ars realized the guy's confusion and decided to clarify.
"I didn't remove his personality… This is just as he really is, the previous actions were all an act, the only part that was true, was his loyalty to the world government… World government training made sure of it…"
The man looked at the emotional dead guy and commented.
"I see… Typical world government."
Ars nodded, and took a seat while he waited for the other 2 spies to arrive, but then he remembered and questioned both the new guy and the girl in the cell.
"Do you 2 know of any more spies besides the ones who were revealed here?"
They both shook their heads, they were both here accidentally and had no idea.
Ars nodded and not long after a guard arrived with Kuma in tow. Ars raised his arm to greet Kuma, and Kuma greeted him with a smile. Then Ars signaled the girl, and Kuma nodded and asked Ars.
"Can you lend us a room? I need to confirm a few private things."
Ars nodded but didn't let the opportunity to play a bit go.
"Sure, but I'm pretty sure Ginny wouldn't appreciate you having an affair…"
Kuma smiled and ignored Ars' words.
"Thank you for the room."
Ars couldn't help but show an annoyed expression, he didn't manage to get the desired reaction. Then he sighed and waited for Rook to come back.
Almost 4 hours later, after Kuma left with the female and the other people who had come along with him, Rook arrived with 2 people being dragged in chains.
Ars couldn't help but complain.
"Took you a while to get those 2. Did you take an unauthorized paid vacation while you were trying to catch them or something?"
Rook sighed, rolled his eyes and pointed at the female who looked like she had no energy left.
"Akuma no mi user… It was quite hard to capture her alive. Nezu Nezu no Mi, Model: Ferret, she kept fighting back and running…"
Ars just smiled and he started to imagine it, but suddenly the man that was brought along with the girl got out of his restraints and rushed trying to capture Ars, thinking the king should be a good hostage to have if he wanted to escape the island.
From behind the man just heard.
"Idiot…"
The man was confused but didn't hesitate. But suddenly he lost sight of Ars.
"Huh? Where…"
Before he finished, Ars appeared in front of him mid slap downwards with a smile.
The moment the slap connected, the man's upper body exploded, leaving only his lower body on the now cracked floor.
The woman shivered, and suddenly someone from a different room came out worried.
"What happened?"
Ars relaxedly answered.
"Just a suicide…"
And Rook on the side added.
"Your majesty… Please don't break the floor…"