Chapter 274 Reasons (2)
It didn't take long for all the people of that village to be assembled. Some people knew Gilles others recognized him immediately. Thanks to that, they didn't make much of a fuss. Still, some explanations were required. While Gilles was dealing with that, Billy was facing the now handcuffed Captain. Billy also covered his mouth with some cloth to prevent him from speaking. In the end, he couldn't just kill him. He had to try to find a way to lift the brainwashing.
After using Check-Up, Billy confirmed that there was this unknown mana active in the Captain's brain. Still, just putting mana into his brain to fight that wouldn't do it. Who knows how much Billy would need for that to work… Attacking him would raise questions among the other villages, though.
"You have been brainwashed, do you realize that?" Billy asked.
The captain just glared at him as if he was trying to kill him with his eyes alone. He was trying so hard that the handcuffs were hurting his wrists, and he was ignoring the pain. That probably was because of the brainwashing. He received orders to do that… Nevertheless, Billy didn't have all night, so he decided to do something that he had failed many times in the past: control someone else's mana.
Billy touched that guy's head and began to focus. Even without sending his mana, that guy's energy should react to his magic power and control. At first, he didn't get a response, but little by little, he felt that something was changing. Taking the mana out from someone else's body was too much for now, but Billy managed to make it concentrate on his brain. Once that happened, he felt some reaction coming from the foreign mana. It was a lot stronger than the Captain's, but it was lacking in amount.
The Captain stopped struggling, and then he began to tremble while he showed a pained expression. The struggle between both energy didn't last for long because Billy was there, and he made the Captain mana suffocate the foreign mana. Billy felt something snap inside his head, but fortunately, it wasn't the Captain's brain. The foreign mana had disappeared.
"Argh… My head hurts,"
The Captain complained, but his struggle finally ended. Billy decided to keep him like that for a while, though. Unfortunately, he couldn't make use of him to convince the others since it was clear that he had done something, and Billy was becoming famous for using unusual magic. Still, he at least got some answers.
According to the Captain, several people like him were summoned to the castle over the years, and there he made a vow to Jeannette. There was a body whip or magic tools involved. Just by saying those words and looking at her in the eye made him turn into a puppet that lived his normal life but was one hundred percent loyal to her and worked for her as well. According to him, his job was to capture anyone that tried to escape and make the men that were loyal to him and the people of his village think that all the actions of their leader were justified. Even though she betrayed the previous one without thinking twice. He also had to be friendly with peddlers in order to obtain information and then report anything important back.
Billy only confirmed what he already knew. Regardless, those were some useful pieces of information. Somehow, Jeannette could use illusions to brainwash people, and she had to use her eyes, and somehow she passed that skill to some magic tools. It will be a pain if she manages to put that in crossbows.
"That is why you all need to come with us, another war is about to start and that mad woman will use even children to achieve her purposes," Gilles said. "We can't let that happen… I assure you that you will be well treated in Hiloh state. The others and I are fine there, even Miss Rosalie is alive and well there."
Billy wasn't so sure if those words were very convincing. In any case, there was this issue with the horses, and Billy certainly couldn't waste time bringing hundreds of those to his dungeon town when he had to visit other towns on that very same night. It would be better if he made them run and make it harder for them to be captured, but that would alert the other towns and the guards there. They will have to be left alone. Killing them wasn't an option for Billy either… in any case, they would survive until others noticed that something had happened in that village. In any case, they decided to leave the state for the time being since they didn't want to see their women and children being forced to participate in someone else's war.
Thanks to that, Billy had another problem… Making the wagons that will carry so many people. Making them out of Earth wouldn't be enough, and even if he focused on durability, their weight would be a problem, so Billy created ten wagons made of steel. They were pretty simple, but they would do. Again, those people frowned when they saw that being made out of nowhere and frowned even more, when they noticed that the horses wouldn't pull them. Billy wished that he could use them, but he couldn't. Too many horses would be necessary for that, and they would leave traces.
In the end, to transport so many people, the magic cart had to consume a lot more fuel. Still, only around thirty percent of the max capacity had been used since they didn't cover that large of a distance. Even despite the weight, the vehicle still could move at twenty meters per second, so they escaped to the tunnels before they could be tracked.
Billy's original plan was to leave those people underground and tell them to walk toward the other side. However, they were quite scared of traps and of ambushes, so Billy had to go with them at least that day. From the next day onward, he would leave some of them there to guide the others. They at least could recognize their fellow men and be put at ease that way.
