The three surviving Demon Lords had to endure torture day and night.
To show my respect for them, I employed a somewhat special method. Usually, you would shout at the sinner, listing their transgressions and demanding they admit to them. However, in my opinion, this was inefficient.
Threatening someone into admitting their guilt wasn't going to make them obediently say, "Yes, you're right." It was a complete waste of time. Both the torturer and the tortured would only suffer more.
For the sake of both parties, let's eliminate such pointless actions. I personally believe this is a good thing for the world.
"Ugh... you damnable sycophant!"
As soon as we entered the torture chamber, Valefor glared at me with wide eyes.
"Don't think I'll just bend to your will, no matter what scheme you're cooking up!"
I smiled sweetly. It was a relief to see he was full of energy. I liked energetic people. Seeing the other party so lively made my own dreary life feel a little more refreshing, however slightly.
I sat down opposite Valefor without a word. Then, I gave a simple order to the torture specialist.
"Begin."
"Yes, sir."
For this interrogation, the two top torture specialists were employed. They were Jeremy and Daisy. Over the past three years, the pair had tortured and killed over three hundred people under my command. They were essentially the Beethovens of the torture profession.
"What? What are you— Gwaaah!"
The flaying punishment was immediately carried out.
Jeremy had a seal carved into his heart, which allowed him to resist a Demon Lord's power, while Daisy, being human, was unaffected by a Demon Lord's dominion. They were truly the best personnel for the job.
"Guuuk! Ahhh!"
The sinner's flesh was sliced off while still alive. This was the flaying punishment, also known as slow slicing. It was easier to understand if you thought of it as slowly peeling the meat off the bones until it looked like pig's trotters.
The flaying punishment inflicted extreme agony on the sinner. Normally, they would be given a sedative to start. However, thanks to the Goddess's blessings, a Demon Lord's unique regenerative ability meant that no matter how much flesh was peeled off, it would heal quickly.
Thanks to that, they could peel off flesh almost infinitely!
What a miraculous body. No anesthetics, no potions needed. There could be no flesh more faithful to the concept of sustainable torture.
For reference, "sustainable torture" was a concept Jeremy had coined — apparently, she called it a slogan befitting the aesthetics of torture. According to her, torture should be "as long as possible, as sustained as possible, and cause as little damage to the body as possible."
One day, I'd asked her out of curiosity.
'If it's torture, why shouldn't it damage the body?'
"Oh, my dear Demon Lord, you're asking the obvious. I want to torture *people*, not lumps of meat."
Jeremy had answered in an utterly matter-of-fact tone.
"What's the fun in torturing someone whose limbs are torn apart and whose face is battered beyond recognition? I find fulfillment in watching people scream, watching people shed tears, watching people thrash about."
She'd gone a bit crazy in the head too.
Unfortunately, Jeremy's aesthetics had been passed down verbatim to her apprentice, Daisy.
The two of them had employed various anesthetics and potions to kill a human adventurer after a whopping *forty thousand* cuts. Apparently, that adventurer had remained alive until the fortiethousandth slash. Good lord.
"Lord Dantalion. The meat feels especially good today."
Jeremy hummed in high spirits.
"Perhaps this time we'll set a new record. Sixty thousand — no, if we're lucky, maybe even sixty-five thousand. And without using potions at all! The Demon Lord is the best!"
"Oh, get out of here. What a psycho."
I clicked my tongue and shook my head. When a person went insane in a rational sort of way, there was no saving them. As the saying goes, once a person becomes like that, they're done for.
At Jeremy's words, Valefor's complexion turned deathly pale. The fact that someone with dark skin could turn white as a sheet — now that was interesting.
"Ack — you can't just go straight to torture! There should at least be an interrogation first!"
I tilted my head.
"Lord Valefor, if I asked you to admit your crimes, would you do so obediently?"
"I have committed no crime, no wrong. There is nothing to admit!"
"See what I mean?"
My shoulders shrugged of their own accord.
"Even if I were to politely ask for your cooperation, you obviously wouldn't comply. So why go to the trouble of all these polite inquiries? You'll just torture me until I'm exhausted and be done with it."
"W-What..."
"For your information, I'm a busy person. I don't have time to waste on pointless exercises."
I shot Jeremy a glance. What was he waiting for? He should get started already.
"I'll do my best to make this a meaningful experience for both of us."
"W-Wait... GAAAAAH!"
Valefor, bound to the wall by chains, thrashed about. But because he had been secured so thoroughly, all he managed was to lift his face slightly above his neck. I rotated through the torture chambers every two hours, interrogating the Demon Lords one at a time.
And so the first day, composed purely of torture, came to an end.
Starting from the second day, the method shifted slightly.
"Valefor. What is your favorite food?"
I peppered the torture with meaningless questions at random intervals. Naturally, the recipient, already seething with rage from the torment, gritted his teeth and refused to answer.
"Spare me your... drivel!"
"Is that so. Understood."
When they didn't answer, I simply shrugged my shoulders and carried on with the torture.
This was where things started to get interesting.
There were three surviving Demon Lords, and they took turns being tortured in two-hour shifts. In other words, once you'd endured your session, you had a full four hours of rest ahead of you.
Four hours of rest. That was the key.
During that time, the Demon Lords healed their wounds and regained some mental composure. They pulled themselves together from the brink of near-total collapse under the relentless torture.
"No matter how painful it is, just endure for two hours." It was that single-minded resolve that kept them going.
Another crucial point was this: even though they were kept in separate torture rooms, all three Demon Lords endured the same treatment. It wasn't just me suffering. My comrades were enduring the exact same torture. That kind of psychology kicks in.
In other words, what mattered was having guaranteed rest periods during the torture and sharing a collective mindset. Thanks to that, even though the Demon Lords were being subjected to the horrific torture of bodily dismemberment, their will to resist had not been crushed in the slightest.
But what would happen once those pillars crumbled?
"…?"
When I stepped into the torture room, Valefor stared at me with a puzzled look. Understandably so—it hadn't even been four hours since I'd finished interrogating Valefor and left. Well, maybe only three hours had passed.
"It shouldn't be time yet?"
"Your schedule has been moved up slightly."
Following behind me, Daisy gathered the torture implements and approached Valefor closely. Yesterday she had served as an assistant, but today she had stepped up as the lead interrogator in her own right.
"I'll be resuming your interrogation now, Lord Valefor."
"Hmph, it doesn't matter how much you focus the torture on me. We aren't answering anything."
"Is that really so?"
I let a gentle smile spread across my face. Perhaps sensing some kind of foreboding, Valefor furrowed his brows.
"…What do you mean?"
"Why do you suppose your torture session was moved up, Lord Valefor? It's because another party willingly answered my questions."
"No way… that's impossible."
Valefor's face twisted in disbelief.
"What's so surprising about that? They didn't answer anything particularly significant. Just things like what your favorite food is, what species your first love was. Even a child could answer something like that."
"…."
"It's just that I prefer dealing with people who can be reasoned with through rational conversation. I made a special exception and stopped their torture, skipping ahead to the next turn."
"Shall we begin again then?" I ordered the torture to commence.
The torture proceeded just as it had the day before, with only one difference.
The Demon Lords had realized something.
"Valefor. What is your favorite type of liquor?"
"……."
That if they answered the questions, the torture would be shorter.
So they deliberated. Yesterday he had shouted at me to stop asking such idiotic questions, but now he had no choice but to think. A simple question, and a simple answer. With a single word, he could cut the torture short……
"……Did I come here to listen to your nonsense? You've come to the wrong place."
"Is that so. Understood."
At first, he refused. However, the refusal clearly lacked the conviction it once had. Hesitation and wavering gave birth to a silence as colorless as a blank void.
Valefor held out for two full hours.
But when the torture ended and I returned after a mere two hours, Valefor's eyes were filled with shock. I flashed him a brilliant smile as he stared at me, at a loss for words.
"My, my. The others have been quite pleasant to talk with. It's been a pleasure, and it's saved me a great deal of effort as well."
"That… that can't be."
"Not everyone in the world is as stubborn as you. Now then, shall we begin again?"
About an hour after the torture resumed, I tossed out a simple question as usual. No matter how strong Valefor's willpower was, he couldn't endure any longer. With trembling lips, he slowly spoke.
"Wine……I enjoy drinking the wine from Sardinia."
The foundational premise had collapsed. If he endured two hours, he could rest for four. It wasn't just him — his companions were all enduring torture of equal weight……those premises had crumbled.
I broke into a wide grin.
"Oh my. Wine, is it? I happen to be fond of wine as well. But the wine from the Human Realm is rather lacking in quality, wouldn't you say? Personally, I believe the wine produced in the Infernal Heat Hell is of absolutely superior quality."
……Only going after the premium stuff — that's about what I'd expect from the likes of you.
Do you happen to have any particular regions you'd recommend?
Trivial chatter.
Conversations that would hold no meaning whatsoever in everyday life now carried immense significance. As long as they kept chatting, they could avoid the torture. A three-minute conversation was worth more than a one-minute one, and a ten-minute conversation naturally held far greater value than a three-minute one.
Very well. You've been good enough to keep me company, so I'm in a generous mood. I'll make an exception and skip ahead to the next one.
Once the conversation ended, he stood up and left.
The same thing happened to Valefor as it did to the other Demon Lords. A repetition of simple questions. A bit of small talk.
What is your favorite color?
You say a centaur was your first love? How interesting. Do tell me more.
What is the biggest headache in managing the Demon Lord's Castle?
At first, the Demon Lords endured the torture for about an hour before answering the questions.
But the time they could endure grew shorter and shorter. One hour, thirty minutes, fifteen minutes……by the time the day drew to a close, they answered the questions the moment I showed up. The time it took to make my rounds through the Demon Lords grew extraordinarily short as well.
And so, the second day of torture came to an end.
The third day was the same.
Only the content of the questions had changed.
I've heard that some of the Grand Dukes of the Demon Realm sponsored this assassination. Is that true?
What did you……?
Valefor wore an expression of utter disbelief.
If the assassination succeeds, the Grand Dukes would cause an uproar in the Demon Realm. While everyone is distracted by the chaos, you all seize control of the entire political landscape in one fell swoop. Wasn't that the plan?
Bullshit. We rose up of our own free will!
"I see. Understood."
In the morning, all three Demon Lords held out for two hours.
However, I deliberately skipped over one Demon Lord's time and immediately revisited Valefor. When he saw me enter the interrogation room, his eyes trembled violently.
"Lies... It's impossible. He wouldn't have agreed to such a question!"
"Imagination is your freedom, Valefor."
I smiled faintly.
"Let's begin the torture."
As the respite between sessions shrank from four hours to three, then two, and finally thirty minutes, Valefor could endure no more. Once his regenerative abilities couldn't keep pace with his injuries, he was reduced to a shredded wreck.
"I will ask you one more time."
"..."
"Did the Grand Dukes sponsor you?"
On the third day.
I secured a 'testimony' with Memoria stating that eleven Grand Dukes were involved in the assassination plot.
To be honest, on the second day, not a single Demon Lord answered my questions willingly. On the third day, I simply skipped over one person deliberately. For that individual, I sent Jeremy in my place to conduct the interrogation.
The greatest enemy of trust is doubt. That simple truth is fully demonstrated even in torture.
The moment I left the prison tower, I obtained the factions' agreement and issued the order.
"Seize the Demon Realm Grand Dukes."
Now.
It was time for the purge.