At Count Bergliez's main war camp, Claude was meeting with the leader of his amateur investigation team. "You have any news for me?"

"We found the spy," Paul said. "Plus a corrupt quartermaster, a thief, and an auxiliary who murdered a soldier over a woman."

"Ah, you've been busy," Claude said. "Who was the spy?"

"It was Captain Vadym," Paul answered. Captain Vadym had been one of the more popular officers with the men. "We caught him sending our troop movements to Lucio of the Cinders."

"So? Where is the maniac?" Claude asked.

"That's the problem," Paul said. "He killed his messenger owl, and he hasn't been talking. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with torture, so we haven't tried it."

"Probably for the best," Claude agreed. "Maybe Yuri and I can trick him into giving up some information. Where's he being held?"

Vadym was a flat-faced man with a short beard. "Hmph. So a pair of ugly little worms decided to pay me a visit. Go crawl back to whatever rocks you crawled out from under, worms."

"Yeah, Waldebert and Deniz thought of us as worms too," Claude said. "They didn't get to regret that for very long."

Vadym scowled. "What do you want? If you want information, I have none for you."

"We'll get to that, but first I want to know, what makes a man turn his coat for a group like the Order of Iron?" Yuri asked. "What did they promise you? Wealth? Fame? Power? Revenge on someone? Because whatever it was, he can't deliver. The Order of Iron has never been a credible threat to either the Adrestian Empire or the Kingdom of Liberation. Thulsa Ohm is just a mad old man with delusions of grandeur, and the Order of Iron are maniacs who think their imagined purity will protect them when the enemy is at the gates."

"You underestimate us," Vadym said. "You don't take us seriously, and that will be your undoing. Soon, you'll all understand just how wrong you were about us, you sniveling wretch."

Yuri had to stop himself from grinning. Oh, this was perfect. "Oh, really? You think you have a chance of winning? The tide of the war is turning, Vadym. Mordred Gautier and his son are dead, Jonathan Gloucester has turned against Nemesis, and Nemesis himself lost his hand a month ago. It won't be long until Nemesis falls. And after that, you really think you can hold out against the Adrestian Empire? A few thousand men, hiding in the mountains?"

Vadym scoffed. "You think a few thousand men is the only thing that awaits you in Aegolia? You're an ignorant fool. You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that, won't we?" Claude said.

Vadym scoffed. "You should just cut your own throats now. It would be kinder than what the Order will do to you."

"Then why haven't you taken your own advice?" Yuri asked. "I can't imagine Ohm would be pleased with you for letting yourself be taken alive. You're not armed, but I'm sure that couldn't stop you from killing yourself if you really wanted to."

Vadym's eyes darkened. "I will escape captivity without revealing any information whatsoever. I will even be able to assassinate Bergliez or Aubin on my way out. Ohm will forgive me."

Yuri grinned mockingly. "Big talk from someone who's afraid to die. You call us worms, but it seems like you're the worm. Can't do a damn thing in the light, where we can see you."

Vadym turned to Claude. "Your friend is a miserable fucking degenerate."

"I think that's a matter of perspective, Vadym," Claude said with a smirk. "And aren't you avoiding the question?"

"I have nothing to say to you, worms," Vadym said, his eye visibly twitching.

Yuri grinned. Just one more push. "But I want to know how a coward becomes one of Riegan's trusted spies."

"A coward?" Vadym raged. "You think I'm going to cut my throat for a self-declared prophet in a gaudy mask, who thinks the voice in his head is a god talking to him, who doesn't know his wife is sleeping with his apprentice behind his back?"

Yuri raised his eyebrows. That was information, but not what they were looking for. Claude, on the other hand, had to struggle to avoid panicking. If "the voice in his head" was Majora, like how Shez had Arval in his head, then that was a disaster in the making.

But Vadym wasn't finished. "I've swallowed all my hatred for that hedonistic maniac Lucio. Sent him all the information Riegan wanted him to have, even when I wanted nothing more than to let you smoke him out of that canyon."

"So Lucio is in Crescent Canyon," Claude said.

Vadym suddenly realized he'd said too much. "No! You slimy bastards! Nothing I've said will change the outcome for you. No force can hold back the Order of Iron. You and everyone you love will die!"

"Yes, well, we'll have to see about that, won't we?" Yuri said. "You've been very helpful, but I think you could be a little more helpful. You're already a traitor." He took a pair of tongs out of his pocket. "Why not give us some more information and not make this harder than it needs to be? Let's start with Aegolia. Where is that?"

Vadym looked at Yuri, then at Claude, visibly panicked. He opened his mouth...then quickly bit off his own tongue before they could stop him.

"Damn it!" Yuri snapped. "I overdid it." He used a Heal spell to stop the bleeding—whatever Vadym had done, it wouldn't be proper to just let him bleed while he was their prisoner—then they left his cell.

"Well, at least we have our next target," Claude said. "Let's get the others."