The Mechanical Era

A maid, one with black hair tied to twin tails, with hazel green eyes on her oval face, was sitting on her small desk, all alone, in a confined room that was fitted with a bed, a chair, and a table. The floor was made of marble, while the walls were made of stone bricks, coated with plaster, and painted white.

This maid, a magical one as well, was working with Salvator Humat and acted as a spy for the castle. She had arrived here about a month ago, taking place of another maid who was loyal to the king and queen.

With quill in hand, and a full bottle of ink, she was writing down information about the flintlock musket, and how Kant had managed to successfully produce one. She also describes the personality shift, writing down his confidence boost, popularity, and what has been happening since.

As soon as she finished, she took out three gold coins from her pocket. Once that she had been stealing from the royal family. Rebecca places them on the table and goes underneath the drawer. There, she finds a hole to lift up the floor of the drawer, revealing a hidden compartment.

In the hidden compartment, there was a single book, with the letters "Diary" inscribed on it, along with a belt to hold it in. Opening a few dozen pages later, there was gold, lots and lots of gold coins hidden within a collum of circle holes.

Unfortunately for her, before she can hide the stolen goods, the door bursts open with a bang. Knights, holding their sharp metal spears, pointed them at them. A wave of confusion swept across her face, as she had no idea what was happening.

"Mrs. Rubecca, You are under arrest for espionage and stealing property belonging to her royal highness! You are coming with us," the faceless knights told her. She tried to run away through the roof, however, an arrow cracked the window open, warning her of the danger.

"Nice try, bitch," the soldier commented. The knights struck her down unconscious and took her incapacitated body with them.

...

Rebecca soon regained consciousness. The world appeared dark, as a black blindfold tied to her head. Her mouth instinctively tried to scream, but something shoved into her mouth prevented her from doing so.

She can feel her hands, feet, and body tied with cold metal chains with strong locks to them. From her sense of touch, she can feel the freezing stone floor, paralyzing her legs. The chair was the only place of warmth in the frosty room.

From her ears, she picked up the sound of the door opening. Two people, both wearing a pair of metal shoes, walked inside the room and closed the color behind them. As they walked closer, she heard the clanking noise made by the iron.

"It appears she is finally awake," said one voice. It was masculine but had a young tone to it. The other was silent, as he reached for the blindfold. As soon as the person took off the blindfold, her vision became a little fuzzy.

In front of her, there were two big men, that looked rather similar due to her fuzzy vision. One of them was carrying a basket of berries, and a glass bottle with some kind of green liquid. One of the men took a berry, which was a round purple berry, and fed it into her mouth, rather forcefully. Then, he got her to fully drink the bottle of liquid green, which tasted like rust.

"That out to keep you alive for a while. Now, Rebecca. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. From the letter, it appears that you betrayed our own lord, for some heretic in the south," Rebecca started heavily breath, scared of what was going to happen.

"I... I... I am sorry," she muttered.

"Hmm...? Sorry isn't going to be enough for espionage, won't it? Now be a good little girl, and give up the names of the collaborators."

"Can't. I can't," she spoke. A bad choice. The knight raised his finger, pointing at her neck, and cast the spell.

"Du Froid." he whispered. A cost breeze few from his hand and hit the neck of Rubecca. She ground her teeth as she endured great pain. He held it for a whole 3 minutes, before stopping.

"Hm... I can see why they made you a spy. But if you don't speak up, things are going to get a lot worse. So do yourself a favor, and spill the beans," the man said. Rebecca, feeling weak, still stayed silent.

"Your choice," the man finally replied. The knights went on for hours, torturing the maid spy. Her beautiful looks, one she had been grated at both by her mother, degraded as the knights, beat, tortured, burned, and froze her, trying to break her spirit.

Within only three hours, her hair had been nearly cut off, leaving a bald mess. Her face was covered in scars, bruises, and marks all over, destroying her beauty. Yet, the woman stayed silent, until, she didn't

Suddenly, as the knight tried to continue on, her head turns towards her. After collecting all her energy, she spoke out, but with a raspy voice.

"You... You should..." she stuttered, feeling weak.

"What is it?" the second man asked.

"You should... you should just stop wasting your time... *cough* *cough* *cough* " The woman started to cough heavily, with bits of blood coming out of her mouth.

The torturer looked onward a bit confused. He turned to the other man, who had the same reaction. He turned back to face the spy and coughed a little, and spoke again, but now with a deeper, and more menacing voice.

"What did you just say?"

"No matter what you do, I won't yield. I have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Besides, I don't know a lot of people here. I just picked up the notes, and send them away. You would all be wasting your time." she claimed, all while heavily stuttering. The knights smirked.

"We will see about that." one said.

The two knights left the cell, leaving her alone. The woman's thoughts were empty, near blank after what they put her through. Not that she could blame them. She very well knew the risks involved, as well as the rewards.

It took a while before she heard the sounds of footsteps echoing across the halls of the dungeon. However, there was a third person, walking with knights, who she assumed were the two from before.

"Rebecca? Is that you?" a feminine voice called out. She instantly recognized it, from someone she had known and loved all her life.

"M...Mother?" she called out. He turned to see, what was a blurry figure, which Rebecca still managed to identify. Her hands were covering her mouth, utterly in shock at the state of her daughter.

"She is not the only one, Miss Rebecca. We got your whole family here, and we might have to start breaking them up as well."

"Don't you dare! She has done nothing wrong!"

"Desperate times come for desperate measures. So if you don't start speaking..." the other knight stopped on her left foot, causing her to scream in pain.

"they ALL will be in trouble..." the knight proclaimed. Rebecca stayed, calculating all her options. The knights wait in silence, waiting for a response.

"Your silence speaks for itself. Isgirigori..."

"wait!"

"Hmm...?"

"I... I will you who they are. I know the names of the ones I work with, and some of the other people who we work with". The knight leaned in.

"Alright then. First, give me some names of the people you work with directly."

"There... There is Carlo Hiccup, Jarred Loquez, Rubin Rubber, and Kylie Juncker. There are the only 4 directly working with." The other knight, Isgirigori, writes it down.

"Good. Good. Now, about the collaborators. Who does Rose Valline work with?"

".S... S..."

"SSS! SSS! SSS! Tell me damn it! I can't wait for all..."

"Salvator Humat! We collaborate with Salvator Humat!" The room was silent, with the knights in utter shock.

"What are the names? Do you have any names?"

"Only two. Lana Fleck and... Katy Hillwood! That is all I know!" The knight writes the names down. With that, they decide to stop the interrogation there, an bring the information to the minister, secretly.