The Innkeeper

Chapter 1396  Resisting all torture I

Captain Henry Ford squinted his eyes as the hanger door opened, allowing light to pierce through the darkness that had filled his prison cell. He had been on a mission protecting a space mining operation when the mine was attacked by these unknown assailants, and everyone killed or captured.

Henry, being captured, did not know whether he was lucky or unlucky. The mysterious enemies who had captured him left him in his cell for hours, giving him neither water or food, leaving him in the dark.

A tall, thin figure dressed from head to toe in a black outfit walked it, and then looked at Henry with a turned head. Henry showed no expression or reaction. He had mentally prepared himself for days or weeks of torture, unwilling to betray his nation. He would either die, or be rescued. He saw no other-

"You could have just turned on the lights," the dark figure said with a muffled voice, and hit a switch, turning on the lights. Henry was stunned as he looked at his prison cell, and saw that it looked like a pretty decent room. There was a bed, a few chairs, a fruit basket as well as a jug of water on a table nearby.

If he had simply explored the area and gotten up-

No! He couldn't doubt himself. This was no doubt a part of their psychological torture, presenting him with luxuries and comforts he could not really get. He looked at the figure with a hardened expression. As a soldier of the Empire, he would not give in so easily.

Seeing that Henry gave no reaction, the figure simply shrugged.

"Come on, it's time to go," the figure said, and helped Henry off the floor. But that's not how Henry saw it. Henry knew that he was being manhandled, a reminder of his station and position in his current situation.

But his will could not so easily be broken. He was a badass warrior with a will of iron, and-

He stepped out of the ship, and was stunned at the sight of an absolutely enormous tree, right in the middle of a desert, and his mind began to spin.

He saw the scene for what it truly was. The whole planet, whatever planet this was, had likely been sucked dry of its energy and nutrients, leaving it as a simple husk of its former glory, all to support the one giant tree in front of him. Just what he'd expect from an evil organisation. Weakened and unable to resist, Henry was pulled along as the group of figures dressed all in black approached the luscious garden underneath the tree - a truly vile display of greed and vanity. Grass was the most useless of-

Henry stepped into the garden and gasped, unable to restrain himself. Not only was the air cool and refreshing, the grass, even through his shoes, felt incredible to step on. It was as if it gave him the perfect foot support, silently healing the flatfoot he had hidden across his military career.

The garden was absolutely magical, but what was odd was that even the dark figures leading him seemed surprised at the many wonders of the garden. How was that possible?

"Welcome, guests, to the Treehouse tavern," said a mysterious man who suddenly appeared as soon as they entered the garden. But Henry was not fooled by the clearly scripted performance. What kind of tavern could occupy such an obvious treasure tree? Definitely not the kind they could visit, that's for sure.

"I am the tavern keeper and this is my humble establishment. Would you like me to show you around?" asked the handsome human. Henry scoffed internally. Why would someone who looked like that work at a customer facing position, where they were likely to be degraded? This performance was really too fake.

One of the dark figures turned and pointedly looked towards Henry, before turning back to the tavern keeper and whispering some things. The tavern keeper, with an incredibly unusual expression turned to look at Henry once as well, before whispering something back.

The figure and the tavern keeper whispered amongst themselves for a few minutes before finally coming to some kind of understanding.

"Alright, it seems like you all are weary from your travels. If you'll accompany me, I'll bring you all to your rooms. But first, please take a sip from our local fountain. This runs a potion which is very good at reenergizing yourself."

The dark figures shrugged, and each reached into the fountain, pulling only a handful of potion to drink. Henry saw the act, and felt even more disdainful. It was as if they had decided to completely remove all realism from their performance. This was clearly a trap to get him to drink that potion willingly, something he absolutely wouldn't do.

"You know, at the tavern, we do not condone enslavement or imprisonment. As long as you're here, you're free to leave at any time. Should anyone try to stop you, the tavern will be forced to protect you as a guest," the tavern keeper said, looking right at Henry, but Henry did not respond.

The enemy seemed dedicated to relying on psychological warfare to try and break his mind. That told Henry only one thing: he had some extremely critical information that the enemy needed for whatever reason. He was determined not to reveal anything. He had already resigned himself to an endless amount of torture, mental or physical. Henry would not break. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The absence of any response caused the tavern keeper to simply shrug, and led them to the reception, from where they stepped into a teleportation formation and teleported to the lobby.

Henry was stunned by the quality of the teleportation formation. Yet the greater that the tavern was, the more they had probably looted from the planet to achieve it. He was absolutely disgusted.

From the lobby window, he looked out at the barren landscape of the surrounding area, and saw two other groups of people heading towards the Treehouse.

It seemed that the Treehouse was in the business of looting and corruption, and business was booming.