The immediate Imperial response to the loss of Scofield—the Grand Isolation Doctrine—was a military headache for Max, but the accompanying deployment of Inquisitors and Scrying Mages was a direct security threat. Their mission was to breach Valum's secrecy, identify the source of the 'forbidden alchemy,' and, critically, discover the resource beneath the river flats. Max's response was swift and absolute: the DEA (Department of External Affairs), Valum's combined intelligence and internal security agency, was tasked with launching a comprehensive counter-espionage net. Their operational policy, reflecting Max's indifference to outdated feudal distinctions, was to utilize the best talent available, regardless of background or magical ability. Thus, the DEA teams were a ruthless mix of technologically savvy agents and specialized Valum Mages who had traded the Empire's rigid hierarchy for Max's meritocracy.
The DEA agents, a blend of sharp analysts and cunning, pragmatic mages, moved like shadows across the newly annexed territory. They were not reliant on Imperial methods; they were trained by Max to spot the tell-tale signs of medieval espionage using scientific analysis—disguised riders, coded symbols on stone walls, and, most importantly, the subtle residual mana signatures left by powerful magical observation. The Imperial strategy was fatally flawed: their Inquisitors, arrogant in their reliance on traditional magical subterfuge, never anticipated facing a foe who could see them from miles away using both simple mathematics and counter-magic.
The Capture
Within seventy-two hours of the Empire establishing its military cordon, the DEA had its first significant catches. A team of three Imperial agents—a senior Scrying Mage attempting to monitor the area from a hilltop disguised as a hermit, an Earth Mage tasked with discreetly tunneling into the mine area, and their Inquisitorial handler—were apprehended.
The Inquisitor was flagged not by magic, but by a simple discrepancy in his movement pattern compared to known local trade routes—a flaw detected by a DEA analyst monitoring thermal imagery from a covert high-point position. The Scrying Mage was identified when a DEA listening post, manned by a Valum Mana-Sensitive Mage, picked up the faint, rhythmic mana pulses associated with long-distance arcane sight, triangulating the source instantly. The Imperial agents, relying on their predictable magical methods, failed utterly to account for an enemy who combined traditional counter-magic with relentless, technological observation.
The prisoners were immediately transported to a newly established, highly secure interrogation facility hidden deep within the Scofield castle dungeons, a place historically known for its isolation.
The Silence of the Interrogation
The objective of the interrogation was twofold: confirm the Imperial quarantine lines and, more crucially, ensure that the Empire believed the 'forbidden alchemy' was contained within the existing boundaries. The DEA's methods were ruthless, under the direct scrutiny of Max's security command.
The interrogation combined the most effective, cold-blooded psychological techniques of the modern world with the power of magical coercion. While Max's technology was not advanced enough for complex psychological torture devices, the DEA used precise sensory deprivation—absolute darkness, controlled, unnerving silence, and monitored isolation—to break down the prisoners' mental defenses. Simultaneously, specialized Valum Mages worked, not to breach the Inquisitor's mind directly (a difficult task against a trained will), but to manipulate his environment and his senses, amplifying the claustrophobia, distorting the perception of time, and preventing the fundamental recovery offered by sleep. The official records, brief and sterile, simply noted that the prisoners were subjected to "intensive, necessary psychological and sensory deprivation methods" to overcome their magical resistance and Imperial conditioning. The reality of the cold, dark, silent rooms where the only pain was existential, constantly amplified by subtle magical pressure, was far more effective than any crude medieval instrument.
Within a day, the Inquisitorial handler—the most hardened of the group—was stripped of all relevant knowledge. He revealed the Grand Isolation Doctrine, confirming the precise geographical cordon. He admitted the Empire's complete ignorance regarding the nature of the airships and the submachine guns, confirming their absolute belief that they were dealing with forbidden elemental alchemy.
Crucially, the agents confirmed that the Imperial focus was exclusively on the Wall and the Airships. None of them had been tasked with investigating the remote, foul-smelling river flats or the "Toxic Taint of the Demon." Max's brilliant move to brand the oil fields as an undesirable "Toxic Zone" had perfectly concealed his true strategic asset.
Extermination and Secrecy
Once the intelligence was fully extracted and cross-referenced, the ultimate rule of the DEA was enacted: no Imperial agent who knows Valum's secrets leaves Valum alive.
The three prisoners, broken by the combination of scientific isolation and magical coercion, were officially recorded as having been "lost during a failed escape attempt near the northern perimeter." Their bodies were incinerated using Valum's high-temperature industrial kilns, ensuring no physical evidence—no scraps of uniform, no DNA, no residual magical signature—remained to reveal their fate or the nature of their brutal interrogation.
The successful, ruthless operation achieved Max's immediate strategic goals: he confirmed the Empire's strategy of quarantine and ignorance, bought himself invaluable time to drill for oil, and reinforced the illusion that Valum was protected by an insurmountable, terrifying sorcery, not by mere logistics and superior technology. The security of the "Toxic Zone" was now absolute.