The Usurper (3)

“You didn’t tell Sion Ethar about what happened with the Wendigo, did you?”

“……”

“If you and Mediam had reported that, there’s no way Sion Ethar would’ve reacted so mildly. Isn’t it true that you’re the one making the decision not to follow me now? Normally, you just copy whatever Mediam does. So you followed her to come with me, and your role was to keep persuading her, wasn’t it?”

“You knew all along.”

Ismail had always been a subordinate of Sion Ethar. Though he acted like Mediam’s servant, he was also responsible for reporting her movements to their superiors.

He was supposed to act in accordance with the will of the Ethar bloodline, but he had kept Azadine’s miracle a secret. And now, he was even going out of his way to openly show the suspicion and doubt held by Ethar’s people toward Azadine, as a warning.

“Don’t get me wrong. I really can’t stand you. On a visceral level, you’re the kind of person I just can’t tolerate.”

Ismail declared this to Azadine’s face.

“It’s only because Mediam follows you. I’m just doing everything I can so that no harm comes to her.”

What he meant was, if she followed Azadine, it would bring harm to Mediam.

“I see. Then Mediam, this is where we part ways.”

Azadine chose not to allow Mediam and Ismail to accompany him.

“As a Messenger, I should’ve guided and trained the servants to gain experience, but looking back, I didn’t really teach you much, did I? I’m sorry for being an inadequate Messenger.”

“No, not at all. You were the best teacher, Azadine.”

“Oh come on, that’s a bit of a stretch.”

Azadine smiled.

“But if I may ask, Mediam… Within Ethar, please work so that the name of Aragasa isn’t stained by the blood of the powerless.”

The training process of the Aragasa instilled hatred for the weak and defenseless. Every time someone failed in training, all the trainees were punished together, fostering resentment toward the one who faltered, encouraging them to privately punish the weak.

If even their own kind were treated so harshly, how cruel would the Aragasa be toward the powerless Hubris people who once oppressed them?

That was what Azadine feared.

“Why do you care so much about them? Because of your belief in angels?”

Ismail asked, and Azadine shook his head.

“When I was a child… I was afraid.”

“…What?”

“I couldn’t stand the fear that no one in this world would understand me. Just a little bit of kindness would’ve been enough… but among the Aragasa, my thoughts were seen as weak and cowardly. Of course, since I dropped out during training, talking about being kind to the weak just sounded like asking people to go easy on me, so I knew it lacked persuasion.”

Azadine, who had dropped out during Aragasa training, must have been isolated and bullied by everyone.

It went so far that young Azadine even began to doubt whether they were truly of the same blood, truly human.

“And then I encountered the faith of the Rescue Knights Order. The tale of the three archangels who dedicated themselves to humanity, and the Holy Knights who protected the weak following their teachings—that story itself was salvation to me.”

“Because you could be saved by believing in them?”

“No. It was more about confirming a sense of kinship. The idea that good and beautiful stories can move everyone. That even they longed for the same goodness and beauty, which is why it became faith, and why a great church was built around it.”

Azadine said this and turned to look at Mediam.

“That’s why I believe in you, Mediam.”

Mediam had agreed with Azadine’s aesthetics—that oppressing the powerless Hubris people was a vile act.

To Azadine, that shared conviction was an irreplaceable bond.

“Yes, Azadine. Oh, right.”

Mediam raised her hand and pointed toward the stable beside the city wall.

“I’ve prepared the horse, the goat, and the supplies. I stored them in a stable that wasn’t flooded.”

She had gone back and retrieved the baggage they’d left with Sion Ethar. While Azadine could manage without it, for Zebec, whose armor was in the luggage, it was essential.

“You went out of your way to bring it? Thanks.”

“I also packed plenty of food. And this…”

Mediam retrieved a sword from a nearby crate.

“This is…”

Azadine gave a wry smile when he saw it. It was the azure steel longsword that Sir Aldof had carried.

“Elder Kazas asked me to give it to you as a gift.”

“From Master?”

“Yes.”

“That’s… troubling.”

Azadine looked conflicted.

The azure steel longsword was a priceless treasure. But its original owner was Sir Aldof. Though he had lost his arm, he was still the nephew of Ansethus IV—not someone to take lightly.

Carrying such a man’s sword could drag Azadine into conflict.

And what if Sir Aldof was still alive?

Their relationship hadn’t been particularly bad. But if Azadine was seen carrying his sword, it would surely leave a bad impression.

‘No, I’ll just say I’m borrowing it for now and plan to return it to someone who knows where it belongs.’

Refusing the sword outright would only make it seem like he held resentment toward Kazas or Aldis.

“R-right. Tell him I said thank you. Well then, goodbye. If fate allows, let’s meet again.”

Azadine took his leave from Mediam and Ismail.

Crossing the city walls to reach the high ground that hadn’t flooded, Azadine could see the city of Coral Sahar laid out before him.

The rain had stopped, and the water was receding quickly. Pillars of dawnlight were pouring down from the sky, forcibly draining the floodwaters from the city.

The sea serpent Nagas, now losing momentum, were retreating from the Coral Sahar royal palace when small, fast boats charged toward them.

“Fire!”

Archers from the Messenger Clan were aboard the fast boats. They loosed arrows at the retreating Nagas.

Usually, firing arrows from a ship is inaccurate due to the rocking waves—even for a great archer. But true to the Messenger Clan’s reputation as expert bowmen, every shot they fired struck the Nagas with deadly precision, leaving them unable to withstand the assault.

Some of the Nagas dove underwater to avoid the arrows and attempted to climb up the sides of the boats, but soldiers already armed with long hooked sickles struck down the climbing Nagas and incapacitated them.

The Nagas, who had stormed the Coral Sahar royal palace with terrifying force, were now being swept away in vain.

“At the very least, the citizens of Coral Sahar will be cheering.”

Zebec looked on in admiration at the fast boats clearing out the Nagas with ruthless efficiency.

The situation that had rendered Ansethus IV completely helpless was being resolved with unbelievable speed the moment Aldis Jedaha took the throne. To the residents of Coral Sahar, who had resigned themselves to death, it must have seemed like a miracle.

“They probably poured in all the copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth that the Elder Council had.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sion Ethar and Elder Kazas had gathered copies of the Book and were standing by here. When the Arael faction approached the throne and began extracting white magic through their sorcery, the copies nearby were naturally saturated with enormous amounts of white magic.”

That was also why Azadine felt such an exceptional surge of power when he accepted the strength of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

When white magic was drawn out from the throne, any nearby copies of the Book were influenced and empowered.

The Elder Council gave their entire collection of copies to Aldis, the throne’s rightful heir, and the moment she sat upon the throne, she activated the Light of the Crown, performing a miracle.

Such a dramatic spectacle was bound to fully captivate the people of Coral Sahar.

“I can’t let the Elder Council have the copies of the Book. I’ll need to control them all myself.”

Azadine planned to keep all the copies, including the one he had just acquired.

“But before that—Scott, can you examine this bracelet thoroughly?”

Azadine handed him the bracelet that held the Book, a gift from Aldis.

“That’s not really something to do while walking, boss. But anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any tracking magic or anything like that on it.”

“Yeah?”

Azadine was a little relieved to hear there weren’t any such enchantments on it.

Was it because he’d just seen Aldis suddenly usurp the throne and crown herself empress?

He had started to feel all sorts of suspicions about her, but it seemed not everything was as bad as he feared.

But just then—

[Azadine….]

A voice called out to Azadine from the water’s edge.

Something huge crawled out of the water. On the crab’s shell was a large eyeball and a mouth.

“Arael, is that you? How does it feel? To have your feast stolen right at the finish?”

Azadine sneered in the direction of Arael’s voice.

‘Ah, this really isn’t the time to be snide.’

Azadine actually wanted to hear her out. But Arael had inflicted deep wounds on him, and it was hard to resist mocking her when the opportunity arose.

‘Still, when else would I get the chance to mock Arael like this?’

Ignoring his taunt, Arael’s voice replied.

[If you’ve already left the fortress this quickly, then you must have suspicions about Aldis’s actions too, don’t you? Head to the Kingdom of Vthuma. Let’s discuss the future there. But don’t bring any other Aragasa.]

The Aragasa had, like the Korasar Peddler Guild, established regional merchant associations in various countries, which served as their intelligence networks.

“Alright. Where in Vthuma should I go?”

[I can’t say the exact location right now. I’ll keep in touch—see you then. Bye!]

With a pop, Arael’s voice disappeared, and the massive mud crab exploded into pieces.

“Ugh. Now it smells delicious?”

Scott commented, catching the sweet aroma of the crab’s flesh as it burst apart.

“Don’t even think about eating it.”

Azadine warned Scott.

Originally, Coral Sahar had traded with Vthuma by ship, and regular merchant vessels used to pass back and forth.

But with the Naga attacks, all trade routes—both regular and commercial—had been cut off, so Azadine had no choice but to travel over land. If he waited for the boats to be restored, it was obvious that new watchers from Sion Ethar would be assigned to tail him.

As he followed the coastline, Azadine made time during each rest stop to absorb white magic from the copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth that had begun to recover their power. By drawing that magic into himself, he further strengthened the power of Kazas’ Grimoire.

Around noon, Azadine’s group hung a pot over a fire on a sandy beach, and while Shati prepared the meal, Azadine again began reinforcing his power using the Book’s copies.

“Damn it! Why do I have to cook just because of that damned orc!?”

“Rations are expensive. And Sir Zebec, I’m sorry to say, has no sense of taste.”

When they had asked him to cook once, Sir Zebec’s culinary skills had been catastrophic. However, he was an excellent fisherman, and his skills at cleaning fish were top-notch.

But once those cleaned fish were roasted with salt, they became inedible. Any time he tried to make stew or soup, the results were beyond disastrous.

Shati even suspected that Zebec was sabotaging on purpose just to avoid cooking duties.

“I-I’ll fetch water.”

Perhaps feeling guilty about his destructive cooking, Zebec volunteered for the task without anyone asking.