The Fever Cure (1)

While Shati prepared the meal and Sir Zebec fetched water, Scott and Azadine focused on absorbing white mana from the copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth to enhance Azadine.

It felt like pouring water into a bag that naturally leaked.

When the mana stored in the grimoire copy was properly channeled into Azadine’s body, the entirety of Flowers, Birds, Wind, Moon from the Kazas Grimoire grew stronger. However, the mana gradually faded with time, and the power would return to its original state.

At the moment of injection and for a while afterward, the power would rise, but eventually it would fade. Still, according to Scott, repeated applications would gradually strengthen Azadine’s entire grimoire.

Scott made an unexpected suggestion.

“Actually, chief. In the long term, it might be better to use the white mana from the grimoire copy to erase your Kazas Grimoire—that is, the incomplete Flowers, Birds, Wind, Moon.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve got talent in magic itself. Your sense for handling mana is exceptional. If you had a proper grimoire, you could become a truly powerful magician.”

“So you’re saying that if I erase the incomplete grimoire inside me, I could learn magic normally?”

“Exactly.”

“But then I’d need a new grimoire, right? The copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth hasn’t been deciphered yet. I can’t use that. What about in the meantime?”

“You’d be weaker for a while, sure. But you could recover soon. And I could teach you a new grimoire.”

“Necromancy, huh?”

“Why not? Necromancy? It’s convenient and practical. I don’t know if the great orcish magic would suit dim-witted humans, but there are plenty of human necromancers. Even if you reach just the level of my toenails, you’d stand out among them, don’t you think?”

“…….”

“In fact, the Light of the Crown, which our holy knights use, is a derivative grimoire from the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. What do you think about learning that?”

Sir Zebec recommended the Light of the Crown to Azadine.

“It’s not a bad plan, but I don’t have the time. Roughly how long would that take?”

“Well, it’s your body, so I’m not sure, but probably at least half a year of weakness?”

“I can’t afford to be powerless for half a year. And that’s the minimum, right? Who knows how long it would really take.”

Azadine rejected Scott’s proposal.

“For now, it’s enough to strengthen myself with the power of the Heavenly King’s Book. Besides, I’ve got the Azure Steel longsword now. The Wendigo dagger is a fine weapon too.”

Saying that, Azadine drew the longsword. The bluish blade gave off a chilling cold.

Because Azadine used his sword with such intensity, most of his swords ended up as consumables. That’s why he usually carried a wide variety of weapons in his goat’s saddlebag.

But even for Azadine, this Azure Steel longsword was an alluring piece.

“It’s a weapon I obtained through illegitimate means, so if I ever meet its rightful owner, I’ll return it. But until then, I’ll use it. So I should give it a temporary name at least. From now on, you’re ‘Parangi’.”

“…….”

Everyone nearby stared at Azadine. Was he serious?

“What? Why?”

“Does it have to be that name?”

“It’s just a temporary loan.”

Just then, Shati, who was cooking, shouted.

“Hey! A boat is approaching!”

“What?”

A small coastal sailboat stopped and fired a warning shot toward Azadine’s group. The arrow sliced through the wind with a sharp whizzing sound.

“They’re not Aragasa.”

From the range of the arrow, Azadine knew they weren’t Aragasa.

If it had been the Aragasa—the Messenger Clan—the warning shot would have flown at least twice as fast and far. Still, the fact they fired a warning shot meant they probably had business here.

Azadine waited and soon saw them lower a small boat and row toward his group.

“Who are they?”

“Don’t recognize those faces.”

But judging by the way they were waving and shouting, they seemed to be coming to meet Azadine’s group.

“Messenger Clan?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. The shot was too short.”

Just then, three men disembarked from the boat.

“You’re safe, Messenger Clan.”

“And you are?”

“Hmph. Don’t you recognize my human form?”

“Ah.”

Azadine clicked his tongue as he recognized the man.

“Nagaraja?!”

It was Dehares of the Water Serpent Tribe—Nagaraja—appearing before Azadine in human form.

“That’s right. Didn’t you say you’d return my seal?”

No wonder he had been able to find them from afar—he must’ve cast a tracking spell on the seal.

“You made it. Shati, return the seal.”

“Ah, yes. It—it’s an honor, Raja.”

“Why is this Naga traveling with you?”

“We’ve grown attached.”

“Attachment? Hmm. That, huh?”

Dehares nodded as he looked at Azadine and Shati.

“I get it. Physical bonds can be intense.”

He seemed to think Azadine and Shati were sexually involved.

Since the days of the Naga Empire, the Naga had often formed emotional ties with humans. Mating between Nagas required risking their lives for at least 24 hours. But with humans, it was simple pleasure, and humans likewise enjoyed Nagas more than their own kind.

Of course, Naga Empire law dictated that humans bonded through affection should be killed and eaten. But many Nagas broke the rules, sparing humans out of love.

“No, um, Raja—”

Shati tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but Azadine stopped her and returned the seal to Dehares.

“Right, I used the seal well. Are you satisfied with the results?”

“…It’s good that the Sea Serpent Nagas got their just desserts, but something unexpected happened. A new emperor, huh. Damn. It would’ve been nice to get a heads-up.“

Dehares’ tone grew heavier. Aldis claiming the throne and declaring herself a descendant of the emperor wasn’t exactly good news for the Nagas.

For the Nagas who worshiped the Pantheon of the Kurt God Clan, the rise in power of the Yaegas God tribe wasn’t exactly welcome.

“You might find it hard to believe, but I didn’t know until everything had already exploded.”

“You didn’t know?”

“The one who ascended the throne this time wasn’t Arael, but someone named Aldis. It wasn’t the faction working with the Nagas, but another faction that snatched it away midstream.”

“Ah. That is so. Thanks for telling me. But heading in this direction… are you by chance on your way to Vthuma?”

“…….”

“If it’s all right, how about you take our ship as a return favor? We’re heading to Seramba Port in the Kingdom of Vthuma. We can drop you off there.”

Seramba Port was one of Azadine’s destinations—ten days’ walk away.

But riding on a ship of the Water Serpent Nagas… Azadine currently held about one-eighth of the total pages of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth copy.

“We should refuse…”

Sir Zebec said so, but Azadine nodded.

“Then I’ll gladly accept your hospitality.”

“Haha. Good choice. I was short on conversation partners anyway—keep me company on the way.”

Dehares had his crew fire another signal and lower an additional boat, transferring Azadine’s group, their horses, and even the goat to his ship.

Nagaraja Dehares was a curious individual.

He showed interest in the Messenger Clan and the faith in the angel Arael that they had followed before arriving on the Hubris Continent.

“The Evil Dragon Azadine and the Angel of Justice Arael, huh. Wait, isn’t the leader of the Arael faction also named Arael? You gave the name of your god to a person?”

“That shows just how far we’ve departed from the old faith.”

“Amazing. That you could abandon a religion so easily.”

“Is it really that strange? Even the Sea Serpent Nagas seem to worship the envoys of the Nether rather than Queen Cobra these days.”

“Ah, that’s true. Hmm. I see. Fascinating stuff. By the way, why are your bows so strong?”

In this way, Dehares spent the voyage asking Azadine about the Messenger Clan. In return, he readily answered Azadine’s questions about the Nagas—at least those related to history.

“Where the current Naga Empire is located, how many remain, etc., are questions that risk exposing strategic secrets, so I can’t answer those. You haven’t asked such questions either, have you?”

“True enough.”

“Let’s respect that from both sides.”

It was around the third day of sailing that trouble stirred. Dehares’ subordinate Nagas approached him and whispered nervously in Naga tongue.

“…….”

Dehares’ expression darkened.

“You. Every morning you and that orc do weird stuff with the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, right?”

“Yeah.”

Even aboard the Naga ship, Azadine hadn’t stopped absorbing mana from the grimoire copy.

With little else to do, Azadine, Scott, and Zebec had focused entirely on researching and training ways to utilize the white mana filling the copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

Was that why rumors were stirring among the Nagas?

Azadine figured this was inevitable. The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth was a supreme grimoire even Queen Cobra coveted. There was no way a Nagaraja wouldn’t also want it.

But that wasn’t what Dehares took issue with.

“Honestly, it’s a bit embarrassing, but when we brought you on board with your horses and goat, I expected we’d go through a fair bit of hay. But…”

“But?”

“That orc eats too much. My crew wants to throw him overboard…”

“…….”

More than the hay eaten by the animals, Scott’s appetite was the problem? Just how much had he been eating?

“Sorry about that. We’ll get off.”

“Your knight friend has been fishing hard to replenish our stocks, but still… I feel bad. We originally promised to take you to Seramba, but at this rate we’ll run out of food.”

Dehares looked genuinely apologetic about having to drop Azadine’s group off midway.

In the end, Azadine’s group had to disembark at a coastal cliff area about three days’ distance from Seramba Port.

As they were preparing to disembark, Shati glanced at Azadine and timidly asked,

“Um, really… can’t you let me stay here?”

It was clearly a heartfelt wish. Yet she asked lightly, almost in passing, carefully avoiding hurting Azadine’s feelings—a glimpse of her inner conflict.

Shati dreamed of becoming a retainer to the noble Nagaraja Dehares.

It might seem odd for her—a Naga of the Dryland Tribe—to serve the Nagaraja of the Water Serpent Tribe, but having failed her mission and lost the grimoire copy, she couldn’t return to her former place.

If she did, she would face harsh punishment. But Dehares might understand her situation.

However, Azadine refused to let Shati go.