Chadra’s Conqueror (9)

“Sniff… I’m an idiot. I didn’t know anything. Someone like me… I never deserved to be a knight.”

The soldiers didn’t know what to do with Selim sobbing his heart out.

‘He does seem genuinely remorseful.’

‘But what if Sir Azadine falls for this and lets him go?’

‘I even said we should hang him. This is bad.’

While everyone worried about their own safety, Azadine addressed them.

“I know you’re afraid you’ll be punished for airing your grievances at Sir Selim. But I’ll take custody of him. There will be no retaliation against you.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Then… thank goodness.”

“Honestly, Selim’s just stupid—he’s not actually evil.”

As soon as Azadine said he would handle Selim, the people relaxed, as though they truly didn’t hate Selim as a person. Azadine extended a hand to Selim.

“Now get up, Sir Selim. I need you.”

“B-But… what about you? How are you any different from Bishop Sehnat? Aren’t you also plotting something—beating Cha-shan and everyone else because you’ve got ambitions? I can’t trust anyone anymore… not even myself.”

“Fair. You’ve been deceived once. To be deceived again would be foolish. But Sir Selim—what I demand is not blind faith.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t need to be blindly loyal like you were to Bishop Sehnat. Use virtue as your lantern and walk forward. If I ever become an obstacle on that road—then you may cut me down as well.”

“But… I don’t know what’s right.”

“At least you now know that you don’t know. You paid an expensive tuition, but that’s what a lesson is. You can understand what’s written in books with your head—yet to understand it with your heart, you must pay a price.”

Azadine gave a bitter smile.

“I paid quite a lot to learn that myself.”

“O-Okay. No… understood.”

Selim took Azadine’s hand and rose.

“I served evil out of ignorance and foolishness. Sir Azadine—I will follow your teachings. But if, as you say, I believe this isn’t the path of virtue, then…”

“Do as you please.”

“Then…”

Selim dropped to one knee before Azadine and flipped his axe around, presenting it to him.

“I offer you my axe. Lead me, Sir Azadine.”

Azadine accepted the axe—then handed it back, and the oath was complete.

One of the Chadra Ogres, the minotaur Sir Selim, swore loyalty to Azadine.

“Alright then—next is Sedrin?”

Having subdued two of the Chadra Ogres, Azadine turned his thoughts to the next target: Sedrin the Wild Druid.

Just then, a small hawk fluttered down and perched before them.

“There’s no need.”

In an instant, the hawk transformed into an elven woman.

Loose clothing, tall stature, slender frame—the elf woman clapped with an expressionless face.

“That was an entertaining show, Sir Azadine.”

“You were already here. Unexpected.”

Azadine was startled that Arael’s Voice hadn’t detected her. Sedrin seemed to know why.

“Artificial spirits like the Emperor’s Voice are built to conserve energy. If I don’t leak killing intent, then even if an artificial spirit is watching, I won’t be easily discovered.”

“You knew?”

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? You’re the Emperor’s Messenger. If you’re the Emperor’s Messenger, then of course the Emperor’s Voice would be with you.”

From the look of it, she didn’t realize the presence attached to Azadine wasn’t the Emperor’s Voice, but Arael’s Voice.

‘Arael’s Voice has Nether-magic influence that the Emperor’s Voice doesn’t… and she can’t tell the difference? Well—she’s probably never seen the Emperor’s Voice before. Even if she senses Nether influence, she’ll just assume that’s what the Emperor’s Voice is like.’

Thinking that, Azadine asked:

“Good. Saves me the trouble. Sedrin—do you have a way to adjust and control the griffins so they stop harming people?”

“Just kill them all.”

Sedrin said it flatly, and Selim jolted.

“K-Kill them?”

“Hmph. You were going to kill people left and right if the bishop told you to—and now you care about griffins’ lives?”

“But can a druid really talk about killing animals?”

“I’m a Wild Druid. If balance is broken, then restoring balance—even by killing or destroying—is the correct choice. Griffins aren’t supposed to multiply like this. Their habit of hoarding shiny things at the nest lowers hatch rates—yet some idiot took the eggs home and incubated them under warm towels, so the balance was broken.”

Sedrin’s gaze skewered Selim.

Already battered by the villagers’ fury, Selim had nothing to say.

“I understand your doctrine. But now that Selim has increased their numbers, killing them all feels like an insult to life. Is there a way to restore balance while sparing as many as possible?”

Azadine stepped between Sedrin and Selim.

“Hm?”

Sedrin paced back and forth, inspecting Azadine from every angle.

“You’re pretty, and you talk even prettier. I like that. When I saw you earlier, I thought you were arrogant—was that only because Chashan picked the fight first?”

“That’s good to hear.”

“So what do you actually want? You’re not saying ‘let the griffins live’ and that’s it. You want to use them—so you came to me.”

“I want to use flying beasts to build bridges.”

“Bridges?”

“I want to open routes from the Chadra Plateau to Banreung and the Kingdom of Arangi. If we install bridges or ropes along cliffs, we can shorten travel greatly. If we mobilize flying beasts in the construction work, it should become much easier.”

From the moment he’d seen Chashan, Selim, and Sedrin, Azadine had been envisioning a legitimate trading consortium.

“Using griffins for aerial freight is unrealistic. Inefficient.”

“Agreed. But for bridge construction—wouldn’t they be useful? Even just ferrying construction materials a little would be immensely valuable.”

Sedrin nodded.

“Ah. You’re right. If griffins become accepted by humans as useful livestock, then even under Wild Druid law they’d be considered part of the balanced world.”

“So we can solve this without killing them?”

“Yes. But I have a request of my own.”

“A request?”

“Kill the undead knight, Sir Sork. If you do that, I’ll devote myself to you as well—just as Selim did.”

Selim’s act—kneeling and offering his weapon—was an oath of loyalty so heavy it belonged to kings and vassals.

Sedrin, instead, offered loyalty on the condition that Sork be put down.

“That’s insane…”

Selim shook his head at Azadine.

“Refuse, Sir Azadine. You can’t beat Sir Sork.”

“Hm? Wait.”

Azadine frowned at Selim giving up the moment Sork’s name came up.

Come to think of it, Cha-shan and his brothers had been the same.

Everyone yielded a step to Sork—no, they feared him.

“Why is Sir Sork…?”

“Before that, I should show you how useful I am.”

Sedrin gestured, and the griffins that had been lingering nearby out of concern for Selim drifted toward her as if hypnotized.

Sedrin stroked a griffin’s head with the back of her hand.

These monsters could shred a human to pieces with a single swipe—yet they followed her like a flock of gentle sheep.

“Huh? Guys…”

Selim watched, feeling faintly betrayed that the griffins he’d personally fed and raised were so easily drawn to Sedrin.

Then he saw the tattoos on Sedrin’s body glow.

She was using magic.

“I’ll carve it into their deep consciousness: they won’t attack cattle or horses. With that, creating hippogriffs should be easy.”

“If you could do that, you should’ve helped earlier! You watched me suffer the whole time—”

Selim glared, resentment surfacing.

He’d even thought they got along… and now it seemed Sedrin had known the solution all along and simply watched.

“Because hippogriffs produced that way are being supplied to the Northern Empire’s army. That’s not a good thing.”

“The Northern Empire’s army?”

“The hippogriffs Selim raised are going to Northern Imperial princes. Bishop Sehnat is a puppet of the Northern Empire.”

Sedrin beckoned at Azadine.

“This is why I’m doing this—because you’ll oppose the Northern Empire, and because you’ll remove Sir Sork.”

“…I didn’t promise that. Just what kind of man is Sir Sork that everyone goes stiff the moment his name is mentioned?”

“Sir Sork is… the leader of Fimbulhorde.”

Selim answered.

“Fimbulhorde? The winter raiders?”