Knight Of Brass (1)

Azadine and his group headed west for a day. Reaching a high hill, Azadine instructed Mediam and Ismail to use foresight magic while he climbed a tree to watch the rear.

It seemed they had successfully evaded Ject the Arbiter, as no pursuers were in sight.

“Phew. Good.”

Confirming there was no pursuit, Azadine let out a sigh of relief.

“The decoy talisman seems to be working properly.”

“What will you do now?”

“For now, let’s track the Naga that fled from the Count’s territory. They likely have copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.”

“You needed time to recover, and you already spent time dealing with that Holy Knight. By now, they must have fled far away.”

Ismail counted on his fingers.

“You wasted four days recovering. A four-day head start is massive. Do you really think there’s still a chance?”

“I admit the odds are slim. But other than pursuing the Naga, we have no other leads on the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. We might stumble across new information as we track them, so let’s follow their trail.”

Azadine decided to pursue the Naga with tempered expectations.

“Ismail, use the bone wand.”

“Now? Really?”

“Yes.”

“It’s probably useless.”

There were many ways to avoid detection magic, and the Nagas that escaped from Count Salasma’s estate had already employed such methods. Using the bone wand now would likely yield no results and only waste its magic. Despite his doubts, Ismail used the bone wand, but—

“What?”

The wand detected a nearby copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

“What is this?”

“As I thought.”

Azadine smiled, satisfied.

“It’s not just us who suffer from accidents.”

The Nagas were a proud race. To humans, they were a brutal and terrifying species that raised humans like livestock and held blood festivals daily. But from the Nagas’ perspective, they took pride in having ended the rule of the Nether and establishing the first civilized nation on the Hubris Continent.

Just as humans revered the Yaegas God Tribe for overthrowing the Naga’s rule, the Nagas worshiped their own empire, which had ended the reign of the Nether, otherworldly gods who once dominated the Hubris Continent.

The Orthesia sisters, as part of this proud race, joined Count Casel’s retinue to restore the Naga’s prominence. Their goal was to obtain copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth to uncover the secrets of the Yaegas God Tribe’s power and rebuild the Nagasura Kingdom.

However, the hated Emperor’s Messenger, Azadine, had killed Count Casel, and two of the Orthesia sisters perished while serving him. The youngest sister, Shati, escaped the collapsing Count’s castle with copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

So why was she now in a damp dungeon?

“Where… is this?”

Shati looked at the iron bars in front of her, puzzled. The shabby dungeon, with rusty iron bars embedded in earthen walls, was sturdy and impenetrable by human strength. Her head throbbed.

“What happened?”

As she opened her mouth, stomach acid rose up.

“Drugs?”

Her memory returned. She had eaten a meal served at an inn the night before, then fallen asleep, only to awaken here.

“Those trash humans…”

Realizing she had fallen victim to human bandits, Shati clenched her teeth. Normally, she avoided eating food offered by others. However, the drought in this area and her sudden need to flee had left her no choice but to accept the meal, leading to this predicament.

“Damn warm-blooded monkeys! Just let me get out of here…”

She summoned all her strength to break the iron bars. At that moment—

—Bang!

A commotion erupted.

“Argh! Wh-what’s that?!”

“Damn it! It’s a monster!”

“Grrr!”

Chaos ensued in the dungeon. It seemed that another Naga agent, who had escaped with Shati, was fighting the humans.

“Martin?!”

Shati called the Naga agent’s name and desperately tried to break the iron bars.

By the time she managed to break free, the dungeon had already fallen silent. As she stepped outside the prison, she saw a large slaughterhouse with human corpses hanging from the walls.

“Ugh!”

The innkeepers had been attacking fellow humans, selling the women and killing the men for meat. The corpses hanging from the walls, all male and mostly butchered for meat, confirmed this.

In the center of the slaughterhouse lay the Naga agent’s body, pierced by a spear, surrounded by the dead innkeepers. It seemed they had planned to sell Shati, a woman, into slavery and butcher the male agent for meat.

The agent, in desperation, had revealed his true form. However, the chains binding him had prevented him from fighting effectively. The fight between the unarmed Naga and the armed cannibals ended in mutual destruction.

“Oh, my…”

Shati furrowed her brow and looked around. Soon, she found her bag in a cabinet along the wall. Thankfully, the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth was safe inside.

“These damned warm-blooded monkeys… huh?”

As she left the dungeon, she found herself surrounded by armed bandits.

“What?!”

“Wasn’t this woman locked in the cell?”

“Damn it!”

The bandits pointed their spears at Shati, their wariness evident. They appeared to be allies of the innkeepers who had died earlier. When the man they thought was human transformed into a Naga and fought them, they suspected the woman was also a Naga and called for reinforcements.

Unaware of the danger, Shati exited the inn’s dungeon, believing all the inn’s bandits had been killed.

“Ugh…”

She froze, startled by the gazes of the bandits who were now surrounding her.

There were too many of them. Worse, their leering, lustful eyes filled her with disgust and rage.

‘My sisters had to offer their bodies to manipulate Count Casel, but that was for the greater purpose of obtaining the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. These filthy, vile warm-blooded monkeys dare to lust after me without even such a purpose?’

But their numbers were overwhelming, and weapons like spears and long staves were terrifying even in the hands of untrained individuals.

“This woman is incredibly beautiful. Is she really a monster?”

“Then what?”

“She’s too good to kill…”

“Hey! Don’t underestimate the Naga. Even with both arms bound, she spit venom from her mouth and killed someone earlier.”

Having previously fought another Naga, they approached Shati cautiously, surrounding her. Then their leader, who appeared to be the bandit chief, addressed her.

“Hey, surrender, Naga woman.”

“What?”

“Chief, what are you thinking?”

“The Lord of Lantarique will pay a high price for her. Naga woman, wouldn’t it be better for you to submit here and have a chance to escape later than to end up as kebabs?”

“……”

“What do you say? If you surrender, wear this restraint.”

The bandit chief produced a wooden yoke reinforced with iron, designed to secure the neck and one hand in place.

“You want me to wear this myself?”

“Yes. Once it locks, the padlock engages automatically, so it won’t come off easily.”

“……”

Shati sighed and clutched her bag. The bag had been enchanted with protective magic to shield the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth from tracking spells.

Under normal circumstances, there was no reason to lift the protective magic and attract those seeking the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. But in this situation, drawing in such individuals might work to her advantage.

‘I’ll lure those after the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth here and make them fight these bandits. I’m still under the effects of the drugs. Instead of dying in resistance, I’ll surrender for now and wait for an opportunity.’

Shati deactivated the protective magic on the bag and handed it over to the bandits.

“Fine. I’ll wear the restraint.”

As Shati locked herself in the yoke, the bandits finally relaxed.

“See? The chief is the best. That was amazing.”

“It’s nothing to celebrate. From how she’s cooperating, it feels like this Naga has something else planned.”

“So, what do we do with the dead Naga’s body?”

“It looks terrifying. Should we stuff and mount it?”

“If we claim we caught a Naga, no one will believe us without proof. We need to keep something as a trophy.”

“No, we’ll use it for meat.”

“What?!”

Both the bandits and Shati were shocked.

“Filthy warm-blooded monkeys! What did you just say? You’re going to eat Martin?”

“Yes.”

The bandits hesitated, whispering among themselves.

“Do you think it’s edible?”

“The Naga are monsters that eat humans.”

“Well, we’ve been butchering humans for meat, so why not a Naga?”

“It’s not about eating it; what if it’s poisonous?”

“If it’s snake venom, cooking will neutralize it. That’s how we eat venomous snakes.”

The cannibalistic bandits, who had been killing humans to sell as meat, were now considering eating a Naga. For Shati, it was an infuriating and intolerable farce.

The descendants of the glorious Nagasura Kingdom, reduced to being eaten by these warm-blooded monkeys!

“Ugh. You filthy warm-blooded monkeys!”

Shati seethed with rage at the sight.

“Stay calm, miss. We only sacrificed your friend because of you. When we saw such a pretty woman, we wanted to sell you. Who would’ve guessed you were a Naga? We’ve suffered a lot too.”

The bandit chief gestured to his men.

“Prepare the iron-barred carriage. We need to sell these slaves quickly.”

Shati, still locked in the restraint, was brought to a warehouse where slaves were kept.

Inside the warehouse, women were imprisoned. Unlike Shati, none of them wore yokes; they were shackled by the ankles and chained together.

“Look at this. None of them are eating. Eat while you can. If your health deteriorates, your value as a product decreases.”

The bandits clicked their tongues at the untouched porridge bowls inside the warehouse. But the porridge was far from ordinary.

“They’re feeding humans to humans? These people are insane. You scum!”

“And you’re a Naga, aren’t you? A monster that eats humans.”

“Let me make this clear: that was an old tradition. These days, young Nagas don’t enjoy eating humans. You people are like disgusting junk food to us!”

“Hahaha!”

The bandits burst into laughter at Shati’s remark.