Night of the Soulless Heathens – 184



#184. Naga’s Island 6

“What the heck? What is this?! What happened to my eyes? Or am I going crazy?”

Dehashram was horrified at the tragedy unfolding before his eyes.

“Oh over there.”

Then surprisingly Jiswa one of Azadin’s group approached.

“All of you?”

Why is this guy here?

Azadin’s party consisted of only three people. So why is one of them here? Does that mean that the two of them just attacked the barracks of the sea serpent nagas?

Dehashram is flustered but isn’t what this guy is saying amazing?

“Oh I was sent by the shaman Azadin. He said that the promise will be fulfilled so he told me to load the boat I’m borrowing with plenty of food and water.”

“Huh!?”

Dehashram was speechless with astonishment.

‘So since it’s obvious that you’ll win you’re sending one of the three to pack your bags?’

Meanwhile Azadin was impaling a Naga that had attacked him on a skewer from the bonfire then throwing him headfirst into the bonfire and moving on to find his next victim.

“I may be presumptuous but you have made a truly excellent choice Dehashram.”

“That’s certainly true Shati.”

Dehashram could not deny Shathi’s words.

“Is this the power of a messenger and a disciple of Demon King Kazas? Amazing. When I first surrounded you at the docks I should have ordered you to disarm and hand over a copy of the Book of the New King. Oh no. If I had done that my head would have fallen first.”

When they surrounded the docks Azadin was at his most vulnerable but that was also when Dehashram was at his most vulnerable.

“Prepare the ship. It would be better to send him out quickly. It was a divine favor to treat him according to the custom of hospitality. As expected Demon King Kazas boasted a reputation of shaking the empire and he is worthy of being his disciple.”

The reason Dehashram originally invited Azadin as a custom of hospitality was simply because he saw Azadin as a weakling who could be eliminated at any time.

You could say it’s the arrogance of the strong.

However when I saw Azadin sweeping away the sea serpent Naga I thought it was a good thing I didn’t fight him so recklessly.

“Shati.”

“Yes. Let’s go out.”

“Give him a message.”

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“…All right.”

*********

Azadin was growing weary from fighting the sea serpent naga warriors.

The sea serpents with their fearsome strength and fighting spirit rush towards Azadin chopping up the corpses of their former comrades the undead Scott had created.

At first Scott mocked those outcasts with corpse explosion magic but that magic had the disadvantage of consuming a lot of mana.

“Captain. I’m starting to… feel my magic power diminishing.”

“Yes. It’s time to retreat. What’s the situation with Jiswa?”

Azadin asked the Emperor’s voice a question.

[Jiswa and Shati have prepared a boat at the sand dune below the coastal cliffs. Nagaraja keeps his promise.]

“Really? Let’s take refuge there.”

Azadin used the barrier of the undead to gain distance and fired his bow. He had already used up his arrows and was now using his shotgun to fire at the rocks on the ground and the horns and spines of the sea serpents.

I’ve already shot away all the large rocks on the ground so there aren’t many rocks worth shooting within arm’s reach anymore.

The skin and keratin of sea serpents are thick so it is meaningless to fire stones that are not quite heavy.

“Don’t retreat. Cover your rear.”

“Okay Captain! But if I use this my magic power will be completely drained.”

Scott poured his last ounce of magic power into the undead causing them to go berserk. He quickly moved along with Azadin leaving the undead running wild behind. Scott who was usually confined to a wheelchair was able to run short distances quite well once he started running.

but….

“Gasp… gasp. I’m running low on oxygen!”

“Your physical strength is not that great.”

“If you have a lot of muscle gasp… gasp… you have to breathe in a lot of oxygen. Oh and by oxygen I mean air Captain. Besides my brain is just as strong as any other muscle….”

“Don’t talk just breathe.”

“Gasp gasp… High intelligence requires that much oxygen…”

“I told you to stop talking and just breathe. Do you really want to talk like that?”

Azadin descended the cliff face and reached a boat with a light on. Jiswah and Shati were waiting in the boat.

“Why doesn’t Shati stay among the Nagas?”

“That’s right.”

Shati was in an awkward position.

She is now afraid of her own kind. She is of low status failed in her mission and was forced to cooperate with Azadin an enemy of the other race who ruined the Nagas’ business.

In this situation it is safer to be with Azadin than with his own people.

“Nagarajya taught me magic to steer this small boat. Without my magic it would take a long time to row this small boat to Bthuma. That’s why I have no choice but to go with you. Don’t get me wrong.”

“Really? That’s too bad. I thought I was finally going to return to the arms of my people.”

“That’s right. But I guess we can’t just send Nagaraja’s other subordinates right? Anyway Nagaraja said he was grateful that I avenged his servant. But he also said it was too much…”

Nagaraja Dehashram asked Azadin to search for his gardener’s son and take revenge if he could not find him. However he never expected that Azadin and Scott alone would kill so many sea serpent nagas.

From the perspective of Dehashram a Naga from the Water Snake Tribe it is good to see the sea snake Nagas shed blood but the Kingdom of Btuma must also suffer great losses. The best scenario is for both parties to perish together but here Azadin has inflicted considerable damage on the Naga forces.

“Anyway these guys will come to Btuma later as an army so it wouldn’t hurt to reduce their numbers in advance. However there won’t be an outpost here so we need to go to Btuma quickly prepare for defense and organize the Qing Dynasty people. So Shati. Is that all you heard from Nagashuram?”

“No. He sent a message. Demon King Kazas was a figure feared even in the Naga Empire and he was also a traitor to the Naga Empire. He was said to have been on a winning streak and was forced to stop his advance due to the side effects of the Kazas spell. If what you are using is the Kazas spell wouldn’t it have the same weaknesses?”

“Hmm. Well there’s no other choice right now. Let’s go. Shati.”

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“Oh Captain. Think of me as dead for a while. Even though I’m an orc born under a star with a genius intellect I used too much magic power and even ran with my body so the muscles I gained from that are choking me even more… gasp gasp….”

“Don’t talk too much just breathe.”

“Gasp gasp. Ugh. I’m dying.”

Scott lay down on the boat and fell asleep as if he had passed out.

‘Even though they are such a strange group I feel more at ease with them than with my own kind. I guess I’m crazy.’

Shati smiled bitterly and cast a spell to set the ship adrift.

*********

Azadin must have been exhausted from the battle with the sea serpents because he collapsed on the ship and fell into a dead sleep. It was such a deep sleep that he didn’t even notice whether the ship was rocking or not.

How long did you sleep like that?

Azadin opened his eyes to a stomachache that felt like his insides were being ripped apart.

“Ugh.”

“Why are you doing this Master Azadin?”

“My stomach hurts.”

“Are you going to the bathroom? I’m on my stomach right now um… Scott is doing it.”

“What are you doing?”

Azadin saw Scott in the sea. It seemed like he was doing his business in the sea and coming up.

“Wow Captain. Look at this. When I do my business the fish come flocking in.”

“…It’s a scene I really don’t want to see.”

Azadin turned his head away from Scott who was doing his business in the water.

“You slept for quite some time. Are you hungry? Eat this. But your nose is bleeding?”

When Shati broke the dry powder and gave him some azadine he noticed blood flowing from his nose.

“Um. This is what woke me up.”

Azadin felt a powerful torrent of power surge through his body created by the collision of his imperfect version of the Flower and Bird Wind and the white magic he had drawn from the copy of the Book of the New King.

Let’s quickly disperse the torrent and send it throughout the body. The pain will disappear and your whole body will be filled with strength.

But… this time I felt my muscles ligaments and bones creaking under their own power.

And the thirst for strength that comes.

Azadin took out a copy of the New King’s Book picked the one with a lot of magical power and held it to absorb its power.

The pain is gone and I feel relieved but if I keep doing this the next attack will be even more devastating.

But in the current situation I couldn’t give up on Kazas and give up my strength.

“Did you move while you were sleeping? Where are you now?”

[It takes about two hours to get to Bel Hoda. It takes another day to get to Btuma.]

The Emperor’s voice answered.

“You’re already near Bel Hoda? You’re here pretty quickly?”

“I steered the current and Jiswaga rowed hard.”

“I feel like my hands are going to fall off. Haha. But I think I can somehow make it to Btuma.”

“Shall we go straight to the coast to Btuma?”

“Yes. There’s no need to go by land. You can take turns sleeping on the ship.”

“It would definitely be better to go by boat.”

Azadin thought Jiswa’s opinion was valid.

But then the emperor’s voice spoke to him.

[Messenger Azadin is the petitioner.]

“…ah.”

Someone had used the Emperor’s gold coin nearby.

Originally Azadin was in charge of the area around Salasma so this would be the area in charge of another messenger…

It seems that a petition was inevitably sent to Azadin because the civil war within the Herald Clan had begun.

[A petition came from a fishing village near Bel Hoda. This place was originally under the jurisdiction of another messenger…]

“Is he dead?”

[Rejected.]

“Rejection? Is that possible?”

[The Arael tribe and the Senate are also using their special powers to change the contract of service. No the contract of service you are currently under is very different from when the Emperor first created it.]

“….”

[Originally this was information I shouldn’t have known but since the number of proper messengers is decreasing I have no choice but to disclose the information to you the second in the messenger hierarchy.]

“So the change in the contract of service was the tyranny of the Senate? To manipulate the young people as they pleased?”

[I cannot tell you who changed the contract for what reason or how but I can say that someone other than the Emperor distorted this contract of service. During the Emperor’s time there was no such evil as the curse of service that killed people and caused children of both sexes to die in childbirth.]

“Hmm. Well this is worth it. I guess I’ve been promoted. That’s what I’m saying. But I have to go to Btooma right now and I might be able to save many lives there. Why waste my time listening to the personal circumstances of one petitioner here?”

[Will you refuse too?]

“No. That can’t be. We just killed a lot of Nagas on Dehashram’s Island so what would happen?”

When Azadin spoke optimistically Shati who was listening was taken aback.

“Is that the end? Didn’t you say that we should run hard to Btuma right now?”