Chapter 348
Chapter 348
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Saint and the Completer (4)
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“Baron, the sun is scorching. Shall we head inside?”
“Heh heh. As the lord of Teldrat, how can I hate this blazing sunlight? That sunshine is the top contributor to ripening the wheat. This year’s harvest will be bountiful again. I hear the royal family has raised the tax rate on wheat yields under the pretext of war support?”
“No need to worry. We’ve planted wheat early in spots across the fields, so we can fill your warehouses to the brim before the tax inspector arrives. By the time he comes, the other wheat will have grown tall enough to hide the gaps. Just like always.”
“That’s why I love having you as my steward. How’s your third son doing?”
“Thanks to your interest, my lord. With the gifts you sent, I’ve even bought a bit more land for his future.”
“Well done, well done. In Teldrat, land is worth more than gold or jewels. If anyone tries to block a sale, just say the word. Who do you think I am? I’d use my influence for you in a heartbeat.”
“Hahahahaha, truly, serving you is worth it, hahahaha.”
“Heh heh heh heh, if I had just one more man like you, I’d have a seat in the capital, heh heh heh.”
On the outskirts of Teldrat, in Kalasan territory. Under the hot sun ripening the wheat, the lord and steward’s pockets were fattening up nicely as well.
Kalasan’s lord was in high spirits lately—everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. He’d been on edge when news broke of war with some unheard-of race, and when Lordric fell in under half a year, he’d even packed a carriage full of gold and jewels into a secret passage, thinking his turn was next.
But the front lines had stalled at Lordric’s edge, and Teldrat had raked in massive profits from grain deals—stripping the Lordric royals of their wealth, treasures, and even some land. Naturally, his own grain-producing territory had pocketed a fortune too.
And that wasn’t all. For some reason, the immovable Aedran, the Golden Family, had liquidated their trading companies and was staggering, sparking fierce competition among merchants to fill the void. That meant a huge influx of “tributes” to him, the grain producer. And just recently, that “Saint of Light”—called the “Empress Maker” in Teldrat—had visited, received his utmost hospitality, and promised to put in a good word with the Empire.
That morning, paladins who’d hastily passed through his territory toward the desert had returned on a half-wrecked desert ship. He’d worried if his potential connection, the saint, had met some mishap, but their expressions weren’t too grim, so despite the reduced numbers, things seemed to have gone well.
“Gregorius, was it? You took care of that paladin’s request, right?”
“Yes. He asked for the man famous for murals in Teldrat, so I introduced him personally. He was rambling nonsense, so I gave him some drinks and put him up at the guesthouse. Seems like he’s waiting for the saint since he hasn’t left.”
“Good, good. Now that we have a link to the saint, we need to manage our church connections carefully. Money flows and power flows are all coming my way. Hmmm... Steward?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“They say life brings exactly three big opportunities. This year feels like that moment. The saint wouldn’t lie—our daughter will marry into the Empire. With imperial noble blood ties, securing trade routes there will be easy.”
“You mean... to start a trading company?”
“Exactly. Gold Gazer held a monopoly on trade until now, so it was impossible. But not anymore. If we don’t seize this chance while they’re down, we never will. This is our shot to rise from a backwater Teldrat lordship to one of Teldrat’s golden families! Teldrat’s center always goes to the richest house!”
He wasn’t usually so ambitious as a lord, but ignoring a golden opportunity waving right in front of him? That’d make him a fool.
That’s why he was out inspecting the territory for once. Climbing the high walls built to block desert sandstorms gave him a full view of his lands, stirring the middle-aged swell of ambition in his chest.
Whiiiiiing—
The desert’s hot wind tousled his sweat-dampened hair.
“The winds are blowing. The winds of gold.”
“Yes, my lord.”
He usually hated the sand-scented breeze, but now even it whipping through his hair and clothes felt like the grand opening of an epic saga.
...For a very brief moment.
Whiiiiiing—!
“Urgh...”
“The wind’s especially fierce today.”
“Indeed. Sandstorms don’t usually reach the territory this season...”
Whoooosh!
“We, we should head down!”
“Is it a typhoon? With the sun blazing like this...?”
Boooooom—
The refreshing head-clearing breeze turned to sand-laden gusts, fierce enough to stagger the body, accompanied by an odd eardrum-rattling hum. A shadow loomed overhead, freezing the steward and lord mid-gaze upward, still clinging to the wall.
Boooooooom—!!!!
Kwaaaaaah!
A massive airship descending from the distant sky, slowly swelling in size. Wrapped in purple afterglow and blue artificial lights, its mystical form—and the Gold Gazer merchant seal emblazoned on the golden hull bottom, searing into the minds of all below.
“A, a ship... flying in the sky?”
Teldrat’s royals and high nobles had been in uproar since Aedran unveiled the airship, but less than 24 hours had passed, so rumors hadn’t reached this frontier lord in Kalasan.
And while the lord and steward gawked skyward.
Dudududududu—
Kwagagagagak!
Dust clouds billowed across the sand sea along the airship’s path.
The two, dumbfounded and staring at the crossing airship, only realized when the dust reached Kalasan’s doorstep.
“L, lord! Something else... is coming!”
“W, what... No way there’s another one like that?”
“No! It’s... a desert ship, at least...”
Peering over at the steward’s words, the lord glimpsed through the dust-choked desert.
Unlike the shocking airship, it was a modest vessel—a single-sailed lifeboat or cargo skiff from a large desert ship. Familiar to any lord near the sands, yet all the stranger for it.
Unbelievable speed for such a small boat, sail even torn.
Sand billowing like clouds with each oar stroke from the man aboard.
And, clearly audible from afar: human screams. Dozens of black clumps dangling behind, bouncing across the sand sea as the boat surged forward.
If the airship was a shock, this was pure terror.
“R, ring the bells! Now!”
“Too late, my lord! That ‘thing’ has already reached the sand sea and inland border!”
“The carriage! The escape carriage should still be there!”
Feeling the guards below in chaos, the lord rushed down with the steward. Fortunately, loyal guards had sealed the gates.
...Gulp.
Lord and guards alike froze, staring at the firmly shut gates. Slightly limping footsteps dragging something heavy like a corpse. And then,
Thud thud thud!
The thing blocked by the gate, calling to those beyond.
“You there.... Ack, kack, ptoo! Are you....”
“W, who goes there! Th, this is Ka, Kalasan territory... pr, protected by the great god of courage, Decas...”
“Sa.... Hack, captain, saint....”
“Gaaah! The desert demon’s come to our territory seeking the saint!”
“The saint isn’t here! He’s been gone to the desert for ages!”
“That thing must’ve done that to the paladins!”
“Eeeek!”
The voice pounding the wall was parched and raspy, like it rose from the grave.
The manly ambition that had stirred Kalasan’s lord was long gone.
A flying ship stamped with the Golden Family seal he’d thought doomed.
And a horrific demon crawling from the desert.
‘O, outside the territory is dangerous. This world’s no place for a nobody like me...!’
He finally understood why his ancestors had hunkered down in this remote land for decades like mice.
****
Kehok, kolok kolok!
“Ow, dust. Should’ve worn a mask or something while driving. Anyway, why are they shutting the gates in broad daylight? Scared of the airship?”
Purrrrk!
Shaking my face hard, a fistful of sand poured from nose and ears. Nurak territory to Kalasan was close, so I hadn’t even grabbed water, and now my bone-dry throat made me regret it.
Of course, my little boat’s “passengers” were several times worse off.
They were spewing sand from every orifice.
“Hey, passengers? You guys okay?”
“Ughhhh.... As expected of a warrior at faith’s pinnacle—his ordeals are on another level.... Kolok!”
“Sp, spare us! We admit our thinking was shortsighted!”
“It reminds me of my first days studying earth magic....”
“Man, not a scratch on you. Just seasick, huh? Teldrat’s got good land—they’ll recover if we bury ’em deep.”
My chosen method. Tight schedule, no airship access, and sending them alone meant they wouldn’t reach Lordric till the war ended. Simple fix to get the oil mages there.
‘Isn’t it just a matter of me towing them? I’m faster than horses and can swing a high pass like archbishop over the saint.’
A thoroughly simple plan.
My first idea, actually—shelved because they couldn’t ride carriages.
But thinking it over: they dragged their feet faster than horses without shredding their soles. That screams magic at work, right?
Desert backdrop and towing image evoked old Westerns, so I tested it.
After a spectacle that even shocked hearty Nurak into stopping dinner, the earth mages concluded: “No injury from scraping the ground.”
Thus, airship first, then I rowed like a storm back to Kalasan, my first Teldrat stop.
“Was.... was this really necessary?”
“Hey, no. Germatal, if you or other tribesfolk have a faster way than this, I’ll hire ’em on the spot.”
“It’d be.... a bit slower than this, but more humane...”
“The church and Lordric are at war now. Someone’s face versus lives snuffed out by mutant claws and teeth this very moment. Which weighs more on the scale? You swore to repay the tribe’s life debt, even unto death.... If desert earth mages prize their dignity over others’ lives, then Nurak sent me the wrong people.”
“....I spoke out of turn.”
The mages’ brief defiance wilted under my serious tone. No escape.
“Consider that apology consent for this travel method going forward?”
“....The desert is sand, but inland has houses, buildings, trees. We’re part of the earth—we can’t oppose them. If we collide with a tree trunk like this—”
“Haha. Think I hadn’t considered that?”
“As expected of the wise—”
“We’ll bury you and plow along. Safely.”
“....Earth, have mercy.”
Germatal felt his rock-solid composure crack under otherworldly human imagination.
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- Deer Drug Please: Oh Haram, have mercy. I don’t think he was always like this.
- Heung An Mandu: What kind of monster has GG created?
- Number Three: Time to wonder if cheering for big bro’s release is good for our world.
- Goldman Sucks: I say him staying locked up like that helps way more.
- Jokass: Wait, old man! You’re not dead?
- Heung An Mandu: Thought he croaked from rage when the airship dropped!
- Goldman Sucks: Pray he drops dead, you idiots. New markets opening outside—busy as hell. Splitting sleep to manage the mutant byproduct black market. Owner’s my age, so we clicked.
- Jokass: Oh, Woojin geezer? Dude’s hardcore, right?
- Goldman Sucks: Don’t get me started. Was about to haggle prices, and he goes, “Haggling’s haggling—self-defense against violence means I shoot you dead.”
- Jokass: He means it. Last time punks tried taking the black market, geezer’s wheelchair clanked and out popped a submachine gun and mini rockets.
- Goldman Sucks: Knew it early. Eyes were crazy. Anyway, long time no see, and he actually launched that thing.
- Deer Drug Please: Heh heh heh, geezer got hooked on gacha and blew billions? Thoughts?
- Goldman Sucks: Fucking bullshit.
- Holy: Wow.
- Heung An Mandu: Fitting words from a learned man.
- Deer Drug Please: Frame “Fucking bullshit” on a plaque and hang it out front—business would boom.
- Goldman Sucks: Bought millions in lottery with severance—guy who tagged along wins first prize. Gutted, pissed, but watching that lunatic rage? “Ah, had to go that far!” Now I get it.
- Jokass: Enlightened.
- Goldman Sucks: Call it enlightenment. I had that much cash too. Just lacked the guts and faith to back that money-eating ghost. Seeing Gold Gazer seal slammed under that golden ship? “Lost, fuck.” Instant thought. Damn it.
- Jokass: LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
- Deer Drug Please: In other news, the loser’s excuse.
- Goldman Sucks: Your mom
- Heung An Mandu: Late bloomer’s scary—community mastery growing daily, elder.
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“Thought Goldman would crash for real this time, but he’s enlightened instead.”
Fitting for a self-made man—not some pleb. Nice seeing him vibe with the young crowd at his age. Woojin geezer says this stuff’s alien and exhausting.
“Why won’t these guys open the gate?”
“....Something’s wrong. Mind if I check?”
“Oh, Germatal? Possible?”
“How deep can gates sink into the earth?”
Merely belted like a seatbelt before, the earth mage chief shed his ropes, sank smoothly into the ground, scoped the gate interior, and returned.
“....Criminals after all, huh?”
“Pardon?”
Germatal nodded at the gathered soldiers and rising spiked barricades—his hunch confirmed.
From
[Saladin is a saint greater than any bishop of light—]
To
[Saladin is a criminal mobilizing full territory forces just by approaching—]
The nagging disconnect finally lifted.
“Any more threats to the territory, and we’ll call the paladins! S, so crawl back to the hole you were born from, desert demon!”
Like a dragon’s finishing touch, the terrified guard’s voice leaked through the gate.
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