Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Quartz Throne 1
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“That stonemason... uh, the one who gave him the work orders... th-that was me.”
“You took a bribe, right?”
“Y-Yes. B-but everyone takes them.”
The stonemason foreman turned pale at the thought that blame might fall on him, his body trembling.
“For that Kahsan to make it into the castle like this, they must have been preparing for quite some time.”
“Huh?”
“That guy clashed with me last month, so considering the distance from where he showed up then to here, a lot of people must have put in serious effort.”
Azadin clicked his tongue.
The distance from where Kahsan had appeared to Corasar Royal Castle was too far for him to infiltrate alone.
The Corasar Peddlers' Guild must have worked on the palace in advance, setting things up so he could slip in anytime.
But Azadin's actions right now were surely under the king's watchful eye.
Mentioning the Corasar Peddlers' Guild or contacting them here would be as good as revealing they were part of the Herald Clan.
‘I need to hide Aragas's information while producing some results... tricky.’
He had to conceal what needed concealing, reveal what needed revealing, and pin the damage solely on the Arael tribe. Pulling it off on the fly was giving even Azadin a headache.
Just then, a soldier approached.
“Uh, Lord Azadin?”
“Yeah?”
“The secretary sent word that His Majesty the King wishes to see you.”
“Got it. Where?”
*********
The place where King Ansetus IV of Corasar had summoned Azadin was the entrance to the inner gardens of the royal castle.
But waiting there for Azadin was Sir Adolf, the king's nephew and a holy knight.
“Ha. To think something like this would happen.”
Azadin grasped the situation when he saw the soldier who had summoned him here pretending ignorance.
“You soulless heretic scum. You dare poke around everywhere and haunt the castle grounds? I won't forgive you.”
“Calm down. Are you insane? Forging a royal command?”
Azadin pressed him, but Sir Adolf sneered.
“Once you're dead, no one will know.”
“You idiot. Seriously.”
Azadin glanced around.
This holy knight was King Ansetus IV's nephew, so he held a very high status even within the king's church.
Azadin had no idea why he was targeting him here, but he saw right through it—someone had incited him to set this up.
‘If I ignore him and leave because I don't want to deal with it, the one who put him up to this will kill him next. Then it'll look like I was the last person he met before dying....’
Azadin and this holy knight had both fallen into a trap.
But the holy knight Sir Adolf himself was oblivious and drawing his sword?
“As a rightful descendant of the Yaegas divine clan, I cannot tolerate you—a soulless abomination! If you're man enough, draw your blade!”
“Why should I? I have no intention of fighting you. If you're a holy knight, surely you won't attack someone unarmed without cause....”
The moment Azadin said that, the holy knight thrust his sword toward Azadin's heart. A holy knight striking at an unarmed foe.
But Azadin caught the blade with both hands, twisted sharply, and easily disarmed him.
“Eek?!”
Sir Adolf let out a foolish yelp.
‘Not all royals are strong, huh. Compared to Zekt, he's nothing... actually, the weakest holy knight I've seen so far?’
Azadin examined the sword and gave a wry smile. The entire blade was forged from azure steel—pure blue steel.
“Making a whole sword from blue steel when it's usually just used sparingly because it's so expensive. How much did this cost?”
“You insolent wretch! G-Give that back! That sword is....”
“Ah, yeah. Here, take it.”
Azadin eyed the azure steel sword greedily but handed it back to the holy knight.
He desperately wanted to keep such a fine weapon, but for a royal-born holy knight, it was surely a treasured heirloom.
“Argh!”
Even though he'd demanded it back, Sir Adolf trembled with humiliation when Azadin actually returned it.
He didn't look that young, either—this showed just how much deference he must have always received as a royal.
“Grown man acting like a damn kid.”
“What?! You dare insult me?”
“Yeah. Insulting you. What, you thought it was praise? Anyway, you're no match for me, so stay put. If you come at me again, I'll rip your balls off raw.”
“W-What? You bastard!”
Sir Adolf was appalled at the unprecedented insult for a royal, but the thought that this guy might actually do it made his legs go weak.
Even royals couldn't avoid groin injuries during sword training or other activities. Just a light bump caused dizzying pain—imagining it ripped out alive was horrifying.
As Sir Adolf quieted down, lost in that dreadful thought, Azadin looked toward the bushes in the inner gardens.
“Cut it out and come out. Stop with the pointless traps.”
A young man emerged from the inner gardens—Sion Etar.
“Hmm, impressive as expected. Worthy of being Arael's brother. Or should I say Kazas's disciple to ease my mind?”
Sion Etar stepped forward through the pouring rain and stood before Azadin.
“So you put this idiot up to it?”
“With him listening, that puts him in a bad spot, doesn't it? For starters, it wasn't me.”
“For starters, it wasn't me? So someone on your side did incite him? More importantly, Sion—feeling better?”
“Ah.”
Sion flinched at Azadin's question. He felt disconcerted by the sudden concern for his condition.
No matter what, he had betrayed Azadin as a fellow Aragas member. He hadn't been on Azadin's side from the start, but as a proud Etar bloodliner, it was shameful.
“Not great.”
“Then are my comrades safe?”
“They're all fine. Overflowing with vitality, actually—it's a problem. But first, let me thank you, Azadin. For sparing Elder Sevari.”
“......”
“We showed proper respect to Elder Sevari, so we won't harm your comrades no matter what. I, Sion Etar, stake my honor on it.”
“Appreciated.”
“Which brings me to this: have you truly not changed your mind? Beyond being Arael's brother, word's spread that you defeated Elder Sevari. Among the Aragas, you'll be revered.”
“No matter what you say, I can't tolerate summoning Nether beings.”
“I see.”
Sion's face fell bitterly.
—whoosh!
The downpour and gale intensified.
In that instant, Azadin spotted arrows slicing through the rain—black steel arrows, incredibly.
“Damn it!”
Azadin hastily drew his naga curved sword and swung, but it shattered like a snack the moment it clashed with the black steel.
The black steel arrow broke the naga curved sword and flew straight at Azadin, who blocked it with his other weapon, the Wendigo Dagger.
Fortunately, the Wendigo Dagger held and deflected the black steel arrow, but...
The impact jolted straight up Azadin's arm. The hand gripping the dagger blistered, blood flowing.
“W-What?”
“Dodge!”
Azadin shoved the dumb holy knight Sir Adolf out of the way to save him.
The black steel arrow, deflected once, curved in midair like a living serpent and came back.
The Herald Clan's magic—Fire Bird Wind Moon—with the spells Yellow Crane and White Crane was devastating even plain, but enchanted on arrows, it gained insane penetration. Black steel arrows would slice through rock like butter.
Another black steel arrow flew in, but Azadin drew the guard captain's halberd head alongside the Wendigo Dagger.
The dagger alone couldn't withstand the force—his hand would blister off—so he gripped the halberd head like a tonfa to brace the dagger's middle and add support.
—Clang!
Sparks flew as the black steel arrow ricocheted. Azadin staggered back several steps, blood spraying.
Even the guard captain's halberd head shattered in the end.
“Ugh! It was holding up so well!”
But the black steel arrow lost its momentum and fell to the ground.
“Not only deflecting black steel arrows... but protecting a holy knight too. Impressive. Going through all that to save such an idiot.”
Amid the torrent, the ones who appeared holding bows were Nefti and Kahsan—the 75th Rank Nefti and 94th Rank Kahsan.
They had another black steel arrow nocked.
“Ugh... hey, isn't it overkill to lavish such precious black steel arrows on a stray like me?”
The 75th Rank Nefti and 94th Rank Kahsan armed with black steel arrows, and Sion Etar—who hadn't even lifted a hand yet—were all top-tier threats.
Still, Azadin was confident he could escape without dying.
The problem was, if he fled, this holy knight would die, and they'd frame him for the murder to shatter any alliance between him and their side.
“We can't kill Arael's brother. We aimed for that idiot holy knight originally—you just got in the way.”
“Ugh... Literua! How could you try to...”
Holy knight Sir Adolf panicked upon realizing Nefti had tried to kill him.
And he called her Literua. So the maid Literua who had infiltrated the castle was the 75th Rank Nefti.
“N-No way. Literua! I loved you. We even slept together!”
*Ahem.*
The 94th Rank Kahsan cleared his throat awkwardly.
“You two slept together? You, an emperor's herald, used a honey trap?”
Azadin asked, and the 75th Rank Nefti waved it off.
“As if. Sorry, but the one who slept with him was Kahsan here.”
“What?!”
“The illusion worked perfectly.”
“No, what the...”
Sir Adolf stared at the 94th Rank Kahsan in shock. The muscular brute grinned back at him.
“......”
All color drained from Sir Adolf's face.
“Don't give up. If you die, I'll get framed for your murder!”
“I... don't want to live anymore.”
“You idiot! Aren't the Herald Clan soulless heretics? That woman's Aragas too—the soulless heretics you hate so much!”
“Even so, my love was real.”
“So men are hated, but women are fine regardless of souls? No, Nefti—what the hell did you do?”
“To clear up any misunderstanding, I didn't seduce him that hard. He's just getting all worked up on his own.”
The 75th Rank Nefti spoke hastily, not wanting to seem like she'd done something perverse to Adolf.
“I made it fun for him.”
The 94th Rank Kahsan reported to her like that.
“Ah.”
Even Sion Etar, listening in, seemed flustered by the 94th Rank Kahsan's words.
“Hey, Adolf. Run while you can. Now!”
“A-Ah....”
“Hurry up and flee. Get past here to where people are, and you'll live.”
“B-But as a knight, I can't just run....”
“You ambushed me unarmed a minute ago. What's with the honor now?”
“Th-That was....”
Sir Adolf was delirious.