Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: Heavenly Lord of the Blue Turbans 2
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However, Azadin was not one to speak empty words.
Ever since acquiring a large stock of copies of the Divine King Scripture, he had been steadily absorbing mana.
Even Doneir's gang, who had massacred the ogres, hadn't been a match for Azadin.
"No, but these bastards..."
That was when Kmosal came storming over to Azadin and Jiswa, fuming.
"You idiots! What do you think you're doing, parking that massive weird elephant right in front of the castle?"
"Elephant...?"
He was referring to Scott's masterpiece, the Corpse Abomination.
Its appearance was so grotesque that they'd covered it with a tarp, which apparently made everyone think it was just an elephant.
"Lady Gimela is summoning you! Get your asses over here!"
"Ah, but... Brother Kmosal. Did you come with all five of your bodyguards?"
"Brother my ass—I'll freeze to death before I call a punk like you that!"
It was right at that moment that Kmosal spoke those words.
Azadin lunged at Kmosal's bodyguards, clamping both hands around their carotid arteries.
"Urk?!"
"Guh?!"
The moment their throats were gripped in Azadin's vise-like hands, they collapsed unconscious.
"What!?"
"This bastard's showing his true colors..."
But Jiswa cast a blood spell to knock out another bodyguard, and Shati did the same with her magic on yet another.
Before they knew it, Kmosal was the only one left standing.
"Huh?"
"Well then, Brother Kmosal. First off, I have some questions about the elixir. Did you tamper with the ones sent to Corasar?"
"W-what are you talking about?"
"The Blue Turban brethren in the Corasar area went berserk, turning into monsters, and killed refugees and everyone else... Do you know anything about that?"
"N-no! I don't..."
"Then the current theory is that when too many people who took the Blue Turban elixir gather in one place, their power goes haywire. In that case, the only option is to root them out in advance."
"......?!"
"I'm saying we'll kill them."
"Have you lost your mind? You think a punk like you can take out all the Blue Turban brethren by yourself...?"
"That thing we brought isn't an elephant."
"......"
"It's a beast of apocalyptic disaster."
Azadin referred to the Corpse Abomination in the most metaphorical, ominous terms he could muster.
Without a proper explanation, Kmosal had no choice but to let his imagination run wild—and the imagination inflicted despair more effectively than any torture.
"You'd better tell the truth, Brother Kmosal. This one here uprooted the rampaging Nether kin like weeds."
"What the hell is he? A Judge?"
"No. It's Azadin, 2nd Herald of the Emperor's Messengers."
"Huh?!"
At the mention of Emperor's Messenger, Kmosal flinched in shock.
"2nd Herald... Isn't that a high rank? D-Divine King Slayer!"
If it had been his old rank of 108th Herald, the dregs of the hierarchy, Kmosal wouldn't have been so terrified even upon learning Azadin was a Messenger... But ascending to 2nd Herald made the mere title send chills down anyone's spine.
"Yeah. That should speed things up, right? So, shall we chat while pulling out your fingernails?"
"Urgh..."
"Your tampering with the elixir forced people who'd taken the Blue Turban medicine to kill their own families. Do you have any idea how many suicides followed? Even after we treated them, the guilt of murdering their kin drove them to death. Thinking of those deaths makes me want to start by roasting your soles bit by bit, inflicting the agony of horrific burns, then let sepsis set in as your flesh and blood rot away, leaving you to groan in fever and pain until you waste away."
Kmosal recoiled at Azadin's eerily realistic threats.
"Y-you've got no proof!"
"That's exactly the kind of retort that convinces me."
Azadin held out his hand, and Scott brought over a pair of tongs.
"Not hot enough yet, boss."
"Is that so? We'll heat it up more. Light a fire. Let's start by pulling nails."
Azadin pinched Kmosal's fingernail with his fingers.
"No way—pulling nails with bare hands...?"
Kmosal sneered at Azadin's actions, but the next instant, he could only scream as if being torn apart.
Azadin's strength was so immense that what felt like a light grip was like steel tongs clamping down, yanking the nail clean off.
Unable to withstand it, the nail split vertically, blood gushing out.
"Gaaah?!"
Kmosal panicked in excruciating pain. It was impossible strength.
"Hmm, it didn't pull out clean—just splintered. But this might hurt even more. Shall I rip another?"
As Azadin seized another fingernail, goosebumps erupted across Kmosal's back.
"W-wait! Hold on!"
"Why?"
"If... if I did it, what then? Will you forgive me if I confess the truth?"
"If you tell the truth, of course we'd consider leniency. You couldn't have tampered with the elixir alone. Right?"
"T-that's... yeah. Truth is, it was the Heavenly Lord's will."
"The Heavenly Lord's will? Why?"
"The Heavenly Lord once traveled by ship to Corasar in the past and was humiliated while preaching there. Ever since, he's considered the place too barbaric to spread the truths of the Blue Heavens."
"Well, yeah."
Malaria-like endemic diseases from Btuma played a major role in the Blue Turban Sect's expansion.
In Corasar, where such diseases were absent, preaching would never take hold properly. Anything outside the king's church and angel worship was seen as heresy—people risked their lives just listening, let alone converting.
'And honestly, your doctrines are pretty obvious.'
From the Blue Turban scriptures Azadin had seen, the core tenets were all fine words: families must live in harmony, those wearing blue turbans are all children of the Blue Heavens and thus brethren, share wealth in harmony, and so on.
In such religions, the major doctrines mattered less than the petty rules.
They obsessed more over minor sermons like "don't eat shrimp" or "men may take concubines" than the central tenets.
Viewed that way, the Blue Turban doctrines screamed cult, no matter how you sliced it. Their growth came solely from the elixir curing malaria—not natural expansion.
"So you planned to spread the Blue Turbans in Adiloph, where malaria rages in Corasar, and trigger a rampage? That way, when they start slaughtering people, Adiloph's protector, Count Lantariq, or the king of Corasar would have to step in. Fighting Nether kin with regular troops is tough, so it'd bleed their forces dry."
"Y-yeah."
"Which means... did Btuma's king get in on it too? Wait—then reinforcing this fortress isn't just..."
On the way here, Azadin had heard of the ogre invasion and naturally assumed the defenses were shored up against them.
But now it looked like war preparations?
'Are they insane? When they should be uniting against the greater threat, why are they at each other's throats? And the kings are both Yaegas divine kin?'
Azadin realized Btuma's kingdom was gearing up to invade Corasar, with the Blue Turban rampage as the opening salvo, and he was appalled.
From his perspective, witnessing the age of Jupiter, he couldn't fathom this infighting.
It was like blocking the exit in a burning house while swinging knives at rivals, all while the flames closed in. And these were supposed to be educated, cultured Yaegas divine nobles?
"Does Gimela know? As the Heavenly Lord's daughter."
"Lady Gimela opposed contaminating the elixir. So I handled it myself..."
"Really? You're not covering for her just because she's the Heavenly Lord's blood?"
"Urgh, no. This was part of the Heavenly Lord's grand plan from the start! I didn't act alone..."
"So the Heavenly Lord was involved too?"
Hearing that, Azadin toyed with the Blue Turban priest's staff.
He wasn't sure how much of Kmosal's testimony to believe, but according to him, the Blue Turban leader, the Heavenly Lord, was directly culpable in the Adiloph massacre.
"I'll have to meet this Heavenly Lord. Alright. First, let's see his daughter."
Azadin turned to Scott.
"Scott. Dress up fancy."
"What? I'm already more floral than flowers."
"......"
*********
Gimela's residence was Count Kimahaji's castle.
Surprisingly, everyone inside—from top to bottom—wore blue turbans, suggesting the Blue Turban Sect had the county firmly in its grip.
"They say this is the Blue Turban holy site."
Azadin asked Jiswa.
"Yes."
"Any relics tied to the沼 ancient tree, Grimsrow?"
"I'm not sure."
"They'd build a holy site where lightning struck, right?"
"Shall I show you later?"
"First, let's see how negotiations go."
Azadin strode into Count Kimahaji's castle.
"Huh?"
But Jiswa led them to what anyone could see was the rear palace. It was where the count, his wife, or lovers raised children—the quarters for women and kids.
"Lady Gimela is Count Kimahaji's wife."
"...Not a lady, then. Wait a sec, that means..."
Azadin recalled her eyeing Scott intently and panicked.
"Happens all the time."
Shati smirked.
Moments later, Gimela appeared, cradling a child who looked about three years old.
"You came. Jiswa, and... Adan?"
"Yes."
"Why does Kmosal look like death warmed over?"
"Lady... it's that..."
"We tortured him."
Azadin said so and held up Kmosal's hand. The fingertips where Azadin had torn off the nails were bandaged with ointment for treatment.
"Oh, dear. That's why I told you not to. Contaminating the Blue Turban elixir was utter folly."
"That's what killed and despaired so many."
"But I truly opposed it. Kmosal acted on his own."
"According to Kmosal, it was the Heavenly Lord's will."
"Hmm. Resenting the Heavenly Lord's will? You're no priest then."
Gimela realized Azadin harbored hostility even toward the Heavenly Lord and smiled slyly.
Jiswa pressed the point instead.
"No matter who the Heavenly Lord is, deceiving the faithful and handing out tainted elixir is unacceptable."
"I'm sorry, Jiswa."
"But before that, I'm curious—how exactly did you contaminate it?"
"Hm?"
"How did you taint it so people turned into kin and rampaged?"
"Nothing special. Grimsrow's sap normally cures all swamp diseases. Mix in Grimsrow's blood, though..."
"And they become kin and rampage?"
"Yes. Or priests."
From the way she said it, even those who became Grimsrow's kin—the swamp ancient tree—without losing reason and able to control themselves were selected as priests.
That was precisely why Jiswa saw it as outrageous that he'd handed Azadin the priest rank out of mere gratitude.
'But that doesn't mean you advertise to the world that priest qualifications require becoming Nether kin, right? He can't deny handing me the rank now. Wait—does that mean Jiswa's using me?'
Azadin grasped the Blue Turban hierarchy and gave a wry smile.