Chapter 179
Chapter 179
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: Naga's Island 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The road to Btuma takes more than a week on foot. Fortunately, Btuma has well-developed river transport, so Azadin decided to board a ship from Kimalji County.
But...
“Hey, boss. We've got a little problem.”
“A little problem, my ass. I know. The stench is vibrating through the whole ship.”
The ship's hold had a large cargo bay set aside for transporting livestock or rare animals, and Scott's undead panther—stashed in there—was rotting away.
It was only natural, since it was a corpse manipulated by necromancy. But Scott had sworn up and down that it would hold up fine for at least a week.
The heat and humidity of Btuma had other ideas, though. The undead panther rotted almost immediately, filling the entire ship with a horrendous stink.
“Ah, experience really is the mother of all knowledge. You don't know what you don't know until you try it. But boss, we can't fear failure. We're explorers carrying the torch of intellect through the unknown darkness. A little loss is...”
“Get off. Right now. Or should I toss you in the river?”
The captain and crew pointed Azadin's group toward the riverbank.
“S-sorry about this.”
Azadin paid the captain extra. The captain jerked his chin at his men, who lowered a rowboat and readied the crane.
“We'll unload your goat too. It looks like it's on its last legs.”
“...What?”
While Azadin stood stunned, the crew pried open the cargo hold and hoisted his listless Kerim goat onto the crane, lowering it into the rowboat.
“No... w-wait a second.”
Azadin panicked, but the crew just pointed to the rope ladder.
“Get going. While we're asking nicely.”
“No, these guys...”
Shati bristled at the crew's rough handling.
“Azadin! Let's just wipe them all out...”
“M-my Sweater...”
Shati pushed for a mutiny, but Azadin was too shocked by his goat's condition to care.
“Figures. With your personality, you wouldn't attack merchants first unless they really pissed you off.”
Shati grumbled as she climbed down the rope ladder into the rowboat.
*********
The crew dumped Azadin's group and their luggage on the riverbank, then rowed back to the ship without a backward glance.
“I told you to ditch the panther.”
Shati kicked at the ground in frustration.
“I didn't think it'd rot this fast. My cutting-edge necromancy is supposed to resist decay.”
“And yet it rotted.”
“...This one's on me for trusting Scott.”
Azadin had gotten so caught up in Scott's impressive magic skills that he'd forgotten the orc part—and placed way too much faith in him. This was the result.
“Fine, so we ditch the panther. What about the boss's Kerim goat?”
“...Uh, Brother Azadin.”
Jiswa examined the goat in alarm.
“How's he look, Jiswa?”
“This goat... looks like he's got hippo fever.”
“Hippo fever?”
“Yeah, it's a disease that spreads from hippos around Btuma to livestock. Most don't survive it.”
Azadin checked, and sure enough: Sweater was running a fever, with a rash under his fur and bloodshot eyes.
“Ugh. Hey, Shati. Can you heal him?”
“The Cobra Queen's magic boosts natural healing, but that's just for accelerating recovery on wounds that'd heal anyway. If there's a cure for the disease, I could help it along. But without medicine...”
“That's bad.”
Losing his goat here would mean losing most of their travel gear.
Azadin was strong enough to drag it all by force and find new transport in the next village—or ditch the non-essentials. But losing the pack animal was just the start of their problems.
This goat had been with Azadin ever since he'd appointed it as a herald. He wanted to save it if he could.
“Let's try the Azure Mushroom Hall elixir.”
Jiswa suggested.
“But isn't yours contaminated? Mixed with Grimsrown's blood and all. I could probably make some from the sap in my club.”
“The elixirs we use are diluted sap mixed with herbs. Raw sap would be a disaster.”
“Even contaminated, it'll be fine?”
“Feed him that to stabilize, then use the antidote from that herald clan's girl to neutralize it after.”
“That could work. Let's do it.”
Azadin agreed to feed his goat the Azure Mushroom Hall elixir.
*********
Rain poured down in sheets.
Azadin stared blankly at the road turned into a muddy quagmire by the downpour.
They'd given Sweater the elixir, but in the end, the Kerim goat died.
The beast that could leap 80-degree slopes like flat ground, fearless of any predator or battlefield, had absurdly succumbed to Btuma's hippo fever.
Scott had cast necromancy on the Kerim goat to haul their gear for now...
But they'd already seen how Btuma's heat and humidity rotted undead in no time. It wouldn't last long.
“Damn it. My goat, promoted to herald with me! Sweater...”
“Don't beat yourself up, boss. Everything has its season—meetings and partings, life and death.”
“......”
“Not much comfort, huh?”
“No, we're in a total mess right now.”
Azadin scowled.
Btuma's soil was loess so thick it could build earthen walls—and turned to instant mud when it rained.
Even the Emperor's Road, built by the emperor himself, crumbled here.
Scol storms battered it relentlessly through summer and fall, and the loess synergized with the deluge, wrecking Emperor Yaeslat's grand works.
No traveling in weather like this.
Even a brief scol turned the loess to impassable sludge.
Right now, Azadin's group had chopped local trees into a wide raft, floated it on the water, cast necromancy on his goat to walk the riverbed, and had it tow them.
The makeshift raft required constant weight-balancing to avoid capsizing, fraying every nerve.
“Hey. We can't go far like this. Let's find the nearest village!”
Azadin sent the emperor's voice skyward as a Foresight Bird.
[A village. Southwest, about three li!]
“We still have to go three li like this?”
Azadin was horrified, but they had no choice.
By the time they staggered into the village, the rain had magically stopped.
The road was still a disaster, though.
In loess-heavy Btuma, folks mostly traveled by boat when it rained. Those on foot laid planks over the ground and stuck to those.
Sunset had come besides, so Azadin decided to stay the night.
He asked the villagers about lodging. They pointed to a open-sided hut.
“Crash there. One silver'll do.”
“What? It's wide open on all sides with just a roof, and that's one silver?”
Azadin reeled at the rip-off but paid up. In return, they brought fruit and fish.
*Ah, food included? That's a bargain.*
Btuma stayed warm even at night, so the hut was fine for sleeping.
A proper house would've been too stuffy.
*********
Rafting had worn them out more than expected, and the group fell into such deep sleep that they wouldn't have stirred if carried off.
No need for a night watch—the emperor's voice warned of anyone approaching. Everyone finally got solid rest.
The next morning.
As they ate breakfast and prepped to leave, the villagers looked baffled.
“You crazy?”
“Rain's coming again soon. Dangerous to head out.”
“What? What do you...”
“Don't travel without a boat.”
The roads were still wrecked. Spots where water drained fast were merely muddy but walkable; puddles hid unknown depths of muck.
Venturing out meant not living to a ripe old age.
“Uh, any chance we could borrow a boat?”
The villagers stared at Azadin like he'd grown a second head.
“We're fishermen, sure...”
“But we ain't selling boats.”
“All ours are in use. Nothing spare.”
“Could you at least ferry us to a big city?”
“Dunno. No reason to go there.”
“I'll pay.”
“We trade with merchants now and then, but...”
The fishermen seemed unenthused.
Money didn't sway them much. In this remote village with rare coin use, gold and silver were just emergency reserves—not something to covet.
“More importantly, you're built like a beast and handsome as sin. Why not settle down with my daughter? Those arms'd haul nets like nobody's business.”
They turned to Scott, trying to recruit him.
“W-we're in a real hurry. Gotta get to Btuma right away.”
“Talk to the wandering merchant coming soon, then. He'll take you.”
“Ah.”
Azadin sighed in relief.
*Merchants do come here. Makes sense—they need nets mended and supplies.*
Finally relaxing, he asked when the merchant would arrive.
“How soon is soon?”
“Two days?”
“What?!”
He jolted in shock. They couldn't waste time with naga possibly attacking Btuma anytime.
“Ah, there's one coming today too.”
“Today? Perfect.”
“But... that one's a naga.”
“Damn it, you weren't supposed to say that!”
The villagers mentioned another merchant.
“...A naga merchant?”
“Yeah. See, uh... you don't like nagas?”
“N-no, if it'll get us out of this village...”
“Good then.”
“Merchant shows around dinner. Rest till then.”
*********
As the villagers said, Azadin rested deeply until evening.
Come dusk, stringed music echoed from the river, just as promised.
Twilight lingered, but villagers lit torches, kids blew flutes excitedly, and everyone rushed to the bank.
“Hello! Hello there!”
A gaudy ship pulled in. A young man with a gold necklace around his neck grinned wide as he stepped off.
“It's a naga.”
Shati spotted him and clicked her tongue.
“Not just him—all of them.”
Crew and guards alike were nagas, she insisted.