Chapter 205
Chapter 205
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: Fall 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A horrific itch and pain persisted, but soon another agony began to take its place.
Hunger was crashing over him.
"Pathetic. Abandoned by my clan, left hand severed, in agony... and yet hunger takes precedence. And judging by how they tossed me out without treating a single wound, it feels like they just left me here to die."
Azadin groaned in pain as he approached the prison bars.
"Hey! I'm awake!"
As Azadin shouted, he saw the guards flinch in surprise. They didn't approach him but hurried off to fetch someone, apparently fearing that Azadin, of the Herald Clan, might assault them and pry open the bars.
"Not very friendly. They're wary of me, afraid of me."
He had anticipated this ever since waking in the prison and discovering that his weapons and everything else had been taken. The situation didn't look good.
[The Golden King is dead, and someone has to take the blame.]
"......"
[Fortunately, the Green Banner Party is pleading for your life. Since you're the adopted son of the Heavenly Lord, punishing you would splash back on them too. With the King's Radiance gone, the Green Banner Party has actually grown stronger. As kin of the Nether, they rendered great service. Those who want to punish you can't ignore the Green Banner Party's gaze.]
"That's not enough to be optimistic about."
Azadin gave a bitter smile.
His relationship with the Heavenly Lord of the Green Banner Party was thoroughly false.
That was always how his relationships with others had been. Aldis and Kazas too—he had chosen Hatir over Azadin.
No, even saying that was nonsense.
To them, Azadin was just one pitiful child. An object of cheap pity, not worthy of comparison to a father who bore the blood of gods or the successor to the woman he loved.
Blinded by vengeance and power right before their eyes, the entire clan had overlooked Hatir's deception of them and branded Azadin a traitor.
And now, with the Golden King dead, how would the people of Bthuma treat Azadin, the Herald who assassinated the king?
He felt utterly alone in the world.
No, he had always been alone in this world. He had merely clung to life stubbornly, leaning on cheap pity.
So now, the only things protecting his life were such false bonds.
"Azadin. You're awake?"
Just then, a voice came from the cell next door. It was Karthen.
"You've been thrown in prison too?"
There was no sound of movement. She had probably been collapsed in her cell and only woken when Azadin made a racket.
Which meant...
"Because we're Heralds. The Golden King is dead, so someone has to take responsibility. Besides, firing the siege cannons into the royal palace was undeniably my fault. I dared to aim at His Majesty's residence."
Karthen had fallen from grace and become a prisoner as well.
"You're doing something foolish. Without your efforts, we would have suffered far worse."
When Azadin had captured Haldun's gang, Karthen had planted explosives in the palace prison and repositioned some of the siege cannons from outside the royal palace to inside. It was a measure only she, who feared the Herald Clan more than anyone, could have taken.
She had detonated the explosives to drive out Kazas's gang and fired the siege cannons to rescue Azadin and repel Hatir's group.
But now, with the Golden King dead, she too had been brought down on charges of firing cannons at the palace.
"If this was going to happen, you should have just surrendered to the clan. With His Majesty gone, we're back to being soulless blasphemers. Only he was uniquely free of prejudice."
Karthen lamented her position, like a puppet with its strings cut now that the Golden King was gone.
From her words, it seemed the clan had approached her before the incident to win her over, but she had sided with the Golden King and opposed them.
"Manja-Zadek... His Majesty was a worthy liege."
Azadin recalled the Golden King who had thrown himself into danger for him and gave a bitter smile.
"The children? What about Midiam and Ismail? Were they caught?"
"I let them escape. The children got away."
"That's a relief."
Just then, there was a commotion outside the prison.
"Your Highness! No, it's too dangerous!"
"Don't talk nonsense. If I'm to be assassinated by prisoners, then I have no right to succeed the Golden King. Step aside."
"......?"
A young man arrived before Azadin and Karthen's cells.
He was a handsome youth with black skin and golden eyes. He resembled the portrait of Manja-Zadek in his youth, and his height rivaled that of an ogre.
Azadin was quite tall himself, but this man was half again as tall, more than twice the height of most women.
"Prince."
Karthen spoke and paid her respects.
"Karthen. And Golden Herald. I'm sorry it's come to this."
"Prince?"
Azadin had already learned most of the situation from the emperor's voice, but curious what the prince would say, he feigned ignorance.
"I am the Golden King's eldest son, First Prince Amun-Zadek. Golden Herald—or should I call you Azadin? Is that fine?"
"Of course, whatever suits you."
"Good. Then let's discuss the situation."
Prince Amun-Zadek scanned Azadin up and down and spoke.
"I know you served my father loyally. However, people claim you colluded with the enemy. Above all, from the military's perspective, they want to eliminate you—Karthen, the Golden King's crows—who have been thorns in their side all this time."
"Your Highness. I swore loyalty to His Majesty and upheld it. And that loyalty, of course, will continue unwavering if you ascend the throne."
Karthen said this, and Amun-Zadek gave a bitter smile.
*If I ascend the throne? She still doesn't consider me king.*
Of course, the Golden King had many children. Amun-Zadek was the most likely successor, but there was another son, Darhan-Zadek, at the fortress facing off against the northern ogres.
If he, who was leading the northern armies against the ogres, demanded the throne?
*What a foolish woman. Sticking to principles in this situation. Or is that what makes her wise?*
Amun-Zadek looked at Karthen with irritation mingled with pity.
*She did serve my father faithfully. Skilled too. Born a Herald, she's no threat to power anyway. Useful as a tool. But the capital garrison's support matters, and since her loyalty isn't directed at me, maybe I should kill her?*
He was thinking this when...
"What's the current situation? What of the throne?"
Azadin directed a question at Amun-Zadek.
"The Golden King was slain by a Herald, and the throne is corrupted. Nether power is pouring out—so much so that it's no exaggeration to say the mad prophets' Age of Jupiter has dawned. We can no longer defend Bthuma, so we've all abandoned the palace and fled. The nagas have seized Bthuma's royal palace, and the people are continuously escaping the city."
Bthuma had been defending well, unilaterally ravaging the nagas. Was he saying the palace had fallen in one act of sabotage by the invading Heralds?
"There must have been enormous casualties. Are the people evacuating without issues? They'll need food and shelter."
"Yes. Fortunately, with support from the Bell Hoda sugar plantation owners, we've minimized the sacrifices."
"Is that so?"
It seemed the Bell Hoda plantation owners had carried out Azadin's request to the letter.
Truly merchants who honored their word. Thanks to them, those forced to evacuate hastily had received ample supplies and fled without major losses.
When Azadin had asked Bell Hoda, he hadn't foreseen this; it had been mere preparation for the unexpected. In the end, it had saved many lives.
But Amun-Zadek's expression as he regarded Azadin was not that of someone facing a benefactor who had saved many.
"Yes. And they petitioned to save you. What hold do you have over Bell Hoda's profiteers?"
"......"
"The Green Banner Party's Heavenly Lord is your adoptive father, right? The Green Banner Party are emissaries of the Nether, kin of the Gloomsome One, so they actually proved a great boon in this crisis. When the King's Radiance vanished, they used Nether kin power to clear paths for the people's escape. Their merit is so vast that purging you, with their backing, won't be easy."
Amun-Zadek said this and grinned.
"You're a real nuisance. We hoped your wounds would finish you and just tossed you in here... but you survive. Impressive vitality."
"You're frank."
"If you're the son of the Yaegas New God King, you can afford to be frank too. No betrayal even if you're brutally honest."
Amun-Zadek stood.
"I can't kill you myself, but I can't let you live either. Too many entangled positions. So wither away in this cell."
"Starve me to death?"
"No, before that, we might retreat further and abandon you here. The Nether's domain is expanding. You'll either starve or the nagas will take you. If neither appeals, I'll leave a rope—use it to end yourself if needed."
Azadin had rallied Bell Hoda's plantation owners and secured Green Banner Party support to prepare for the coming calamity.
It had saved many in Bthuma, but that very fact made him, to Amun-Zadek, someone who absolutely had to be eliminated.
"No thought of sparing me to restore the throne together, Your Highness? As things stand, you'll lose everything but your title."
"I'm not one to bet everything on such slim odds. I'll make good use of that New God King Scripture copy you brought."
"......"
It was the sort of thing that should anger him, but Azadin quickly lost interest.
Abandoned by his clan, at odds with Aldis and Kazas—such talk felt meaningless now.
"Karthen. Come with me. And you understand what happened here?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Karthen had no choice but to accept Amun-Zadek's proposal.
Hearing the iron bars grate as they opened, Azadin sat quietly in his cell and sank into his own thoughts.
Amun-Zadek tossed his silk waist sash before Azadin.
"If the suffering becomes unbearable, hang yourself with this."
That was Amun-Zadek's mercy.
"My mind is in turmoil, so please leave me in peace."
"Very well."
Amun-Zadek and Karthen departed the prison, leaving Azadin alone in the silence.