Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Atra's Followers 3
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“Those guys—are they the mercenaries you mentioned?”
Derek frowned.
“They seem to have taken over the entire village, planning to rob every traveler who passes through. Which means…”
They didn’t know who had stolen their bone wands. So they were occupying the relay station village outright, intending to inspect every single passerby.
“They managed to break through the checkpoint with that few numbers. A surprise attack? Or… did the New King’s blood awaken in the count’s bastard son?”
“Didn’t seem like it.”
“Then it must be the Kurt cultists. They must have figured they had a good chance of winning to attack this village. In that case, we should run now.”
Derek assessed the situation coolly.
As expected of a former Herald—even though he’d been forced to retire after losing to Arael, he still possessed sharp judgment.
“Then I’ll act separately.”
“No. Before that… hand over the copy of the New King Scripture.”
“No thanks.”
“You think I’m trying to steal your credit?”
“Yup.”
“…….”
“Well, that too, but if you take the New King Scripture copy, Derek, you’ll become a target for their tracking magic.”
“No problem.”
“No problem my ass… You planning to fight? I heard the merchants in the Korasar Peddler Association unleashed Flying Sword Palace. If word like that spreads, the merchant guild we’ve carefully built will be ruined.”
Their caravan currently included a former Herald in Derek, two who had fully completed their clan’s training, and others who were all above average as escorts for a trading company.
But the ‘Korasar Peddler Association’ was, after all, just an ordinary merchant guild. There was no need to reveal their combat prowess in front of crowds.
Moreover, showing ties to the Herald clan would only bring trouble. They couldn’t afford to lose the guild they’d painstakingly rooted in the Kingdom of Korasar.
“You bastard.”
Derek grew angry at Azadin’s words. Because Azadin was right.
Handing over the New King Scripture copy would raise the chance that the Korasar Peddler Association would have to fight directly, and in the process, their true nature might be exposed.
“I’ll at least play the decoy, so don’t worry too much.”
Azadin said that and stepped down among the servants clearing the stalls.
“My laundry’s only been out a short while, so I need new clothes. I’ll take some from the goods. That okay?”
While Azadin gathered his gear, Midiam and Ismail brought over a mountain goat that had just been reshod.
“What’s going on? We were resting well.”
“You two, grab the food from the table inside that tent.”
Azadin pointed to the tent where he’d just been eating with Derek.
“Food, in this situation?”
“There are so many starving people in the world—you shouldn’t take food lightly. Grab it.”
As Azadin spoke, two armed men approached the caravan’s wagons.
“Now, now, everyone calm down! We won’t allow anyone to leave the village!”
“Stay put and nothing will happen, so everyone relax.”
Their tone was fine, but they held iron maces and longswords. Just two of them.
‘No way they’re pulling men like this for this?’
Azadin knew the full numbers of Tarky’s mercenary band.
They’d bulked up by conscripting a few loitering village youths on the spot, but that still made only about twenty men. They should be busy securing the checkpoint and relay station—why divert forces to subdue the caravan? And just two?
Sure enough, the other merchants, not from the Korasar Peddler Association, took offense.
“Hey! Deal with them.”
“Got it.”
The other merchants’ guards surrounded the mercenaries.
“You thought merchants would just avoid conflict no matter what? Don’t make me laugh.”
“You’re the mercenaries who hit the checkpoint, right? No problem killing you!”
The guards charged at the mercenaries.
Five against two.
The outcome seemed obvious, but something unexpected happened.
-Thud!
A dull impact rang out, and the charging guards flew through the air.
The mercenaries had merely swung their weapons, but at the moment of clash, the steel bent, and the recoil sent the guards tumbling.
“Oh, damn.”
“Regular weapons can’t handle this strength.”
They tossed aside their broken maces and swords, snatched new ones from the fallen merchant guards, and attacked the rest.
“W-Wait!”
“We surrender!”
“Argh!”
Even the guards begging for mercy were struck without hesitation, and in an instant, all five were dead.
“Eek?!”
“M-My god!”
The merchants who had stepped in without thinking recoiled in horror, and the mercenaries stood with grins.
“Relax. We’re not here to kill merchants.”
“Yeah. Just… uh.”
“Huh.”
The mercenaries trailed off, standing blankly. Their eyes lost focus, drifting emptily into space. Then their gazes shifted to the fallen corpses.
“What?”
“…I’m hungry.”
They dropped to the ground, crawling on all fours like beasts toward the bodies they’d just made.
And then…
-Crunch!
They began tearing into the corpses.
“Kyaaack!”
Screams erupted from the women in the merchant group.
*********
Screams began bursting out all over the relay station village.
The mercenaries implanted with spiders gained terrifying strength, slaughtering other soldiers in seconds—but they couldn’t resist the sudden, bizarre hunger and started devouring people.
At first, they lunged at corpses, ripping off tender flesh. But that wasn’t fast enough to sate their appetite.
With so much meat around, human mouths weren’t suited to devour it quickly.
The moment that thought hit, changes wracked their bodies. First, two more legs tipped with sharp claws sprouted. New, elongated exoskeletal limbs burst from their backs, tearing the corpses to make them easier to eat.
Their jaws split vertically, mouths gaping wider, lined with razor teeth to chew and swallow meat faster.
And an even greater hunger descended.
“Meat…”
“More meat!”
As they turned, craving flesh, their faces were now crawling masses of spiders in place of eyes.
*********
“Eek…”
Seeing humans transform like that right before their eyes, the merchants freaked out.
The two mercenaries had become grotesque monsters, obsessively devouring the bodies they’d felled.
“Hang on.”
Watching, Azadin snatched a javelin from a stall display and hurled it.
-Thunk!
It pierced the spine of one mercenary eating from the ground. Enough impact to kill an ordinary man several times over, surely relayed through his nerves.
But the mercenary didn’t die.
“What?”
He barely reacted, like it was less than a thorn in his toe.
The mercenary yanked out the spear, and countless tiny spiders swarmed from the wound, sealing the hole.
“Who’s there?”
Distracted by the corpses, the mercenaries hadn’t seen Azadin throw. Even if they’d looked, they wouldn’t have spotted him.
Azadin had circled behind the wagons the moment he threw.
“Hey, that’s kin to Atra, the Spider Queen of the Kurt divine clan.”
As Azadin flanked behind the wagons, Derek warned.
“I can tell from the spiders. You lot stay put, Derek. Play the helpless merchants.”
Answering Derek’s warning like that, Azadin slipped between wagons, bypassing the mercenaries.
“Their bodies are little more than corpses now, with tiny spiders linking the nervous system via mana. Be careful, Azadin. You’re a dropout, but still Aragas’s 108th Herald.”
Your failure would shame the clan.
That’s what Derek meant.
“Thanks for the advice!”
Azadin grabbed a bolt of cloth from a nearby merchant wagon, climbed atop it, leaped off, and unfurled the cloth midair to cover both mercenaries. Then…
“Hup!”
He stomped the ground with both feet and delivered a heavy blow atop the cloth.
First high, then lower.
-Boom!
Rapid strikes echoed like exploding gunpowder.
The mercenaries couldn’t recover from Azadin’s powerful assault. Even divided into spiders, Azadin had extended his attacks from point to area via the cloth, hitting every one evenly.
But it wasn’t enough.
-Rip!
The new arms—no, spider legs—sprouting from the mercenaries’ backs punched holes in the cloth and lunged at Azadin.
He dodged the spider legs and fell back. But that let the mercenaries shred the cloth and rise quickly.
“Trouble.”
As Azadin muttered that,
“Here!”
Midiam swiftly yanked a torch from the wagon and tossed it.
The mercenaries screamed in agony at the fire’s heat. The tiny spiders inside were vulnerable to it. Small bugs cooked from minimal heat.
‘I knew, but starting a fire isn’t that easy.’
In this caravan camp where merchant wagons formed a wall, recklessly igniting flames could cause disaster.
While Azadin hesitated, Ismail fetched several torches, lit them, and began throwing.
“Gaaah!”
“Argh! What is this?!”
The mercenaries panicked, trying to flee the torch encirclement, but Azadin kicked them back inside.
“Stay in there and roast nice and warm.”
The spiders, startled by the heat, tried abandoning their safe home and food source—the mercenaries’ bodies—but emerging meant worse hell.
Hiding inside meant burrowing into the mercenaries’ still-mutating innards, causing pain and rejection responses.
“How was that? We’re useful, right?”
Midiam sauntered over to Azadin with a shrug.
“It’s not over yet, so stay sharp.”
Azadin lit the torn cloth. The other merchants brought flammable items to toss in, and shoveled sand to smother flames, preventing spread to wagons and goods.
In the end, the two mercenaries burned down without much resistance.
“Ugh. What the hell.”
The merchants gaped at the still-burning aberrant monsters. Human bodies with spider legs aflame—ghastly.
“Come to think of it, who are you? Hey?”
But when the merchants turned to ask Azadin, he’d already vanished.
“W-What?”
“Weirdos.”
*********
“How was my help? Perfect timing, right? No need to thank me. I’m just…”
Midiam followed, bragging, and Azadin praised her.
“Well done. As expected of kin I met from afar.”
“Ah, there you go again. Can’t you just accept me as a retainer already?”