Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Black Magic Disaster 2
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Kozen was trash who massacred civilians, of course, but Tarky plundered them too, so there wasn’t much difference there.
It must have been because this Kaka and Chico pair had such a friendly vibe that they only said nice things to hear. If they met Kozen, they’d probably go around telling him they supported him and try to sell him copies of the New King’s Scriptures.
Their obvious behavior wasn’t off-putting at all, since they were just trying not to make enemies.
“So, where are you headed, big brother?”
“I’m trying to get back to Salasuma. I lost my mercenary band, so wandering alone wouldn’t do much good… These folks are headed there too, so I’m traveling with them.”
“Hmm. If we keep going this way, we’ll run into the Salvation Knights setting up camp.”
Kaka and Chico glanced at Midiam and Ismail.
“…She’s a beauty. A girl like that might get taken by the Salvation Knights. You’d better steer clear.”
The Salvation Knights conscripted orphans from all over, and rumors swirled that they kidnapped perfectly normal kids too. A girl as striking as Midiam was in demand everywhere, so Kaka and Chico warned the group.
“Are you saying we should avoid the knights and join the wyvern hunt? We’re not warriors—we’re just pilgrims.”
Azadin’s group was currently disguised as powerless civilians who had hired Tarky as a guard for their pilgrimage. Yet now they were being told to join a dangerous wyvern hunt because Midiam might get snatched by the Salvation Knights?
“Hmm, we’re not saying you have to join the hunt. Just tag along with a group taking a detour route. Strength in numbers keeps bandits and beasts at bay.”
When avoiding beasts or bandits, even strangers banded together to bulk up their numbers. But it was surprising that they went out of their way to dodge the Salvation Knights despite those threats.
If beasts and bandits were uncertain disasters, then the Salvation Knights were a guaranteed one.
“Even wyverns avoid big groups. We’ll handle our own hunt separately, but we can travel the roads together at least.”
“Hmm?”
But Azadin, a devotee of the Three Great Archangels, couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
“Is it really that dangerous to run into the Salvation Knights? Enough to go off the main road? Surely they wouldn’t force someone who says no to come along.”
“……”
Kaka and Chico, and even Tarky, were stunned.
“No, you must be a very devout believer.”
“Bro, you’re an idiot, right? That’s why you’re on pilgrimage. What kind of obvious question is that?”
“Anyway, the Salvation Knights’ officer blocking the road here is particularly corrupt and vicious. It’s risky.”
“Ah.”
Azadin nodded in understanding.
“No organization is free of bad apples.”
“Haha… Y-yeah, that’s right.”
Kaka let out an awkward laugh.
“Then let’s head this way.”
Azadin’s group asked to join Kaka and Chico, and the siblings got permission from their merchant employers to let them tag along.
“The more the merrier. Bandits and beasts don’t mess with big groups.”
The merchants welcomed them readily.
*********
That night at the inn, the merchants and adventurers called Azadin over for drinks.
“We’re the ones hiring adventurers so you pilgrims can travel safely. Come join us and build some camaraderie.”
They framed it as camaraderie, but they were subtly complaining about their sacrifices and losses. They’d paid for adventurer protection, and now Azadin’s group was freeloading.
‘Even if we really were helpless pilgrims, wouldn’t more numbers help against bandits and beasts, like they said? Are they just mad about the mercenary fees? They don’t seem like quality merchants.’
Already acting like this—what would they be like later? Of course, the alcohol had loosened their tongues without restraint. Still, it showed their usual self-serving calculations, which was why they were saying this to Azadin.
Azadin declined the invitation. He wore a helmet to hide his wounds, and joining them meant drinking and revealing his face. The scars on it were too distinctive; he didn’t want to show it off.
“I’m a pilgrim, so I’ll pass.”
“Hey now, young man, don’t be so stiff.”
“Getting that rigid already? You’ll never finish your pilgrimage.”
“No, I don’t have a set schedule or destination. I’m doing it to receive revelations and accumulate merits.”
“Ah-ha. Must’ve stirred up trouble back home.”
“Did you mess with some noble’s daughter?”
Once they heard he was a pilgrim, they pegged him as a young troublemaker fleeing under the guise of pilgrimage.
“Come on, enough of that. Leave this boring pilgrim alone. Don’t expect any fun answers from him.”
Tarky tried to intervene, fearing Azadin or Midiam might snap, but the drunk merchants kept pressing him with questions.
Azadin removed his helmet. They were traveling together now, so he couldn’t keep it on forever while eating and drinking. Better to show it upfront. He had an eyepatch inside the helmet for this.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“It’s a wound. It keeps oozing.”
The eyepatch was indeed soaked with something pus-like. He’d smeared it with wax ester from krem goat wool to mimic infected discharge.
The merchants, unaware of the trick, just accepted it and asked.
“But can you see?”
“Through this slit. It’s narrow, but yes.”
Azadin made his excuse. No one bothered with the pus-soaked eyepatch or pried further.
“Here, have a drink!”
The merchants and adventurers pressed liquor on him.
“Drinking with a bad wound makes it worse.”
“You said it keeps oozing anyway? So what’s a little booze gonna hurt at this point?”
“Keek.”
Everyone was drunk and spoke freely.
“Hey, you gonna drink or not? We might need to rethink letting you tag along. You’ve got kids with you—don’t want the Salvation Knights taking them, right?”
“Are they your son and daughter? Or siblings? That girl was gorgeous.”
“Siblings.”
“Really? You don’t look alike. Different hair color too.”
“Cousins.”
“On pilgrimage with kids that young?”
“Yes. But we have other relatives we can rely on, so we plan to meet them and talk it over.”
“Hahaha. If you’re okay with it, how about sending them to our place as adopted kids?”
“……”
“Adopted” could mean literally raising them as family, or it could be a shameless proposal to groom pretty children into future lovers.
A proper adoption offer required courtesy to avoid misunderstandings, plus serious discussion of how they’d be raised and their future.
Even accounting for the booze, these merchants didn’t seem like good people.
“Come on, drink up anyway!”
The drunks insisted, shoving cups at Azadin.
“W-well, I feel bad refusing over and over.”
Azadin accepted the cup.
*********
After several rounds, the buzzed merchants gossiped lewdly.
“Hey, I heard there’s a hot girl at the place we’re heading?”
“Yeah. A good one at the lumber mill.”
“What? In some backwater dump?”
“She’s Herald Clan.”
“……!?”
“What? Herald Clan?”
“To be precise, the mill boss bought her as a slave because she’s Herald Clan.”
“A Herald Clan woman sold as a slave? That make sense? Those things are monsters.”
“You seen one?”
“Yeah, when I was a kid. Terrifying bastards. How’d they catch a woman like that?”
“Actually, it’s not the woman who’s Herald Clan—it’s her dad. A herald knocked her up while wandering, had the kid, and got caught by the parents.”
One duty of the Herald Clan was finding heirs or mates outside. Their clan had shipwrecked here on five galleons, and inbreeding would weaken them.
Marrying only within meant inevitable decline from incest, so like the Yae Gas divine folk, the Heralds had to mix blood with Whubris natives.
If those bastard children weren’t brought to their holy site, problems like this arose.
“Heh heh. Real Herald Clan?”
“Or just some slut who cheated with a deadbeat, popped out a kid, and they slapped ‘Herald Clan’ on her to sell as a slave?”
The emperor and the Eight Kingdoms’ kings had banned slavery.
From the rulers’ view, slaves hurt productivity. In the Eight Kingdoms, with no steady slave supply from wars, legalizing it would just breed heretics.
With Kurt divine folk and other dark powers eyeing humanity, no need to create rebels at home.
But to Whubris folk, Herald Clan were soulless abominations—like roadside rocks. Kicking a rock wasn’t assault, so enslaving Heralds wasn’t a crime.
That’s what “soulless” meant. Violence against them didn’t count as bad karma in the cycle of rebirth. All crimes—fraud, illegality, violence—were excused against them.
In other words, you could frame anyone as “Herald Clan” to enslave them.
“Anyway, they say she’s a real looker. And for just one bottle of booze, the mill boss’ll let you in.”
“What? For real? Any booze?”
“Heh heh. I want a slave like that.”
“Just buy the Herald Clan kid she had. Costs a bit, though.”
“But don’t Heralds barely have any blood left? Then what?”
“Who cares? Slave’s a slave.”
That’s when it happened.
-Crash!
A loud shatter rang out, and one of the adventurers who’d been gossiping moments ago tumbled across the table. Azadin stood before him, face flushed from drink.
“Ugh. Y-you bastard!”
“What?”
“What? You wanna go?”