Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Brass Knight 1
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Azadin's group pressed westward for the rest of the day. Upon reaching a high hill, Azadin had Midiam and Ismail cast Foresight Bird spells while he himself climbed a tree to watch their rear.
There was no sign of pursuers, so it seemed they'd successfully shaken off Judge Zekt.
“Phew. Good.”
Confirming no one was chasing them, Azadin let out a sigh of relief.
“The decoy doll seems to be working properly.”
“So what now?”
“For starters, let's track the naga who fled from the count's territory. They must have a good amount of New King’s Scripture copies.”
“You needed time to recover, and we wasted time tussling with that holy knight. They've had more than enough chance to escape by now.”
Ismail folded his fingers as he counted.
“You spent four days recovering. That's a huge lead. You still think it's possible?”
“I admit the odds are slim. But aside from chasing the naga, we have no other leads on the New King’s Scripture copies, right? We might pick up some other intel along the way, so let's follow their trail.”
Azadin decided to pursue the naga without much expectation.
“Ismail, try the bone wand.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah.”
“It won't be any use.”
There were plenty of ways to evade detection spells, and the naga who'd already escaped from Count Salasma's palace had surely used them.
Using it now would just waste the bone wand's mana without catching anything. Despite Ismail's protests, he activated the bone wand...
“Huh?”
It indicated a New King’s Scripture copy nearby.
“What's this?”
“Told you.”
Azadin flashed a triumphant smile.
“Misfortune doesn't just strike us alone.”
*********
Naga were a proud race. To humans, they were cruel and horrific monsters who raised humans like livestock and held blood festivals every day, but from the naga perspective, they took pride in being the first to establish a civilized empire on Whubris after ending the rule of the Nether.
Just as humans worshiped the Yaegras gods who ended naga domination, the naga revered their own empire that had first conquered Whubris before the alien gods known as the Nether.
The Ortesia Sisters were members of that naga race, and they'd become Count Kazel's subordinates, willing to make any sacrifice to restore the naga as rulers of the land. Their goal was to obtain copies of the New King’s Scripture, uncover the secrets of the Yaegas gods' power, and rebuild the Nagashura Empire.
But the hated Emperor's Herald killed Count Kazel, and two of the Ortesia Sisters who served him perished as well. The youngest, Shati, escaped the collapsing count's castle with a copy of the New King’s Scripture.
So why was she now in a damp basement?
“Where...?”
Shati stared puzzled at the iron bars before her. It was a shabby basement with sturdy, thick bars embedded in the earthen walls—escape-proof for human strength. Her head throbbed.
“What happened?”
Opening her mouth made bile rise in her throat.
“Drugs?”
Memories flooded back. Last night, she'd eaten the inn's meal and fallen asleep, only to wake up imprisoned.
“Those filthy scum...”
Shati realized she'd fallen victim to human thugs' trickery and ground her teeth. She usually avoided eating food from strangers, but the area was gripped by drought, and her frantic escape had left her no choice but to accept the meal. And now this.
“Damn warm-blooded monkeys! If I get out...”
She gathered all her strength to break the bars. But then—
*Bang!*
Chaos erupted.
“Argh! W-what is it? What the hell!”
“Damn it! M-monster!”
“Grrr!”
A commotion broke out in the basement. It seemed the naga agent who'd escaped with Shati was fighting the humans.
“Martin?!”
Shati called the agent's name and strained to shatter the bars.
By the time she finally broke free, the basement had fallen silent. Venturing out in confusion, she found a massive slaughterhouse, with human corpses hanging on the walls.
“Eek!”
The inn's operators had been ambushing their fellow humans, selling the women into slavery and butchering the men for meat. All the hanging bodies were male, most already processed into cuts of flesh.
In the center lay the spear-pierced corpse of the naga agent, surrounded by the innkeepers' bodies. They'd likely planned to sell Shati as a female slave and butcher the male agent for meat.
In his panic, the agent had revealed his true form, but the iron chains binding him prevented a proper fight. The unarmed naga versus the armed cannibals ended with both sides dead.
“Oh my god.”
Shati wrinkled her nose and scanned the room. She soon found her bag in a wall cabinet. Fortunately, the New King’s Scripture copy was safe inside.
“You heaven-cursed warm-blooded monkeys... Huh?”
But as she exited the basement, armed bandits swarmed the area.
“Huh?!”
“Wasn't that woman in the cell?”
“Damn!”
They aimed spears at her warily. These seemed to be accomplices of the thieves she'd just seen dead downstairs.
Realizing the man they'd thought human had transformed into a naga and fought, they'd guessed his female companion was one too and called for reinforcements. Unaware all the inn's villains were dead, Shati had emerged defenseless...
“Ugh...”
Shati panicked under the bandits' leering gazes.
There were too many. And the lust in their eyes was utterly repulsive.
‘My sisters had no choice but to give themselves to that Count Kazel to manipulate him. But that was for the greater cause of obtaining the New King’s Scripture copy. These filthy, ugly warm-blooded monkeys... daring to eye me without even that excuse?’
But their numbers were overwhelming, and even in unskilled hands, long weapons like spears and six-foot staffs were deadly.
“This girl's gorgeous. She really a monster too?”
“What else?”
“Too bad to kill her...”
“Hey! Don't underestimate naga. We had his arms bound, and he still spat venom from his mouth and killed a guy.”
Having fought another naga already, they encircled Shati without dropping their guard. Then their leader addressed her.
“Hey, surrender, naga girl.”
“What?”
“Boss, what're you thinking?”
“The lord of Rantaric will pay top coin for her. Naga girl, wouldn't that give you a better shot at escaping than ending up as kebab here?”
“......”
“What do you say? Surrender, and I'll let you wear this.”
The bandit leader extended iron-reinforced wooden stocks for neck and one wrist, like a single plank restraint.
“You want me to put it on myself?”
“Yeah. Once it's on, the lock snaps shut automatically. Nice and easy.”
“......”
Shati sighed and clutched her bag. It bore protective spells to shield the New King’s Scripture copy from tracking magic.
In normal circumstances, she'd never disable those spells to attract scavengers after the scripture. But now, drawing in anyone to fight these bandits seemed wise.
‘I’ll lure in hunters after the New King’s Scripture to clash with these thieves. The drug's still in my system. Better to surrender and bide my time than fight and die.’
Shati disabled the protective spells on her bag and handed it over.
“Fine. I'll wear the stocks.”
The bandits relaxed only after she secured them herself.
“Wow, boss knows best. Brilliant!”
“No. Don't celebrate yet. Her compliance makes me think this naga's got something up her sleeve.”
“What about the naga corpse?”
“Hmm, it's hideous. Stuff it?”
“No one would believe we caught a naga without proof... but I wanna brag.”
“No, use it for meat.”
“Huh?”
The bandits were stunned, and so was Shati.
“You primitive warm-blooded monkeys. What did you say? You plan to eat Martin?”
“Yeah.”
The bandits hesitated, asking each other.
“Think it's edible?”
“Naga eat humans. Monsters.”
“We've sold human meat before. What's a naga now...”
“Ah, it's not eating it—could be poisonous.”
“Snake venom's fine if you boil it. We do that with vipers all the time.”
These cannibal thieves who butchered people for meat were now eyeing naga flesh too. To Shati, it was an outrageous farce she could hardly endure.
A descendant of the glorious Nagashura Empire, eaten by such warm-blooded monkeys!
“Ugh. You filthy warm-blooded monkeys!”
Shati seethed at the sight.
“Behave, missy. We only sacrificed your friend... because of you. We grabbed you thinking pretty girl means good sale, but who knew you were naga. We've taken a hit too.”
The leader gestured to his men.
“Prepare the iron-barred cart. Gotta sell these slaves quick.”
*********
Shati arrived at the slave warehouse still in her stocks.
Women were imprisoned inside, ankles shackled and chained together—none wore neck stocks like her.
“Damn, they haven't touched their gruel. Told you to eat when fed. Skinny slaves fetch less.”
The bandits clicked their tongues at the untouched bowls. But it wasn't ordinary gruel.
“Feeding humans to humans? You're insane. You scum!”
“You're naga, aren't you? You eat humans.”
“I'll say this upfront: that's an old tradition. Young naga these days don't care for human meat. To us, you're like disgusting junk food!”
“Hahahaha.”
The bandits burst into laughter at Shati's outburst.