The Garuda, Mazdari, laughed because he thought the prophecy was ridiculous.
“After I become a wizard, I’m going to betray Asbestos?”
“Yes.”
“Is this…an order from Night Sky?”
Hongo shook its head.
“No, it is not. It is just a prophecy.”
Mazdari thought about Night Sky’s intentions. Only a fool would think it was normal for a god to send their proxy to tell an outsider a prophecy.
‘Does Night Sky think I am important?’
Mazdari thought he could somewhat understand. If he became a wizard with the materials collected and given by the king of Asbestos, Delmardin, Asbestos would gain power that couldn’t be underestimated.
Trolls were a strong-willed species. In the past, it had been difficult for them to properly raise children due to the lack of food. Now that they had established a country and laid their foundation, however, the population of Trolls had grown significantly.
Asbestos had always aimed to be the greatest country of the continent, and it was already the largest. On top of that, if they were able to obtain the gunpowder weapons that were soon to be made and the power of a wizard, they could really become a stronger country than Black Scale.
‘So Night Sky would be wary of the Binding God.’
But if that was the case, Night Sky could’ve made a more straightforward demand to Mazdari. For all his alchemy and magical knowledge, he could never know how Night Sky operated. Perhaps without Mazdari even noticing, Night Sky had already made it so that they could leave Mazdari to do as he pleased.
“Why doesn’t Night Sky force me to do so?”
Hongo tilted its head.
“Night Sky respects free will.”
“Free will?”
“The heart is allowed to think and act as one pleases without being forced by someone else. Although you cannot escape from this place, you would be able to go against the prophecy in another way.”
“Night Sky wouldn’t be so happy should that happen.”
“I don’t know about that. Night Sky does not let whether their prophecy ends up true dictate their mood,” Hongo said. “And I’ve completed my task of delivering the prophecy. Whether or not the prophecy is fulfilled, the choice is yours. However, it would be better to forget about this conversation given that the Binding God might hear your thoughts. If that happens, you won’t be able to betray the king even if you want to.”
With those parting words, Hongo made to bend its legs before vanishing the very next moment. From the other side of the window came the rustling of grass. Then the sound grew distant.
Mazdari looked out of the window.
‘Did it go away?’
Mazdari wondered if it had been a dream, but it wasn’t.
-It looks repulsive, don’t you think?
‘Not as much as you.’
Mazdari looked at his left hand. From afar, the hand looked black, but up close, it looked wicked. The only good thing was that the hand didn’t bring him much pain unlike what its appearance would suggest.
-I am also you. We don’t just simply share a body.
‘Then I’ll say it’s not as repulsive as me.’
-What? …Alright. It did look monstrous, but it also did leave us a gift.
‘A gift?’
The Rotten Hand criticized Mazdari at his question.
-Did you forget what it said? If what it said is true, the Binding God isn’t watching us at this moment, which would make this the golden opportunity to escape, wouldn’t it?
Mazdari was strangely unfazed by Rotten Hand’s argument.
-Wait, you…
‘I’ve changed my mind.’
The Rotten Hand made his disapproval known.
-After all the hate you harbor toward gods, you’re going to do as they wish? If you become a wizard, you would be dancing to the Binding God’s tune by not betraying the king, and Night Sky’s by doing so.
Mazdari nodded.
In fact, as soon as Mazdari heard Hongo bring up a prophecy, he had considered his only way out to be escaping from under the gods’ gaze.
‘That’s a trap.’
-A trap?
‘Is there any guarantee that I would be going against the gods’ will if I escape?’
The spirit of Demonic Magic knew of the greatness of the gods, so it had no choice but to agree.
-Well… that’s true.
‘Thinking along the line of gods’ will is the wrong way to go about this.’
-Then what?
‘Shouldn’t I screw over the man who locked me up and tortured the other alchemists to death?’
Rotten Hand laughed.
Mazdari went up to the door and yelled, “Guard! Lead me to Delmardin! Tell him I’m done thinking!”
***
Sashian was a quiet harbor village located in between Black Scale’s Orazen and Maganen. While it wasn’t much different from the other harbor villages in the north and the south, the village wasn’t occupied by mainly Lizardmen, but a combination of various species. Something that was noteworthy was that the plain was wide, and the soil was fertile. However, given the river originating from Sashian did go through other plains, it would be odd to call it a characteristic exclusive to Sashian.
“…Is how it’s known. But that’s not all.”
The one saying that was the Technology Minister, Rumf.
Hwee Ravina Muel replied, “You’re saying it’s a secret arsenal, right?”
As if he found the question difficult to respond, Rumf looked into the distance with the muscles around his eyes tightening. His abundant beard swayed in the breeze.
The road from Orazen to Sahian wasn’t well paved. This was because as much as Sashian had a small population, they also had little need for commerce. Moreover, since there was a well-established waterway between Orazen and Sashian, transportation by ship was very active.
The two of them were on a ship.
“I don’t think it’s simply a place to make weapons.”
“Then?”
“Um.”
“Should I make a guess?”
Before Rumf could reply, Ravina continued to say, “It’s a place where the knowledge of the non-believers is, right?”
“Hey, don’t say non-believers.”
“You also have great interest in the knowledge of non-believers and actively seek it out, so what’s with that reaction?”
“Night Sky might hear.”
“I don’t think they’ll mind.”
Rumf kept his mouth tightly shut.
Ravina wondered if this Dwarf man was too much of a straight arrow to discuss technology with, but she didn’t doubt his abilities. Ravina had given him only a brief description of the method to manufacture gunpowder, as well as the weapons that used gunpowder from the ancient times, and the Dwarf successfully produced prototypes based on that knowledge. However, because of the danger, they couldn’t put gunpowder into it to test it at the palace, but judging by the design alone, Ravina didn’t think there were any particular flaws to it.
Rumf looked at the end of the river and said, “We’re here.”
***
Meanwhile, The Humiliation of Pirates had also arrived at Sashian.
Theone Itimo got off the ship to oversee the process of docking at a small harbor as well as the unloading of the wares. Then she came back onto the ship annoyed.
Noting her change in mood, Vasen Lak Orazen asked, “What’s wrong?”
“They’re asking us to keep the ship here for a few more days because they have something else to load.”
“Something to load? Does it have to do with the palace?”
Theone nodded.
“I think so, but I don’t think it’s related to our work. I guess they’re looking for ships that will go south.”
“What do we have to carry?”
“They said they can’t tell us that yet.”
“Why don’t you just think of it as us taking a few days off?”
Theone furrowed her eyebrows.
“This will delay our schedule. There is actually another item to be traded in addition to the niter, but given the circumstances, we would have to sell it all here rather than going to a different harbor, where the price would be better.”
Vasen nodded and thought to himself, ‘It was all about money, afterall.’
But in his view, The Humiliation of Pirates had something else to do. He looked over at the pirates who were tied up. .
“Don’t we have to hand them over anyway?”
“Yes. But we could just leave that to Hwae-Sa…”
At that moment, Hwae-Sa strode towards them and suddenly declared, “First Officer, made decision.”
“About what?”
“Not to set foot on land.”
Puzzled, Vasen asked, “Didn’t you go off board at Bavrin? I’m sure I saw you unloading cargo.”
“I had forgot my determination.”
Theone nodded, expressionless.
Then she whispered to Vasen, “This happens sometimes.”
“Is that appropriate for a first officer?”
“What? Of course. We have a competent second officer on our ship.”
Vasen recalled the competent Halfling sailor. It seemed that the Halfling was the de facto first officer of the ship.
“Um…”
“Anyway, can I leave the pirates to you?”
“I don’t see an alternative.”
All pirates, including Godan, had their arms and legs tied closely together, so it would be easy enough for Vasen and his entourage to take them. In fact, Vasen would be able to escort them all on his own if he wanted to. Of course, he could have been accompanied by other soldiers, but his pride didn’t allow him to take more soldiers with him when he was only taking four pirates in.
On his way taking Godan and Godan’s subordinates to the government office, Vasen was assaulted by Godan’s incessant grumbling that it would only be right for Vasen to go easy on him because he had told them everything he knew. And Vasen, who was going to ignore Godan until they arrived at their destination, got annoyed by the end, so he half-heartedly replied that he would do so.
When they arrived at the government office, a Lizardman prefect had already heard the news and was waiting for them in front of the office.
“Oh, Your Highness. Did you have a smooth sail on your journey here?”
“Are you the prefect of Sashian? During our journey, pirates…”
“Oh, yes! I heard. You thugs. How dare you approach a royal of Black Scale…”
“I’ve guided them here, so I will go now.”
“Oh, you’ve come all this way, Your Highness. What kind of prefect would I be if I saw you off like this? I set a table after hearing you were coming. Please come on in.”
“…..”
Vasen was immediately able to tell what kind of person the prefect was.
At Orazen, Vasen was a prince who had been thrown out of the palace, but in rural areas, he was still treated like a king. Power was power after all. However, Vasen was aware that Kyle’s influence had reached Sashian. It would seem that the prefect hadn’t gotten the memo.
‘No. Would it rather be better to have a prefect like this? That would help deceive the other ministers.’
In that case, Vasen thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to play along with the prefect’s flattery.
“Then I guess I’ll just relieve my fatigue from the journey here.”
“That is a wonderful idea!”
“Oh, but the pirate leader over there is called Godan, and as you can see, he’s an Astacidea. He is a part of Yaboon’s Pirates, a rising pirate group from the southern sea. And he has important information…”
“Oh, yes yes. Leave it to me. Let’s go in first. You guys! Hurry up and put those damn pirates into prison!”
Vasen couldn’t trust the prefect’s attitude, but he didn’t even have the chance to look back because the prefect was pushing him inside.
If Vasen had paid a little more attention, he would have noticed that the Asticidea, Godan, had almost completely cut the rope with the rough part of his shell.
***
One hour later.
At the feast hosted by the prefect to welcome Vasen, a soldier came up to the prefect and whispered into his ears.
The prefect’s eyes widened, and the now drunk Vasen asked, “Oh, what’s the matter?”
“Oh, it’s uh…nothing much. It’s just a matter regarding the village, so I’ll take care of it.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. There is more delicious wine. Drink some more!”
“Wait. I must have drunk too much. I’m going to the outhouse.”
“Ah, of course.”
Vasen stumbled outside and waved his hands around before vaulting the fence. One of Vasen’s entourage came up to him. They were the one left outside to keep watch and inform Vasen of any movements in the area while he was drinking, and he had just signaled Vasen from the other side of the fence.
“What is it?”
“The pirates have escaped.”
“Oh, that damn incompetent prefect! I will punish him,”
.
“Fortunately, they haven’t gotten too far away.”
“Let’s go. Lead the way.”
“But you’re drunk…”
They suddenly heard a scream.
“It’s over there.”
It was from the village’s town square.
Vasen ran straight ahead. And there stood the pirate, Godan, and he was holding onto a Human woman with antlers.
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