Chapter 191 :

Chapter 191. Sugar Rush (7)

“But I never expected even the Herald Clan to be running a slave system.”

“It isn’t really a slave system. In fact, it’s closer to hostage-taking than slavery, but to them calling it slavery is poetic justice, or maybe a case of symmetry. Those who used to sneer at others’ freedom now find their own restricted in the same way, isn’t there a certain aesthetic to the story?”

“Aesthetic, huh.”

“And keeping them secured… will serve as a lesson to the new plantation owners.”

As the former plantation owners were kidnapped, their legal heirs ascended as the new masters.

They feared the tremendous combat abilities of the Herald Clan, but more than that, they dreaded the return of their fathers, the former plantation owners.

So the negotiations went smoothly. After all, when they could not stop even a single Azadin and their plantation master was kidnapped, they had lost any reason to defend slavery by saying, ‘we need to raise private soldiers and keep them, so we run slavery.’

The new plantation owners placed Randa Banema as the guildmaster and actively cooperated in establishing a new order in Bel Hoda.

“Then let us consider the petition resolved. And, Randa Banema, I have a request for you, as guildmaster of the Bel Hoda sugar business.”

“A request? What kind of request?”

“It’s simply that everyone on the plantations be inducted into the Blue Sky Order….”

At that moment, Jiswa, who had been listening, hurriedly began his missionary speech.

“Get out of here, would you? Learn when to stick your nose in and when not to, okay?”

Azadin pushed Jiswa aside and asked,

“The plantation owners may have changed, but they still have private soldiers, don’t they?”

“Of course they do. But all they did was shove store-bought weapons into the hands of ordinary farmers. They’re not proper soldiers. They’re good at catching runaway laborers or lynching them, but they’re not real warriors. Those adventurers, now they were real warriors.”

Randa Banema had felt painfully, firsthand, how much stronger the adventurers hired by other plantation owners were compared to ordinary soldiers.

And when she heard that Azadin had subdued those adventurers as if they were children… she could hardly believe her ears.

“Such soldiers are useless now, they’ll be disbanded. Ah, of course, a small vigilante force must be left. After all, it’s true that bandits and monsters roam about rampantly.”

“I’m not asking you to disband them. Quite the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

“Yes. Soon a massive Naga army will invade Bruma. Bel Hoda’s private soldiers need to be armed and trained.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“To train them, I’ll assign one Herald as an advisor to you.”

“How much training are we talking about?”

“Marching and carrying supplies should take no more than a day or two. And make sure to prepare food as well.”

“You really mean to prepare for war? The Naga Empire? Is that true?”

“It is true. So what will you do? Of course, even if you refuse, I’m not in a position to force your cooperation.”

“But you have their plantation owners captured, don’t you? If you threatened to release them, you could force it easily enough.”

“Friendship can’t be won through threats.”

“Oh please. After all the threatening you’ve done so far. Hah…. Fine then. If Bruma falls, Bel Hoda starves. If the Naga Empire truly invades, then Bel Hoda will devote all human and material resources to protecting and aiding Bruma.”

Randa Banema accepted Azadin’s request and extended her hand for a handshake.

“Thank you, Randa Banema.”

“No, thank you, Azadin. What you accomplished, finishing so quickly and making it look easy… no one but you could have done it.”

Though it looked easy because it was wrapped up swiftly, before he came, Randa Banema had been cornered to the brink, even seriously considering suicide. Time changes a person’s heart, but she remembered all too well just how desperate she had been when she filed her petition.

‘I’ve gained quite a reliable collaborator. Good thing I handled the petition.’

Just then, one of Randa Banema’s subordinates entered.

“A military advisor has come, sent from the Herald Clan.”

Azadin had asked, through the Emperor’s Voice, that someone capable of commanding and training Bel Hoda’s private soldiers be dispatched. It seemed that advisor had arrived.

“That was fast. No, faster than expected.”

Azadin decided to meet this military advisor at once.

***

“Astonishing.”

The advisor’s face was a familiar one. A beautiful woman with curly brown hair and green eyes looked straight at Azadin.

“So in such a short time I wondered what you’d done, and it turns out you brought down Bel Hoda?”

“Brought down sounds strange. Let’s say I made peace. But what brings you here, Zenith?”

“What do you mean, what brings me? This whole region is my jurisdiction.”

“Ah. So you were the Herald who rejected the petition?”

“That’s right. My duty is to serve at Lady Arael’s side. But who would have thought you’d bring all of Bel Hoda’s sugar plantations under one banner….”

The Herald Clan had long been interested in Bel Hoda’s sugar guild. But if they supported one plantation, the others would immediately notice and push them out.

Favors are written in water, grudges are carved in bone. Take one commission involving sugarcane plantations, and the opposing side multiplies into enemies—it becomes a headache.

Especially now, when the Herald Clan’s own civil war was raging, it was far too complicated to meddle in. Yet Azadin had resolved it all cleanly.

“You not only resolved the petition on my behalf, but even took my subordinates and secured the persons of the plantation owners. And after doing all that, you offer me the position of military advisor?”

“Yes. You refused the petition mission, but you won’t refuse this, will you? There’s plenty in it for you.”

It was the position of military advisor for wealthy Bel Hoda, enriched by the sugar trade. A seat people would pay bribes to seize was being offered for free. There was no reason to refuse.

“Of course I have no reason to refuse. For Lady Arael’s will, and for Bel Hoda itself….”

She said that, then cleared her throat.

“Truly a feat worthy of the Second Herald, no, astonishing, Azadin. I have to admit it.”

“That sounds as if you didn’t want to admit it until now.”

“Well, no matter that you were Lady Arael’s younger brother, the Eyeless Azadin was notorious, wasn’t he? And besides, I have confidence in my own ability, yet suddenly you’re made Second Herald. Isn’t that blatant favoritism? …Though numbers are only numbers, all the same, among the Aragasa tempers always run hot.”

“You said you have confidence in your ability, didn’t you? Come to think of it, Zion Aether was defeated by you….”

Azadin remembered how Zion Aether had made that excuse back in Coral Sahar.

“There’s no way. The claim that Zion Aether lost to me is just a rumor. It was an excuse he made up for his alibi. He was, after all, the ‘Moon’ of the generation before ours.”

The Four of Beauty of Nature. Among them, the one who bore the title of Moon was always considered the strongest and most outstanding.

‘If that’s the case, then Indim should be the most capable among the Beauty of Nature right now, but he hardly looks the part.’

Azadin clicked his tongue, recalling Indim, who constantly picked fights with him.

Zenith gave a warning about Zion Aether.

“The rumor that he lost to me was because we already had an understanding. He used that as an excuse while handing goods and people over to us. To be frank, his ability far surpasses mine. Be careful. That man has now turned to the elder council.”

“Is that so. Hm, I understand. If you can’t handle Zion Aether, then you’re beneath me, so you really shouldn’t feel any resentment about me being the Second Herald.”

“Ha ha, what admirable confidence.”

Zenith burst out laughing at Azadin’s words, but her eyes did not smile.

“There’s much to gain here, so I’ll endure. Very well, Second Herald Azadin. Are you heading for Bruma now?”

“Yes.”

“You may dislike Lady Arael, but if you stop the invasion of Bruma, you’ll be committing a sin of opposing the elder council’s undertaking. And yet you still intend to do it?”

“Of course. And you, don’t you dare obstruct Bel Hoda from sending reinforcements.”

“As if I would. It’s the elder council’s plan I’d be disrupting, after all. Besides, you’re not actually planning to wage war with these people, are you?”

“No. These private soldiers may be good enough to beat serfs with cudgels on the plantations, but against Nagas they’ll just die. What I need is for Bel Hoda to transport supplies to Bruma and act as engineers.”

“Understood. That much isn’t difficult.”

Zenith accepted the position of military advisor that Azadin handed over.

Just then, the docks suddenly erupted into commotion.

“Tr, trouble! Big trouble!”

As dockworkers shouted, bells installed on the docks and throughout the sugar plantations began to ring.

“War has begun in Bruma!”

“The Nagas have invaded Bruma! Ogres are invading from the north, and Nagas from the south….”

While Azadin had been in Bel Hoda, the Naga attack on Bruma had finally begun.

Hearing the chaos, Azadin bit his lower lip. He did not regret coming to Bel Hoda to fulfill the petition. But still, it would have been better had his timing matched….

“It seems we’ve suddenly grown busy. When can we depart?”

“I’ve only just arrived here.”

“You’re the Herald responsible for this region, you should know the circumstances well, shouldn’t you?”

“Even so, the Bel Hoda soldiers are just serfs, and I don’t yet know the state of our reserve supplies. I can’t be sure. We’ll depart once preparations are complete. But it will take at least a week.”

“Understood. Then I’ll head to Bruma first with my companions.”

***

Astonishingly, waiting at the village outskirts, with horses prepared, was Randa Banema, whom he had already bid farewell.

“This is a horse from the Arangi Mountains that old Salco owned. On it, I’ve loaded Bel Hoda specialties—Kashasha and various confections. They don’t spoil easily, so they should be quite useful to travelers.”

“Kashasha? That’s liquor.”

“A spirit brewed from sugarcane. Unlike rum, which is distilled from molasses left after extracting sugar, this one preserves the sweetness intact. A refined liquor. You must know how valuable liquor is on a battlefield?”

“Indeed.”

“And this… is the head of a halberd made of Azure Steel. ‘Executioner of Blue.’ They say it was crafted by the great dwarven blacksmith, Moreton.”

“Executioner of Blue? That’s an incredible treasure, isn’t it? Is it alright to give me something like this? I’ve already been paid in imperial gold, and I’ve agreed to help Bruma, haven’t I?”

Azadin was astonished as he received the Executioner of Blue. The Azure Steel longsword he currently wielded, Bluey, was already an impressive weapon, but the Executioner of Blue was overwhelming beyond comparison.

This cross-shaped weapon, both axe and wedge, seemed enchanted, glowing faintly on its own. The only pity was that it lacked a shaft, leaving only the head.

“Better it be in your hands than rotting away in our warehouse. And besides, you’re doing this to save Bruma, aren’t you? Helping you means helping Bruma. Hah… honestly, I did have the Herald Clan’s gold, but I never knew the Heralds were such fine people. The rumors were truly wrong.”

“Placing such trust so quickly isn’t necessarily wise….”

Azadin felt troubled, seeing Randa Banema’s goodwill toward the Herald Clan born from his service.

He wanted to acknowledge her kindness, but doing so made him worry for her future. The Herald Clan was anything but lenient.

“I’ll gather the soldiers as you wish, complete their organization as quickly as possible, and send them. I’ll also prepare provisions.”

“Thank you. Then, forgive me for departing so abruptly. There’s no time, we’ll meet again later.”

Azadin accepted Randa Banema’s gift, the Executioner of Blue, mounted the horse she had prepared, and set off toward Bruma.