Chapter 194. Quantum Bond (3)
Jiswa was one who truly believed in the doctrine of the Blue Sky Order, to him, Azadin was a chosen one, so even when Azadin said he had no intention of seizing the Order, in Jiswa’s eyes it looked like nothing but humility.
‘As expected of the chosen one, so humble indeed.’
So deeply moved, Jiswa was all the more eager to spread this gospel to everyone.
“Strike.”
As the Sky Lord, it was only natural that he could not tolerate Azadin’s existence, from the perspective of the Sky Lord, who had gained power by using Grimslawn’s body, the very existence of Azadin, who claimed to have been chosen directly by Grimslawn, was unbearably troublesome.
“…Well then.”
Azadin lightly tossed Grimslawn’s cudgel that he held in his hand, spinning round and round around him, the cudgel smashed into the spears thrust toward Azadin.
Spear shafts snapped and broke, Grimslawn’s cudgel reduced its power when striking people, but when striking objects, it showed no mercy.
“Ah!?”
“Gah?!”
Those holding spears, shocked by the jolt that traveled into their hands, dropped their weapons.
When entering the audience chamber they had already been stripped of clothes and weapons, forced to go in unarmed, never expecting this turn of events, while they were in confusion, Azadin strung his bow and picked up a broken spear shaft, placing it onto the bow.
Though lacking fletching or wings so it would not fly far, indoors it was sufficient, at this distance, if Azadin fired, piercing the Sky Lord was nothing at all.
‘But I cannot kill the Sky Lord here, would the King of Bruma have spared this man for no reason?’
The members of the Blue Sky Order were a latent threat, in order to deal with such a number effectively, the King of Bruma had chosen to recognize the Order.
If Azadin killed the Sky Lord here, the organization would collapse and scatter, so Azadin, with the spear shaft strung, gave a warning.
“Dismiss your soldiers at once, I do not wish to harm the believers, Sky Lord.”
“You, you wretch, Jiswa, you sent to Adirof, and this is what you…”
“That is not the case, Sky Lord, since the matter grows complicated, shall we dismiss the gathering and have a private conversation?”
Azadin smirked at the Sky Lord’s behavior.
Surely the Sky Lord had not always been this foolish, was it that power makes men stupid?
At the very least, the Sky Lord should have known that Jiswa was a man who pursued the doctrine purely, without regard for power.
‘Because he assumes Jiswa would behave like himself, he grew overly wary of me, and now this has happened, tch.’
Azadin fired the spear shaft at the Sky Lord who refused to listen.
“First, the left ear!”
-Thunk!
The spear shaft pierced through the foot, and immediately the Sky Lord’s scream rang out.
“L-Lord Sky!”
The shocked attendants tried to rush forward, but Grimslawn’s cudgel, dancing in the air, instantly smashed the jaw of the one who approached.
Seeing the cudgel, moving on its own and knocking people unconscious, the others faltered.
“Uhh…”
“Hear me, all who would walk the Way of Azure Heaven.”
Azadin shouted to the bewildered Blue Sky Order members.
“I have come here to deliver Grimslawn’s revelation, in addition to the first revelation bestowed upon the Sky Lord, I stand as the envoy of the god who seeks to raise him to a higher state, so those unworthy of beholding revelation shall die.”
“B-but you just wounded the Sky Lord yourself?!”
Meanwhile Azadin picked up another spear shaft and fired it with his bow.
“Right ear!”
“Graaah!”
“This wound is a sacred stigmata, the Sky Lord is wounded in order to gain revelation and become a greater being, do not doubt it.”
Azadin spoke brazenly, then picked up a third spear shaft.
“Gaaah! F-fine! I understand! All of you, withdraw!”
The Sky Lord, realizing that Azadin could kill him anytime but was deliberately sparing him, finally dismissed the soldiers.
“Jiswa, you too, step back.”
“Eh? Even me?”
“Yes, go, watch in case more soldiers gather, and report back to me.”
Azadin used the excuse of assigning him as a lookout to send Jiswa away as well.
“Kh… is this enough for you now?”
The Sky Lord realized something was strange once Azadin dismissed even Jiswa.
“Hmph, good, so you’re not entirely without wits, Sky Lord, fortunate you understood before being further hurt, next time I was wondering where to shoot if not your ears.”
“Uugh…”
“Ah, why don’t we talk face to face?”
Azadin stepped up onto the dais where the Sky Lord was, kicking aside the cover, he found a beautiful boy, bleeding from his ears, collapsed on the ground, pressing silk against them to stanch the flow, groaning.
“You really the Sky Lord? Or a stand-in?”
“T-the Sky Lord himself, this is due to Grimslawn’s influence…”
“You look younger than your own daughter, but indeed, you do carry Grimslawn’s aura.”
Azadin, though he had received Grimslawn’s oracle, had not ingested its bodily fluids, and so was not one of its Followers, yet now, this close, he could faintly feel Grimslawn’s power radiating from the Sky Lord.
“First, my apologies, though I tried to stop him, Jiswa truly believes in your religion, so he wouldn’t listen.”
“……”
“As you see, it’s true I’ve acquired Grimslawn’s body, but I’m of the Herald tribe, I have no interest in your Order, what I am concerned with is that traitors of the Herald tribe will join hands with the Empire and invade Bruma, like at Korasar, I intend to prevent that.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“Relieve the people of the refuge area, give them shelter from the rain and food, and have your Order support Bruma’s defense, in both spirit and resources.”
“If you do that, you won’t last long, once a siege begins, the food stockpiled in the Order will quickly run out… King of Bruma may have officially recognized our religion, but during war, even if supplies run short, it’s unlikely he’ll prioritize us.”
“Well, is that so? He only recognized your religion because of public opinion anyway, not because he was moved by your doctrine, but can he really throw you away like rags after you’ve devoted yourselves to Bruma’s defense? By then, public opinion will lean even more in your favor, won’t it?”
“You don’t understand, if food runs short, rampage happens.”
“Rampage, you say?”
Azadin was startled, of course what flashed through his mind was the rampage incident that had happened in Adirof Barony.
“Yes, even Blue Sky Order members who have taken untainted elixirs, when their food is insufficient and they feel their life threatened, they rampage and devour people.”
“…What did you feed them, to make people into such monsters?”
“It is better than suffering from malaria and fevers, you… you look like you’re from the North, strangely enough you’ve not suffered endemic disease, have you?”
“Well, I don’t get bitten by mosquitoes, and I make all the water into tea before drinking.”
“Is that possible…”
“Actually, I did get bitten a bit, but fortunately, I haven’t caught anything yet, anyway, don’t worry about the food situation, Bel Hoda has promised to provide support.”
“What? From Bel Hoda? Those are arrogant sugarcane plantation lords who think the world belongs to them!”
“Arrogant men who think the world is theirs…”
Azadin laughed at seeing the Sky Lord, who exalted himself with such tremendous pomp, say such things, unable to see the beam in his own eye while pointing at the speck in others.
Still, perhaps a leader of a new religion had to intoxicate himself so to maintain power.
“I’ve persuaded the Bel Hoda planters, so there’s no need to worry about that.”
“You sound quite confident, do you have any other demands?”
“Yes, the enemies I know are contacting Bruma’s Quartz Throne, to weaken the Light of King’s Virtue, before the Nagas launch their full invasion, I want to stop it, can you introduce someone well versed in Bruma’s throne and fortress structure?”
“Ha, as it happens, I do know someone.”
“Who?”
“Manza-Zadek.”
“Manza-Zadek, the King of Bruma?”
“Yes.”
“You can introduce me?”
“I can, but can a Herald tribe member dare to meet a king?”
“Well, he’s a man like any other who eats bread and drinks tea, why shouldn’t I meet him? Besides, I’ll be meeting him with the guarantee of the Blue Sky Order, wouldn’t it be better with Manza-Zadek’s permission? Far better than sneaking in to touch the throne, lawful investigation is safer.”
“……”
“I’d appreciate it if you could introduce me quickly, now then, what must I do to stabilize your Order?”
“What?”
“Well, I appeared suddenly and tarnished your prestige, I must make amends somehow, there must be something I can do to restore it, as long as it isn’t unreasonably excessive, I’ll do it.”
“You speak reasonably well, so you truly haven’t come to usurp my Order?”
“I told you, no, of course, I’d like to see you atone for the innocent deaths in Adirof, but devote yourself to saving Bruma’s people, for now, we need help to prevent the immediate catastrophe before our eyes.”
“You’re a strange man, you’re really doing this just to stop the Nagas from invading Bruma?”
“Come on, was that what you thought when you first founded the Blue Sky Order? Looking at how Jiswa believes in you and adores you, you must not have started with such motives.”
“What do you mean?”
“Losing your first intent, you see Jiswa’s actions as schemes to seize your power, don’t you? But Jiswa isn’t that sort.”
When Azadin insisted Jiswa’s motives were pure, the Sky Lord chuckled.
“Anyone can claim their motives are pure, even the man hiding a knife behind his back.”
“But if you cannot distinguish true goodwill from false, isn’t that foolish? You’re simply paranoid from being too harried by power struggles, in truth, Jiswa isn’t smart enough to dive into power struggles, his head is far too, well, ‘pure’ to be interested in power.”
Jiswa was too stupid to join intrigue, Azadin had merely phrased it indirectly.
“So, you claim you have no interest in power, you’re purely here to save Bruma?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no such thing as pure goodwill, especially not from the Herald tribe, I thought Heralds were monsters ravenous for blood and slaughter.”
“The Herald tribe has its own complicated internal troubles now.”
“Hm, I see, I’ll recommend you to Manza-Zadek, but before that, there is something you must do, to restore my authority, you promised to help me, didn’t you?”
“Fine, what is it? If it’s not too much, I’ll do it, I too prefer you to run your Order well.”
“It can be simple, or complicated, it depends how you take it.”
“…Why speak so roundabout?”
Azadin asked, and the Sky Lord drew a deep breath, perhaps he was bracing himself, knowing his words could provoke Azadin into becoming an enemy.
Resolved, the Sky Lord spoke.
“You will become my adopted son.”
“……”
Azadin was a clever man, but he needed a moment to grasp the Sky Lord’s words.
“What? Adopted son? Me? Yours?”
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