Chapter 202. The Traitor of the Clan (4)
When he came out of the audience chamber, his companions were waiting.
Jiswa, the Taoist of the Blue Sky Order, was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes.
“Glory, more glory still, Azadin. The Sky Lord too must be rejoicing.”
Was it because he had felt the profound favor of the Golden King, Manza-Zadek? Jiswa praised and praised again without letting his lips rest, speaking endlessly of how great a hero Azadin was, and how glorious a position had been promised to him.
“The Golden King, Manza-Zadek, is quite the pig, isn’t he?”
Midiam was shocked by Manza-Zadek’s outrageous appearance. In contrast, Scott was deeply moved.
“How sensual!”
“…What?”
Sensual? A word that should never have appeared suddenly came out.
“Did you see that dense flesh, so thick you can’t see any abs at all? It’s ideal.”
From the perspective of orcs, who gained muscle just by breathing, Manza-Zadek’s body, overflowing with fat, was truly the ideal physique they dreamed of.
Scott stroked his own firm abdomen with regret.
“Hah, if only I could match even half the Golden King. Look at this ugly body of mine. Compared to that, Manza-Zadek truly is the Golden King. I can’t help but fall for him.”
“……”
The aesthetics of orcs are very different from humans. That much became clear again.
“Anyway, what he is offering is truly extraordinary. If the reward is of that magnitude, the clan might be preserved. To fight under the pardon of King Bruma—whether we win or lose… we won’t be annihilated, will we? And afterwards, all power would fall into your hands.”
Ishmael said this to tease Azadin, knowing he was not pleased with the rewards. Yet even as he said it, he realized the conditions weren’t so bad.
“It’ll only matter if we win. From now on, they won’t be careless. And if my master is commanding, then he will know me better than anyone.”
It was then, as Azadin spoke, that the raven of prophecy began to cry again. It was the voice of the blood mage Joan.
“A disaster, Golden Lion! A tremendous figure has attacked the prison!”
“A tremendous figure?”
“Kazas! It is Kazas!”
“……”
Azadin’s master, Elder Kazas, had personally attacked the prison.
Until now, Kazas had been said to be directing the offensive, yet the fact that he himself had moved to the front meant only one thing.
‘He is calling for me.’
***
On a moonless night, though the wind and rain had eased for a moment, the air was heavy and damp, like water itself.
And yet it held a humid heat that made sweat refuse to evaporate, a stifling night air now tainted with the stench of blood.
By the time Azadin’s group reached the prison, a festival of blood was already underway. Haldoon’s gang, freed from the cells, along with Elder Kazas and Zion Aether, had piled up heaps of corpses.
Many mages, Bruma’s soldiers, had already fallen dead, and even the war elephants bore blood-red runes carved into their heads, enslaved to Kazas’s control.
Kazas had created that scene, yet he had not left. He was waiting for someone.
“Golden Lion.”
The soldiers had driven Kazas and the Herald Clan back in front of the prison buildings, but now they were stuck, unable to move.
To step closer meant certain death.
No matter how many troops were thrown in, it was impossible to subdue the Herald Clan.
“Let me handle this.”
Azadin dismissed the soldiers and stepped forward himself to stand before Kazas.
“So you have finally come, Azadin.”
“Master.”
Azadin looked upon his teacher.
–Kuururung.
The sky, calm only a moment ago, roared again as thunder rolled in from the sea, wind and rain sweeping over them.
***
In his powerless childhood, Azadin was despised and scorned by all in the clan.
Even his own sister by blood had wounded him, and when Aldis, who alone cared for him, was too busy with missions to look after him, the one who readily took him in was none other than Kazas.
“You help me with my research, and I will give you the power to become a herald. We give and take from each other, nothing to feel burdened about.”
Kazas would draw a line like that and speak so.
But in the society of the Herald Clan, the Aragasa, one could not survive without strength. Within that world, Kazas had given Azadin the power to live.
That grace was so great that it could not be compared with anything else.
“So, Azadin, it turns out you are the traitor.”
Kazas faced Azadin, bringing with him the Herald Clan. The damp air pressed down, choking.
“Master.”
“Do you remember? I once told you, you and I, we gave and took what we had to each other. So if this is your will, I shall want nothing from you. I have neither received nor given you any special favor.”
“……”
Long ago, when Kazas had taught Azadin the Commentary of Kazas, he had spoken that way. At the time, those words had made Azadin glad.
Anyone could say, “Don’t think about repaying me.” But when someone who truly had granted a debt of gratitude said it, the weight was as heavy as a thousand gold pieces.
Now, meeting again in this place, Kazas once more drew a line. But this time, it no longer carried the same meaning.
“I have come to deal with the traitor of the clan. Azadin, not as master and disciple, but as yourself alone, answer me. Why did you betray the clan?”
“Was it not the elder council that betrayed the clan in the first place? The curse of service was laid upon us not by the emperor, but by the council…”
“Yet here stands the entire clan. Only you oppose it. And the traitor is the council? Ah, but you are not alone, are you?”
Kazas turned his gaze toward Midiam and Ishmael, standing at Azadin’s side.
“They are there for profit, are they not? To join hands with the Nagas, to wield the sorcery of the nether, to kill the people of Hubris, to seize what they possess.”
“Yes, indeed.”
“I cannot allow it.”
“So you would punish the entire clan? Who gave you that right?”
“Then by whose authority is the clan harming the people of Hubris? At the very least, I am acting upon the mission of the emperor’s herald, upon my conscience, and upon my aesthetics.”
“Hah.”
Kazas looked at Azadin, who stood against him without yielding a single word, and gave a bitter smile.
“Aldis made a foolish choice.”
Did he mean appointing Azadin as the Second Herald?
Or did he mean raising Azadin while passing down his own aesthetics and dreams to him?
“Does Aldis know this?”
“That she took the side of the Nagas, and that the people of Hubris would be sacrificed? Of course she knows. Aldis is no fool. To say she did not understand the result of her choice would be a lie.”
“Why? The Aldis I knew was not someone who would make such a choice.”
“Azadin, you know only one side of Aldis and not the other. Aldis is the daughter of Hatir.”
“I knew that much.”
Though none had spoken of it, it was a fact the whole clan knew—that Aldis was the daughter of the chieftain.
“She is a woman of great affection. For that reason, she has no choice but to put kin and clan first. The clan has lived under the oppression of Hubris for long years. When her revered father requests something of her, how could she refuse?”
Aldis would never outright oppose the path chosen by the clan. She only sought to reduce unnecessary blood within it, while still yielding to the greater current.
“Then why do you listen to Hatir’s words?”
“Because I made a promise.”
“A promise?”
“Yes. I promised Harconia that I would protect her son. Long ago…”
The moment Kazas spoke Harconia’s name, there was a tone in his voice, an unconcealed longing, and Azadin understood instantly.
What bound Kazas, who was not even Aragasa, to the Herald Clan was that ancient promise.
For the sake of a vow to a woman he loved, who was not his, but belonged to the emperor, he had upheld a mission that no one had forced upon him, for hundreds of years.
“Aldis as well, Azadin. I wish for your happiness, but if it goes against Hatir’s will, then I must cast you aside. Must it be so? Must you truly go that far?”
“……”
Elder Kazas pitied Azadin.
Though he spoke otherwise, claiming it was not grace but merely mutual benefit, clearly he pitied Azadin.
But Hatir could not be compared.
The same for Aldis.
Though they pitied and sympathized with Azadin, if he stood against Hatir, their most precious being, they would cut him off.
‘So that’s it. I… am a fool. To them, it was cheap pity.’
The existence of Kazas and Aldis had been a sanctuary of the soul to Azadin.
But what they had given him was nothing more than cheap pity, something light enough to be handed to anyone, like a morning greeting.
If it had been anyone else in Azadin’s place, they too would have received that same kindness.
And yet, Azadin had taken that small kindness as a sanctuary of the soul, and lived by it.
Because he had never known love.
So even a sliver of pity, he had taken as love, and carried it preciously in his heart.
And now, by betraying the clan, even that sanctuary would be lost.
Must it truly come to that?
Are you prepared for it?
That was what Kazas was asking.
***
“Ha… hahaha.”
Suddenly, laughter burst out.
‘It’s fortunate I have no eyes. If I shed tears now, it would be pathetic. Damn it. My strength is leaving me. Maybe I should just give up.’
The thought flashed through his mind.
If he gave up here, if Azadin, bearer of the title Golden Lion, returned to the side of the clan, then Bruma would fall in an instant.
Those who resisted would be slaughtered, the royal guard purged, but if the throne were seized swiftly, perhaps, perhaps that would be the way to spill less blood, the way to settle this catastrophe.
But.
He loved the stars.
And he loved the tale of the archangel of the Trinity, who descended from the world of stars to protect mankind, and of the Knights of Salvation who fought at their side.
Even if he himself had never been loved…
The things he loved had all been true.
So, even if it meant being cast out by the clan, left alone, he could not deny what was true.
Azadin drew the Azure Steel longsword.
“So, that is your answer.”
Kazas, seeing Azadin’s answer, too laid his hand upon his hilt.
He did not ask Azadin to answer with words. If he opened his mouth now, surely a trembling voice would come out, showing a pitiful sight.
Azadin silently raised his blade.
But at that very moment—
Lightning struck the palace of Bruma.
“!?”
And the air began to change. Rain clouds rolled in from the sea, and above those clouds a vast shadow loomed, gazing down upon the world.
The light of the king’s virtue weakened sharply, and the boundary between this world and the present realm began to collapse.
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