"Are you planning to go somewhere else? Or will you be staying in Salasma? If you are staying in Salasma, we have a vacant room in our house. How about staying there? There are too many refugees right now, and all the inns have been requisitioned by the Salvation Knight Order. You won't be able to find proper lodging anywhere."
"Huh?"
"Of course, I will offer you gold coins. But how could five gold coins possibly be enough to repay the kindness of saving our lives? Please, allow me to host my benefactor in our mansion and give me a chance to repay even a fraction of my gratitude."
"...."
In truth, five imperial gold coins were more than enough compensation, far exceeding mere repayment for a life-saving deed. However, the baroness seemed genuinely grateful to Azadin and was eager to show her appreciation in any way possible.
"And we have hired the children you sent us as our servants. Shouldn't you check on their situation as well?"
"Hmm, well then, I'll accept your offer without hesitation."
Azadin was curious about the Count of Salasma and also intrigued by the true identity of this baroness, so he decided to stay at her house.
***
"I was going to, but I'm so sleepy."
The next morning, Azadin was rolling around in bed. After taking a bath and lying down, fatigue overwhelmed him. He had been traveling continuously along the road, and that alone had built up considerable exhaustion.
On top of that, he had been fighting life-or-death battles almost every other day. He had pushed himself too hard.
'I obtained five unused gold coins not included in the contract and three copies of the Book of the Divine King. With this much, I can proudly say I contributed significantly, no matter where I go.'
Midiam kept teasing him because of the Curse of Service, but Azadin had no intention of dying from that curse.
Perhaps because of that, he let himself relax a little and rested in the lodgings provided by the Baroness Nord.
"What are you doing?"
Midiam knocked on Azadin's door.
"Resting."
"Is that so? We're planning to revisit the Wererat den. We want to check if the Salvation Knight Order is handling the aftermath properly and make sure we didn't miss anything."
"Impressive. I should go too."
He said that, but his body refused to move. Muscle pain tormented him all over.
"Judging by your face, you look completely exhausted. We'll handle it ourselves."
"Be careful."
"Don't worry."
***
Midiam and Ishmael surveyed the surroundings near the Wererat den. The Salvation Knight Order were cleaning up the incident. But their version of cleanup mostly involved dragging out bodies and burning the corpses of the Wererats.
The rats, which had grown plump from feeding on human flesh, were being hunted down thoroughly by the refugees.
"The Salvation Knight Order is dealing with the situation."
"Well, it's their own disgrace, so of course, they want to cover it up."
"The Salvation Knight Order is a rather lax organization."
Due to the nature of the Hubris people, who place great importance on the afterlife, most of them willingly donate when asked, whether they are good or evil, believing it will help accumulate merit. Acts of charity and donation were ingrained in their culture.
During times of famine like now, people tended to be less generous, but despite that, a significant amount of donations and alms still flowed into the Salvation Knight Order.
The problem was that the Salvation Knight Order was a highly mismanaged organization. Even in Salasma alone, three separate branches operated independently.
The Academy of Wisdom, the Order of Mercy, and the Knights of Courage.
With these three groups forming their own factions, it was no wonder that an entire facility became a Wererat den, or that a Holy Knight fell into corruption and became an apostle of Mezeri without them realizing it.
"…This is impressive."
Midiam was amazed as she watched the Salvation Knight Order drag out the Wererat corpses and burn them. The sheer number was staggering.
"Azadin took care of all that by himself? The Salvation Knight Order are just pulling out bodies and burning them?"
"Yes. But of course, they're claiming they were the ones who exterminated them."
"They're just spitting in their own faces. They let their own facility become a breeding ground for Wererats, who started openly kidnapping and killing people while searching for copies of the Book of the Divine King, and they didn't even notice."
Midiam muttered that as she surveyed the surroundings.
"There are a lot of unsettling gazes around us."
The Followers of Mezeri had been wiped out, but the Kurt Divine Clan was not composed of them alone. More Kurt cultists were surely lurking within the city.
"Young Lady."
"Let's head back. There's no point in staying here any longer."
***
On the hill, at the mansion of the Baroness Nord, dispatched servants and chefs were bustling in and out. The normally frugal baroness seemed to have gone to great lengths to entertain her guests, summoning servants, maids, and cooks to clean the mansion and prepare meals.
"This is serious. Hmm, oh, could it be that she has fallen for Azadin?"
"That's quite an exaggeration. She already has a grown child, doesn't she?"
"But she doesn't look a day over twenty."
"It must be the blessing of the Spider Queen. She's likely a cultist of the Kurt Divine Clan. Honestly, we should have rejected her proposal. We should be putting a knife to her throat, torturing her until she spills everything."
"That would be impossible. After all, that baroness is the lover of Count Kazel, isn't she? If we lay a hand on her recklessly, there'll be serious consequences. Ishmael, do you always vent your frustrations about the world with such outrageous statements?"
Midiam, either unaware or indifferent to the fact that she was the cause of Ishmael's frustrations, made her remark as she stepped back into the mansion.
At the entrance, she happened to run into Tarkiev. He had removed his armor and was dressed in regular clothes, making him look unmistakably like the son of a noble family.
"Ah, Tarkiev."
"Even kids like you talk to me so casually? The Herald Clan values seniority, you know."
"Which is exactly why I'm speaking casually. Status is also extremely important."
"Ugh."
Having never been looked down on for his status except by someone like Kozel, Tarkiev clicked his tongue at Midiam's brazen remark.
"Where is your mother?"
"She went to the castle to meet my father."
"What? Why?"
"She was kidnapped and then released, so she's reporting the situation. The servants are managing the mansion, so if you want to eat anything, just tell them."
"Oh, I see. By the way, do you think your parents have a good relationship?"
"That's not for me to say."
"Because you're an illegitimate child?"
"No, I… never mind. Forget it."
Tarkiev shook his head, then suddenly looked at Midiam.
"By the way, I heard a rumor that there was a copy of the Book of the Divine King in the Wererat den. Is that true?"
"Where did you hear that?"
"From my mother."
"What?"
"They say that when the leader of the Wererats was defeated, the copy of the Book of the Divine King recognized Azadin and approached him on its own."
"Hmm, a copy of the Book of the Divine King, huh?"
"A, a copy of the Book of the Divine King… If I had that, I could become the head of the family…"
Tarkiev's eyes were red with excitement upon hearing the rumor that Azadin had obtained a copy of the Book of the Divine King.
"You'd better give up. It may be called a copy of the Book of the Divine King, but it's not complete. It's probably in scattered fragments. Do you really think the Count would acknowledge you as the head of the family over just a single page?"
"But still!"
"Besides, our Aragasa also needs a copy of the Book of the Divine King. No matter what you offer, we can't hand it over to you."
***
Azadin was checking the escape routes in the mansion. Although Baroness Nord had shown him kindness, that didn't mean this place was safe.
"It's inconvenient without the Emperor's Voice."
Baroness Nord clearly harbored goodwill toward Azadin. However, aside from that, it was undeniable that she was a follower of the Kurt Divine Clan and possessed artifacts related to the Spider Queen Arthra. He couldn't afford to let his guard down.
At that moment, a bird flew in.
[Azadin of the Herald Clan.]
"Emperor's Voice?"
Azadin turned toward the sound of the bird's call. There, perched, was a crow with a giant eyeball embedded in its stomach.
[Azadin….]
"Ugh!"
Azadin, startled, pulled out his dagger, ready to throw it and subdue the creature if necessary. A grotesque bird like that could never be the Emperor's Voice.
[Calm yourself. I am the Voice of Arael.]
"…What?"
Azadin was shocked to hear those words. He had heard countless times that Arael was a genius. But did that mean she had now created an artificial spirit similar to the Emperor's Voice?
[I have located your position and will send people soon. Azadin, if you swear loyalty to Arael, you will rise to a position second only to one, standing above all others.]
"Are you out of your mind?"
Azadin scoffed. The fact that Arael was trying to recruit him was surprising enough, but the words she used were outright laughable.
Second only to one, standing above all others.
Was she trying to become a new empress? Did she intend to overthrow the Divine Kings of the Yaegas and seize their thrones, subjugating the people of Hubris through sheer force?
If she wanted to accomplish that, she would have to slaughter the people of Hubris like insects.
The Herald Clan was already despised. Even when the emperor was alive and at the peak of his power, they never dared to dream of seizing control.
If they had failed back when the emperor died and the Eight Kingdoms fell into chaos, how did Arael think she could succeed now?
"Is she insane? She hasn't even unified the clan, and on top of that, she was dismissed from her position."
[Dismissed? There is already a way to circumvent the Curse of Service.]
That made sense. If she hadn't figured that out, there wouldn't have been so many Heralds who sided with her and rebelled.
'If this were just bluster… the results in front of me are too convincing.'
The artificial spirit, imitating the Emperor's Voice, was completed to an astonishing degree. The problem was…
'I can sense something vile.'
This artificial spirit reeked of black mana. There was no doubt she had dabbled in black magic.
[The Herald Clan will not save you, even if you offer imperial gold or the copies of the Book of the Divine King. They will try to kill you through the Curse of Service. Seek salvation from Arael.]
As the artificial spirit spoke, it curled its body inward. Then, the eyeball that had been on its stomach began sprouting all over its body.
—Boom!
With a loud explosion, it burst into chunks of flesh, defiling Baroness Nord's garden with blood, flesh, and scattered eyeballs.
"Wh-what happened?"
A maid approached with a startled expression.
"Nothing, just a cat."
Azadin replied casually and stepped away from the garden.
***
After Azadin's unsettling encounter with the Voice of Arael, Midiam, Ishmael, and Tarkiev returned.
"You're up."
"I have muscle pain and exhaustion, but I can't just sleep forever."
Even if he wanted to, it was impossible to sleep any longer. Azadin turned to Tarkiev and asked,
"So, how was the atmosphere at the Count's castle?"
"Well… I was denied entry."
"Hmm? You may be an illegitimate child, but you're still a knight, aren't you? Even then?"
"Yes."
"What about your mother?"
"The guards at the entrance told me she had already returned to the mansion."
"Hmm."
Azadin listened to the response with mixed feelings.