Before entering the fog-covered area, Azadin gave Scott a word of caution.
"When we go inside, there will be those from the Naga Empire. When we engage in battle, I need to be certain that you won't betray us."
"I don't betray my employers."
"The Naga Empire hired you, yet you surrendered to me, didn't you?"
"It wasn't the empire that hired me, just some Nagas who were there at the time. If you consider surrendering to be betrayal, isn't that applying the term too broadly? So, what do you want from me?"
"Well…"
Azadin found himself in a dilemma. What he truly wanted was for Scott to swear an oath that "I am a half-orc."
But thinking about it, that act itself was a way for Orcs to mock and belittle humans. Asking for it would be like spitting into the air and letting it land on his own face.
Besides, would that truly prevent betrayal? It seemed utterly pointless.
"No, never mind. I'll just trust you."
"You're quite a reckless fellow. Shouldn't you be more worried about that Naga woman instead? She's probably thinking of escaping at any moment."
"Shati? Well, there's no real way to persuade her not to run."
She was a Naga. Telling her to abandon loyalty to the Naga Empire wouldn't magically make it disappear.
"If I wanted to make sure she couldn't run or betray us, I'd have to kill her. But I don't want to make such an easy choice just yet."
"…An easy choice, huh."
Scott, the Orc, seemed deeply moved by Azadin's words.
***
"I shall lead the way, then."
Brock stepped forward, pushing through the mist.
"So, Sir Brock. What kind of person is your wife?"
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"I'm asking because I might shoot her with an arrow the moment I see her, not because I'm curious about your married life. What does she look like?"
"She's a Bruma woman with dark skin and black hair, a young woman."
"Hmm. Understood."
Azadin nodded at his response.
To move safely through the fog, he first sent Ismail ahead as a scout and placed Midiam at the rear. There was no one else more reliable for scouting and rear-guard duty than the two, who belonged to the Herald Clan.
'Since they can use scouting magic.'
At that moment, Ismail blew his whistle from the front.
"Everyone, halt."
"What is it?"
"There's a spider web."
"Ah."
Everyone understood immediately. It was common for noblewomen to become followers of Arthra. The Spider Queen Arthra of the Kurt Divine Clan granted her female followers youth, vitality, and beauty.
Many women in court fell for Arthra's temptation in pursuit of power and eternal beauty. Even Baroness Nord, the former concubine of Count Salasma, had been a follower of Arthra, had she not?
"For a web of this size… the spider must be enormous."
Azadin clicked his tongue as he spotted a corpse entangled in the web. The silk had been woven between a giant wooden pillar, which served as a road marker, and a nearby building, forming a massive snare. Wrapped tightly in the webbing was the corpse of a dog.
It was a Bullmastiff, a breed nearly as large as a small calf, its entire muscular body reduced to nothing but an empty husk, its fluids completely drained.
"There are footprints here. Judging by their size… the spider was bigger than a bull."
Ismail showed Azadin the traces left by the creature.
"Alright. The fog is too thick, so cancel the scouting formation. Close ranks."
Azadin altered their formation.
"Scott!"
"What?"
"You need to get out of your wheelchair."
"What? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Your wheelchair will be useful for fighting the spider."
Azadin helped Scott out of his wheelchair, then gathered wood from a nearby building to craft sharp wooden stakes. He made four wooden spears and connected them together to form a fence-like structure.
He then mounted this barricade onto the wheelchair, allowing it to be moved using its wheels. It was too large and heavy for a person to carry, but on the wheelchair, it was at least somewhat mobile.
It would serve as an effective tool for blocking cavalry or the advance of large monsters. Additionally, they tied goats to leather straps so that as the goats moved, they would drag the wooden stakes along with them.
"The rest of the knights will maintain formation behind the barricade, while our archers will take position further behind."
Azadin set them up in battle formation from the start and advanced forward. Scott, now forced to walk, grumbled as he trudged along.
"Ugh, it feels like my legs are swelling with muscle with every step… I use a wheelchair because I hate muscle gain, and you're making me do this?"
While most humans worried about muscle loss, Scott, the Orc, worried about muscle gain. Sir Brock, standing at the front with his shield, sighed.
"So… you're telling me that my wife has turned into a spider?"
"Not necessarily your wife. It could be your lover or concubine."
"..."
"Sir Brock, do you have a concubine?"
Guillaumevalt asked Brock.
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but no, I don't have a concubine… I do have a lover."
"That's quite the shameful confession. While becoming a cultist is indeed a sin, do you understand how the flames of jealousy can corrode a person's soul? Corruption seeped into her through the cracks in her heart. You bear responsibility for this corruption as well."
Brand reproached Brock with harsh criticism.
"Well, I mean, I get it. Doesn't everyone have lovers?"
Guillaumevalt defended Brock. He wanted to win over a vassal like Brock, who controlled a strategically vital territory.
"What nonsense are you spouting? The King's Church preaches monogamy. When people give in to their lust and produce unnecessary children, it leads to inheritance disputes, wars, and chaos, and the common folk suffer because of it."
"Well, that may be true, but…"
The King's Church did advocate monogamy, but few nobles actually followed that rule. It wasn't considered a major transgression.
However, Brand was fiercely condemning the knights based on his principles of honor and righteousness.
'Brand never used to talk back to his superiors like this. He's changed.'
Even Brock, taken aback by Brand's fury, felt compelled to apologize.
"Sir Brand, I apologize. I have no excuse. But, well… even heroes take three or four wives…"
"So you had three or four wives before becoming a hero? What an absurd excuse. So, what will you do now? Will you kill your cultist wife and pretend this never happened? Or…"
"If possible, I'd like to bring her back… but that's probably impossible, isn't it?"
"No one's ever heard of a spider bigger than a bull turning back into a human."
As far as Azadin knew, there was no way to save someone who had undergone such extreme mutation. If it were possible, it would be a miracle, and even the Divine Kings who had ascended the throne of the Eight Kingdoms had to pay an enormous price for miracles.
"In that case, I will kill her and take my own life as well."
Hearing this, Shati grumbled.
"Why are you all deciding life and death on your own? That woman might be happy after turning into a spider-human, you know?"
"..."
Shati, being a Naga and a servant of the Kurt Divine Clan, might think that way, but it was an idea difficult for humans to accept.
"More importantly, Shati, can we talk for a moment?"
Azadin called Shati aside and asked,
"Where is the Nagas' base?"
"I can't tell you that."
"Even though we've come all this way?"
"I was just captured because I lacked the strength, not because I betrayed my kin."
"In this situation, I don't think finding the base counts as betraying them. Don't you think something might have happened to the Nagas, too?"
"What are you talking about? Do you think we haven't fought off Arthra's followers before?"
Shati was confident that the followers of Arthra weren't a real threat.
"Can't you tell just by looking? There are too few human victims."
"So what?"
"You're a fool. Do you think humans are so loyal to you Nagas that they just stood there in the fog instead of fleeing? This is proof that things aren't going the way the Nagas intended."
"..."
"Fine, if you won't tell me, then whatever. The base is disguised as a brothel or a merchant firm, isn't it?"
"Ugh, y-you, don't just assume things!"
Shati protested, but inwardly, she was shocked.
'How does he know that? This bastard… as expected, the Herald Clan, the Emperor's Herald, is not to be underestimated.'
"Hmm?"
At that moment, Azadin stopped walking.
"Haa…"
As he exhaled, his breath turned white with frost. The season had just moved past early summer. Lantarik was a warm region, so it was impossible for one's breath to freeze in this weather.
"This is…"
Everyone had now realized that the air had turned cold. And the fog was growing denser.
"Be careful."
From within the thick mist, the shadow of a human figure began approaching.
***
"Huh?"
Guillaumevalt, who had been on guard, let out a baffled sound.
"Grrr…"
What emerged from the fog were mummified soldiers, the undead troops typically controlled by the Nagas. However, their entire bodies were covered in frost, and their limbs were frozen solid, breaking apart slightly with every step they took.
Before they even reached the wooden barricade, their frozen legs shattered, causing them to collapse forward and break apart like porcelain dolls.
"Grrraaa…"
Behind the mummified soldiers were more corpses, as well as still-living but frostbitten Wererats who were dying from the cold.
"What kind of place is this where there are Wererats?"
"This is Sinopi Village, my fief… but what is this?"
Azadin stepped forward to examine one of the still-living Wererats.
"Hey, what happened here?"
"Kh… Y-you human…"
"…A blanket. No, a goat!"
Azadin quickly brought over a Kerim mountain goat and wrapped the Wererat's body with it, letting him sit against it. The goat's fur and warmth should have helped ease some of the chilling cold tormenting the Wererat.
"You bastard, do you think this will make me talk?"
"You don't seem to understand. That woman over there is Shati, an agent of the Naga Empire."
"Wha…?"
"And that annoying guy over there is Scott McGreen, an Orc necromancer."
It wasn't exactly a lie, but it was certainly phrased in a way that could easily lead to misunderstandings.
"Don't judge just by what you see. You, a follower of Mezeri, speak."
"Ugh… During the Union Council, a Nether monster appeared. It was the work of a human witch!"
"A human witch?"
"Yes. Ugh… so, so cold…"
Even with the Kerim mountain goat providing warmth, the Wererat kept shivering violently. His teeth chattered, clashing so hard that his front teeth broke, spraying blood. But even that blood froze upon contact with the air.
"What kind of woman is this witch?"
"The, the lord's wife."
At that moment, Brock flinched in shock.
His wife, a witch? Not just anyone, but a follower of Mezeri, a Wererat, was saying this.
"She was abandoned by her husband for his concubine, so she cursed the concubine. She kidnapped her and turned her into one of Arthra's followers."
"She made her into a follower of Arthra?"
"Yes. But after becoming an Arthra follower, the concubine attacked her. During their fight, the witch summoned a Nether monster, but she failed to control it!"
"..."
"She summoned a Nether monster to weaken the light of the King's Virtue and destroy the human Eight Kingdoms… but that plan should be abandoned! That's something none of us can handle!"
Even as he spoke, the Wererat's body continued to freeze from the inside out. In the end, the cold invaded his very marrow, and he died.
"Summoning a Nether monster to destroy the human world?"