The behavior of the orcs—who shunned the kind of muscles others would die to have—left other races dumbfounded.
Azadin quickly pulled himself together and went back to interrogate the commander.
"Anyway, what about the king of Coral Sahar? What are humans doing right now?"
"They've fortified the royal castle and are holding out. But the flooding split up their forces and cut off all supply lines. Even so, the king's power is too strong, so we haven't been able to breach it yet."
"Really? How could that be… Did that woman, Zenith, really snuff out the light of the king's virtue for a moment?"
"She did."
"That's even possible?"
"If it hadn't been possible, we wouldn't have been able to invade the city, would we?"
"Hm."
From what he'd heard, the situation in Coral Sahar was dire.
The King of Korasar was holding out in the royal castle with his vassals, and the Nagas were surrounding and attacking it—wasn't that the situation?
Because of the storm and heavy rains, there was no chance of rescue, and even the forces already stationed in Korasar were unable to regroup or reinforce one another.
On top of that, this situation hadn't even been reported yet to the outside world, the king's church, or the neighboring territories.
"A desperate crisis, indeed."
"I've told you everything I know. Let me go. As promised."
"..."
Azadin nodded, and Midiam and Ishmael untied the Naga from the mast.
Once freed, the Naga commander gave a small bow to Azadin.
"You warm-bloods know honor. Thank you. And as for that traitor to our tribe…"
"No, I'm…"
"Shove some eggs into your cloaca. Three of them."
Leaving behind that parting shot, the Naga commander dove into the water and disappeared with graceful ease.
"I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but are you crazy? Why'd you let him go?"
"Why? To track him, of course."
"Track?"
"Yeah."
That's what Azadin told Shati, and then instructed Ishmael and Midiam to deploy a scouting spirit to pursue the Naga commander they'd just released.
"Good idea. But wait… after getting off that seasick ride and finally being on land, now this is… ugh…"
Zion Aether dry-heaved, still queasy.
"Can you not? Even drunkards try to hide when they're puking, but you act like it's something to be proud of."
"What's there to hide? I've committed no crime. Aether blood is always proud."
"You heard him, Midiam. You agree with that?"
"Ah, no. That's different. Even proud people don't go showing off when they're using the bathroom, right?"
Midiam shook her head at Azadin's questioning.
"I was at the helm. So now I'm going to wash up and change clothes here. I'll stay behind and guard the boat for a bit, so you all go ahead."
"Are you sure? It'll be dangerous if you're left alone."
Zebeck worried about Zion staying alone, but Azadin shook his head.
"Zion's a former herald. He should be fine. His skills are solid."
Indeed, Zion waved them off with one hand while dry-heaving with the other.
***
"Ugh…"
Midiam was feeling awkward.
As a child, she'd admired Zion Aether.
A handsome and dashing older cousin. To her, who didn't even consider anyone outside the Aether bloodline to be human, Zion had been a charming young man of a similar age. Of course she'd admired him.
But after growing up a bit… something felt off. Was he always this weird?
Midiam was wrestling with the gap between her childhood admiration and the bizarre reality, when—
"Hey, can I stay behind with that Zion person or whatever? Honestly, running around like this is way too stressful."
Shati, following behind Azadin, said that.
From the looks of it, it was clearly the Naga Empire causing this conflict, and if Shati were to be noticed by them, she wouldn't be able to return.
She was already branded a traitor, and if she kept tagging along with Azadin's group, there'd be no way to explain herself.
"I don't know much about Naga internal affairs. If we're going to interpret the intel we've gathered, I'll need your help. Honestly, I didn't even know there were tribes like water snakes, sea snakes, and dryland among the Nagas."
"Wait—shouldn't you be worried I'll betray you at any moment? Why are you even keeping me around?"
"Well…"
Azadin trailed off.
'Because even if you do betray me, I feel like I can kill you in one blow, so it's not really a burden.'
There was no way he could say that.
'Even if she is a Naga, if I said that out loud, she'd get hurt. Better sweeten the mood a bit.'
So Azadin went for some flattery he didn't really mean.
"You're beautiful, after all. When you're around, it brightens the atmosphere. It's nice."
"You're keeping me around for that?"
"Well, your regeneration magic is really incredible, too. You're a huge help. Really, it's been a big boost."
"Oh, you bastard. Flattery's not getting you anything!"
Despite her words, Shati's ears turned red and twitched.
'Wow, she really likes compliments, huh?'
The Nagas had a strict caste society, and those born into lower castes had only one way to climb the ranks—through a ritual of reincarnation.
It wasn't a metaphor. They literally had to die and be reborn to rise in caste. Count Kazel of Salasma transformed into a Naga through exactly that ritual.
So Shati had never experienced anything like self-affirmation. Azadin's flattery had her completely thrown off balance.
She wasn't unfamiliar with men praising her beauty—she knew that was often just a ploy to seduce her. But as a Naga who valued strength above all, she considered such sweet talk nothing more than shallow courtship to get her body.
Azadin, though, had already taken her as a captive. He had no reason to woo her. As someone in complete control, his compliments could only be taken as sincere.
'Wh-what do I do? This feels… nice.'
Shati was flustered by the praise coming from Azadin.
"Tsk tsk."
Watching from the side, Midiam clicked her tongue.
"Anyway, that water snake Naga is insanely fast. He's running on the water like it's flat ground, and the distance just keeps increasing."
Ishmael, panting from the effort, was tracking the water snake Naga with the scouting spirit.
With flooding everywhere and landslides collapsing the terrain, the streets of Coral Sahar were an absolute mess.
No wonder it was so hard to chase a water snake Naga who could glide over the surface.
Muddy, bottomless water pits and the rubble of collapsed buildings blocked the roads.
And in the few spots that were still passable, men had stacked furniture into barricades and were glaring out with weapons in hand.
"Hehehe…"
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Hand over some food, would you? And while you're at it, leave the women too, that'd be the cherry on top."
"Hm?"
They had blocked the road out of habit, but now realized, to their surprise, that Azadin's group was larger than expected.
Currently, Azadin's group consisted of six: Azadin, Midiam, Ishmael, Zebeck, Scott, and Shati. There were two women, but the group was by no means small, and on top of that, Scott had an imposing build.
Though Zebeck looked sturdy even without armor, without it, he didn't appear to be a holy knight, so people were far warier of Scott than Zebeck.
"These guys are way too built."
"Mm. Well-armed too."
At a glance, Azadin's party was clearly not ordinary. If they fought, casualties would be inevitable. Still, starvation and stress had driven the men to madness.
"If we're gonna die either way, may as well do something before we starve."
Just as they were steeling themselves for a fight, Azadin stepped forward.
"I am Azadin, 108th herald of the Emperor."
He immediately revealed his identity. The thugs blocking the road flinched.
"A H-Herald Clan member?"
"Hey kid, if you're a Herald, then I'm a dragon—"
"Shut it, idiot. What if he's telling the truth?"
The thugs' resolve began to crumble. The infamy of the Herald Clan was proving useful here.
"Hey. What exactly are you planning to do?"
"Bringing the Nagas in like this… Are the Herald Clan members out of their minds?"
They questioned Azadin.
From their reactions, it seemed clear—the ones who had brought the Nagas into Coral Sahar were the Herald Clan, specifically the Arael faction.
"Hmm. We didn't do that. Who told you the Herald Clan summoned the Nagas?"
"We didn't hear it, we saw it."
"A witch of the Herald Clan put out the lighthouse flame in the southwest of the city. Then the sky split open, and the storm came."
"And then the Nagas poured in from the sea and the river."
"You saw this with your own eyes?"
When Azadin asked, they looked uneasy.
"Well, no, I mean, uh, we heard it from a night watchman."
"I saw it! I was on guard duty at the pier warehouse!"
"You lunatic, you were so drunk you couldn't even recognize your own wife that night."
"Well, yeah, that—that's true…"
"..."
At that moment, Ishmael signaled to Azadin.
"We can't get any closer to the Naga we were pursuing. There are too many of them."
"Really? What's the situation?"
"The Nagas are laying siege to the inner castle of Coral Sahar. The one we were following went into their base there."
"You're saying there's an active siege on the inner castle?"
"Yes. The number of troops looks to be no less than a thousand."
To attack Coral Sahar with only a thousand soldiers was pure madness.
But in its current state—cut off by heavy rain and flooded roads—and considering that each Naga could easily overpower ten regular soldiers, it wasn't impossible.
"Got it. Hm. Good work."
After hearing Ishmael's report, Azadin glanced over at the thugs.
"We can pass now, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"By the way… you wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?"
Scott glared at them.
"Nope! I barely have enough for myself!"
"..."
He wasn't wrong.
***
Past the thugs' barricade, they finally spotted the Naga stronghold.
The Nagas had taken over solid buildings like Coral Sahar's trading posts and firm offices and were using them as bases, sending scouting spirits out toward the rear.
With Coral Sahar's inner castle already surrounded, the scouting spirits' main job was to patrol and capture humans.
The Naga queen, Devislin, was a goddess who delighted in human sacrifice. Back when the Naga Empire ruled Hubris, they built a pyramid of blood, where the blood never dried—constant sacrifices to appease their queen.
So the scouting parties captured people not just to prevent secret movement through hidden passages or covert resupply efforts—but also to use them as provisions, literal food.
"Uaaagh!"
"P-please, spare us!"
Screams echoed from the top of a four-story stone apothecary.
Some Nagas were standing at the building entrance, looking around. It seemed the scouting spirits had been sweeping the building and found people hiding inside.
"What do we do?"
Midiam asked Azadin.
Realistically, Azadin's group had no obligation to rescue those people.
However, Azadin had declared to Midiam that saving the people of Hubris was a noble act, and that without aesthetics, the duty of a herald was just a shackle.
"We have to do what we can."
Azadin inspected his bowstring and began preparing for battle.