"Azadin! This ship can't stop! The wind is too strong, anchoring would be dangerous!"
Zion, who was at the helm, shouted a warning.
"Keep steering, Zion! We'll take care of whoever comes aboard! Damn, my hands are tied up with the sail too."
Azadin shouted back to Zion, then fully pulled in the sail. That's when the Nagas climbed up onto the ship's side.
"What the—who are these things?"
"You! You're an Orc! And that woman—?!"
The Nagas immediately recognized Scott, who was using illusion magic, and Shati, who had transformed.
"Actually, we're your allies."
Azadin said slyly, but an unexpected reaction followed. The startled Nagas turned to someone who looked like their leader.
"Nonsense! Even if they're of the Herald Clan, the order is to kill anyone who approaches!"
"What?"
Azadin flinched at those words. So these bastards had made some kind of deal with the Herald Clan?
"Well then, I'm going to need to hear more about that!"
Azadin tied the sail rope to the railing pin and freed both hands. But the ship wasn't that large—fighting on the side of the vessel wouldn't be easy.
With the path blocked, the Nagas charged at Zebeck first.
"Hyaa!"
"Hrgh!"
Zebeck drew his longsword, blocking the curved blade of the Naga, and simultaneously drove a thrust into the Naga's neck, landing a clean hit. He had successfully countered while blocking an attack.
And he wasn't satisfied with just a single stab to the neck—on the rocking ship, he shifted his angle using a clean pivot step and struck down the Naga with a sharp diagonal slash, a Wraith Cut.
The Naga that had rushed in first spewed blood and crashed into the river, sending up a spray of water.
"Huh?"
The fierce spirit of the charging Nagas suddenly faltered.
'Sir Zebeck really knows how to fight. His swordsmanship is solid. Skalabes is a common surname among northern nobles, but maybe there's a story behind his?'
It was just as Azadin was thinking that—
—Boom!
A water column suddenly erupted from beneath the ship.
While Azadin's party was focused on the Nagas who had climbed aboard, other Nagas fired air bubble magic bullets at the ship, landing a hit.
The ship shook violently, and Zebeck was swept by rainwater and fell overboard.
"Uwah?!"
"Damn it!"
Shati, who had been holding a rope and pretending to be a prisoner, threw herself forward and grabbed Zebeck just before he fell into the river.
"Ugh! Th-thank you!"
"What? That wench?"
The Nagas frowned as they saw Shati, whom they thought was a prisoner, leap forward to rescue Zebeck.
"She looks like she's from the Dryland tribe."
"As expected, a vulgar Dryland tribe wench."
"If we catch her, I'll give her to you as a slave!"
They were already thinking about turning Shati into a slave.
"Well, if that's how it is, let's wreck them all!"
Shati screamed, and Azadin scoffed.
"You don't have to say it!"
Azadin fired an arrow.
"This pathetic little—"
—Thwack!
The arrow flew straight into the open mouth of the Naga mid-sentence.
"Huh?"
"You're all dead, you water snake bastards!"
Shati shouted, as if she had already given up, and at that moment, Azadin fired another arrow.
—Thwump!
"Wh-what the—!"
The Naga, who had raised a sword to protect his vitals, had to watch as the arrow sliced through the falling rain, curving through the spray toward him.
"Grrk!"
"I should pull my weight too."
Scott grabbed a fish from the fishing basket, stabbed it with a dagger, killed it, and then cast a spell on the fish, dropping it into the water.
Aiming at the Naga still casting air bubble magic and shaking the ship, Scott sent the dead fish hurtling toward it.
"Ghoulification!"
As Scott chanted, horns, spikes, and sharp teeth sprouted from the fish's body.
"Berserk!"
"Argh! Wh-what is this thing?!"
The fish lunged at the Naga and began biting madly. Though just a small fish, the Naga shrieked, grabbing it and tearing it off his body.
"Corpse Burst!"
Scott formed a hand seal, and the fish carcass exploded, covering the Naga's eyes and face in blood.
"Damn. It looked like a tasty fish, too."
Scott muttered with regret, having used it up with necromantic magic.
"Wh-what the hell are these guys?!"
—Thwack!
Another Naga's head was pierced through by an arrow.
Unlike arrows of other Herald Clan members, the ones Azadin shot flew with terrifying power and speed, such that even the most seasoned Nagas couldn't react in time.
To make matters worse, it was dark, with rain and wind howling, making it nearly impossible to see the arrows.
Normally, a storm like this should make it harder to hit targets—but not for Azadin. Every shot landed, and each hit delivered devastating wounds.
"A-aah, no… Let's run!"
The Nagas began to retreat.
***
"Now then."
Azadin had captured one of the Nagas. It was the commander—the one the others had looked to earlier.
"Grr. You warm-blooded bastards!"
Tied to the mast, the Naga commander spat curses.
"I can understand the warm-bloods, but you! Woman of the Dryland tribe! Do you dare betray the great Queen Cobra?!"
"Well, I still don't really know what's going on."
Shati said as she clicked her tongue.
"Your water snake tribe and ours were never that close, were we? You don't even know what I am doing—how is that a betrayal of Queen Cobra?"
"Shut up. When you lay eggs, put them in the cloaca."
"What a horrible thing to say!"
"What does that even mean?"
Azadin, listening in, looked baffled. It must've been an extreme insult among Nagas.
"Hey, Naga friend. You mentioned the Herald Clan earlier, right? What kind of deal did you make with them?"
"You think I'd tell you that?"
"If you do, we'll let you go."
"What?!"
"Eh?!"
Both the captured Naga and Shati exclaimed in shock at the same time.
"Wait, let him go?! You can't be serious! Then what about me? Am I just stuck here playing your little healing spring forever?!"
"Healing spring? The way you say it, it sounds like we're boiling you into soup."
"Go ahead and boil me, you bastards."
"Boil you? Well, if we get hungry, we might consider it."
"…You're joking, right?"
Shati, rattled by Azadin's response, snapped back to her senses and turned to the tied-up Naga with a pleading look.
"P-please spare me. I didn't cooperate with them by choice. They forced me to help. So if I ever get free, don't call me a traitor—"
"You think I'm stupid? Go lay some eggs in your cloaca. Put in two."
"What the— Why's there an extra egg this time?!"
Azadin chuckled at the exchange.
"Doesn't seem like he's going to talk."
"We could always ask him after he's dead. Necromancy."
"That won't do. Forcing information from the dead with necromancy is an evil act, one that disrupts causality itself. It's beyond what should be tolerated."
Zebeck immediately objected when Scott suggested necromancy. Even Azadin, who wasn't especially opposed to necromancy, shook his head.
"That kind of magic is too dangerous. If you use soul-binding necromancy, you're practically creating a wraith. And if you manipulate the dead's brain to extract memories, Scott, you'll end up losing your mind."
"You know a surprising amount about necromancy."
Scott was genuinely surprised that Azadin understood both primary methods of extracting information from the dead.
"Well, yeah. Hm?"
"It's the Sahar Gate!"
Zion, still at the helm, shouted. Near Coral Sahar stood a large bridge—this was the Sahar Gate.
Usually, soldiers and gate officials would be stationed there, charging tolls to merchants passing above, and controlling ship traffic beneath the bridge using nets.
But now, garbage was piled beneath the bridge, and huge chunks of wooden debris swirled in the current.
"If we approach, the ship will be torn apart. The current's rough, and there's so much floating debris. Something's scraping the ship's bottom too."
Collapsed buildings and swept-away structures had made the waters chaotic. Honestly, getting this far in weather like this was a miracle—and it was all thanks to Zion's skill as a navigator.
"There should be people here, but there aren't."
Normally, staff and soldiers would be on top of the Coral Sahar Gate.
"Maybe they took shelter because of the storm? One wrong step on a bridge like that and you'd slip right into the water."
Ishmael suggested, but Azadin shook his head.
"Even so, it makes no sense for it to be completely empty. Not even guards near the bridge?"
"That… is true."
It was strange. This was a major city—no, the capital of a kingdom—and there wasn't a single soul at the gate?
"From here on, we'll go overland. Let's bring the ship to shore—"
"I'll find a good spot."
Zion steered the ship while scanning the surroundings. The docks were all flooded—there was nowhere suitable to land.
Still, Zion found a small hill and guided the ship there, then threw the anchor into the water.
"Swim to shore! I can't get us any closer!"
Zion shouted, and everyone looked startled.
"What about these Nagas?"
Midiam asked, and Zion sighed.
"If they won't talk, we'll have to kill them here."
"Wait."
Just then, one of the previously silent Nagas opened his mouth.
"I… If I really talk, will you let me go?"
"Yes."
"That's right."
"Indeed."
Azadin, Zion, and Zebeck all answered at once. It was just words, but the Naga had no choice but to believe they meant it.
"So, our water snake tribe was in competition with the sea snake tribe. Sometimes we fought, sometimes we cooperated… Then one day, a woman from the Herald Clan came, introduced by the sea snake tribe."
"What was her name?"
"She called herself Zenith."
"And what was her proposal?"
"She said she'd extinguish the king's virtue in Coral Sahar temporarily, and told us to take the throne in that time."
"What?!"
Zebeck was stunned by the words.
The throne of the Yaegas Divine Clan was no mere chair. It was a source of immense magic power and a turning point of fate that united the people.
When a rightful king sat upon it, the light of the king's virtue would protect the world, and the Book of the Divine King would be bestowed upon the one enthroned, turning the king into a mage more powerful than any other… It was the very ideology of the king's church.
And now, the followers of the Kurt Divine Clan were trying to seize that?
"Is that even possible?"
Azadin asked, equally stunned.
"I don't know. We of the water snake tribe don't understand it well. But the sea snake tribe agreed… They killed our chieftain and took our families. The sea snake tribe's changed. They suddenly got stronger, more violent, more grotesque."
"Grotesque, huh. Well, to me, Nagas already look kind of grotesque by default."
Scott said bluntly, and everyone turned to him.
"Don't get too obsessed with Orc beauty. If you get too used to my irresistible charm, you might lose desire for your own kind."
Scott struck a pose to show off his muscles, then clicked his tongue.
"Oops, flexed a little. Gotta watch that. Don't want to trigger a muscle acquisition event."