The road to Bruma took more than a week on foot. Fortunately, water transport was well developed in Bruma, so Azadin decided to take a ship from Count Kimalhaji's territory.
However…
"Uh, Captain. A slight problem has arisen."
"A slight problem, my ass. I can tell too. The stench is unbearable."
In the ship's hold, there was a large compartment prepared for transporting livestock or rare animals, and inside it, Scott's undead leopard was rotting.
Since the corpse was being controlled through necromancy, it was only natural, but Scott had boasted that it would last safely for at least a week.
But in the hot and humid climate of Bruma, the undead leopard immediately began rotting, and the overwhelming stench spread throughout the ship.
"Ah, they say experience is the mother of all knowledge, indeed, some things you cannot know without trying. But Captain, we must not fear failure. We are explorers, bearing the torch of intellect, breaking through into the unknown wilderness. A minor loss is…"
"Get it off. Right now. Or should I throw it into the river for you?"
The captain and sailors pointed Azadin's group toward the shore.
"S-sorry about this."
Azadin paid the captain extra money. At the captain's signal, the sailors lowered a boat and prepared the crane.
"We'll lower your goat too. Looks like it's dying."
"…What?"
As Azadin froze in shock, the sailors opened the hatch and placed his exhausted goat into the crane, lowering it to the boat.
"W-wait a minute…"
Flustered, Azadin tried to protest, but the sailors pointed to the rope ladder.
"Go down. While we're saying it nicely."
"You bastards, really."
Shati was enraged at the sailors' rough treatment.
"Azadin! We can just wipe them out…"
"S-sweater…"
Shati argued for a mutiny, but Azadin was too shocked that his goat was dying.
"Well, knowing your personality, you wouldn't attack merchants first unless they really got on your nerves."
Grumbling, Shati climbed down the rope ladder into the boat.
***
Thus, the sailors dumped Azadin, his companions, and their baggage ashore, then returned to the ship.
"I told you we should've ditched the leopard."
Shati stomped the ground irritably.
"I didn't think it would rot so fast. Normally my advanced necromancy keeps them from decaying quickly."
"But it rotted, didn't it?"
"…This time, it was my mistake to trust Scott."
Azadin had put too much faith in Scott's magical skill, forgetting the fact that he was an orc. This was the result.
"Well then, we'll abandon the leopard. What about your Kerim goat, Captain?"
"…Brother Azadin."
Jiswa, uneasy, examined Azadin's goat.
"How is it, Jiswa?"
"This goat, I think it has hippo fever."
"Hippo fever?"
"Yes, it's a disease passed from hippos near Bruma to livestock. Once infected, most die."
When Azadin checked, indeed, Sweater had a fever, rashes beneath the fur, and bloodshot eyes.
"Damn. Hey, Shati. Can you heal it?"
"The Queen Cobra's magic does raise healing ability, but that only speeds up natural recovery. If there's medicine, I could use magic to help it heal faster. But if there's no cure…"
"This is bad."
If Azadin lost his goat here, the group would lose much of their baggage transport.
Of course, Azadin was strong enough to drag it himself until they found another beast of burden in the nearest village, or they could lighten the load by discarding unnecessary items. But losing his pack animal was more than just a logistical issue.
To Azadin, this goat had been with him ever since his appointment as herald. He wanted to save it if at all possible.
"Let's try giving it the Blue Sky Order's elixir."
Jiswa suggested.
"But isn't the one you have contaminated? With Grimslawn's blood mixed in? If it's Grimslawn's sap, I could maybe extract some from my cudgel."
"Our potion is made by diluting the sap and mixing various herbs. Feeding it raw sap would be disastrous."
"Wouldn't giving the contaminated one be just as bad?"
"We can use it to keep the goat alive for now, and later use the medicine that woman of the herald clan gave us to neutralize it."
"That could work. Let's do it."
Azadin agreed to feed his goat the Blue Sky Order's potion.
***
—Ssshhhhh.
Torrential rain poured down.
Azadin stood dazed, staring at the road, now nothing but a mire under the sheets of rain.
Even after giving the elixir, Azadin's goat eventually died.
Sweater, the goat that had once leapt up 80-degree cliffs as if they were flat ground, that feared neither beast nor battlefield, had fallen in Bruma to hippo fever.
Scott had cast necromancy on the dead Kerim goat so it could at least carry the baggage for now…
But they had already seen what Bruma's hot and humid climate did to the undead—quickly rotting. The Kerim goat would not last long.
"Damn it. My goat, given to me when I was appointed herald! Sweater…"
"Don't blame yourself, Captain. Meetings bring partings, life brings death. That's just how it is."
"..."
"Not much of a comfort, huh?"
"No, it's just… everything's falling apart."
Azadin frowned.
Bruma's soil was heavy loess, strong enough to build ramparts, but when rain fell, it instantly turned to mud.
Even the Emperor's Road and the Continental Road, built by the Emperor himself, collapsed here in Bruma.
Squalls lashed the land, storms came endlessly in summer and autumn, and together with the loess, the synergy destroyed even the great construction works of Emperor Yaeslat.
When the rains were this heavy, there was no traveling.
Even a short squall turned the loess soil into a mire so deep that passage was impossible.
At present, Azadin's party had split open nearby trees, spreading them out to make as wide a surface as possible, then floated it on the water, while casting necromancy on Azadin's goat, making it walk along the riverbed and pull the raft.
Since it was only a makeshift raft, they had to balance their weight carefully to keep it from overturning, and ride with utmost caution, nerves on edge.
"Hey. There's no way we can go far like this. Let's find the nearest village we can!"
Azadin sent the Emperor's Voice up into the sky, using the scouting unit as his eyes.
[There is a village. About 3 ri to the southwest!]
"You're saying we have to go another 3 ri like this?"
Azadin was appalled, but there was no other choice.
By the time they finally reached the village, the rain had stopped as if it had been a lie.
But the roads were still a complete mess.
In Bruma's loess soil, when it rained, people traveled mostly by boat, and those who walked on land had to lay down planks and step only on those.
And since the sun had already set, Azadin decided to stay in this village.
When he asked the villagers if there was a place to stay, they pointed at a pavilion.
"Stay there. One silver coin will do."
"What? For that open-sided structure with just a roof, one silver coin?"
Azadin was aghast at the rip-off, but he handed over the money anyway. Then the villagers brought fruit and fish to them.
'Ah, if food's included, then it's actually cheap.'
Besides, in Bruma, the temperature didn't drop even at night, so such a pavilion was more than enough.
In fact, if they stayed indoors, the heat would have made it impossible to sleep.
***
Perhaps the raft journey had been unexpectedly exhausting, for Azadin's party fell into such deep sleep that they wouldn't have noticed if someone carried them off.
They didn't even need to set a night watch, since the Emperor's Voice warned them of anyone approaching, so for once they all slept soundly.
And the next day.
After eating breakfast, they prepared to leave immediately, which puzzled the villagers.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"The rain will fall again soon. Going out recklessly is dangerous."
"What? What do you mean…?"
"Without a boat, it's better not to travel."
Indeed, the road was still a mess. Where the water had drained quickly, the mire was at least passable, but where water still pooled, no one could tell how deep the mud ran.
Traveling such a road was a gamble with one's life.
"T-then, could we perhaps rent a boat?"
When Azadin asked, the villagers looked baffled. To them, it seemed an absurd question.
"We are fishermen, yes, but…"
"We don't sell our boats."
"All the boats are already in use. None are spare."
"Then, could you at least take us to a larger city?"
"Well… we don't have any reason to go to the city."
"I'll pay you."
"In our village, we sometimes trade with passing merchants, but still…"
The fishermen looked reluctant.
No matter how much money was offered, it was meaningless. In this remote village, where money transactions were rare, silver and gold were little more than emergency reserves, not something to covet.
"Rather, you have such fine muscles, and such a handsome face. Since you're here, why not settle down with my daughter, and become my son-in-law? With those thick arms, you'd haul in nets well."
It seemed all eyes turned to Scott, and they tried to lure him.
"E-excuse me, but we really are in a hurry. We must get to Bruma right away."
"Then you should bargain with the traveling merchant who's coming soon. He'll give you passage."
"Ah."
Azadin let out a sigh of relief.
'So merchants do come to this village. Of course, they'd have to repair nets and trade supplies.'
Finally reassured, Azadin asked about the merchant's arrival.
"When you say soon, how soon?"
"In two days?"
"What?!"
He was shocked. With naga attacks looming over Bruma at any moment, he couldn't afford to waste that much time.
"Ah, but there is a merchant coming today as well."
"There's one today? That's a relief."
"Well, that fellow's a naga."
"Damn it. You weren't supposed to say that!"
The villagers had let slip about another merchant.
"…A naga merchant?"
"Yes. Well, you don't hate nagas, do you?"
"N-no. As long as it gets us out of this village, that's fine."
"Then it's settled."
"The merchant will arrive around evening, so rest until then."
***
Just as the villagers had said, Azadin rested until evening.
And when evening came, sure enough, the sound of a string instrument being plucked drifted from the riverbank.
Though it was only early evening, with the sun not yet fully set, the villagers lit torches, and children ran excitedly to the riverbank, blowing flutes.
"Good evening, good evening."
A lavishly adorned ship drew up to the shore. A young man with a gold necklace around his neck stepped off, grinning slyly.
"A naga."
Shati recognized him and clicked her tongue.
"Not just him, they're all nagas."
Shati insisted that the sailors and guards alike were nagas.