Chapter 187: Hounds Chase the Smell
Ramin Solost Muel said, "What is the Union Kingdom like?"
Gorgota Falu replied, “I’m not sure. Well, it's a country with quite vast land… If they had to be compared, I heard the major cities are somewhat similar to the Empire, unlike the rumors. Regions close to the front lines would be filled with soldiers, much like the Empire, and the areas further away would be a bit poorer… Oh wait, but aren’t you the one who was born in the western continent?”
“I wasn’t born in the Union Kingdom. I’m from the Garang Kingdom, and although we were in the middle of the unification war, it was still before it got unified.”
"Ah." Gorgotta continued to say, "But there are a few things you should know. This is also my first time in the Union Kingdom's mainland, but I received some information while we were on the Thunderstrider."
"Such as?"
"Undercover identities."
"Undercover identities?"
Gorgota nodded.
"Unlike the relatively new southern continent, which doesn't have a well-established system due to the war, the western continent has had a strong and stable identity as being the mainland of the Union Kingdom for a long time. Pretending to be war refugees has its limits. So, the intelligence agency has prepared undercover identities."
At those words, Hwee Juran Muel showed interest.
"I thought I'd be going on adventures if I followed Teacher, but I didn't expect it to be this serious. What are our roles?"
"Oh, well...as I mentioned earlier, while the Union Kingdom doesn't differ significantly from the Empire in terms of lifestyle or societal rules, there are a few distinct aspects."
"In that case, let's start with those distinct aspects."
The three of them were in the storage compartment under the deck of a passenger ship that connected the western and southern continents. They were currently being smuggled.
While Gorgota explained to Juran, Ramin recalled her conversation with Mazdari.
***
“Only we are going to run away?”
The Thunderstrider had landed much more safely than anticipated, thanks to magic.
The Wizards on board the airship could have collaborated, or perhaps Mazdari alone could have lifted the Thunderstrider in the air, but the problem was that such magic required an excessive amount of magical resources. Magical resources referred to the catalysts—or items consumed when using magic—the effort and time spent drawing magic circles, and the collective mental power of the Wizards. Generally, it was known that using magic consumed more resources compared to similar efforts in scientific technology, so using magic for problems that could be solved with scientific technology was considered uneconomical and thus should be avoided.
However, landing the Thunderstrider with minimal damage was currently impossible with technology, so magic had to be used.
Mazdari said, “Yes. The landing caused several Wizards to faint. I need to guard the Thunderstrider until we can get it back up again."
"But..."
"There are no buts. This is all within Night Sky’s calculations."
When Ramin gave him a doubtful look, Mazdari added, "I’m not needed in this plan anyway. What’s important are you two Muels.”
“I will do so if Night Sky says so, but hasn’t the plan already failed? We only just crossed the front line, and we have to go without you.”
“No, this is rather an opportunity.”
Mazdari explained the opportunity. The best plan was to take the Thunderstrider all the way to the western continent. But the failure of the plan itself wasn’t a major problem. As long as the attention of the Union Kingdom and the Angry One was on the Thunderstrider and the Apostle, it would be relatively easy for Ramin and her small group to escape. However, Mazdari didn't mention anything about the larger bait. If he were to reveal that they had launched an unprecedented all-out attack to clear the path for the two Muels, it would make it even more challenging to convince Ramin.
"We’re using you as bait?"
"Bait... That's quite a daring choice of words to use in front of an Apostle. But it's accurate."
"Is this really so important? Finding an old vampire?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's not that important. There are nine Apostles, after all."
Ramin didn’t understand.
"Even if one of those Apostles is you? Can you even think it’s not something important?"
"It's a matter of perspective, Ramin."
"Perspective?"
"From a person’s perspective, you have to evaluate what's important and what's not."
"That’s right."
"But from a god’s perspective, such values may no longer be important. For the sake of a speck of life, more valuable lives might be sacrificed, and a whole empire could be sacrificed to take a piece of land so small that not even a single person could lie down there.”
Ramin found this difficult to understand, but she tried to wrap her head around it however possible.
"So ultimately, you’re saying Night Sky wants this. Even if it seems insignificant for now, you believe Night Sky sees it as important."
"Yes," Mazdari said. "Now go. Move quickly before the siege tightens."
Ramin was worried about escaping with the Thunderstrider and Mazdari being used as bait, but she managed to leave the crash site without much difficulty, continuing south. Mostly, they hadn’t heard any proper rumors due to their constant movement as war refugees, but there were stories that a big battle had taken place on the battle front.
‘I hope it’s not because of us.’
Ramin and the group had smuggled themselves through the Union Kingdom's regular passenger ship. Fortunately, even though it was a passenger ship, it was filled with military supplies, making it easy to hide among the cargo. Moreover, before leaving the Thunderstrider, they had stocked up on blood for Ramin and even ointment for Gorogota, so there was nothing to worry about except for traveling with rats.
After crossing the Antarctic Ocean and finally arriving at the western continent, Ramin gained confidence.
‘At this rate, it shouldn't be too difficult to make our way to the center of the Union Kingdom.’
The problem was what came after.
***
On the fourth continent, at the third frontline battle base, Alma Alloy—the Lamia that was the fifth Apostle of the Angry One—said, "Del."
Del, the Fang agent wearing a red mask, replied, "Yes."
"It seems you need to go to the mainland."
"The…mainland?"
"Yes."
"But the war is at its peak. There are more things for Fang agents like me to do here."
Alma appeared to be contemplating.
"That is true. Del, do you remember that the Thunderstrider had fallen?"
Del nodded.
"I heard that with the power of the Angry One and the help of Veteran Mahim, they managed to bring it down at the cost of their life, and right now, they're tightening the siege. If it weren't for those damn Wizards, we wouldn't even have to worry about a single airship..."
Alma replied, "Yes, we succeeded in bringing down the Thunderstrider. But I'm worried that we might be missing a bigger part of Night Sky’s plan."
"What do you mean?" Del asked, confused.
"Perhaps the Thunderstrider, and even the Corpse Crow, the owner of Thundestrider, are not the real protagonists in Night Sky’s plan."
"I'm aware of that. At first, I thought the plan was to send the Thunderstrider south of the frontline as a momentary distraction from the northern front. I really believed that the war's outcome might shift when the air raid started. But even that turned out to be a deception, and it wasn't until recently that we discovered they were up to something in the western front."
"But that might not be all."
Del asked, "Are you referring to the Vampire we talked about before?"
"Yes. The Thunderstrider is still under siege, but I think it's too late. The vampire has probably escaped."
“But if that was the case, the Angry One would have…”
Alma shook her head.
"The Angry One probably won't be interested."
"Pardon?"
"Maybe if it were the Devil Night Sky, it would be different. All the individual plans are within the Devil’s conspiracy. But the Angry One...not so much. If Night Sky is water which seeps everywhere, the Angry One is fire. They are a wildfire that burns everything in front of them."
"...You’re talking about the unification war, aren't you?"
"Yes. The Angry One truly never looks back. So, the Devil’s apostles and our Angry One’s apostles have different roles to play. If the Devil’s apostles are chess pieces, we are the hounds of the Angry One. We sniff around, guiding the Angry One’s fire."
Alma continued to say, "Del, I can smell it. This scent originates from an old buried incident, where a Vampire crossed the eastern sea. Since we cannot fully comprehend the Devil’s intentions, I cannot move on the front lines. So, it's up to you to chase them."
Del bowed.
"I will obey.”
***
At the port city of Delaf, the biggest port of the Union Kingdom, a person was walking along the main road of this city. It was a Centaur. However, this Centaur had both hands tied behind her back, a bit in her mouth, and a Gnoll was riding on her back.
The Gnoll was going along the road, holding the reins tied to the bit in the Centaur’s mouth. The Gnoll's name was Levony Dorandotte. They were a noble of the Dorandotte family, a family that was a founding contributor of Danly, and also a heresy investigator and punishment chief.
Even though a caste system existed in the Empire, it was still possible for one without a noble title to reach high rank. However, in the case of the Union Kingdom, it was almost impossible to overcome one's status through personal effort, and furthermore, unlike the Empire, where the caste system could vary even within the same species, in the Union Kingdom, the caste system was divided by species.
In broad terms, it was divided into the Full Tailed, Half Tailed, and Tailless. The Full Tailed consisted mostly of nobles and the majority of priests, Half Tailed included merchants and the military class, while Tailless made up the manufacturer class. Because the upper class consisted of mainly species like Gnolls, who had tails, they were called Full Tailed, while in contrast, species like Elves and Dwarves, who had no tails, made up the lower class—either because they played no significant role in history, such as during the unification war, or because they had started rebellions in the past.
Levony said to their Satyr personal assistant, who was in the Half Tailed-class and following them, "Lib, you’re sure about that, right?"
"Yes, they surely said they are one of the most extravagant slave traders in the Ronante-Oroban Alliance."
"Hmm, if they’re so famous, why didn't I know about them?"
"They apparently mainly traded with the Empire."
"With the Empire?"
"Even though it may not seem like it on the surface, slave trading is likely still prevalent among some imperial territories. However, the Empire's folks are quite picky, so they are looking for new business opportunities."
Levony slowly nodded.
"Alright. The High Priest mentioned that a lot of labor is needed to build the new temple, so this could be an opportunity provided by the Angry One."
Levony intended to treat the noble merchant who had come from the Ronante-Oroban Alliance today well and secure a good deal. This kind of work wasn't originally Levony's responsibility, but as Levony got older, they stopped actively engaging in witch hunting in the field, so they had been trying to find ways to serve the Angry One’s temple. After searching, however, there weren't many things they could do with their noble status. Of course, Levony also thought that this kind of work suited them quite well.
As Levony arrived near the docks, they immediately spotted the distinctive attire of the slave trader. When Levony approached the slave trader, Levony was greeted by a smiling Frogman.
"Are you the slave trader, Gor?"
Agent Number 15 of the Intelligence Agency, Gorgota Falu, said, "Yes, I am Gor."
"And who are those behind you...?"
"My slaves."
Upon hearing this, Juran, who was standing behind Gorgota, lowered his head as if trying to hold in laughter, and Ramin furrowed her eyebrows.
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