Kozel was, of course, a piece of trash who massacred the people, but Tarkiev wasn't all that different, considering he also plundered the people.
Well, the Kaka-Chiko siblings were incredibly sociable, so they must have been saying things people liked to hear. If they met Kozel, they'd probably go around saying they would sell him a copy of the Book of the Divine King, that they supported Kozel.
It was an obvious act, but their efforts to avoid making enemies weren't detestable.
"So, hyung-nim, where are you headed?"
"I'm planning to return to Salasma. I lost my mercenary band, so there's no point wandering around alone… and these people happened to be heading to Salasma as well, so I'm traveling with them."
"Hmm, if you go this way, the Salvation Knight Order has set up camp."
Kaka and Chiko glanced at Midiam and Ishmael.
"…She's quite the beauty. A girl like this might be taken by the Salvation Knight Order. It'd be best to avoid them."
The Salvation Knight Order was known to gather orphans from various places, but there were also rumors that they sometimes kidnapped perfectly normal children. Someone as stunning as Midiam would be in demand anywhere, so Kaka and Chiko were warning the group.
"Are you telling us to avoid the knights and instead join a wyvern hunt? We are merely pilgrims, not warriors."
Azadin's group was currently disguised as pilgrims, powerless civilians who had sought protection from Tarkiev. But now, they were being told that Midiam might be taken by the Salvation Knight Order, and therefore, they should participate in a dangerous wyvern hunt?
"Well, I'm not saying you have to hunt. I'm suggesting you join a group that's taking a detour. When there are more people, bandits and beasts won't easily attack."
When traveling to avoid beasts and bandits, people often banded together, even if they were strangers, to bolster their numbers. However… the fact that they were willing to take such a risk just to avoid the Salvation Knight Order was surprising.
If beasts and bandits were an uncertain disaster, the Salvation Knight Order was a guaranteed one.
"No matter how fierce a wyvern is, it'll avoid large groups. We'll be hunting wyverns, but that'll be separate. For now, we just need to travel together."
"Hmmm?"
However, as someone who followed the faith of the Archangel of Trinity, Azadin was curious.
"Do we really have to avoid the Salvation Knight Order that much? Even to the point of leaving the main road? Surely, they wouldn't forcibly take someone who refuses, would they?"
"..."
The Kaka-Chiko siblings, as well as Tarkiev, were all taken aback.
"You must be quite the devout believer."
"Oppa, you're an idiot. That's exactly why he's on a pilgrimage. Why are you stating the obvious?"
"In any case, the officer leading the Salvation Knight Order blocking the road is a particularly corrupt and ruthless man. He's dangerous."
"Ah."
Hearing that, Azadin understood.
"There are always deviants in any organization."
"Haha… That's true."
Kaka let out an awkward laugh.
"Then let's head this way."
Azadin's group asked to join Kaka and Chiko's party, and the siblings got permission from their employers, the merchants, for them to travel together.
"Well, more people in the group is always a good thing. Bandits and beasts won't mess with a large party."
The merchants gladly welcomed them.
***
While staying at an inn for the night, the merchants and adventurers invited Azadin to their drinking session.
"It's thanks to us hiring adventurers that you pilgrims can travel safely. So come over and bond with us."
They said it was about camaraderie, but their words subtly emphasized how much they were sacrificing and losing for the group. Since they had hired adventurers and paid for security, they probably saw Azadin's group as freeloaders.
'Even if we truly were powerless pilgrims, as they said, wouldn't having more people help in avoiding bandits and beasts? Are they just reluctant to spend on mercenaries? These merchants don't seem very decent.'
If they were already acting like this, who knew what they'd be like later? Though, of course, they were drunk, which lowered their inhibitions. But still, they must have already been thinking like this if they were saying it aloud to Azadin.
Azadin declined the invitation. He wore a helmet to hide his scars, and if he joined the drinking session, he'd have to remove it. His scars were too distinctive, and he preferred not to expose his face too much.
"As a pilgrim, I must refuse."
"Ah, young man, don't be so stiff."
"If you're this rigid already, you won't last through your pilgrimage."
"I don't have a set period or destination for my pilgrimage. I'm doing it to receive divine revelations and accumulate merit."
"Aha, so you must have caused trouble back home."
"What, did you mess with some nobleman's daughter?"
Hearing Azadin say he was on a pilgrimage, they assumed he had gotten into trouble at home and was using the journey as an excuse to escape.
"Alright, alright, that's enough. Leave the boring pilgrim alone. Don't expect any interesting answers from him."
Worried that Azadin or Midiam might explode, Tarkiev tried to stop them. But the drunken merchants continued throwing questions at Azadin.
So, Azadin took off his helmet. Since they were traveling together, he couldn't keep his helmet on all the time while eating and drinking. If he was going to reveal his face eventually, it was better to do so now. Underneath the helmet, he wore a blindfold.
"Huh? What's that?"
"I have a wound. It keeps oozing pus."
The blindfold was soaked with what looked like pus. It was actually coated with the oil from Kerim mountain goats, wax esters that made it look like festering discharge.
Of course, the merchants, unaware of the truth, simply accepted it and asked Azadin,
"But can you see?"
"I can see a little through the gap."
Azadin gave that excuse. Since no one wanted to touch or take interest in a blindfold soaked with pus, they all just accepted it without looking too closely.
"Here, drink this!"
The merchants and adventurers offered Azadin a drink.
"Drinking alcohol when a wound is severe will only make it worse."
"But you said the pus keeps coming out anyway, right? Then at this point, drinking or not drinking shouldn't make a difference."
"Haha."
Everyone was drunk and speaking carelessly.
"Oh? You won't drink? Well, we might have to reconsider accepting you as part of the group then. You wouldn't want the Salvation Knight Order to take away those children, would you?"
"By the way, are they your children? Or are they siblings? That girl was really beautiful."
"They are my younger siblings."
"Really? You don't look alike. Even your hair colors are different."
"They're relatives."
"You're traveling on pilgrimage even with such young children?"
"Yes. But there are other relatives we can rely on, so we plan to meet them and discuss our future."
"Haha! How about letting us adopt the girl?"
"..."
Suggesting adoption could mean genuinely raising her as a daughter, but it could also be an indecent proposition—raising a beautiful child only to make her their future concubine.
That's why, when making adoption proposals, one had to be respectful, considerate, and have a serious discussion about how the child would be raised and what their future would entail.
Even considering their drunkenness, these merchants didn't seem to have good character.
"Well, anyway, drink up!"
The drunkards kept pressing Azadin to drink, seemingly determined to get him to drink alcohol.
"Well, I feel bad refusing again and again, so…"
Azadin accepted the drink.
***
As the drinks continued to flow, the intoxicated merchants chatted and laughed.
"I heard there's a fine woman where we're heading."
"Oh yeah, there's a good-looking woman at the lumber mill."
"What? How could there be a beautiful woman in such a backwater place?"
"She's from the Herald Clan."
"…!?"
"What? Herald Clan?"
"Well, to be exact, she was sold as a slave because she's from the Herald Clan. The mill owner bought her."
"A woman from the Herald Clan was sold as a slave? That doesn't make sense. Those bastards are monsters."
"Have you seen one?"
"Yeah, when I was a kid. They're terrifying. How the hell did they manage to capture a woman like that?"
"Oh, well, technically, it's not the woman who's from the Herald Clan, but her father. A herald got a woman pregnant while traveling, and the child was born, but then her family found out."
One of the missions of the Herald Clan was to find successors or spouses outside their clan. Their ancestors had arrived in this land on five wrecked ships. If they only intermarried within their own people, they would eventually weaken.
Without mixing in outside blood, they would suffer from inbreeding, just like the Yaegas Divine Clan. To avoid that fate, the Herald Clan had to mix their blood with the people of Hubris.
When illegitimate children were born from such unions, they had to be taken to the sacred land of the Herald Clan. Otherwise, problems like this would arise.
"Hehe, is she really from the Herald Clan?"
"Maybe some lowlife just had an affair and then passed the child off as part of the Herald Clan to sell her as a slave."
The Emperor and the kings of the Eight Divine Kingdoms had outlawed slavery.
From a ruler's perspective, recognizing slavery only decreased productivity. Unlike countries that could continuously acquire slaves through war, the Eight Divine Kingdoms would only be breeding cultists by allowing slavery.
With the Kurt Divine Clan and other dark forces constantly eyeing humanity, the kingdoms didn't need to create their own rebels.
But to the people of Hubris, the Herald Clan was seen as soulless, unholy beings—no different from a rock on the roadside. And just as kicking a rock wasn't considered assault, enslaving a member of the Herald Clan wasn't considered a crime.
Calling them soulless meant that any cruelty inflicted upon them wouldn't be recorded as a karmic sin in the cycle of reincarnation. No crime, no impurity, no violence, no fraud—anything could be justified when done to the Herald Clan.
In other words, anyone could falsely accuse someone of being part of the Herald Clan just to enslave them.
"Well, anyway, I heard she's really pretty. And if you bring the mill owner a bottle of liquor, you can have her for a night."
"What? Is that true? Any kind of liquor?"
"Hehe. I'd love to have a slave like that."
"You could just buy a child born from her. Though that would cost quite a bit."
"But wouldn't she barely have any Herald Clan blood in her? Then what's the point?"
"Who cares? A slave is a slave."
As they chuckled and whispered among themselves—
—CRASH!
Suddenly, a loud noise rang out, and one of the adventurers, who had just been laughing along, tumbled onto the table.
Azadin stood before him, his face flushed from alcohol.
"Ugh. Y-you bastard!"
"What?"
"What, you want to fight?"