Azadin and his party traveled westward for a day. Upon reaching a high hill, Azadin had Midiam and Ishmael use foresight magic, while he himself climbed a tree to keep watch over the rear.
There was no sign of any pursuers, suggesting they had successfully shaken off Judge Zekt.
"Phew. Good."
Confirming that there was no pursuit, Azadin let out a sigh of relief.
"The warding doll seems to be working properly."
"So, what will you do now?"
"For now, let's track down the Nagas who escaped from the count's territory. They must be carrying a considerable amount of the Book of the Divine King."
"You needed time to recover, and you spent time fighting that Holy Knight. By now, they would've long since fled."
Ishmael folded his fingers as he counted.
"You wasted four days recovering. After four days, they'd be long gone. Do you still think there's a chance?"
"I admit that the chances are slim. But we don't have any other leads on a copy of the Book of the Divine King, do we? If we keep tracking the Nagas, we might come across some other information."
Without high expectations, Azadin decided to follow the Nagas' trail.
"Ishmael, use the bone wand."
"Huh? Right now?"
"Yes."
"It'll be useless."
There were plenty of ways to evade detection magic, and the Nagas who had escaped from Count Salasma's castle had already used those means.
Using it now would be a waste of the bone wand's mana, as there was no way the detection spell would work. Ishmael said as much, but when he used the bone wand…
"Huh?"
It indicated that a copy of the Book of the Divine King was nearby.
"What the…?"
"As expected."
Azadin grinned triumphantly.
"We're not the only ones suffering from unexpected mishaps."
***
The Nagas were a proud race. From a human perspective, they were a cruel and horrific species that bred humans like livestock and held blood festivals daily. But from the Nagas' perspective, they took pride in having ended the rule of the Nether and being the first to establish a civilized nation on the land of Hubris.
Just as humans worshiped the Yaegas Divine Clan for overthrowing Naga rule, the Nagas revered their own empire, which had ended the reign of the formless gods of the Nether and once ruled over the continent of Hubris.
The Ortesia sisters, as members of the Nagas, had pledged themselves to Count Kazel's service, willing to make any sacrifice to restore the Nagas as the dominant force in this land. Their goal was to obtain a copy of the Book of the Divine King, uncover the secret of the Yaegas Divine Clan's power, and rebuild the Nagashura Empire.
But due to that detestable herald of the emperor, Count Kazel had perished, and two of the Ortesia sisters who served him had died as well. The youngest, Shati, barely managed to escape from the collapsing count's castle with a copy of the Book of the Divine King in her possession.
So why was she now in a damp underground cell?
"…Where is this…?"
Shati stared at the iron bars in front of her, puzzled. The dingy underground chamber had walls of packed earth, and rusted iron bars embedded in them. Though old, they were thick and sturdy, impossible to break with human strength. Her head throbbed.
"What… happened?"
The moment she opened her mouth, bile rose from her stomach.
"Drugs…?"
Her memory started returning. She had eaten the meal served at the inn the night before and fallen asleep. Then, when she regained consciousness, she was in a prison.
"Those filthy bastards…"
Realizing she had been caught in the schemes of human criminals, Shati gritted her teeth. Normally, she would never eat food offered by strangers. But this area was suffering from a drought, and she had to flee in a hurry, leaving her no choice but to accept a meal.
And now, she was in this situation.
"Damn, those warm-blooded apes! If I get out of here…"
She gathered all her strength to break the iron bars. Just then—
—BANG!
A commotion erupted.
"Aaaagh! What, what the hell?!"
"Damn it! M-monster!"
"Grrrrr!"
Chaos erupted from within the underground chamber. It seemed that a Naga agent who had escaped with her was now engaged in combat with humans.
"Martin?!"
Shati called out the Naga agent's name as she desperately tried to break the iron bars.
By the time she finally managed to break free, the entire underground chamber had already fallen silent. Panicked, she stepped out of the prison and found a large slaughterhouse. Human corpses hung from the walls.
"Urk…!"
The inn's inhabitants had been ambushing fellow humans—selling the women into slavery and butchering the men for meat. Judging by the fact that all the hanging bodies were male and most had been butchered, it was clear what was happening.
At the center of the slaughterhouse lay the corpse of a Naga, pierced by a spear, surrounded by the dead bodies of the inn's residents. The bastards must have planned to sell Shati, since she was a woman, while slaughtering the male agent for meat.
Desperate, the agent must have revealed his true form. But, restrained by chains, he couldn't fight properly.
In the end, the fight between the unarmed Naga and the well-armed cannibals resulted in mutual destruction.
"Oh, my god…"
Shati frowned and scanned the area. Before long, she found her bag in a closet. Thankfully, the copy of the Book of the Divine King was still inside, untouched.
"These damned, accursed warm-blooded apes… huh?"
But as she stepped out of the underground chamber, she was met with a group of armed bandits.
"Huh?!"
"Wasn't this woman supposed to be in prison?"
"Shit!"
They immediately took up their weapons and pointed their spears at her, wary and tense. These men were likely comrades of the bandits who had just died in the underground chamber.
When they realized that the man they had captured had transformed into a Naga and fought back, they must have assumed that his female companion was a Naga as well and called for reinforcements.
Unaware of this, Shati had let her guard down, thinking all the inn's villains had already perished.
"Ugh…"
The bandits' eyes locked onto her, their gazes brimming with greed.
There were too many of them.
And the look of lust in their eyes was unbearably repulsive.
'My sisters had no choice but to offer their bodies to win over that Count Kazel. But that was for the greater cause—to obtain a copy of the Book of the Divine King. These filthy, despicable warm-blooded apes… dare to lust after me, with no cause or reason?!'
However, there were too many enemies, and long weapons like spears and six-foot staves were fearsome even in the hands of those unskilled in martial arts.
"This woman is incredibly beautiful. Is she really a monster?"
"What else would she be?"
"It'd be such a waste to kill her…"
"Hey! Don't underestimate the Nagas. The one earlier had both arms tied up, yet still managed to spew venom from its mouth and kill someone."
Since they had already fought another Naga, they didn't let their guard down, closing in while keeping Shati surrounded. Then, the man who seemed to be their leader spoke to her.
"Hey, surrender, Naga woman."
"What?"
"Boss, what are you thinking?"
"Lord Lantarik will pay a high price. Naga woman, wouldn't that give you a better chance to escape rather than ending up on a spit here?"
"..."
"What do you say? If you surrender, put on this collar."
The bandit leader said this while holding out a restraint reinforced with iron on wood. It was designed to secure both the neck and one hand within the same plank.
"You want me to put it on myself?"
"That's right. Once you fasten it, the lock automatically secures itself, so you won't be able to remove it on your own. Convenient, isn't it?"
"..."
Shati sighed and grabbed her bag. The bag had protective magic cast on it to ward off detection spells targeting the Book of the Divine King.
Under normal circumstances, there was no reason to deactivate the protective magic and attract pests after the Book of the Divine King. But in a situation like this, wouldn't it be better to draw someone in?
'I'll lure in those after the Book of the Divine King and make them fight these bandits. I'm still under the effects of the drug. Rather than fighting and dying, I have no choice but to surrender for now and wait for an opportunity.'
Shati released the protective magic on her bag and handed it over to the bandits.
"Fine. I'll wear the collar."
As soon as Shati fastened the restraint herself, the bandits finally relaxed.
"Wow, as expected of the boss. You're incredible."
"No, this isn't something to celebrate. The fact that this Naga is complying so easily… she's definitely planning something."
"What do we do with this Naga corpse?"
"Hmm, it looks terrifying… should we have it stuffed?"
"If we say we killed a Naga, no one will believe us… we should leave something behind as proof."
"No, we'll use it for meat."
"What?"
Even the bandits were surprised, and Shati was utterly shocked.
"You primitive warm-blooded apes… what did you just say? You're going to eat Martin?"
"That's right."
The bandits hesitated, looking at each other.
"Is it even edible?"
"Nagas are monsters that eat humans."
"We've already been butchering and selling human meat, so a Naga shouldn't be any different…"
"Ah, but what about the venom? It could be poisonous."
"If it's snake venom, just boiling it will neutralize it. People eat venomous snakes that way too."
The cannibalistic bandits, who had been killing and selling human flesh, were now contemplating eating a Naga as well.
To Shati, this was an outrageous and unbearable farce.
The proud descendants of the Nagashura Empire, devoured by these filthy warm-blooded apes?
"Ugh, these disgusting warm-blooded apes!"
Shati seethed as she watched them.
"Stay quiet, young lady. We only sacrificed this guy because of you. When we saw a pretty woman, we figured we could sell her, but who would've thought she was a Naga? We've taken quite a loss here."
The bandit leader said this while gesturing to his men.
"Prepare the iron-barred wagon. We need to sell off the slaves quickly."
***
Shati, still wearing the restraint, was taken to the storage area where the other slaves were kept.
The warehouse was filled with women, but unlike her, none of them were restrained at the neck. Instead, they all wore shackles on their ankles, chained together.
"Damn, they didn't eat any of it. You'd better eat when you're given food. If your health declines, your value as a product drops."
The bandits clicked their tongues at the untouched bowls of porridge inside the storage. But that porridge was no ordinary meal.
"You're feeding humans to humans? You wretches have completely lost your minds!"
"You're a Naga, aren't you? Nagas eat humans too."
"For your information, that's an old tradition. Younger Nagas don't particularly enjoy eating humans. You lot are just a disgusting delicacy!"
"Hahahaha."
The bandits burst into laughter at Shati's reaction.