Chapter 352: 185. Naglfar -1 (Part One)
Chapter 352: 185. Naglfar -1 (Part One)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
While walking in the sewer tunnel, I flipped open a bible.
It was just ol’ regular bible you might find in every church around here. All those books, like this one, contained the topic I was interested in.
Information about Purgatory, a world where countless evil spirits lived.
Apparently, this world was covered in an ash-coloured sky, and grim reapers could be seen wandering around everywhere. Zombies filled every nook and cranny your eyes could see, while warships made out of bones cruised on lakes filled with blood.
This bible featured an illustration depicting this kind of scene within its pages. Yup, it looked eerily similar to what I saw when the warp gate to Purgatory was opened up during the Holy King Coronation.
Whoever the author of this tome was, he did a pretty solid job with the illustrations, at least!
“Halt! Who the hell are you?”
My steps taking me forward in the tunnel came to a halt and I looked up and away from the book. There were a couple of lycans present in the sewers, even though holy water was flowing down here.
Huh. They must have been acting as guards since this part of the sewers led directly to the fortress. As for the cloth wrapped around their faces, it must’ve been to prevent them from breathing in the holy water vapours.
I was so absorbed in thinking about Purgatory that I didn’t even notice that I had reached my destination.
I stared at the two lycans absentmindedly. Mm. In situations like this one...
“Howdy!”
Since it had been a while, why don’t I go with a playful approach here?
I could see the Lycans flinch slightly before lowering their guard.
“Looks like he’s a loon.”
“We even have a lunatic showing up in this place now.”
Here was a suspicious-looking guy wearing a bird-beak mask and a robe nonchalantly strolling all alone through the underground sewer tunnels. I had even happily greeted the lycans, too.
Of course they would think that I had lost most of my marbles.
“What do you mean, I’m a loon? You’re being rude.” I took off my bird-beak mask. “Do you even know who I am to say stuff like that?”
The lycans frowned deeply, but then, they flinched grandly after realising who I was. In sheer shock, they tried to stumble back, but then...
The head of the first lycan exploded.
In my right hand was the bible, while my left held a musket aimed at the dead undead beast. I grinned brightly. “I pray that Goddess Gaia’s blessing be with you lot.”
“H-H-Holy Em...!”
Blam-!
I made sure to blow up the other lycan’s head, too.
Since we were in the underground tunnels, surely the gunshot wouldn’t be heard outside.
I stared at the staircase leading up to the fortress.
Marcus’ current location had already been discovered. Once I rescued him, there would be nothing holding me back.
“Well, then.” I sent out a communication to Hans. [Hey, Hans. Do your best to buy lots of time, alright?]
Time to begin my Operation: Hostage Rescue.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
A carriage trundled along on the road. Escorted by several Paladins, the row of wagons following behind this vehicle carried provisions and supplies meant to feed the countless refugees.
Hans Jerurami was riding in the carriage, and stared at his legs, which were trembling with sheer anxiety. Charged with being the Empire’s chief negotiator, he was on his way to ‘negotiate’ with Duke Agares.
As they neared the capital of Chaves fiefdom, the communication crystal ball clutched tightly in his hand suddenly began emitting a bright glow.
[Hey, Hans. Do your best to buy lots of time, alright?]
‘Well, sire. Even if you say that, I’ll have you know that I’m an Alchemist, not a bloody negotiator!’
Hans held his forehead helplessly. He had been grilled by His Majesty on all matters related to Purgatory, but now, he was even told to sit face to face with a Vampire Duke?
Wasn’t this too much?
“Are you nervous, Lord Hans?”
Hans glanced next to him. A young woman with a mature, dignified air about her sat there. She had deep blue eyes and wavy golden hair.
However, she was clad in a set of light armour, not some attendant’s attire, in preparation for the upcoming battle. Gauntlets were fit to her fists, while her lengthy hair had been tied neatly behind her head.
‘It’s a relief that a Saintess is accompanying me, at least!’ Hans thought to himself, before speaking up, “Lady Alice, aren’t you nervous as well?”
“Of course, very much so. Without a doubt, His Majesty must’ve done something outlandish and reckless once more,” Alice replied with a short groan under her breath.
The Astoria family had been charged with aiding the Imperial Family for what felt like an eternity. Nothing would change just because she started grumbling now.
Hans looked outside the carriage’s window. His vehicle had split off from the rest of the wagons as the procession headed towards the refugee camp under Charlotte’s command, aiming to finish their job of delivering supplies.
Only the carriage ridden by Hans and Alice continued on towards the capital of Chaves fiefdom.
The gateway in the city’s defensive outer wall opened up.
“It’s finally begun,” Alice murmured softly and Hans nodded in silence.
Vampires surrounded the carriage and escorted it along.
Since Hans was here as the Empire’s negotiator under the pretext of a hostage trade, the undead wouldn’t try to harm him during the negotiation process.
‘At least, that’s... what I need to tell myself.’ Hans licked and chewed his dry lips.
The procession left the city centre and eventually reached the fortress. The vampires glared at the carriage with intense eyes.
The vehicle’s door opened up, and Hans exited, followed by Alice.
“Come this way, livestock.”
“...” Hans wordlessly nodded and followed after the guiding vampire. Alice, acting as his escort, stuck closely to his side.
The destination they were led off to was the fortress’s VIP chamber. When the doorway opened up, Hans instinctively froze.
‘So, that’s the Vampire Duke...’
A creature with the lower torso of a crocodile and the upper torso of an old man stood there. Maybe it was impossible for him to sit down, because he remained standing on the luxurious cloth laid out on the floor. In front of him was an empty couch.
When Hans stood there in daze and didn’t move, Alice prompted him, “Lord Hans.”
He nodded belatedly and settled down on the couch, directly opposite Agares. And then... the negotiations began.
There were no such things as greetings or exchanging pleasantries.
Unlike bargaining with humans, the vampires were existences that simply had to be killed, no matter what. It was the same for the vampires, as well.
So, both parties tacitly agreed to forego any useless ceremony.
“I don’t see Ruppel and Duke Kirum with you. How come?”
Agares knew who he was dealing with today. This human was none other than Hans Jerurami, currently one of the top ten most influential individuals in the Theocratic Empire .
He was deeply trusted by the Holy Emperor, and was acknowledged as the expert in all sorts of alchemical techniques. He was also responsible for increasing the Empire’s military might by thirty percent in the past five years.
As far as the vampires were concerned, this human was a target that simply had to die, no matter the cost!
Hans crossed his arms in front of his chest and replied in an unperturbed voice, “You must show us first that His Highness Lord Marcus is still safe.”
“Have you forgotten that we have plenty of other hostages? Marcus Ariana, three thousand survivors in this city, and the spies you fools sent here. Do you not understand who holds the advantage in this negotiation?”
“What will you do if we decide to abandon the hostages?”
“If that was the case, you wouldn’t even have shown up here in the first place. Besides, aren’t you too much of a coward who doesn’t have the guts to do that?”
“What makes you so confident of such a thing?”
The corners of Agares’s lips curled up derisively, and he pointed at Hans. “The proof is you, shivering away in fear like that.”
Hans froze up, and lowered his head to look at his own legs. They were trembling away without him even being conscious of it.
“On top of that, you’re also sweating, too.”
Indeed, a trickle of cold sweat dribbled down Hans’s cheek.
“Unlike your reputation, you’re rather cowardly, aren’t you? Surely, you wouldn’t have volunteered for this task, either. Does that mean the Holy Emperor has decided to get rid of a pawn?”
“Ah, mm, well, that is...” Hans looked flustered and lost for a moment there. He sucked in some air to control his breathing, then replied, “It’s unfortunate for you, but I’m not so gutless that I’d get scared by some mosquitoes.”
“Huh. That’s an entertaining way to bluff.”
“...”
“In reality, aren’t you nervous? Nervous that, right now, right in this place...”
Vampires and lycans began ambling around suspiciously near the couch.
“...we might try to reap your lives?”
Despite all that bloodthirsty pressure heaped on her, Alice remained unperturbed, her hands demurely gathered in front of her.
Hans saw her example, then swallowed down his dry throat. ‘Right, this bastard is deliberately trying to scare me.’
The really scared ones should be the vampires, instead. Well, there was an outbreak of a deadly plague doing the rounds in this city, after all.
Besides, the Heavenly Army had also set a camp outside the city limits. The vampires should be feeling really anxious, since they were basically trapped inside a prison with no way out.
The proof of their anxiety was Agares yapping on and on, obviously trying to scare him like this.
[Hans. It’s done.]
A familiar voice came from the communication crystal ball in his inner pocket. Alice seemed to have heard that, because she slowly separated her gathered hands, then clenched her fists.
“Nervous, you say? Ahaha. Yes, you’re right. Nervous. That’s right,” Hans spoke up while exaggeratedly nodding away several times. He then loosened his collar a little. “Of course I’m nervous. I mean, my job was to keep you occupied in this room for the time being, after all. But then again, you did quite well to waste time by not seriously negotiating but picking fault with me, instead. Oh, dear stupid mosquito.”
“What was that?”
Just as Agares began cocking his head in puzzlement, the door to the VIP chamber was flung wide open.
“D-Duke Agares, sir!”