Sinner, traitor, exile.
—Such was Marina’s reputation in Aino City.
Or perhaps, the judgnt of history?
After all, no one exiled to the Mist Sea had ever returned alive. To call it the judgnt of history—a final verdict—was perfectly reasonable.
Marina could accept her own infamy.
To the victor go the spoils. As the loser of a political struggle, it was naturally an unrealistic fantasy to hope for a good reputation while her enemies were in power.
But then, as Marina learned more from Muer, her expression changed in an instant!
After her exile, the upper echelons of the Divine Hall of Fertility, still not satisfied, had brought the butcher’s knife down upon her family!
A prominent family of Priests, with a lineage stretching back nearly a hundred years, was annihilated in the slaughter, turned to ash and smoke, and reduced to offerings for a blood sacrifice!
Upon hearing this, Marina trembled as if struck by lightning. "How could they?!"
Exile to the sea was a political compromise.
Logically, all of Marina’s ’sins’ should have been wiped clean the mont she sailed into the Mist Sea!
Her family should never have been implicated... At least not openly. In theory, her family should have been able to continue sending their kin to serve as Priests in the Divine Hall after ten years.
This was one of the unspoken rules of the Divine Hall’s internal struggles.
After all, if infighting were allowed to run rampant without any restraint, it would harm the collective interests of the Divine Hall.
However, this ancient custom had been broken by the current generation!
Marina’s family still t a brutal end after her exile; even children a few years old were not spared...
After that, the higher-ups of the Divine Hall even launched continuous purges within Aino City in the na of ’exterminating Marina’s remnants,’ sacrificing many innocent Priests and commoners to their god...
And that was precisely why Muer had such a vivid impression of Marina.
...
THUD.
After hearing everything, Marina looked utterly lost, as if her spine had been ripped out, and collapsed to her knees.
Although she had been coerced into returning to the Far South Continent with Su Ye, a part of her had still harbored the thought of returning ho in glory to see her friends and family again.
But now, that beautiful hope had shattered with a pop, like a bubble in the sun!
Her mind was a chaotic ss.
"Wiped out completely?"
Su Ye’s eyes flickered as he fell into thought.
When he had been reading through the mories earlier, he hadn’t paid this much attention and had simply skimd past it.
But now, mulling it over again, he sensed sothing was off!
’Slaughtering an entire family of Priests... and even continuously killing other Priests?’
’Purging remnants? That has to be just a superficial reason! After all... this kind of behavior seems like killing for the sake of killing.’
’Wait... could that be the purpose?’ Su Ye’s eyes shifted slightly.
’Perhaps, twenty years ago, the Divine Techniques bestowed by the Goddess of Fertility began to diminish... and to preserve their own power, the Divine Hall’s upper echelons chose to reduce the number of Priests and increase the blood sacrifices?’
’If that’s the case...’
’The world preys on the gods, the gods prey on mortals, and mortals kill and prey on each other...’
’How pathetic...’ Su Ye sighed to himself.
’But, if this is true, the Goddess of Fertility... might be even weaker than I imagined.’
Su Ye mused.
Then, he looked at the utterly dejected Marina and spoke softly.
"Do you want revenge?"
’Her entire clan was annihilated, leaving her all alone. She hates the rulers of Aino City to the bone, yet she’s also quite well-known... She has great value!’
"Revenge..." Marina murmured.
In an instant, a fla ignited in her vacant eyes!
"My Lord, please help !"
"I’m willing to give anything!"
...
「A few days later.」
CREAK.
The wheels rumbled on.
Across the wilderness, an Earth Dragon with a scale-covered back, moving on all fours, pulled a spacious and luxurious dragon carriage at a rapid pace.
Muer sat at the front, holding the reins and acting as the driver.
Now, a bright red feather was tucked into the bronze coronet on his head.
This was the symbol of an Initiated Warrior!
Having t a benefactor and been granted a secret dicine, Muer, who had lingered on the threshold of initiation for years, had finally stepped onto the ’First Ladder’ and beco an Initiated Warrior.
With such strength, he could establish a foothold and make a life for himself in any city-state on the Far South Continent.
It could be said that he had leaped across social classes in a single step!
’But...’ A worry surfaced in Muer’s mind.
’The exiled Marina...’
The Priest who was said to have been exiled to the Mist Sea was now sitting in the carriage right behind him.
Furthermore, she had attached herself to a venerable person of unknown origin but imnse power.
They were heading toward Aino City, a place currently embroiled in turmoil...
Even with his lack of political sensitivity, Muer knew the sinister implications. Words like ’seize power’ and ’usurp’ surfaced one after another in his mind, making his heart pound with fear.
’But... what choice do I have?’
’This venerable one gave the secret dicine and chose as his attendant... bestowing upon honor and power.’
’Besides, without him, my daughter and I would have been corpses in the wilderness long ago...’
At this thought, determination appeared in Muer’s eyes.
’Sharing in his glory and disgrace, betting everything on this benevolent venerable one—for a down-and-out Warrior like , with no background to speak of, this is the best choice!’
...
Inside the carriage.
A dim yellow candle lamp flickered, casting a soft glow.
’This guy... is pretty sensible, huh?’
Su Ye leaned back in the soft chair with a faint smile.
He wasn’t particularly concerned about Muer.
He found the man agreeable enough, so he casually decided to nurture him a bit.
If he remained sensible, he could be trained and put to use. If he developed any treacherous thoughts, he could be killed just as casually.
In any case, he was just a spare pawn on the board.
HOOO...
He held a white porcelain cup and blew on it gently.
However, its contents were not Spirit Tea, but a light brown, viscous liquid similar to hot cocoa that gave off a fragrant aroma.
This, like the Earth Dragon Su Ye had tad, was a specialty of the Far South Continent!
The drink had an excellent taste, was rich in Spiritual Qi, and was a favorite beverage among the nobility of the Far South Continent!
In the language of the Divine Continent, the na for this drink was rather long and complicated, so Su Ye simply decided to call it ’hot cocoa.’
’Naming things is part of colonization!’
Enjoying this ’hot cocoa’ was a pleasant way to adapt to local customs.
’Many of the Far South Continent’s specialties are very valuable... If I monopolize the trade and ship them to the Outer Sea, it wouldn’t be hard to make a tenfold profit...’
Su Ye thought to himself.
On this journey, besides earning experience points, he had also been scouting out the specialties of the Far South Continent. So far, he had already discovered twenty or thirty valuable or relatively unique Spiritual Objects.
All of these things could generate enormous profits!
Just as he was thinking, Su Ye’s brows suddenly furrowed slightly.
A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed a troop of forty cavalryn surging toward them from a distance.
The leader had a high-bridged nose and ice-cold eyes. His hat was embroidered with a wolf emblem and had two grayish-white feathers tucked into it, and he radiated a powerful Evil Qi!
’A bloodline holder of Tewa Kan?’
User Comments
0 comments from readers