The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 191

Sugar Rush 7

After traveling for half a day from Bell Hoda, Azadin began to see the city of Butuma in the distance. He was impressed by the large city filled with golden buildings.

“Wow… is that Butuma? Even if they have a lot of gold, did they paint the buildings with gold?”

“Ah, that’s not gold paint, it’s Hwangchil.”

Jiswa answered Azadin’s question.

“Hwangchil?”

“Yes. It’s a paint made from a special tree resin. It’s cheaper than gold leaf, but it’s still an incredibly expensive material.”

“That’s amazing. It looks like real gold from afar. Is it durable? Will it not peel off in heavy rain and storms?”

“I believe it’s durable. But it doesn’t mean it won’t peel off at all. It needs maintenance from time to time.”

“Really? That’s impressive. How much does it cost? If it’s cheaper than gold leaf, I’d like to paint my place with it later. Though I’m currently wandering around without a home.”

“Haha. It’s incredibly expensive to paint a personal residence with it. One container of Hwangchil costs three times the price of the same weight in silver coins. And that’s for the lowest grade.”

“Three times the weight in silver? They paint buildings with that? Is that even possible?”

Azadin was shocked by Jiswa’s words. There were many buildings with golden exteriors, and if they were all painted with Hwangchil, was Jiswa’s price for Hwangchil wrong? How could they just slather such expensive paint on the outside of buildings like that?

As Azadin questioned this, Jiswa replied,

“Usually, Hwangchil is used for dishes, art pieces, and furniture. Painting buildings with it is a luxury only Butuma can afford. It’s the capital of Butuma, the land of gold.”

“But isn’t the capital of Butuma called Butuma?”

“People who aren’t from Butuma don’t really understand the difference in pronunciation.”

“They painted with a paint that costs three times the price of silver… That’s amazing. But it doesn’t look like they’re at war yet, I don’t see any Naga troops.”

Azadin admired the city as he looked around.

The center of Butuma was developed around a large crossroads. The width of this crossroads was so wide that six carriages could pass at the same time, and there was a drainage channel on one side.

Just by seeing that this incredibly wide road, including the drainage channel, was neatly paved with flagstones, one could gauge the wealth and prosperity of this city.

“Goodness. They’re so well-off, it’s amazing. But this isn’t the time to sightsee. Well then, shall we go?”

Azadin’s group headed towards the gates of Butuma.

*********

At the gates of Butuma, soldiers were nervously monitoring the people passing by.

“Nagas can disguise themselves as humans and enter, so everyone must cooperate with the inspection!”

“Damn it! There’s so much cargo that needs to be brought in right now, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“The Nagas are attacking ships, so we have to bring cargo by land, and you’re doing this?”

“There’s no need to inspect merchants! Inspect the travelers!”

Merchants, who had to bring goods by land due to the Naga attacks on ships, began to get angry as the customs process took too long.

However, the officer in charge of customs was strict.

“They could be mixed in with the merchant groups! We’re using precious blood mages, so please understand!”

Surprisingly, they were pricking the fingers of those entering the city with needles. A blood mage wearing a blue turban was performing the tedious task of checking if they were human, Naga, or another race using their blood.

“Ugh… this is a big problem.”

In Azadin’s group, there were Shati and Scott, who were disguised as humans. If they were so thorough with their inspections, their identities would surely be revealed.

“That’s a stupid thing to do. The Nagas have already infiltrated Butuma like crazy.”

Shati scoffed at the soldiers who were belatedly conducting inspections.

Of course, it was good to do it now, but there was no point in blocking the Nagas, who could freely move through the waterways and had incredible swimming skills, on land. It would be much better to quickly bring supplies into the city….

That’s how much people feared Nagas disguised as humans.

“By the way, Shati. I’m curious about something.”

“What is it?”

“Are Nagas good swimmers?”

“Yes. The water snake tribe Nagas have gills that allow them to breathe in fresh water, and the sea snake tribe Nagas have gills that allow them to breathe in the sea.”

“But usually, water snakes and sea snakes don’t have gills?”

“They’re not complete gills. They have breathing membranes next to their ears that can touch the water. When those membranes touch the water, it helps them breathe, so they can hold their breath longer underwater. However, water snake Nagas are in danger in seawater, and sea snake Nagas are in danger in fresh water, so they can just close them and act.”

“I see. Then what about the dry land tribe?”

“The dry land tribe doesn’t have those membranes. Their bodies are also heavy, so they’re not very good swimmers. Instead, they have great strength.”

“Hmm. Then they can enter through the city’s drainage channels and sewers as much as they want.”

“More importantly, they’re checking with blood magic in front, what are you going to do?”

“There’s nothing we can do. Jiswa and I will go in separately and meet the Cheonggeon leader. Scott and Shati, can you wait here?”

“Okay, boss. Then can we eat the snacks that Randa Banema gave us?”

“Let’s save the snacks and alcohol Randa gave us for negotiations later and have a regular meal.”

Azadin said that and headed to the checkpoint with Jiswa. He approached the blood mage, who was having trouble with the long line of people waiting for inspection.

“What, what is it?”

“This is Master Jiswa of the Cheonggeon Clan. It seems like we have urgent news and need to see the leader….”

“Ah, a master? But there are so many people waiting for inspection. And there are many officers here who aren’t our brothers, so it’s difficult to just let you pass. Unless you give us something….”

“Will money do?”

“Money is good, but to bribe them with that, you’d have to pour in a lot. On the other hand, the garrison commander likes alcohol. It might be cheaper to give him alcohol.”

“Really? I happen to have something good.”

Azadin took out a bottle of alcohol that he had received from Randa.

“Oh my. This is! Yes. This should do it.”

At that moment, the officer in charge of the checkpoint approached.

“Hey, what’s going on there? Why are you cutting in line?”

“Ah, this person is a master of our Cheonggeon Clan. He says he has urgent business and is asking if he can get inspected first.”

“No way. Do you think he’s the only one?”

“Well, we’re going to give this to the garrison commander as a gift….”

“Hmm. Oh?”

The officer’s eyes shook when he saw the bottle of alcohol.

“Wow. This is Kashasha from Bell Hoda. Such a precious thing! Well, if you’re from the Cheonggeon Clan, your identity is probably confirmed. Okay, let them in.”

The officer took the bottle of alcohol and let Azadin and Jiswa pass without a blood magic inspection.

‘Damn it. If I had known this would happen, I would have brought Scott and Shati too.’

Azadin was flustered because he didn’t expect them to skip the inspection, but he had to hold back because asking if his companions could pass now would surely ruin things.

*********

The city of Butuma was in the middle of defense preparations and was noisy.

Workers were mobilized, and elephants were carrying lumber. They were building barriers with sandbags and wooden fences near the waterways to prepare for the Nagas coming up through the waterways. But it seemed difficult to block them because there were too many waterways.

“Oh, elephants….”

Azadin was excited to see the elephants working, something he had only seen in books.

“Hahaha. Are you amazed, Master?”

“It’s my first time in the Butuma region. Korasar was already very different from where I used to live, but this place is incredibly amazing.”

However, the expressions of those working with the elephants were not very good.

Butuma had a lot of rain during the rainy season, so cities built drainage channels to prepare for floods, and they even built houses on pillars. The ground was usually used as a marketplace, and they would clear it when it rained.

Butuma, which had a close relationship with water due to the rivers, the sea, and the frequent squalls of the rainy season, was a perfect environment for the Nagas to invade.

Therefore, in Butuma, they were carrying out an evacuation operation to move residents living in low-lying areas, where water easily entered and it was difficult to build barriers, to ensure smooth defense.

The problem was that the low-lying areas where water easily entered were where the poorest and most powerless people in Butuma lived.

People who were mired in poverty had a hard time surviving if they lost their homes. You needed some money to live somewhere other than your own home, but for people who had no money and nowhere to turn, the evacuation order, which was inevitably issued for defense, felt harsh.

Moreover, the attitude of the soldiers was also a problem. They looked down on the residents of the low-lying areas, the lower class, and yelled at them.

“Oh my, are you telling us to leave here? That’s too much! We’ve lived here our whole lives!”

“Shut up! If you’ve lived here your whole lives, you’re going to die today anyway, so you have nothing to lose!”

“We’re doing this to protect the city! How dare you interfere with us! You. You’re a Naga disguised as a human!”

The soldiers threatened those who interfered with their work with spears and swords and forcibly evicted them, trying to obtain lumber by dismantling furniture and houses.

When a battle was in full swing, many people died, so there were many empty houses, and life was more important than property, so people didn’t care if their furniture was broken.

However, it was still the beginning of the war, and now that they were strengthening the city’s defenses, people were complaining because they were destroying personal property. However, they couldn’t dare to oppose the Butuma soldiers who were leading the elephants.

“Hmm. The atmosphere isn’t good. The soldiers are tense, so it seems like the situation is bad. Where is the Cheonggeon leader, Jiswa?”

“Yes. The Cheonggeon Clan is this way.”

Even in this situation, Jiswa was excited and guided Azadin.

*********

The Cheonggeon Clan secured many followers by treating the malaria and fever that had broken out in Butuma. The King’s Church considered the Cheonggeon Clan a heretical religion and tried to punish them, but there was a huge backlash from the people.

The Cheonggeon Clan, which cured diseases just by joining, and the King’s Church, which required huge donations to provide treatment.

It was obvious which side the people favored.

Therefore, the current King of Butuma, Manja-Zadek, took steps to regulate the King’s Church from punishing the Cheonggeon Clan without permission. The King’s Church was threatening to excommunicate Manja-Zadek, but now that Coral Sahar had fallen to the Herald Clan, the authority of the King’s Church had plummeted.

“Anyway, people from other regions can’t do much because of the endemic diseases in Butuma. No matter what the King’s Church says, they don’t have the power to overthrow the King of Butuma. It’s a shame that they can’t help Butuma when the Nagas attack. But it’s a good thing for the Cheonggeon Clan.”

“So. The Cheonggeon Clan was recognized by the King of Butuma?”

“Yes. He even gave them a building directly. That’s the Cheonju Pavilion where the Cheonggeon leader resides.”

Jiswa proudly introduced the Cheonju Pavilion to Azadin.