Chapter 35: Molar
A month after Todur's death
The rebellion is still going.
No one in this village knows what I did.
"Hear ye! Hear ye! Drake is at the capital"
I hope that only royalties are aimed. But still, royal armies are on guard now.
Even though people are making a way without resistance for drakes, this is not an act of treason. If a drake army marches to the capital with royal armies armed to the teeth, they either use these armies as an intimidation or to take heads of royalties who are aware of their crime. If normal people who are not in royal armies attempt to stop by any means, they will either be cut in half right on spot or the whole place burnt down without any effort or delay. That is why most of the places willingly or unwillingly make way for the drake army to march through
Between the Black Fang indiscriminately killing and pillaging people for fear mongering and resources and drake's case, Black Fang would be stopped at the frontier. However, drake is a very honorbound race who would never kill a single life that never threatens or harms them in any mean.
Right now, the tavern is kinda quiet now, I pay for the drink and leave this place.
****
"So the elusive criminal was apprehended?" I sharpen my dagger
"Yeah, I did it on my own. Would you now get me a new spear?" Alira puts her spear on the table. The spear's tip is now very jagged, mostly unusable. If someone uses this thing, it would be a challenging effort to pull this one out of the opponent's flesh.
"Perhaps, you should take a break now"
"You lazy old man"
"Respect your senior, brat"
"Fine. How is the thing going? Drakes are storming the capital and rebels are well making fuss"
"First off, they would not collaborate because of different goals. Even the current king calmed the drake down not to further assaulting the castle, the rebels are terrifyingly using hit and run tactic to get more advantage for assissination attempts''
"But the armies are still camping outside of the capital?"
"Yes"
"How large are the armies?"
"Roughly around thousands fire powers"
"Give me number of people"
"Around 900 from what I heard"
It is true that an average drake can take head on ten humans with equivalent skills. But if a drake lord fights human lords, it would take a hundred lords combining power to take down a single drake lord. Not to mention that if a drake lord can lead an army to skirmish, it would be devastating to imagine if a village can exist after a storm like that.
****
The morning comes, I and Alira hop on my wagon to get her a new spear from the sandfolk's place. While Alira is selecting her spear, I stroll around for new items or innovation.
Let's see, I see a strange small clock, strange foldable tools, some kind of weird telescope,etc.
In this place, sandfolks come and go just to get things. Whether it is to satisfy their curiosity as merchants and artisans or to invent something new.
I sense there is some kind of foul strong smell from over there. A liquid that is green and transparent is contained in flasks.
"What is this thing?" I pick up a flask of that
"I created this myself from oil and a bit of heat" The woman covers her face with a fan
"Is this something dangerous?"
"Yes. Onespark, Kaboom."
"Then why these things aren't used in guns"
"Still the same problem. Kaboom"
"I understand a bit now"
"For your curiosity, I call this thing drake's saliva"
"Really? Of all joke you can make"
"Of course, for the real name, it is called Hell's breath"
"I would like to take one or two of these, Nortus's coins?"
"Ideally, I would rather not take that kind of coins. But say, you rather have something inside that pouch. Can I see them?"
"No. That is my invention but I don't want it to be known by anyone else"
"I see. How about wine? In this place, it is rare to have a good one."
"Sorry, I don't have magical tools to preserve that liquid. It is usually ruined by the heat of the desert, you know?"
"You have goats?"
"As for pulling, yeah?"
"Would you mind milking them? Two flasks for one Hell's breath"
"Deal"
We shake our hands before knowing each other's names.
****
After taking the milk, I trade with that strange lady. Apparently, she was some sort of alchemist before.
Two flasks of this flammable liquid might be useful. I have to be careful while transporting this and store this somewhere in my shop
"Old man, can we get back to Nakitel?" Alira holds a new spear.
"Yeah, we depart now"
"What is that weird liquid?"
"Dangerous stuff. It is very sensitive and very flammable"
"And what is your plan to use it?"
"No clue but it might help in a way"
****
Back to Nakitel, It is kind of peaceful during the daytime.
Sun is shining and people just do their usual business. Well, there are some decapitated in bags of those mercenaries who are holding. Also there is an execution at the gallows.
"Today we are going to execute a fugitive criminal, Mawl Abish. His crime is identity theft, mass murdering women and children, insulting royal guards and lastly, an attempt to use necromancy against the whole village. Any last word, you foul living?" The crier stomps his foot
"Tch! I guess my luck ran out eh? To be fair, there is another mass murder and also a liar in this village beside me. I am a dead man now, I have no reason to lie right?" He smiles
"Proceed to hang this man up high and let the crows eat his stenchful flesh" The crier signals for the executioner to hang that criminal.
I wait until he is dead then I just smile
I am a liar that you spoke of. But you can't point at me even in your last breath eh?
****
At night, I walk near the gallows. To see a wandering ghost, I consume the ghost without any eye witness. I have six souls now.
I feel stronger.
I take a stroll back to my home. But on the way, I can sense something is going wrong. I feel like I am being watched
Or perhaps, it is just my paranoia.
****
Something isn't right. The news of drakes pulling back away from the capital gives me a question about what Nortus has done to convince them.
Surely, there must be an explanation about this sudden pullback. Because if a drake wants to vent anger, he will follow his target to the end of the world.
Another thing bothers me, The 4th prince was injured heavily during a skirmish. This is not a lie to boost morale of 1st prince's believers nor to extinguish the hope of rebellion. I saw it with my own eyes of the other body.
I need to get more things to favor me in the scale. Flammable liquid, gun and bullets, dagger are all I have now for the situation. But I lack of souls, I need more. I hunger for more.
But sometimes, I do feel like I am getting closer to those ghouls who consume corpses. But I want to do it in my own sane, not in blind hunger like those things.
What else do I need?
Perhaps, some teleportation scrolls and captured monsters to release them in the castle to make things more chaotic for the 1st prince to handle.
Fortunately, I know how to draw those teleportation scrolls that serve my purpose but I need some magic to pour into them
I might need to either capture some monsters or create my own. Like those experiments with those goats to create
Maybe this time, I should create something beyond human imagination. Stitching souls and bodies from many races should give me quite an advantage in terms of surprise and power. The problem is that the vessel that should be strong enough to hold as many souls as possible while staying sane is quite hard to find.
Drake, no due to pride
Dwarf, too small
Human, a gambling dice
Orc, too much issue
Elves, too flimsy
Maybe I should hunt down a dragon to make the vessel.