Karnak, Monarch of Death

Chapter 287: In Search of the Archmage (6)

According to the cultist interrogated near the Tower of Dawn, Diogres Kolon’s last known whereabouts had been the central imperial city of Senburg.

”He made it pretty far south,” commented Karnak.

Karnak’s party set off immediately for Senburg. Though it was quite a distance, they pressed on this time and managed to arrive within three days. Upon arrival, they resumed their information-gathering.

”There’s a cult branch here too, right?” Muttered Karnak.

The needle planted in the previous cultist hadn’t just revealed Diogres’s trail. If someone in Senburg had seen him, then naturally, there was someone here to interrogate. So Karnak had pried for details on where those witnesses might be hiding, and got some worthwhile answers.

Late at night, in the alleys behind the city, a woman lay in the shadows, eyes rolled back and frothing at the mouth. She was one of the Black God cultists operating secretly in Senburg.

Upon arrival, Karnak’s group had gone straight for the cult hideout. Then they nabbed someone who looked high-ranking enough. Determining whether someone held a senior position wasn’t hard.

”The stronger the necromancer, the higher the rank. Simple.” Flicking the needle stuck in her head, Karnak asked, ”Where is Diogres Kolon right now?”

She responded in a dazed, hollow voice. ”His last known location was Dunfel City...”

Dunfel City lay much farther south from Senburg.

Karnak stroked his chin. ”So he’s still fleeing in earnest. I assume there’s a cult branch in Dunfel too?”

”Yes,” answered the cultist.

Karnak asked, ”Location?”

The woman obediently spilled everything she knew about the cult’s Dunfel chapter.

Serati, who had been watching from the side, looked on with a curious expression. ”It’s quite different from the Seven Kingdoms Alliance, isn’t it?”

”What is?” Karnak asked.

”Over there, cultists barely knew anything about each other. But here, they seem to have quite a bit of shared information,” responded Serati.

”Well, that’s because the Black God’s Cult has already established a strong presence in the empire,” Karnak said. Secret organizations only suffered from disconnection during their early stages of development. ”Once a network is properly set up, communication tends to improve significantly.”

Just like that, Karnak extracted as much information as he needed about the Dunfel branch from the woman.

And just as he was about to remove the mana needle, Varos interjected. ”You should probably confirm that too, young master.”

”Ah, right.” As if it had only just occurred to him, Karnak continued his questioning. ”Who was the helper that aided Diogres Kolon?”

How could he have forgotten something that important? But there was a reason.

The woman’s answer was identical to the one given by the cultist near the Tower of Dawn. ”I’ve never heard anything about Diogres having a helper.”

”Thought so. She doesn’t know either,” said Karnak.

Unlike Harbert, these people weren’t Elezar’s close confidants. They had no idea there even was a helper, nor that Diogres had lost the use of his magic.

”Well, I don’t expect much, but might as well confirm this too.” Karnak added another question with an indifferent tone. ”I’ve heard the cult’s Holy Sword is currently pursuing Diogres Kolon. Who is that?”

At first, he’d assumed they meant Dreltein Thelix. With a title that grand, it would make sense for the person to at least be a martial king. But according to Harbert, Dreltein wasn’t the cult’s Holy Sword.

—He is the Hierophant of Darkness.

—Ah, so they categorize things like that?

Even Harbert hadn’t known who the Holy Sword was, likely because the individual had only recently joined the cult. Karnak had hoped this woman might know.

”He is the First Blade in service of Tesranach,” the woman said.

Karnak asked, ”Right. So who is that?”

”He who speaks the will of the god through the sword, from the darkness,” was her answer.

He was starting to get frustrated. ”I mean their name. What’s their name?”

”The Holy Sword of the cult is their name,” the woman said.

Karnak asked through gritted teeth. ”Ma’am, I’m asking for their name in the secular world.”

”He has cast off all worldly ties and offered himself wholly to the God of Death,” the woman said.

”Are you purposefully trying to mess with me right now?”

Of course, that wasn’t actually the case. She had a needle in her head. Her consciousness was fully suppressed. There was no chance she was doing it on purpose. She was simply repeating the fanatical speech patterns she’d been conditioned to use.

Karnak glanced at Varos with a tired sigh. ”So basically, they’re hiding their identity.”

Varos shrugged as if it made perfect sense. ”Means they’re someone who can’t be publicly identified.”

Most Black God cultists didn’t even know Elezar or Dreltein were their true leaders. They only recognized them by their titles: the Saintess of Destruction and Hierophant of Darkness.

Those two carried official titles and roles in the outside world. If their real affiliations were exposed, it would cause problems. People like Hudel or Harbert only knew the truth because they were high-ranking.

”If this Holy Sword is also hiding their identity...” Leven looked at Karnak. ”Then they must be a fairly famous figure.”

Still, thanks to this woman, they had a new lead on Diogres’s whereabouts.

”She said Dunfel City. Let’s go.”

***

They arrived in Dunfel City, found a high-ranking cultist, and drove in the needle.

—Diogres was last spotted in the trading city of Valo.

—Still heading south?

They continued onward to Valo, found another high-ranking cultist, and drove in the needle.

—His trail was last seen in Nekransi.

—He went even farther south? What the hell’s down there that he keeps heading toward it?!

There was no helping it. They had to keep chasing him. By now, they had gone so far south that even the climate had started to change. It was getting warmer, and they had to switch from heavy robes to lighter garments.

Finally, they reached Nekransi, found yet another cultist—and drove in another needle. Karnak and Serati exchanged wry smiles as they looked down at the young man who had collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

”Feels like we’ve become wandering acupuncturists or something,” muttered Karnak.

Serati agreed. ”If you just look at our trail, that really is what it looks like.”

From further down the alley, Milia, who had been keeping watch, asked with concern in her voice, ”Are we not going to get caught at this rate?”

No matter how discreet they tried to be, a long tail eventually got stepped on. They’d caused incidents in every city they passed. Wouldn’t the cult start to grow suspicious?

Karnak, however, remained unfazed. ”Shouldn’t be a problem.”

Milia was bewildered. ”How can you be so sure?”

”They’re cultists. The whole world is their enemy.” Karnak himself had never been a cultist. But he did know what it was like to have the entire world against him. ”When the world is your enemy, even when an ally is taken down, you can’t guess who did it. There are just too many suspects.”

”Ah... that makes sense.” Milia felt reassured.

Karnak’s words carried the weight of personal experience, and that alone made them convincing. In any case, the information they gathered as they continued south was more or less the same.

The cultists in each region only kept track of Diogres Kolon’s whereabouts but never stepped forward themselves. They left everything to the cult’s so-called Holy Sword and only offered passive support from the shadows.

Leven furrowed his brow, puzzled. ”None of them are getting involved, even though they don’t know about the helper? You’d think at least one fanatic would try to seize the glory.”

”They also don’t know that Diogres has lost his powers,” Karnak said.

As far as they were concerned, Diogres was still an archmage. It was natural that they were playing it safe. With that, the group continued to track his trail, further and further south.

One month had passed since they left the Tower of Dawn.

Karnak let out a soft chuckle as he gazed at the rolling blue waves before them from atop a hill. ”Wow, we really made it all the way down here, haven’t we?”

Before them stretched a massive city overlooking the sea. It was the historic port city of Terrister, in the southernmost reaches of the empire.

***

The vast sea stretched to the horizon and a hazy blue line could be seen far in the distance. Seagulls circled beneath the vivid, azure southern skies, and the salty tang of the ocean air filled their lungs.

Milia looked around the harbor, eyes wide with wonder. ”Wow... It’s the sea.”

It was the perfect reaction for a teenage girl seeing the ocean for the first time. Not that the twenty-somethings were much different.

”S-So this is the ocean...” Serati struggled to maintain composure.

She stood still with her mouth agape in shock. She had her share of adventure, but she’d never actually made it to the coast.

Even Leven Strauss, noble-born though he was, hailed from a landlocked country.

He tried to sound calm, but his face was visibly flushed. ”It’s just a lot of water, really. The lakes in the great forest are just as big.”

Karnak and Varos chuckled as they watched them.

”Looks like everyone’s amazed,” Karnak commented.

”Who wouldn’t be?” Varos chimed in.

No matter how grown-up they acted, they were all still in their early twenties. To two centuries-old monsters like Karnak and Varos, they were still just kids. Ironically, the youngest of them all—the gray-haired girl—remained completely unfazed.

Milia was confused by her lack of reaction. ”Lapicel, aren’t you impressed?”

”Hmm? Ah, yes.” Lapicel blinked and answered in a flat tone. ”There certainly is a lot of water, just like I heard.”

Milia couldn’t believe it. ”That’s it?”

Serati silently clicked her tongue. Well, her memories are gone, but she probably visited the sea a few times in her previous life.

But there was no need to dig further and risk summoning the Martial King of Cyphras.

Serati casually shifted the topic as she looked around the harbor. ”I always thought I’d come see the sea someday... didn’t think it’d happen like this.”

It wasn’t just the sea that intrigued her. The ships docked at port were fascinating in their own right. They were much larger, sported more sails, and had slimmer builds compared to riverboats.

Terrister was one of the empire’s southern trading hubs. It connected the various parts of the empire through the southern sea routes, and also allowed the empire to engage in trade with the fairies and the Seven Kingdoms Alliance. Thus, ocean-bound ships naturally differed in form from riverboats in many ways.

Leven licked his lips with anticipation. ”We’re at the coast, which means we’ll get to enjoy some fresh seafood, right?”

Karnak responded with a dry jab. ”We didn’t come all this way for a culinary tour, you know.”

”Ugh...” Leven turned red with embarrassment. To hear something like that from Karnak, of all people?

”Oh, don’t be embarrassed. He’s just saying that because he doesn’t like fish,” Varos said, and it seemed to be true.

Karnak’s face immediately twisted in disgust. ”It stinks and it’s salty. And the texture is all slimy and mushy.”

Serati gently tried to coax him. She too wanted to try seafood now that they were at the coast. ”Still, why not try it once? You might like it more than you think.”

”Exactly. And if it’s bad, we can just eat something else,” Varos chimed in.

With the two of them pressing him, Karnak finally relaxed his expression. ”Fine, we can try it after we’re done here.”

It wasn’t mealtime yet. Tasting the port’s seafood would come after they’d found lodging and hunted down the local cultists.

Looking out over the sea, Karnak muttered, ”Surely we won’t have to go any farther south than this.”

Any farther, and it would be nothing but endless ocean.

”No way Diogres would’ve run off under the sea,” he continued.

***

Rough waves surged across the open ocean. A sailing ship pitched and rolled as it made its way forward, at the mercy of the sea. A door creaked open, and a man in his fifties stumbled out of the cabin, clutching the railing as he began to heave violently.

”Bleeegh!”

A man in his thirties rushed out behind him and patted his back in a hurry. He had white hair, red eyes, sharp features, and a lean frame.

The man asked in a concerned voice. ”Are you all right, Master Kolon?”

Once the master of the Tower of Dawn and an archmage, Diogres forced a weak smile and gave a small nod. ”Ugh, I’ll never get used to this damn seasickness.”

The man asked, ”Didn’t you take ships often in the past?”

”I used magic to suppress the nausea back then,” Diogres responded.

The man clicked his tongue. ”A fine example of the downside of magical dependency.”

Still, the nausea had subsided somewhat.

Diogres looked at the man before him with a mix of wonder and amusement. ”It’s funny, Sir Desteran. You and I, in this kind of relationship.”

”I think the same,” Desteran said with a grin. ”I used to think the next time I’d see you would be the day I died.”

”Not the day you slit my throat?” responded Diogres.

”With my skills, there’s no way I could kill an archmage.”

Even as a silver knight and the leader of the continent’s most notorious crime syndicate, Search Black, Desteran would never dare to challenge the Master of the Tower of Dawn.

”And yet here we are, in this situation...” He clicked his tongue as he looked at the weakened Diogres. ”Truly, you never know what the world will throw at you.”