Chapter 165. Disguise (3)
There was only one reason Anagin suddenly invoked the name of the Chiron Tower.
To create confusion.
From the fisherman mage who kept grinding his gears, to the situation of the fishing villages being different from what they had heard, to the Barbaroi Cult whose intentions were impossible to read.......
The entire board was already far too chaotic.
If it were just chaotic, that would be one thing, but the real problem was that it felt as if they were dancing in the palm of someone’s hand.
Compared to how complicated the situation was, Anagin knew far too little.
A perfect position to be used.
So Anagin decided to throw the Chiron Tower into the mix and amplify the confusion.
How complicated would the heads of the Barbaroi Cult bastards get if they were told the Chiron Tower had suddenly intervened?
When people’s heads get complicated, mistakes are inevitable.
From Anagin’s perspective, it was only fair.
Of course, there were concerns.
‘What if the Barbaroi Cult hears about the Chiron Tower and flees?’
‘Then that’s just unfortunate.’
‘Are you joking!’
‘I’m serious. But do you really think those guys can just flee? If they’ve gone as far as planting mixed-bloods, it means they’ve invested a lot here.’
There was no rebuttal.
As Anagin said, they had invested too much to simply abandon it.
Unless the main force of the Chiron Tower actually stormed in, would they really flee just because a mere scout had arrived?
The probability was lower than expected.
More likely, they would test the waters at least once before fleeing.
‘After lying that we’re from the Chiron Tower, what then?’
‘It’s not a lie, it’s a bluff. That distinction matters, so keep it in mind.’
‘Anyway. What next?’
‘Well... we watch how the Barbaroi Cult reacts and gather information. Proactively.’
The fisherman mage and the others agreed with Anagin.
At first glance, it seemed like a reckless plan, but surprisingly, it struck at the core.
After all, their situation had diverged too much from what they originally knew.
If they had gone in blind, trying to capture a priest, they might have been the ones ambushed instead.
It might be the right answer to admit that the situation had changed and gather information once again.
Risks would follow, but going on like this was extremely dangerous anyway.
Above all, there was one clear advantage.
Compared to disguising themselves as merchants and indirectly probing for information, Anagin’s method would yield more certain results.
“The Barbaroi Cult has been in contact with this village for about 20 or 30 years. At least as far as I know...”
As if to prove it, the village chief, who had been trying to act dignified, brought Anagin to his house and began spilling information while sweating profusely.
“Originally, they only demanded one or two young villagers each year. In return, they said they would help us catch fish.”
According to the village chief, the fishing village had long since run out of fish.
Just as Anapik’s very nature explained why it was called Anapik, where people struggled to settle.
At that time, strangers—the Barbaroi Cult—approached and said they would help them catch fish, demanding that one or two young villagers be sacrificed every year.
Whether male or female, they would take them away, have them bear mixed-blood children, then return them and have the village raise those children.
A story so revolting it was hard to even listen to, yet the village chief shamelessly made excuses.
“It may sound disgusting to you, but—”
“Yeah, I feel like throwing up.”
Anagin frowned and spoke his honest impression.
He could have just let it pass, but it was too revolting not to say something.
For a moment, the village chief’s face twisted in resentment, but perhaps due to his experience of appeasing the Barbaroi Cult, he quickly regained composure and continued making excuses.
“We had no choice. The fish had disappeared, and the village was dying… At the time, there was no other option.”
The village chief desperately poured out excuses no one had even asked for.
Perhaps because of that, Anagin felt nothing at all.
From Anagin’s perspective, it was nothing more than a cowardly excuse.
Wasn’t it?
If there was no way to survive, they should have moved somewhere else. How could they think of offering up people, knowing what would happen to them?
Even if it truly had been unavoidable, they should have fled with the villagers once they had the means.
But instead, the village chief and the others had simply stayed here and lived like this. Because it was easier.
That was why, to Anagin, everything he said sounded like hollow nonsense.
If it were up to him, he would’ve slapped him across the face and told him to shut up.
But Anagin was a man who could separate business from personal matters (when he felt like it).
So he pretended to sympathize and listened.
“Oh, I see. Then why did things suddenly change?”
Anagin asked why the Barbaroi Cult’s conditions had changed.
Originally, offering one or two youths per year had been enough, but recently, new conditions had been added.
According to what the village chief had just said.
They said they would make the village more affluent by letting them catch more fish, so they should increase the number of sacrificed youths, and villages with enough resources should even go outside and bring back practitioners or mages.
An action that was clearly different from their previous route of secretly encroaching on influence.
The exact reason was unknown, but it felt like something urgent had come up.
And though it was just a feeling, it seemed related to the Ruin on the island where the Barbaroi Cult was.
Anagin hoped that feeling was correct.
If they had changed their approach, it meant the Ruin was that important, and the more important it was, the less likely the Barbaroi Cult would flee.
“I’m not entirely sure about that either. They only said they needed more offerings....... But.”
“Yeah?”
“When will the heroes of the Chiron Tower... arrive?”
The village chief asked very cautiously. Afraid, yet unable to hold back.
After all, the only reason he was spilling everything to Anagin was because of the Chiron Tower.
Anagin had introduced himself as a scout or advance party sent under a request from the Chiron Tower, and the village chief had believed him and immediately switched sides.
Or rather, he had no choice but to.
Once it was revealed that he had colluded with the Barbaroi Cult, refusing to cooperate could get him killed on the spot.
A perfectly rational choice.
Even if he remained loyal to the Barbaroi Cult, after the fish-men had been killed and their identities exposed, it would be hard to avoid punishment.
It was better to provide information to the Chiron Tower and grasp at a chance of survival.
Even if the village became poor again after the Barbaroi Cult disappeared, that was a problem for later. Right now, survival comes first.
Of course, the part about the Chiron Tower coming was all a bluff.
“Don’t worry about that. Just answer the other questions. Depending on your answers, I’ll tell you properly.”
“Ah, y-yes...! Yes!”
Though the village chief sensed something off, he answered energetically, and Anagin continued asking various questions.
How many members of the Barbaroi Cult usually visited the village, what kind of people they were, their appearance and abilities, and above all, when the priests visited on offering days.
The last question, in particular, was one the fisherman mage had insisted on asking.
‘If we know when they visited, we can at least infer where they might appear.’
The village chief answered obediently, though most of his answers weren’t very useful.
‘Well, it’s not like these guys would know the Barbaroi Cult’s abilities. They wouldn’t have fought them.’
The most useful piece of information was that a priest had visited the village on an offering day three months ago.
Having gathered roughly what he needed, Anagin stood up and went outside.
Outside, the Magno mages, still disguised as merchants, and Sphinx were standing.
It would have been awkward for merchants acting as guides to sit in and listen, so they had been kept outside.
They could have revealed themselves as mages and listened together, but they chose not to. It was more advantageous to keep their strength hidden.
When Anagin came out and signaled that he had heard everything, everyone, including the fisherman mage, prepared to leave the village.
Though there wasn’t much to prepare since they could leave immediately.
“W-Wait a moment...!”
As Anagin was about to leave, the village chief hurriedly called out to him.
Because if they just left like this, things would become dangerous. For the village, and perhaps for himself.
The fish-men had already been killed, and he had already given information to Anagin.
If no one had seen, it would be one thing, but the entire village had witnessed it. Naturally, the Barbaroi Cult would find out.
If Anagin left now, the village might be in danger. Even if the village were safe, the village chief certainly wouldn’t be.
But they were just leaving?
The village chief thought they should at least stay here and protect them, or at least put some kind of safety measure in place. Or at the very least, tell them when the Chiron Tower would arrive.
But Anagin, who had started with a bluff, ended with one.
“Don’t worry. People from the Chiron Tower will be here soon. Just wait in peace.”
* * *
After leaving the fishing village.
Anagin, guided by the fisherman mage, visited another village.
The method was the same.
He cut off the heads of the fish-men he spotted in the village, then bluffed to the flustered village chief that he was from the Chiron Tower and demanded information.
Most of them obediently spilled everything.
Persuaded by the authority of the Chiron Tower and Anagin’s forceful way of creating a situation where they had no choice but to cooperate.
Of course, there were rare cases where some refused to cooperate.
Those deeply devoted to the Barbaroi Cult, and villages so thoroughly infiltrated that even the village chief had become a fish-man, were like that.
Naturally, there was still a way to deal with that.
‘Kuaaaargh—!!’
‘Feeling like talking now?’
There existed a sacred law in the world: if words didn’t work, fists would.
And Anagin was someone who followed that law well.
Fortunately, there was no one whose faith was strong enough to withstand Anagin’s fists.
After going around several villages and setting up camp.
“Now that I think about it, this might not be the best time to say this, but—”
“Then don't say it.”
In the dark night. Near the shore. While camping.
Anagin cut off Sphinx mid-sentence.
For reference, compared to the first day, the distance between Anagin’s camp and the mages’ had grown much closer.
They had agreed to work together, but that didn’t mean they trusted each other. At first, they had kept quite a distance while camping, but now, perhaps due to time passing, they had gotten relatively closer.
Well, it wasn’t just the effect of time.
It was also because Anagin had shown considerable capability and occasionally struck up conversations to lower their guard.
Anagin also had things he wanted to ask the mages.
Perhaps because of that?
The mages, curious about what Sphinx had been about to say before being cut off, asked.
“What is it about?”
At the mage’s question, Sphinx finally spoke again.
“Did you really have to do it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Going to villages, cutting off fish-men’s heads, and openly demanding information from the village chiefs.”
“Then how should I ask? Sneak around and politely request information?”
Anagin had said it sarcastically, but Sphinx nodded.
“Those villages you visited are probably in chaos right now.”
Sphinx wasn’t speaking without reason.
In reality, the villages Anagin had visited were now in considerable danger.
Their secrets had been exposed, they had lost the mixed-bloods planted by the Barbaroi Cult, and they had even leaked information on their own.
From the Barbaroi Cult’s perspective, it was no different from betrayal, and betrayal naturally came with consequences.
The village chief could be killed, or in severe cases, the entire village could be wiped out.
Anagin wasn’t unaware of this. The problem was that he didn’t care in the slightest.
When Anagin bluntly said he didn’t care, Sphinx asked.
“...Why?”
“Why should I care about people who colluded with fish?”
“Maybe they had no choice?”
“I don’t care.”
Anagin truly didn’t care.
He had already heard their circumstances several times, yet he still didn’t care at all.
No matter the reason, the fact remained that they had sold out their own villagers to survive.
Even if they were deceived by Anagin and ended up dying at the hands of the Barbaroi Cult, that was simply their fate.
Like chickens in a coop having their necks wrung by the hand that fed them.
More importantly.
“I went there on purpose so they would all see it.”
“The Barbaroi Cult?”
“Yeah, that’s the real objective.”
The real objective was to feed the Barbaroi Cult false information about the Chiron Tower and amplify the confusion.
It was a bluff Anagin had made up on the spot, but what mattered was that the Barbaroi Cult would have no choice but to believe it.
With a bit of thought, they might realize something was off, but the name of the Chiron Tower carried too much weight to ignore.
Naturally, they would grow anxious, and when people grew anxious, they would react one way or another.
“But there hasn’t been any reaction yet.”
One of the mages pointed out that despite the time that had passed since they started visiting villages, there had been no response.
However, no one seemed worried.
They had already discussed this once.
Everyone agreed that further investigation was needed anyway, and the prevailing opinion was that the Barbaroi Cult couldn’t simply flee due to how much they had invested here.
Moreover, if they had fled, that wouldn’t be entirely bad either.
From the village chiefs’ testimonies, it had gradually become clear that the Ruin the Barbaroi Cult was excavating held considerable value.
“What if they neither flee nor come out, and just hole up on the island?”
“Then we can just report the situation here to the Chiron Tower for real.”
Anagin declared his specialty—“flipping the board over if necessary.”
Normally, such a statement would have been ignored, but perhaps because they had spent more time with him, the mages found themselves thinking it might actually be a viable option.
“Well, I think they’ll react before that.”
Anagin voiced his hopeful expectation.
Usually, when an uninvited guest appeared, it was natural to test them once.
That was why he had deliberately set up camp near the shore.
So they would come test them.
However, contrary to his expectations, nothing happened that day either.
Just as they finished eating and were about to go to sleep.
“I-is anyone... there?”
A hoarse, awkward voice called out, as if the speaker hadn’t spoken for a long time.
It was too dark to see clearly at first, but soon they could.
A woman in tattered clothes, as if she had been attacked.
From afar, she appeared quite beautiful, with much of her skin exposed.
As everyone hesitated at her sudden appearance, the woman staggered forward as if she needed help.
At that moment, one of the mages, who had stood up to relieve himself, approached to support her.
He thought he might get some information. He was definitely not distracted by the woman's exposed skin!
“Wait.”
At that moment, Anagin stopped the mage.
Startled by Anagin’s sudden warning, the mage instinctively halted, but it was already a little too late.
The staggering woman suddenly dropped to all fours in a grotesque manner and lunged forward, embracing the mage.
Now that the distance had closed, the mage could clearly see her.
Her oddly unnatural appearance, and something like a transparent thread attached to the top of her head.
“What is this—”
The moment the mage was about to say something about the woman’s grotesque appearance.
The transparent thread attached to her head pulled her upward, and the mage she was clinging to was pulled along as well.
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