Chapter 89: Trade
The Obsidian Pass seemed as if someone had forcibly carved a way through the mountains, along with the malice; while it was called a pass, it would be more accurate to call it a canyon. At its widest point, the pass could stretch nearly three kilometers, with sheer black cliffs rising dozens of meters on either side.
From the top of the cliffs, looking down, one could see a fiery red lava flow slowly moving at the bottom of the chasm, illuminated in the dark night. The army could not move from the top of the cliffs down below; thus, ambushes were impossible at the Obsidian Pass, forcing a direct confrontation.
As one of the two canyons in the south along with the Empire, this place was one of the crucial trade routes, and it was inevitable that beastmen would come here to hunt and gather wealth.
…And it was also inevitable that there would be beastmen corpses.
At the mouth of the pass near the Empire’s border, next to a black stone at the top of the cliff, lay several carcasses of lowly horned beasts and a centaur. In the center of the corpses burned a small fire, boiling water, inside which “mysterious meat” was being cooked, yet there was no one around, only the sound of bubbling water.
On the black stone, under a star-filled night sky, a star suddenly flickered, shining its light upon the black stone, flashing for a moment before a beam of light landed on it.
After five minutes, there was no response at all.
The person controlling the beam of light was angry; a strong light illuminated the entire black stone, driving away all shadows—except for an unnatural shadow atop the black stone.
The shadow shifted, a high leather hat appeared first, adorned with a silver skull, followed by a battle-worn breastplate, a hand crossbow hanging from a leather pouch, and scriptures stamped onto the armor with fiery wax… a typical witch hunter’s apparel, yet a delicate face seemed out of place with such attire.
It was the half-elf Akarnis.
“What’s all the noise? In such a hurry, is it that time of the month?” Akarnis covered one eye with his hand and waved the other, “So you can shine, huh? Hurry and turn off the light.”
The beam of light shrank and landed on the black stone at Akarnis’s feet, forming a line of text: “My friend wants to discuss a mutually beneficial trade with you. She will be here soon.”
“Who is it?” Akarnis impatiently wrote elegant cursive on the stone surface with a glowing stick. “I’m here under duress from the emperor, not to be a vendor.”
“Jima.”
Akarnis reached for a curved dagger at his waist, which was his new weapon.
“Relax, she won’t harm you.”
“I have a grudge against her.” Akarnis wrote, “She’s the kind of person who betrays friends; if this were the old gang, she’d have been tied up with a cart of stones and thrown into the sea to harm the fish.”
“You made the first move.”
Akarnis took a deep breath, moved his hand away from the dagger’s hilt, and wrote on the rock: “Fine.”
The beam of light spread out, enveloping the black stone as if a miracle had descended; Akarnis’s silver hair shimmered in the light.
At the same time, he and this black stone were called the “lighthouse” within ten miles.
After more than ten minutes, Akarnis’s semi-pointed ears twitched as he heard the sound of wings flapping from the night sky. He bent down and wrote on the ground: “She’s flying over.”
The beam of light dimmed, and the firelight and starlight regained dominance.
The succubus Jima, with wings, glided down gracefully from the night sky and landed steady on the black stone. She looked at Akarnis, who was forcing a smile, and said, “My friend, long time no see, Akarnis.”
“Yeah, long time no see, you’ve certainly grown a bit.”
Akarnis said, still maintaining his strange smile.
Jima asked, “Why do you look so strange when you smile?”
“For—” Akarnis suddenly drew the curved dagger and swung it rapidly towards Jima, “to trick you!”
The curved dagger slashed quickly and ruthlessly, with no mercy; the rune-etched blade struck Jima’s pale neck, piercing cleanly through, or rather, piercing through the illusion named Jima.
The illusion disappeared upon being attacked.
“I knew it.” Akarnis sheathed his dagger into his waist and jumped straight down from the black stone, shouting, “Come out, I promise to have a good talk with you, I guarantee I won’t cut or stab you again. How about it, let’s be friends.”
“That kind of friend who can’t wait to stab someone?”
At the edge of the campfire, a beautiful woman with black hair approached, holding a long-handled axe. Her flowing hair reflected the dancing firelight, and her pair of golden eyes sparkled faintly in the darkness. She stepped over the corpse of the centaur and walked towards the campfire, saying, “You better not try to stab again.”
“Alright, the succubus is really cunning.” Akarnis said, “I’m not going to hit you. By the way, do you want a midnight snack?”
Saying this, Akarnis picked up a pair of long chopsticks and pulled out a piece of boiled meat from the bubbling water, “Fresh meat from a leg of lamb, do you want some?”
Jima, sitting next to the campfire on a stone, didn’t even lift her eyelids, saying, “I don’t eat beastmen meat.”
“What a waste, since they look like lambs.” Akarnis said, placing the steaming lamb meat into his mouth, biting into it straight away, and after chewing a few times, mumbled, “It’s actually quite good.”
Akarnis’s Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed the “lamb meat.”
Jima asked, “Did you swallow it?”
“Yes, so what? It’s very fresh lamb meat, tastes great, do you want some? I won’t give you any.”
Jima slowly said, “The meat of beastmen is tainted with chaos… are you feeling like there’s a finger scratching your stomach right now?”
Akarnis’s face turned even paler. He covered his stomach and vomited, spilling onto the campfire, where something resembling a finger began writhing in the flames.
“What the hell is this?”
“It should be the chaos taint in the meat interacting with your extraordinary power.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“You didn’t ask.”
Jima stared intently at Akarnis, and he stared back at her.
Jima sighed and said, “Alright, I admit I was waiting for you to eat it before saying anything.”
“Even a fool can tell that.” Akarnis said, “How did you know about this? Have you eaten it before?”
Jima lied, “No.”
“Aha!” Akarnis jumped up happily, pointing at Jima, “You’re lying; demons are all liars, so you must have eaten it, haha.”
“Hehe.” Jima said, “I have a deal.”
“Not interested.” Akarnis turned away, squatting next to a centaur corpse, grabbing one of its horns and shaking its head while shouting, “If you can’t even eat meat, what value is there in your existence as a beast?”
Jima stepped forward and asked, “Why not listen to the content of the deal?”
Akarnis gave Jima a sidelong glance: “Listen to what? It’s all just you deceiving me anyway.”
“The deal is very simple…”
Akarnis covered his pointed ears: “Can’t hear, I can’t hear.”
“…Akarnis is a hermaphrodite, has albinism, and is effeminate.”
Akarnis suddenly stood up, glaring angrily at Jima.
Jima asked, “Do you want to be a goblin shaman?”
Akarnis’s hand hovered over the dagger hilt, questioning back: “Can you really make me a shaman?”
“I can.” Jima said, “Do you want to?”
Akarnis suddenly kicked the pot on the campfire, and the pot tumbled over, falling into the darkness. He turned around and said:
“I knew I shouldn’t have listened to a demon. Honestly, I’ve wanted to dive into a green-skinned camp and become a shaman, leading a group of raucous green skins. What do you want?”
Jima held up a glass jar, inside of which a piece of shadow was flowing, “I need to borrow your extraordinary power. You just need to use your extraordinary ability in front of me; it will capture your extraordinary power. After two jars are filled, I’ll ensure you become a green-skinned shaman…”
At the thought of being a shaman among the noisy green-skinned creatures, with those ugly orcs and goblins worshiping him, calling him their shaman, Akarnis’s breath quickened, and he waved his hand, “What are we waiting for? Let’s get started, what do you want?”
“What abilities do you have?”
“Shadow leap, speed, three hands—wait, are you probing my secrets?” Akarnis suddenly regained his composure, asking, “You asked what abilities you want to borrow, and I’ll tell you.”
This guy still has a base level of intelligence.
Jima asked, “Do you have the ability to be invisible for a long time?”
“Of course.”
Akarnis said, “I can also muffle the sounds you make; you can’t experience the thrill of dancing in front of someone at a military oath ceremony without anyone noticing.”
“Wait, did you do that in front of the Empire’s emperor during his oath ceremony?”
“Of course, I even leaned in close to stare at his behind. It was so much fun.”
Isn’t this guy basically invincible for assassination?
“What happens when you try to assassinate while invisible?”
“I won’t tell you.”
It seemed there was definitely a weakness there.
Jima wanted another ability, and Akarnis said, “I know what you want next, shadow leap, right? You must really envy my ability to traverse between shadows.”
“Not that.” Jima said, “Do you have an ability for short-term explosive power?”
“I have that; the downside is that you’ll feel weak for a while afterwards.”
“I want that.”
“Hurry up then.”
Akarnis couldn’t wait to become a shaman.
Half an hour later.
Akarnis felt like he had just run a marathon, sweating profusely, and he tossed aside the bothersome tall leather hat.
Jima satisfiedly placed the second jar of extraordinary power into her dimensional space bag.
“Alright.” Akarnis leaned on his knees, asking, “Do you have any way to make me ‘become’ a goblin shaman?”
Before Jima could answer.
Akarnis suddenly clapped his hands and said, “You tricked me! You can just take the stuff and run.”
Jima paused and said, “Thanks for the reminder, I forgot.”
At that moment, dozens of arrows suddenly shot from the darkness. Jima spread her wings, easily avoiding the not-so-strong arrows. A group of low-horned beasts charged in from behind the distant rocks.
After making such a ruckus, the nearby beastmen must have noticed.
“I’ll go first!” Jima shouted in the air, “Goodbye.”
Below, Akarnis jumped out from the shadows, hopping and waving at the back of the succubus, “Come back! You shameless woman!”
Jima cast a dream seed on him before disappearing into the sky.
As she left, the last thing Akarnis saw was himself grappling with the low-horned beasts, shouting and laughing, clearly having a great time.
