Ch.1180The City of Naga, Nastaria

The Kingdom of Nagas, Nastaria, was a small nation whose entire territory consisted of just one city built along a riverbank.

Hundreds of years ago, they apparently had three or four cities as their territory, but during wartime, they were all destroyed or taken away, leaving only the riverside city now.

A kingdom with just one city? At that point, shouldn’t it be called a clan rather than a country?

– Woooong…

“How do you like it? This is our kingdom and sanctuary, Nastaria!”

“…It’s spacious.”

Upon arrival, Nastaria wasn’t small enough to be underestimated as just a single-city territory.

Trees spread vastly like a tropical rainforest. Dense fish farms installed across the wide river.

The city walls, covered with strange patterns, were so long that I couldn’t see where they bent or curved, and inside were exotic buildings adorned with intricate carvings and craftsmanship.

…This seems even larger than Extrashafel.

A massive city that appeared to be three or four times the size of the imperial capital. At this scale, it was understandable why they would call themselves a nation with just one city.

—-

The city interior was filled with all sorts of exotic scenery.

Instead of small boats, Nagas swam through canals that spread like spider webs along the roads, with curved bridges and stilt houses densely packed throughout.

The roads were paved with smoothly cut stones instead of dirt, and burning braziers were installed at regular intervals like street lamps, making it as bright as daylight.

“There are quite a lot of braziers. Is it because sunlight doesn’t reach here?”

“Sunlight? What’s that?”

Lakshi tilted her head and asked.

“Um… it’s something that exists. Like a big fire floating in the sky.”

I was momentarily taken aback by such an absurd question, but thinking about it, it made sense that they wouldn’t have the concept of the sun.

Unless they had lived for thousands of years, most Nagas who were at most a few decades old would have been born and lived their entire lives underground.

“Fire in the sky…? Ah, that kind of sorcery! I’ve heard of it!”

No, it’s not sorcery… but there’s no need to correct that misunderstanding.

“Um… yeah, something like that.”

They’ll never see it in their lifetime anyway, and if I explain it in detail and they develop a longing for it, I’d feel guilty for being too cruel.

In this world, there are some truths better left unknown, right?

—-

Around each brazier placed at street corners, several Nagas in casual attire gathered.

Unlike the warrior class in practical—that is, rugged—armor, these wore complex and flashy upper garments with all sorts of decorations hanging down.

They enjoyed the heat from the braziers while chatting, then returned to their buildings, looking somewhat like office workers returning after a smoke break, which made me smile a little.

“Are those the ‘production class’? I thought they’d be working all day, but they seem surprisingly relaxed. They even have time to rest like that.”

“All day…?”

Lakshi looked at me as if I were some bourgeois devil running a hellish murder factory.

“Well, excluding sleeping time, of course. Still, they should get at least five hours of sleep a day.”

“That would kill them….”

Is that so? Nagas must be surprisingly weak. When I had humans work, they could all easily work 18 hours a day.

Though they needed priests’ healing services to avoid casualties.

Anyway, let’s move past that.

Different cultures, different working environments.

I brushed off Lakshi’s questioning look about whether humans really lived such difficult lives with an awkward smile, then turned my attention back to leisurely enjoying the city scenery.

As we went along, we encountered several groups of Nagas, but strangely, they showed no interest in us whatsoever.

They didn’t even properly look at us, just slightly moved aside to make way while chatting among themselves. The Naga warriors treated this as perfectly normal and just passed by.

“They don’t seem particularly interested in us. I thought we would attract attention as foreigners of a different race…”

I wasn’t the only one who found this attitude questionable; Nigel quietly asked Hyalbajer, who was walking ahead, about the reason.

“This is because it’s a matter for us warriors. The production class and labor class pay no attention to matters that don’t concern them.”

“Are you saying communication between classes is severed?”

“Severed…? What an interesting concept. For us, it’s simply the natural way.”

Hyalbajer tilted his head slightly as he answered.

Their king, Nagaraja, had once said that those who work together should help each other and maintain harmony, but apparently, he had never ordered different classes to do the same.

“…That’s really strange.”

“Yeah, they’re not ants or something…”

A group that gets along well when ordered to be harmonious but ignores each other like strangers when there’s no such order—from our perspective, it was honestly bizarre.

—-

Perhaps because they lived collectively without the concept of family, most Naga dwellings were massive enough to accommodate dozens of people for lodging and meals.

Though there were no gardens, vines, trees, and flowers naturally intertwined across entire walls, displaying unique sculptural beauty.

It was similar to Alvheim but with Southeast Asian-style craftsmanship added to it.

The climate also had a Southeast Asian feel.

Whether there were many fireplaces or braziers inside, smoke from burning firewood billowed from chimneys like an industrial zone, making the air humid and hot.

Apparently, Nagas couldn’t regulate their body temperature, so they needed to maintain this temperature to keep warm.

And when it got too hot, they would jump into water to cool down, which is why canals ran throughout the streets.

“It’s a bit hot… I think I’d feel better with some cool water to drink…”

The problem was that we couldn’t just throw ourselves into water like they could when feeling hot.

Think about it. How awkward would it be for the Nagas who invited us as honored guests with warrior escorts if we suddenly jumped into the river?

Later, we might swim separately, but for now, we needed to meet Nagaraja as they had requested.

“You have a water pouch, right? Let me have it for a moment. I’ll cool it down for you.”

“Huh…? Ah, yes. Thank you, Count of Sigmillus.”

“Suddenly so formal…?”

Thankfully, having a mage in our party meant we could at least have cold water to drink.

Lena looked slightly disappointed when she received the cooled water pouch, perhaps because cold water alone wasn’t enough to handle the heat.

Anyway, we continued through the city toward a massive structure at its center.

A stone building that seemed like a mix of tower, temple, palace, and pyramid. It was clearly visible even from a distance due to its height, which appeared to be almost 20 stories tall.

That colossal tower was the royal palace and sanctuary where Nagaraja and the priestesses resided—the heart of this nation.

—-

Upon arriving at Nagaraja’s tower, the warrior captain and Lakshi handed over our escort and service duties to the priestesses there.

The tower was a sacred place where only Naga “women” who had “experienced rebirth” could enter, so they couldn’t go inside.

We were allowed entry as invited guests even without being reborn, but even so, Jahan, being the only male, couldn’t enter.

So we decided to send Jahan to a vacation mansion that had been prepared for us in advance.

It was a bit absurd to be refused at this point, but what could we do if it was for religious and magical reasons?

“You all go ahead and rest too. But don’t get too relaxed.”

While at it, I told Nigel, Ophelia, Leonore, and Lena to wait for my return there as well.

Since Jahan hadn’t fully recovered his strength yet, I felt uneasy leaving him alone among the Nagas whose intentions were unclear.

We had developed some internal rapport on the way here, but I still couldn’t fully trust them yet.

Then shouldn’t I also not stay alone?

Nonsense. I can. I haven’t recovered all my strength either, but I’ve recovered enough to take care of myself even in the heart of enemy territory.

Anyway, after sending my companions away, I followed the priestesses’ guidance into the tower.

“Thank you for your royal visit, Slayer of Leviathan. Please, this way.”

Even after rebirth, there didn’t seem to be any special changes, as the priestesses’ appearance and presence weren’t much different from the Nagas we had encountered so far.

The difference, if any, was that their voices were relatively quiet, and they wore distinctly different attire from ordinary Nagas.

The Naga priestesses wore black veils embroidered with gold thread, and glimpses of their faces revealed many with strange tattoo-like markings.

[Sorcerers, I see.]

‘They appear to be.’

On their shoulders, they wore capes decorated with feathers, jewels, and gold crafts, and their upper garments, long enough to drag on the floor, were as ornate as their capes.

Golden bracelets adorned their occasionally exposed arms. Their necks and waists were full of ornaments made of gold, jewels, and animal claws.

Did they have a gold mine hidden somewhere?

Ordinarily, one might think these priestesses were monopolizing the country’s wealth and living in luxury… but that didn’t seem to be the case.

Why? Because even the ordinary Nagas I had glimpsed on the way all wore three or four gold ornaments as if it were natural.

As if such ornaments weren’t particularly precious but common items in this country.

So it wasn’t that the priestesses were uniquely luxurious, but rather that this country itself was overflowing with precious metals like gold and jewels.

“Before your audience, we request that you complete your purification bath at this shrine of purifying water.”

Anyway, the priestesses showed extremely courteous attitudes as they guided me to about the middle floor of the tower, where there was something like a bathroom with marble covering the entire room.

A place they called the shrine of purifying water, where one bathes in water blessed by Nagaraja’s blessing added to purification magic to cleanse the body.

“Bath?”

“Yes. This is a ritual to cleanse you of Naraka’s impurities, so please do not consider it disrespectful.”

Naraka. A word I had heard several times on the way. Nagas like Lakshi called this underground grand cavern Naraka.

In short, to meet Nagaraja, I needed to wash off all the dirt, monster fragments, and faint dark mana that might have clung to me while traversing the grand cavern.

It’s similar to priests washing their bodies and changing into clean clothes before entering a sanctuary. From my perspective, it felt like they were being unnecessarily fussy.

…Well, I had no reason to refuse.

In fact, it was welcome. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable anyway.

Having been transported here immediately after killing Leviathan, I hadn’t had a proper chance to wash except for briefly immersing myself in river water along the way.

“Alright. …Ah, what about these clothes I’m wearing now?”

I slightly lifted Rurik’s fur that I was wearing and asked.

Since it was a piece regenerated from inside the brooch, it was closer to just a cloak draped over underwear rather than proper clothing.

Fortunately, Leonore had lent me bandages and spare underwear, and Lena had sewn the fur well to somewhat close it.

Without that, I might have become an underwear-exposing goddess with a fur cloak fluttering in the wind.

“If you entrust them to us, we will purify them and repair them into a suitable form.”

Even to the priestesses, it must have looked too primitive to be called clothing, as they carefully suggested that if I handed it over, they would mend it to be more wearable.

“Really? I’d appreciate that.”

“You’re too kind.”

I took off the cloak and underwear and handed them to the Naga priestess who politely extended her arms, then walked to the steaming bath and immersed myself.

“Phew….”

After that, I enjoyed a long-awaited hot spring bath for a while, attended by other priestesses.

It was quite a pleasant bath.