4 Outsider

"My name?"

"It's Astaroth."

He smiled, a slight twinkle in his eyes. He had decided to give himself that name during their rather long trek, given he was unable to truly recall some parts of his actual identity. It left him.. questioning, to say the least. He had no attachments to his previous life, a deed he presumed was done by Sarsir's soul corrupting him to some degree, and it left an empty taste in his mouth.

The man in front of him, he knew now, was Suni Withers, Chief of Nois City. It was certainly impressive, given the lad looked like he was still in his mid-forties.

'Nois City... So, our dear Mr. Fool hasn't transmigrated yet?'... He hummed a little at that thought, barely audible even to himself. The circumstances of Klein's transmigration was a rather familiar subject to him, of course, and he'd even dare say he was a little proficient in the subject.

Naturally, he knew of Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar. 'He' had taken ahold of the Attend of Mysteries' characteristic from the Curtain that Sefirah Castle spat out when Klein transmigrated. Nois City was collateral damage, perhaps one could say, forced to become the ritual grounds for Dark Demonic Wold Kotar's preparation for advancement.

"...And my purpose.. Well.." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm here to trade."

His fundamental reason for seeking out a safe settlement was to gather information. God knows how much novels he's read where knowledge was the only advantage the main character possesed.

Of course, as a fully functioning and working adult before his transmigration, Astaroth didn't once think he was the 'protagonist of this era.' He had no such childish and borderline manic delusions of his self-worth.

"Trade?" Suni spoke with tension and an unmistakeable hope. "Well you know.." the younger man gestured casually to the meat he was cooking. He didn't elaborate any further, letting the silence settle as a pondering look appeared on the rugged man's face.

He was no stranger to the situation of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, he had always felt a faint sympathy for the City of Silver for their inability to get out of their peril. To suffer eating deformed monsters, to face the fate of killing their own family, to believe they are forsaken — it had tugged at his heart when he read the novel.

He knew it was an inhospitable land, to summarize things lightly. Astaroth hadn't needed to worry much due to his trait of being Amon's clone thus having some control over the Marauder pathway's mid-sequence abilities. Oh, and the Giant Silver-cladded knight who was hidden at the moment made a substantial difference. But surely the same couldn't be said for these folks.

"So, do you want to discuss it first with the others?"

Astaroth offered patiently as he observed the deeply contemplative look Suni wore, he didn't think the Chief would be so irresponsible to take in an outsider without notice.

"Would that be alright?"

"Sure, no problem, I'll be staying here for a few days anyway."

Grabbing a few skewered meat that had already finished roasting, he held them out towards Suni. "Here. You can let the others see and determine if it's safe to eat or not."

He could more or less guess he was suspicious. He somehow managed surviving "on his own", he got ahold of uncorrupted meat, and now he was looking to trade. If the Chief wasn't stupid, he'd naturally have apprehensions. Astaroth didn't try to beat around the bush and feign ignorance.

The Chief nodded in acknowledgment, grasping the skewers carefully before he walked back to where the majority of his "viewers" had gathered. He pinched his monocle for a moment, eyes observing the crowd before he retracted his gaze.

"What's the situation of Nois City so far, Arrodes?"

He glanced down at the mirror, its surface quickly forming words. "Omnipotent Great Master, Nois City has an estimated 10,000 residents with a fair amount being Beyonds. They have control over the Red Priest, Fool, Darkness, and Twilight Giant pathways. Nois City is ruled by a 13-member council, with each member having jurisdiction over their designated expertise."

"A few miles away is the former Kingdom of Annihilation Demonic Wolf Flegrea. The nearest active settlement is the City of Silver."

"Was that answer satisfactory, Great Exalted Master?!" It really was boot-licking.. not once had Arrodes stopped trying to serve him as his "puny, loyal, and grateful servant." Laughing, he nodded his head and gave it a light pat on its frame as a reward. The surface immediately brightened to an almost painful degree.

"Kingdom of Felgrea, is it.." Astaroth grinned. "What do you think Murskogan?" He looked behind him, eyes on his own shadow as it wavered slightly before a voice echoed.

"Whatever you wish, my Lord."

"Always so selfless."

"My Lord, it is my duty-"

"Get a personality, Murskogan!!" Astaroth snorted before showing the mirror's surface to his shadow.

Tuning out their nth argument for the day, he thought of his own situation. The amount of corruption Sarsir had done to his Soul Body was becoming more and more worrying as he learnt of his situation as thoroughly as he could these past few months. The corruption at the moment only allowed him access to the abilities corresponding to a Sequence 7 Shadow Ascetic.

So, in other words, if he wished to or was in a position that needed him to have abilities that exceeded his Sequence, all he had to do was sacrifice a portion of his own Soul Body to Sarsir's corruption. Well, easier said than done, as they say.

How he knew all of this? Well, let's just say that he hadn't started off as a Sequence 7 Shadow Ascetic at first..

As Amon's clone, he could utilize the Sequence 6 Prometheus characteristic left behind to "steal" his own Shadow Ascetic's Beyonder power of hiding in shadows and allow Murskogan to temporarily accommodate it. After all, a 5-meter-tall silver-cladded giant wasn't as easy to ignore compared to a mirror.

Now, going back to his companions..

"You could not physically help our Lord-"

"I can shine a light!!"

Astaroth sighed.

...

The 13-member council stared at the roasted piece of meat in front of them, some dumbfounded, some shaking, and some with a stern look. This was the first uncorrupted food source they had found ever since their birth, hell, ever since Nois City was established. They weren't even sure it existed till now.

"The outsider introduced himself as Astaroth, and he wishes to trade."

The Chief began, voice deep as he sat on the seat of honor, fingers crossed in front of him. Gazes quickly focused on his form as he continued speaking. "He gave me these so we could examine them for any problems."

"What did he want to trade for the meat, Chief?" A woman with blonde hair, Jiso, asked. Food was scarce, uncorrupted food was almost unheard of, surely the price wouldn't be low. As the person in charge of food distribution, Jiso was one of the most hopeful.

"I don't know yet. No attempts of any deal will be done unless we can confirm the safety of the meat. He said he'll be staying where he is at the moment."

Calum took a glance at Suni for a moment before raising a question, scratching his beard as he leaned on his arms placed on the table. "Have you confirmed that he's alone?"

"He's on his own." The scarred Chief was rather sure of this. He hadn't sensed any abnormalities or fluctuations even when he was walking away.

Suni's gaze shifted afterwards, eyes on his eldest son who sat silently admidst the murmurs, arms crossed and eyes sharp.

Sensing his gaze, Orion nodded silently, understanding that it was now his time to take control of the situation.

"The outsider could be seen eating the meat itself, but we simply can't rule out the possibility that he deliberately showed it to us in order to lower our guard. In that case.."

And so, the discussion began in earnest. Opinions between the optimistic and pessimistic sides clashed fervently, Jiso and Calum were desperately trying to paint the outsider in a better light so others wouldn't be so opposed to the opportunities he could provide the City of Nois while the pessimistic argument brought up the dangers of trusting the man.

Of course, neither of the parties could fully rebuke the other so most of the topics came out as a stalemate. It had taken them a few grueling hours of observation through Beyonder and non-Beyonder means to finally conclude there was no hidden corruption and that it had no hard-to-identify poison mixed in.

"Chief! I volunteer to eat it!" Calum immediately raised his hand eagerly as soon as it had been declared safe within the capabilities of their observations, nearly jumping off his seat, wide grin plastered on his face. Seeing such a tall and bear-like man acting so giddily looked strange but the Council was rather accustomed to it after working with him all these years.

"Go ahead." Suni nodded, not even batting an eye to his friend's familiar behavior. As a demigod from the Twilight Giant pathway, it would be much easier for Calum to resist any attempts by the outsider to jeopardize Nois City's current state compared to the lower sequenced members. "Henderson, Ollie, and Gil, draw your weapons and surround him."

The three men nodded without hesitation, not even wasting a second to follow the orders of the Chief as they stood up, unsheathing their blades with cold gazes before encircling Calum who remained cheery even when faced with such a sight. Suni himself also stood up and joined them, great sword pointed directly at his friend's abdomen. If the meat could somehow manage to drive Calum out of control then he was the one who could quickly eliminate him.

He had seen his own father take his life out of despair, he wouldn't let his guard down because it was his friend on the opposite side of his blade. It had actually made him even more cautious.

Calum, familiar with the process and finding it very reasonable, didn't even blink and happily took a skewer before taking a sizeable bite. As he chewed on the meat with his head down, as if thinking how to feel about it, the entire room was plunged in cold silence. Jiso looked worriedly with her hands in a praying gesture while Orion sat on the edge of his seat. All the members were worried, hands hovering over their own weapons and ready to jump.

They could hear Calum swallowing, followed by a sharp inhale and a small whimper. Looking up, the grizzled man had fat tears rolling down his flushed cheeks as he took one more bite.

"Chief, it's delicious!!" He said through mouthfuls of meat, grabbing one more skewer while he was at it. After thirty or so seconds , the overjoyed Jiso couldn't contain herself any longer and quickly glanced at Suni to gain approval and when she got it with a light nod from the man, sprinted to take a skewer and took a big bite.

"...Chief! Chief! it's.. woah! it's so.. it's so very much better! than the vampire meat!" The blonde excitedly rambled, trying to verbally convey her giddiness as accurately as possible.

After a few minutes without any abnormalities, Suni released a held breath as he returned his great sword back to its sheath. As other members of the council slowly began to approach the duo who ate happily, a small smile appeared on his exhausted-looking face.

'...Father, I've.. finally found hope for us.'