Section 51 Encounter

"I didn't have that qualification. Ashrufat admitted. "But Slaanesh gave me that qualification, didn't she?"

He had already thought clearly. Both Saneane and Tzeentch were very fond of him—though he didn't know why, but it was a fact.

All of the accounts speak to the nature of the Chaos Gods - if the books of the Church are not reliable, then what has been seen and felt in the Chaos tribes over the past few months is telling. If they have special care for someone, it means that that person has the value of receiving that care: they have enough strength or potential.

Not to mention anything else, Tzeentch gave him a big gift when he first had a spiritual exchange...... Ascension. Although it is not an incomplete version of the ascension, what is immortality? It is something that countless mortals dream of but cannot get their hands on, and it is the ultimate desire of those believers who have taken the initiative to throw themselves into the arms of Chaos.

It's the same with Slaanesh. That's right, although it didn't give a meet-and-greet gift like Tzeentch, but it was also very good. It directly assigns the identity of the Chaos Lord of Ashrufat without any formalities, and then informs him of the secrets behind the invading Chaos Legions. In addition to this, it made various promises to Ashrufat (although Ashrufat did not accept those promises in the end). If Tzeentch hadn't lied, the encounter between the Asowen tribe and Aerufate was not accidental, but rather orchestrated (although the Asowen tribe itself was unaware of the conspiracy).

In the Asowen tribe, Ashruphat knew at least one thing: that is, a case like him who sold himself (in fact, not even sold himself) and was immediately granted the status of a Chaos Lord by an evil god, if not a newcomer, at least unprecedented. In all the legends, dogmas or rumors, if the protagonists want to be promoted, they must go through the test of one god after another, and those who pass the guò entrance examination can be promoted.

Of course, the difficulty of the test is steady. The evil god will never give you more difficult exam content just because you are a little more capable. For the strong, the test of the guò (at least in the early stage) is a simple matter, so the promotion of status is very fast. Tasks that take more than a dozen years for the weak, are usually completed by the protagonists of those stories in a few months (at most a year or two). However, there has never been a time when a person like Ashrufat who didn't have to do anything, or even had no firm faith (let alone "firm faith", not even "faith") was easily promoted to the rank of Chaos Lord.

There must be a reason behind this kind of thing that is completely undesirable to the evil gods, and after careful analysis, Ashruphat finally believes that it is because he has some special use value. Of course, what this "value" is, maybe he simply does not know. After all, the other party is a god, and he is just a mortal with some special abilities.

It's a deal. As Ah Jin said, the most taboo thing in transaction negotiations is to worry about the identity of the other party. A successful businessman must be fearless and love profit more than anything else. If a businessman cowers in negotiations because of the other party's position, he is by no means a qualified businessman. The money that should be earned, even if the other party is a king or duke, the merchant should earn a lot of money. The price that should be cut must be cut more resolutely, and no more than half a copper should be taken out.

Ashrufat was not a businessman, but that didn't stop him from sticking to Akin's principles at the moment.

"......" Tzeentch's voice calmed down for the time being, and he didn't answer.

Ashruphat didn't speak, no, didn't think with his head. It is easier to talk to Tzeentch, because it does not have the evil charm of Slaanesh that shakes the will. But even then, he had to be careful. After all, he was now communicating with a god.

He trusts his own judgment, though. There is a saying that what is called? "The servant is like a master". Just look at the servant and you can understand the master's style. A master of a chronic son will never have a servant of an acute son.

As for Tzeentch's style...... Well, if you think about Marven at the beginning, you can understand that eight / nine is not far from ten. When it comes to the ability to stumble on other Chaos Gods, Tzeentch is definitely number one.

......

At dawn, the whole team woke up one by one. The reason they woke up was because Ashrufat had boiled a large pot of broth—the aroma drove away the last hints of sleepiness.

Nobody cares how the broth comes from. Since it was in the pot, since it was the chef in the team who was cooking, Aerufat, it was enough.

While everyone was drinking soup and eating breakfast, Ashruphat took an opportunity to meet with Flint. He didn't say anything more, but simply talked about the Lord of Deceit. Of course, the specifics cannot be said, but some vague statements are sufficient.

"No, Ashrufat, the Lord of Deceit must not be trusted. Flint immediately understood what Ashrufat meant—he didn't know what it was, but if he didn't get it, it wasn't far off.

That's not to say that Flint is a particularly smart person, but this kind of thing is not uncommon. When a powerful mortal appears, the gods have always been hesitant to hand out olive branches. Recruiting the powerful followers of the other side as one's own subordinates did not weaken the forces of chaos on the whole, but on the other hand, it strengthened oneself and weakened the strength of the competitors - it was obviously a very good deal. So the gods were glad to do it.

"I know, but ......"

"You don't know how powerful the Lord of Trickery is. "Flint is a man of treachery, and the name of the Lord of Deceit is not called in vain, he is definitely the number one." Moreover, it is said that the lord of deceit has the ability to see the future, and every qiē is in his hands, and perhaps the trivial things of today can affect the overall situation of the future. He has the power to make everyone fall into his schemes without knowing it. Sometimes, he even connived at the demands made to him, but those people did not know that the demands themselves were what he wanted the mortals to make. In his cunning hands, the fire of life will be extinguished for his plans. No one has ever been able to earn anything from him. The wizards he favors are actually just his pawns. ”

"I know......" Ashruphat wondered if he had fallen into Tzeentch's trap, but in the end he ignored Flint's warning. After all, in his view, the favored followers of Slaanesh were also pawns of God.

Perhaps it was really Tzeentch who took refuge in the dark, and after breakfast that day, their trade came. A tribe from nowhere bought their last truckload of goods and gave them the same truckload of supplies that the tribe could use. In this way, half of the purpose of the trip was achieved.

The other half of the goal is to find out the truth of the silent panic tribe. It's a pity that the Silent Panic tribe is not a fool, they deliberately set up this camp for trading, just to prevent external eyes. However, judging from the strength of the guards in this camp, the Silent Panic Tribe should still be quite powerful, at least not like the kind of weak person who will be defeated in the short term.

In any case, after the completion of this deal, there is no need for them to stay here anymore. Flint gave the order, and the whole team set out for camp.

More than a dozen people were scattered across four vehicles. Flint sat in the car in the middle, and it was Aehurufat who drove it. The combination didn't seem suspicious, but it gave Flint and Essrubat a chance to get along.

"Your Excellency, are you going to ......," Flint had been thinking about what Ashruphat had said in the morning, so he cautiously tested. It's not common for a Chaos Lord to defect to another god, but it's not unprecedented. "Join the ...... of the Lord of Deceit camp?"

"I'm not sure yet. Ashrufat replied. He also wanted to know what would happen.

"This ......," Flint himself hesitated. In his opinion, Ashrufat had a very good attitude towards him, and it was clear that he planned to take him as a personal follower. But following the lord to switch sides and defect to another evil god is something worth considering. In particular, Flint was only apprehensive, not outright, opposed. Although he is the chosen warrior of Slaanesh and worships the Prince of Joy as the main god, he will also be tempted if there is enough benefit from changing sides. "My lord, I remind you once again, the invitation of the Lord of Trickery...... It is possible that it is a ruse in itself. ”

It doesn't seem to be very popular, and everyone is wary of it.

"Trickery...... Well, speaking of which, you seem to know something?"

"My lord, I know of some stories that have been circulated about the tricks of the Lord of Deceit. ”

"Tell me about it. ”

On this day's journey, Flint told a dozen stories about the tricks and traps of the Lord of Deceit, which were too shrewd for mere mortals to see. More than one mortal was deceived and ended up unconsciously becoming a pawn of Tzeentch, discarded after exhausting all value. It's unclear if this is a slander against Tzeentch among the followers of Slaanesh or a legend with real evidence, but at least it will alert Eshurufat.

In these stories, Tzeentch is best at seducing believers from other camps to join him, one of which is to reward others with things that are not his own. For example, if you sue someone to get a certain artifact, and if you overcome all kinds of difficulties and get your hands on it, Tzeentch will pretend to be "This is what I have given you" and ask you to die for him. If you fail and fall in front of a trap or a treasure keeper, then he has also achieved his goal of weakening the other factions. Another trick is to use the trap of words. Interestingly, despite being known as the "Lord of Deceit", "Trickster", and "Falsifier of Fate", Tzeentch is really good at playing with words rather than lying. Tzeentch's words are always true—at least literally—but he can lead you to misunderstandings. A typical story is that Tzeentch said, "I will never take revenge." Yes, the Evil God doesn't personally punish you and turn you into a Chaos Egg or something, but he will let his followers kill you.

Maybe these stories worked, or maybe something else. After hearing these stories, Ashorufat remained silent.

At dusk, the convoy stopped for camping. One of the marauders was checking around the camp and was lucky enough to kill a wild sheep with a hunting bow. So the sheep was quickly disposed of and placed on the campfire.

Such luck is relatively rare, and a sheep of this size is enough to feed the whole team. So when it gets dark, everyone gathers around the campfire, chatting and laughing while waiting for dinner to be ready.

Suddenly, there was a roar in the air.

Someone shot an arrow at the campfire from a distance. When the arrow was exhausted, it landed right on the edge of the campfire. Didn't shoot anyone, though. In fact, even if you hit it, it won't have any effect, because it's an arrow with the arrow removed. It's not a raid, it's just someone who wants to say hello,

The people around the campfire looked at each other. After a few seconds, Flint stood up and shouted in the direction the arrow had come from. "What do you want to do?"