The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 11

“Th-that’s our emergency fund! Give it back! What is the meaning of this outrageous behavior? Weren’t you looking for the Divine Scripture?”

“No! You never know what form a magical artifact might take! What if this is it? Maybe it’s a jewel-shaped magical artifact?”

“We’ll take it and examine it thoroughly, and if it turns out not to be the Divine Scripture, we’ll give it back, okay?”

They said that, but there was no way the mercenaries would ever return anything they took.

‘They’re even going through people’s underwear. I’m going to get caught.’

Azadin realized that his copy of the Divine Scripture was bound to be discovered by them and clicked his tongue.

What should he do? Should he reveal his identity here and eliminate them?

But he had already harmed Duke Kozel, and if he harmed them now, his path would become too obvious.

As Azadin hesitated, Ismail and Midiam approached him.

“What should we do?”

“Should we fight?”

“Wait a minute. Let’s wait and see.”

Azadin stopped the two young children. He saw a messenger approach the mercenaries, and they began talking among themselves.

The mercenaries were greatly flustered and began gathering their weapons and loot.

“Oh, that’s it for today.”

They only allowed those whose belongings they had searched to pass through, and made the others stay at the lodgings outside the gate before entering the gate themselves.

“What’s going on?”

The merchants’ faces contorted in confusion.

“They say an ogre has been spotted nearby.”

Azadin told the merchants.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I have good hearing, and I clearly heard what they were saying.”

“What?”

The merchants and travelers who had to stay outside the gate were horrified by the news.

“No, that’s…”

“Huh?”

As Azadin mentioned the ogre, the mercenaries clicked their tongues and went inside the gate. The merchants and travelers watched the scene intently.

“Wait!”

“Let’s talk!”

The merchants banged on the small door of the gate, the hatch, but the soldiers ignored them.

“What the…”

“I-it looks like it’s real!”

Judging by the mercenaries’ reaction, it was clear that an ogre had indeed appeared nearby. The merchants and travelers all turned pale.

*********

In the eastern inland region, there was a plateau basin adjacent to the Anukia Desert. Thanks to the sandstorms blowing from the desert, it was relatively fertile, and it also rained well during the rainy season.

However, ogres from the Black Tooth Mountains had taken over the plateau basin and settled there, forcing people to move out.

Ogres are muscular giants twice the height of a grown man and more than ten times their weight. They possess superhuman strength that is incomparable to humans, and although they are not intelligent, they are ferocious and enjoy cannibalism.

One of the main tasks of the Marquis of Salasma, Count Kazel, was to act as a bulwark to prevent these ogres from entering human territory.

Fortunately, monsters do not have the unified organization to march long distances. Also, the ogres in the plateau basin attack and devour each other, fighting endlessly among themselves in internal strife.

So, taking advantage of that gap, the successive Marquises of Salasma had gradually built up pioneer villages to the east, beyond the gate. However, as the recent drought continued, the ogres also began to suffer.

Although ogres are not intelligent enough to undertake long-distance expeditions, the lack of water motivated the tribes that had been pushed out of the internal strife to turn their attention outside the eastern inland region.

*********

“Ogres? How many are there?”

Tarki, the illegitimate son of the Marquis of Salasma, Count Kazel, asked the scout who had come to see him.

“Only one has been confirmed so far. But there are hobgoblins and goblin troops under his command. The number is unknown, but according to the scout, there are at least ten goblins…”

“That’s a big problem. If there are more than ten, that means it’s a squad, right?”

Proper ogres lead goblins and hobgoblins as their subordinates. In other words, the one discovered this time is not a fugitive who escaped from cannibalism within the clan, but a scout or a pillager who came with a proper troop.

An ogre alone is a formidable opponent, but with a goblin troop under his command, it’s already a number that humans can’t handle.

Of course, this is a gate fortress, so it’s not impossible to defend it by utilizing the fortress walls and terrain.

However, Tarki has no reason to fight them here, wasting his private soldiers. It doesn’t make him any money, and it would only increase the reward he has to pay the mercenaries because of the battle. It was the rule to pay double the usual salary when engaging in actual combat.

“There’s no choice. Let’s retreat with the loot.”

Tarki decided to quickly leave this place with the looted goods.

At that moment, a man entered the village hall. It was a hunter, the acting village chief.

“Lord Tarki, it’s a disaster.”

“A disaster? What disaster? Has the ogre already arrived?”

“No, the people outside the gate are causing a disturbance. It seems they’ve noticed the ogre is approaching.”

“What? What are you talking about? Who was the idiot who told them?”

Tarki was flustered. The ogre was moving south from the north, and the pioneer settlement beyond the gate was located in the southeast. In other words, the refugees and merchants outside the gate were from the southeast, so there was no way they would know about the ogre’s approach.

“No one told them.”

“It seems someone overheard the messenger’s words.”

“Hmm, these idiots…”

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? What are they going to do? Lock the gate! Those insolent bastards.”

“Yes?”

The hunter was dumbfounded at the order to lock the gate. If the ogres approached, the people outside the gate would be the first to be exposed to them defenselessly.

It was practically the same as saying they would be used as expendables.

“We’ve confirmed that there are no copies of the Divine Scripture in this village, so we’re leaving. The vigilantes should stop the approaching ogres and monsters.”

“What is…”

The hunter was bewildered. He knew that the young man in front of him was not a knight from old stories since the looting, but he didn’t expect him to so brazenly abandon the people.

“Didn’t you conscript the able-bodied young men in this village?”

“Of course, we’ll leave them behind. Well, we’ve trained them as soldiers, so they should be useful enough.”

“……”

He was acting like he had done them a favor by training them after conscripting them as soldiers for only a day. It was a brazen tone, but as a hunter, he couldn’t dare to resist this guy.

“Then, at least let the people outside in. I’ll take command of the defense here.”

When the hunter said that, Tarki scoffed.

“What are you going to do, you’re not even a knight?”

‘You’re not a knight either, running away like that,’ the hunter thought, but he didn’t say it out loud.

“Fine. I’ll leave the defense here to you!”

Tarki said that and called the mercenaries. They began to requisition the village’s horses, cows, and carts and load their loot onto them.

*********

The travelers and merchants outside the gate were horrified by the news that an ogre was coming.

“Oh, we’re all going to die.”

“What should we do? Should we run away from the road right now?”

“But it’s almost sunset…”

Traveling on mountain roads at sunset was like risking one’s life. You never knew where wild beasts and monsters would come from, and even tripping on a rock could cause serious injury or death.

Traveling at night was only possible in places with well-paved imperial roads. Or if you had exceptionally good night vision like dwarves or elves.

But then, suddenly, the gate began to open in front of these people who were in such a predicament.

The ones who opened the gate were the village’s vigilantes, mostly older men, and the young men were nowhere to be seen.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

“Where are the knights?”

“The knights and mercenaries have left.”

“What?”

“So, please come inside.”

A man who appeared to be a hunter allowed people from outside the village to enter.

Azadin, still pretending to be blind, walked into the village with his cane and leading the mountain goat. A solemn atmosphere hung over the village.

It seemed that the young men had been conscripted, and all the village’s wealth had been looted. The remaining people, having had their property looted and their members taken away, were preparing for defense with the few people they had left.

“As you can see, we are in a crisis situation right now. So, would you also help with the village defense?”

The hunter asked politely. But around him were vigilantes with spears and intimidating expressions.

“What kind of help are you talking about?”

“Those who can fight, fight, and those who can’t, provide support.”

“Eek?!”

The merchants were flustered by those words.

“No, that’s…”

“Usually, when you say help, it means a war merchant, not that…”

When a merchant is conscripted into war, they usually become a war merchant. They follow the battlefield and buy and sell necessary supplies, not go out and fight themselves.

It was more beneficial for those who were fighting to do it that way. In other words, the merchants would become supply soldiers and take charge of their own transportation.

However, that was in the case of a long-term war, and if it was a single battle to defend the gate from a dangerous enemy like now, war merchants would not be of much help.

“What should we do?”

At that moment, a blind man asked. He was a young man with a long, horizontal scar across his face.

Behind him were a boy and a girl in dusty cloaks. Both were young children in their early teens. In the south, where there was a custom of early marriage, they would be treated as adults, but here they were still young children.

“A blind man and children… Take refuge with the elderly and the weak.”

The hunter said that and began to devise a defense strategy.

*********

An ogre with a flag bearing the emblem of the Broken Tooth Clan on his back was coming down the mountain path.

The path of the ‘Spine of the Desert’ mountain range, which was the border between the eastern inland region and the Kingdom of Korasar, was so rugged that if you avoided the impassable peaks, you would eventually arrive at the gate village.

The ogres who had come down the various paths were able to capture humans whose eyes had burst and legs had broken by chance.

“You, portable food. Belong to me, Goldoo.”

They grabbed the fleeing humans and put them in a large meat box they carried on their backs. Those who fell into the huge box full of human and goblin corpses and pieces of various wild animals screamed.

“S-save me!”

“Damn it! That damned messenger clan!”

“Aaaah… Gods of the King! Please save me!”

Those who were sucked into the pile of corpses screamed and begged for salvation.