The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 23

“So, those settler bastards are just lazy, and now they want to move to the fertile lands that others have worked on just because they got a little less rain? What lord would ever allow that?” Tarki didn’t hide his discrimination, prejudice, and disgust towards the settlers. It was clear he didn’t even think it was something to hide. “The poor are poor for a reason.” “Hmm.” Azadin clicked his tongue at Tarki’s words. “If you become a loser in the succession battle and have to join the King’s Church, then that will be for a reason too, right?” “What? Are you trying to insult me?” “Yeah, I’m trying to insult you. What are you going to do about it?” “Ah, but I’m the one who requested help with gold.” Tarki knew he was no match for Azadin and didn’t dare to challenge him. “I envy your attitude, being able to look down on others despite being a bastard. If I were as dumb and short-sighted as you, I might live a happier life. Have you ever earned a single coin with your own hands?” “But I’m still a noble! My father is Count Kazel, the March of Sallasma [a region or territory], and my mother is the daughter of Baron Nordt and from the Kojin Trading Company…” “And I make a living killing nobles. If you knew why my clan is called the King Slayer, you wouldn’t be bragging about your noble lineage in front of me.” “…….” Come to think of it, that’s right. Bragging about being a noble in front of a guy who’s known for killing nobles. “Fortunately, you’re not a very impressive noble. If you were, you would have burned away those Atra’s creatures [referring to the monsters] gnawing at your body with magic.” “Y-you couldn’t use magic either, so you made the kid do it, right?” “That’s why I don’t look down on the settlers. Be humble in the face of fate. You were lucky enough to be born into a noble family, not go hungry, and grow up as you pleased, yet you look down on others. Be grateful for the luck that allows you to live and breathe with a brain that can’t even understand why the frontier has lower productivity than fertile land.” Azadin criticized Tarki while picking up a halberd from a nearby soldier’s corpse and examining the blade. It belonged to the captain of the guard, and the halberd’s blade was exceptionally well-made. Azadin took it and approached the spider mercenary who was wreaking havoc at the gate. He didn’t attack right away but used nearby obstacles to get as close as possible, then climbed the wall, jumped down from it, and struck. -Thwack! The mercenary’s head flew off with a single blow. “Chopping off their heads works well.” Azadin cut off the spider mercenary’s head, quickly scattered straw, and threw a torch to set it on fire. The spider mercenaries, without their commanding officer, couldn’t maintain their sanity and were simply focused on satisfying their hunger. Thanks to that, the damage wasn’t as severe as it could have been. They were prioritizing feeding on the corpses of the humans they had killed, rather than creating new victims. However, if people attacked them, they would retaliate and kill them. So, people were running away from the spider mercenaries, keeping their distance. Avoiding people’s eyes, Azadin took down the spider mercenaries one by one. “…The request is fulfilled, and we’ve reduced their numbers enough. Killing them any more is meaningless.” Ismail, supporting Midiam, advised Azadin. In other words, he was suggesting they leave the village to be plundered by the monsters and the people to be killed. ‘This guy is cold and ruthless for his age. Or is he just annoyed because of Midiam?’ Azadin took Ismail’s bold statement to heart and replied. “Sorry, but I think this is what the person who made the request and was killed would have wanted. Even if the requester dies, I don’t want to take the gold for free.” “That’s not likely. He probably just wanted to save his own skin, like that bastard over there.” “B-bastard? Did you just say that?” Tarki was enraged at Ismail for calling him a bastard. He was furious that someone so young would speak so carelessly. “Enough. That’s enough.” Azadin pointed his halberd at Tarki. “Don’t say another word. I admit these guys have foul mouths, but you’re still a bastard.” “No, you should at least know my name.” “What for? I don’t want to waste memory space in my head unnecessarily. Bastard is enough.” Azadin forcibly shut Tarki’s mouth and approached another group of spider mercenaries. They were all scattered, eating meat, and their coordination was disrupted. It was possible to take them down one by one. “Hmm, shall we finish this?” Azadin approached a spider mercenary that had its back to him, tearing at a corpse. As he got within a certain distance, the spider mercenary turned and became aware of Azadin. It was like a beast guarding its territory against a hunter. But that wariness was useless. -Shimmer! Azadin’s body blurred, and he was suddenly within the spider mercenary’s reach. And with one strike of the halberd! The spider mercenary’s head was cut off in an instant. Small spiders tried to fill the gap, but the area that had been cut off and fallen away was beyond repair. “Kruk!” Another spider mercenary charged at Azadin, but he swung the halberd diagonally, cutting off its arm, spider legs, and neck in one go. “They were hard to deal with at first, but I’m getting used to them. But…” Azadin felt the halberd wobble. Hitting human neck bones, the reflexively protruding arm bones, and the exoskeletal spider legs was putting a lot of strain on the halberd’s shaft. Seeing the wooden shaft breaking and twisting, Azadin simply detached the halberd head and picked up a sword from another mercenary. “How many are left now, bastard?” Azadin asked, and Tarki was taken aback. ‘Oh, there are a lot? Is this guy from the Messenger Clan [a clan known for their strength and combat skills]?’ Tarki even felt awe at Azadin’s strength. He didn’t like being called a bastard, but he didn’t want to provoke him. It was then, as Azadin took a breather and looked around, that the north became noisy. “It’s the King’s Church!” “The King’s Church has appeared to save the people!” “We’re saved!” From the cheers of the people, it seemed that the King’s Church nearby had come to save the people. ********* Originally, the King’s Church was made up of holy knights who rose to protect the people from the Kurt gods [referring to evil gods] and monsters and to uphold the king’s law. The lords, each with their own territories, only cared about their own wealth, so holy knights who did not have territories were needed. In the beginning, they clearly had such a mission, but the King’s Church had become completely secularized. This was because the King’s Church had three main types of members. First, criminals. Those who were of noble blood but had broken the king’s law could avoid punishment by joining the King’s Church. Second, those who had lost out in palace intrigues. In cases of succession disputes between siblings, those who did not inherit the position of the head of the family were usually assassinated, but if they didn’t want to die, they had no choice but to give up all inheritance and join the King’s Church. Third, bastards. Bastards who had noble blood and could use white magic but were not eligible to participate in succession disputes would usually join the King’s Church. As many people joined the King’s Church, the church grew in power, which soon became a seed of discord. A lot of money was needed to feed and arm the church’s holy knights. The King’s Church, which had become a powerful military force, forcibly took these resources from the king and nobles and intervened in the nobles’ succession wars to strengthen their power. This was also why the previously heretical Rescue Knights were recognized by the Eight Kingdoms. If only nobles and bastards were sent to the King’s Church, power and troops would be concentrated in the King’s Church, so another order of holy knights was needed to keep them in check. ********* For this reason, the King’s Church, which would normally make everyone tremble with fear, was very welcome in this situation. “The King’s Church?” However, for Azadin, a member of the Messenger Clan, they were just a nuisance. They were only appearing now, after he had already dealt with a significant number of the creatures. “What should we do?” “Well, the King’s Church wouldn’t be so helpless against the Kurt god’s creatures, so let’s leave the rest to them. There’s no point in meeting them.” Azadin gave up on killing any more spider mercenaries and called for his Kerim mountain goat [a type of animal]. “Then, the request is fulfilled, requester.” Azadin said, turning to Tarki. “Ah… okay. Y-yeah.” “Do you have any additional requests? Aside from the stupid request to make you a count.” “P-please let me escape from here.” Tarki spoke respectfully to Azadin, clearly intimidated. “If the King’s Church starts an investigation, they’ll find out that the mercenary group that caused this incident was hired by me. Then… it’s over! At least I need to escape to a place where they aren’t.” “Alright. Anyway, I can’t let the requester of the gold be killed by the King’s Church.” Azadin allowed Tarki to accompany him. His request to make him a count was not worth listening to, but he couldn’t let him be captured by the King’s Church. He would spill everything under torture. “Then, shall we escape?” ********* Azadin’s group escaped the post town through the western gate and headed west. The continuous fighting and forced march had exhausted everyone, not just Azadin. “Ah, I just took a bath and changed into new clothes yesterday.” Midiam groaned, sweating. It felt like a lie that just yesterday, she had taken a bath and changed into new clothes at the Korasar peddler’s guild caravan. The fresh feeling had disappeared after just one day, and her new clothes were a mess of sweat and dust. “Okay. The sun is rising. We’ve come far enough that we don’t need to worry about the King’s Church. Let’s rest a bit.” Azadin ordered a rest and stopped by the roadside. There were farm buildings nearby, but hunting dogs were guarding the entrances. Perhaps the farmers would start working soon. Maybe then they could borrow a stable or something to rest. While he was thinking that, the sun was slowly rising in the east, and the world was turning purple. Azadin leaned against a tree, staring blankly at the sunrise. “What are you doing?” Midiam asked. “I’m watching the sunrise. The scene of the sun running across the sky, pushing back the darkness, is magnificent every time I see it.” Azadin replied to Midiam’s question, lost in thought. He was definitely tired, but he was too tired to fall asleep. ‘This kind of situation is going to mess up my condition.’