The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 25

The wyvern quickly darted through the trees, dodging the arrows, and disappeared from their sight.

“Why isn’t it flying if it’s a wyvern?”

“It seems quite clever. It only flies at night.”

A wyvern with black scales is almost invisible when flying at night. It knows that flying during the day would only attract attention.

“Tch. This has become a headache. Even if the farmers said they saw a wyvern, I thought those ignorant fools were just talking nonsense…”

In reality, farmers often exaggerated, claiming to have seen a dragon, only for it to turn out to be a crocodile or a lizardman. Or they’d claim to have seen a giant, but it would only be a bugbear [a large, hairy humanoid monster].

But this time, the farmers’ sighting information matched the real thing exactly.

“If a young one is wandering around alone, it means there are quite a few adolescent wyverns already.”

Sir Gazrek grumbled and walked towards the direction the wyvern had disappeared. Soon, the forest ended, and the outskirts of a farm appeared. People who looked like farmers working on the farm were lying on the ground. They weren’t groaning from arrow wounds?

“….”

The arrows they shot to catch the wyvern must have flown over the trees and accidentally hit the farmers on the farm.

“Damn it. Why are stray arrows so powerful?”

When they shoot to kill someone, they often see them survive even after being hit by ten arrows, but a person dies instantly from a stray arrow like this.

As Sir Gazrek stared blankly at the scene, the trainee knights followed behind and also discovered the sight.

“Huh?!”

“Huh?”

“Oh, damn it!”

“By the Eight Thrones…”

The trainee knights also realized their mistake and were shocked. Sir Gazrek sighed deeply and looked around.

“Ugh…”

“P-please save us. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

One farmer was dead from the arrow, and the other two were injured and collapsed. They begged, clasping their hands together when they saw the knights.

“W-what should we do, Sir Gazrek?”

‘Does this idiot have no sense? Why is he calling my name here?’

Sir Gazrek was inwardly annoyed and gestured with his chin to Tasig, who had called his name.

“They’re cultists. Finish them off, Tasig.”

“Huh?”

“Why else would farmers be in the forest? They’re cultists.”

Sir Gazrek’s words sent an invisible shock through the trainee knights. But Tasig, who had been ordered to kill them, quickly understood the situation and took action.

“Ah! R-right. Understood.”

Tasig raised his hunting spear and stabbed the pleading farmers, ending their lives.

“….”

The trainee knights were panting. Their consciences were screaming at the murder of innocent civilians. Sir Gazrek looked back at the trainee knights and gave a bitter smile.

“Hey, everyone, get a grip. I’m cleaning up the mess you guys made.”

“Huh?”

“Who shot the arrows?”

The trainee knights did.

“The arrows hit them. You guys killed them.”

Sir Gazrek rebuked the trainee knights.

“Tell me the rules of the Order.”

“W-we…”

“What happens if you kill an innocent civilian?”

“H-hanging.”

“Do you want to be hanged?”

“N-no. But…”

Framing innocent people as cultists and killing them wasn’t covering up a sin with another sin? Besides, if the trainee knights had accidentally killed someone, there was a way to atone. They could become penitent knights.

Penitent knights were those who atoned for their sins through asceticism. They received no support from the Order and wandered around, defeating monsters and helping people, accumulating merit until they were eventually pardoned by a bishop. They had to continue wandering the wilderness and sleeping without a roof over their heads.

Few of those who became penitent knights succeeded in their penance and returned to their positions. Most of them became corrupt and turned into highway robbers or died on the streets.

Even that was only when the bishop was a lenient person. Considering the current bishop’s tendencies in the Salasmar diocese, those without a decent family background would all be sent to the gallows.

‘Damn it. I can’t become a penitent knight at my age. It would ruin my daughter’s future too…’

Sir Gazrek had already been on the bad side of the higher-ups for having a child out of wedlock as a Holy Knight. If it was revealed that he had killed civilians by misfiring, he would really have no choice but to become a penitent knight this time.

He wouldn’t mind becoming a penitent knight alone, but it would also bring harm to his daughter.

“If you understand, say they are cultists.”

Then, Tasig, who was in charge of finishing the job, wiped the blood off his spear and asked.

“There are many kinds of cultists, aren’t there? Which one should we say they are?”

“Let’s say they are followers of the Kurt god.”

Sir Gazrek said, looking around, and then he flinched.

“….”

One wooden clog was caught on a tree stump. Anyone could tell it had just been taken off. The inside of the shoe was clean.

The other footprint of the wooden clog led towards the farm.

“Oh, this is just great.”

Sir Gazrek covered his face with his hands.

“Are you guys really going to do your job like this?”

“W-what should we do?”

“What else?”

Sir Gazrek counted the number of roofs on the farm.

“It looks like a barn or a shed, so practically, about two houses? Three people died here…”

Sir Gazrek clicked his tongue after roughly counting.

“I hope there aren’t many kids in that farmhouse.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go, you guys.”

Sir Gazrek led the reluctant trainee knights towards the farm. He didn’t like his choice either, but he would do anything for his daughter, who was his superior.

*********

Azadin groaned as he lay down. His muscles were aching.

The past week had been a series of forced marches. He had earned three gold coins of the Emperor, which was usually hard to earn even ten in a year.

People knew about the King’s Church’s oppression, but they hoarded the Emperor’s gold coins to petition the Messenger Clan… The calamities that had befallen the world in the past week had made it easy for people to touch the forbidden.

His body was throbbing.

The harsh training and innate talent of the Aragasa made them seem like beings beyond humans, but they were also human.

Especially Azadin was more human than others. In the end, he had to pay a higher price to do similar things as other messengers.

But….

[The mission is calling.]

The Emperor’s voice said.

[Only those who respond when justice calls are worthy of being my messenger.]

“…I haven’t seen many like that?”

Most of the Emperor’s messengers he had seen did not respond so passionately to the call of justice. He also considered himself an inadequate human to dare to speak of justice, but other messengers had even less connection to justice.

It was the nature of the secular contract. Regardless of what soul was filled within, the contract inherited through blood determined the Messenger Clan. So, what the Emperor’s voice said was wrong.

But now was not the time to point out the Emperor’s voice’s error. If justice was really calling, then someone must be suffering.

“Damn it. There’s no time to rest.”

Azadin whipped his tired body and woke up from his dream.

At that moment, a farmer’s son burst into the barn.

“P-please save me!”

“What’s wrong?”

As Azadin came down from the second floor of the barn, the chickens on the first floor were startled and flew up to avoid Azadin.

“Hmm.”

“Oh, dear.”

Midiam, Ismail, and Tarki were still tossing and turning, unable to wake up.

“My father was murdered! In the forest over there!”

The farmer’s son was tearful. His skin was flushed from running, his body was reeking of sweat, and his shoes were off, making him look a mess.

“Murdered? By what specifically?”

“Arrows!”

“Arrows?”

Azadin frowned.

“Aaaah!”

A woman’s scream was heard from outside the farm. When he went outside the barn, a trainee knight wearing chainmail and the King’s Church emblem on his chest was stabbing a woman working in the field with a spear.

“This is bad!”

Azadin immediately rushed forward and picked up a stone from the ground. And while running, he threw the stone with a sidearm motion.

-Whoosh!

With a sharp sound of tearing wind, the stone flew.

It was a fierce force, but the trainee knight pulled out the spear that had killed the woman and blocked the flying stone with the shaft.

-Thud!

The stone hit the spear shaft and bounced off.

“What is this guy? Are you trying to pick a fight!”

But the trainee knight was also chilled to the bone. Azadin’s throw was so powerful that his hand was numb.

‘Tch. My power is weakened because I just woke up.’

Azadin had been strictly told by his master never to throw with full force before his shoulder was loosened up.

Until now, he had been able to throw with enough power to break armor and kill people just by using the strength of his wrist and elbow without using his shoulder much… As expected, the Holy Knights of the King’s Church were not easy opponents.

However, he couldn’t stand by and watch someone kill a civilian in front of him. Azadin sprinted across the ground and charged at the trainee knight.

“Is this guy crazy!”

The trainee knight readjusted his spear and tried to stab Azadin to death in one go. On the other hand, Azadin was currently empty-handed. His only weapon was the short dagger he was wearing on his waist.

“Hiss!”

The trainee knight’s spear briefly stabbed at Azadin. As he dodged the attack to the side, the spear was quickly retracted and then flew again, repeatedly, hissing like a snake’s tongue.

His skill was not ordinary. Moreover, with an empty hand versus a spear, no matter how skilled Azadin was, the difference in range was hopeless.

But Azadin dodged the spear’s attacks like flowing water, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it again.

“Not so fast!”

The trainee knight saw Azadin’s throwing stance and turned his head to the side to avoid the stone.

That’s what he should have done….

-Thwack!

The stone hit the trainee knight. The stone that Azadin threw curved in the air and entered further inside the trainee knight’s body than he had predicted.

-‘Hwajopungwol Hwanghak, Kazas Style!’

It wasn’t a way to bend a projectile by using magic, but a way to bend it by swimming through the air, but the result was similar. However, a completely smooth stone doesn’t bend well, so to give a lot of angle to the change, you need to apply mud or something sticky.

Azadin had applied a lot of wax to his quiver for that purpose. Before throwing the stone, he had subtly rubbed it against the quiver, applied wax, and then succeeded in this secret technique.