The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 131

#132. Sunken Ship 2

“Sir Zibeck?”

“It seems Sir Zekt will be chasing us. What should we do?”

“First, I’ll stop by the Corasar Merchant Guild to get some information and try to contact high-ranking officials to report. It’ll be troublesome for you, right? Should we part ways here?”

“Please don’t say that, Azadin. To be honest, as long as Sir Zekt is out there, I’m not safe anywhere. I’ll keep following you for a while. Even if I follow you, it’s not like I’m breaking my vows as a holy knight of the King’s Church.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you say your sister is of the Emperor’s bloodline?”

Azadin’s group had overheard Araiel saying she was of the Emperor’s bloodline when Duke Adler was being arrogant about his own lineage.

“If your twin sister is, then you must be too.”

“Doesn’t the King’s Church despise the Emperor?”

“Even so, it’s undeniable that it’s a noble bloodline.”

“Noble bloodline, my foot… You’re usually okay, but sometimes you’re a bit of an idiot. Is it because you’re from the King’s Church?”

Azadin knew that Zibeck was trying his best to reconcile his identity as a holy knight, the values he had built up while living as a holy knight, with Azadin.

He knew that Zibeck wasn’t doing this because he didn’t know, but simply to alleviate the shock of his values collapsing and being re-established, so he decided to tolerate it.

‘Holy knights are really severe cases. Well, what can you do? That’s why they’re holy knights. Rather, if they abandon the existing doctrines too easily and switch sides, that would mean their faith isn’t strong enough.’

Meanwhile, Scott, who was riding in his wheelchair, collided with a man who was drunk and staggering.

“Hic, hiccup. What’s this? Why is a cripple riding around in this thing and hitting people? Ouch, I’m hurt. Pay for my medical expenses, you!”

The drunkard lay down like that, but when Zibeck glared at him, he jumped up.

“Oh, my. If you’re with a holy knight, you should have said so.”

“Damn it. People here have no consideration for people in wheelchairs! These morons! Don’t they know that even people with disabilities can have great intelligence, and that their genes should be passed down to future generations to draw out all the possibilities inherent in their race?”

When Scott expressed his displeasure, Azadin retorted.

“First of all, you’re not one of our kind, and secondly, you’re not in a wheelchair because you’re disabled, but because you just don’t want to use your muscles, right?”

“If even someone as well-off as me can’t get around in a wheelchair, it must be even harder for people who are actually injured or have difficulty moving. Humph.”

As Scott said that, Azadin stopped.

It was a commercial area where branch offices of merchant guilds were gathered. The cheap taverns for dockworkers ended, and the atmosphere of the street changed drastically with the presence of night patrols.

“Sir Zibeck, please wait around here for now.”

Azadin had glossed over the reason why the holy knight had joined him, saying that if one has high ideals, they will find comrades. But when arriving at a branch he didn’t know well, it was a bit cumbersome to have a holy knight with him.

“Understood.”

“Good. Then, I’ll leave Scott and Shatty in your care.”

Azadin entrusted Scott and Shatty to Zibeck and headed to the Corasar Merchant Guild office.

*********

“But….”

Azadin frowned.

“The Council said they would lift my curse, and they made a big fuss about it to Sir Guillaume Balte.”

Azadin grumbled as he looked at the Corasar Merchant Guild office in Lantaric.

Derek, the former messenger of the merchant guild whom he had seen in Salasma, and Calypso, the 106th-ranked messenger who had been defeated by Azadin, were staying at the Lantaric headquarters.

“Azadin, it’s you. Hmm. I was going to look for the orphans you requested, but you’ve already taken them.”

Azadin had asked Calypso to find and protect the children born to the woman who was persecuted for being mistaken as a messenger clan member, and other children who were traded as slaves. But Azadin had found them first, so he had entrusted the children to the merchant guild.

“Yeah. We were going the same way. But you’re being quite informal, aren’t you?”

When Azadin had defeated Calypso, Calypso had addressed Azadin as “senior” and had been very cautious. But after being separated for a while and meeting again, he was casually using informal language.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“No, never mind.”

Azadin shook his head, not wanting to argue about something insignificant, as nothing would change even if he was called “senior” by Calypso.

“Well, anyway, if you were going to handle things first, you should have at least contacted us. We’re wasting our time here, you know?”

“I told them to inform you through the merchant guild, but it seems they didn’t get in touch.”

“Ah, well, the atmosphere within our clan has been a bit like that lately.”

“So, what brings you here?”

“Lady Araiel has put a bounty on Aldis Jedaha. Not only that, but she’s ordered us to capture, persuade, or, if that’s impossible, eliminate or track down any messengers or family members of the Council we see. Thanks to that, there are people who are diligently chasing Aldis Jedaha, but I’m just planning to slack off.”

“Lady Araiel, huh….”

Azadin felt a sense of unease at Calypso’s nonchalant words of following Araiel.

“Do you know that I resisted Araiel?”

Calypso nodded.

“I heard, Azadin. That you rejected Lady Araiel’s cause because of the resentment you held from being bullied as a child? How petty.”

“Petty?”

Azadin was furious at Calypso for calling him petty.

It wasn’t such a simple issue. Of course, it could be said that way, but for the one urging forgiveness or reconciliation to call the one refusing petty was absurd.

‘It’s even more unforgivable.’

Azadin was dumbfounded and glared at Calypso.

“The Council and the Five Great Clans are already a sinking ship. They’ve ruled Aragas for a long time, but they haven’t achieved anything, and they haven’t presented a clear vision like Lady Araiel. The clan’s future lies with Lady Araiel. Well, the merchants have a position, so they’re straddling the fence, but I’ve decided to serve Lady Araiel with all my heart and loyalty.”

“……”

“So, what does Lady Araiel like? Do you happen to know what she likes?”

“At least I know what she dislikes.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“You.”

Azadin said that and walked into the office. The people who were organizing documents inside the office recognized Azadin.

The head of the Lantaric branch, wearing a monocle, was at the largest desk. She was a middle-aged woman with a neat appearance and a striking, cold beauty.

She cleared her throat.

“To barge in like this. Normally, I wouldn’t meet a low-ranking messenger directly, but if you’re Lady Araiel’s brother, that’s a different story.”

She emphasized that point first.

For the Aragas clan, the Emperor’s messenger was a position that was prioritized above all else. Everyone in the clan strives, competes, and challenges to become a messenger.

But not everyone can become a messenger.

Most become servants or merchants and work as external organizations of the messenger clan, and those who were messengers but could no longer work due to age or injury also end up working in these external organizations.

However, humans are beings that rationalize themselves, so even though they wanted to become messengers so badly, once they are no longer messengers, they claim that their position is equal to or even superior to that of messengers.

In particular, merchants have money, goods, and organizational power, so even active messengers need their help, making them very influential.

‘So, you’re meeting me because I’m Araiel’s brother, huh?’

Indeed, the branch manager lowered her voice and spoke to Azadin.

“We haven’t decided who to support yet, but we don’t want to treat you badly, as you are Lady Araiel’s brother. If you have any requests, please speak.”

“First of all, I want to report directly to the Council, but I lost the Emperor’s voice… and was suddenly dismissed?”

At first, he was furious at the Council’s tyranny in suddenly dismissing him, but now he understood the situation to some extent.

Araiel was expanding her power so quickly among the young people, and even the four members of the Hwajopungwol [a group of elite messengers], who had been raised as leaders, had betrayed them.

Perhaps if the Council and Araiel’s faction were to engage in an all-out war at this point, Azadin would bet his money on Araiel’s side winning.

In such a situation, they must have wanted to somehow put a leash on Azadin, who was Araiel’s brother.

‘Besides, it seems Araiel has publicly stated that she cares about me.’

The way everyone around him looked at Azadin was different.

Araiel’s beloved brother.

They must all be thinking that.

‘It’s convenient, but it makes me feel miserable.’

“So, what is your business? Araiel’s brother?”

The Lantaric branch manager asked Azadin.

“I want to meet a close member of the Council.”

“We want to meet them too.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“We are currently neutral. But the Council has gone into hiding because Araiel’s faction is rampant and targeting them. We can’t contact them at the moment.”

“Wait a minute. Does that mean the Council is afraid of Araiel’s faction?”

Azadin felt dizzy when he heard that.

It had been hundreds of years since Aragas became a messenger clan, but was that hundreds of years of tradition being destroyed by just one person, Araiel?

“Then, even if you claim to be neutral, the Council won’t contact you either. How can I meet a member of the Council, a leader?”

“I can’t help you with that. How about meeting an Etar?”

“The Etar clan?”

“Yes. If you go to Coral Sahar, the capital of the Corasar Kingdom, the branch manager there is from the Etar clan.”

Coral Sahar is the original name of the Corasar Kingdom.

Ordinary people just call it ‘Corasar,’ but the branch manager was deliberately using the old name ‘Coral Sahar’ to show off her refinement.

‘If that’s the case, should I call myself Asahdin?’

Azadin thought it was ridiculous that the branch manager was showing off her pretentiousness in such a useless way, but since she was a beautiful woman, it was surprisingly not that annoying.

Midiam clapped her hands as if something had struck her mind when she heard about the Etar clan.

“Ah. You mean Sir Sion.”

“Yes. The Etar clan members will have contact with the Council members.”

In short, the Council is currently hiding, pushed back by Araiel’s faction.

Even if Azadin wanted to meet them to assert his innocence and lift the curse on his abdomen, they wouldn’t meet him. They were afraid that their location would be exposed and they would be expelled by Araiel’s faction.

‘No, what is going on? Why did it turn out like this?’

“Um….”

Midiam said, looking very perplexed.

“Well, in this situation, wouldn’t it be wise to just surrender to Araiel?”

Wouldn’t it be better to surrender to Araiel and figure out how to deal with the curse on his abdomen? Midiam asked that.

“I’d rather die than do that.”

“To that extent?”

“Midiam. You’re an Etar, and you’re telling me to go to Araiel’s faction?”

“Rather than that… if we’re making a rational choice, that is.”

Certainly….

If making a rational choice, it would be better to choose Araiel, who would lift the curse on his abdomen.

And it would be better to accept the apology she wanted. She would give him money, power, and even a beautiful woman, wouldn’t she?

Was it just Azadin’s emotions that were preventing him from reconciling with Araiel?

No, it wasn’t.

Azadin had noticed that Araiel was using the power of the Nether when he faced her.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to heal wounds so quickly without using divine magic.

However….

‘I can’t make a fool of myself by claiming she’s using the power of the Nether.’

First of all, there was no clear evidence. And looking at the current atmosphere, it seemed that there would be many people who would continue to support her even if she was using the power of the Nether.

In the end, Azadin decided to head to Coral Sahar, the capital of the Corasar Kingdom, and left the meeting with the branch manager.