The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 197

The Aragasas all recognized Azadin, a famous figure.

However, Azadin didn’t know who she was. Judging by her age, she must have been a messenger who had been recruited by Manja-Zadek long before Azadin.

‘If she’s making a grand entrance like that, it’d be rude to say I don’t know her.’

He suddenly wondered how she had lived and why she served Manja-Zadek.

Did she also know the secret of the emperor’s assassination and the true intentions of the Aragasas, as Manja-Zadek claimed, and pledge her loyalty to the Golden King? What kind of mindset did she have to serve such a broken Golden King?

However, Karchen was wary of Azadin.

“As an Aragasa, I am far senior to you. Keep that in mind. But to receive a Golden Seal directly from the king…”

Azadin himself didn’t know the exact rank of the Golden Seal Bearer, a position in Butuma, but judging from the page’s reaction and Karchen’s reaction as the captain of the guard, it was a considerably high position.

“So, who are these people with you? Are they your subordinates?”

“Yes, they are,” Shatty replied immediately, adopting a humble attitude.

Scott shrugged and said,

“You could say they are the captain’s loyal companions.”

“Indeed. A Naga [a serpentine humanoid] and an Orc, a strange combination.”

Both Shatty and Scott were using disguise to appear human, but it seemed they had been found out. What was even more surprising was that they were allowed to enter the palace despite their true identities being known.

However, it was possible that Karchen was trying to find Azadin’s weakness.

Indeed, Azadin was now being targeted by cold killing intent from various directions. Armed individuals were aiming at Azadin from behind the eaves of the wall.

“So, I’ll ask you. Which side do you belong to? The Council? Or are you a traitor? Did your sister send you on some mission? What trick did you use to get into the king’s good graces?”

“Did I get into the king’s good graces?”

“Yes. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have received the Golden Seal. That is…”

Karchen was about to talk about the significance of the Golden Seal Bearer but stopped. She seemed to have realized that Azadin didn’t know the full importance of the Butuma Golden Seal Bearer.

“I could treat you as an enemy spy and dispose of you right now.”

“The Council’s messengers will try to assassinate the Golden King, and you’re going to waste your strength fighting an innocent person like me before that?”

When Azadin mentioned the other messengers, Karchen’s eyes wavered. It seemed Azadin had hit a nerve.

The ones who knew the terror of the messengers best were their own kind, the Aragasas. They knew how harsh the messenger selection process was and how dangerous and difficult the missions given to messengers were.

Such messengers were coming to attack.

Even if they were the same Aragasas, those who had become vassals of the Golden King and lived like ordinary people while receiving stipends would have to face active messengers who were at the peak of their strength. Was she really going to waste her strength fighting Azadin, who was also an active messenger?

‘She’s scared, as I thought.’

“Anyway, I’m the one who plans and establishes the security operation, so whatever you are, you’ll have to follow my orders. Got it? And since we still suspect you, don’t come within 200 paces of the king.”

“How can I provide security from 200 paces away? And if the opponents are fellow Aragasas, they must have prepared Black Steel Arrows. Do you have any countermeasures for that?”

“We’ve also prepared Black Steel Arrows.”

“That’s not an answer to the king’s security…”

“We’ve also made shields out of Black Steel. Slaves will hold them to protect the king.”

“Shields made of Black Steel? That’s impressive. Then, could you perhaps supply me with some Black Steel Arrows?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We went through so much trouble to get them. Why would we give arrows to someone whose identity is uncertain? There’s no guarantee you won’t shoot the king with those arrows.”

“Why did you become loyal to Manja-Zadek? Did he really lift the curse of service?”

Azadin was more curious about why they had come to follow Manja-Zadek than about the accusations against him.

“No, I’m talking, and you’re suddenly asking questions… Are you really that curious?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Karchen was taken aback by Azadin’s unexpected reaction.

“If you’re asking if he lifted the curse of service, yes, he did. That’s why I’m still alive. And he told us that it was the Council, not the emperor, who placed the curse of service. It’s better to earn money under the Golden King than to be a dog of the Council, working like a dog without getting paid properly. You too…”

Karchen was about to extol the righteousness and joy of working under the Golden King but stopped.

The position of Golden Seal Bearer was the king’s proxy. It wasn’t a position given to just anyone. Azadin must have used some trick, but it was clear that he had truly won Manja-Zadek’s favor.

If such a person decided to rise in the ranks under Manja-Zadek, he would surely become her rival.

“I don’t trust you, so don’t get in the way of the security team and get lost. Or bring your sister, Araelle.”

“You’re relying on Araelle.”

“Yes. The Council has already taken the throne of Korasar. And if they take Butuma as well, it’s not a dream that they will conquer the entire Hybris region. Then Araelle will just be a foolish traitor who couldn’t do anything.”

“Is that why you’re relying on her?”

“Do you know? The story that children born with the curse of service become the best messengers. Everyone in the clan was expecting Araelle to be as much as you are lacking.”

“It’s more like you’re afraid. The Council’s best assassins are coming, and you’re afraid of facing them.”

“Ah, yes! We weren’t that successful among the Aragasas! That’s why we were recruited by Manja-Zadek. And we made money, played, had children, and raised them… We lived the lives that ordinary humans should have lived. My children didn’t have to go through the inhumane selection process of the messenger clan. But now we have to fight against active Aragasas. What is Araelle doing? Sending a half-wit brother like you!”

Karchen trembled with anger and fear.

The life of an Aragasa was not normal. A clan where everyone could hit the first arrow with the second. They were born with superior spatial awareness and strength, but it was something that could not be achieved without tremendous training.

To carry out the duties of the emperor’s messenger, the Aragasas overworked their children, and Karchen only realized that it was a wrong way of life after hearing it from Manja-Zadek.

But now that she had to fight against the Aragasas, she couldn’t guarantee her victory.

To fight against monsters who had devoted their lives to fighting and killing.

When she was a messenger, she was not afraid even when fighting against strong enemies. She had nothing to lose. But now, she had too much to lose.

“I want to see my children grow up. I want to see them live full lives, not as Aragasas. But… damn it, I have to earn the salary that Manja-Zadek gave me.”

“Is what Manja-Zadek says true?”

“Yes. If you’re still a messenger, you have the emperor’s voice, right? Ask him. He won’t lie.”

“…”

*********

[It is true.]

The emperor’s voice answered Azadin’s question concisely.

“You admit it too easily.”

[If I were to use such a petty lie to exploit the loyalty of the messengers while claiming to be the emperor’s voice, it would tarnish the emperor’s honor.]

“Why do you still value us as messengers even though we assassinated the emperor?”

[It is true that you assassinated the emperor, but I do not resent the Aragasas for that alone. When we were created, it was the early days of the emperor’s reign. At that time, the emperor was a person who believed in his ideals without a shred of doubt. But many things happened.]

“What happened?”

[That is…]

The emperor’s voice began to tell the story of what had happened in the past.

*********

Emperor Yaeslart was furious that other royals and even the Yaegas deities were focused on the pleasures of the flesh and indifferent to the suffering of people due to exploitation.

Even though injustice covered the world and people were suffering, everyone was just focused on their own pleasures, saying that it was better than being subjugated by the power of Nether and Kurt.

Yaeslart, who could not tolerate this, overthrew his own kind and became the sole, unique existence, the emperor.

However, even as such an existence, he could not eradicate the evil of this world. And there was an incident that left a great scar on the emperor’s soul…

The emperor created a relief area to care for the discriminated lepers and supported it.

He alleviated the suffering of the lepers, stopped the progression of their disease, and healed them as the power of miracles gathered. The lepers praised the emperor and cherished him more than anyone else.

However, in the year when the plague was rampant… While the emperor was using the power of miracles to stop the plague, children began to disappear near the leper relief area.

Those who participated in the investigation revealed that the lepers who had taken refuge in the emperor’s relief area had kidnapped and eaten the children, believing in the superstition that they were medicine for their disease.

A deep wound that could never be healed began to form in the emperor’s soul.

He would not have been hurt no matter how powerful the obvious forces of evil were. However, the existence of those who were deluded by superstition and led by ignorance to commit terrible evil in good faith left a greater scar on the emperor’s soul than any evil.

In addition to the lepers, many foolish people committed terrible acts with no evil intent, and each time, a deep darkness fell upon the emperor’s soul.

In the end, the emperor concluded.

Ignorance is also evil. Evil arises from not knowing, so I will teach those who do not know.

However, when teaching, one inevitably learns.

Human intellect is diverse, and sometimes, no matter how much you teach, there are those who lack the innate intellect to understand…

And the fact that human aging transforms the intelligent into the most foolish and evil beings also tormented the emperor.

In achieving good and establishing justice, obvious evil was not an obstacle. Rather, their inner weakness, how could evil be eradicated if the soil in which evil takes root was not eradicated?

The emperor planned to euthanize all illiterates.

By painlessly eliminating all those who did not know how to read, did not know the law, and did not understand mathematics and reason, he sought to achieve the purity of this world.

The emperor’s justice was tainted with madness.

In the end, the emperor’s lover, Harkonia, the leader of the messenger clan whom the emperor loved most and who loved the emperor most, took up the sword herself. There was no heroic battle or insidious assassination.

The emperor willingly offered his heart to his lover’s blade.

*********

[Therefore, our emperor’s voices do not blame your actions, messengers.]

The emperor’s voice said.

[What must be protected is the emperor’s ideal and mission. The emperor of the time when we were created would have affirmed your actions. That was the role that was wanted from you, the god-king slayers.]

As a last resort to stop the god-kings when they went berserk, the emperor accepted the Aragasas as his messengers.

However, now that the emperor was gone, the messenger clan began to move, joining hands with the forces of evil that once threatened humanity in order to take over this world.

If the messenger clan stopped the emperor when he went berserk, who should stop the messenger clan when they go berserk?