The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 205

The sounds of people nearby faded away. Like a dying campfire, the heat gradually subsided, and darkness pressed down with a tangible weight.

Within it, Azadin, pushed by hunger and exhaustion, fell into a sleep that was almost a faint.

Regret and pain surged endlessly.

His life had been nothing but suffering. He had lived in solitude, unloved by anyone.

He was wounded even by his own kin, and abandoned by those he had loved so dearly.

Should he have just condoned Hatir’s tyranny?

If he had, Azadin would still be a beloved disciple to Kazas, and a cherished godson to Aldis.

He would have walked a smooth path within the clan, enjoying wealth and honor.

Of course, the price would have been the massacre of innocents and the unleashing of evil forces upon the world, negating everything humanity had built.

It wouldn’t have been any worse than the current situation. At least, not being alone would have been a little better.

Should he have done that? What was his conviction worth that he had done such a foolish thing?

Azadin spent his time in prison regretting and suffering.

How much time had passed?

“Azadin!”

Someone called out to Azadin.

Was he asleep?

The voice he heard in his hazy consciousness was familiar.

“Are you okay, Azadin?”

“Don’t make a sound, Midiam. There are monsters all around.”

“But….”

Azadin finally focused his mind.

His unique vision finally returned, and he could see his surroundings. Midiam and Ishmael were struggling to open the prison door.

It seemed Amun-Zadek had intended to kill Azadin, as the keyholes of the prison bars were filled with lead, making it impossible to open the lock.

In the end, Midiam was struggling to open the door with an iron crowbar.

“Give it here.”

Azadin rose to his feet.

With his left hand gone, he used his right hand to try and twist the bars with the crowbar.

The bars bent, but not enough for a person to get through. It would take a long time to make a hole big enough for someone to pass through.

“Ugh.”

He had been starving and without water for too long, and his lips cracked and tore when he opened his mouth.

Moving his body after so long was agonizing. The phantom pain he had forgotten while unconscious was now slowly returning to torment him.

Was it worth going through all this to get out? There was only pain outside.

Wouldn’t it be better to just end his life now?

Azadin sighed and put down the crowbar.

“That’s enough. Go.”

“What are you talking about, Azadin?!”

“I’m done for anyway. Look at this.”

Azadin held up his left arm, where amber sap had covered the severed area.

“You know what it means for an Aragasa [a member of the Messenger Clan] to lose an arm, right?”

For them, who used bows as their main weapon, a physical impairment was a fatal weakness. In the old days, Azadin would have had to retire from being a messenger.

But Midiam didn’t give up and asked,

“So what? Are you giving up just because of an injury like that?”

“I acted all high and mighty in front of you, but in the end, I’m just a pathetic failure. You guys shouldn’t have betrayed your clan to follow someone who isn’t worth it….”

Azadin realized his mistake.

The fact that they had come to rescue him meant that these children had betrayed their clan.

Wasn’t it irresponsible to leave the children who had betrayed their clan because of him and wallow in despair and frustration alone?

“Ha.”

Ishmael smirked, as if he had seen through Azadin’s thoughts.

“You really are a softie.”

Even in despair and frustration, his sense of responsibility for Ishmael and Midiam came first.

“I understand. I have to take at least some responsibility.”

Azadin realized that Ishmael had seen through his thoughts and steeled his resolve once more.

Although his heart was shattered, he had something to be responsible for.

‘At least I have to fulfill my responsibility to these children.’

Ishmael handed Azadin a water bottle and some sugar-glazed fruit.

“Let’s start by eating and drinking to regain some strength.”

Putting water and food into his body, which had been weakened by blood loss and imprisonment, brought back some vitality.

Regaining his strength, Azadin began to pry open the bars again with the crowbar.

His body was weakened by injury and imprisonment, but his monstrous strength was still there, and he easily twisted the bars open. Azadin looked at Midiam and Ishmael.

“So, what’s the situation?”

“The Nagas [a serpentine race] have taken over Butuma and are continuing to devour this area.”

“What about Amun-Zadek?”

“The Butumans have fled to Bel Hoda for now.”

“What about Scott and Shati?”

“We don’t know about that….”

“I see. How did you guys know I was here?”

“That’s….”

“Scott sent a spirit to let us know.”

“A spirit?”

“Yes. A corpse suddenly started dancing where we were, and then it drew a map on the floor.”

That was definitely something Scott would do.

“It seems he’s safe then. Good. What about the King’s Church? What are the other neighboring countries doing?”

“Korasar has fallen into the hands of the clan. The others….”

Then, the Emperor’s voice answered Azadin instead.

[The King’s Church and the other kingdoms are all reluctant to get directly involved. It’s a difficult distance to come on an expedition in the first place, and no one wants to be the first to get hit while wasting their own troops. That’s why I tried to unify Hybris….]

So, no one wanted to be the first to waste their own national power to solve this situation.

In a situation where everyone was competing with each other, who would want to waste their own national power first?

[Besides, as a part of the King’s Light has disappeared, the boundaries of the world are weakening. Not only in Butuma, but throughout Hybris, the King’s Light is weakening, monsters are appearing, and corpses are rising on their own, blurring the lines between the living and the dead. Hatir, that bastard who grew up without a father….]

“It’s a bit strange coming from you.”

Azadin felt a strange sensation as he heard the Emperor’s voice insult Hatir for not having a father.

First of all, was the Emperor’s voice the Emperor himself? It was not. It was an artificial spirit that replicated and operated the Emperor’s ego and spirituality, but it should know that it was not the Emperor himself.

Perhaps it was a side effect of the 108 parts that had been separated being merged into one due to the betrayal of the Messenger Clan?

That was the only conclusion Azadin could come to.

“Anyway, it seems like I’m the only one left of the Emperor’s messengers, so shouldn’t I get a promotion?”

[From now on, all of the Emperor’s voices are yours, Azadin. As long as you fulfill your duty as the Emperor’s messenger, we will support you with all our might.]

“Hmm. Even with one hand gone? In the old days, someone like that would have been immediately retired from being a messenger, right? It seems like it’s really unpopular now. The position of the Emperor’s messenger, too.”

It was a position that everyone had once been desperate to get, but could it become so worthless?

The plummeting status of the messengers made him laugh involuntarily.

But as he laughed, a headache came over him.

Phantom pain was ultimately the pain of the brain. The brain, which used to control a part that no longer existed, created pain, and a terrible headache followed.

Could he fulfill his duty as the Emperor’s messenger with this body?

With this mindset, could he really kill someone to enforce something?

Azadin’s body and mind were both in tatters.

He was only forcing himself to move to create a better environment for Midiam and Ishmael.

*********

Azadin, Ishmael, and Midiam moved in silence.

Perhaps because the messengers were gone, the Emperor’s voice was now completely focused on helping Azadin.

Thanks to that, Azadin could see the surrounding terrain clearly in his mind. The Emperor’s voice was flying in the sky like a seer, showing him the surrounding terrain and the movements of the enemies.

Surprisingly, the fortresses and villages a little away from Butuma were swarming with all sorts of monsters.

Spirits that had parasitized the corpses of war were wandering around, killing the living to make them part of themselves, and even the war elephants that the Butuma army had abandoned were parasitized by Nether creatures, mutating their bodies.

A war elephant with a large eye growing where its forehead should have been was spewing out octopus-like tentacles from its mouth, devouring the surrounding corpses.

And what about the royal castle?

A black hole had opened up in the sky above the Butuma royal castle.

Above the huge black hole, an eye was open in the sky, and huge shadows were wandering around the city, taking shape on the border between reality and illusion.

The power of the Nether was overflowing in the entire atmosphere.

Frankly speaking, it was close to suicide for Midiam and Ishmael to have come this far.

“You’ve done something terrible. No wonder everyone hates the Aragasa.”

“Well, they hated us from the start. We’ve been hated for no reason, so we have to do this much to balance things out, right?”

Ishmael was cynical. In fact, he didn’t care what happened to the people of Hybris. However, he couldn’t leave Azadin to die.

“So, what are you going to do now, Azadin?”

“Let’s find a safe place to hide first.”

“Yes. And then?”

What then? After finding a safe place to hide?

“You guys need to be safe.”

Azadin only repeated those words.

Ishmael sighed.

“Don’t tell me you think that just because Midiam and I betrayed our clan for you, you’re going to fulfill your responsibility to us by just hiding us in a safe place?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, but that’s right.”

“Is that really the best you can do?”

“There’s a way to restore or destroy the throne of Butuma, but it’s impossible. The Emperor’s voice is showing me. That this world is dying.”

“If that’s all there is, Azadin, I’m disappointed in you. Do you know how hard it was for us to get here? And you’re just going to hide us in a safe place again and say you’ve fulfilled your responsibility?”

“But I’m not a savior or anything. I’m just Azadin, a half-wit of Muan.”

Azadin smiled bitterly and held up his severed hand.

“I can’t even draw a bow anymore. In the end, I failed, and I was defeated.”

“Then why are you trying to hide us in a safe place?”

“Because even a loser can do that much.”

It was then that Azadin said that.

Midiam suddenly asked.

“Azadin, are the stars still beautiful to you?”

It was a sudden question.

But both the one who asked and the one who received the question knew its meaning well.