The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 238

I knew it from the start.

A soulless blasphemer, a king slayer.

A stranger among strangers.

A being unwelcome by anyone.

“If you join the Relief Knights, they will send you to the Chadra Plateau.”

“The Chadra Plateau, you say?”

“Yes. It’s a hellish land north of the Hybris Peninsula, where the blood of the ancient gods, spewed from Netherstrom [a mythical storm or void], mixes with the rain. It’s also why the Relief Knights gather prisoners and serfs from all over during their annual pilgrimages.”

A land where monsters constantly emerge. Because of this place, many monarchs abandoned the fertility of the Hybris Peninsula and entrusted this land to the Relief Knights.

“If you give up on becoming a Relief Knight, I would like to offer you the position of captain of the Coxhall Bishopric’s guard. It’s not a knightly position, but it’s stable and decent. Under my protection, no one will be able to ignore you. There are also cultists, murderers, and kidnappers threatening people here, so the job will be rewarding.”

Akenar offered Azadin the position of captain of her personal guard.

“What if I still insist on joining the Relief Knights?”

“Then I will become your patron, but… the personnel decisions of the Knights are beyond my control. They will likely assign you to a penal unit and send you to the Chadra Plateau.”

Would he become a Relief Knight and act according to the wishes of the upper echelons who despised him, and perhaps those under the influence of the Northern Empire?

Or would he become a soldier of Bishop Akenar, who clearly showed him favor, and live comfortably in Coxhall?

It was an obvious choice.

“I have already been knighted, so I cannot say I am not a Hospitaller [a member of a religious military order] now.”

“Even if they send you to a penal unit, hoping you will fight until your strength is exhausted and die?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Frankly, the current Knights are not a place worth dedicating yourself to.”

It was a harsh statement that a bishop of the Knights should not have made. But it was also her unvarnished truth.

A former queen who was forcibly divorced due to the king’s tyranny and forced to take the position of bishop, Akenar had seen enough of the Knights’ dirty dealings.

They were in collusion with power, no, they were power itself. But why?

“I am a sinner.”

“A sinner, you say?”

“Yes. Because I killed my loved ones with my own hands and destroyed a significant portion of the Messenger Clan with my own hands.”

“…….”

Bishop Akenar seemed shocked by Azadin’s words.

He still looked young, but what had he gone through to be able to say such things with such weight?

Azadin touched the scabbard of his ceramite longsword, its shoulder strap.

He felt the emblem of the Relief Knights, a three-winged wheel.

“If sailors navigating the night sea use the stars to find their way, I have destroyed my guides, my stars, myself. While wandering, having lost my way, I remembered that I had dreamed of becoming a Relief Knight in my childhood. The Relief Knights of that time, their teachings, were clearly my salvation….”

“But the current Relief Knights cannot be anyone’s star. Even so?”

“Yes. Please don’t worry too much about me. I’ll run away if it gets too hard.”

Azadin gave a bitter smile.

He wasn’t a fool either. He knew that the current Relief Knights were not such a beautiful organization. Nevertheless, he wanted to live up to the expectations of Sir Planck, who had knighted him.

“I understand. Sir Azadin. If that is your wish, then there is nothing I can do.”

She said that and then glared at Azadin.

“Instead, you must report to me by letter every week. It’s also to protect you from other officers of the Knights.”

“I am most grateful. Thank you, Bishop.”

Azadin bowed politely to Akenar and left the room.

*********

The annihilated pilgrimage was reorganized, but it had shrunk so much that the word ‘reorganized’ seemed meaningless.

The new pilgrimage was formed by mixing those who had survived by fleeing when the pilgrimage was attacked and the vagrants of Coxhall. Bellinz, who had arrived at the bishopric and requested rescue, was appointed as the leader of the pilgrimage.

Bellinz was a middle-aged man in his forties who looked at Azadin with a prickly gaze.

“You are now a member of our pilgrimage. Azadin… Sir. And here is your adjutant who will help you adapt to the Knights. It is an exception for the headquarters to assign a squire to a trainee knight, but… I guess you are that exception.”

“Ugh! Damn it! Why me! Why!?”

The person introduced as his adjutant was MacDougall, the herald of Ismilla. It seemed he had been newly appointed as Azadin’s adjutant.

“I should have finished my squire training and be on my way to becoming a trainee knight! I was promised that in the first place….”

“What?”

“No, it’s not my place to say that. Anyway, I was promised that I would become a trainee knight if this mission was successful! But why do I have to be the adjutant of this soulless blasphemer?”

MacDougall jumped up and down, and Azadin, who was watching, said a word.

“Because you failed this mission?”

“Huh?”

“It wasn’t a success, was it?”

Bellinz also nodded.

“Are you demoting me because this pilgrimage was annihilated? That’s absurd! It’s not my fault.”

“The principle of reward and punishment in an organization, well. You know that, don’t you?”

“Ugh! Damn it!”

MacDougall clutched his head in agony. Azadin smiled as he watched MacDougall.

“Heh heh. So you’re my adjutant. Hey, adjutant. I need you to run an errand.”

“…….”

“Go buy some peppermint candy with this.”

Azadin flicked a silver coin at MacDougall.

“Are you… serious?”

MacDougall was bewildered that Azadin was asking him to run an errand in this situation. Even though he was so openly showing his dislike, he was being used as an adjutant?

However, Azadin smiled and acted nonchalantly.

“You’d better hurry back.”

“Tch!”

MacDougall bowed to Bellinz, the most senior knight in this place, not to Azadin who had given the order, and left to buy peppermint candy as he was told.

“Well, the noisy one is gone, so what happens to the pilgrimage now?”

Azadin, having gotten rid of the noisy herald, asked the new leader of the pilgrimage.

“We were ordered to wait for a ship here. The pilgrimage is over. The pilgrimage will return to the Relief Knights’ headquarters, Saint Mallory Fortress.”

“But do you know what Saint Mallory Fortress is? You’re a holy knight, so you should know that much, right?”

Sephield, a survivor who had fled with Bellinz, asked with a smirk. This man, who was younger than Bellinz, was fully prepared to openly mock Azadin.

“Isn’t it the holy site and headquarters of the Relief Knights? It’s also where the Weeping Hill is, where the three archangels and angels turned into statues after their powers were exhausted.”

“Well, you know it well.”

“But wait for a ship? Is Nisraf coming, by any chance?”

Azadin’s voice was filled with anticipation.

“The flagship Nisraf. The greatest treasure of the Relief Knights, a warship six hundred and sixty-six feet long, with an unknown hull made of self-regenerating material that remains as good as new even after a thousand years without a single barnacle. It has no sails or oars, but it is the only ship that can cross Netherstrom. Perhaps they will send it? Since the pilgrimage was annihilated, showing a disgraceful scene, the Relief Knights will have to show their power to recover the lost public sentiment. There are not many things that show the power and mission of the Relief Knights as clearly as Nisraf. It is a proof of a miracle that can be shown immediately. I have dreamed of seeing Nisraf with my own eyes since I was a child, but if I’m lucky, I might even get to ride on Nisraf. Heh heh.”

“…….”

“Uh. Um.”

The Relief Knights were bewildered as they watched Azadin recite even the specifications of Nisraf.

“Ah, maybe that’s right. But it’s amazing that you know about Nisraf.”

Bellinz said that and cleared his throat.

“Anyway, Sir Azadin. You have been appointed as a squad leader, and these are the members of your squad for now.”

The bandit Camilla, her half-orc brother Kuntachi, and the blood mage Bernard were assigned to Azadin’s squad.

“And your squad’s first mission is to take the surviving farmers and vagrants to Vermilion Fortress on the Chadra Plateau.”

“Hmm. With just one squad? Besides, even if it’s a squad, it’s not even a platoon.”

The number of farmers and vagrants to be moved was at least 50, but it was absurd to move that many people with just this small squad.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be together until Saint Mallory.”

“Hmm?”

At that moment, the outside of the window suddenly became noisy. The entire city of Coxhall was shaking.

“Good heavens!”

“It’s Nisraf! Nisraf has arrived!”

The flagship of the Relief Knights, Nisraf, was entering the harbor.

As Azadin had expected, the Relief Knights had sent the flagship Nisraf.

When the pilgrimage was disrupted by a surprise attack and lost its popularity, the Knights sent the legendary Nisraf to show the people that the Knights were still strong.

Azadin had hoped that he might be able to ride on Nisraf, but that did not happen.

“Hospitaller-Knight Sir Bellinz. You are appointed as the commander of the escort company.”

“Huh?”

“All the knights on this list, transfer to the escort company and transport the farmers and prisoners to Vermilion Fortress on the Chadra Plateau. And after that, serve at Vermilion Fortress….”

“D, does that mean?”

“Are you saying we have to go to the Chadra Plateau?”

Azadin had known from the beginning that he would go to the Chadra Plateau. However, the other knights were horrified when they were assigned there.

“A, are you saying we have to travel by land without even stopping at Saint Mallory Fortress?”

“That’s right. It seems Saint Mallory Fortress is a sanctuary.”

The knight who brought the order looked at Azadin openly. As long as Azadin was included in the pilgrimage, they had no intention of bringing them into Saint Mallory Fortress. Nor did they intend to put them on Nisraf.

“We’re going to the Chadra Plateau anyway. But why am I so happy to see the other knights’ faces fall apart?”

Camilla smiled, putting her hands behind her head.

“Well….”

Azadin also smiled and replied.

“How can I not be happy when there are so many companions and the atmosphere is so harmonious?”