The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 315

“Before anything else, let me tell you what the carrier pigeons flying in right now contain, Sir Azadin,” Gareth said.

Gareth then relayed the messages from the recently arrived carrier pigeons.

The carrier pigeons, which had suddenly appeared from the sea alongside icebergs, all carried the same message.

The Nagas had launched a coordinated attack on regular transport and trade ships.

Due to the prophecy of Pimbulbert, many trade ships had arrived at Saint Malory to purchase food, and they were buying up all available supplies.

The ships, laden with food, were traveling along the coast. Normally, the Nagas couldn’t easily attack ships in the shallow coastal waters. This was because the Arangi Kingdom and the Banreung Kingdom had built coastal fortresses and sent out regular patrol ships to protect passing merchant ships, collecting tolls in return.

However, this time was different.

The Nagas attacked the ships, risking collisions with the regular patrol ships. Many Nagas died as a result, but a significant amount of food was also lost.

Food transport ships sank, and a considerable amount of food was lost to the sea.

“…….”

If true, the situation was dire. It was already known that the Nagas were not just simple monsters but a powerful civilization that had once held global dominance. Even considering that, this attack on the food supply was a victory in the information war.

Ahead of a major war, the Nagas had won the preliminary battle, the information war.

“We believe this is a food supply attack by the Nagas. In other words, it’s a given that Pimbulbert is coming. Knowing this, the Nagas attacked the food supply even if it meant overextending themselves. But the Order is divided into Wisdom, Courage, and Mercy, and they are still wasting time on useless infighting. How can we effectively use them like this?”

What he said made sense. He had joined forces with Jekt, but Azadin had also done the same.

Still, Azadin asked, just in case.

“Then, Sir Gareth, what will the Courage Order do with this scroll?”

“We will publicly announce that the Celessteel Fire [a type of holy knight] is created by grinding down angel statues. We will create a joint body of the three orders to which we will delegate the command of the knight order. The Wisdom Order will be penalized. In addition, those who are reincarnated from the people of the Northern Empire will be organized into separate units and used thoroughly as vanguard units.”

It couldn’t be denied that the Celessteel Fire Knight Order was a useful tool. They couldn’t discard a weapon they had worked so hard to create. Therefore, they would divide the command so that the Wisdom Order wouldn’t benefit alone, thus reducing their influence.

It was a very logical plan.

In the world, there was a tendency to look down on the Courage Order the most among the three orders of the Rescue Knights. However, if Sir Gareth’s words were true, the Courage Order was the most dangerous organization, having hidden its true strength all along.

‘They’re scary guys. But it makes sense.’

Azadin was convinced after hearing that.

“But then, I’m not needed, am I? I’ll give you the scroll now. However, let’s make it look like the Courage Order found it, not me.”

If it was announced that Azadin was the one who stole the scroll, the Wisdom Order or the Northern Empire would hate him. If it ended with hatred, it would be fortunate; they might even send assassins to kill him.

“Sir Azadin, are you perhaps going to act separately like this? Are you going to act independently without joining any of the three major orders? Bringing this scroll is a great achievement, so our order highly values you. If you join our order on this path, we will immediately grant you a high position… Wouldn’t it be strange to give an award to someone who is not a member of our order?”

Gareth was taken aback by Azadin’s words. However, Azadin was firm.

“Yes. Well, there’s no need to decide now, is there? I also have my own thoughts and an organization I lead, so I’ll go back and discuss it with my subordinates and decide on my course of action slowly.”

“Hmm. Y-yes, do that.”

Gareth never thought that Azadin would reject their offer. Because they were so focused on the conflicts between the orders within the Rescue Knights, they had only seen people who wanted to become members of a large order. They never considered that someone would refuse to join an order altogether.

‘Hmm. Even though he is of lowly birth like the Messenger Clan, it is a great honor just to be allowed to join our order. The Wisdom Order came out forcefully, so we offered a conciliatory approach, but he is rejecting us so arrogantly. But this guy is calm.’

Azadin was greatly surprised when he learned that Gareth and the Courage Order had joined hands with Jekt, but other than that, he remained calm. He probably already predicted that the Courage Order would try to independently acquire the command of the Celessteel Fire Knight Order. Perhaps he was originally going to hand over the scroll from his past life to the Courage Order.

‘I’ve handed over the scroll, and there’s no reason to force or oppress him, so I have no choice but to end it well for the future.’

Gareth was a little upset that Azadin rejected his offer, but he thought positively and moved on.

“Then, Sir Gareth, could you possibly let us out of the castle? It’s past the gate closing time, but I want to get out now somehow. If I stay in the castle, the Wisdom Order will probably bother me again.”

“It’s possible.”

“Then, please. I think we need to hurry.”

Azadin asked Sir Gareth and was able to safely leave Saint Malory even though it was past the gate closing time.

*********

“Phew, good. I got out alive.”

Azadin let out a sigh of relief as he left Saint Malory.

Jibek apologized to Azadin.

“I’m sorry for being captured helplessly without resisting.”

“No, it’s okay, Sir Jibek. They joined hands with Jekt, so it’s natural. Well, it’s my fault for letting my guard down too much, thinking that Sir Jekt wouldn’t be able to use his power here.”

Azadin thought that Sir Jekt wouldn’t be able to use his power in Saint Malory, so he showed Jekt many of the cards he had.

But he never thought that Jekt would move the Courage Order to recover the scroll. Of course, since the Courage Order took the scroll from his past life, Jekt would not be able to get his hands on it.

“But Captain, why did you hand over the scroll to the Courage Order? If that’s the case, you should have handed it over to the Mercy Order, who adores you so much?”

Scott asked, curious.

“Oh? Why do you think so? Don’t you just think it was taken from me?”

When Azadin asked, Scott shrugged his shoulders.

“No, Captain. Do you think I’m an idiot? You refused to hand it over to Jekt of the King’s Church, and you also refused the Mercy Order, so the only faction that can use that scroll to pressure the Wisdom Order is the Courage Order, right? Even if you hand it over to the Kurt Gods or the Nagas, they wouldn’t be able to use it.”

Scott noted that there were not many forces that could use the scroll effectively by the process of elimination.

‘He’s not an ordinary guy. Is he smart because he’s an Orc? Or is he just smart?’

Azadin was impressed by Scott’s sharpness.

“Are you saying it was taken on purpose? That it was?”

Jibek was also taken aback.

“No, it wasn’t taken on purpose. Actually, I didn’t imagine it would be taken at this timing. It’s true that it was taken from me now.”

Azadin shook his head.

“But if I were to hand over the scroll to someone, I was thinking of handing it over to the Courage Order. But when I thought about it, I thought the Courage Order was the weakest of the three, so I was going to hand it over to them, but now that I see it, the Courage Order is not easy either.”

“Why is that?”

“Well… first of all, I want virtue to be revived. But I can’t just whip people and tell them not to blindly worship virtue and be fascinated by the actions of Celessteel Fire or Celestials [holy warriors], can I? Realistically, anyone would be fascinated by seeing Celestials wielding divine power so fiercely. Even I was amazed when Triodana recovered the Wendigo’s dagger in an instant.”

Azadin wanted people to uphold virtue itself, not worship heroes or angels.

However, he also knew that it was difficult in reality.

“The problem is that when people are so inspired by the actions of the Celessteel Fire, it turns out that they were actually a conspiracy of the Northern Empire. They are fake angels made by grinding down angel statues. There’s no benefit in exposing this. It’s the same for the other orders.”

Defacing angel statues is a terrible crime. But you can’t blame the current Celestials because of that.

If this fact is made public and responsibility is assigned, some of the high-ranking clergy and holy knights of the Wisdom Order will be held responsible.

But it won’t reverse the trend.

If Pimbulbert intensifies and monsters become rampant, people may demand to increase the number of Celestials even if it means grinding down all the angel statues.

“So, you can’t stop the creation of Celestials by grinding down angel statues?”

Jibek said, slightly disappointed. He thought that Azadin might be able to solve it with some innovative method, but it seemed that even Azadin didn’t have such talent.

“Realistically, you can’t give up the enormous benefits that the existence of the Celessteel Fire Knight Order brings.”

“So, are you going to let the Celessteel Fire Knight Order continue to operate?”

“That’s not it. We need to stop their actions and make public the fact that they are grinding down angel statues… at least we will stop the grinding down of the statues of the three archangels.”

Azadin clicked his tongue as he said that.

“…You’re saying they’re grinding down the statues of the three archangels too?”

“Yes, Sir Jibek. Let’s say you’re old and sick and don’t have much time left to live, and you’re tempted by the offer to be reincarnated as a Celestial.”

“I would not accept. A natural death is the pride of a descendant of the Yaegas Gods, even if it’s a distant one.”

“No, I mean, let’s say you’re a noble who is desperate to live even one more day. If someone offers to reincarnate you by grinding down the statues of the three archangels and getting the blood of an angel, what do you think? Not just any angel statue.”

“…That’s too blasphemous. It’s terrible.”

“No, what I’m saying is… if they’re going to grind down angel statues anyway, wouldn’t they want to grind down a better angel statue, a higher-ranking angel, when they reincarnate?”

Azadin suddenly remembered the tremendous power of Sir Triodana.

Clearly, his appearance was not much different from Sir Karna’s…

But his power was several times, several tens of times greater than Sir Karna’s.

‘Could it be… that they’ve already ground down the three archangels?’

Azadin frowned, feeling uneasy.

‘Of course, that can’t be. If they grind down the statues of the three archangels, it won’t be other descendants of the Northern Empire who will be reincarnated, but Kohen Lionheart of the Northern Empire himself.’

If a member of the Eight Kings Gods, a king, is reincarnated as an archangel, he will be able to achieve a great unification that combines the two faiths of the King’s Church and the Rescue Knights into one.

A man who does not hesitate to do any dirty deed for his own benefit will reign over this Hybris continent as a living god.

At that time, no matter how much truth Azadin brings, he will never be able to stop it.