The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 454

Azadin continued to advance his forces, entering Naisandokar, which the Chitai army had previously seized.

The Chitai army, this time, awaited Azadin’s forces in the hilly terrain of Naisandokar, where they could fully exploit their mobility.

Azadin’s soldiers had diligently worked to construct roads and clear forests, transforming what was once known as the land of the Bri and Goblins into a habitable place. Seeing the Chitai soldiers gathered there, Azadin’s vassals were consumed with rage.

‘They’re occupying and defiling the land we worked so hard to cultivate,’ one of them said.

Even Jibeck’s words were tinged with disgust.

The scars left by the Chitai army’s massacre weren’t limited to the inexperienced Celestial Fire [Azadin’s personal guard]. Jibeck, too, was weary of humanity’s cruelty, depravity, and negligence.

‘There’s no need to harbor such intense hatred for humans. Even well-educated and lifelong ascetic clergymen often reveal themselves to be vile underneath the surface. These people haven’t even had the opportunity to learn. Our immediate concern is securing victory, not judging their morality. If you focus on human morality, you’ll only be disappointed and waste your life. You need a broader perspective.’

Azadin spoke these words to his retainers, including Jibeck, as he deployed his forces.

‘We must lower our expectations of humanity, yet still strive to help them. Individuals are just slightly better trash if they learn, and worse trash if they don’t. Nevertheless, it is humans who can save humans. Don’t rely on individual virtue, but have faith. At least, that’s how I’ve lived.’

‘…’

These were simple words, but they carried the weight of Azadin’s experiences, a man who had been ostracized even among the untouchable messenger clan [a group known for their social isolation].

The hardship of his life and the burden of the ideals he carried were palpable in his words.

‘Understood, Your Majesty. But are you truly alright?’

‘Of course. To ensure my words aren’t empty, I must achieve victory! I will bring victory!’

Azadin himself stepped to the front lines, took up the Black Horn Bow, and fired iron bolts.

Standing proudly at the forefront on his hippogriff [a mythical creature with the body of a horse and the wings of an eagle], wielding the massive Black Horn Bow, Azadin looked like a hero from a mythical age, captivating both friend and foe alike.

Moreover, the arrows fired from Azadin’s hand were weapons of a different caliber than those fired by ordinary humans.

Drawing the powerful bow, which even the messenger clan found difficult to handle, Azadin shattered the vanguard of the Chitai army’s proud horse archers.

For the horse archers, who favored hit-and-run tactics using their superior mobility, the Black Horn Bow’s arrows, with their far greater range and power, were weapons from another world.

As the horse archers in the front ranks fell, those behind them naturally scattered to avoid the fallen horses and riders.

This slowed down the entire army.

‘Now is the time!’

The Celestial Fire charged.

The Celestial Fire Knights, charging with vitality spells cast on their horses, could catch up to even light cavalry in the blink of an eye.

‘Let’s shower the enemy’s vanguard with arrows too! Ugh!’

The head of the one giving the command disappeared.

Azadin’s arrow had blown off the commander’s head.

Everyone was shocked and tried to flee, further slowing their pace.

When the vanguard blocked the way, the middle and rear ranks naturally became congested. The Celestial Fire then assaulted their rear.

Another one-sided slaughter began.

The Celestial Fire Knights, nurtured with passion by the Wisdom Order, were arguably the strongest heavy cavalry on the continent.

Once they succeeded in their charge, no unit could withstand them.

‘Do not massacre the prisoners! But don’t capture them either! Let them live and send them away! Time is precious! Don’t waste time hating each and every Chitai individual. Let them clearly understand their mistakes!’

Azadin instructed his subordinates, and decisively crushed the Chitai army.

Since they didn’t take prisoners and just sent them away as routed soldiers, the Chitai army was terrified and fled to the rear. Azadin’s army followed them north without proper supplies or reorganization.

‘What is this? What are they doing?!’

The reserve forces waiting in the rear came out to intercept Azadin’s army.

However, the battle unfolded in a similar manner this time.

No, it was even worse than the first time.

The routed soldiers of their own army, fleeing in disarray, hindered their movements, making them even easier to crush.

Azadin did not take prisoners and continued north again.

At first, the fact that he didn’t take prisoners or massacre them seemed to show Azadin’s weakness, but that wasn’t the case.

‘Wow…’

The soldiers saw it with their own eyes.

The routed soldiers were swarming like sheep before them.

Injured and starving, these ragged people were desperately fleeing to avoid being trampled by hooves, and their appearance was utterly miserable.

They scattered these routed soldiers into the enemy lines, and while the enemy was unable to reorganize and was in disarray, they attacked.

The routed soldiers’ miserable, pained, and terrified appearances broke the enemy’s morale. Their bodies also took up space, preventing the enemy from deploying their soldiers. The soldiers at each gate naturally joined the routed masses.

It was a relentless advance, smashing and advancing without rest.

*********

It took a week to recapture Naisandokar by attacking and destroying, and two weeks to enter Chitai territory.

As Azadin himself had said, he won and won and won, relentlessly crushing the enemy.

And surprisingly, it somewhat satisfied the hearts of those who were hungry for revenge.

That’s right. The continuous, righteous victories, not massacring prisoners but bravely defeating the enemy on the front lines, healed their wounded hearts.

‘Those bastards! They’re trash who can’t even put up a fight if we face them properly. They just ambush and massacre the elderly and loot supplies!’

‘Despicable scum! Trash! They’re like hyenas who feed on corpses!’

The contempt and hatred for the Chitai army did not disappear, but their pride was restored even more.

We weren’t massacred because we were weak. The enemy was vile and trash.

That’s why they committed such despicable acts as massacring the elderly and raping women. If we fight properly under the king’s command, they are no match for us.

This also healed the wounds of the massacred civilians to some extent.

When they were violated by the Chitai massacre, people were like helpless sheep.

They were passive beings who had to live in despair in this cruel world, filled with terrible fate and eternal suffering.

However, when Azadin brought victory, the perception spread that unhappiness was not the only thing in this world, and that the enemies were just unnecessarily vile and cruel trash.

We are stronger than them.

That pride healed people’s wounds and supported them like splints and crutches for broken legs.

*********

Now, Azadin had the only trading city in the Chitai grasslands in sight.

Not only had he recaptured Naisandokar, but he had also swept through the grasslands, which had become a no-man’s-land due to the conscription of light cavalry, and had arrived at the only town worth mentioning within Chitai territory.

Here, Azadin stopped his army and began to resupply.

They had charged ahead, taking back the enemy’s supplies looted from Naisandokar, but cities had walls, so they couldn’t just attack them.

Azadin stopped his forces here and finally took a moment to reorganize.

Having charged ahead and recaptured Naisandokar in an instant, the follow-up units came up to resupply, gathering the fallen Chitai army’s supplies and what remained in Naisandokar.

In the meantime, Azadin’s army had been running on the meager supplies carried on their horses and the meager supplies from the supply units that had barely managed to keep up.

It was a dangerous gamble that could have led to utter defeat if they had lost even once, but the soldiers who followed Azadin believed that defeat was impossible as long as their king was with them.

Azadin’s performance was that outstanding.

‘Victory is the best drug. But even medicine can harm the body if used too much. Let’s rest here for now.’

Azadin let his soldiers rest and turned to his adjutants.

‘Victory is indeed the best drug. But isn’t that because it can’t be achieved whenever anyone wants it? You keep winning and winning… it’s clear that our worries were foolish.’

Izmilla, the vice-commander of the Celestial Fire, said, relieved.

‘To be honest, I was more resentful of Your Majesty at first. The enemies committed such beastly acts without hesitation, yet I was quite disappointed by Your Majesty’s gaze when you rebuked us for massacring them. But now I understand. It was truly petty and foolish to stay in one place and massacre the incapacitated enemies.’

Before tasting victory, when they were mired in defeatism, everyone, including her, had been determined to repay the Chitai army’s massacres and looting.

Everyone, even those who supported and followed Azadin and tried to appease others, felt resentment towards Azadin for stopping their revenge of massacre and looting.

In other words, at that time, they were not in a state to listen to any persuasion.

However, as they shattered the enemy’s army and recaptured Naisandokar, and even invaded Chitai territory, those who would never have been persuaded before now praised Azadin on their own.

Azadin was not just preaching ideals and asking them to follow. He was fully bearing the weight of those ideals, and even though his own burden was heavy, he was carrying the burden of the entire kingdom, leading the way.

Those who had doubted and questioned Azadin’s true intentions now understood the meaning of the new medicine Azadin had brought.

Azadin spoke to his retainers again.

‘The world is cruel, and the bottom of humanity is filthy. But trying to see the bottom is foolish in itself. We shouldn’t justify our despair by exaggerating the fact that people commit evil without hesitation when they are starved, tortured, thrown into harsh environments, or trapped in the darkness of ignorance. That’s the attitude of a defeated person who is desperate to despair. We are human, so we must find salvation among humans. Of course, there are those who commit evil even when they are well-fed, well-clothed, safe, and peaceful, and they must be punished, but there is no need to stoop to their level while punishing them.’

‘Certainly, those are excellent words, but they are words that can only be kept while winning.’

‘I know. That’s why I will win and win again. I hope you will lend me your strength in that endeavor.’

In fact, Azadin’s words had not changed much from the beginning, but as the situation changed, the weight of his words clearly changed. The resentment they had felt towards Azadin disappeared, and they believed that his words were right and worth supporting with their lives.

‘Ah, we, who despaired at the commonness of the common people, also had thin and light ears. How can we boast that we have better wisdom than others when we only accept the glory of victory, the glory of victory that the king, who was persecuted even among those who were scorned as soulless blasphemers, brought by burning his life?’

Jibeck felt ashamed.

And he also feared that Azadin’s life was burning.

The one who had lived persecuted was carrying the country and all its people, and was being crushed by that weight, yet he was not showing it here.

Even knowing that, what was frightening was that, just as they had felt resentment towards Azadin, if the situation worsened in the future, they might all feel resentment towards Azadin again, and might even betray him.