The Shadowed Legacy Of The Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 0

Night of the Soulless Blasphemer – Episode 1 & Prologue (1/514)

#Prologue. The Siblings of Mutual Destruction

The Yaeghas, the Eight Kings Gods.

They were the saviors who liberated humans from the land ruled by evil ancient gods, establishing eight thrones on this continent.

‘When a righteous king sits on the throne, the light of the great royal transformation protects the world.’

The owners of the thrones were called divine kings, possessing great power and were worshiped by all.

However, an emperor appeared.

Emperor Yaeghaslat.

He conquered the other divine kings, who were like brothers, and monopolized all eight thrones of the Yaeghas clan. And he needed those who could kill even the Yaeghas clan according to his orders, but….

People who remembered the grace of the Eight Kings refused to defile their hands with the blood of the divine kings.

At that time, five sailing ships wrecked from a distant continent, and those inside called themselves the ‘Aragasa’ people.

The emperor approached them and made them his confidants. They did not hesitate to kill the divine kings and stain their hands with their sacred blood.

People despised and hated them, calling them the emperor’s messengers, the messenger clan….

When the emperor died and the empire was divided back into eight kingdoms.

The messenger clan also fell.

*********

After the fall of the empire, the messenger clan lost all power and was persecuted. Among the clan, there was a particularly persecuted brother and sister….

These siblings were the children of a traitor of the clan.

The girl’s name was Araiel.

The boy’s name was Azadin.

They were the main characters of the myths that the messenger clan believed in before they came to this land.

The angel of justice, Araiel, and the dragon of infinite darkness, Azadin, were beings of mutual destruction who fought each other from the beginning to the end of the world.

Giving the siblings names of mutual destruction, one could guess the hatred the clan had for them.

However, the girl named Araiel had outstanding looks, excellent skills, powerful magic, and an arrogant nature, and as she grew up, she became someone no one could ignore.

On the other hand, the boy named Azadin was born blind and powerless.

*********

The spirit of martial arts sometimes becomes a harsh whip that lashes the weak, and the environment was extremely harsh for the weakest boy in the clan.

When the boy groaned with physical and mental wounds, a figure came to him.

“Those fools are rolling a jewel in the mud. No one recognizes this brat’s true worth. Tsk.”

He reached out to the boy.

“Be happy, brat. You have been chosen as a disciple of the great Kazas. I will make you the strongest messenger.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean ‘huh?’ Now is the time to be moved to tears. It’s not often that I take a disciple.”

“The strongest messenger, even stronger than Araiel?”

“Yes. You have to defeat your sister to be called the strongest messenger, right?”

“She’s not my older sister, she’s my younger sister.”

“Look at this impudent brat. Do I need to know the details? Just go with it. Will you be my disciple? Or not?”

“Can I also become a Relief Knight?”

Surprisingly, the boy, despite being a member of the messenger clan, had the faith of the Relief Knights.

The Relief Knights’ faith, which states that anyone, regardless of their status, can wield the power of great white magic if they practice the virtues of courage, wisdom, and compassion, became a mental pillar for the boy, who could not use magic, to endure this harsh persecution.

“Relief Knight? Those fools? Of course, you can. Although I don’t recommend it.”

*********

Rumors briefly circulated in the sanctuary that Kazas, a mysterious elder known only by name among the messenger clan, had taken Azadin, the symbol of darkness, incompetence, and powerlessness, as his disciple.

The other messenger clan members were very curious about the details, but a long time passed without any further news.

And on the tenth year.

Elder Kazas exercised his authority and forcibly appointed Azadin as the 108th messenger without going through the normal procedures.

The emperor’s messengers, of whom only 108 could exist in a generation, were both a curse and an honorable position for the messenger clan.

Many people tried and competed to become messengers, but it was difficult to even become one. The entire clan rebelled against the outrage of forcibly appointing the incompetent Azadin as a messenger.

However, Azadin had already become the 108th messenger and had departed for the southeastern frontier.

#1. The Demon of Gold Coins 1

The girl received a gift from her fiancé.

It was a gold coin engraved with the face of a man she did not know well.

“What is this?”

The fiancé looked around cautiously. Although there were only rocky mountains and sheep around, he spoke as if he was afraid someone might hear.

“This is called the Emperor’s Gold Coin.”

“The Emperor’s Gold Coin?”

“Yes. Do you know about the messenger clan?”

“Ah, the soulless ones?”

The messenger clan was a legendary race called by various gruesome names: the slayers of the divine kings, the soulless ones, and omens of misfortune.

Even the uneducated girl had often heard the name in stories used to scare children.

“Yes. It is said that this gold coin can control those soulless ones. But be careful. Just having it can get you executed by the inquisitors of the King’s Church.”

“Huh?”

The girl was so surprised that she almost dropped the gold coin.

“No, why are you giving me such a dangerous thing as a gift?”

“Haha. Don’t be so surprised. But you never know. If something happens to us… draw a triangle on the ground, and if you put the gold coin in the very center, the messenger clan will come and help you.”

The fiancé said that and smiled.

“I hope that never happens, though.”

*********

That spring, there was a severe drought.

Not a single drop of rain fell until the planting season, so the wells dried up, and people began to flee in fear.

However, the Margrave of Kazel, who ruled them, considered the villagers’ escape a serious crime and sent soldiers to control them.

The leader of the soldiers was a man named Prince Kozel, the son of the Margrave of Kazel, a powerful magician said to have the blood of a divine king.

He hung the villagers who tried to flee on trees and confiscated their property. He also requisitioned the village hall to use as his camp and called in village girls to help with the work.

When the women who were called and dragged away returned in a miserable state after being violated by the margrave’s soldiers, who were no different from bandits, the people became even more terrified.

The girl decided to flee with her fiancé’s family. However, Prince Kozel, the margrave’s son, was indeed a magician, and he was blocking their escape route.

“This is why they are a problem.”

Kozel pretended to shave his beard with the edge of his longsword, looking at the terrified farmers with contempt.

“Even beasts know gratitude, so why are you worse than beasts? You are all alive because you have received the grace of the divine blood, that is, us. How can you be so ungrateful as to try to run away just because it hasn’t rained?”

“N-No, that’s not it.”

“Please, at least spare the children….”

The girl and her fiancé’s family elders stepped forward to beg, but the soldiers chuckled and rushed out, piercing the children with spears in an instant.

“Stop!”

At that moment, Prince Kozel stopped them.

“You fools, how can you be so thoughtless? You really don’t know what’s fun.”

“Ah, Your Highness.”

“We are ignorant and don’t know. How can we make it fun?”

The soldiers giggled like mischievous children, kicking the children who had died on the spears and pulling out the spears.

“First, put the people on a slightly tall tree. And then, make the children support their parents, and the wives support their husbands.”

“Ah!”

The soldiers were impressed by Prince Kozel’s words, thinking they were plausible. Soon, they skillfully put nooses on a large willow tree at the edge of the village.

Hanging people so easily on a willow tree with branches that are not very sturdy. How many times have they done this? It couldn’t have been just one or two times.

“N-No… Saphia! Run away!”

The fiancé was terrified by the approaching soldiers and tried to make the girl run away, but at that moment, a sharp blade cried out as it cut through flesh.

Kozel had slashed the fiancé’s back.

“Ah! Oh, if I finish him off beforehand, he’ll die too quickly… a mistake.”

Prince Kozel chuckled and approached with his blood-stained sword.

“It’s okay. We’ll tie a rope around his waist. Then he’ll last as long as the others.”

The giggling soldiers tied a rope around the waist of the fiancé, who was bleeding but still alive, and hung him on the tree with sandbags tied to his ankles.

The girl and her fiancé’s family members had nooses around their necks, and under them, young children were gasping for breath, acting as stepping stones.

“Now, peasant woman. Support your spouse. If you just hang there, you won’t be able to hold on, and your blood vessels will burst and you’ll die.”

They placed the girl under her fiancé’s feet.

The girl could not move from that spot to relieve her fiancé’s burden.

“Yes, support your spouse. Don’t move. Understand?”

“Hehehehe….”

At that moment, a knight with a stern expression among the soldiers muttered.

“Do not spill the blood of the divine king so easily.”

“Huh?”

Prince Kozel, who had been giggling, stopped.

The man was a northerner in his early 30s who looked older than he was due to his silver-gray hair and gloomy expression. Silver hair was evidence that the blood of the Yaeghas clan flowed strongly, but this man’s hair was closer to gray or white hair.

His eyes, which were more gray than blue, always seemed to be looking into the distance rather than at the person in front of him, and his whole body exuded fatigue and weariness. However, he also had an unusual sharpness hidden within him, like an old sword in its scabbard.

“Oh, who is this? Sir Zibeck, isn’t it? My swordsmanship teacher.”

“Do you really have to go that far to punish people? If you are a noble who has inherited the blood of the divine king, at least maintain some dignity.”

“Maintain dignity? That’s not something you should say to me. As long as this doesn’t leak out, my dignity will be maintained, right? Or what? Are you, Sir Zibeck, going to go around telling everyone about my actions? Are you, a holy knight, going to damage my dignity, which is recognized by the King’s Church as a noble lineage?”

“The truth cannot be hidden forever. Is it so difficult to maintain dignity?”

“I’m a man full of energy. I prefer to release it when I want and keep my mouth shut. So, what I mean is….”

“Shall we take care of him?”

The armed soldiers began to surround the man called Sir Zibeck, who had raised an objection.

“No, don’t do that. Look, teacher, I’m sparing your life because of the affection I had for you when I was a child. Understand?”

“…….”

Disappointment and pain appeared on the insulted knight’s face.

“Whip.”

Prince Kozel shouted, and a soldier brought a whip.

He lashed the girl with it.

-Crack!

The girl groaned and staggered from the pain of her flesh tearing. Still, she did not fall and struggled to bear her fiancé’s weight.

“Now, is that enough? Cheer up, teacher. Let’s enjoy life.”

“…….”

“Now, try to hold on as long as you can, peasant woman.”

*********

Prince Kozel, the son of the margrave, and his soldiers hung the girl’s family, who were trying to escape, on trees and took their property and left.

The girl endured the terrible pain, bearing the weight, and stood there enduring all the pain and humiliation.

“Saphia, I’m done for…. Run away.”

“Ipan.”

The girl shook her head, calling her fiancé’s name.

Blood dripped down from under her feet. The pain from her wounds was getting worse.

Even if she abandoned her spouse and ran away, she felt that she could no longer survive.

“…….”

Suddenly, the girl realized that she still had the Emperor’s Gold Coin. She had put the Emperor’s Gold Coin in a hidden pocket sewn inside her clothes.

“Really, will the Emperor’s messenger, the messenger clan, come?”

She wondered and drew a triangle on the ground with her weak toes.

It was just drawing a triangle on the dry soil, but blood dripped and fell on the dry soil.

After struggling to draw a triangle, she carefully took out the gold coin from her hidden pocket while supporting the sandbag and dropped it onto the triangle.

Then, light emanated from the gold coin and flowed faintly into the triangle drawn on the ground.

“Ah!”

The story was true. The girl was surprised and called her fiancé.

“Ipan, did you see that?”

“…….”

But her fiancé did not answer.

The gold coin melted away and was sucked into the ground, and after a while….

An owl, which was rare to see in this place, flew and sat next to the willow tree.

[Petitioner who yearns for the Emperor’s justice.]

A voice was heard from the owl.

[The closest messenger is scheduled to arrive in about two days. Please endure until then.]

“T-Two days?”

The girl was shocked.

In her physical condition, and in her fiancé’s physical condition, there was no way they could hold on for that long.

“What happens if we can’t hold on?”

[The petition will be canceled, and the gold coin will be given to the messenger as a deposit.]

“T-That’s….”

Before she could even rejoice that the magic had worked, the girl realized that she had to endure the harshest two days.

*********

In the dry, scorching wind that dried the land and broke even stones, the girl was enduring a time more brutal than death.

She had not slept and was standing there with her wounded body, holding the sandbag. When the sun set, a human shadow approached her.

Whether it was because it was dark or because her vision was blurred, a cold liquid moistened the girl’s lips.

It was water.

“Wh-Who….”

“Shhh.”

The unknown person asked her to keep quiet and placed a pole underneath to reduce the weight. Suddenly feeling her shoulders lighten, the girl slumped down.

“Can you eat?”

“…….”

“Unfortunately, your husband doesn’t seem like he’ll make it. His wounds are deep. But you might be able to live if you get treatment.”

“Who are you?”

“I came secretly. If the young master finds out, I’ll be in trouble.”

“…….”

The girl realized that he was one of the soldiers, the knight named Zibeck who had been the only one to resist Prince Kozel.

“Eat.”

The man put dried fruit in the girl’s mouth and sat down.

“Can I treat your wounds?”

“…….”

The girl was bewildered. Her mind was already hazy and not in her right mind to understand why a member of the enemy was suddenly showing mercy.