The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 1

As dawn approached, the knight woke her. “Get up. I’m leaving, so you should support him again. But…” The knight looked at his betrothed hanging on the rope. “It seems there’s no need to support him anymore.” His betrothed was already dead. However, the girl stubbornly wedged her body beneath him, her own body far from recovered. “Haa.” The knight shook his head and turned away. “Who are you?” “I am one who is ashamed to ask for my name.” “Still, I need to know your name. The messenger clan will come soon, and you’ll ask them to spare you.” “Hmm. The messenger clan?” The knight clicked his tongue at the name. “The king-slayers, the soulless blasphemers? You petitioned them? I don’t know if they’re even still around, but even if they do arrive here, there are twenty well-armed soldiers under Lord Kozel, and there’s me, and also, the lord has… blue blood flowing through him.” Blue blood, it was not a sneer or a metaphor. For nobles and royals who used magic, the blood of the gods, the blood of the Yaeghas gods, truly flowed through them. Ordinary humans could not possibly be a match for those who wielded magical power that they could not dare to approach. But the girl could only weakly giggle. “Even if they are mages, the messenger clan can kill them. Because they are also mages.” The girl had seen the gold coin disappear and the bird speak human words. What else could prove that the messenger clan were mages? Besides, they were called the king-slayers, so wouldn’t they have earned that name by killing kings with the blood of the gods? The messenger clan would come and take revenge. Until then, she had to endure somehow. “Hmm. You’re not in your right mind. Well, too much has happened. It was too much for one person to handle.” The knight was saddened to see that the girl was not in a normal state. “I’ll come again tonight. My name is Zibeck. I am a holy knight of the King’s Church. I’m not telling you my name so you can beg the king-slayers for your life. If they come, I will fight with all my strength.” “……” The knight, who had revealed his name, carefully lowered his body as the sun rose, hiding himself in the morning twilight as he returned. ********* It was an unusually scorching day. Knight Zibeck was worried if the girl could endure today, but… he couldn’t show that worry on his face next to Kozel, the son of the Marcher Lord. “Hey, teacher, smile. Aren’t you having fun?” Kozel drew water from the drying well and poured it over his body. “If you kill the people, you can’t collect taxes.” “If dissatisfied vagrants wander around, the number of bandits will increase.” “The Marcher Lord has other fertile lands, so if he evacuates the people there, they can endure the drought.” “Why should the children born in those fertile lands bear the damage of these wicked people? Shouldn’t we give this land to the children born in places with high yields? They have done meritorious deeds, and these people have committed wrongdoings.” “Farming is not determined by individual ability. It is determined by the soil, the climate, and the sky.” “And by the light of the royal transformation. Isn’t that what the King’s Church teaches?” “……” “These people are suffering from the drought because they were disloyal to the King’s Church. Isn’t that what the doctrine says?” “That’s an overinterpretation.” Zibeck stated that, but… as a low-ranking member of the King’s Church, he could not resist Lord Kozel, who had the blood of the gods, any further. The Marcher Lord’s territory had a large population compared to the arable land. Rather than letting the residents flee from the drought-stricken land and become vagrants, disrupting public order, it was more profitable to kill them on this land, confiscate their property, and then later relocate new people here. Kozel had come here to carry out the Marcher Lord’s will. The villagers, unaware of such circumstances, simply believed that if they did not resist and remained obedient, they would be spared, and that those who had died so far were paying the price for daring to resist the great noble. “I’m actually doing this to save the people, teacher. If you want to save them so badly that you defy my orders, then you should try it yourself.” “Wahahahaha.” The soldiers were laughing. They were distributing the loot, enjoying the alcohol and meat. For them, Kozel, the son of the Marcher Lord, was a really good employer. He took the lead in looting and gave them a good share of the spoils, so their loyalty was bound to be high. However, all of that was unbearably unpleasant for Zibeck, the holy knight. But his duty as a holy knight bound him. ********* That night, Zibeck headed to the edge of the village again to help the girl. Soon, he frowned. Despite the treatment and help from last night, she had not survived the day. The girl was lying dead on the ground, and her spouse was dancing in the wind with a desolate whistling sound. “In the end, she couldn’t endure. If this is the case, even if she really called the messenger clan, it’s no use.” Sir Zibeck muttered to himself, then suddenly realized that he was feeling regretful. About what? As a holy knight belonging to the King’s Church, was he really hoping that the messenger clan, a being that was blasphemous even to mention, would come and punish the Marcher Lord’s son? “How foolish.” Sir Zibeck sighed and approached the fallen girl. It was then. -Sreung. A blue blade was already touching his neck. “Stop. If you move, I’ll cut you. Don’t even look this way.” A young man’s voice warned him. Sir Zibeck was startled by the blade that had suddenly seized his vital point. There was clearly no one there, but in this desolate place with only a few trees, someone had suddenly put a knife to his neck? It was truly a ghostly skill. “Are you from the messenger clan? Really?” “I am, but you don’t seem like the petitioner. Are you a knight? Perhaps from the Rescue Knights?” “I am Zibeck of the King’s Church.” “…Ah.” Disappointment was evident in the young man’s voice. “I’m just asking, but you’re not the petitioner, are you? Well, it would be interesting if a holy knight of the King’s Church made a petition.” “Are you trying to insult me!” Sir Zibeck was furious. “The petitioner is dead. Well, I did get a gold coin for free… Can you tell me what happened?” “If you remove the knife from my neck and keep your distance, I will tell you what happened, on my honor.” “Hmm. It seems you’re confident that you wouldn’t have been so easily defeated if you hadn’t been ambushed. Well, fine. A holy knight of the King’s Church should have that much courage.” In an instant, the young man’s body blurred, and he was already a mile away. “Amazing.” Sir Zibeck was shocked by the opponent’s movement. Was he a ghost? Magic? “Are you a mage?” “The messenger clan are all mages. Except for me…” “Not magic?” “Superhuman physical strength is hard to distinguish from magic.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What is your name? What is your rank as a messenger?” “……” “I have already said my name. I am Zibeck of the King’s Church.” “Ah, was that so? My apologies. I am Azadin, the 108th messenger of the Emperor. In the Eastern dialect, they call me Asahdin.” The young man said so and bowed gracefully. He was a tall young man wearing a hat with a pheasant feather and a bird-shaped mask that covered his eyes and nose. “The 108th messenger…” The Emperor’s messengers are at most 108. That is, the messenger in front of him is the lowest of the messengers. However, judging by the way he just created distance, he was no ordinary person. “Then, as promised, please tell me what happened.” “That is…” Zibeck told him what he knew about what had happened to this girl’s family. ********* “Ah, that’s…” Azadin of the messenger clan clicked his tongue after hearing the story. At that moment, an owl flew down and landed in front of Azadin. [The contract has already been established. The gold coin is yours. 108th Messenger Azadin. Move on to another mission.] The moment he heard the bird’s voice, Sir Zibeck was startled. It was unusual for a bird to speak, but the content of the message made him even more bewildered. “Are you just going to take the payment and leave because the petitioner is dead?” “Ah, so the holy knight of the King’s Church wants the petition to be fulfilled. If the petition is fulfilled, wouldn’t something bad happen to your master, the Marcher Lord’s son?” “Ugh.” Sir Zibeck, who had spoken, realized that he had made a slip of the tongue and drew his sword. “That will not happen, you blasphemous soulless one. I will defeat you.” “Don’t you think you should stop?” Azadin smiled wryly as he looked at the knight pointing his sword at him. “Isn’t it sad that you, who were silent in the face of injustice, are now going to see my blood with your sword?” “……” “Are you angry? At whom? At me? Or at yourself for being silent in the face of injustice?” “What do you know…” “I may be ignorant, but I know more than you think.” Azadin pointed to the sky. “Do you know the constellations in that night sky? The names of the stars and the myths associated with them?” “What on earth are you talking about? What are you trying to say?” Sir Zibeck was bewildered by Azadin, who was suddenly talking nonsense. What was this guy, this blasphemous guy, talking about? “Depending on whether a human has an aesthetic sense or not, they feel different things even when looking at the same thing. Like how the protagonist of a myth is just a pale, small light flickering in the darkness to someone, something that is insignificant.” Azadin pointed to the corpses. “Just like how you see the way these people are being violated differently from how the other soldiers see it.” “It’s no different. I couldn’t do anything.” “No, it’s not. You treated the petitioner and waited for me.” “But I am a knight of the King’s Church. I must revere those who have inherited the blood of the divine king!” “I don’t want to fight you, holy knight. If you pitied the girl, then your sword is not my enemy.” “……” When Sir Zibeck was silent, Azadin turned his back. It was a good situation to strike with a sword, but Sir Zibeck did not want to swing his sword at this messenger clan member. Then Azadin’s hand moved. A flash of sword light cut the ropes of the hackberry tree, and the hanging corpses fell. Azadin lightly caught the corpse of an adult man in the air with one hand, and stretched out one leg to catch the falling corpse and placed it on the ground. “……” It was an amazing martial art and swordsmanship. Sir Zibeck was confident in his own skills, but even he could tell that this guy in front of him was like a monster, that he was several levels above him. Indeed, was this the messenger clan? With this kind of power, it wouldn’t be difficult to kill him, would it?