The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 133

The merchants, robbed of their wealth and left with worthless promissory notes, and the residents, suddenly homeless and displaced, were all furious and spoke ill of the king.

“Someone else should be king!”

“That’s right!”

“But still, Count Kazell is a bit….”

“Then how about Judge Zekt? He’s also of royal blood.”

“He’s from the northern royal family, isn’t he? What does he know about our region?”

“Still, he’s a great paladin. If he had ascended to the throne, this wouldn’t have happened….”

When Zekt’s name was mentioned among the people, Jibek couldn’t restrain himself and stepped in front of them.

“What reckless nonsense are you spouting?”

“Huh?!”

“Ah!”

Seeing Jibek, a paladin of the King’s Church, everyone was startled.

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

“Hehe….”

The merchants immediately retracted their words and offered servile smiles.

However, the refugees who had lost their homes couldn’t mask the venom in their eyes, even with Jibek, a knight of the King’s Church, standing before them.

Being able to suppress their anger and smile obsequiously before the powerful was a skill the merchants had honed through experience. Those who were already exhausted and desperate scoffed, not caring whether he was a paladin of the King’s Church or not.

“Hmph.”

“This world is doomed. It’s unheard of for it to rain for a week, no, two weeks straight in the king’s capital.”

“Isn’t it obvious when such a disaster occurs?”

“It’s not like things would be much better if Count Kazell or Lord Zekt became king, but it’s also true that the current king isn’t particularly qualified.”

“If you have a mouth, why don’t you say something, Paladin?”

The refugees, rather than backing down, began to surround Jibek. If Azadin’s group hadn’t been standing behind him, they might have rushed at Jibek and beaten him to a pulp.

“Alright, alright. Let’s calm down, everyone. Here’s some money for your troubles.”

Azadin gave some coins to the refugees, hoping to ease their anger.

“Are you giving money to those blasphemers?”

Jibek seemed displeased with Azadin’s action of giving money to appease those who had spoken blasphemously.

“Coincidentally, I’m also a blasphemer. Bear with it, Lord Jibek. You’re not going to start a fistfight with civilians, are you?”

“But it seems really dangerous. Isn’t it unimaginable for the royal palace, where the king resides, to be flooded?”

Midiam said, lost in thought with worry.

“I wonder if Sion is safe.”

“Sion is….”

“He’s my cousin. A former messenger.”

Midiam shrugged.

“He liked me, so if we meet, he’ll definitely listen to me. Azadin, it will help clear up your misunderstanding too.”

“Well, I think we should worry about whether he’s alive first.”

The situation in Coral Sahar seemed that serious.

“Come on. He’s a former messenger, surely he’ll be fine?”

“Maybe?”

Azadin said that, but still headed towards Coral Sahar.

*********

The closer they got to Coral Sahar, the more the river’s water level increased. The water level of the Cora River, which was almost dry in Salasmar, had now overflowed, filling up to the riverbanks.

But….

“The river is flowing backward.”

Azadin clicked his tongue, seeing the river surging.

“It means it has rained a lot in Coral Sahar. Usually, when the tide comes in from the sea, the river flows backward….”

“It only happens at the lower reaches at most. But this is happening before we even reach Coral Sahar… the river is flowing backward all the way here?”

It was clear that an enormous amount of rain was falling in Coral Sahar. It was then that Azadin thought that.

-Swish!

An arrow flew towards Azadin.

No, not just Azadin. A massive volley of arrows aimed at the entire Azadin group was shot up from under the riverbank.

Without much thought, Azadin casually knocked away the incoming arrows with his hand and stepped back.

“Aah! I’m going to die!”

On the other hand, Scott screamed and cowered.

“Are they from the Messenger Clan?”

Jibek used his scabbard, cloak, and armor to block the arrows flying towards Scott. They were arrows of unusual power, but Jibek safely protected himself and Scott from them.

“Ugh! Damn it. Why are you guys fighting each other?”

Shati, a Naga operative, screamed and hid behind Scott’s wheelchair.

“That’s a bit too intense for a greeting, isn’t it?”

Azadin clicked his tongue, counting the number of arrows that had flown.

There were more than one or two Aragasas [a clan of skilled archers] ambushed under the riverbank. At least 20 of them were shooting arrows.

Among them, a figure who seemed to be the leader was visible. A young man, who looked to be about Azadin’s age, was standing calmly, wearing a mask decorated with jewels that were similar to Azadin’s but much more extravagant.

His calm demeanor, which was hard to believe considering he had just launched an attack, seemed to suggest that the previous attack was just a greeting.

Indeed, he spoke to Azadin.

“If you get hit by an arrow at this distance, you don’t deserve to be called an Aragasa! It was a light greeting! If you had been hit, I would have been very disappointed!”

That was a ridiculous excuse. It was true that shooting arrows at each other from over 100 paces was considered a greeting among Aragasas.

However, that was only when they were aware of each other. No matter how skilled an Aragasa was, they couldn’t deal with arrows that were ambushed and attacked.

It was fortunate that Azadin had been suspicious beforehand, or he would have been killed by the arrows.

“Is that so? Then I should give a greeting too!”

Azadin nocked an arrow and shot it.

The masked young man scoffed and caught the arrow Azadin shot in mid-air, but….

“?!”

He was surprised by the tremendous force and dragged his feet backward, barely twisting the arrow to change its direction. If he had tried to catch it as it was, his face would have been pierced.

“Ugh?! Crazy…. To put magic on a greeting arrow! Are you trying to kill someone!?”

It was absurd that he was asking if he was trying to kill someone when he had started by launching a surprise arrow attack.

“I didn’t put magic on it.”

“Ha. Don’t lie. Don’t bluff. How can such power come from a standard Wolgak bow and lightweight arrows?”

“If you use the classical Aragasa method, you can shoot with more power even with the same bow.”

“To show such accuracy with the Aragasa method? Don’t joke around.”

The Aragasa method of increasing the speed of an arrow by pulling the bow was originally devised to increase the range when soldiers fired arrows in groups.

It was a concept closer to an arrow launcher than a bow.

The accuracy Azadin had just shown was unbelievably sharp, so it was impossible to think of it as the Aragasa method.

At that moment, Midiam recognized the young man.

“Sion, brother!”

When his name was called, the young man took off his mask.

He was a handsome young man with fair skin, bright blonde hair, and blue-gray eyes.

“Oh. So it’s Midiam. Haha, you’ve become a young lady in the few years I haven’t seen you.”

He acknowledged Midiam and then glared at Azadin. The hand that had held Azadin’s arrow was throbbing, as if it was injured. Even though he was wearing gloves, it was this bad, so if he had been barehanded, his skin would have definitely been torn.

“This power came from an arrow shot without magic?”

“I can’t put magic on arrows.”

“What? What does that….”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know my rumors? I thought all Aragasas knew that Azadin of Muan was a fool who couldn’t use magic?”

“Weren’t all but the Etar bloodline fools? I’m not interested in competing over who is more of a fool.”

Shati laughed at those words.

“There’s another guy like Scott. He’s very arrogant in his speech, isn’t he?”

“I’m just stating the reality, so it’s more honest than arrogant, and that guy is definitely arrogant.”

Scott said confidently and grumbled.

“The Messenger Clan’s greetings are rough. I almost died from a greeting.”

“But it seems like the greeting is just the beginning?”

As Shati said, Sion and his subordinates were looking at Azadin without lowering their weapons.

In the first place, their ambush was… to subdue the messenger of the Arael branch if he came along this road.

Was the first shot a greeting because they recognized Midiam in the group?

“We should at least have a conversation, right?”

Azadin remembered that Midiam had recognized the young man and composed himself.

*********

“…So you’re Azadin of Muan. Arael’s younger brother.”

Sion Etar nodded, as if he had already heard about Azadin.

“I’m the older brother, and he’s the younger brother.”

“Are you arguing about that as twins? You must be very close. Isn’t it that you try to determine who’s above and below when you’re close? If you really don’t get along, you’d be trying to kill each other and wouldn’t care about who’s above or below? Anyway, you’re all penniless, with no inheritance to receive.”

“You little….”

“So. You’re a traitor to the Council of Elders, I can assume that, right? Since you’re likely to follow your bloodline. Then, release my cousin.”

“Ah, no, brother! Azadin is not on Arael’s side! I guarantee it!”

“…Is that so?”

Sion tilted his head.

“Then you’re welcome. But it’s surprising that siblings don’t get along that well. Isn’t there a problem with your personality?”

“You seem to have a lot of complaints. Shouldn’t you be happy that I’m not on Arael’s side?”

“No. Well, a lower messenger is a lower messenger. It doesn’t matter much whether they’re an enemy or an ally.”

“Lower messenger?”

“Azadin of Muan. What’s your rank?”

“108th.”

“Really? I thought you’d be at the very bottom, but you’re actually the lowest? So, you put magic on the greeting arrow because of your pride.”

Sion didn’t think that the weight of Azadin’s arrow was due to a difference in strength or skill, but believed that Azadin had used magic to cheat.

“Is he always like that?”

Azadin asked Midiam.

“Ahahaha.”

Then, Sion became serious with Azadin.

“Hey. Don’t approach my cousin carelessly. Even if you’re a messenger and a servant, our Midiam is of the Etar bloodline, not someone you can treat so carelessly. Of course, you’re a passionate man, so it’s inevitable that you’d fall for our Midiam’s beauty….”

“…….”

“Midiam, too. Why did you have to run away? If you had waited a bit, we would have made a good position for you.”

“More importantly, let’s ask about Cora Sahar, Coral Sahar. What on earth is going on?”

“Since the Flower Dimia and her younger sister, Jenice, visited this place, storms have been raging continuously. Isn’t it funny?”

“What is?”

“If storms are raging, shouldn’t the Wind Aleph [a powerful elemental spirit] come? For the Flower Dimia to cause trouble. It doesn’t suit her title.”

“…….”