The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 14

“We’re just trying to attack the monsters! After we take them down, then we can deal with the Messenger Clan or whatever!”

“Ah! Y-yes, that’s right!”

“Let’s attack the monsters first!”

The villagers all raised their bows and began shooting arrows.

*********

Azadin watched the arrows flying overhead and gave a wry smile. Compared to what he could do, their bows were pathetic.

There were a few strong bows among them, but even those couldn’t pierce the monsters’ flesh, the arrows bouncing harmlessly off the fangs instead. It seemed the villagers were trying to help by shooting arrows, but Azadin thought their efforts were a waste.

‘I could use those arrows.’

However, seeing that their attacks were entirely focused on the monsters, he could understand their resolve. At least until the monsters were defeated, they recognized Azadin as one of their own.

They might turn on him once the monsters were down, but for now, he was satisfied that they saw him as an ally.

“Then…”

Azadin took advantage of the slight opening to start loosening his shoulders. He dodged the attacks while stretching and swinging his arms to warm up.

“What are you doing! Eiiiii!”

The goblin, now a minion of the Fang King, advanced impatiently. It had realized that Azadin was narrowly dodging its tentacle attacks and was trying to close the distance.

However, the closer it got, the more painful the villagers’ arrows became. The accuracy of their attacks increased, and the power of their projectiles grew.

Thanks to the time they bought him, Azadin was able to loosen his shoulders to some extent.

“Alright, then…”

Azadin put down the sword that was corroding from the digestive fluid.

“Let’s begin. I haven’t fully warmed up my shoulders yet… but this should be enough!”

He tossed the corroding sword onto the ground and picked up a fang that had fallen nearby. It was a sharp fang, like a triangular axe head.

Azadin, holding the fang that resembled a shark’s tooth, used his loosened shoulder to swing it sideways and throw it.

-Whoosh!

The fang tore through the air and ripped through a tentacle.

-Thud!

Then, it embedded itself in the body of the Fang King’s minion.

“Kieeeeeeek!”

The Fang King’s minion writhed in sudden agony.

“Good! This works.”

Azadin began quickly picking up and throwing the fangs he had knocked off with his sword.

He wasn’t throwing with all his might because his shoulders and elbows weren’t fully warmed up, but instead, he used clean weight shifts and precise timing, allowing him to throw quickly without putting too much strain on his body.

The fangs flew sharply from Azadin’s hand and began to lacerate the Fang King’s minion.

“Kuaaaak!”

The tattooed goblin’s head popped out from the minion’s body, unable to withstand the pain.

“Y-you! I will become the Fang King. I have been reborn as a greater being, a god, yet because of a mere human…”

“Coincidentally, that’s because I’m a God-King slayer.”

Azadin replied, throwing another sharp fang and splitting the goblin’s head open.

*********

Even after splitting the goblin’s head, the Fang King’s minion continued to live, but the outcome was already decided. Azadin had countless projectiles on the ground, and the minion’s normal attacks couldn’t hit him.

The only thing left was for the Fang King’s minion to cast magic, but Azadin smashed the goblin’s head every time it popped out, only shortening the minion’s lifespan.

“N-no! Fang King Kararon!”

The goblin shaman, who had become a minion of the Fang King and showed a desire to usurp, pleaded to the Fang King as he was about to die.

In the end…

-Rumble!

The massive mass of flesh and fangs, the Fang King’s minion, began to collapse.

‘There’s still a chance that Lesser Demons or something might appear…’

Azadin carefully avoided touching the flesh and jumped forward to retrieve the wand that had fallen on the ground.

‘I’m not sure, but this guy seemed to use this to find the location of the God-King’s Scripture?’

If this could really find the location of the God-King’s Scripture… it would be useful to Azadin as well.

‘But since even a scout was carrying it, it might be a common item among the monsters. Either way, I should keep it.’

Azadin took it and turned around.

“Hmm.”

“Soulless blasphemer!”

The village vigilantes were glaring at Azadin. Some of them were even drawing their bows.

‘What an impolite bunch. Drawing a bow could lead to an accidental shot.’

Azadin sighed. They could cooperate until the monsters were gone, but in the end, he was a persecuted member of the Messenger Clan.

Some people were grateful to Azadin for helping them and welcomed him, but others were suspicious. The hunter, who seemed to be the leader of the vigilantes, asked a question on behalf of them.

“What are you thinking? Why… why did you defeat those monsters?”

“That’s probably because he brought those monsters!”

“That’s right! Isn’t it strange? Monsters suddenly appeared!”

Some people, as if they hated the Messenger Clan, made ridiculous claims. They had been taught that the Emperor’s Messengers were soulless blasphemers and terrible beings who deserved to die, so it was no wonder that some thought that way.

Those who were not properly educated in the countryside had no choice but to follow the teachings of the King’s Church, even as they were being plundered by it.

“As you all know…”

Azadin raised his voice and said,

“I am only fulfilling my mission according to the Emperor’s gold. Someone used the Emperor’s gold to make a wish for you.”

“Huh?”

“Someone?”

“H-h-is it among us?”

“I have no obligation to tell you that, nor do I have the right to.”

Azadin ignored the bewildered people and stood in front of the gate’s barrier. Arrows and stones did not rain down.

“Now that the job is done, I can pass, right?”

“……”

“Or are you going to fight me for the King’s Church? Even though you were just plundered by a noble’s bastard?”

“That’s…”

“Don’t insult our faith.”

“Yes, you are faithful people. Of course, of course.”

Azadin yawned. He had been on a forced march due to the gold mission, traversing a drought-stricken frontier village, and then he had fought these battles in succession. Even a well-trained Messenger couldn’t help but feel fatigued.

“So, I’m going to pass.”

“Ugh?!”

The person who had drawn their bow was about to fire, but the hunter stopped them. In the meantime, Azadin lightly kicked off the barrier and climbed onto the gate without even touching the wall with his hands.

“I’ll take a few arrows, okay?”

Azadin grabbed a handful of arrows from the quiver on the barrier.

“……”

“Hmm.”

“The gold demon, he helped us because of gold?”

“Someone in the village used gold, right?”

“Who is it?”

The villagers looked at each other suspiciously. Of course, there was no such person.

‘Because it’s a lie.’

Azadin shrugged and jumped off the barrier, passing through the gate.

Then, he heard the hunter’s voice muttering behind him.

“…Thank you.”

The hunter said it so that others wouldn’t hear.

It seemed that the hunter had realized that Azadin was lying, or perhaps he just wanted to express his gratitude to Azadin, even if someone had paid a fair price.

In the King’s Church, just being associated with the Messenger Clan was enough to warrant a death sentence. So, for this hunter to say this was extremely dangerous.

“Hmm, you’re welcome.”

Azadin waved to them and started running towards the road.

[Gold, huh… you lie so casually.]

The Emperor’s voice spoke to Azadin.

“If I don’t say that, people will be confused and continue to fear the King’s Church, right?”

[Aren’t you angry at them? You defeated the monsters for them, and yet they act like that?]

“Well, everyone is weak. I’m satisfied that they were kind to me when I was pretending to be blind. If someone showed kindness to a helpless person, they also deserve to receive kindness, right?”

Azadin said that and hurried along the road, avoiding people.

“Ah, but I’m tired. I thought it would be easier to pass through the gates while pretending to be blind, but this time I really got caught up.”

*********

Azadin, who had protected the Eastern Gate village from the Fang King’s minions, ran along the road for about an hour. Soon, he found two young boys and girls leading a Kerim mountain goat.

Midiam and Ismail were returning with a torch and found Azadin.

“Ah! Azadin! You’re here!”

Midiam greeted Azadin happily.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. Did you come back to wait for me? You could have just kept going.”

It was just a brief companionship. If the two of them could already come to Azadin, they could easily return to the sanctuary.

But Midiam shook her head.

“I’d be sad if you said that.”

“No, I’m saying that so you would be sad. Anyway, what’s with that torch?”

“People gave it to us because one of our group got lost. It was so hard to persuade them to go back after they said they would help us search.”

“They told us to take this with us.”

When Azadin explained that he had left the group and got lost in the mountains, they gave Midiam and Ismail a torch to find Azadin.

“You managed to shake them off. People must have been worried about you two kids and wouldn’t have let you go easily.”

“Yes. They said the mountain goat would fend off most monsters, so they seemed to understand. I was worried because they were people of Hybris, but if they don’t know we’re from Aragasa, they’re kind to me because I’m a young… no, because I’m too pretty.”

“Hehe. Not because you’re young, but because you’re pretty?”

“Yes.”

Midiam pouted.

“I’m 13 years old. I’m not that young. There are queens who married at my age in the North.”

“Anyway, you wasted your energy for nothing since you didn’t even get gold. It’s true that the people of Hybris were kind, but you didn’t have to waste your energy like that.”

Ismail, displeased that Azadin and Midiam’s relationship was improving, deliberately added a comment.

“When I was pretending to be blind, they helped me without expecting anything in return. That’s why I helped them without considering any gain. As Midiam said, helping and protecting the people is a beautiful thing. If you don’t have that kind of aesthetics, life becomes boring.”

“So, what happened? What about the monsters? How many were there? Did the people thank you after you defeated the monsters?”

Midiam asked curiously. Even though she was a member of the founding clan, the Etar bloodline, she was still a child, enjoying the world and showing her excitement.

‘She’s quite cute. Well, the children of the clan grow up undergoing harsh training in the sanctuary, no matter if they are from the founding clan or not. It’s the age when they are curious about the world.’

Azadin answered Midiam, who was looking at him with sparkling eyes.

“An ogre, a goblin squad, and a minion of the Kurt god.”

“Huh? A minion?”

“You defeated a minion of the Kurt god?”

“It wasn’t that strong.”

Azadin said nonchalantly.