The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 140

#141. Fair Trade 3

“Alright, Captain. Shall we go with a bang? You’ve regained some energy, right?”

The rat, imbued with necromancy, spoke in Scott’s voice.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Azadin popped a dried fruit into his mouth, chewing as he dashed out into the rain.

It was a downpour where it was hard to tell if it was night or day. Within it, the Nagas’ eyes glowed as they monitored for any signs of people, and some were finding supplies from the village and moving them to their main base.

The sea serpent Nagas, perhaps because some of their patrol units had died and gone missing, were operating special patrol units, carefully watching their surroundings.

Whether they were the sea serpent Nagas’ familiars or not, flying fish flew around and then dove into the water, monitoring the area.

“Flying fish are coming! They’re enchanted!”

“Where?”

“Behind you, Captain!”

“Got it.”

Azadin ran along the building, grabbed the roof with his hand, and slid down under the eaves. The eaves were already somewhat submerged in water, so when Azadin hung down, his ankles were submerged.

“There’s an alligator in the water. Be careful!”

“Ugh! This is a three-story building, you know?”

Azadin looked and, sure enough, there was an alligator in the water. It wasn’t a very large alligator, about 1.4 meters long, but it was quite hostile, as if the Nagas had brought it.

Hanging from the eaves of a three-story building, his feet were submerged in water, and there was an alligator. The situation of the storm that had hit Coral Sahar was serious.

‘An alligator of all times… If I hang on with one hand, will these eaves hold?’

The tiles were soaked with rain and had become incredibly heavy, causing the wood supporting the eaves to creak.

Azadin held onto the eave’s wood with one hand, braced his feet against the wall, and prepared to draw his sword with the other.

If the alligator attacked, he would cut it down. The problem was that when he swung his sword, there would be a tremendous impact, and he wondered if the building would withstand it.

“I’ll cast a charm spell.”

Scott’s rat’s eyes widened, becoming bloodshot as if they would pop out. The alligator, which had been approaching Azadin, was caught in Scott’s magic and became dazed.

“Whew. It worked. That’s a relief.”

“……”

“Why?”

“No. Good job.”

Azadin was honestly impressed by Scott’s performance, which was a great help.

Originally, when he accepted Scott as a companion, he had no expectations. He had kept him alive because he didn’t want to kill him, but he never knew that the guy would be so versatile. He had heard from his master that orc mages were versatile, but experiencing it firsthand was truly amazing.

“But Scott, you worship the Kurt gods, the Kurt Pantheon, right? Is it okay for you to help me like this?”

“You wouldn’t think so foolishly, Captain, you’re just testing me, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Don’t do such foolish tests. But to answer you sincerely, if we leave them alone, the Nagas will think they’re so great, right?”

“……”

“In the first place, that Naga Raja asked you for a deal for that reason, right? Even among the same Kurt gods, we have to be the best. Isn’t that right?”

‘What should I say? This is… It’s fortunate for humanity, but humans are all focused on their own interests and are divided anyway, so is it the same?’

Azadin checked that the flying fish had passed and climbed back onto the roof to continue moving.

Near the lighthouse, there were Nagas much larger than the others, over 2 meters tall, dragging anchors attached to huge ropes. Seeing Naga mages, who had transformed into humans, alongside them, it seemed difficult to break through with a simple battle.

“I need to infiltrate carefully.”

“Ah, Captain. You need to be careful.”

“Why?”

“There’s a seer bird in the sky.”

“What? A seer bird?”

Azadin, wearing his mask, overlapped his hands to make a telescope and looked at the sky around the lighthouse. Sure enough, he could see a seer bird flying.

“This is troublesome.”

If he left the seer bird alone, it would clearly see him when he climbed the outer wall of the lighthouse. But if he attacked it, he would immediately reveal his presence to the seer bird’s caster.

To infiltrate the lighthouse while avoiding the seer bird’s gaze, there were quite a few sea serpent Naga guards at the entrance of the lighthouse.

“It’s not easy to climb up in the rain either.”

Azadin pondered how to enter and first touched his bow.

The bowstring was attached to a steel bar taken from a heavy crossbow, and it was quite heavy. Azadin put an arrow on it and pulled it back.

If he just put an arrow on it, the bowstring would break the back of the arrow, so he put on a finger tab, pulled the bowstring with the tab, and then placed the arrow on it.

Azadin pulled the arrow back and took a deep breath.

“What are you going to do, Captain?”

As Scott wondered, suddenly the sky flashed. Lightning streaked across the sky.

At the same time, Azadin shot the arrow.

-Thwack!

A Naga near the lighthouse entrance had its head blown off by Azadin’s arrow. The skull was literally torn apart, the top part flying off like a watermelon split with a knife. No matter how strong a Naga’s vitality was, it couldn’t survive such power.

-Rumble, crash!

And the following thunder swallowed all the sounds.

The Nagas on guard duty didn’t even notice that their comrade had fallen.

“Good… !”

Azadin shot another arrow and ran forward.

The next target was a huge Naga over 2 meters tall. When this Naga also had an arrow lodged in its head, 25% of its head was blown off, like a watermelon being smashed.

“What?!”

By the time the Naga mage realized it, Azadin had already jumped right in front of him.

-Thwack!

Azadin didn’t draw his sword but swung the steel bow, hitting the Naga mage’s head. The temple caved in, and the Naga mage fell.

“It’s sturdy indeed. Even after blowing off a Naga’s head, it doesn’t bend.”

Azadin immediately entered the lighthouse entrance. Inside the lighthouse, there was a long spiral staircase, and Azadin quickly ran up, kicking off the stairs and the wall.

And when he opened the door at the top of the lighthouse…

-Creak.

Horrifying Nether characters that blurred the vision were engraved on the floor, ceiling, walls, everywhere.

“Hmm?”

An elderly man sitting in a rocking chair in the middle of it stood up.

“Ah. Who is this? Isn’t it Azadin?”

Elder Sebali Etar recognized Azadin and welcomed him.

“Do you know me?”

“Aren’t you famous? The son of a traitor, a cursed child born with the curse of service. Azadin of Muan. You’ve grown a lot, but I’d be a fool not to recognize you.”

“……”

“To think you’d come this far, it’s amazing. I did set up a seer bird, but you managed to get past it.”

“Elder Sebali Etar…”

“You’ve come well. Did you come to save me, who was captured? If so, that’s a relief.”

“What happened?”

“As you can see, I was captured by them and imprisoned here.”

Elder Sebali Etar was saying that, but Azadin noticed that there was no one else around and clicked his tongue.

The seer bird was monitoring those approaching the lighthouse. In other words, the one who monitored those approaching the lighthouse with the seer bird was this elder himself.

Perhaps that’s why? When Azadin showed a less than friendly attitude, Sebali Etar gave a wry smile.

“Oh dear, oh dear. You’re not a very smart friend.”

“I expected to meet Zenith or Dimia because there was a seer bird outside, but I didn’t expect to meet a perfectly fine elder. You don’t seem to be tied up either, isn’t it too obvious?”

Azadin subtly criticized Elder Sebali.

“Hahaha. Yes, it was too obvious. But you’ve been dismissed, right? Are you still loyal to the Council of Elders?”

“Rather than that, I should say that what the Arael faction is doing now is not earning my loyalty. Isn’t it the same right now? What on earth are you doing in Coral Sahar?”

“We’re trying to obtain the throne of Coral Sahar.”

“The throne of Coral Sahar? The Nagas here seem to think they will get that throne. Do you have a way to overcome these Nagas? There seem to be quite a lot of them?”

“We do. After the Nagas have done everything, killed all the king, vassals, and knights of Coral Sahar, we will activate a trap to get rid of the Nagas and take the throne for ourselves. Then, the Ara Gasa’s long-cherished wish will be fulfilled.”

If they get their hands on the king’s throne, they can obtain not a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture but the Divine King’s Scripture itself. For the Ara Gasa, who want to be freed from the curse of service, it would be a wish come true.

Yes. Even an elder belonging to the noble Five Great Families, the Etar bloodline, would be tempted to join the rebels.

“If you are an Ara Gasa, you would know our long-cherished wish, right? The day we can achieve this wish is just around the corner. So, be happy.”

But Azadin scoffed.

“I want to ask you one thing, Elder.”

“What is it?”

“Do the Ara Gasa have the right to live just because they are Ara Gasa?”

“What do you mean?”

“From what I see, that trap is about manifesting a Nether being. Even if the sea serpent Nagas worship the Nether being, it’s doubtful whether the Nether being will really accept them as allies and look after them, and the water serpent Nagas wouldn’t want to be eaten by the Nether beings, so you seem to be trying to seize the throne in that gap… Do the Ara Gasa have the right to do such a thing?”

When Azadin asked that, the elder looked at Azadin as if he was strange.

“Are you denying the Ara Gasa’s long-cherished wish?”

“Many people in the world call the Ara Gasa a cursed race, soulless blasphemers. But I have never been intimidated or ashamed when faced with their accusations. But today, this makes me ashamed.”

Azadin smiled wryly and pointed to the Nether characters drawn on the floor.

“What pride is there in doing this? Do we have the right to exist even if we kill all the residents of Coral Sahar who are living well? Tens of thousands of people in Coral Sahar must have already lost their homes, and more people have died than the entire population of Ara Gasa. The Nagas are the enemy, so let’s say that’s okay. But we don’t have the right to take the lives of the people who lived in Coral Sahar.”

“You’re strange.”

Sebali shook his head.

“The residents of Coral Sahar? They are Hybris! They are the ones who bound us and sealed our fate! They are weaker than us, yet they look down on us and have more than us! We must survive! We must take! We must rule! Because we are us!”

“That is exactly why Arael cannot earn my loyalty.”

“Hahahaha. Are you out of your mind, Azadin? Then you will become a traitor to the Council of Elders as well. You’re going to weigh the fate of the Ara Gasa and the fate of other Hybris people on the same scale? That’s not Ara Gasa! Each one of us is heavier than thousands of Hybris people, no, heavier than all of them!”

Sebali said that and made hand seals with both hands. A sword with a black shadow rose from the floor and was grasped in his hand.

“It seems you truly have no soul! You don’t understand the resentment of our Ara Gasa at all!”

Azadin also drew his sword.

“If that’s what a soul is, then I don’t think it’s so bad to be a soulless blasphemer.”