The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 164

The Emperor’s messenger does not regret what has already happened. But that doesn’t mean they are without emotional pain.

Azadin was feeling the pain. How many of those who had become minions had he killed so far? And now there was a way to return them to their senses. He was at the point where he couldn’t bear it unless he lashed out at someone.

Feeling Azadin radiating the heat of anger like a burning coal, the Taoist of the Blue Banner Gang was terrified and hurriedly picked up the vial that had fallen on the floor.

“The woman you told me to watch gave me this medicine. Inside, I can feel another Nether presence.”

It was a quick and ingenious excuse. It was enough to prevent Azadin from venting his anger on him.

“Yes. That vial…”

It was familiar. It was the vial that Arae had shown Azadin, telling him to put it in their food.

“Is what’s inside the same as the elixir you guys use?”

Azadin’s mention of the Blue Banner Gang’s elixir made the Taoist speechless for a moment. His statement subtly revealed that he knew the true nature of the elixir they were using.

He had to be careful. This young man had come all the way through the storm of minions and was furious.

Thinking that his ability, his power, and his anger could become a blade and fall on his neck at any moment, the Taoist answered with the utmost respect.

“We were only trying to help people suffering from malaria. We have saved so many people from suffering so many times, and this has never happened before! It must be someone’s conspiracy!”

“That’s not what I asked. Is what’s in that vial the same as your elixir?”

“Yes. It’s the same as the elixir we use, but different. To be honest, we dilute it quite a bit to prevent minionization… but this is quite concentrated.”

“And yet you’re fine after taking it?”

“Fortunately, I have been using blood magic from the beginning, so I was able to separate and control the elixirs that entered my body.”

Blood magic. A type of sorcery that uses blood as a medium, ranging from folk remedies that draw out leech blood to reduce swelling to magic that summons demons through blood.

The Taoist of the Blue Banner Gang used that blood magic to divide the elixir that had entered his body and create a twig from his hand.

“I can put the elixir controlled by blood magic into this twig. Fortunately, the guardian deity of the Blue Banner Gang we serve is Grimstrove, an old tree in the swamp….”

Because it was an entity with wood attributes, he was able to isolate the elixir in the wood material before it was absorbed into his body. That was what the Taoist was saying.

‘Since you can’t be a minion of two gods at the same time, the medicine Arae gave is actually an antidote for them. The concentration of the medicine was strong, but this guy is a blood mage, and the Nether being they serve is like a tree spirit, so it was possible to completely isolate the elixir in his body. Then, could it be that Arae told me to put the medicine in the food with good intentions?’

Azadin briefly thought about his only blood relative, but soon shook his head.

There was no way Arae would have done that out of consideration.

‘Not all of the Blue Banner Gang are contaminated by the Nether’s power, but if you put medicine in their food, even innocent people will be infected. Arae just didn’t care if other victims appeared.’

Arae was always like that. She was strong, confident, and didn’t care about the weeds or ants that were crushed under her feet. Like an elephant tearing through everything that got in her way, Arae’s actions were unstoppable. Perhaps this Taoist was also an ant crushed under Arae’s feet.

At that moment, Jibeck drew Azadin’s attention.

“Azadin. Look over there.”

“Ah.”

Azadin found Arae’s group entering Baron Adirof’s castle where Jibeck was pointing.

“This is not the time for this, we must pursue them. Hey, Taoist! You stop the rampaging old trees! Can you do that?”

“I’ll try. Oh, take this!”

The Taoist of the Blue Banner Gang handed Azadin the twig containing Arae’s elixir.

Azadin, who had received the sharp and sturdy twigs, put them in his quiver and chased after Arae.

*********

After the Baron’s family was wiped out by an endemic disease, Baron Adirof’s castle was used as a kind of government office, with officials dispatched by Count Lantaric as its masters, to carry out administrative tasks.

The building, built for a noble family to live in, lost its embellishments over time, and now only rationality remained in its appearance. But that was only the outer shell of this castle.

Inside Baron Adirof’s castle, surprisingly, there was an old dwarven-style building, and the castle was just a shell built on top of that building.

And Azadin could guess that it was the Emperor’s treasury.

It was because after Arae’s group went in first, a thick bass sound came from the underground as if the entire building was stretching. It was a roar as if the ruins themselves were awakening.

“Are you okay? Captain? This is scary.”

Scott had already prepared a handcart, cast a spell on the surrounding corpses, and was riding on the handcart.

“What are you doing? With that?”

“…….”

Jibeck glared at Scott, who was committing sacrilege against the corpses in front of his eyes.

But soon everyone was speechless.

Scott organically combined the torn corpses, leaving only the bare minimum of functionality.

Then the cart moved on its own.

If you look closely, you can see that the muscles extending from the handle of the cart to the floor are pushing the cart, but… the muscles are hidden by the supports that hold the cart in place, making it look like a cart that runs on its own.

“It’s called Smart Mobility!”

“…Smart?”

“Even I think it’s a smart design. Captain.”

“Haa.”

Jibeck was speechless.

At that moment, bloodthirsty tree spirits appeared in front of Azadin’s group. They were the people inside Adirof Castle, but now they were Nether minions who were massacring those around them and rampaging.

“Hmph.”

Azadin threw the twigs he had received from the Taoist of the Blue Banner Gang like daggers at the minions blocking his way.

-Thwack! Thwack!

With a light sound, one person was accurately hit with each shot.

This attack, which was distributed accurately as if giving out holiday gifts to children, returned their minds to reality.

Then the tree beasts became human again.

“Ugh?”

“No, this can’t be!”

“What have I been doing? Could this be what I did?”

“Agh! My, my body, why is it like this!?”

They were horrified by the disaster that had befallen their bodies.

“Go to the Taoist of the Blue Banner Gang for help! Get out of the way!”

Azadin walked inside, avoiding the minions who had regained their senses.

Their fate was pitiful, but it was more important to chase after Arae now.

*********

In the underground section, there was a huge granite staircase.

From that staircase, which seemed to lead to the heart of the mountain surrounding Baron Adirof’s castle, a rumbling roar continued to be heard.

On the wall of the huge dwarven-style stone structure, which looked like it had been made by human hands, was a sculpture of Emperor Yaeslat.

And the source of the roar that had led Azadin so far revealed itself.

It was a huge stone gate that opened with water power. On both sides of the stone gate, the keys to the treasury that Azadin had also seen were inserted, and the structure was such that when the keys were inserted, the water wheel would operate and open the gate.

“If we retrieve the keys now, won’t the gate close and those who went inside be trapped?”

Jibeck suggested. But Azadin shook his head.

“Listening to the sound of water inside, there must be a way out once we go inside. It’s no use trapping them. Let’s go in too.”

“Wait a minute. What if someone takes the keys from behind and we get trapped too? Besides, Arae and her subordinates are incredibly powerful, aren’t they? Are you prepared for anything? You won’t kill them because they are your clan, but they might kill us to break your will.”

Shati opposed Azadin’s idea of going inside.

Arae wouldn’t kill Azadin, but she could torture him to threaten him. And weren’t Shati, Jibeck, and Scott outsiders who could be killed without any problem from the perspective of the messenger clan?

But Azadin ignored Shati’s opposition and was already striding inside.

And….

-Creak, creak….

Scott’s smart mobility rolled inside with a creaking sound.

“Can’t you be quiet? You’re making it very obvious that we’re going in….”

“The other side is also a messenger clan, right? Let’s just go in with confidence. And also to interfere with my muscle gains.”

Jibeck and Scott grumbled and followed Azadin.

“Ah, damn it.”

In the end, Shati had no choice but to follow Azadin.

*********

If you go inside through the dwarves’ gate, a spectacular view appears where a stream of water gushing from the mountain forms a waterfall in the underground cavity.

Inside the large cavity where external light seeps through the ceiling, several dwarven machines can be seen, and Arae was in despair inside.

“Is this the Emperor’s mint?”

Usually, not much of a process is needed to mint gold coins.

Pure gold is easy to process, so even without heating it, you can make a decent gold coin just by pressing it. Considering the value of gold coins and the scarcity of gold, a gold coin mint could just be made by a craftsman hammering a mold with a wooden mallet. Since it was a currency that was not used often, there was no need to make it in large quantities.

Considering the powerful magic on the Emperor’s gold coins, the mint itself would be a simple press, with only magic prohibiting the counterfeiting of the mint. Even the intelligent Arae thought so.

However, the mint here was a large machine tool linked to a water wheel. It was the size of a barn suitable for about six goats.

If it were made of planks, one strong man could lift it, but if it were filled with metal without any gaps, even an elephant wouldn’t be able to move it. It was impossible to take this.

“This is, it’s too big than expected. Lady Arae.”

“What should we do?”

Arae’s subordinates were also agitated.

“Let’s find out how to operate it first. Let’s see?”

Arae approached the wall of the Emperor’s treasury. Near the place where gold bars were originally piled up, the skeletons of dwarves were lying down.

Seeing that they all had weapons in their hands and their skulls were broken, it seemed that the dwarves had fought and died over the Emperor’s gold. Seeing that there was no gold, it seemed that other grave robbers had stolen the gold.

“Arae!”

At that moment, a sharp young man’s voice called out to Arae.

It was Azadin’s group who had arrived.

Azadin, Shati, Scott, and Jibeck entered the same way Arae’s group had come, and although it was difficult to see Azadin’s expression because he was wearing a mask, the other three seemed surprised by the size and appearance of the Emperor’s treasury.

“Th, this is….”

“Is this Emperor Yaeslat’s treasury?”

“But there aren’t many treasures. Has it already been looted?”

“More than that, let’s be wary of the woman and the messenger clan in front of us, Captain. They are all monsters.”

Scott was wary of Arae as well as the four members of her group, Hwajopungwol, and made a hand seal on his cart.