The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 17

“Huh?”

“C-Captain?”

The mercenaries stared at their captain, terrified, wondering if he had always been like this. But the captain’s face was frozen in a strange expression.

“W-What do you want from me?”

“I want to requisition the relay station village and plunder the bastards passing through to find the one who stole my things.”

The mercenary captain said with a smile, but his eyes gleamed with a fierce, murderous intent.

“You want me to do that in my name? If I did, then…”

The King’s Church would try to punish Tarki, his father, and Count Kazel, the Margrave of Salasma. Perhaps even King Corasar himself would wield the iron hammer.

“It’s alright. We just need to find my things quickly before things get out of hand. Besides… isn’t your father already planning to rebel against the King? That’s why you’re looking for the Divine King’s Scripture, right?”

“…….”

“This method is good for finding my things, but it’s also good for finding the Divine King’s Scripture. Or else…”

The mercenary captain whistled again. Tarki had no choice but to clutch his stomach and slump down again. The pain of his flesh being eaten from the inside was unbearable.

“Ugh! A-Alright! Let’s do it! Damn it!”

In the end, Tarki succumbed to the intense pain. As soon as he did, the pain vanished as if it had been washed away.

“Well then, young master. Let’s work together.”

The mercenary captain, as if to confirm their newly established master-servant relationship, reached out his hand to Tarki with a sly smile. Tarki had no choice but to take it.

*********

“Hmm?”

Azadin, who was perched on a tree, monitoring the distant mercenary group, felt something was off.

“It seems like approaching any closer is impossible.”

Tarki and the mercenaries’ attitudes had changed. They were now taking out their weapons and tending to them.

They were cutting down nearby trees to make arrows, removing rust from their swords and sharpening the blades, brushing their armor, and preparing food.

They were about to use their well-fed bodies and well-maintained weapons. It could only mean that they were preparing for a large-scale battle.

At the same time, their vigilance had increased, and if one tried to monitor them carelessly, they could be exposed.

“It seems like we shouldn’t approach while the sun is up. They’re quite skilled, aren’t they? They’ve posted guards at every path leading to the mercenary camp.”

Midiam also came to that conclusion after seeing the mercenaries preparing for war.

“Then what are you going to do now? Are you going to keep monitoring them, move away for now, and come back at night?”

“No. Let’s get ahead of them and go to the village first.”

“What?”

“They might attack the village.”

“But the village down there has a relay station, right? It’s almost a fortress.”

It was a village with over 500 households. In the sparsely populated north, it was large enough to be called a city. It wasn’t a pioneer village either, and if a mercenary group plundered a village with a relay station, the King’s Church would surely hold them accountable.

Midiam and Ishmael thought so. But Azadin knew information they didn’t.

‘Those bastards had a bone wand imbued with Kurtish magic. If it wasn’t just a simple loot but was included in their supplies, then there must be Kurtish cultists among those mercenaries, and quite a few at that.’

If it was just one cultist, they would have kept the bone wand themselves, not put it in the supplies. That meant that someone in a position to manage and handle the mercenary group’s supplies was definitely a Kurtish cultist.

‘Looking at the wand’s performance and the nature of the magic within, their goal must be to find the Divine King’s Scripture, right? But since that wand is gone, if there are Kurtish cultists among them, they’ll start showing their true colors soon.’

Based on information that the clerics didn’t know, Azadin realized that the mercenary group would want to occupy the relay station village.

The relay station village was located where all the nearby roads converged, making it the best place to control passing travelers. More than anything, from the perspective of the Kurtish cultists who had lost the bone wand provided by their superiors, there was no reason to hold back any longer.

“I have a good reason to think so, so let’s avoid the mercenary group and go to the village first.”

Azadin didn’t mention the bone wand and urged them to hurry.

*********

The sun was setting in the west.

Once again, Azadin pretended to be blind and easily passed through the gate and entered the relay station village.

Since he was blind, they didn’t think he was dangerous and let their guard down. Besides, the people of Hybris all believed in the afterlife, so they treated blind pilgrims kindly, seeing it as an opportunity to accumulate good deeds.

At that time, a market was being held in the relay station village, and caravans were setting up camp in the open space at the village entrance.

“Ah, what’s that?”

“The Corasar Peddlers’ Guild has arrived. That’s good.”

Midiam and Ishmael were delighted to see the wagons with the Corasar Peddlers’ Guild flag.

The ‘Corasar Peddlers’ Guild’ had originally started as a small association of petty merchants who carried their goods on their backs. But now that the merchants had accumulated capital, the Corasar Peddlers’ Guild had become a large merchant group with considerable financial and organizational power within Corasar….

This peddlers’ guild was one of the disguised organizations run by the Messenger Clan, the Aragas people [a nomadic people known for their trade and information networks].

“Hmm. A peddlers’ guild….”

Azadin smiled wryly and headed towards the wagons.

*********

The Corasar Peddlers’ Guild’s caravan had five wagons arranged in a circle, like bison protecting their families from hunters.

It was a defensive formation that used the wagons themselves as a barrier when camping in the grasslands. Large encampments were set up in the center, and the wagons outside were soon turned into shops, serving the people passing by.

Outside the shops, a performer was putting on a show, perhaps to attract customers, and both the performer and the shopkeepers were all members of the Messenger Clan.

As they approached, the performer and the caravan guards noticed Azadin and began to smirk.

“Well, well, who do we have here?”

“Isn’t that the famous Azadin of the 108 Spirits?”

“Heh heh heh.”

“I wonder if you’ve been doing well pretending to be a messenger for the past three months?”

“…….”

Azadin sighed.

It was always like this. From the Messenger Clan’s perspective, Azadin, the son of a traitor, the son of Acre who had ruined their aspirations, was someone they could never forgive.

Yet, they all fawned over Arael as if they would give her their hearts. Arael had proven her strength, beauty, and genius.

In the past, there was a guy who had his jaw broken for mocking Arael like this. Arael always made those who challenged or mocked her pay the price, but Azadin couldn’t do that.

So, the insidious harassment was entirely Azadin’s burden. When Midiam and Ishmael followed, they mocked Azadin even more.

“Oh my, you even have attendants. You’re quite talented, aren’t you?”

“Enough. These kids aren’t my attendants.”

“Oh, they’re not?”

“Yeah. But since we’re clan members, can you put horseshoes on my mountain goats? You can do that much, right?”

“Of course. Whose orders are we following?”

“Even though you were recommended by Elder Kazas and dropped out of basic training, and became a messenger without going through the proper procedures, how could we ignore your orders?”

Their words were full of thorns. But Azadin calmly took out silver candlesticks and tableware from the saddlebags of his mountain goats.

“Exchange these for money too. And can you get me some blue steel arrowheads?”

“Oh my, you’ve brought something valuable.”

“Did you steal it from somewhere? You’re a messenger, you know.”

“…….”

They were mocking Azadin as if they wanted him to hear it, and it was too much.

Midiam and Ishmael looked at each other. They knew that Azadin was being insulted among the Messenger Clan, but seeing it in person was really something else.

Originally, the merchant guilds created by the Messenger Clan were organizations created to support the messengers.

Of course, these days, it seemed that the cart was before the horse, but still, supporting the messengers’ activities with funds and supplies, gathering information, and providing hideouts was the mission of this ‘Corasar Peddlers’ Guild.’

However, they didn’t seem to like even that mission.

“I need some clothes to change into. Can I borrow them? And do you do laundry?”

Azadin handed them his laundry and received clothes to change into. But they were women’s clothes.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Well, that’s all the clothes we have left. Why don’t you wear that?”

“It doesn’t look that bad, does it? Heh heh.”

“Ha. Why don’t you stop being childish? The reason I’m not dealing with you right now is because I’m tired from the forced march. More than anything, I’ll continue to rely on the Corasar Peddlers’ Guild, and I don’t want to make you half-crippled and build up resentment, you know?”

Azadin sighed and returned the clothes to them.

“What, you punk?”

“Hey, this bastard, we’ve been watching you. Are you telling us to wear women’s clothes? Are you insulting us?”

“Make us half-crippled? Are you mocking us?”

They were only paying attention to the insults they received, not thinking about the insults they had given to Azadin.

“This bastard got lucky with Elder Kazas’ recommendation and became a messenger….”

“We’re your peers, but we’re servants, so why did you become a messenger?”

“You dropped out of basic training! Do you think it’s fair that you became a messenger?”

In other words, the employees of this ‘Corasar Peddlers’ Guild’ were Azadin’s training peers.

They had seen Azadin drop out of the Messenger Clan’s basic training, and they were dissatisfied with Azadin becoming a messenger when they couldn’t.

Seeing that, Midiam asked.

“If you’re so upset, why don’t you challenge him to a duel?”

“A duel? This kid is crazy. Are you talking to us?”

“Do you want to get punished first?”

They all glared at Midiam with a fierce attitude, but she was calm.

“You’re just whispering behind his back, but you don’t have the guts to take the risk of a duel.”

Azadin, who was listening, chuckled.

‘The risk of a duel? That sounds good, but you’re not the one to say that, are you?’

As expected, when the duel was mentioned, his peers scoffed.

“Alright. We were going to challenge Azadin to a duel anyway.”

“If we beat this guy, we’ll become messengers, right?”

“The problem is, who goes first? The first one has too much of an advantage, right? Heh heh.”

They all saw Azadin as an easy target, like taking coins out of a pocket. Seeing that, Midiam smirked.

“Oh, is that so?”

At that moment!

Midiam moved.