The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 172

Although it was a repulsive monster, the party’s speed increased dramatically after creating the Corpse Abomination.

The Corpse Abomination, pulling a farm cart obtained from a farmhouse, did not slow down even with a lot of luggage and people on board.

Azadin’s group crossed the border of Butuma and arrived at the County of Kimalhaji, which could be considered the first gateway.

Perhaps because Butuma had a lot of water and soil, the outer walls of the County of Kimalhaji were made entirely of mud.

The inner, more important walls were made of stone, while the outer walls were made of earth. These earthen walls were easily damaged by wind and rain, so they required constant maintenance.

Even now, to repair the walls, they were scooping up soil, pouring it into wooden frames, and then having elephants step on it to compact the inside.

“Oh. Elephants… amazing? It’s my first time seeing them. I’ve seen them in pictures, but they’re really big in person.”

Azadin, seeing an elephant for the first time in his life, was wide-eyed.

It wasn’t just the elephants that were amazing. Surprisingly, a considerable number of Cheonggeon Party members had already gathered in the County of Kimalhaji.

They seemed more like natives than refugees. They were enthusiastically working on building the earthen walls.

“This County of Kimalhaji is the sacred place of the Cheonggeon Party.”

Jiswa explained.

“Sacred place?”

“Yes. It is said that our Heavenly Lord was struck by lightning here and awakened to the principles of the Clear Sky.”

“Then is that Heavenly Lord here? If possible, it would be good to get help in saving Butuma.”

“Unfortunately, the Heavenly Lord left Kimalhaji after that and is currently in Butuma, the capital of the Kingdom of Butuma, after touring the entire Butuma to spread the principles of the Clear Sky.”

“Really? Still, there seem to be many Cheonggeon Party members. I’m worried they might go berserk.”

It was then that Azadin was looking around. Someone called out to Azadin’s group, or rather, to Jiswa.

“Oh, Brother Jiswa. So, did you do much proselytizing in Korasar?”

Looking to see who was speaking, a dark-skinned Butuman who was repairing the wall was looking at Jiswa with a sneer while riding an elephant. He was using a club, the symbol of a Cheonggeon Party Taoist, to pat his back as if it were a massage device.

Jiswa replied uncomfortably.

“Brother Komosal. Actually, there was an accident.”

“An accident?”

“I was proselytizing the Way of the Clear Sky to people in the Adirof Territory, but suddenly they went berserk and became Nether’s minions. So many died, and it was deemed impossible to proselytize any further, so I returned.”

“People went berserk and became Nether’s minions?”

“Yes. Hasn’t that happened here? It seems like the medicine we gave to those suffering from malaria or fever was the problem….”

“So, how many Korasar bastards died?”

“What?”

“If you killed a lot, that’s a great achievement.”

Surprisingly, this Cheonggeon Party Taoist was asking how much damage they had caused rather than about the fact that the believers had gone berserk.

Jiswa was taken aback by his attitude, as if he knew they would go berserk.

“Wait! What are you….”

But then, Azadin placed his hand on Jiswa’s shoulder.

“Brother Jiswa. Introduce me.”

“Ah… yes.”

“Huh? Who is this?”

“This is Brother Adan, who became a Cheonggeon Party Taoist in my place.”

“What? In your place? What do you mean?”

“I thought I was not virtuous enough to take on the heavy responsibility of a Cheonggeon Party Taoist, but Brother Adan, who is virtuous and chivalrous, willingly took over the position of Taoist.”

“As you can see.”

Azadin took the club, the symbol of a Cheonggeon Party Taoist, and tapped his shoulder as if giving himself a massage.

“That’s!”

Komosal was horrified that Jiswa had arbitrarily transferred the position of Taoist to a stranger.

Seeing that, it seemed that Azadin was not the only one surprised by Jiswa’s impulsive actions. However, since he had already taken the position of Cheonggeon Party Taoist, he decided to push forward.

“Well, now that you’ve heard the explanation, shall we talk? Brother Komosal? Is it okay to call you brother? I’m Cheonggeon Party, you’re Cheonggeon Party, aren’t we all brothers?”

“…….”

“We’ve brought Cheonggeon Party brothers and refugees who are wandering around looking for work and food. Please arrange jobs for them.”

“Jobs?”

“You’re building earthen walls right now, aren’t you? It seems like you can provide enough jobs for people.”

“Ah, th, that’s….”

“And I have some leftover elixirs here. Would you like to drink a cup?”

Azadin took out a vial of medicine.

“Ugh?!”

Komosal was startled by the vial of medicine Azadin held out. Seeing his reaction as if it were poison, Azadin was certain.

“It seems like you’ve tampered with the elixir?”

However, as Azadin rebuked Komosal, the workers building the earthen walls approached with shovels and hammers.

“Taoist Komosal!”

“Who are these guys?”

“As you can see, they are Cheonggeon Party brothers!”

Azadin showed them the club, and they recognized it and were puzzled.

“Taoist Komosal?”

“Th, these guys are fake! The corrupted Jiswa sold the position of Taoist to some random guy! Arrest them!”

As Komosal shouted, they gathered with shovels and wooden hammers.

At that sight, the Cheonggeon Party members of Azadin’s group also stood up.

And….

“No, I don’t want to get up. Just getting up now is making my muscles ache.”

Everyone was startled when Scott stood up.

Although he was disguised as a human, the well-developed muscles unique to orcs were reflected in the disguise, so Scott now looked like a huge, muscular giant.

“…Good heavens.”

“What kind of muscles are those?”

“He looks like an orc.”

Everyone was intimidated by Scott’s appearance.

Moreover, when they heard that Azadin had ended up in this situation while asking for jobs for the refugees and Cheonggeon Party members, all the Cheonggeon Party members came to Azadin’s defense.

“Are you out of your minds, provoking our Taoist?”

“Our Taoist, he cuts down monsters like they’re falling leaves.”

“Don’t mess with our Taoist, or you’ll end up in the grave. Do you want to see a bloodbath here?”

“You’d better do as our Taoist says.”

“Give us jobs!”

Those who had seen Azadin’s abilities firsthand were emboldened and demanded jobs.

Komosal and his Cheonggeon Party members could not dare to attack them because of their pressure.

‘What the heck are these guys, so full of spirit?’

‘Is that guy really that great? It’s like they’re saying everyone will die if he gets angry?’

As Komosal and the group Azadin brought were causing a commotion, an elephant approached.

“What’s going on, Komosal?”

“Ah. Miss!”

On top of the elephant was a young Butuman woman with her maids.

“…Miss Gimella.”

“Who is she?”

“She is the daughter of the Heavenly Lord.”

“Ah.”

Gimella, the daughter of the religious leader, was a beautiful woman with black curly hair and confident green eyes. Those green eyes scanned Azadin up and down.

“It seems like you’re a newcomer, but you’re a Taoist?”

“It’s illegal! Jiswa foolishly transferred the position of Taoist, undermining the authority of the Heavenly Lord.”

“Well, there’s no clause in the law that says you can’t transfer the position of Taoist.”

“B, but.”

“And even if that Taoist is like that, the others are wearing Cheonggeon [traditional clothing], so aren’t they our brothers? They said they wanted jobs, right?”

“Yes.”

As Azadin answered, the woman called Gimella smiled.

“Good. There are plenty of jobs here. We need to quickly reinforce the earthen walls and gather arrows.”

“Is it because ogres have attacked from the north?”

“Ah, you know well.”

“I met some ogres on the way.”

“Really?”

Gimella showed interest in Azadin’s words.

Komosal trembled with anxiety as he saw Gimella showing interest in Azadin.

“Ah, Miss.”

“It’s okay, Komosal. Give these people jobs and food in return. Isn’t that all that needs to be done? Right?”

“…Yes.”

“Then, dismiss.”

The Heavenly Lord’s daughter, Gimella, dismissed the situation while glancing at Scott.

“And you, the new Taoist, Jiswa, and your group, come to me later. I need to hear your story.”

“…Huh?”

Gimella’s gaze swept over Scott’s muscular body. It was clearly a look of interest.

“Ah, this is troublesome.”

Scott shrugged his shoulders as he saw Gimella’s gaze on him.

“Being handsome is a pain.”

*********

Thanks to Gimella’s mediation, the refugees and Cheonggeon Party members that Azadin brought were able to get jobs here.

The County of Kimalhaji was spending its own money to reinforce the castle and prepare weapons to fight against the ogres coming from the north. This place was originally wealthy from trade, so their spending was not bad.

“It seems like they’ll defend well here?”

Shati commented as she watched the County of Kimalhaji preparing for defense.

At that moment, Azadin called out to Shati.

“Hey, Shati.”

“What?”

“Can you tell me the way to the Naga Empire?”

The Naga Empire was inside the Butuma jungle, and the way to enter it was only known to the Nagas. Moreover, it was common knowledge that powerful magic, poisonous insects, and layers of defenses blocked the way.

Yet, Azadin was asking Shati for the way to enter the Naga Empire.

“Are you crazy? Even if it’s me, I can’t tell you that. I don’t really know myself.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes. I’m a commoner, so I grew up outside the Naga Empire, in the colonies.”

“Then is there no way to report to the higher-ups? If this continues, the Naga Empire will be manipulated by the Herald Clan again.”

“They wouldn’t just be manipulated. The Herald Clan must have given them something in kind. Probably a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture.”

“Do you think they handed over a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture and dragged the Naga Empire in?”

“Otherwise, they’ve already been tricked once in Korasar, so why would they be used again?”

“Hmm.”

Azadin was deeply aware of the power of the Divine King’s Scripture.

It was the light of the King’s Transformation itself, a treasure beyond imagination.

Even though it was a magic book with incomplete interpretations, to hand over such a great treasure to the Nagas, the enemies of humanity.

It was no exaggeration to say that the Herald Clan had committed a crime against humanity.

“Did they give the Divine King’s Scripture to the ogres too?”

“The Nagas must have brought the ogres. Our Nagas are the leading people of the Kurt Pantheon [a group of gods].”

Among those who worship the Kurt gods, the Nagas had the strongest organizational and economic power.

If they, the leading force of the Kurt believers, promised a little profit, it wouldn’t be difficult to bring in the ogres.

“It would be good if I could meet that Naga Raja [Naga King] and persuade him. If the Nagas are used again this time, I might have to kill too many with my own hands.”

“Ha….”

Shati clicked her tongue at Azadin’s arrogant remark.

Azadin was worried that too many Nagas might die.