The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 19

The Noble’s Byproduct 2

“Derrick, is that within your authority?”

“What are you talking about? Are you saying I’m overstepping my bounds?”

“No, I just think it should be given directly to the regional manager. Besides, I saw some suspicious guys on the way here.”

“Suspicious guys?”

“One of Count Kazel’s bastards, leading a mercenary band and looting the gate towns. And there are Kurt cultists in his mercenary band.”

“Are you saying you ran here because you were scared of them?”

“It’s not that, but they’ll eventually attack us.”

“Haa, so what? Even though I’m a mess after being beaten by your sister, I’m a former messenger. And your colleagues here are more than a match for any ordinary mercenaries.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be bad if rumors spread that the Korasar peddler’s guild people are too good at fighting?”

Azadin shrugged.

“That’s not the point. We can protect the Divine King’s Scripture, so hand it over now! Unless you want to waste the one you got by luck.”

“No, I don’t really want to give it to you. I’ll discuss it with the regional manager later.”

“You little… are you trying to provoke me? You can’t protect the Divine King’s Scripture with your abilities! You haven’t done a single thing a messenger should do in the past three months, just loafing around!”

Derrick was furious at Azadin.

“No, I did? I was rescuing people here and there.”

“You idiot! Who’s talking about that kind of thing? You should be destroying rival guilds and assassinating those who oppose us! Setting fire to other people’s warehouses to manipulate the prices of our goods!”

“…….”

It seemed there was a big difference between what Azadin considered a messenger’s job and what Derrick considered it.

“If our views are this different, I don’t even know where to start. Fine. Anyway, I’m not giving you the copy of the Divine King’s Scripture.”

“You impudent brat. Aren’t you two years my junior? How dare you talk back to your senior?”

Derrick had to retire after being defeated by Araelle. There was no way he would look kindly on Azadin, Araelle’s kin.

And now he was just being hateful….

But as Derrick and Azadin were raising their voices and things were getting heated, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.

*********

The relay station town was governed by Sir Jeran, a knight who received a stipend from Count Salasma.

Originally a son of a nearby baron, he was now 25 years old. He was in his prime, but his father showed no signs of dying, and his father’s child from his second wife was over 15 years old, so he was becoming increasingly anxious.

He was still the official heir, but he worried that his father, swayed by his second wife’s pillow talk, might send him to the King’s Church [a place of religious service and study] and give the estate to his younger sibling.

The only way to alleviate this worry was to accumulate wealth, wealth, and more wealth.

So, he was taking bribes from merchants and travelers passing through the relay station town’s gate. If they paid a bribe, he would subtly exempt or discount their tariffs and simplify the passage procedures.

But at dusk, a young knight leading a group of mercenaries entered.

It was Tarki, Count Kazel’s bastard, and his mercenary band.

“What’s this? Armed forces? Too many. It’s getting late, so either rest at the inn outside or camp in the open space and come tomorrow.”

Sir Jeran was being difficult. It wasn’t wrong. This was the standard procedure.

But when he said this, most travelers would offer a bribe. And indeed, Tarki discreetly handed Sir Jeran a bribe.

“Please, accept this.”

“Ahem, Sir Tarki. This is awkward. You’re a knight too.”

He was also the bastard of the count who was currently his employer.

“Well, if we’re not careful, we might both be sent to the King’s Church, right? We’re in the same boat, so please accept it.”

“Hmm, in that case.”

Sir Jeran accepted the bribe and allowed Tarki’s group to enter the gate. But the moment they entered, it happened.

-Swoosh!

Suddenly, blood splattered on the street.

“Huh?”

Sir Jeran was puzzled as he saw his soldiers falling. The gatekeeper soldiers standing on either side of the gate were collapsing, spraying blood.

And in front of him was the mercenary captain, wielding dual swords.

Surprisingly, this mercenary captain had swung his swords to the sides, taking down one soldier with each swing.

“Huh?”

Sir Jeran, startled, fumbled to draw his sword, but the mercenary captain, already wielding dual swords, rushed in and struck Sir Jeran’s head with his sword.

-Thud!

The blow hit his helmet, and his vision flashed. A heavy pain and numbness spread through his body, but Sir Jeran was still a formal knight. He grabbed the guard of the longsword at his waist with both hands and pushed forward, using the pommel to stab without drawing the sword.

The mercenary captain retreated and raised his sword, aiming for Sir Jeran’s chin.

“Ugh! You bastards!”

Sir Jeran dodged the attack and managed to draw his sword. But in the meantime, the mercenary band that had already stormed through the gate was attacking the soldiers.

Moreover….

-Thwack!

Tarki swung his longsword, striking the back of Sir Jeran’s knee. It was an attack aimed at the joint of the armor, and Sir Jeran felt a throbbing pain in his leg.

‘The, the ligaments….’

The dual swords flew in again, piercing through the gap in his helmet, and Sir Jeran died instantly.

“Hey! Not so brutally….”

Tarki was horrified. He had intended to detain Jeran, not kill him. But while he was incapacitating him, the mercenary captain had killed Sir Jeran.

It was a fairly large town, and they had openly ambushed the gate and killed the knight guarding it? Was he out of his mind?

If they committed such an outrageous act, they would instantly become enemies of the state and be attacked by everyone. Not a land dispute or a duel of honor between nobles, but an indiscriminate attack?

“Well done, young master. You’re very skilled.”

“Are you out of your mind? This way….”

Tarki was about to become a traitor as well.

“Don’t worry. We need to do this to have more to loot, right? We’ll definitely get a huge fortune.”

The mercenary captain gave a sinister smile.

There was a campsite where caravans were camping near the gate entrance.

“Merchants, huh? To loot, we should raid that place first, but….”

What he wanted was control of the gate. Having lost the magic wand that could find the Divine King’s Scripture, he needed to take full control of this gate first.

“Let’s take down the relay station manager and take it. There’s no need to fight the merchants’ guards by trying to loot the merchants right now. It’s important to take control of this town first.”

“We can’t do it alone! We took one gate by surprise, but there are three gates here!”

“Don’t worry. Our forces are more than enough.”

The mercenary captain said that and spread his hand. A small black spot was wriggling on his hand.

“What?”

“A, a spider.”

Very small spiders were clustered together, wriggling. He blew on the spider and sent it to his subordinates.

“Huh?”

“Eek!?”

“G, get away!”

The mercenaries were startled and tried to avoid it, but the spiders the mercenary captain had sent danced in the air and touched the mercenaries’ bodies.

“What?”

“T, there’s a thread attached?”

At that moment, the mercenaries realized that the thread was coming from their own bodies.

Not only that.

“Huh?”

“When?”

They realized that countless tiny spiders, the size of millet grains, were pouring out of their bodies, from their armpits and groins.

It wasn’t the spider the mercenary captain had just sent. There were far more of them already inside their bodies.

“You won’t be able to shake them off. They’ve been feeding on your blood and flesh for a long time.”

“Huh.”

“Agh!?”

“S, save me!”

The mercenaries were horrified and tried to shake off the spiders that appeared on their bodies, but spiders kept appearing from their body hair.

They hadn’t known that the ones buried in their skin were revealing themselves?

And when the spider sent by the mercenary captain touched the swarm of spiders, the spiders began to emit a faint green light. As if the spider sent by the mercenary captain had delivered a spark.

The spiders that appeared on the mercenaries’ bodies all emitted a green light and then burrowed back into their bodies.

“Ah!?”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“I told you, they’ve been feeding on your blood and flesh for a long time. Those spiders are now part of you. And now with this….”

The mercenary captain said that and kicked a corpse on the ground. It was the corpse of a soldier guarding the gate.

Kicking a corpse lying on the ground and lifting it off the ground is impossible for an ordinary human. Especially the corpse of a soldier wearing armor. The weight of that equipment alone is enormous.

Yet, he kicked the corpse up to head height as easily as if he were kicking a small leather ball.

The dual swords flashed, and the corpse was cut into pieces.

It was a terrifying display of brute force.

“Now you can do this much too.”

“Uh….”

“I’m overflowing with power.”

The mercenaries were shocked as they felt the brute force overflowing in their bodies.

“Right?”

“Yes.”

“B, but.”

“Will you resist? That would be good too.”

The mercenary captain whistled, and all the mercenaries were suddenly horrified by the excruciating pain that surged through their bodies.

“Agh!?”

“A, it hurts!”

“S, save me!”

“Do you understand now?”

The mercenary captain stopped whistling, and everyone’s pain disappeared as if it had been washed away.

“Your lives are in my hands. Now, let’s go and subdue the relay station manager. Some of you split up and subdue the gates….”

The mercenary captain divided the mercenaries and ordered them to attack the gates and the relay station.

Tarki clicked his tongue as he watched.

“Now that I see it, you’re a Kurt cultist.”

“Ah, you’ve only just realized that? You’re very clever.”

“Kuh.”

“Well, let’s cooperate, cooperate. You don’t want to be dragged to the King’s Church either, do you? Let’s make a fortune and take revenge on the count who abandoned you. I’ll be happy to get a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture. Isn’t it a win-win situation? After all….”

The mercenary captain whistled, and Tarki felt his stomach ache again.

“Ugh!”

“You don’t have a choice. Not all Kurt deities are unreasonable. They’re actually more flexible than the King’s Church.”

“Kuh… you bastard!”

Tarki was furious, but with the spider already inside his body, there was nothing else he could do.

*********

“Good heavens. What a mess.”

Azadin climbed onto the carriage with a ladder and looked around from above.

“The east gate has fallen. It’s them.”

As Azadin had predicted, the mercenary band of Kurt cultists had indeed begun to attack the relay station town.