The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 2

The Demon of Gold Coins 3

“Got a shovel?”

“A shovel? Are you going to bury them?”

Sir Zibeck was puzzled. This messenger had already received the gold coins. Now that the petitioner was dead, there was no longer any obligation to care for them. Was he going to bury their corpses?

“If not, there’s nothing I can do.”

Azadin turned his back to Sir Zibeck and began digging into the ground.

“……”

Was he really going to bury the corpses? That act itself was a challenge to Lord Kozel.

Corpses were hanging from trees everywhere, and an evil magic was turning them into undead, so even in death, the corpses would scream.

Lord Kozel would try to confirm his power through the undead hanging from the trees. If someone were to hold a funeral in the middle of it, he wouldn’t stand idly by. Especially if it was a messenger clan member.

While Sir Zibeck was flustered, Azadin had already dug a hole for one person to lie in and buried the corpse inside.

“Ah.”

Sir Zibeck couldn’t bring himself to point his sword at him after seeing that. Corpses left hanging on trees to rot, not even respected as humans, hanging as flags to satisfy the tyrant’s sadism. How could he point his sword at someone who was taking them down and burying them?

Thinking about it, he suddenly felt so cowardly and insignificant. He was swearing allegiance and serving the very tyrants who were committing such terrible acts.

Sir Zibeck sheathed his sword and approached Azadin, starting to dig the ground with his hands.

*********

The holy knight of the King’s Church and the young man of the messenger clan were digging the ground together and burying the victims. Azadin put his hands together in front of the victims he had buried.

Zibeck was startled for a moment. He suspected that this young man might have buried them to manipulate them with some kind of heretical magic.

Perhaps the smooth talk from before was just a trick to deceive him. After all, wasn’t this guy a follower of the evil emperor, a member of the messenger clan?

But… this young man said something unexpected.

“Archangel of wisdom, courage, and mercy. Have mercy.”

Surprisingly, this young man began to recite the prayer of the Rescue Knights.

“Rescue Knights?”

“I was born into the messenger clan, but I like the ideology of the Rescue Knights…”

“You’re a frivolous one. Are you abandoning the destiny of your clan and serving a heretical belief?”

“If I don’t pursue what I believe is right, there’s no meaning to my birth.”

“……”

He was a strange one. Every word he said was like he would never lose, and his words, which were not like those of a young man, shook his heart.

What on earth was this guy?

While Sir Zibeck was watching, Azadin held a funeral for the dead with the prayer of the Rescue Knights.

“It’s a crude, simplified funeral, but it should prevent them from becoming undead.”

Those who die unjustly without a funeral are likely to become undead. But would a funeral held by a messenger clan member in the style of the Rescue Knights really have an effect? Was his belief genuine?

*********

The Rescue Knights were an order that served the three archangels who protected virtue, and they claimed that they gained white magic by upholding the three virtues of wisdom, courage, and mercy, regardless of their birth status.

The King’s Church defined itself as the sole religion as a ruling ideology, so they originally considered the Rescue Knights heretics and tried to punish them.

However, when monsters poured in from the sea, the Rescue Knights blocked them with their own bodies and carried out relief activities for the poor, so the public support was too great.

In addition, many noble children joined the Rescue Knights, so the bloodlines mixed, and now the nature of the members of the King’s Church and the Rescue Knights was similar, so they could not be designated as heretics.

The Rescue Knights respected the divine kings that the King’s Church revered, and the King’s Church agreed not to interfere with the beliefs of the Rescue Knights, and their relationship was established as friendly.

“Do you really have the faith of the Rescue Knights? Enough to prevent undeath?”

“You’re too suspicious, aren’t you?”

“What do you like about the Rescue Knights?”

“I like that a person’s worth is not determined by their birth, but by their beliefs and actions. Just like how a guy who rapes and massacres people just because he was born with the blood of a divine king is not noble.”

“…You.”

Zibeck realized that Azadin’s words were mocking his faith and was furious, but after the two of them buried the people together, he didn’t feel like drawing his sword against him.

At that moment, Azadin untied something like a belt he was wearing around his waist. Upon closer inspection, it was a bow. When the bowstring was released, it bent so far back that he had been wearing it around his waist like a belt.

With skillful hands, he quickly strung the bow, took out the quiver he had in his backpack, untied the leather strap that held the arrows in place, and slung the quiver diagonally across his waist.

“Are you going to fight? That’s good.”

He was a messenger clan member who strangely appealed to him. But that was a problem. To a holy knight of the King’s Church, the messenger clan was an enemy to be eliminated. It was better if he clearly showed hostility like this.

But the enemy Azadin was preparing for was not him. Torches were approaching.

“What’s this, teacher? Did you perhaps like that girl? If so, you should have said so.”

Kozel was snickering as he led his men.

“Well, she was too good to be in this shabby village.”

“Hehehe.”

Lord Kozel’s men drew their spears.

“But who’s that bastard?”

The soldiers were snickering as they approached. There were quite a few of them. No, all of Lord Kozel’s men were fully armed and coming.

Seeing them all fully armed at this late hour, perhaps they had noticed that Sir Zibeck was taking care of the girl. No, that was certain.

‘This is going to be difficult.’

Sir Zibeck clicked his tongue inwardly. Lord Kozel’s men were armed with a mix of plate armor and chain mail. They were more heavily armed than most knights.

Sir Zibeck was confident in his skills, but there was no way he could handle 20 heavily armed men like this. Moreover, wasn’t the messenger in front of him wearing light armor?

At that moment, Azadin began to move.

-Whoosh!

In an instant, an arrow flew and targeted the soldiers in the lead. It was a quick shot that would have easily taken down ordinary soldiers.

The soldiers that Lord Kozel brought with him were no less skilled than veteran knights. They had already prepared their shields. They were soldiers who were so skilled that they were used to looting and killing.

-Swish!

The arrow that Azadin shot tore through the wind, avoiding the shields of the soldiers in the lead, and flew like a living snake, twisting its body.

-Thud!

Surprisingly, the arrow hit the spearmen behind the shield bearers, who were approaching from behind.

“Ugh!”

The spearman’s face was torn off. The arrow that had scratched his helmet tore through it and blew away their nose and eyeballs.

“What?!”

It was amazing that the arrow twisted its body in the air, but its power was enormous. How strong did the bow have to be to do that?

While Sir Zibeck was amazed, Azadin drew another arrow and pulled the bowstring. One arrow was shot into the sky, and the other was shot at the shield bearer.

The soldier who had mindlessly raised his shield to block the incoming arrow was shocked by the enormous impact that paralyzed his arm.

He had only blocked the arrow, but it had pierced through the shield and into his lower abdomen, or rather, his genitals. There was another surprising thing.

-Thud!

The arrow that had fallen from the sky struck his collarbone.

Two arrows had hit one target at the same time.

“Ugh!”

He writhed in agony from the pain in his genitals and shoulder.

“N-No way!”

“What is that bow that makes armor look like paper….”

“Stop him from shooting the bow!”

Everyone rushed at Azadin, but he retreated while shooting arrows in succession. He was retreating so fast that the soldiers running forward couldn’t close the distance and were being ravaged by the arrows.

-Thud!

An eyeball flew away.

-Thwack.

He broke a knee.

“……”

The pursuing soldiers all realized. This guy wasn’t trying to kill them. He was trying to leave them with permanent disabilities.

‘Is he crazy?’

‘Even if he was trying to kill them, he wouldn’t have enough arrows.’

The soldiers were relieved that the opponent was wasting arrows unnecessarily, but on the other hand, they felt fear. The anger they felt from him was unusual.

What would happen if they were hit by that guy and lost an eye?

They would become more helpless than the farmers they had been looting just a moment ago.

Could they really endure it when that time came?

“It’s okay! He’s out of arrows!”

Lord Kozel encouraged the frightened soldiers. Azadin’s quiver was empty and dangling. He really was out of arrows.

“Good!”

The surviving soldiers approached Azadin.

“How is it? You’re out of arrows….”

“So what?”

Azadin punched the face of the soldier who was rushing at him.

“Cough?!”

The helmet was crushed by the punch, and the fragments shattered the soldier’s eyeball. Everyone was shocked to see the soldier spinning and falling, bleeding from his eye.

“I reduced their numbers a bit with arrows… come if you have the courage.”

Azadin untied the bowstring, turning the bow back into its original shape, and wore it around his waist like a belt. He picked up the sword of the soldier who had fallen on the ground.

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

He stabbed the crotch of the soldier he had just blinded with his fist.

It looked like he had stabbed him casually, but it was a precise strike, like a surgery.

‘Why is he so obsessed with castration?’

‘He’s, he’s crazy.’

The soldiers froze at the sight of his cruelty.

“Y-You’re a messenger clan member after all!”

Sir Zibeck, who had hurriedly followed, shouted unintentionally.

“What? A messenger clan member?”

“A soulless one?!”

Some of them had heard the ominous rumors of the messenger clan. Was this guy in front of them really a member of the messenger clan?

“Don’t be scared, you bastards! If you run away, I’ll kill you with my own hands! If you’re going to die anyway, the only way for you to live is to defeat that guy….”

The lord threatened the soldiers, but Azadin moved and swung his sword at the soldiers.

“C-Cover your eyes!”

The soldiers who covered their eyes had their genitals cut off, were kicked, and had their knees bent. When their faces were exposed because of the pain, a sword would always fly towards their eyes and gouge them out.

This kind of work was much more complex and difficult than killing them with a single blow, so it was possible that a weakness would be exposed… but no one could surround Azadin.

“What? Where did the spears go?”

“That’s….”

The spearmen couldn’t keep up with Azadin’s speed as he ran backwards. In addition, Azadin’s arrow barrage was aimed at those holding spears, so most of the spearmen had already been eliminated.

‘This bastard, he was planning this from the beginning.’