The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 246

“What?!”

MacDougall was dying, spitting out blood.

And behind MacDougall, a beautiful young woman in green stood with a dagger in her hand.

“Hehehe. I’ve killed the sixth Hospitaller. The promise is kept.”

“What?!”

The witch was startled, and suddenly, a hand of darkness appeared behind her, grabbing the upper part of her face, including her eyes.

“Damn it!”

Enraged, Azadin swung Aurelia Dawn at the darkness, but the darkness quickly swallowed the witch and retreated.

“Ahahahahaha!”

“The contract is complete! Hospitallers! This child is now ours!”

The Shade Hags left those words and disappeared.

The darkness that had been swirling around Vermilion Fortress receded like a tide, and the stars and moon reappeared in the sky.

As if nothing had happened, the clear night sky unfolded.

*********

The Shade Hags had retreated in defeat. But this was not a situation to be happy about at all.

“Damn it! MacDougall?!”

Azadin approached MacDougall, but he was already dead, his life force sucked out of his wounds, leaving his skin withered like an old tree.

“Sorry, Captain. I tried to protect him, but it happened so fast.”

Camilla said with a bitter smile. Blood mage Bernard searched MacDougall’s body and then gave a wry smile.

“I see why the Shade Hags claim the contract is complete. Look at this.”

Bernard showed a runic tattoo engraved on MacDougall’s heart. Unlike ordinary tattoos that use pigments, this one was made of pure magical power.

“What is this?”

“It’s an assassination grimoire [a book of spells or magical knowledge] engraved on agents of the Mercy Order. It’s called the Silent Engagement.”

“Silent Engagement?”

“It’s an assassination grimoire similar to the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon used by the Emperor’s messengers. Yes, this man was not just a scribe but a Hospitaller, an assassin of the Mercy Order.”

The Order of the Hospitallers is divided into three orders of paladins based on three virtues.

Courage, Wisdom, and Mercy.

Among them, the Mercy Order of Paladins is outwardly known for its relief and aid efforts, but behind the scenes, it was rumored to have spies and assassins.

And MacDougall was that rumored assassin?

‘I knew MacDougall was a spy, but….’

Azadin had noticed that MacDougall was managing Izmilla and realized that he was someone the Order had assigned to Izmilla.

But he never imagined he was part of the Mercy Order.

“I didn’t know he was such an important friend. But with this, the Shade Hags’ contract is complete.”

Azadin looked displeased, and Legion and Kalan approached.

“Captain, isn’t that a good thing?”

“What?”

“Well, that witch is pitiful, but she killed five knights, so she’s a serious criminal. Even if she returned to being human, she would have been executed. And….”

“We got rid of an assassin from the Mercy Order in advance, right? Plus, we achieved the great feat of driving away the Shade Hags. Do you know? They’re the monsters that adults use in scary stories when kids whine! The bards should have seen this!”

Legion waved his arms wildly, making a fuss. But Azadin’s expression was not good.

“Even so, it might be better to completely eradicate the Shade Hags. Bernard, if we have the Shade Hags’ blood, can we track them?”

Azadin said that and whistled. A crow flew in the sky and picked up an arrow that had fallen on the ground.

“……”

Arael’s voice controlled a nearby bird to retrieve the arrow that had hit the Shade Hag.

Azadin took the arrow and examined the tip. There was a bit of blood and flesh on the tip. It was definitely from the Shade Hag.

“It’s possible. But Captain, it might be better not to eradicate the Shade Hags right now.”

“Why?”

“First of all, the fortress won’t function without you right now. Although he turned out to be a spy, there’s no one who can properly handle the Order’s work now that Scribe MacDougall is gone.”

“……”

“And secondly, for the independence of the fortress.”

“The independence of the fortress?”

“Cinnabar is a very expensive specialty product. If the curse of this fortress is lifted, other Hospitallers will surely try to take this fortress. And from what I see, Captain, you clearly came to this Order of the Hospitallers to achieve something, right? The productivity of Vermilion Fortress will definitely help you achieve that. The Shade Hags’ curse is lifted since it reached six, but the influence of the curse still remains above. If you say that, everyone will leave Vermilion Fortress to you because they don’t want to be cursed.”

“Hmm. Is that so.”

Azadin closed his mouth, listening to Bernard’s meaningful words.

According to what Bernard was saying, the Hospitallers and the soldiers already knew that they were cursed by the Shade Hags, didn’t they?

And they didn’t tell Azadin.

‘It’s because I’m a messenger… or rather, if they warn me that I’ll be the target of the curse, they’ll become targets of the curse themselves… there’s such a superstition. No, being a messenger probably played a part too.’

But this superstition will now become a shield to protect Azadin. The Hospitallers will be too afraid of the curse to properly investigate this fortress.

“Okay. Even if we catch the Shade Hags, we should stabilize the fortress a bit more before eradicating them.”

Azadin decided to use this curse.

*********

The soldiers of Vermilion Fortress were practically a group of bandits.

But now that Azadin had survived the Shade Hags’ curse, they had no choice but to acknowledge him.

Especially since the two squad leaders who had directly challenged him and lost had become completely loyal, Vermilion Fortress was no longer a den of thieves but a true fortress.

Azadin mobilized the soldiers and residents to cultivate nearby farmland, expand houses, organize archery ranges and training grounds, and then began training the soldiers.

The soldiers, who had been living like bandits, were dissatisfied with Azadin’s training, but they couldn’t refuse because Kalan and Legion, the two squad leaders, completely followed Azadin.

However, another squad leader, Kormek, did not pledge allegiance to Azadin, so he came to Azadin with his subordinates.

Azadin was gathering peasant soldiers and practicing basic formation training, how to form a line with spears, and how to turn the formation in a set order when enemies appeared from the sides.

The sight was childish and ridiculous, so Kormek and his subordinates burst into laughter.

“What good is this childish play?! This is no help at all.”

“In battle, it’s all about cruel nature, strength, and swordsmanship!”

Kormek and his subordinates, who were pirates, boasted, recalling their old memories of attacking merchant ships with cutlasses.

“Hmm? You think so? Then shall we have a match?”

“Huh?”

Azadin selected only peasants to form a squad and gave them training spears. Azadin, armed with spears with cloth wrapped around the tips, gestured to Kormek.

“Bring the guys who agree with you.”

“No….”

“If you win, you’ll be exempt from training and get a bonus. How about a bag of silver coins?”

Azadin took out a bag filled with real silver coins and shook it in front of them.

“Huh?”

“But if you lose, you’ll not only have to participate in training quietly but also do all the chores from now on.”

“……”

Kormek and his subordinates discussed it for a moment.

“No matter what, are we going to lose to peasants?”

“Let’s do it!”

Kormek’s squad members were pirates who had been active in the Andaz Sea with Kormek, and they were all confident in their swordsmanship.

In their eyes, they were wolves, and the farmers were sheep. It was a fight they couldn’t possibly lose, so they boldly accepted Azadin’s provocation.

And they were all beaten to a pulp.

“Tsk tsk. It’s very difficult to break through a spear formation with individual strength. Did you think you could break through with your skills without even knowing what the training means?”

Azadin knew the outcome and used this opportunity to break Kormek and his subordinates’ pride.

“And the current training is just the beginning. I’ll teach you what I’ve learned step by step, so first, complete this basic soldier training. After that, I’ll teach you the mystical secrets of Aragas.”

Azadin mentioned the secrets of Aragas, perhaps to entice the soldiers who were still obsessed with swordsmanship and mysterious martial arts.

Not only did he defeat the gruff soldiers who were pirates with peasant soldiers, but he also mentioned the secrets they wanted, so all the soldiers began to take training seriously.

Two busy weeks passed like that.

“It’s about time the supply unit arrives.”

Legion, who was organizing the training ground, said to Azadin.

“Supply unit?”

“It’s the tax collector from Fireglyph. They take the cinnabar quota and give us the supplies we want or do things like deliver letters.”

“Supplies?”

“Yes. They don’t just give us what we request. They buy cinnabar at this price and sell us goods at this price instead. Here’s the list.”

Legion handed over his notebook.

“The prices are outrageous.”

Azadin frowned, looking at the very low purchase price of cinnabar and the high prices of the supply items.

The Order of the Hospitallers was exploiting Vermilion Fortress. It was a price list that could be seen that way.

“Yes. That’s why it’s more profitable to trade with private merchants. We only need to meet the minimum quota here. Fireglyph won’t expect more than that anyway.”

It seemed that as long as they delivered the set amount, the higher-ups wouldn’t bother them anymore.

At that moment, Arael’s voice, who was doing a great job as Azadin’s scout, discovered the supply unit in the sky.

“Speak of the devil. It seems we have guests. This is a problem. We haven’t even reported that MacDougall died yet.”

Azadin had been regularly writing reports to the Order of the Hospitallers headquarters in the Chadra Highlands, the city of Fireglyph, and to his patron, Bishop Akenar, but he had postponed sending them because there was no messenger to send the reports.

What would happen if he reported that Scribe MacDougall had died in the line of duty?

Shortly after, the supply unit personnel entered Vermilion Fortress, and the scribe of the supply unit took out a letter with a haughty attitude.

“This is a letter from Chapter Master Hexenmeier of Fireglyph. Captain Azadin of this fortress is to report to Fireglyph immediately with only the minimum number of attendants!”

It was an unexpected summons.