The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 251

The Secret Weapon of the Knights 6

When the lights are on, even the doppelgangers don’t dare to challenge her recklessly because of the Messenger Clan’s ability specialized in assassination. But in this darkness?

Should she turn on the lights, even though it might lure Bernard’s magic attacks?

Or should she heighten her senses and wait in the darkness, wary of those approaching?

But then, suddenly, a fire broke out.

Kuntachi had knocked over a lamp.

It was a lamp that Bernard had just extinguished with magic, but this lamp used a metal wick. When the heated metal wick fell onto a pile of paper, a fire started.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Camilla, who was watching, cursed.

“Let’s get out of here!”

Bernard used blood magic to make the doppelgangers’ corpses rush towards the rear, while he headed for the exit.

“Damn it! Those bastards started a fire! The merchandise is burning! We have to put it out!”

The female manager was horrified as the fire spread to the merchandise.

*********

“What is this?”

Azadin, who had arrived at the entrance of the Van Dyke Trading Company, encountered Kuntachi and Camilla, who were bursting out with arrows stuck in them, and Bernard.

“Hey, Azadin!”

Camilla was angry.

“You knew this was a trading company run by the Messenger Clan, didn’t you?”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent his subordinates in first. If so, he should have given them a heads-up, but Azadin had just thrown them into the dragon’s den without saying a word.

“Shhh. Be quiet. You’re saying dangerous things.”

Azadin said, examining Kuntachi’s condition.

An arrow was stuck in him, but the wound wasn’t deep, either because his muscles were so tough or because the archer’s strength was weak.

“Bernard. What happened?”

“We encountered doppelgangers inside.”

“Doppelgangers?”

In an instant, Azadin’s mind became complicated.

The doppelgangers had disguised themselves as Fire Glyph soldiers and attacked Izmilla and the investigation team.

And in the end, it was the Northern Aragasa who kidnapped Izmilla.

Azadin had naturally assumed that the Northern Aragasa and the doppelgangers were in cahoots, but it turned out that the Northern Aragasa were a different team from the doppelgangers.

‘Those bastards just took the easy way out. Or is this funny?’

Azadin had already betrayed the Messenger Clan. Or, from Azadin’s point of view, the clan had betrayed the Emperor’s Messenger. Currently, Azadin was the only one with the legitimacy as the Emperor’s Messenger.

The clan had betrayed Azadin.

Nevertheless, he felt a sense of pride that the Northern Aragasa, those strange cousins, had backstabbed the clan and snatched the target.

‘Even if they are a clan that is at odds with me, the Northern Aragasa should have won. No, I’m the one getting upset over this.’

The human heart is complex. Azadin, who had been bullied as an outcast, couldn’t stand the fact that the Messenger Clan, who had tormented him, was being toyed with by the Northern Aragasa and the Northern Empire’s forces.

But now is not the time to be swayed by such strange emotions.

“Bernard. Please take care of Kuntachi.”

“Yes. Pull it out.”

“Okay.”

Azadin pulled out the arrow stuck in Kuntachi’s body in one swift motion. Kuntachi screamed, but Bernard cast a spell and tended to Kuntachi’s wound, and a scab formed on the wound in an instant.

“Oh no! Kuntachi! Are you okay?”

“He’ll be fine since he has such strong vitality. Let’s get out of here.”

“No, there’s no need for that.”

Azadin stepped forward.

The female manager of the Van Dyke Trading Company appeared among the servants who were putting out the spreading fire.

“Huh…?”

But she was flustered when she saw Azadin’s face.

“A, Ara’el-nim?! That can’t be? You are…”

“Dilia? You’ve grown a lot.”

Azadin recognized her and frowned.

Two years younger than Azadin, a junior from the 2nd class below him.

She was a female junior who admired Ara’el for her outstanding looks and abilities, and hated Azadin because of it.

She had been safe because she had not become a messenger but a servant and participated in the management of the trading company.

She came to her senses.

Even if Azadin had a face similar to Ara’el, his voice was clearly different.

“Ugh. Azadin!? Why do you have Ara’el-nim’s appearance?”

“We’re twins, so we look alike.”

“No! That’s not what I mean…”

“More importantly, answer my question. Why did you target Lady Izmilla?”

“The clan’s traitor is so brazen! How dare you come here!”

She shot arrows at Azadin, but Azadin easily caught the arrows and stuck them into his quiver.

The ordinary arrows that Dilia fired were no threat to Azadin at all.

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, Yellow Crane!

Realizing that she couldn’t stop Azadin with her arrows, Dilia immediately cast the Yellow Crane magic. [A magic that enhances the power and trajectory of projectiles.]

The arrows moved freely, and their power also increased exponentially.

Dilia fired the arrows with the Yellow Crane magic, making them take a large detour, while she herself cast the Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, Dusk, and appeared in front of Azadin. [A combination of spells used for movement and attack.]

The arrows attacked from behind Azadin, and Dilia herself attacked Azadin with a sword from the front.

However, from Azadin’s point of view, Dilia’s skills, who had not even become a messenger, were insignificant.

“Are you out of your mind?”

Azadin snatched Dilia’s wrist and used her sword to deflect the arrows flying from behind.

“Eek!”

The steel sword in Dilia’s hand broke into five pieces.

The broken blades showed how much tremendous power the arrows with the Yellow Crane magic had, and how much shock was transmitted to Dilia, who had to take that power directly with her arm.

Dilia immediately pulled out a new dagger to fight Azadin, but Azadin lightly struck her torso with his shoulder, and she flew back about 1 jang [approximately 3 meters] and rolled on the floor.

“Ugh! I, it can’t be!”

Dilia was shocked to realize that Azadin’s skills far surpassed her own.

In the past, during their regular training days, Azadin was no match for her, a junior from the 2nd class below him.

Azadin, the half-wit who couldn’t even beat a junior, the Azadin of humiliation, had become such a powerful person?

Moreover, the fact that he had Ara’el’s appearance was even more surprising.

“To steal Ara’el-nim’s appearance and power, you traitor of the clan!”

“Decide whether you’re loyal to Ara’el or the elders. More importantly, are you okay? There are people watching? If we fight here, it will disrupt the operation of the trading company.”

“…”

Since all the passersby in front of the trading company were watching, any further fighting would disrupt the operation of the trading company.

But why should Azadin, a traitor of the clan, care about the operation of the Van Dyke Trading Company?

As Dilia was confused, Azadin walked forward.

“What…”

“Let’s talk inside. Everyone, let’s go in.”

“Huh? Seriously?!”

Camilla was startled.

They had just escaped from there, so how could it make sense to go back in?

However, Azadin actually put his hand on Dilia’s shoulder and pulled her into the Van Dyke Trading Company.

The doppelgangers, who had not been able to come out of the trading company, were startled.

“What are you doing? We have guests, so bring some tea.”

Azadin instead yelled at the doppelgangers.

“Shhh…”

A doppelganger made a snake-like threatening sound and swung a sword at Azadin, but Azadin lightly responded with a slap.

-Slap!

A lightning-fast slap turned the doppelganger’s cheek, and Azadin snatched the sword before it even touched his skin and threw it into the air.

The sword was stuck in the rafter supporting the roof of the trading company, quivering.

“Next.”

“You!”

-Slap!

“Next again.”

Azadin was casually slapping the doppelgangers, and his hands were so fast and sharp that one slap would knock a doppelganger out and make them collapse.

After slapping each of the doppelgangers once, Azadin dragged Dilia to a table and sat down.

“I am Azadin, the 1st Messenger of the Emperor. What is the first mission of the Van Dyke Trading Company? Isn’t it to assist the Messenger’s mission? Loyalty to the elders comes next, so bring some tea first.”

“…”

Surprisingly, Azadin had come all the way here and was asserting the mission of the Messenger and the Messenger Clan.

The Messenger Clan had already thrown away the Messenger’s mission and had agreed to live for their own selfish desires. But Azadin was brazenly bringing up the old covenant and asserting his rights, and that was why he had subdued them with non-lethal attacks.

With the skills he had just shown, if Azadin had decided to kill them, he could have killed them all in an instant.

In other words, Azadin was making a very dignified threat(?).

Will you acknowledge the relationship based on the old covenant?

Or will you die by my hand now?

If they acknowledged the relationship based on the covenant, it would not be humiliating to submit to Azadin and provide him with various conveniences.

It was just a mission they were supposed to do in the first place.

On the other hand, if they resisted Azadin?

They would all die.

Of course, Azadin didn’t want to kill them. First of all, they were also part of the clan, and he also wanted something from them.

Above all, if Azadin, who had now become a member of the Rescue Knights, suddenly massacred the employees of the trading company, Azadin’s position would also become difficult.

‘What should we do?’

‘Should we submit?’

‘That bastard can’t kill us. He’s just a rookie Holy Knight, how can he massacre the trading company without any evidence?’

‘But what we have to bet on this gamble is our lives…’

The doppelgangers’ gazes were focused on Dilia.

“Damn it. Do it. Do it.”

When Dilia, the person in charge of the site, spoke, the doppelgangers picked up the weapons that had fallen on the floor and started to make tea.

*********

The doppelgangers who were being subjected to this were going crazy, but Azadin’s subordinates who were watching the scene were also dumbfounded.

‘No, are they really doing this?’

‘Doppelgangers… aren’t they demons that seem like they’re out of a nightmare, shapeshifters?’

‘Surely, they’re not telling us to drink that tea, are they?’

As the situation turned out this way, Camilla, Kuntachi, and Bernard had no choice but to follow them inside.

“I’m sorry about that.”

Bernard apologized to the doppelgangers, looking at the doppelganger corpses that he had controlled.

The doppelgangers were preparing tea and asked Dilia.

“What the hell is going on? Branch Manager?”

“Branch Manager? You’ve made a name for yourself, Dilia. But are the doppelgangers who targeted Lady Izmilla also part of your group? There was a fight at the village inn a little while ago.”

“…That’s funny. Do you think I’ll answer you?”

Dilia glared at Azadin, but her face quickly turned red. She was so fond of Ara’el that she couldn’t come to her senses at the sight of Azadin, who looked so much like Ara’el.

“That in itself is already an answer. Doppelgangers aren’t that common either.”

“Then why ask me instead of doing it all yourself?”

“To enjoy watching your reaction.”

When Azadin said that, the female bandit Camilla burst out laughing.