The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 302

Saint Mallory is one of the world’s leading metropolises.

While Butuma is famous for its sugar plantations, it’s only able to focus on sugarcane cultivation because Saint Mallory produces vast quantities of southern wheat and barley, enough to feed people worldwide.

Thanks to this immense capacity to support its population, Saint Mallory became one of the world’s leading metropolises. It’s also a holy site for the Rescue Knights’ faith, attracting many pilgrims.

There’s even a profession of tourist guides who provide services for these pilgrims.

“Here we are, the Gate of Ascension. What do you think? Amazing, isn’t it? Amazingly, the walls on either side of this gate are plastered to look like a single stone, but… it has remained intact for hundreds of years without a single crack or any sign of falling apart.”

“Ooh.”

Azadin was constantly marveling as he observed the Gate of Ascension.

Scott scoffed.

“It’s concrete, Captain. It looks like a single stone, but it’s made by combining various aggregates and solidifying them with concrete. The reason it doesn’t crack is probably because they maintain it like crazy every time.”

“Still, isn’t it amazing? People who don’t know anything complain that there are no decorations, but even without decorations, just being this big makes it magnificent and wonderful.”

“Captain, you’re usually stingy with everything else, but you always give generous scores to anything related to the Rescue Knights and the Angelic Faith. I wish you’d give my genius such generous scores.”

At that moment, Jibek warned Azadin.

“It seems we have visitors, Sir Azadin.”

“Ah.”

Monks wearing black veils that covered their faces were watching Azadin from the front.

“It seems to be the Mercy Order.”

The Anointers of the Mercy Order, one of the three major sects of the Rescue Knights, had come to find Azadin.

*********

The people of the Mercy Order approached. The one leading them was a nun with a black veil covering her face.

“Greetings, Sir Azadin. I am Heine, a Hospitaller and Anointer of the Mercy Order. I heard that the recently renowned Sir Azadin had arrived in Saint Mallory, and I sent messengers several times to meet you, but each time they said you were absent… so, I have taken the liberty of coming to see you in person.”

A rich fragrance emanated from the woman wearing the black veil. The stimulating scent that came from her every time she opened her mouth was so captivating that one had to be careful not to lose their senses, and there was a dangerous allure about her, who wore a nun’s habit instead of armor.

However, what emanated from her even more strongly than that was a subtle anger.

‘This guy, I wondered where he was wandering off to, leaving his post, but he was sightseeing? Sightseeing? Is that why he ignored my summons?’

She, who held a fairly high position in the Order, had sent messengers to Azadin’s lodgings, but Azadin had left his lodgings and was sightseeing like ordinary pilgrims.

It took a considerable level of mental discipline not to get angry in this situation.

Not having cursed him out was proof of her considerable mental discipline, but she couldn’t hide her subtle anger.

“Hmm, so you’re from the Holy Knights Order? It’s an honor to meet you, Lady Heine. What brings you to personally visit a lowly trainee knight like me?”

“Sir Azadin. Is the person beside you Sir Jibek, the wanted man? The one from the King’s Church?”

“……”

Jibek sighed quietly upon hearing those words.

He had disguised himself and entered Saint Mallory without any trouble, but it seemed it was all for naught.

“How did you know?”

“Actually, we contacted the Chadra Plateau to find out which of your team members had joined you. We also looked back at what you did before joining the Knights Order, retracing your steps. In that process, the conclusion naturally emerged. That orc is Scott McGreene, and the swordsman with him is Sir Jibek, who was with Scott McGreene in the Northern Mountain Army of Butuma, where he last served as a mercenary.”

“You went that far to find out?”

“Sir Azadin. You are the most famous person in this area in recent times. Of course, we had to investigate.”

“Hmm. It’s not for me to say, but I imagine it wasn’t easy to investigate?”

“It wasn’t that difficult for our Mercy Order.”

Heine subtly boasted about their organizational power.

Even though Azadin had become famous, the fact that he had been acting with Jibek was not widely known. The King’s Church would try to hide it as it was shameful for them, and it wouldn’t be easy for the Rescue Knights to obtain that information.

However, the Mercy Order, which was also a spy organization, had obtained and analyzed such information and deduced that the person with Azadin was likely Jibek, through a process of elimination.

‘Indeed, there’s a reason why they’re called the most fearsome sect in the Rescue Knights. This is what happens when you become unnecessarily famous.’

Azadin nodded at Heine’s words.

“Then you must also know that he is being framed. He did not kill Darhan Zadek.”

“We also believe so. However, if we can figure it out through elimination, the King’s Church will also figure it out through elimination, and naturally, this will become an inter-sect issue. The King’s Church wants custody of the traitor Sir Jibek, and we cannot simply ignore that.”

Her tone was polite, but her message was clear.

She was threatening Azadin using Jibek as leverage.

“Uh, excuse me, guests?”

The tourist guide looked at Azadin, looking troubled.

“Ah, you can ignore us and go on. Thank you for the tour.”

Azadin tossed a silver coin to the tourist guide as a tip and turned back to Heine.

“Then, Lady Heine. What do you want from me?”

Azadin, thinking that there was no point in beating around the bush any longer, went straight to the point.

*********

‘This guy?’

The members of the Mercy Order were dumbfounded by Azadin’s attitude.

What kind of guy is this?

The Mercy Order’s envoy had clearly summoned him, but this guy was sightseeing.

The fact that they had come all the way here in person was already a stain on their reputation.

Yet, despite having a weakness to exploit, he was boldly asking them what they wanted.

However, Heine calmly began to explain.

“Sir Azadin. Do you happen to know that there is a labyrinth called the Giant’s Underground in Saint Mallory?”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it. What kind of place is it?”

Azadin pretended not to know and asked.

“The first you’ve heard of it? That can’t be. But well, I’ll explain from the beginning. The Saint Mallory Fortress was originally a city of giants. The Giant’s Underground was the city’s sewer system at that time. However, no matter how well-maintained and safe a city is, sewers tend to become terrible places where seawater, toxic gases, immoral people, and cultists hide… but Saint Mallory’s underground is more than that.”

“More than that, you say?”

“The Wisdom Order is dumping various magical residues into the sewers. They prefer to dump the byproducts of their research without showing them to other Orders. Even when other Orders tried to regulate them for doing such things, the situation has worsened since the Wisdom Order took control of the Order’s inner workings.”

The magical research of the Rescue Knights’ Wisdom Order, and the byproducts of that research, were being dumped into the sewers, making the sewers a place filled with magic, and all sorts of bizarre things were happening as a result.

The Rescue Knights had sent several exploration teams into the sewers, but the sewers, already severely contaminated by magic, had turned into a labyrinth where even the maps left by the giants who originally built the sewers were useless.

Moreover, because the Wisdom Order was being passive, the Rescue Knights could only manage to prevent slimes and other monsters from coming out.

“So, what do you want from me?”

“Break through the underground and reveal the secrets of the Wisdom Order. Isn’t that why you came here anyway?”

“Hmm…”

Of course, Azadin had come for that purpose.

However, his goal was to find out the secrets of the Wisdom Order, not to share them with the Mercy Order. The Mercy Order was holding Jibek’s identity, his custody, and using it to threaten Azadin to share the spoils.

“Of course, I won’t ask you empty-handed. We will provide you with the Anointers of our Mercy Order. We will provide manpower, as well as information and supplies. Of course, among that information… there is also information about Sir Zekt, who has some kind of relationship with you.”

“Sir Zekt entered the underground sewers? How is that possible?”

“The Courage Order brought in the forces of the King’s Church.”

“The Courage Order alone brought them in?”

There was suspicion in Azadin’s voice.

Saint Mallory was the holy site of the Rescue Knights, and bringing in the King’s Church, which had a loose alliance with the Rescue Knights, to explore their heart was not something that could be done by one Order alone.

At the very least, the Mercy Order must have also agreed to it? That was what Azadin was asking.

Heine did not answer that question.

“There have been many casualties every year in the sewer cleanup operations. So, the Courage Order leaked information about the Wisdom Order’s secrets to the King’s Church, and the King’s Church, greedy for the ceramite [a type of advanced ceramic] manufacturing method, deployed their elite forces, unintentionally helping with the sewer cleanup. However, recently, with the appearance of the Celestial Fire, they seem to be in such a hurry that even Inquisitors have entered.”

She was speaking as if it were someone else’s story, but in fact, it was the Mercy Order that was in a hurry due to the appearance of the Celestial Fire.

The public sentiment had shifted dramatically with just a brief activity of the Celestial Fire Knights.

Considering that the Celestial Fire Knights were an organization under the Wisdom Order, it wouldn’t be long before all the power of the Knights Order was reorganized around the Wisdom Order.

Therefore, the Courage Order and the Mercy Order had to uncover the secrets of the Celestial Fire at all costs.

Even if it meant revealing the ‘shame of the Knights Order.’

‘And the one who reveals the shame of the Knights Order is me, a member of the Messenger Clan. Easy to cut off like a lizard’s tail if necessary?’

Azadin realized why the Mercy Order had approached him, but he had no reason to refuse their offer.

If he refused, they would threaten him with Jibek’s custody.