The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 335

Camilla laughed at the refugees. In truth, she could have ignored their insults towards Azadin, which would have made things proceed more smoothly. However, if she let those who treated Azadin’s name lightly go unpunished, such people would continue to appear.

Camilla couldn’t tolerate that. She couldn’t stand those who didn’t know what Azadin sacrificed and the efforts he made, looking down on him.

“Kuntachi.”

“Huh? Sis?”

“Those guys are insulting your sister, aren’t they?”

“What? Really?”

Kuntachi stepped forward, a battle axe in one hand and a great sword in the other.

At that moment, the archers aimed their arrows at Kuntachi. However, other soldiers besides Kuntachi also aimed their bows, crossbows, and matchlocks at the archers.

“How dare you despise our commander’s name? Apologize immediately. Otherwise, well, judging by your looks, you’re just bandits, so we might as well clear the path ahead of the trade caravan.”

“….”

“So, what are you? Bandits? Or civilians? Are you going to apologize or not? It’s a simple matter of apologizing.”

At Camilla’s words, the muzzles of the soldiers’ guns, crossbows, and bows moved without a single tremor. It meant that everyone was angry at those who had insulted Azadin, and it also meant that their training was exceptionally high.

“Ah, alright. We were wrong. Please accept our apology.”

“By the way, if you’re really merchants, could we perhaps buy some food?”

“I am a bodyguard. The trade caravan will arrive soon, so talk to the merchants.”

Camilla said that and blew a whistle, and then the trade caravan wagons appeared from behind.

The size of the trade caravan had grown enormously due to Baron Jerrod’s group, the refugees, and other refugees who had joined along the way.

“What’s going on, Camilla?” Delia, the head of the caravan, asked.

“They are requesting a trade.”

“Ah….”

Delia gave a wry smile. The refugees who were requesting a trade were armed with blackjacks and clubs bound with leather straps. If the caravan’s armament had been weak, they would have probably considered looting.

“If we could buy some food….”

“It’s expensive. And the wagons are already at full capacity.”

Delia gestured with her chin to her adjutant.

Her adjutant brought a small chalkboard. Since the refugees mainly requested food, the unit prices of food were written on it.

Most people were illiterate, but they could read numbers.

“Here are the prices for beans, oats, barley, wheat, fish, jerky, bread, ale, and sherry.”

“…Huh?”

“Such exorbitant prices… How shameless.”

“Well, whether it’s exorbitant or not, you’ll see. We’re going to pass through, so won’t you move aside?”

“If you’re going to Sandokar, could we follow you?”

“Of course. Follow us. But from behind. Please follow Baron Jerrod’s control.”

Delia frowned as she absorbed another group of refugees.

The number of refugees was growing endlessly. It was a number that a single branch of a trade company could not handle.

“This is a big problem.”

*********

While traveling upstream from Sandokar to Banreung, Delia had set up forward bases in preparation for emergencies.

She had unloaded food and weapons at intermediate points, preparing to resupply at any time.

However, before resupplying at those forward bases, their food was running out.

There were too many refugees demanding food. To control the supply to them, Delia deliberately set high prices, but surprisingly, the refugees bought not only food but also alcohol at those prices.

A group had appeared that was holding gambling games during meal times and sleep times.

When gambling games were held, some won and some lost. For those who won money, the high prices of food didn’t feel so expensive.

As a result, the food in the trade caravan’s inventory began to run out quickly.

‘We should have opened a gambling game ourselves. Those other guys are making money. But if we, who already have a bad reputation, start a gambling den…’

-Kwarururung!

As if to add to Delia’s worries, a blizzard mixed with rain fell, and lightning writhed in the sky. Snow was falling in the midsummer sky. The ground was still warmer, so it turned into rain near the surface, but at this rate, the world would soon freeze over.

And then, people began to see strange shadows in the lightning.

“Eek!?”

“D-Did you see that?!”

“From the north, towards the Banreung Kingdom….”

People claimed to have seen a huge shadow in the north.

A wicked and enormous, yet indescribable shadow was reaching out from the Banreung Kingdom towards them.

Many people were testifying to this.

As people became frightened, Delia turned to her adjutant.

“Send another messenger bird to Sandokar. How many are left?”

The adjutant, a doppelganger who had transformed into a human form, took out a birdcage.

“There are two messenger birds left. If we send one to Aragasa and one to Sandokar, there will be none left.”

“…Don’t send one to Aragasa.”

“Are you sure? We already sent a messenger bird once when we started the trade caravan. Sending more would just be a waste of messenger birds.”

“The first messenger bird might not have arrived, right? It can’t hurt to send more.”

“Then to Aragasa….”

“Aragasa isn’t going to send reinforcements to help us anyway, right? Azadin is better. Let’s save the messenger bird so we can send it to Azadin one more time.”

Delia said that and wrote down their current location, the situation of the refugees joining, the remaining amount of supplies, future plans, and the rumors she had obtained in a letter and handed it to her adjutant. He tied the letter to the messenger bird, used simple magic to guide its direction, and released the bird.

-Kwarururung!

The messenger bird flew through the darkness pierced by the roaring thunder.

“I hope it arrives safely.”

“Even if it arrives, it will take quite some time for them to prepare and come to rescue us.”

“I know. There was the messenger bird from the day before, and this is the second one, so if Azadin is quick-witted, he should be able to make it in time.”

Delia answered that and declared camp to her subordinates.

It was better to camp than to get hurt while traveling at night in the cold rain.

“Circular formation!”

The caravan wagons were parked along the road like a wall, and the gaps between them were connected with ropes and cloth to create roofs. This caravan circular formation could create a fairly large safe zone with a small number of wagons.

After setting up the circular formation, Delia ordered her staff.

“There are tents among the goods, right? Lend them to Baron Jerrod.”

“Huh? Tents? Yesterday, there were no problems with just camping….”

“It wasn’t raining yesterday. There are a lot of refugees, so if we don’t give them something, they’ll turn into rioters in an instant.”

Delia said that and called for Baron Jerrod, but Baron Jerrod refused her offer.

“Thank you, but we already have tents.”

“You are soldiers, so you would have prepared tents, but the refugees wouldn’t. They were your people, so you should distribute the tents to the refugees.”

‘Are you going to end it just because you have tents?’ Delia was criticizing Baron Jerrod like that.

“T-Thank you.”

“It’s not exactly in return, but please take charge of the rear. The very end of the refugee line will be the most dangerous, so the best warriors should protect that place, right?”

Delia lent the tents to Baron Jerrod and instead recommended that he camp at the rear of the refugees. It was a request for Baron Jerrod and his army to protect the rear of the refugees.

Baron Jerrod seemed to think that Delia’s words were reasonable, so he set up camp at the rear without any resistance and distributed the tents to the refugees so that they could avoid the rain.

The mercenaries hired by the Vandike Company and the soldiers belonging to Azadin’s military faction escorted the caravan wagons, and the female bandit Camilla scouted ahead, investigating the road.

However, as the sun set and the cold rain fell, people began to cry out. Everyone wanted to get inside the circular formation of the caravan wagons.

They were trembling with fear as wolves howled and shadows danced in the dark mountains and forests.

The cold rain was also a problem.

Everyone was wearing summer clothes, but the rain was terribly cold.

“My child has a fever! Please let us into the wagon!”

Some people came with their children, saying they had a fever, and asked to be let into the wagon.

“No, I refuse.”

Delia naturally refused.

She knew that there were goods and food in the caravan wagons, and she didn’t know what would happen if she let outsiders in.

If she accepted one person, there would be no end to it.

“You cold-hearted people! Are you saying it’s okay if my child dies?!”

“That’s why we’re lending out tents for free.”

Delia was looking at the refugees, not knowing what to do.

But then, Kuntachi approached her.

“This is bad, Delia. Monsters are coming from the north.”

“What…?”

Kuntachi was trembling, looking down at the ground without looking north.

“It’s scary. Something scary is coming.”

“…What are you talking about? That? Hmm?”

At that moment, thunder and lightning flashed in the northern sky.

Something that was covering the ground far away revealed its form because of the lightning.

A considerable number of shadows were approaching the refugee and Baron Jerrod’s camp.

“This is bad! An enemy attack! Everyone, take up your weapons!”

With Baron Jerrod’s shout, the battle began.

The sound of weapons clashing and the roars of monsters that made the lower abdomen tremble began to echo.

“Eek?”

“Uwaaa… They’re cultists!”

The refugees covered their heads and trembled with fear at the sound.

The sight of those who had been making unreasonable demands on Delia just a moment ago trembling in fear gave her a strange sense of pleasure.

However, it was not a good thing to be happy that they were afraid. The beings they were afraid of would not only harm them.

“Kuntachi! Where did your sister go?”

“Uh. Sis… she’ll be here soon.”

Indeed, a single figure jumped over the wagons and arrived at Delia’s caravan, cutting through the crowd.

“They’re Nether cultists! Kuntachi! We have to fight!”

“Okay, Sis!”

Kuntachi picked up a great sword and a battle axe, one in each hand, and stood up.

The refugees were overwhelmed by the massive figure of the half-orc, who was holding large weapons that ordinary humans would have to hold with both hands, one in each hand.

However, the problem was that the refugees were blocking the way.

“S-Save me!”

“Uwaaa!”

The terrified refugees ran wildly in any direction or… tried to get inside the circular formation made of caravan wagons, blocking the way.

Even if Kuntachi tried to move forward, he couldn’t easily move forward unless he trampled on the refugees.

It was a wide road, wide enough for two wagons to pass, and if the traffic was organized, it wouldn’t be blocked like this, but there was no one to organize the road, so a traffic jam was occurring.

Delia was feeling an unbearable annoyance as she watched them.

‘These guys are getting in the way! If it were up to me, I’d just cut them all down….’

It was when Delia had such thoughts.

“Everyone, calm down!”

A young man’s voice was heard from the sky.

Hipogriffs had flown through the rain.