The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 345

The soldiers radiated a powerful sense of pride.

To feel such pride in being part of the impious God-Slayer’s army?!

‘They must be an incredibly elite force.’

A soldier who feels pride in their affiliation is a force to be reckoned with. Edir could tell that Azadin’s military was elite simply by observing the actions of a single soldier.

Edir, who had harbored animosity towards the Messenger Clan and Azadin, felt his resolve waver at the sight of these soldiers.

Even a brief period of refuge had left him both physically and mentally exhausted.

If there was any hope to cling to, he was in a state of mind where he wanted to grasp it, even if it came from the Messenger Clan.

*********

Azadin’s subordinates patrolled the road, protecting the refugees, mediating disputes, and distributing food to those collapsing from malnutrition.

They guided the refugees towards the Sandokar Gate to prevent anyone from collapsing and dying on the roadside. The refugees gathered at the Sandokar Gate like a dense cloud.

“Welcome to Sandokar. I am Count Ibchek of Sandokar.”

A middle-aged, large noble addressed the refugees.

As a formal noble of the Yagas God Clan who had sworn allegiance to the Messenger Clan, the priest couldn’t view him favorably.

However, after enduring long hours of starvation and bitter cold, seeing Count Ibchek’s dignified appearance as he greeted them, the feeling of respect outweighed the feeling of contempt.

“First, please allow us to use blood magic. This is to identify those addicted to drugs, cultists, and members of the thieves’ guild.”

As Count Ibchek finished speaking, the blood mage behind him began to cast a spell.

Blood flowed from his forearm, transforming into small snakes that scattered among the refugees.

“Don’t touch them! They won’t harm you!”

With the mage’s warning, the blood snakes moved and burst in several places.

The soldiers approached and examined their forearms, revealing black chain tattoos.

“I, I am a civilian!”

“A Dwarven Arrow, it seems.”

“No, no! I’m not a dwarf, so how can I be a Dwarven Arrow!”

However, the soldiers subdued him with spears and searched his body, finding opium hardened with resin in his luggage.

The blood magic had indeed filtered out the drug addicts.

Thus, the process of filtering out drug addicts, drug dealers, cultists, and criminals was completed. When a cultist’s identity was exposed, he immediately tried to harm the people around him, but an archer’s crossbow bolt pierced his head.

Archers were waiting on the fortress’s ramparts, ready to fire at a signal.

“Now, are those who remain civilians? I will give you jobs. I cannot simply feed you for free.”

Count Ibchek began to classify the refugees with his subordinates.

This was to filter out those addicted to drugs or belonging to criminal organizations like the thieves’ guild, and to redistribute technicians, farmers, and warriors to the appropriate places.

“Stone masons will be paid 1 shilling and 6 pence per day.”

“Carpenters will receive 1 shilling.”

“Blacksmiths will be paid 1 shilling and 3 pence!”

“We are recruiting people to work on the farms! The pay is 10 pence!”

Count Ibchek’s recruiters classified people according to their skills and occupations.

The refugees, who had been worried about slowly dying as beggars with only thin gruel, were surprised to be offered jobs with such good conditions.

As people rushed to apply for jobs, clerks wrote down people according to their occupations and gave them identification tags with numbers on them.

“Hmm…”

The priest who had fled with Edir seemed shocked by the sight of Sandokar accepting and classifying the refugees, and by the orderly city of Sandokar despite having received so many refugees.

Despite the turbulent times, it was more organized than the city they had originally lived in.

“Is this perhaps, your achievement? Count Ibchek?”

“I wish I could say that, but no. It is Lord Azadin’s will.”

“………”

“So, what can you do, priest? Since you belong to the King’s Church, it would be best for you to stay on my side.”

“Don’t you need someone to read, write, and calculate numbers? It seems you need many scribes.”

“But the scribes must become Lord Azadin’s subordinates to do that work. You, a priest of the King’s Church…”

“I will do it. No, please let me do it.”

“I understand. Welcome.”

Count Ibchek accepted the priest who volunteered to be a scribe and looked at Edir and Gidit.

“And you two?”

The priest, who was being guided by Count Ibchek, stepped forward to vouch for them.

“This man is Edir, a retainer from Butuma. And this man is Gidit, a Doppelsöldner [a mercenary soldier] from the Selsord Guild. Both are quite skilled. Thanks to them, we were able to flee safely.”

“Is that so? Hmm, the positions for officers to train new recruits are always open. You’ve come to the right place.”

Ibchek gladly accepted them.

Edir felt like he was possessed by a ghost.

The Messenger Clan was the enemy that destroyed Butuma, yet this place, managed by Lord Azadin, a member of the Messenger Clan, had become the best refuge for the refugees.

Of course, it was not a refuge where they could play and eat for free, but where they had to work, but the despairing scenes he had witnessed on the way here felt like a lie.

“Excuse me, Count. I apologize for being rude… but I heard that Lord Azadin is a member of the Messenger Clan. What kind of person is he?”

“Ah, you said you were from Butuma, right?”

People from Butuma could not have good feelings towards the Messenger Clan. The people of Butuma, who had lived prosperous lives under the reign of the Golden King Manza Zadek, had to endure the humiliation of their king being killed by the Messenger Clan and their country being destroyed.

“A Hospitaller [a member of a religious order that provides care for the sick and poor].”

“A Hospitaller?”

“Yes. A true Hospitaller. Compared to him, the other Hospitallers of the Relief Knights are no more than swindlers in tin cans.”

“………”

Edir was speechless, listening to Count Ibchek’s confident words.

“Do not be disrespectful to Lord Azadin. I am the Count of this county, but I have offered my sword to Lord Azadin and entered his service. He is the guardian of Sandokar, and I will not tolerate any act of disrespect towards him.”

“But is it really believable… Ah, never mind.”

Expressing distrust of Azadin here would only upset the Count. Edir decided to hold his tongue and see for himself.

*********

Azadin released the gold and silver seized from Chashan to create jobs for the refugees.

The refugees could receive wages by working as Azadin’s subordinates, and they could buy food with those wages.

It was Azadin’s consideration to not just provide relief, but to give them work and enable them to support their families.

Of course, this was only possible because of the vast amount of gold and silver seized from Chashan, and the abundant food supply thanks to the fertile land of the Chadra Highlands.

Thanks to this, Azadin’s reputation in Sandokar and the neighboring Naisandokar region soared.

Meanwhile, an envoy from the Arangi Kingdom came to visit.

“As you know, the land connecting the Sandokar Gate and the Chadra Highlands was originally… called the Naisandokar region, and it belongs to our Arangi Kingdom. You are currently occupying the territory of the Arangi Kingdom without permission.”

Originally, the road connecting the Chadra Highlands and Sandokar was a region called Naisandokar, ruled by the Margrave of Arangi. However, after the Syphilis War broke out between Arangi and Banreung, and the Margrave of Naisandokar was killed in action, this place quickly became desolate.

Forests were infested with Bri [a type of forest spirit] and goblins, wolf packs, and demonic beasts, making it impossible to manage this land without considerable passion.

When the dwarven drug dealers, the Dwarven Arrows, were bribing and recruiting the slash-and-burn farmers in the Naisandokar area, they gave up control of Naisandokar and retreated on the condition that they would continue to receive bribes.

Now that Azadin had taken over the Sandokar Gate, hired refugees to expand the road between Naisandokar and Sandokar, and stabilized the public order, they had come to visit.

Were they angry that the detestable Messenger Clan was occupying their territory without permission, even though it was abandoned land?

However, their proposal was unexpected.

“Lord Azadin. The Arangi Kingdom hereby bestows upon you the title of Margrave of Naisandokar.”

Azadin and his military already effectively controlled the Naisandokar area, and his reputation was soaring.

The Arangi Kingdom decided that rather than picking a fight with such a well-regarded paladin, they would give him a nominal title and take something in return.

However, even a nominal title was a great thing.

Azadin, a member of the Messenger Clan, would officially gain the title of Count.

A true noble title that even the King’s Church could not object to.

No matter how much Azadin claimed to be a descendant of the Emperor, it was just a meaningless lineage diluted over several generations.

This was an excessively generous offer. And of course, the generosity of a king was like bait on a fishing hook, with a sharp barb hidden inside.

“That is an excessively generous offer. It is a glorious offer, but what obligations will I have as a result?”

“Obligations, you say? Actually, we were thinking of sending some of our people to Naisandokar… With the collapse of the eight kingdoms from Corasar to Butuma to Banreung, the refugees are wandering in search of a place to live. Since Lord Azadin is the guardian of Sandokar and a devout follower of the Relief Knights, we believe that he will show the way to those who have lost their homes with his faithful teachings and honorable actions.”

“………”

In other words, the Arangi Kingdom was having trouble dealing with the refugees.

Since the Relief Knights were next to the Arangi Kingdom, they thought they could just pass the problem to the Relief Knights, but when Pimbulbert, the head of the Relief Knights, approached, he became shameless and difficult.

He claimed that there were spies and cultists among the refugees, and for various reasons, they could not be allowed in until the investigation was over, thus passing the problem back to the Arangi Kingdom.

The Arangi Kingdom wanted to pass those refugees back to Azadin and have him deal with them. To do so, they were willing to take the political risk of bestowing the title of Count on a member of the Messenger Clan.

“I am from Aragasa, if I may be so bold. Will the King’s Church allow this?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Count Azadin, the King’s Church is not in a position to care about such things right now.”

“Count already? That is too much for me to handle. I think I can only accept that honor after seeking wisdom from various scholars and being sure that I can handle it myself.”

“Then please decide quickly. I will stay here for two weeks.”

The Arangi envoys said this and smiled. Usually, most people would jump at the offer of a Count’s title, but seeing that Azadin was not flustered even though he had postponed their offer, it was clear that they had a plan in case Azadin refused.

“I’ll have to accept it anyway.”