The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 348

#349. The Erantree Quest 5

“The reason I’ve called you all to this meeting is none other than this. It’s been reported that Lord Azadin, who should have been exiled to the Chadra Plateau, has not only secured the allegiance of Count Sandokar of Banreung, Ivechek, but has also been granted the title of Margrave of Naisandokar by the Kingdom of Arangi. I would like to hear the opinions of the high-ranking members of the Order regarding this matter.”

Trio Dana, a Celestial of the Wisdom Order, stepped into the center of the meeting hall and raised the issue of Azadin.

Her appearance was beautiful, and her voice was clear and resonant. Indeed, she was a Celestial, a being who captivated mortals with celestial blood. [Celestials are beings with divine lineage, often possessing extraordinary beauty and abilities.]

However, no matter how beautiful her voice was, her words subtly contained jealousy towards Azadin.

In fact, there would be few people in this place who did not envy or begrudge Azadin. Even Sir Gares himself considered being granted the high position of Count to be a stroke of luck.

Everyone was envious of how Azadin, a mere trainee knight, and a member of the Messenger Clan at that, had come to enjoy such good fortune.

“No, a rescue knight becoming a vassal of the Kingdom of Arangi! It’s absurd! This is unprecedented! He must be punished!”

A cleric of the Wisdom Order, as if waiting for this moment, indignantly condemned him.

However, the clerics of the Mercy Order shook their heads while examining the Codex. [The Codex refers to the sacred text or rulebook of the Rescue Knights.]

“There is no regulation to punish him.”

“No, how can he be a rescue knight while holding a territory?”

“It’s possible. Most of those who come to the Rescue Knights are nobles without inheritance rights, aren’t they? If the heir dies in an accident and they are reinstated, they all return to secular life, which is the problem… If they receive a countship without returning to secular life, they can be both a rescue knight and a count.”

“What….”

“Usually, when nobles become nobles, they are too busy enjoying themselves in their own territory to bother with the troublesome duties of a rescue knight. However, the Codex does not have a clause prohibiting a person from performing the duties of a rescue knight while holding a territory.”

“Rather, until now, the Rescue Knights have liked the situation where great nobles were favorable to the Rescue Knights, haven’t they? Take the Northern Emperor Cohen Lionheart, for example. He grew up in the Wisdom Order as a child, and the Wisdom Order protected the Northern Emperor, saying he was one of their own, didn’t they?”

Sir Gares, the commander of the Courage Order, scoffed, citing the example of the Northern Emperor.

Until now, the Rescue Knights had welcomed the favor of great nobles in the Rescue Knights to expand their influence.

The Northern Emperor Cohen Lionheart, who had spent his childhood in the Rescue Knights and became king, was the pride of the Wisdom Order.

But now, they were discriminating against Azadin, unlike the time of the Northern Emperor.

“He… is different! He is from the Messenger Clan.”

“Then, should we write in the Codex that those born from the Messenger Clan cannot become rescue knights? How proud. The Codex written by the Archangels of the Trinity and the Sages did not contain such narrow-minded content, but we, in later generations, must defile the Codex with such dirty phrases.”

A cleric of the Mercy Order also scoffed.

“But why is the Mercy Order protecting him so much these days? He doesn’t even belong to the Mercy Order? Is it because he is handsome? Or because he insulted our Wisdom Order?”

“…I can’t believe that those words came from the mouth of a cleric of the Wisdom Order. It makes me realize once again how far we are from virtue.”

Wasn’t he too stupid for a cleric of Wisdom? That was how he was indirectly criticizing them.

“Ah, seeing the blood of innocents dripping from the hands of the Mercy Order, it is clear that you are far from virtue. Come to think of it, the Courage Order also ignored the rescue request from the Southern Sea Islands and ran away, didn’t they? It seems that only the Celestial Fire Knights are showing true courage?”

“………”

Gares was also speechless at that.

Until now, whenever something happened in the Rescue Knights, they would always push the Courage Order to show courage first. Because they hated that, the Courage Order had been making various excuses to postpone things whenever something happened. When they came to their senses, they had become schemers and politicians far from the virtue of courage.

‘But I can’t fall for your cheap provocations and waste our precious troops first. But I am ashamed. As Pimbulbert approaches and calamities overflow the world, we are only fighting politically like this.’ [Pimbulbert is likely a reference to an impending disaster or apocalyptic event.]

Gares suddenly thought of Azadin.

Azadin’s military power was clearly too great for a mere trainee knight to possess. However, Azadin’s consistent attitude showed that what he truly desired was not wealth, power, or honor, but virtue itself.

He could say with certainty because he was trained in long political games.

Azadin was the real holy knight, and that was why the Wisdom Order could not tolerate Azadin’s existence.

“Let’s issue an Erantree Quest.”

Gares suddenly said that.

*********

The hall began to stir.

“Erantree Quest?”

“Yes. Lord Azadin is a trainee knight, so he has an obligation to perform the Erantree Quest.”

The task that a trainee knight must complete to become a formal Hospitaller after completing their training is called the Erantree Quest. [Hospitallers are full-fledged members of the Rescue Knights.]

However, as the Trinity’s virtues lost their light and divine magic disappeared from the Rescue Knights, the Erantree Quest became obsolete. Trainee knights did not have the ability to perform any quest on their own, and the past years had been too peaceful to issue any quests.

That was why the Mercy Order was taken aback.

“Isn’t the Erantree Quest an obsolete old law? Why now….”

“Are you ignoring what is written in the Codex?”

The Wisdom Order side eagerly latched onto that. They had been defending Azadin by citing the Codex, and now they had a chance to counterattack with the Codex.

While the Mercy Order was speechless, the clerics of the Courage and Wisdom Orders had already decided to issue the Erantree Quest and began to discuss what kind of quest to issue.

“What kind of Erantree Quest should we issue? Something simple like defeating a band of thieves would be an insult to Lord Azadin. He is someone who even received the title of Count of Arangi, isn’t he?”

“The Kingdom of Banreung suddenly collapsed, but we do not know the truth. Let’s have him investigate the collapse of the Kingdom of Banreung.”

“Ah, and let’s also have him find Bishop Akenar of Coxhall in Banreung. Find Bishop Akenar’s whereabouts and investigate the collapse of the Kingdom of Banreung. Isn’t that good? Bishop Akenar was also his patron, so it is reasonable.”

“…….”

The Wisdom and Courage Orders were excited and began to establish the quest. However, the difficulty was not something that could be given to a mere trainee knight.

All the rescue knights were feeling jealous of Azadin.

The fact that the Kingdom of Arangi had given him the position of Count at this time had an ulterior motive. It was by no means a good position. Even the Margrave position of the Naisandokar region, which had been destroyed in the past, was a troublesome position that was not even worthy of being called a poisoned chalice.

Nevertheless, the clerics of the Rescue Knights, who had experienced an unwanted departure from home, felt unbearable jealousy, envy, and anger towards Azadin, who was from the Messenger Clan and had been granted the position of Count.

“Isn’t this quest too much for a mere trainee knight?”

The Mercy Order had to try to stop the rampaging anger of the clerics.

Regarding the sudden outbreak of monsters in the Kingdom of Banreung, everyone had an idea of what had happened. It was probably a rampage caused by Nether-related research at the Banreung Academy. But asking him to investigate that was like telling him to go die.

‘That crazy dwarf bastard Gares has relapsed again. A dog can’t stop eating shit. It’s most vicious how he says he has no malice while doing that. That annoying dwarf,’

The Mercy Order glared at Gares, who had mentioned the Erantree Quest, with hatred.

Sir Gares was always like that. He didn’t cross the line, but he always mechanically maintained neutrality, saying that he had done his part while keeping the line, and that this was realistic.

A man who didn’t do anything bad enough to be hostile to, but was always annoying enough to not be liked.

That was Gares.

“Then, our Courage Knights will approve the Erantree Quest.”

“We will also join.”

The Wisdom Order, including Trio Dana, also approved the Erantree Quest.

If this happened, even if the Mercy Order opposed it, the Erantree Quest would be approved by majority vote.

*********

When it was decided that Azadin would receive the countship, Arangi sent a royal envoy.

“Then, Count Azadin. Congratulations. It is unprecedented for a man of the Messenger Clan lineage to become a vassal of the Kingdom of Arangi. Know that this was only possible because of His Majesty’s generosity, and repay that generosity with loyalty.”

The king’s envoy gave Azadin the signet ring of Naisandokar and the vassalage contract, mentioning the lineage story that he didn’t need to mention. Since it was not the right size for Azadin’s finger, Azadin threaded the ring with a string and hung it around his neck.

It was a simple enthronement ceremony without a banquet or a circus.

However, all the soldiers gathered and cheered.

“Long live Count Azadin!”

“May the angels bless the Count!”

Azadin responded to the cheers of the soldiers and distributed the stipends of the Naisandokar region to his subordinates who had made contributions.

Not only the executives of the Azadin military group, but also the non-commissioned officers who controlled the soldiers were given stipends and appointed to the rank of retainer. [Retainers are individuals who serve a noble and are often granted land or titles.]

It was an unconventional reward for merit.

Of course, it was questionable whether the stipends they received now, with Pimbulbert having begun, would actually yield any produce….

Being able to become a retainer with a stipend, a quasi-noble class, if they survived, was a very good material to boost the morale of the soldiers.

“As expected of Lord Azadin!”

“Now we have to call him Count!”

“Long live the Count!”

Those who received the stipends, as well as those who did not, were excited and happy.

But then, a messenger rushed out of the pigeon tower that managed the carrier pigeons and ran to Azadin.

“C-Count, sir. It’s a big problem.”

“A big problem?”

“The Rescue Knights have sent an Erantree Quest.”

“Erantree Quest?”

It was a mission that trainee knights performed to be recognized as formal Hospitallers, a time-honored ritual that had been performed since ancient times.

Currently, it had become nominal, and they were recognized as Hospitallers simply by completing the years without performing a separate mission, but the upper echelons of the Rescue Knights had issued an Erantree Quest to Azadin.

“Let’s see. What is King of Kings again? Don’t the guys from the King’s Church know shame?”

Azadin did not react to the blatant check that clearly revealed their intentions.

Rather, he was more interested in the rumors, events, and gossip of the world written on the carrier pigeon.

Among them was the news that the King’s Church had given the title of King of Kings to the Northern Emperor Cohen Lionheart and officially recognized the Northern Alliance as a union of kings.

In addition, the Northern Emperor Cohen was also approved as an advisor to the Celestial Fire Knights.

Just as Azadin was receiving the countship and expanding his forces, Cohen Lionheart was gradually seizing power.

“I’m just a count now, but that guy is already in the mood to swallow the entire Hybris.” [Hybris is likely a reference to the name of a region or continent.]

Azadin felt fear towards the Northern Emperor, who was expanding his power faster than he was.