The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 350

As Azadin’s military force continued to expand, there was never enough skilled soldiers and knights to serve as instructors. In the case of Jibek, the orthodox paladin, he had the longest training period as a knight in Azadin’s military. However, contrary to expectations, Jibek did not become a good instructor. Soldiers, squires, and knights alike did not like Jibek. His gloomy and pessimistic nature was painful to watch in these uncertain times. Furthermore, Jibek was not the type to beat or harass those who didn’t listen, so training and command didn’t go smoothly. Rather, the orc Scott had better interpersonal skills than Jibek. To say someone’s interpersonal skills were worse than an orc’s was a joke only used when cursing, but Jibek actually embodied that.

“Edir, you also seem to have difficulty connecting with others, like Jibek.”

“Why do you think so?” Edir asked, but he seemed deeply stung by Azadin’s words. As Azadin said, Edir had lived in discord with his colleagues even during his squire days.

“There’s such a thing as a type. You two are the same, aren’t you?”

“You’re speaking too freely, Count.”

“There’s no need to criticize yourself like that, Edir, Jibek.”

“Criticize myself? Where in my statement was there any self-criticism? I rather feel like criticizing you, Sir Azadin! Darhan Zadek was truly the hope of the Butuma people. He was the reincarnation of the Golden King Manza Zadek, no, he was destined to be an even greater hero. And the Heraldic Clan assassinated him….”

Edir was passionately explaining why he wasn’t criticizing himself but rather Azadin, but Jibek burst into a hearty laugh.

“Sir Azadin, you’re truly impossible to beat. Come to think of it, it was the same when we first met, wasn’t it? Why are you so upright and unblemished? I’ve become so tarnished.”

“It’s not like I haven’t made mistakes. My heart is also tarnished.”

“No, Azadin. From the moment I met you, I was a coward who had been condoning the abuses of the nobles. After meeting you, I tried to correct my mistakes, but I couldn’t. I can’t enlighten or inspire others with my actions. I’m different from you.”

After becoming a guard knight of Darhan Zadek and facing his futile death, Jibek had fallen into a deep sense of doubt about his entire life. He had achieved nothing on his own, nor was he accepted by anyone. Yet, righteousness lived in his heart, and he couldn’t bear his failure to live up to that ideal. This self-loathing and disappointment at not reaching his lofty ideals were the source of Jibek’s gloom.

“Usually, you can’t enlighten or inspire others. There’s an atmosphere within the entire knight order, and there’s a thing called ‘reading the room’ in this world. You can’t just smash through that and live as a member of an organization.”

“But you smashed through it and achieved so much, didn’t you?”

“That’s because people like you helped me. How could I have achieved such feats alone? I was an outcast even among the Heraldic Clan.”

“…….”

Listening to Jibek and Azadin’s conversation, Edir realized that they were people who could not live under the same sky as those who killed Darhan Zadek. No, in fact, he had never thought that Azadin and Jibek were responsible for Darhan Zadek’s death from the beginning. Then why was he so angry? Perhaps it was because Edir had been supporting Darhan Zadek. ‘Darhan Zadek should have survived to take his place of glory… When Pimbulbert approached, he should have accepted the refugees and protected the people. That should have been Darhan Zadek’s role…’

Azadin, who had taken the place that Edir had expected for Darhan Zadek, was so unbearable to watch that he had lashed out at him and followed him on this Erantree quest to see for himself.

“The road is long, so I’ll rest first. Do you need any blood magic?”

Bernard had embedded Ashajit’s eye into his staff as a decoration. For a blood mage, it was the ultimate magical tool, allowing him to use almost limitless blood magic.

“Do I need blood magic?”

“…….”

Bernard silently pointed to the area below Azadin’s nose. Azadin was bleeding from his nose again.

“…Hmm.”

Azadin silently wiped the blood with his hand.

“You seem tired. Can blood magic help?”

Bernard raised his staff and pointed it at Azadin’s feet.

“Take off your boots.”

“Alright.”

As Azadin took off his boots, a small blood golem appeared from Bernard’s staff. The mass, which looked like a lump of congealed blood used in cooking, wriggled and burrowed into Azadin’s feet.

“It will remove waste and massage you. It will help with blood circulation and relieve fatigue.”

“Ugh. Well, this sensation… I don’t know if I should say it’s good or creepy.”

“Would you like to try it too? I won’t stop you if you’re averse to blood magic, but it’s a long way to go, so it’s best to relieve fatigue.”

“Are we allowed to take off our shoes when enemies are lurking around?” Edir asked in a panic, but Azadin was nonchalant. Since he had Ara’el’s voice on guard, he was confident that he could put his shoes back on before any enemies attacked.

“It’s okay. If they try to ambush us, they’ll be the ones who suffer.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, you see….”

Azadin began to explain while receiving a massage from the blood golem.

*********

Red eyes glowed in the darkness, staring at Azadin’s group. Hiding in a thicket about 800 yards away, he had been observing Azadin’s group’s camp. Even from this great distance, he noticed that they had taken off their shoes and were resting, and he clicked his tongue.

“Pathetic fools! To dare take off their boots when the enemy is watching. This is our chance.”

“S-should we attack? Then?”

“………”

The owner of the red eyes hesitated for a moment. They were Griselda’s vampires, a vampire unit that had been circling Azadin to recover Ashajit’s eye.

“They’ll put their shoes back on while we close the 800-yard gap, right?”

“Wouldn’t it be okay if we moved along the cover? We can definitely ambush them. They’re in a farm shed, after all.”

Approaching the farm along the shed walls would allow them to close the distance without being seen by Azadin’s group. Of course, Azadin had Ara’el’s voice on the roof of the farm to watch the surroundings, so it was a futile effort, but to the vampires who didn’t know that, it sounded like a very reasonable attack method. However, the red-eyed vampire, their leader, was hesitating. They had witnessed firsthand the terrifying power of Aurelia’s Dawn, which burned vampires alive. Just the day before, some hot-blooded vampires had rushed at Azadin, only to be hit by Aurelia’s Dawn, which Azadin had fired with his bow. The ceramite [a ceramic-like material that burns intensely], which stuck like molten lead, continued to burn their skin, causing them excruciating pain that made them crave death. The screams of the vampires who had been burned alive were still ringing in their ears, and after seeing that, they didn’t have the courage to charge.

“Let’s gather the mutants nearby and attack.”

In the end, the vampire leader said that and ordered his subordinates to gather the mutants nearby.

“Yes, I understand. That’s a good idea.”

“Right. Do you think I’m the only one who has Griselda’s favor?”

The vampire leader boasted as he sent his subordinates away.

‘Hey, it’s not like you’re the only one.’

‘Shhh. Let’s not provoke him when he’s in a good mood. Lately, Captain Hendrick has been acting like he has bipolar disorder.’

‘Oh, dear.’

It was the moment when the subordinate vampires, who were chatting about their superior’s eccentricity, scattered to bring in the cultist mutants.

-Thud!

Suddenly, something flew and hit one of his subordinate vampires in the head. With a dull thud, the vampire’s body was lifted into the air. A huge bone axe was embedded next to the vampire’s head, separating his face from his head.

“Ugh?!”

“Kwargh!”

A unit of Bree [a race of humanoid deer] and goblins charged at the subordinate vampires. Surprisingly, they had effectively concealed themselves using the parched furrows and agricultural waterways, and they had ambushed the vampires.

“Damn it! These low-intelligence deer heads!”

He hadn’t realized that the Bree had come this far while watching Azadin’s group. The vampires immediately healed their wounds and began to fight against the Bree.

*********

“Did you see?” Edir was taken aback by Azadin’s triumphant attitude. They were surrounded by enemies and monsters, but Azadin, as if he had a steel wall, was calmly taking off his shoes and receiving a massage from Bernard’s blood golem. It wasn’t just him who seemed to have no fear; Niselda, Jibek, and Bernard were also calmly letting their guard down and cleaning their feet with the blood golem while the Bree and vampires were fighting.

“Rest when you rest, move when you move. It’s not good to be too tense, squire,” Jibek advised Edir, then lay down and even closed his eyes. Even though they could hear the sounds of monsters fighting outside.

*********

“Huff, huff….”

“Is this the end?!”

The vampires were exhausted from fighting the Bree and goblins who had suddenly attacked them. The Bree were barbaric and had pathetic equipment to match, but they possessed wild green magic and powerful physical abilities, making them formidable opponents even for vampires.

“T-they must have found out. What should we do?”

The sounds of their fighting must have reached Azadin’s group. No matter how fiercely the wind howled in the wilderness, they couldn’t have missed a magical battle at a distance of 800 yards. But Azadin’s group was resting without moving.

“No, these….”

“Why are those guys just standing still?”

The vampires expressed their dissatisfaction, feeling like they were the only ones who had suffered for nothing. But then, it happened.

-Thwack!

A vampire’s head was severed and fell to the ground. A black-clad nun, who had approached them from behind, had cut off the head of a vampire subordinate.

“I was originally going to ignore you and rest….”

Golden flames burned the ground beneath their feet, forming a circle. The circle of flames surrounded the vampires. Azadin, having burned the ground with Aurelia’s Dawn, stood holding the Azure Executioner like a tonfa in his hand. Azadin’s group had created a decoy while the vampires were distracted by the fight with the Bree, and then they had circled around to ambush the vampires from behind. In other words, these vampires had been ambushed twice in one day.

“We couldn’t just not greet our guests.”

“Hmph. Count Azadin! How can you call yourself a paladin!” The vampires were furious at seeing Azadin’s group, who had only appeared leisurely after they were all exhausted and worn out.