The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 353

Leaving behind the corpses of the vampires, a beautiful woman with a fan and a bow walked out.

It was Dimia, the Flower of the Four Seasons, and one of Arahael’s most trusted confidantes.

“Oh, Count Azadin. It’s unexpected to see you in a place like this.”

“It’s been a while. How have you been? Why does everyone call me Count?”

“Didn’t the Arangi Kingdom grant you the title of Margrave?”

“That’s what I’m saying, how do you guys know that?”

“We are currently working as mercenaries for the Arangi Kingdom. When we heard that the Arangi King had appointed you as Margrave, we wanted to rush over. Seraph was actually sent to you, wasn’t she? It seems we missed each other on the way.”

As Dimia said this, she gestured, and Indim also appeared.

“Indim was here too?”

“Yes. It seems we missed Seraph. Hmm…”

Indim couldn’t speak when he saw Azadin. He seemed to be embarrassed.

“Oh my, why are you so shy, Indim?”

“No, it’s just that there was something…”

Indim, who was obsessed with Arahael’s appearance, had once had a misunderstanding with Azadin due to a slight signal difference. It seemed he couldn’t bear the embarrassment.

Azadin asked Indim a question.

“So, Indim, you said you were hired by the Arangi Kingdom? What mission were you given?”

“The Arangi Kingdom is currently under attack by vampires. They are attacking roads all over the kingdom, cutting off connections between cities. We were hired as scouts to understand the flow of the enemy’s offensive.”

The war, which involved pouring in regular troops, was thwarted by the actions of the Arangian Guards.

Even if it was a mage unit mixed with dwarf sorcerers and cultists, facing the elite Arangian Guards on flat ground was not a good choice.

However, as the vampires turned to irregular warfare, the damage to the Arangi Kingdom began to snowball.

A city can only exist if it receives food and supplies. In this era where Fimbulwinter [a period of extreme cold and hardship] is approaching and requiring even more supplies, the vampires’ irregular warfare is a very effective strategic tactic.

“Did the Arangians hire you without prejudice? I’m curious as to why you were hired.”

“The members of the Senate are indiscriminately killing royals and nobles in various places. The North’s subordinates are making loyalty oaths with royals in various places, promising to protect them from such assassinations. The King’s Church has given them strange titles like King of Kings, so if they accept the North’s protection, even the kings will be at the mercy of the North. The Prime Minister of Arangi approached us because he didn’t like that.”

“Prime Minister?”

“He had been trading with our Aragasa [a clan of messengers] for a long time, so he knew our situation well. He believed that we were a different force from the Senate. We also need money and food.”

“Hmm?”

From the story, it seemed that the Arangi Kingdom had been trading with the Messenger Clan for a long time. If so, it was understandable why they had granted Azadin the title of Margrave. They could be said to have relatively little prejudice against the Aragasa.

Could the Arangi Kingdom be a good haven for Azadin, who was from Aragasa?

‘That’s unlikely. If they’ve been trading with the Senate since before this incident… as a Yegas god [a reference to a specific deity or pantheon], that’s quite reckless. They might be people who don’t care about the means to achieve their goals.’

Even though Azadin was an Aragasa, he couldn’t trust the Arangi Kingdom if they had been trading with the Aragasa. He was already suspicious of the North having the Northern Aragasa under their control, wasn’t it natural?

“Did you guys kill the vampires here? All of them?”

“No, they were already reduced this much before we arrived. Those dwarf vampires are just contact points left to protect the supplies of the outpost.”

In other words, the vampires of Banlung had built an outpost here and then, for some reason, withdrew their forces.

“Why would they withdraw their forces from Coxhall? They should have left some vampires behind so we could interrogate them.”

“We were originally going to kill them quietly and leave the vampires at that gate. It’s just that you came, Azadin, and things got messed up.”

Indim blamed it on Azadin. But then Dimia interjected.

“Azadin. Of course, we did kidnap and interrogate the vampires from the beginning and found out information.”

“………”

Indim, perhaps due to the stress he received while training as an informant, habitually lied even in situations where it wasn’t necessary.

Dimia immediately revealed Indim’s lie.

“Really? What happened?”

“Nisraf.”

Indim answered briefly.

“Nisraf, as in the flagship of the Rescue Knights?”

“Yes. The Celestial Fire Knights boarded Nisraf and set out to subjugate Banlung.”

“Even if it’s Nisraf, it won’t be easy to break through the Netherstrom [a powerful and dangerous vortex]? And to launch a ship in this winter sea, what are they thinking?”

As the Age of Jupiter approaches, the vortex of the Netherstrom in the Andaz Inland Sea weakens, and the interference of the Nether gods, sealed beneath the vortex, becomes stronger.

That is the cause of this calamity, Fimbulwinter, but even if the Netherstrom weakens, the winter sea is rough. Considering that fishing villages have been destroyed by attacks from cultist mutants, wouldn’t moving by sea be quite dangerous?

In other words, Nisraf would inevitably have sailed along the coast, and naturally, it would have passed near Coxhall.

“The Celestial Fire headed to the Banlung Kingdom. Thinking about it, it’s natural. The Celestial Fire needs to be active to make it easier for the Rescue Knights and the North to unify the world. But…”

Azadin looked at Dimia, Zenith, and Indim.

“The North really didn’t make any offers to you? Given his personality, there’s no way there wouldn’t have been contact? Maybe you met him even before the Arangi Kingdom’s offer. Or maybe you were in contact since Arahael was alive?”

When Azadin asked, Dimia, Indim, and Zenith’s expressions changed.

They couldn’t deny it… it must have been a question they couldn’t avoid.

“I see… it’s true.”

Then, Zibeck, Bernard, and Nicelda stepped forward to protect Azadin, forming a wall with their bodies.

Even if they were from the Messenger Clan, the Arahael faction, and respected Azadin as Arahael’s successor, if the North’s influence had reached them, they might turn at any moment.

*********

“Don’t do anything stupid. You guys…”

Indim scoffed as he saw Azadin’s subordinates daring to block him.

“Indim, don’t provoke them unnecessarily. Azadin. We have no intention of fighting you. We have negotiated with the North, but we have not yet joined his ranks.”

“Not yet, you say?”

When Azadin asked back, Dimia nodded.

“Yes. The North’s offer was too tempting. But despite that, we wanted to meet you.”

Dimia took a deep breath and asked.

“Azadin, what do you ultimately want?”

“The offer from the North must have been really sweet, for you to ask me such a thing.”

“It was a declaration that if the North became the new emperor, he would restore us as the Messenger Clan. When Arahael was alive, we thought it was nonsense, but…”

“Of course, we would have to compete with the Northern Aragasa to select new messengers…”

The reconstruction of the Messenger Clan, the restoration as the emperor’s messengers.

The North had used that as bait to win over the Four Seasons, who were originally from the Arahael faction.

It was so sweet that none of them could resist it.

Even Azadin’s heart fluttered when he heard that he would rebuild the Messenger Clan and restore him as the emperor’s messenger.

Even Azadin, who was sufficiently wary of the North, was like this, so there was no need to say more about the others.

“First, I should praise you for not immediately taking the North’s hand.”

“At the time, the North’s offer was nonsense. But now, he has been recognized as the de facto emperor by the King’s Church under the name of King of Kings.”

Before the North had any influence, his offer sounded like the ramblings of a delusional patient.

But now that the King’s Church has declared him King of Kings, and he wields immense influence over the Wisdom Order of the Rescue Knights, no one denies that Cohen Lionheart is the closest to becoming emperor.

“They’re ridiculous. Those guys who tried to hunt us down like vermin, calling us emperor followers…”

Indim expressed his dissatisfaction with the King’s Church, which changed its attitude like flipping a palm. Did they slaughter innocent people because of an attitude that could be changed so easily?

“So, Azadin, what thoughts do you have, what vision do you have for operating that huge military force? Surely, there is some vision behind acting separately from the North?”

“……”

Azadin felt Dimia’s gaze piercing him.

‘It would be meaningless to say here that the North actually murdered my master, or that he is using the blood extracted from the destroyed angel statue to reincarnate his followers as Celestials.’

Each of those incidents made one doubt the North’s true intentions and character, but the world had become so chaotic that the North’s character was no longer an issue.

People don’t want to hear the North’s slander, they want to have hope.

Only after Azadin presents a vision similar to the North’s will the slander against the North have meaning.

What they want is Azadin’s vision. Something that will become their hope.

Azadin looked up at the sky and suddenly laughed, “Pahahaha.”

“What?!”

“First of all, thank you, Dimia. To evaluate me, who was once called Azadin of Muan, a reject even among the Aragasa, and Cohen Lionheart, the king of Asander, on the same scale.”

“We consider you, Azadin, as Arahael’s legacy. If it’s the same value, we’d rather be loyal to you, who inherited Arahael’s will. If the vision you present is reasonable, that is.”

“I see. Is that how it is? Fine. I’ll tell you.”

Azadin took a deep breath and declared.

“I will take the Eight Thrones of Yegas and become the guide of the Rescue Knights and the Emperor. I will be a rival to the North!”

“!!!!!!!!!!”

“Ooh!”

“……”

“Ah…”

Nicelda and Bernard, who were loyal to Azadin, were delighted by Azadin’s statement, while Zibeck and Edir, who were loyal to the King’s Church and the Yegas gods, were startled by Azadin’s statement.

Azadin had declared that he would become a king, no, an emperor.

And that was the statement that Dimia and Indim had so desperately wanted to hear.

An emperor of Aragasa blood!

What greater reward could there be for the Aragasa, who had been persecuted by the Hybrids?

But Azadin chuckled and added a postscript.

“…If I say that, you guys would be satisfied, right?”

“!”

“………”

The atmosphere instantly reversed.

Dimia, who had been respectful to Azadin, also frowned, and Indim couldn’t hold back and drew his sword.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Indim shot towards Azadin like a black lightning bolt.