The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 413

“That one knows what elegance is,” Indim commented after hearing what Azadin had said. “Elegance, my foot. If castration and becoming a eunuch is elegance, then I’ve forcibly spread elegance to many. I’m part of the clan, but I really don’t like our clan. They take talented kids as their servants, use them like rugs, and then claim they’re choosing Heralds through a fair selection.” “But whether it was fair or not, didn’t you scrape the bottom in that selection? You were so bad that I even heard rumors that you might not be from our clan. Surely, you weren’t sabotaged and couldn’t show your true skills, were you?” “More importantly, what about the four of you from the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon [referring to a group of skilled individuals]?” “Ah, you’re avoiding the answer.” Azadin, who was a poor student within the Herald Clan, avoided the answer. Seraph ignored Indim and answered Azadin. “Since you have inherited Ara’el’s will, I will stay by your side.” “Serving you is better than serving the Northern Empire. If I assist the future queen, there will be plenty to gain.” Both Seraph and Indim promised to assist Midiam by Azadin’s side. “It’ll be difficult to settle in the Northern Empire because of the Northern Araga [a region or group]. I understand. What about Dimia?” “Dimia is hiding near Asendar. She’s gathering information from the Northern Empire.” “Goodness, she’s suffering alone. Since we’ve allied with the Etar clan, tell her to ask for help. It’s better to work with them.” “I will. But it’ll take a while to deliver the message. Asendar is far away.” “Before that, I hope nothing happens to her. Then, I expect great things from the Araga archer unit in this Visen campaign. Show off your skills and demonstrate the power of Araga.” “Of course. Just prepare plenty of arrows.” Indim was confident, waiting for a chance to show his skills. ********* The mountain path, the shortest route between Visen and the Banreung Kingdom, was so rugged that only one carriage could barely pass through. Escape routes were created wherever possible to handle the usual flow of goods, but now, small outposts and obstacles were installed at each escape route. However, Azadin chose this path instead of the waterway. This was because Visen, like the Banreung Kingdom, had developed cannons, and if they had installed cannons in fortresses near the waterway, they could inflict massive damage by firing them. Fortunately, the land defense forces prepared by Visen surrendered as soon as they saw Azadin’s army. No matter how desperately they defended alone, they could not withstand this overwhelming number. However, there are always those who are seized by strange madness. “A Herald Clan member as king? Don’t desecrate the throne! This is a natural fortress where one person can face ten thousand! We will risk our lives here to stop your forces! When the blizzard rages, your army will need even more food!” The outpost commander, seized by some madness, declared that he would fight Azadin to the death. Azadin sighed. “I’ll take care of it.” Midiam, Azadin’s fiancée and the leader of the Araga archer unit, picked up her bow. In front of the soldiers and vassals, Midiam shot an arrow from an impossible distance that no ordinary bow could reach. “You filthy Herald Clan bastards! You soulless blasphemers, how dare you walk around wearing human skin…” -Thwack! The arrow that pierced through the rampart of the guard post pierced the commander’s palate. As soon as the commander died, his subordinates immediately abandoned the defense of the outpost and cleared the way. “Well done, Midiam.” “Well, this is something even a child of our clan could do, so it’s embarrassing to be praised for it.” Midiam answered humbly. She meant it sincerely, but to the people around her, it seemed like the future queen was being modest despite showing amazing skills. Although she was still a young girl, her beauty and wisdom were admirable. “Hmm. Excellent.” “Is that a Herald Clan arrow?” “Our future queen is truly amazing.” The morale of the watching soldiers rose. “Wow. Captain. You’ve got an amazing wife?” Selim, the Minotaur warrior, approached Azadin, delighted. “But wasn’t it a mistake not to bring the hippogriffs [a mythical creature, half-eagle, half-horse]? Instead of going through this rugged path, wouldn’t it be better to fly with the hippogriffs…” In the end, he had come to talk about using the hippogriffs. “No. If we deploy hippogriffs on the front lines, we’ll need hippogriff feed for supplies.” “Can’t we just get the feed on the spot?” “If we show them eating people on the battlefield, how well do you think morale will be maintained? Right? And there might be Nether contamination on the enemy, and I don’t want to feed that flesh to the hippogriffs.” Azadin suppressed Selim’s opinion, who insisted on using hippogriffs in any situation. Feeding them people would solve the hippogriff supply problem, but the morale of the soldiers traveling with hippogriffs that had tasted human flesh would drop. “This battle needs to be quick and decisive, and we need to finish it with minimal supplies.” From the start, Azadin had only chosen 100 soldiers to conquer Visen. Ten light cavalry led by Lord Karna and Lord Izmilla, ten Herald Clan archers led by Midiam, 20 heavy infantry led by Selim, and the rest were peasant soldiers armed with slings and javelins. It was not an appropriate number of troops for a siege, but he even mobilized former Inquisitors Lord Zekt and Lord Astadeer, and Seraph and Indim from the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon. Azadin’s strategy was to increase the overall combat power of the unit by deploying outstanding heroes with excellent skills. To minimize supply needs while maintaining combat power, he had to rely on the elite. And if he defeated Visen with such a small number, Azadin’s reputation would also soar. However, the problem was that the ordinary soldiers were terrified. “A Visen expedition with such a small number.” “Even if it’s to reduce supplies, is the king out of his mind?” On the other hand, Lord Astadeer laughed heartily and affirmed Azadin. “Yes, yes. You have to break down a castle with a small number of troops to gain fame. Indeed, you think the same way as me. As expected…” “That’s not it.” Azadin clicked his tongue, looking at Lord Astadeer, who still claimed to be his son. Lord Astadeer had been trying to quit drinking since surrendering to Azadin, and as a result, he now had a pipe in his mouth instead of alcohol. He was burning a medicinal herb called Flame Mountain, which was often used in the north to treat alcoholics, in his pipe, and it was certainly effective in reducing alcohol consumption. “Hahaha. Well, you would say that. I know. The truth is sometimes hard to accept.” Lord Astadeer laughed heartily, exhaling the smoke of Flame Mountain. “……” “Your Majesty, the scout ahead is signaling.” Indim, who had gone out as a scout, sent a signal. “What is it?” “Look, King Azadin. It’s a sign of blasphemy.” Indim pointed to a village in front. ********* The post town was destroyed in a terrible state. In the middle of the village, people were lined up dead by the well, their bodies completely stripped of flesh, and only their heads remained intact, impaled on spears. Azadin shuddered at the gruesome sight. “We must hold a funeral. But this is…” “It’s a sign of eating. It’s not the work of Brina goblins. Humans did this.” Indim testified, looking at the spears. The spears on which the people’s heads were hung were human, and the tools used to separate human bones and flesh were also human knives. Judging from the knife marks left by a being with longer and stronger arms than a goblin, it was definitely the work of humans, or perhaps elves. “Cannibalism…” Azadin frowned. Although food prices had skyrocketed due to Fimbulwinter [a great winter in Norse mythology], it had only been three months since the autumn harvest. It was still a time when there should be plenty of food, so are they eating humans because they are hungry? Is the fear of Fimbulwinter so overwhelming that everyone has lost their minds? Or perhaps the Nether gods are manipulating their followers to commit cannibalism. The Mezere of the Kurt gods are encouraging the act of eating humans. Either way, seeing this behavior, it was clear that the sane people of Visen would suffer. “We need to quickly defeat Visen and sort out the situation.” But then, Indim, the scout, signaled again. “King Azadin! We’ve found Visen’s troops. It looks like they’re about to start a full-scale battle?” “A full-scale battle? How many troops are there?” “About 100, but they’re all elite soldiers. They’re probably the ones who attacked the village and killed the people. They were waiting quite a distance away, so it seems they knew we would come by land.” “Hmm. That’s why I organized the unit as quickly as possible.” Azadin was surprised that Visen’s response was much faster than he had expected. Based on Zekt’s testimony and the appearance of the Visen bishop he had kidnapped, he had expected Visen to be a den of madness where no sane people existed. But for some reason, instead of showing the irrational behavior typical of fanatics, the enemies were responding with orthodox strategies and tactics. “You said they were elite soldiers? What are their weapons?” “Muskets and pike formation.” Muskets and pikes. This formation, which mixes gunners and pikemen, is a unit where the gunners placed between the pikemen mainly attack, and the pikemen protect the gunners by preventing the enemy from approaching. The standard way to overwhelm this unit is to overwhelm it with a volley of fire from a line of gunners entirely composed of gunners. However, there are only a few places that can currently operate that many gunners and supply gunpowder. The Banreung’s dwarf gunners, the blunderbuss soldiers, were such a unit, but Azadin was the one who had dismantled those units. “Can you handle them?” Azadin asked Midiam, Ismail, Seraph, and Indim. “Of course.” “Naturally.” “Well, this much…” They all showed confidence. To the other soldiers who didn’t know the situation, it seemed crazy. ‘No way, they’re going to fight guns with bows? Are they out of their minds?’ ‘Are they waiting for the gunpowder to run out? We have so few troops. We have to take the enemy’s bullets with our bodies.’ ‘Even the enemy has taken the high ground, so they are geographically superior…’ The soldiers felt uneasy, but Azadin ignored their feelings and quickly gave instructions. He maintained the formation with the heavy infantry in the lead, followed by the Herald Clan archers. A bizarre battle began, with bows and heavy infantry fighting against musket and pike soldiers.