The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 43

“Tarki!”\n\n”Huh? What is it? Isn’t that Bienne?”\n\n”Bienne?”\n\n”She’s my half-sister.”\n\nBienne’s equipment was no less impressive than Tarki’s, and her horse was excellent, but the equipment of those accompanying her was poor compared to Kozel’s or Tarki’s. They were just wearing hardened leather armor with a longsword each.\n\nThey were also silent, with only Bienne riding a horse while the others walked. Behind them was a cart that was clearly stolen from farmers.\n\n’Why are these half-siblings acting the same way?’\n\nAzadin watched their reunion, dumbfounded.\n\n”What is it, Tarki! What happened to the mercenaries you were with?”\n\nThis other bastard, Bienne, approached Tarki on horseback. Tarki was also on horseback, so their horses’ heads were close enough to touch.\n\n”Well, that’s…”\n\n”Tarki, did you perhaps take down Kozel?”\n\n”Huh? What do you mean by taking down Kozel?”\n\n”Haven’t you heard? Kozel lost all his men and got his thing cut off. It’s a mess because of that.”\n\n”What? Is that true! Aza!”\n\nTarki was delighted by the news. If Kozel, the legitimate son, was castrated, the right of inheritance would naturally pass to the next person with all their limbs intact. Tarki would become the heir to the family.\n\n”Ah, as they say, if you live right, you’ll be blessed. I’ve been living diligently, and my ancestors have watched over me.”\n\n”……”\n\nAzadin, who was listening, couldn’t help but chuckle.\n\n’Live right? These bastards are just spouting nonsense now that they have mouths?’\n\nThen Bienne laughed.\n\n”But where did all the mercenaries your mother assigned to you go? Only you are left?”\n\n”That’s…”\n\nAt that moment, Bienne drew her sword. Without waiting for Tarki’s answer, she quickly drew her sword and launched a surprise attack.\n\nTarki was completely off guard and was helpless against the sudden attack. But then, the sound of wind being cut was heard from behind…\n\n-Clang!\n\nA stone collided with the sword, deflecting the blade. Azadin, who had been wary of Bienne from the start, had thrown a stone to save Tarki.\n\n’Why did she come so unnecessarily close?’\n\nAzadin had been walking while holding the reins because the mountain goat was carrying a lot of luggage, so it was easy for him to pick up a stone from the ground.\n\n’There’s no need to waste arrows on these weaklings.’\n\nThe Messenger Clan had a habit of conserving arrows, so Azadin concluded that even a single arrow was too precious for these people.\n\n”Ugh!”\n\nTarki retreated in panic.\n\n”Bienne! Are you trying to kill me?”\n\n”Thinking about it, it’s better than looking for the Divine Scripture that no one knows where it is.”\n\nBienne sneered.\n\n”Damn it!”\n\nTarki also drew his sword.\n\n”Attack them, everyone!”\n\nAt Bienne’s command, her forces began to charge.\n\n*********\n\nTarki was surprised that Bienne, who had been friendly, was attacking him because of her ambition.\n\n”Bienne! You’re making a mistake. Do you know who I’m with right now?”\n\nTarki said, proudly turning to look at Azadin and his group. But Azadin, Midiam, and Ishmael were just watching with their arms crossed.\n\n”What are you doing, brother! You have to help me!”\n\nTarki, terrified, retreated while blocking the attacks of the approaching enemies with his sword.\n\n”I wanted to see your skills.”\n\n”Oh, come on, aren’t you being too harsh?”\n\nTarki said, struggling to fend off the attacks of the approaching enemies.\n\nHe seemed to be fighting quite well, dodging the attacks of four men and women while retreating, but if you were to evaluate them calmly, the attackers’ skills were below par. Their teamwork was poor, so Tarki was able to defend himself by just retreating on horseback.\n\n’Kozel and the guys who were with him were skilled. Well, they might have been able to show off against ordinary people, but they’re too weak compared to the Aragasa [a powerful warrior clan].’\n\nAzadin was calmly assessing them. Then, one of them charged at Azadin. It seemed he was trying to distract Tarki by attacking Azadin, who was watching from behind.\n\nHowever, Azadin took a light backstep, and the distance widened significantly. The difference in speed between Azadin and him was so great that he couldn’t possibly catch up.\n\n”Midiam, Ishmael. You guys try it. Don’t kill them. Let’s check your skills too.”\n\n”What? Don’t kill them? They’re attacking with real swords?”\n\n”You can handle that much, right?”\n\n”Understood.”\n\nIshmael jumped forward and drew his short sword.\n\n”These, these bastards…”\n\nThe man who had come to attack Azadin trembled with humiliation as he saw the young boy drawing his sword at him. Ishmael pretended to try to block the longsword attack with his short sword.\n\n”Is this brat looking down on me?”\n\nThe young man with the longsword was enraged by Ishmael’s attempt to block his attack with a small sword and unleashed a full-force attack. But that was exactly what Ishmael was aiming for.\n\nIshmael lightly dodged the opponent’s attack with a switch step. He shifted from a right-foot-forward stance to a left-foot-forward stance, lightly and nimbly slipping away from the opponent’s attack and attacking from the side.\n\nSince he was physically weak and couldn’t incapacitate his opponent with just a blow, and he couldn’t use magic to reveal his identity, he boldly used a short dagger to lightly stab the inside of the thigh where the armor was thin. It was a subtle spot that wouldn’t kill him, but he could bleed to death if he didn’t stop the bleeding.\n\n’I’ve seen it before, but he’s quite skilled. This kid could easily become a messenger [a member of the Messenger Clan].’\n\nIshmael was tall and fast for a boy, but he didn’t have the monstrous strength of Azadin, so he couldn’t incapacitate his opponent with a single blow. That’s why he inflicted a subtle wound.\n\nIf he blocked the wound with his hand, he wouldn’t die, but he wouldn’t be able to fight anymore. If he ignored it and charged, he could fight, but he would bleed to death.\n\nJudging by the fact that he could inflict such a wound, he must have fast hands, a wealth of anatomical knowledge, and a cool and calm personality.\n\n”Excellent.”\n\nAzadin praised him sincerely and looked at Midiam.\n\n”Do I have to do it too?”\n\n”Yes. I want to see your skills without magic.”\n\nMidiam had already shown her powerful magical abilities. But what about the other aspects?\n\n”Okay. Azadin is not alone anymore, so I…”\n\n”What?”\n\n”But isn’t that it? If Azadin received the Curse of Service, then by now, he should have…”\n\n”……”\n\n”So, isn’t that why you’re leaving the fighting to us?”\n\n”No! What kind of terrible thoughts are you having…”\n\nAt that moment, Tarki’s scream was heard. Tarki had been caught in the mercenaries’ attack and had fallen off his horse.\n\nIt was a natural result of constantly retreating while defending. The fact that the horse was able to retreat so well against the attacking enemies meant that it was quite a fine horse.\n\n’Is he an idiot?’\n\nHis horse and armor were top-notch, so he could have just trampled over them. The men and women armed with longswords would not have been a match for Tarki. But now that he had fallen off his horse…\n\nAzadin sighed and rushed into their midst.\n\n”You’re done for!”\n\n”Who are you!”\n\nThe angry men and women with longswords tried to swing their swords, but Azadin grabbed the blades in their hands. A tug-of-war began between the one holding the blade and the one holding the hilt.\n\nLogically, the one holding the hilt would have the advantage, but Azadin lightly twisted the sword, and the ones holding the hilt were slammed into the ground.\n\n”Keuk!”\n\n”Ugh!”\n\nThe ones who had struggled with Azadin immediately realized. The opponent had monstrous strength. He also had precision and concentration that they couldn’t match.\n\nHowever, those who had not directly touched Azadin looked down on him for rushing in without even drawing his sword.\n\n”Oh, really?”\n\n”This guy seems to have learned something?”\n\n”We know a thing or two about swordsmanship!”\n\n”We paid our swordsmanship teacher a lot of money.”\n\nThey charged at Azadin, but Azadin successively slammed them to the ground and confiscated their longswords. In the end, Azadin had thrown them all to the ground.\n\n”Kuh. Th-thank you. You’re still the best, brother.”\n\nTarki got up and thanked Azadin.\n\n”Don’t say that. I’m worried people will think we’re close.”\n\n”Aren’t we pretty close now?”\n\n”No, just… behave yourself.”\n\nAzadin was fed up with the children of Count Kozel, who had a habit of plundering the people.\n\n’How do these guys live to be like this?’\n\nAzadin, a member of the Messenger Clan, a soulless heretic persecuted all over the world, honestly didn’t want to get involved with guys like this.\n\n”Damn it. Who is this guy!”\n\nBienne was furious and charged her horse. She was trying to trample Azadin and the fallen Tarki.\n\n’She’s at least better than Tarki in terms of tactics? But…’\n\nAzadin easily dodged the horse’s charge and grabbed Bienne’s leg. Bienne swung her sword at Azadin’s head. But Azadin pulled her foot out of the stirrup and pulled her down, sitting down to avoid the sword. Bienne also fell off her horse.\n\n”Ah!”\n\nBienne screamed as she fell with her legs spread apart.\n\n”Ah… my, my pelvis! My pelvis…”\n\n*********\n\nAzadin subdued Bienne’s group and went back up the road. He soon found the farmer who was crying because Bienne’s group had stolen his cart.\n\nJudging by the haystacks that were carelessly thrown by the roadside, it seemed that these guys had requisitioned the cart that was originally carrying hay, thrown away the hay, and filled the cart with stolen goods instead.\n\n”I’ll return the cart, so let’s give the stolen goods back to the people who can receive them.”\n\nAs Azadin said this, the farmer bowed repeatedly.\n\n”Thank you! Thank you so much. What is your name…”\n\n”The true heir of Count Kozel. It’s Tarki!”\n\n”……”\n\nAzadin glared at Tarki, who had interrupted him.\n\n”Okay, you guys. Put the hay back on the cart.”\n\n”What? Us?”\n\n”Then who else would do it? Me? What are you guys? What kind of loafers are you?”\n\nAzadin asked the bastard named Bienne, and she groaned as she answered.\n\n”Ugh. They’re my friends.”\n\n”Friends?”\n\n”They’re excellent adventurers.”\n\n”Excellent?”\n\nIt seemed that this bastard, Bienne, had been playing around with this group of loafers, calling themselves adventurers.\n\nThen, she was tempted by the Count’s words that he would make her the head of the family if she found the Divine Scripture, so she went outside, but she gave up on finding the Divine Scripture and was focused on plundering. In the meantime, she heard the news that Kozel had been eliminated from the heir competition and seemed to have been looking for Tarki.\n\n’They’re thoughtless fools. It’s absurd. People are already suffering from the drought, and these guys are running around looking for the Divine Scripture?’\n\nWhen Azadin interrogated the loafers who called themselves adventurers, it turned out that they were the children of wealthy families, such as the children of scribes, technicians, and lawyers, who had run away from home with Bienne, who liked to play, in search of a fortune.\n\n”Okay. If you don’t move the haystacks, I’ll take your weapons and tie you to that tree. With your pants off.”\n\nWhen Azadin threatened them, Bienne and her adventurer companions turned pale.