The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 431

It was a night with a warm breeze, the first in a long while.

Ismail walked, glancing back at the Sandokar soldiers who were sleeping like the dead.

Those who had suffered from the witch Camilla’s attacks were finally getting some much-needed rest.

However, the cost was entirely borne by Azadin.

Ismail left the soldiers to their rest and climbed the stairs of the ramparts to reach the watchtower.

There, he found Azadin asleep in a chair, leaning against the wall. Despite his exhaustion from the forced march, he hadn’t slept in his bed. Blood was trickling from his nose.

Midiam was collecting cloths and bandages, wiping the blood and applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

“The light of the King’s Authority and the blessing of the angels… it worries me that Your Majesty’s body is bearing too much,” Midiam said.

“I know,” he replied calmly.

To dispel the nightmares that had plagued the people of Sandokar, Azadin had once again overexerted himself using the power of the Divine King’s Scripture. He was sacrificing his own life, which was already short, to protect the sleep of the Sandokar people.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty…?” Ismail asked, looking at Azadin with complicated feelings.

It had already been proven that Azadin was the true Divine King and a miracle worker.

However, despite that, the counterattack from the established order was relentless.

The kings of other kingdoms and the King’s Church opposed the New Testament that Azadin was promoting as a new doctrine. Instead of uniting humanity, they were attacking him.

The fact that Azadin’s lineage was of the Herald Clan also fueled their attacks.

As darkness gradually engulfed the world, they hated Azadin’s origins and rejected the new order and doctrine he advocated, joining hands with the darkness to oppose him.

Any normal person would feel anger, but Azadin didn’t seem particularly upset.

‘If I were to say anything about this, I wouldn’t have been able to endure when I was a nuisance within the Herald Clan,’ Ismail thought.

He felt conflicted towards Azadin, who simply said that and still insisted on his position, willingly sacrificing his own life for the people of Sandokar.

The man who had taken Midiam away from him, and the man who had such absurd ideas from the first time he saw him that he couldn’t possibly accept him.

However, as he watched Azadin burn himself like a candle to shed light for other Hybrids, whom he didn’t even know, Ismail felt a subtle anger towards those other Hybrids.

‘In the end, I like this person,’ Ismail realized with horror.

He felt defeated, as if he had been completely overcome.

But then, a warm energy emanated from Azadin.

The voice of Ara’el, a guardian spirit-like being who protected Azadin, was waking him up.

“Hmm… Ah, Midiam, Ismail. Was I asleep?”

Azadin opened his eyes.

“Your Majesty.”

“Enemies are coming. Wake the soldiers.”

Azadin said this and got up from his seat, stretching.

“They really don’t let me rest properly.”

“Still, it’s a relief that you can rest even this much. Before Your Majesty took care of us, we couldn’t even sleep like this.”

With the sound of bells ringing from all around, the soldiers woke up.

A large Bri force was approaching the north gate of Sandokar Castle.

They were not the usual brown-furred Bri, but white-furred Bri. Among the Northern Bri, who looked much larger and more brutal than the Southern Bri, humans could be seen.

And at their head, the witch Camilla and Kuntach, riding a giant wolf, were approaching.

“As expected of the great Divine King, Your Majesty Azadin. To think you would break my curse so easily,” Camilla said, greeting them gracefully.

Then, Indim suddenly shot an arrow. A hidden arrow, a technique often used by the Aragasa people, flew in a curve through the darkness of the night, aiming for Camilla’s head.

However, Kuntach swung his club and knocked the arrow away.

“You bastard! My sister!”

“Indim.”

Azadin stopped Indim.

“Um. No, it was just a greeting. Anyway, that bitch is a traitor, right?”

“Shut up, Indim.”

“…….”

When Seraph also criticized Indim, he shut his mouth.

“Camilla. Well, it’s not like you swore allegiance to me, but I thought we were friends, so can you tell me why you’re doing this? I think you can at least do that much.”

“Haha. Of course, Your Majesty Azadin,” Camilla said with a smile.

“…Why did you kill Count Ibichek?”

“Because he’s my father.”

“What?”

Count Ibichek’s children were outraged at that statement.

“Where did that dirty witch come from, spouting nonsense!?”

“To take our father’s life and tarnish his honor!”

“No, everyone, calm down,” Azadin said, stopping them and then asking, “You claim that you killed Count Ibichek because he was your father, but you were a member of the witch coven even before you killed him, right? Won’t you tell me the reason?”

The Shade Hags listen to the grievances and pleas of women with supernatural powers, and in return, they take their souls as collateral and make them witches, their minions.

As far as Azadin remembered, Camilla was a witch from the beginning.

In other words, the reason she became a witch, the plea she wanted to fulfill even by selling her soul, was not the death of Count Ibichek.

Count Ibichek was just killed because she had become stronger as a witch, not the reason she sold her soul.

“My mother was Galizia, a maid of Count Ibichek. I don’t think you guys would say you don’t know her?”

“…….”

“Ga, Galizia?”

Count Ibichek’s children seemed to have something on their minds, and they withdrew their anger, looking bewildered instead.

“Well, it’s not even a story that a maid in a noble family gives birth to an illegitimate child. If you’re lucky, you become a concubine, and if you’re unlucky, you get killed. Your fate is decided by the noble’s will, like livestock, right? So even if your mother framed my pregnant mother as a ring thief and beat her and kicked her out, I wouldn’t hold that much of a grudge,” Camilla said with a smile.

“My mother, who was being beaten to death while pregnant, was taken in by an Orc wizard, and she gave birth to me, and later my younger brother, Kuntach. Then, after our stepfather died, we had no money, no guardian, and my brother was a half-orc… The gates of hardship were wide open. Well, I lived by petty theft, but I became a witch when I killed a clergyman who tried to rape me.”

“Is that so?”

“So, Your Majesty Azadin. I liked you. A Herald Clan member and a Divine King! Is there anyone who can give such a big blow to the arrogant nobles and clergymen! When the Shade Hags whispered to me to betray you, to kill you, and sometimes even forced me, I desperately endured it because I wanted to be of help to you!”

“Then why did you betray me?” Azadin asked her.

“The problem is that you’re trying to win over the existing nobles, royals, and even clergymen. These guys are not worth saving!”

“……….”

“You just accepted these dirty and despicable guys as long as they accepted the New Testament, while maintaining their previous positions?! Even after the Pimbulbert disaster is over, they will still live as kings and nobles, living lavishly with their inherited land and wealth. What change will there be even if your New Testament is added to that, King Azadin?”

“If I were to make an excuse about that, Camilla, things in the world don’t just happen right away just because I point my finger and say do this or do that. Just moving soldiers requires a terrible amount of administrative power. If we destroy the existing system, it might feel good right away, but in the end, the damage will be borne entirely by the people.”

The country that Azadin was trying to create was not a country where the existing kings and nobles ruled as they pleased, but a country ruled by law and parliament. Naturally, it required more administrative power than before.

To the educated class, Azadin’s actions looked like reform, but to people like Camilla, who had been wandering in the lower classes, it only felt like a collusion between the educated class and the nobles.

“Well, I know you have your reasons. But I’m already a witch who sold her soul to the Hags. There’s no turning back now.”

“Haven’t you considered that those Hags are working with the Northern Empire to oppress me?”

“What?”

“Currently, we are under attack from the Chitai Kingdom. The Northern Empire, the person at the top of the existing system, the kings and nobles you hate, is in a relationship with the Shade Hags and is moving you. Otherwise, there’s no way they could have gathered even the Northern Bri to attack at this timing. Where do you think those white-furred Bri came from?”

“…….”

“To people who are suffering, including Camilla, it might seem like I’m taking a half-hearted middle ground. I admit that. But this is just the beginning. You can’t be full on the first try, right? We have to move in a better direction step by step, in my generation, and then in the next generation. Destroying everything just because you don’t like it right now seems too harsh. It’s like telling a child to pull a longbow that even adults have a hard time with, right?”

“Pfft.”

Midiam, who was listening, burst out laughing. To think that he would use the persecution that the Herald Clan had inflicted on Azadin as a metaphor at this time.

“It doesn’t matter if the Shade Hags took your soul. Camilla. Let me save you.”

“Hehe. You’re such a bluffer. Is that even possible?”

“Of course.”

When Azadin said that, Azadin’s retainers, and even Midiam, were startled and looked at Azadin.

The power of the Divine King’s Scripture that Azadin possessed was clearly a power that could perform all sorts of miracles, but it also took a clear price.

“You must not do that to save that witch. Please prioritize your body,” Ismail said unintentionally.

If Azadin saved Camilla with the power of miracles, how much burden would it put on his body….

‘You have to live even one more day for Midiam! Why are you trying to throw away your life for such a trivial witch!?’

As Ismail shouted with that thought, Camilla, who heard those words, burst out laughing.

“Right. King Azadin. You shouldn’t do that. I’ve already fed the humans in the villages that I passed by to these Bri. My hands are already stained with blood, and Count Ibichek’s children, who are by your side, are they my half-siblings? They must be eager to kill me. If you forgive me, what will become of their feelings?”

“…….”

“So, let’s fight. Anyway, in this life, you and I were destined to meet as enemies.”

Camilla said that and raised her hand. At her signal, the Bri army launched an offensive.