The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 442

“Well, he must be upset because he lost so many high-ranking undead this time. And it’s true that I deployed the undead on more dangerous missions.”

“No, to hold a grudge over that…”

What is the reason why necromancers learn necromancy in the first place?

It’s to pass on tasks that are dangerous for humans to the undead.

Between living humans and dead undead, isn’t it natural that the lives of living humans are more precious?

However, from the perspective of undead with self-awareness, their thoughts are bound to be different.

Yet, if Azadin were to treat the undead and humans equally, it would be a fatal blow to his already flawed reputation as a king.

“It’s not like I was trying to sacrifice only the undead. It’s just that the Wisdom Order was too powerful. But because I usually boast a lot, they probably think I deliberately sacrificed them and are not in a good mood.”

“Then…”

“Still, Sir Sork needs me now. Even if our feelings are hurt and he knows that I will eventually not acknowledge the undead, he won’t attack me. Because… even though now is when I’m most vulnerable, why would he bother to risk his own life to kill someone who’s going to die anyway?”

“………”

Surprisingly, Azadin was using his own illness as one of his cards.

“Isn’t that just an assumption? Can you bet your life on such an uncertain basis?”

“Ah, Ismail. Among the things I’m betting on, my life is the cheapest and lightest.”

“Your life is not just yours, Your Majesty.”

Ismail was angry at Azadin for speaking so lightly of his own life. Even if he was like this, he was still Mideiam’s husband, and if he died, wouldn’t Mideiam be plunged into sorrow?

Azadin seemed to agree with that point.

“That’s right. That’s why I’m worried too. Originally, I thought I was just living a bonus life, but as I’ve been doing this, I’ve become quite attached to it. *Sigh*….”

Azadin coughed up blood again.

“Your Majesty….”

“Still, shall we move? Since I’ve become attached.”

Even while bleeding and not in a normal state, Azadin rose from his chair.

*********

The Wisdom Order’s expeditionary force had not yet completely retreated.

They were using the villages below Fireglyph, and several towns and cities they had already captured and turned into outposts, as their bases.

They were reorganizing their forces to launch another attack, using the ships that had originally gathered to transport supplies and food for Fireglyph to transport troops.

However, their bases were attacked at that time.

The supervisors overseeing the work, and the priests managing the beings whose Nether corruption had deepened to the point where they could no longer be called human, had their heads cut off.

The Herald Clan, known as the Kingslayers, had infiltrated the camp, and their top assassins were carrying out assassinations.

Fortunately for Azadin, he had two members of the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon [a group of elite assassins within the Herald Clan], Seraph and Indim, under his command.

When the two, said to be the best in their generation within the Herald Clan, began to wreak havoc in the camp, the organization of the Wisdom Order, which already had few lower-ranking officers and front-line commanders, collapsed.

The Wisdom Order, intoxicated by the power of the Nether [a dark, corrupting energy], and having lost their reason, was carrying out strategies with a very small number of commanders, so disrupting those few connections only increased the chaos.

Of course, assassination is not a panacea.

No matter how skilled Seraph and Indim were, they would not recklessly enter an enemy camp filled with skilled individuals.

However, the Wisdom Order currently had Nether beasts with powers that defied logic, but they lacked paladins and proper priests.

They were vulnerable to assassination and sabotage.

And as the mid-level officials were assassinated and plunged into chaos, news from the rear reached them.

‘The Courage Order and the Mercy Order have risen again!’

When the Wisdom Order became corrupted by the power of the Nether, the two orders were pushed back by the Wisdom Order’s power, and most of their high-ranking priests and knights were annihilated.

However, they were not all killed.

A significant number of knights escaped outside the castle, and these individuals regrouped and launched an uprising within Saint Mallory.

What was even more surprising was that these orders, the Courage and Mercy Orders, were backed by the support of King Azadin of Banlung.

Although Banlung, Arangi, and Coxhall were close to the territory of the Rescue Knights [a religious order of knights], it would not have been easy for support troops to move so quickly to support the two orders.

In other words, the story was that King Azadin knew that the assassination would succeed the moment he sent assassins to Fireglyph, and had dispatched support troops in advance.

While the Chitai offensive was in full swing, Azadin abandoned the Chitai side and focused all his efforts on seizing control of the Rescue Knights.

With the expedition already failing, and even their main base shaking, the Wisdom Order was taken aback.

Unable to attack Fireglyph any longer, they had no choice but to turn the direction of their army.

*********

The Saint Mallory Fortress had high and thick walls, said to have been built by giants or angels, not humans.

A fortress that was normally impossible to besiege, but it was also the largest trading port responsible for the food supply of the entire human race.

In a place called the place where a thousand gates and ten thousand roads are connected, the Courage Order and the Mercy Order, who had already had this place as their sphere of influence, easily entered and launched an uprising.

They rescued their comrades who had been imprisoned in the corrupted Wisdom Order’s prisons, and with the support of the people, ordinary soldiers, and the coastal guards and police who managed the docks, they quickly seized control of the eastern part of the city where the port was located.

As the war situation deteriorated, the Wisdom Order could no longer hide their true colors and unleashed Nether monsters in the middle of the city during the day.

Of course, it was impossible to hide their corruption as the appearances of the increasingly corrupted Celestials changed, but until then, they had at least tried to hide it while being mindful of the people’s eyes. They had thrown away even that minimal pretense.

However, the Courage and Mercy Orders were already prepared for that.

Along with the priests supported by Azadin’s army, the Rescue Knights, armed with dwarven weapons and cannons from Banlung, continued their offensive without caring whether the enemy brought out monsters or even worse.

“This is amazing.”

The Telbarin Guild, which had been active in the Arangi Kingdom region, had joined this southern front.

The Telbarin Guild had distanced themselves from Azadin to avoid being used by him due to their relationship with the Northern Empire, but Erasmaya, the Telbarin supervisor who was active in the Arangi Kingdom, and the elf merchants under her command, had joined Azadin’s army and the Rescue Knights alliance as camp followers.

They watched Azadin and the Rescue Knights alliance’s winning streak and had complex expressions, realizing that Azadin had achieved what the Northern Empire had dreamed of.

“To take such a strong move, even pulling troops and support from Naisandokar. Amazing. He’s using a truly reckless mercenary tactic. But since that gamble worked, he’s indeed a great man.”

Erasmaya was in awe of Azadin’s potential.

“But then, what happens now?”

A young elf, a distant relative of Erasmaya, asked.

“Even if we lose Naisandokar, it doesn’t matter if we get Saint Mallory. Originally, transporting food by land is costly. Being able to transport food and supplies from the Chadra Plateau by water will allow us to complete the logistics network more easily, even if the route is longer.”

“The strategic value of Naisandokar disappears. Is that it?”

“That’s right. Of course, Naisandokar is like Azadin’s back door, so we can’t just let it be beaten….”

The strategic importance of Naisandokar disappears, and it just becomes a common back door.

That alone is a great achievement, but Azadin also gained legitimacy by gaining the firm support of the other two orders of the Rescue Knights.

He becomes the protector of one of the great religions that divide the world.

“However, that’s only if we win this Saint Mallory offensive, isn’t it? And coincidentally, we have our former slave in Azadin’s army.”

“You mean that minotaur?”

“Yes. The mark remains.”

The slave traders of the Telbarin Guild had been researching the magic of subjugation that bound races with powerful bodies like minotaurs as slaves since the Naga Empire era.

It was thanks to this magic that they were favored as supervisors managing slaves in the Naga Empire.

The minotaur race were slaves of the elves, and Selim was one of those slaves who had accidentally flowed out of the Telbarin Guild.

“It’ll be useless. That guy isn’t in a position that affects the operation.”

Erasmaya coldly assessed him.

Selim’s role in Azadin’s army was the captain of the Men-at-Arms, the line man of the heavy infantry, the captain of the unit that played the role of the anvil in the hammer and anvil tactic.

Although the Men-at-Arms led by Selim were an elite unit, Azadin’s army also had the Arangian Guard, which was a superior version of them, the Celestial Fire in the cavalry, and the Dwarven Musketeers in the riflemen, so it was not a formation that would collapse just by taking out Selim.

Of course, taking out Selim now would have a negative impact on the war situation, but wouldn’t that be revealing the fact that the Telbarin Guild could exert influence over Selim at any time for too cheap a price?

A hidden weapon should be used when it can inflict the greatest damage.

“I just hope the Wisdom Order has some power left. Hmm?”

At that moment, a cold snowflake fell on Erasmaya’s nose.

“Ah….”

The elves who looked up at the sky saw snow falling from the sky.

“Summer is over.”

The short summer of Pymbulbert was over.

And above the clouds that were scattering snow, a huge shadow revealed its majesty.

At that moment….

-Wooooooo!

The entire city began to wail.

Red blood poured from the eyes of the stone statues created throughout Saint Mallory.

It was a great tremor signaling the end of the short summer, a period favorable to humans.

That was not all.

The city’s sewers were overflowing with blood. The sticky blood quickly filled up to the soldiers’ ankles, and the chillingly cold wind froze the soldiers’ feet soaked in blood.

-Crack, crack!

Ice floes appeared in the sea off Saint Mallory, which should have been warm and clear.

Usually, ice floes are formed when freshwater, which has a higher freezing point than seawater, freezes and flows down the river mouth into the sea, but this ice was formed when seawater froze and was swept into the city by the waves.

The ice crashed against the sides of the ships docked at the port, damaging them.

Ships that had not yet docked at the pier were overturned or shaken by colliding with icebergs, and the sailors who fell into the sea died instantly.

“Well, well. The heavens are helping us.”

“Is this helping us?”

The young elf of the Telbarin Guild was bewildered.

“If the Nether beings win, this land will become hell. But….”

“That’s why you still don’t understand politics. You immature one. Think from the perspective of the Northern Empire or the priests of the existing King’s Church. If it is revealed that they were wrong and that a former Herald Clan member is the chosen one, the authority of the church will fall to the ground, and that would be their ruin, wouldn’t it? On the other hand, the era of the Nether or the rule of the Naga Empire is a pain that humanity has already experienced long ago. Yet, humanity did not perish.”

“Does that mean they would betray the chosen one of the angels?”

“Yes. That’s what humans are. Compared to the darkness of humans, the Nether gods are rather pure. Because they are just pure, alien beings. The darkness of the same humans blocks the king of destiny chosen by God. This can be called a human eulogy in another sense.”

The blizzard was getting stronger, signaling the end of the short summer.