The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 446

“It will save face with the other elders.”

Sion Etar had defected from opposing Azadin to joining his side.

Currently, Sion Etar was under heavy fire from the Herald Clan elders, who were using the excuse that he had pushed his own cousin to become queen. They criticized him for recklessly accepting a traitor from a clan that wasn’t even one of the Five Great Bloodlines—the shameless Azadin—into their bloodline.

But wouldn’t the other elders acknowledge it now? The Northern Empire didn’t particularly favor the Herald Clan, and their situation wasn’t exactly great either. From the Herald Clan’s perspective, it might be an ugly sight to reach out to someone they had persecuted, but joining hands with Azadin was the right answer.

“It seems they’ve gone into a meeting.”

“Then let’s keep a close watch and wait. Let’s get some alcohol and women for the attendants and try to extract information.”

Sion Etar approached to win over the envoys’ attendants.

*********

With alcohol, women, gambling, and pleasure, the attendants were easily swayed, and information flowed out without even asking. Karasar and Tarasar were demanding additional aid from the Northern Empire and requesting to borrow ships so they could participate in the looting of Azadin’s forces. It seemed that the fact that Chita had plundered Naisandokar and made a huge profit had sparked a sense of competition in the other two kingdoms.

It was said that even a saint would jump over a neighbor’s fence after three days of starvation, but it was ridiculous to see kings, who were supposed to have the blood of gods, turn into bandits when faced with cold and famine. However, they had their own justification. Azadin was not a true king but a villain who had usurped the throne and was an enemy of the church, so defeating him was the sacred duty of the kings, who were the guardians of the church. However, they lacked ships, so they wanted to borrow the Northern Empire’s North Sea Fleet to transport troops and supplies. That was the kind of talk that was going around.

“I should tell King Azadin to deal with Chita soon. Since Chita is taking advantage of King Azadin and doing well, other guys are starting to look down on him and act up.”

Sion Etar pondered how to achieve good results through the information he had extracted from the attendants. But then, suddenly, the outside of the window became noisy.

“Fire!”

“Oh my god! The embassy!”

Sion Etar, startled, approached the window when it happened. Suddenly, sharp arrows flew in through the window balcony. Sion Etar, who was dressed as a merchant, hastily used the dagger he had tucked into his belt and the hem of his clothes to deflect the incoming arrows, but these arrows contained terrifying power. The heavy weight, almost like a javelin, pushed Sion Etar backward. The expensive dagger cracked, the hem of his clothes tore, and his arm was cut, causing blood to flow.

“Kuh!”

“What? I heard you were a Herald Clan elder, but you’re still young? To block these arrows, you’re quite something?”

“Who are you?”

Sion Etar was bewildered as he saw them climbing onto the balcony. In this vicinity, Etar Bloodline servants and servants selected from the Council of Elders were stationed. The fact that enemies had appeared here meant that the encirclement of those stationed servants had been breached…. In this Hybris Continent, the only ones who could silently breach the Herald Clan’s encirclement like this would be other members of the Herald Clan.

“Are you from the Northern Aragasa?”

“Northern Aragasa, my foot. You guys are the Southern Aragasa.”

The ones who climbed onto the balcony were a muscular woman, even larger than most men, a stocky middle-aged man, and a tall half-elf. Surprisingly, all three of them possessed the Aragasa’s symbol, the Crescent Moon Bow. They openly resented Sion Etar’s term for them as the Northern Aragasa.

“We are the real Aragasa, and you are the corrupted kin possessed by the Emperor’s ghost.”

“You’re crazy. You guys. Just because you’re slaves of the Northern Empire, you think you can take on us, who were once the Emperor’s heralds?”

The Herald Clan secretly looked down on the Northern Aragasa. The Northern Aragasa’s archery skills were similar to the Herald Clan’s, but they didn’t have the magic book, ‘Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon’. Whether or not magic was naturally inherited within the bloodline was an overwhelming difference that was hard to overcome even with post-natal training. But… then how could these guys have so easily eliminated Sion Etar’s subordinates and arrived here?

Sion didn’t let his guard down and looked for something to use as a weapon. Unfortunately, because he had been entertaining the envoys’ attendants, he had put away his weapons, so the only proper weapons he had were the dagger he carried and the Crescent Moon Bow at his waist. It was a miscalculation that he never dreamed enemies would enter such a heavily guarded place.

“You’ve soaked the ambassador’s subordinates in alcohol, drugs, and women. This alone is very good circumstantial evidence. To dare to assassinate the kingdom’s envoys.”

“Too much useless talk. Samira. We need to capture that guy alive. He’s the main culprit in the assassination of the envoys.”

“……”

Sion Etar realized that they were already planning to kill the envoys and pin the blame on him. Then they wouldn’t kill him. He had to run for his life….

“It seems you’ve underestimated me.”

“No, handsome. Not underestimating. It’s just that we’re too strong.”

The woman called Samira stepped forward and drew a curved blade. It wasn’t a typical glaive but a massive, curved greatsword that looked like it could slice a bear in one blow. The veins on her arms bulged.

“Against me, who is practically unarmed…”

At that moment, Sion Etar suddenly activated his magic.

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon: Twilight!

Sion Etar used the magic of Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon to jump out of the window and onto the roof of the elf mansion where embers were flying from the burning embassy. The moment Samira leaped after him, Sion Etar hastily pulled two arrows from his quiver and cast a spell on them.

-Two Cranes!

He cast the magic of the white crane and the yellow crane and fired the arrows. The two arrows each drew different trajectories, gathering magic and momentum as they flew towards Samira, but….

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon: Twilight!

Surprisingly, Samira also used Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon to instantly close the distance to Sion Etar.

‘What is this?’

Startled, Sion Etar kicked up a roof tile, but Samira swung her greatsword, striking with the force to slice Sion Etar’s side. Sion Etar barely managed to twist his body to avoid it, but the flesh on his side was cut long and shallow, and blood splattered. The roof tile that Sion kicked up was powerful enough to break the skull of an average human, but Samira instead headbutted the tile, shattering it in mid-air. Her skin was torn, and blood was gushing out, but she grinned, stuck out her tongue, and laughed, “Bleh.”

“Good. You’re putting up a good fight. I’m excited.”

“You guys. How did you use Kazas Hese….”

Sion Etar stopped speaking and this time used the magic of the Blue Pine. This colorless magic, which temporarily lifts the opponent into the air, was sudden and impossible to resist, making it the best magic for causing an enemy to fall to their death or changing their direction to create an opening. But Samira smiled and leaped. Again, using the power of Kazas Hese [a type of magic], she charged and instantly closed the distance to Sion Etar, swinging her greatsword.

-Clang!

Surprisingly, it was Samira’s companion, the half-elf, who blocked the greatsword. He stepped between Sion and Samira, blocking the greatsword with his scythe and clicking his tongue.

“Are you trying to kill him? Samira?”

“I just can’t help but love seeing a handsome man covered in blood from my blade?! I won’t kill him. Just make him a little crazy…”

“Kuh?!”

Sion Etar was bewildered that the enemies were actually toying with him. It was true that he didn’t have proper weapons because he was disguised as a merchant, but aside from that, the enemies were too strong. ‘Is it because I’ve fallen out of active duty as an elder! No, even when I was in active duty, there weren’t guys like this….’ Sion Etar gathered his magic to escape somehow, but a cold chill ran down his spine. Another one, the short Northern Aragasa, was already behind him.

“I was going to let Samira fight him alone. Never mind. You’re not worth it.”

“What!?”

At that moment, spiderwebs shot up from the ground and instantly wrapped around Sion Etar.

“Is this what a Herald Clan elder is like? Weak. It seems it’s true that most of them have gone bad after fighting a civil war.”

“Hey, he wasn’t that weak. He didn’t have any weapons. If he’s weak, what does that make me, who got covered in blood by him?”

“Samira. You have a problem with how much you like bloodshed.”

“What about the rest of the Herald Clan? There must be some we haven’t caught yet. Hmm. It seems our subordinates are seeing quite a bit of blood. See? I told you they weren’t easy.”

“Let them live and send them back. We need to send a warning to the enemies. We don’t need to increase the sacrifices of our agents by fighting a life-or-death battle with the Herald Clan.”

“Hmm, okay.”

The Northern Aragasa captured Sion Etar alive and disappeared into the darkness, leaving the burning embassy behind.

*********

The news spread that King Azadin had mobilized the Herald Clan to assassinate the envoys of Tarasar and Karasar. Azadin was already suspected of assassinating the kings of Chita and Karasar. This time, he had committed another assassination, and the fact that Sion Etar, an elder of the Herald Clan, was captured as the perpetrator was considered conclusive evidence. Of course, Azadin denied the charges.

‘There is someone else who benefited from the assassination, so there is no reason for me to do it.’

‘Sion Etar is just an ordinary merchant, so let him go.’

‘If we move into winter, we won’t be able to fight anyway, and everyone will freeze to death. Wake up. This is not the time for us to fight each other. A king must protect his people.’

Everyone felt disgusted by the sight of him, a heinous criminal who dared to assassinate a king, lecturing the kings on what a king should be. Azadin ignored them, whether they did so or not, and inspected the southern sea route. He released Zekt, a former Inquisitor, Sir Astadeer, and Zibek to focus on subjugating the Merfolk and recovering Butuma and Korasar, which had become the territory of the Nagas. He didn’t even pay attention to Chita entering Naisandokar, occupying the land, and building an outpost to break through the Sandokar Gate. His attitude, as if he wouldn’t even bother dealing with the northern kings, made the northern kings feel insulted. In response, Cohen Lionheart of the Northern Empire could no longer tolerate it and declared that he would form an expeditionary force to conquer the shameless Azadin. The Northern Empire formed an alliance with Tarasar, Karasar, and Chita and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force. The Northern Empire, as the commander-in-chief, took responsibility for transporting military supplies and soldiers and mobilized the North Sea Fleet to transport the troops of Karasar and Tarasar to the south. It was the beginning of another war.