The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 449

“I never thought I’d see you in this remote place, Your Grace. What brings you so far?”

“…….”

Boemond was the former king of Karasar.

As the father of the late King Karasaim of Karasar, he held a high position and subtly, or rather openly, flaunted it.

Yet, he dared to demand an answer so boldly in front of lowly commoners.

Boemond expressed his displeasure at Zekt’s remark.

He was irritated that he, who should be revered like the sky, was not being honored.

However, Zekt was also royalty, and Astadear, who was with Zekt, was a former king.

There was no reason to bow down to Boemond.

“Please, come inside first. I apologize for bringing you to such a humble place.”

Surprisingly, Astadear, unable to watch any longer, stepped in to resolve the situation.

Only after they escorted Bishop Boemond into the cabin, as he wished, did he finally speak.

“Sir Astadear and Sir Zekt were like pillars of our church. But how could you turn your backs on the church and join this group of heretics? It is so regrettable that I came all this way myself.”

‘That guy gets all sulky over the smallest things, but he’s all happy now that Sir Astadear has given him some face.’

Zekt was dumbfounded, but Boemond continued to speak.

“That wicked, soulless heretic dared to kill the rightful Yaegas King, Karasaim, and the kingdom of Karasar is in deep sorrow. Originally, I was going to return to secular life to save the country from this chaos, but….”

“…….”

Everyone was speechless at Boemond’s shameless nonsense.

When Boemond was king, he massacred the people of Karasar, and when he lacked funds for his entertainment, he initiated unreasonable civil engineering projects to develop the royal demesne [royal land], causing tens of thousands of refugees.

He tried to resolve this through war by attacking Tarasar, the neighboring country, only to be soundly defeated. After repeated misrule, he was eventually driven out of the kingdom by his own children’s rebellion and exiled to the King’s Church.

‘Even if the royal family is annihilated, you won’t be returning to be king. What nonsense is he spouting now, the disgrace of the Yaegas King?’

However, he closed his eyes and trembled, as if savoring the tremor of his own words.

He exuded an air of self-importance, as if he could become king again at any time, but was holding back for the sake of the greater good.

“I want to know why such excellent pillars like you are helping such a wicked heretic.”

“Ah, yes. Since the royal lineage of Korasar and Butuma has been severed, we were promised the throne if we restore these two countries, you see?”

Zekt spoke directly.

It was something that shouldn’t have been said so easily, but he hated Boemond so much that he wanted to minimize the time he had to spend talking to him.

That’s why he made it clear that unless they came with an offer of this magnitude, they shouldn’t even dream of negotiating.

“Hmph! This heretic dares to trade the great throne of Yaegas like that! He is indeed a soulless piece of trash!”

Archbishop Boemond was furious to hear that Azadin was planning to arbitrarily appoint kings for the two kingdoms.

“The royal lines of Korasar and Butuma are severed, and the people there are suffering. But isn’t King Azadin the only one actually taking meaningful action to restore those two countries? The people are becoming refugees, and they’re at the point of cannibalism, yet you didn’t care. Now you call King Azadin soulless? What value is there in the souls of those who are worse than him?”

Astadear was furious at Boemond’s insult to Azadin.

Boemond knew that Astadear was someone who could do anything when drunk, so he quickly changed his attitude when Astadear became angry.

“Th-that’s precisely why your cooperation is needed. We are currently trying to secure ships from Karasar and Tarasar to subjugate the heretics and restore the royal lines of the two countries….”

Originally, Boemond had planned to become king himself and offer Zekt and Astadear positions as counts.

However, given Astadear’s firm stance and Zekt’s immediate reveal of their hand, it was clear that they were not the type to be swayed by a mere countship.

“So, you came all this way to try and persuade us? Just for that, you braved this dangerous southern sea route, where the Nagas [serpentine humanoids] are rampant?”

“That’s not all.”

Boemond gave a sinister smile.

*********

After that, Boemond tried to persuade Zekt and Astadear with various conditions, but none of them were worth listening to.

He offered a countship if they betrayed Azadin and handed over the southern sea route.

This was impossible since Azadin had already promised them the throne.

He also offered ridiculous titles like ‘King of Kings,’ which only showed the church’s nasty intention to manipulate people without spending a single penny.

In the end, when the negotiations broke down, Boemond returned to his ship, feigning regret.

However, that raised Zekt’s suspicion.

“What do you think, Sir Astadear?”

“Hmm. He’s still a disgusting fellow. I feel like drinking. I was trying to hold back, but it’s hard to stay sober.”

It seemed that Astadear, an alcoholic, wanted to drink again under this pretext.

“Boemond has always been lazy and reluctant to move. He’s just a perverted old man who likes to live luxuriously in a mansion, fondling young boys. The fact that he came all the way here is suspicious. Perhaps he plans to kill us after the negotiations and blame it on us? Or….”

Zekt frowned, looking at Boemond’s ship returning.

“Perhaps he has allied with the Naga Empire.”

It was suspicious that a high-ranking figure like the archbishop would come to this treacherous southern sea route himself, with so few escort ships.

Unlike the fishmen, who are loyal servants of Nether, the Nagas, who belong to the Kurt Pantheon [a group of gods], are capable of negotiation. Could it be that he came to make some kind of scheme by negotiating with the Nagas?

That prediction was accurate.

As soon as Boemond’s ship disappeared into the fog, junk ships in much poorer condition appeared.

These ships were packed with refugees on the verge of starvation, struggling to cross the foggy sea.

“……….”

The kingdoms of Tarasar and Karasar had loaded the refugees who had flocked to their territories, as well as their own abandoned people, onto coastal ships that could be destroyed by the waves at any moment, and sent them to Azadin’s kingdom through the southern sea route, where the Nagas were rampant.

*********

King Azadin’s new doctrine claims that the king’s sacred power comes not from bloodlines, but from protecting and safeguarding the people.

And to uphold that claim, he fed, clothed, and gave jobs to people who were considered less than livestock in other kingdoms, incorporating them into his system.

Other kings regarded Azadin’s actions as a rash act of immaturity.

They believed that if they did such a thing when Pimbulbert came, not only the lowly commoners but also the valuable ones, the royals, nobles, and clergy, would be in danger.

However, there were those who immediately saw that Azadin was sincere, and those were the Nagas.

The Naga Empire, through their intelligence network, moved the clergy of the King’s Church to implement this plan of loading refugees onto shabby ships and sending them to Azadin’s territory.

At first, there was naturally opposition.

They needed to transport a large amount of troops and supplies to directly attack Azadin.

Even if the ships were flimsy, they had to scrape together every last one. It made no sense to pull out ships to send refugees.

However, Bishop Boemond, who had been swayed by the Nagas, gathered unusable wrecks and scrap materials and gave them directly to the refugees.

The refugees, with the belief that they could live if they went to Azadin’s territory, repaired the ships themselves, and then crammed themselves onto those makeshift vessels, beginning their voyage of death.

Naturally, the Nagas who devised this plan did not touch these ships, so they were safely, and sometimes with the help of the Nagas, arriving smoothly in Azadin’s kingdom through the southern sea route.

*********

“Th-these shameless bastards!”

Zekt, seeing the refugees who had appeared on dilapidated wooden ships that seemed barely able to cross a calm lake, understood the situation in that moment.

They had gathered refugees and displaced people and sent them to the territory of the king they had insulted as a soulless heretic.

These guys were truly shameless.

Looking at the condition of the ships they had come on, it was a miracle that they had even crossed the sea teeming with Nagas and fishmen.

‘Miracles don’t happen often, that’s why they’re miracles. These guys. They’ve shamelessly allied with the Nagas.’

Currently, the Azadin army was successively reclaiming the granaries and sugar plantations of Butuma.

The Nagas had used this extreme measure to stop Azadin.

It also made sense that a timid and lazy clergyman like Boemond had come in person.

That guy wanted to use this as a merit to become king himself.

‘He thought he could gain merit and came out with that heavy ass of his. What should I do? King Azadin will surely try to accept all those refugees. Then we’re doomed.’

Zekt was panicking alone. The others firmly believed in King Azadin’s new doctrine and were trying to rescue the refugees. Even Astadear was worried about the refugees.

“Let’s rescue them first. The ships are in terrible condition, and the people are in such a dire state that they could starve to death at any moment.”

From the shabby junk ships, people were falling into the sea, unable to endure their hunger, and they were dying right before their eyes.

Astadear’s actions were befitting of a vassal of Azadin.

However, Zekt, who understood Azadin’s management style well, was different.

‘I can’t fall into this trap.’

Zekt, avoiding Astadear’s gaze, went behind the ship’s railing, stabbed his wrist, spilled a large amount of blood, and scattered it into the sea.

A black shadow appeared in the sea current.

-Kwaang!

The black shadow moved at a terrifying speed and attacked and destroyed the refugee ships.

The wooden wrecks and junk ships were so weak that even a slight touch caused a splash of water, and the ships broke in two.

The refugees, who had been starving for days and had not had enough water, died the moment they fell into the water and sank to the bottom of the sea.

-Thump!

-Kwaang!

As the refugee ships sank one after another with splashes of water, Astadear, unable to watch any longer, stepped forward.

“Fishmen!”

A powerful halo of light appeared around Astadear. Astadear released the iron stakes he was carrying, and the stakes spread out all at once, floating in his halo’s orbit like a peacock’s tail feathers.

“Hup!”

Astadear threw the iron stakes, which turned into light projectiles and flew, hitting the water’s surface.

Astadear continued to attack to chase the black shadow moving in the water.

Zekt clicked his tongue at the sight.

‘We really don’t work well together. But I can’t say anything about it.’

A bizarre situation began where Zekt tried to attack the refugee ships while avoiding Astadear’s attacks, and Astadear tried to save the refugee ships from Zekt’s attacks.