The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 450

Azadin alternated between riding his hippogriff, Firewinter, and the ghost ram, pushing through the winter winds on a forced march to Sandokar.

It was a grueling march for a body barely resurrected from death, but the dream and ideal he yearned for whipped him on more fiercely than any tyrant, driving him through the biting, knife-like wind.

However, as he reached the Sandokar region, an unusual sight stopped him in his tracks.

Horrific corpses lined the roadside.

For at least three leagues along the road leading to the Sandokar gate, bodies were strung up along the way.

Seeing living people among them, it was clear that these weren’t corpses placed there from the start, but rather living people hung up until they died.

“Ughhh…”

The groans of the people strangely carried on the strong wind to Azadin’s ears.

“Wa… water…”

A Chitai man, his lips cracked from lack of water, groaned.

A young boy soldier, barely past his childhood, lay in agony, too weak to struggle.

The arms tied to the ropes were turning black with necrosis [tissue death due to lack of blood supply].

“You can’t do something this troublesome without passion. And the name of that passion must be hatred.”

Azadin clicked his tongue at the gruesome sight.

It was likely a retaliatory act for the brutal massacre committed by the Chitai people.

However, in these dangerous times when venturing outside of fortresses and villages was risky, to hang people so far out…

He had an ominous feeling that their hatred wouldn’t end with just killing these people.

Azadin’s Grimslaw mace flew through the air, whistling as it went.

At the end of the mace was the Blue Executioner, which cleanly severed the ropes holding the boy.

The boy fell to the ground. He was so weakened that Azadin worried he might be injured by the fall, but luckily, the ground was covered in snow, so he was unharmed.

“Do you want water?”

Azadin took out his canteen and offered it to him.

The boy trembled, unable to even lift his hand.

His entire arm tissue was already necrotic, and he wouldn’t live long even if he drank water.

Azadin had no choice but to feed him water directly.

“Kuhh, kerhk.”

The boy drank as if possessed.

His lips were so parched that his body wouldn’t be able to handle the water if he drank it all at once, but he continued to drink futilely, as if a demon from hell was trying to satisfy an insatiable hunger.

“……..”

Azadin examined the boy soldier’s condition. To save him, he would have to use the king’s healing.

However, he also understood the anger of those who had hung them here.

The sight of the Chitai nomadic cavalry massacring people was an act of unspeakable atrocity, and this boy, who now looked like a pitiful victim, had likely come here willingly, killing and violating people.

“I can ease your pain.”

Azadin said to the boy soldier and raised his hand above his head.

The Grimslaw mace was drawn into his hand.

“You are…”

The boy soldier looked back and forth between Azadin and the hippogriff he had brought.

“You’re the king.”

“That’s right.”

“I want to live. Please save me.”

The boy soldier looked at his own hands and feet.

His hands and feet, which had been hanging in the cold for so long, were necrotic, and his frostbitten fingers and toes were no longer the flesh of a living human, but rotten meat.

And…

“Ugh!”

Perhaps it was because he had drunk water too quickly. The boy vomited up nothing and collapsed on the ground.

Azadin felt sorry for the boy.

“You drank water with a weakened body, so even though your lips are wet, the pain you have to endure has only increased. I’m sorry. I should have stopped it.”

“Ah, no. Cough, I still want to drink.”

“……”

“Please, ease the pain. Not just mine, but everyone’s pain…”

“I understand.”

Azadin brought down his axe and cleanly severed the boy’s neck.

Azadin had the power to heal this boy, but that power came at the cost of his own lifespan.

And he also had to consider the feelings of those who had hung him here.

However, killing someone he could have saved was solely Azadin’s responsibility, so this boy’s death was also Azadin’s responsibility.

Azadin threw the Grimslaw mace into the sky without even looking at it.

The Grimslaw mace moved freely, cutting the ropes of the corpses hanging along the road, ending their lives and dropping their bodies to the ground.

Azadin used necromancy to move the corpses, gathering them together, and performed a funeral according to the rites of the Rescue Knights, freeing them from their suffering.

While he was doing this, a scouting party appeared behind Azadin.

“What kind of bastard is releasing the Chitai beasts!?”

“Wait a minute. That person is…”

The scouting party recognized Azadin’s hippogriff and realized that Azadin was their king.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Huh? Your Majesty?”

The scouting party quickly bowed their heads to Azadin.

“What is going on here?”

“Well…”

“I’m not blaming you. The Chitai people have committed atrocities, and the people’s resentment is reaching the sky. Of course, you would want them to pay for it. I, too, often inflict long-lasting pain on those who commit great sins by harming their bodies.”

Azadin would inflict permanent damage to the arms or legs of those who harmed others with violence, and he would damage the genitals of those who forcibly violated others, causing them long-lasting pain.

He understood their desire for revenge.

“But this sight is still painful to see. To recklessly throw away your own precious lives just to hate and inflict pain on them. I would understand if you had just killed them cleanly or driven them away.”

“We are sorry.”

“Well, I understand your feelings, but it’s complicated.”

Azadin also understood the people’s desire for revenge, so he didn’t press the matter further.

“Then we will guide you to Sandokar. Although Your Majesty’s valor is so great that everyone admires you, there are assassins swarming around this area. It wouldn’t hurt to be careful.”

“Alright. I ask for your help.”

Azadin headed to Sandokar with the scouting party.

*********

The Sandokar gate had become the front line after the fall of Naisandokar.

Inside the gate, on the side not facing Naisandokar, military tents stretched endlessly outside the walls, and soldiers and refugees gathered, cutting down nearby trees to make various equipment.

They were making tent poles, spear shafts for weapons, handles, and arrows.

But wasn’t there a black flag hanging on the Sandokar gate wall?

“Where is the Count? I heard he needed healing magic.”

“He didn’t survive between last night and this morning,” the scouting party members said.

“Ah. I see.”

The Count of Sandokar’s family was a rare noble family that did not harm people.

Of course, it wasn’t without flaws, but compared to other nobles, the whole family lived a restrained life.

So the people here respected the Count, and the fact that the Count’s family was about to be wiped out by assassins had sparked anger.

Everyone’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, and they seemed full of hatred for the Chitai.

When Azadin arrived at the Sandokar gate, Karna, the commander of the Celestial Fire Knights, and Izmilla, the vice-commander, came out to greet Azadin.

“Your Majesty. You must be tired from your long journey.”

Izmilla’s eyes were shadowed as she spoke.

The ghastly specters of war were strangling her, and even though there was nothing physically wrong with her, the shadow of death was cast over her face.

She, who had been an innocent and pure girl, had seen the horrors of the battlefield and her heart had died.

Not only her, but most of the Celestial Fire were like that.

Karna, who had a lot of worldly experience as a reincarnate, also greeted Azadin with a tired and resigned look.

“We were unable to prevent the assassination, even though we were here.”

“No, there’s no need to blame yourself for that, Sir Karna. That’s not what I expect from you. More importantly, who was it that strung up the Chitai people along the road?”

“The people did it out of a desire for revenge.”

“Are you saying that the people themselves went outside the fortress or the soldier’s camp and hung them up?”

That couldn’t be.

The Chitai cavalry was roaming outside the fortress. Even if that wasn’t the case, there were various monsters swarming, and it was a harsh environment where a sudden gust of wind could cause frostbite.

It didn’t make sense that people, not military units, would be working outdoors and hanging people in such a place.

“The soldiers also participated, but I am sorry to say that we could not manage who participated and how much.”

Karna admitted his lack of control.

“I’m not trying to criticize you. But the public sentiment has really become fierce.”

“Yes. The things that the Chitai cavalry are doing are truly terrible. That’s why the cultists have been even more rampant recently.”

“Cultists?”

“Yes. The followers of Mezeri and Atra are increasing. Sir Zibeck is cracking down on them.”

What Azadin’s New Testament taught people was the king’s duty to protect the people, but this was not much of a comfort in a war between kings.

Of course, Azadin’s clergy condemned the other side as not being true kings and not following the New Testament, but that condemnation could not soothe the hearts of the bereaved families.

The bereaved families actually wanted to see and drink blood.

“Where and how many prisoners are being held?”

“……..”

Karna closed his mouth.

“Did you kill them all?”

“Yes. Because the residents and soldiers wanted it.”

“Then isn’t it that everyone participated, not just a few?”

“We were able to stop them somehow until the Count of Sandokar was ambushed. But when the assassin appeared and they fell into critical condition, we couldn’t stop them. And everyone thinks that the food to feed the prisoners is a waste. They are even eating human flesh outside, so why would they feed precious grain to the prisoners?”

“Hmm.”

Azadin clicked his tongue.

“It’s not enough even if we gather the strength of humanity, but now people would willingly join hands with monsters to kill other people. The same goes for worshiping the Kurt Pantheon.”

The fact that the number of people worshiping the Kurt Pantheon, the pantheon of non-human monsters, was increasing meant that there was a major crack in Azadin’s plan.

“Sir Zibeck is here?”

“Yes. He’s chasing the Mezeri apostles…”

“Hmm?”

Before the New Testament Church’s power was stabilized, Azadin had entrusted Zibeck, a former paladin of the King’s Church, with the task of establishing the early foundations of the church and training clergy and paladins.

Later, with the conversion of former clergy and paladins, and the absorption of the Rescue Knights organization, the foundation of the New Testament Church was now established, but Zibeck was training new paladins among them and leading activities to catch criminals and cultists in the city.

In other words, Zibeck had now become an inquisitor.

‘He was originally a disciple of the inquisitor Zekt.’

While the inquisitors Zekt and Astadear were in charge of subjugating the fishmen of the southern sea route to make use of their monster hunting abilities, Zibeck was practically in charge of the inquisition work among humans.

‘I’ve been so busy that Sir Zibeck has taken on the most mentally draining work.’

Suddenly, he became worried about Zibeck’s current state.