The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 97

A whistle pierced the air in the distance. The guards of Count Rantaric’s camp were blowing whistles, and a commotion began to rise from within the camp.

Someone had launched an attack on the Count’s camp.

“Ugh?! What? Is that really your doing?”

Yarabin, surprised by the sudden chaos, questioned Azadin.

“Calm down! Whether it’s his doing or not, we’ll deal with it now!”

Nephti, unfazed by the commotion, pointed her sword at Azadin.

“It’ll be tough, won’t it?”

Azadin drew his sword. But Nephti knew well, from the scent of blood she had caught when she first saw Azadin, and from the grimace of pain on his face.

This guy was injured, and the bravado he was showing was just a bluff! Even if he wasn’t injured, there was no reason for her to lose!

“I also don’t want to kill Ara’el’s brother, but I have no choice.”

Nephti attacked Azadin’s neck with a lightning-fast thrust. Azadin retreated, trying to deflect the sword.

It was an action based on his confidence that he was superior in strength to Nephti, a woman. But at that moment, Nephti switched to a wrist thrust.

She baited him to deflect and then thrust at his wrist!

Azadin had no choice but to step back further, and at that moment, Nephti threw a dagger with her left hand.

-Clang!

The daggers collided in mid-air. Azadin also threw a dagger as he retreated. As expected of messengers, they both acted similarly, but Nephti confirmed that her prediction was correct.

‘For a man, he’s so weak. Is his injury that bad?’

Seeing the daggers thrown by Azadin and Nephti bounce off each other, it seemed that Azadin’s strength was not great. Nephti circled around him, launching a series of thrusts.

-Thwack!

Azadin had anticipated a fight and was wearing chainmail, and the chains that were cut by the blade flew onto the fortress wall.

“Azadin!”

Midiam tried to help, but Yarabin blocked her path. When Jibek drew his sword, Yarabin swung his sickle, a large, forward-curved hook, aiming for his neck.

-Clash!

Jibek’s sword and Yarabin’s sickle intertwined.

“Not bad, Holy Knight!”

Yarabin unleashed a barrage of attacks, pushing Jibek back.

“Oh, what should I do?”

Midiam nocked an arrow but couldn’t shoot. The back-and-forth between Azadin and Nephti was too fast and intense, and even a sharpshooter wouldn’t dare to shoot first. But…

‘Huh?’

Azadin approached behind Yarabin.

“Ah!”

Nephti thrust at Azadin’s back, but Azadin was faster. And then another dagger flew. Azadin turned his back to Nephti and threw a dagger behind him.

Nephti deflected the dagger with her sword without thinking, but…

“Kuh?!”

With a loud crash, Nephti was pushed back. Her sword cracked, and her hand trembled. It was a much heavier blow than before.

If Nephti hadn’t turned her head quickly, the dagger Azadin threw would have hit her sword and gone straight into her head.

‘What, a wounded man with this kind of power?’

What was even more surprising was what happened next.

“Surprisingly light?”

Azadin lightly lifted Yarabin and threw him over the rampart.

“……?!”

Yarabin was not as strong as Kahsan, but he was still a large man. Although the messengers trained relentlessly and all possessed tremendous strength, to throw Yarabin like a pebble?

“……?!”

Jibek, Midiam, and Ismail were equally surprised.

They clearly knew that Azadin was injured, but when did his injury heal? He was moving so casually.

“Well, this should make things difficult for them, right? Ismail!”

“Yes.”

“Take care of the Foresight bird circling in the sky.”

“Understood.”

Ismail was swayed by the claims of the Ara’el tribe. As a member of a servant family of the Etar bloodline, he couldn’t help but be drawn to Ara’el, who advocated for a new order. Servant families had to dedicate themselves to the families they served for generations.

Even if they had the ability to become a messenger, if a child from the family they served was in the same cohort, they had to give their evaluation points to that child. Even if they developed romantic feelings for the person they served, it was impossible to dream of that love being fulfilled.

If they achieved great success as a messenger, they might be adopted or marry a child from a noble family with a low succession ranking, but that was a very lucky case, and most servants ended up as just servants.

In other words, even if Ismail remained loyal to Midiam as he was now, his future was not bright.

He had become a retainer, but with Ara’el’s rebellion, the entire Aragasa clan was shaken. So, he was secretly weighing Nephti’s group and Azadin, but Azadin had won.

‘I was going to watch and side with the winner, but I didn’t expect this man to win. But he’s amazing. How can he be so overwhelming even with that injury?’

Ismail, with a suspicious look at Azadin, shot a magic-infused arrow at the Foresight bird in the sky.

“Now then, Nephti.”

As Jibek and Azadin approached, Nephti realized that she had no chance of winning. From the beginning, she had underestimated Azadin too much. Above all, Azadin’s movements were smooth. There was no sign of the aftereffects of his injury.

When she first crossed swords with him, he acted like he was injured, but at some point, he stopped pretending and revealed his true colors.

“Tch! I was fooled! We’ll see!”

Nephti threw herself out of the fortress, then used her sword and hook to scrape against the fortress wall to slow down, landing gracefully on the ground. Jibek’s eyes widened at the sight.

“That’s amazing. How can she jump from this height?”

It was a height that would turn an ordinary person into a pancake, but she jumped down as if it were nothing. But then, Azadin pulled his cloak.

-Whoosh!

An arrow flew from the ground towards Jibek, who had stuck his head out of the fortress. Other messengers waiting below had shot the arrow. They had predicted that he would stick his head out to check if Nephti had jumped down.

The messengers who predicted that and shot the arrow were amazing, and Azadin, who predicted his comrades’ battle patterns and pulled Jibek back, was also amazing.

“Thank you. That was a close call. But what about your injury? Are you okay?”

“That’s…”

At that moment, a trapdoor under the fortress wall opened, and a person’s head popped out. It was Shati, the agent the Nagas [a race of serpent-like humanoids] had infiltrated into Salasmar.

“Hey, warm-blood! An undead army has appeared behind the Count! It seems they’re after the Divine King’s Scripture? Shouldn’t we run away?”

“Is that so? It’s faster than I expected.”

Azadin approached Shati.

“Are you okay, warm-blood? I don’t know if the Cobra Queen’s magic is working well.”

“Thanks to you.”

“Huh?”

Jibek, who was listening, was startled.

“Did you receive magic from the Kurt gods?”

“Yes.”

“But how is that possible…”

“It’s a long story, but to put it simply, that Naga woman has no choice but to cooperate with me, and the green magic of the Kurt gods is a power that boosts the metabolism of life. It can shorten a month-long recovery to about a week.”

“Then, it can’t be said that your body is completely healed.”

“Yes. Moreover, it’s magic made for the Naga’s body, so it doesn’t quite suit me, but it’s enough to deceive Nephti.”

“Then what is that attack on the Count’s army now?”

“That’s because I released the seal on the Divine King’s Scripture.”

“What?”

“If you just carry the Divine King’s Scripture around, those gnats using tracking magic will come after you…”

Jibek knew that. He had seen Sir Jekt use magic to track a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture. But Azadin wasn’t being tracked by that, so wasn’t he using the Wraith Knight instead?

“I released the seal because I didn’t think Count Rantaric would listen.”

In other words, Azadin deliberately released the seal on the Divine King’s Scripture to break free from being surrounded by Count Rantaric.

“That’s such a reckless…”

To do this while being pursued by Sir Jekt? Wasn’t that too daring? But it was still too early to be surprised.

“Now then, shall we do it?”

“Do what?”

Jibek was horrified at Azadin, who was about to do something more in this situation.

*********

“Damn it, I was careless because I thought he was injured.”

Nephti grumbled, and Kahsan smiled.

“Isn’t it a compliment to the opponent when our Aragasa [a clan of warriors] lose because of carelessness?”

Kahsan, too, had been thrown after being careless, believing in Azadin’s usual bad reputation. It was rather good for Kahsan to see others thrown by Azadin like he was.

“It’s not something to laugh about. Let’s go back to the Count’s forces. What’s going on over there?”

As Nephti walked forward, a metallic sound suddenly began to be heard behind them.

-Creak, creak…

The fortress gate opened, and horses, Kerim goats [a type of mountain goat], and Azadin’s group were coming out.

“What? What are you doing now, Azadin!”

“What else?”

Azadin answered Nephti’s question.

“I’m going to rescue the residents the Count is holding captive and run away.”

“What?!”

Nephti grabbed her bow. But people were coming out of the fortress, and Azadin, Jibek, and Azadin’s retainers were all there, so the opponent was not easy to deal with. On top of that, Azadin’s attitude didn’t seem hostile.

“So, how about a temporary truce? It’s not much, but I’ll give you a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture.”

“……?!”

“You have a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture?”

“Yes.”

Azadin showed the Divine King’s Scripture. It was a page made of ordinary paper, but it emitted a faint magical light and felt like it had endless power.

“This is…”

“It’s real!”

Nephti and Kahsan, who were watching, groaned.

“What will you do? Will you agree to a truce? Or will you fight?”

“……”

From Nephti’s point of view, there was no guarantee that she could win against Azadin’s group in this situation.

‘Besides, this guy is Ara’el’s brother.’

If she killed Azadin, she would have to bear the burden of killing Ara’el’s kin, and there was no guarantee of winning against an opponent who had nothing to gain even if she won. So, it was strange not to accept the offer of peace with a gift of a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture.

“Okay. I accept the truce. But if the Count says something, then I don’t know what will happen.”

“Okay, then take it.”

Azadin willingly handed over the copy of the Divine King’s Scripture. Midiam and Ismail, who were watching, clicked their tongues.

‘To hand over a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture…’

‘How reckless. If the clan elders or leaders saw this, it would be an act of treason to trade with rebels, wouldn’t it?’

Ismail had been swayed by the Ara’el tribe’s temptation, but he knew how dangerous and irresponsible Azadin’s actions were. If this fact was revealed later, he would have no excuse even if he was punished as a traitor.

In fact, wasn’t Azadin dismissed from the messengers because he might have joined hands with Ara’el? And yet, he was handing over the Divine King’s Scripture?

‘Even if this is a trap, isn’t this too much? He’s so bold.’

He thought he had gotten used to being with Azadin, but this man always had a way of surprising him.