The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger

“Are you leaving for another place? Or are you staying in Salasma? Because if you’re making a stop here, how about lodging in the vacant room in my house? With scores of refugees around, the Rescue Knight Order took over all the inns, so it’ll be hard to find decent room and board anywhere.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll certainly pay you the gold coins, but how could I honor a life-saving kindness with merely five coins? Savior, kindly allow me to host you at my manor so I have the chance to repay your favor.”

“…….”

In truth, five of the Emperor’s gold coins weren’t simply barely enough. Instead, they were more than enough to honor a life-saving act. However, the Baroness seemed genuinely grateful to Azadine and wanted to treat him accordingly.

“Also, the children you sent under my care now work as servants in the manor. Surely you should check on them, right?”

“Um, well then. Forgive me for intruding, and please excuse us.”

Eager to hear more about the Count of Salasma and curious as to the true identity of this Baroness, Azadine decided to relieve her of the debt of her gratitude.

“I planned to do that, but I’m sleepy.”

The following day, Azadine tossed and turned in his bed. After taking a bath and lying down, all his fatigue surged instantly. Non-stop travel on foot over the past few days had taken its toll.

Additionally, he had to face multiple life-and-death struggles almost every day. Unsurprisingly, he was exhausted since he had pushed himself too hard.

‘I’ve obtained five coins unused in a contract and three copies of the Grimoire of the Heavenly Kings. Can’t I brag about my performance anywhere now?’

Mediam kept teasing him about the Curse of Service, but Azadine wouldn’t die from it.

Perhaps that was why his mind was relieved, and he could rest his body in the quarters provided by Baroness Nort.

“What are you doing?”

Mediam knocked on Azadine’s door.

“I’m resting.”

“Really? We were thinking of checking out the wererats’ lair again. We want to see how well the Rescue Knights Order handles everything and see if we missed anything.”

“Great, I’ll go with you.”

That was what he said, but he was unable to get up. Soreness and cramp all over his body filled him with utter agony.

“But judging from your face, you look completely drained. Let’s just agree on us going without you.”

“Be careful.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Mediam and Ismail scanned the area around the wererats’ lair as the Rescue Knights Order was busy sorting out the chaos. They dragged out all the corpses and burned the dead bodies of the wererats.

For their part, the refugees hunted down the meaty rats, fattened after gorging on human flesh.

“So the Rescue Knights Order is already handling it.”

“Well, it is their dirty laundry, so I’m sure they’re trying to cover it up.”

“The Rescue Knights are a careless bunch, after all.”

The people of Hubris held the afterlife in high esteem. This made every person, regardless of their alignment or character, become open to making donations to gain merit or perform a good deed. It was culturally normal to donate and give alms.

It was only natural for people to be less generous during times of drought and starvation. Despite this, the Rescue Knights Order still received a fairly high amount of donations and alms.

The problem was that the Rescue Knight Order was also a pretty lax organization. At this time, three separate branches were muddled up in Salasma.

The Wise Masters, the Merciful Saviors, and the Courageous Knights.

Each of the three organizations formed its own network, so they were completely oblivious to everything that had transpired. This included the fact that one of their shelters had become a lair for wererats and a Holy Knight had become corrupted by Mezerry.

“Hmm… That’s unbelievable.”

Seeing the Rescue Knights drag out the corpses from the wererats’ lair and set them on fire, the staggering numbers shocked Mediam.

“Did Azadine deal with them all by himself? Is the Rescue Knights Order just dragging the bodies out and burning them?”

“Yes. But, of course, they’re claiming they’re the heroes here.”

“It’s their own shelter in the first place, so they’re basically shooting themselves in the foot. Their organizational management is such a mess that they didn’t have a clue when their building turned into a nest for wererats who were kidnapping and killing humans while searching for copies of the Heavenly Kings’ Grimoire..”

Mediam grumbled this and glanced around.

“I sense a lot of prying eyes.”

Though Mezerry’s kin were all annihilated, they weren’t the only members of the Kurt Clan. There was a high chance that there were more of them hiding in the city.

“My Lady.”

“Let’s go back. Nothing good will come out of staying here too long.”

At the top of the hill, Baroness Nort’s mansion buzzed with activity as her servants and cooks went about their duties. To cater to her guests, the normally frugal Baroness summoned an army of servants, maids, and cooks to clean her mansion and prepare a feast.

“This is quite extravagant. Hmm, I wonder if she has a crush on Azadine?”

“You’re reading into it too much. Isn’t she already a woman with an adult child?”

“Yeah, but she looks like she’s in her twenties.”

“Probably a blessing from the Spider Queen to a pagan follower of the Kurt Clan. Honestly, I think we should have rejected her invitation. We should’ve pressed a knife against her throat and forced her into telling us what she knew.”

“That would be too much. After all, the Baroness is Count Kazel’s mistress, isn’t she? I bet foolishly laying a hand on her would have major repercussions. You know, Ismail, your bitterness towards the world bursts out in the form of absurd conversations like this from time to time.”

After saying this, Mediam trudged back into the mansion, seemingly unaware that she was the reason behind Ismail’s bitterness.

Conveniently enough, she bumped into Tarki at the mansion’s entrance. He had changed from his armor into regular clothes, now finally looking like a child of the nobility.

“Ah, Tarki.”

“Even kids like you are talking to me casually, without any respect. Didn’t you say the Messenger Clan holds age hierarchy in high regard?”

“Yeah, age-based hierarchy is important, as is your rank. So, I’m speaking casually.”

“Ugh.”

A noble by birth, Tarki had never heard anyone except Kozel refer to him as someone of low rank. He clicked his tongue at Mediam’s rudeness.

“Where’s your mother?”

“She must have gone to the castle to see my father.”

“What? Why?”

“To inform him of the incident since she was kidnapped and rescued. The servants are supervising the mansion, so if you want anything to eat, ask them.”

“Oh really? By the way, do you think your father and mother are on good terms?”

“I’m not in the position to say.”

“Why? Because you’re an illegitimate child?”

“No. I’m not… No. Never mind. Let’s not talk about it.”

He shook his head, then suddenly fixed his gaze at Mediam.

“Hey, rumor has it that there was a copy of the Grimoire of Heavenly Gods in the wererats’ lair. Is that true?”

“Where did you hear something like that?”

“From my mother.”

“What?”

“She said that after bringing the leader of the wererats to his knees, a copy of the Grimoire of Heavenly Kings recognized Azadine as its bearer and submitted to him.”

“Hmm. A copy of the Grimoire of Heavenly Kings?”

“I-If I have the Grimoire of the Heavenly Kings, even I can become Head of the fami….”

Tarki’s eyes had become bloodshot after hearing that Azadine may have obtained a copy of the Grimoire of the Heavenly Kings.

“Better give up. It may be a copy of the Grimoire of Heavenly Kings, but the page is not the entire book. It’s probably in pieces. You don’t actually think the Count will be so content with one page that he’d let you become the family Head, do you?”

“But!”

“And we, the Aragasa, need the copy of the Grimoire of Heavenly Kings too. We can’t hand it over to you at any cost.”

Azadine was in the middle of analyzing escape routes from the manor. While Baroness Nort was giving him a gesture of goodwill, their safety wasn’t yet assured.

“It’s definitely inconvenient without the Emperor’s voice.”

Baroness Nort clearly showed favor to Azadine. Yet, regardless of that, it was also certain that she was a follower of the Kurt Clan since she possessed artifacts from the Spider Queen Atra. They couldn’t be careless or let their guard down against her.

At that moment, a bird flew overhead.

[Azadine of the Messenger Clan].

“Is that the Emperor’s voice?”

Azadine turned towards the source of the bird’s voice, only to spot a crow with a huge eyeball in its belly.

[Azadine….]

“Ugh!”

He pulled out his dagger in shock, ready to throw it at his opponent to overthrow it if needed. A deformed bird could never be the Voice of the Emperor.

[Calm down. I am the voice of Arael].

“…What?”

Those words struck him like lightning. The words that claimed Arael as a genius rang through his head once more. Had Arael managed to create an artificial spirit that mimicked the Emperor’s Voice?

[I have tracked your whereabouts and will send someone soon. Azadine, if you pledge allegiance to Arael, you shall possess the position of ‘beneath one, above ten of thousands’.]

“Is she insane?”

Azadine couldn’t help but laugh. Arael’s attempt to coax him was already astonishing enough, yet every part of her message was also ridiculous.

‘Beneath one, Above ten of thousands.’

Was she claiming that she’ll become the new Emperor? She would overthrow all of the Heavenly Gods of the Yaegas, usurp their thrones, and force the people of Hubris to submit to her?

She would have to trample all of Hubris underfoot to make that possible.

For one thing, the people of the continent hated the Messenger Clan. Even when the Emperor, who held enormous influence, ruled over the land, the Messenger Clan could not dare to even dream of seizing power.

The chaotic times after the Emperor’s death and the clash of the Eight Kingdoms would have been a good window of opportunity. Yet, if they failed then, how could Arael succeed now?

“Have you gone mad? You couldn’t even unite the whole clan, and on top of that, you were dismissed, remember?”

[With concern to the dismissal, the method to avoid the Curse of Service is already known.]

That made sense. Otherwise, scores of messengers would not have rebelled by siding with Arael.

‘The end product in front of my eyes… is too much of an accomplishment to call it a mere bluff.’

The artificial spirit’s imitation of the Emperor’s Voice was immaculate, almost too good to be true. But the problem was….

‘I can sense an evil aura.’

This artificial spirit reeked of black magic. Without a doubt, it had been touched by black magic.

[The Messenger Clan will not save you, not even if you offer the Emperor’s gold coins or a copy of the Grimoire of Heavenly Kings. They’ll seek your death with the Curse of Service, so ask for Arael to rescue you.]

The artificial spirit crouched down in the middle of its words. The eyeball, which had only been in its stomach, emerged all over its body and…

-Bam!

Along with chunks of flesh and blood, the gore smeared all over Baroness Nort’s garden.

“Wh-what happened?”

A maid approached him with a startled expression.

“Nothing, it was a cat.”

After saying this, Azadine retreated from the garden.

Mediam, Ismail, and Tarki returned shortly after Azadine’s encounter with the voice of Arael.

“I see you’re up.”

“My muscles are sore, and I’m tired, but I can’t just keep sleeping.”

Try as he might, the situation wouldn’t let him get a wink of sleep. So, he asked Tarki a question.

“How would you describe the Count’s palace?”

“The thing is… my entry there was forbidden.”

“Hmm? I get that you’re an illegitimate child, but you’re a knight now, aren’t you? Despite that?”

“Yes. “

“What about your mother?”

“The soldiers guarding the entrance said she’s already on her way to the mansion.”

“Hmm.”

Azadine found Tarki’s words to be… unreliable.