Night of the Soulless Heathens – 20



#20. Atra Follower 2

“Derek are you authorized to do so?”

“What are you talking about? Are you saying I’m overstepping my authority right now?”

“No at least you should give it directly to the district chief. Besides I saw some unscrupulous guys on my way here.”

“Those shady guys?”

“He’s one of Count Kazel’s illegitimate children. He leads a mercenary band and plunders the gate village. There are Kurt cultists in that mercenary band.”

“Are you saying that you fled here because you were scared of those guys?”

“That’s not true but they’ll attack eventually.”

“Ha so what? Even though I’m a total mess after being beaten by your little sister I’m a former messenger. And your fellow comrades here are no match for some mercenary scoundrels.”

“That may be true but wouldn’t it be bad if rumors spread that the people of the Korasaru Bobusang Guild fight too well?”

Azadin shrugged.

“That’s not what we’re talking about. We can protect the copy of the New King’s Book so hand it over now! If you don’t want to waste the one you got by luck.”

“No I don’t really want to hand it over. I’ll discuss it with the regional leader later.”

“This kid… are you kidding me? You can’t protect the New King’s Book with your abilities! Haven’t you been playing around for the past three months without doing anything worthy of being a messenger?”

Derek was furious with Azadin.

“No I didn’t. I rescued people here and there.”

“You idiot! Who would say such a thing? We should destroy our rival guilds and assassinate those who oppose us! We should set fire to other people’s warehouses to manipulate the prices of the goods we distribute!”

“….”

It seemed that there was a big difference between what Azadin said about being a messenger and what Derek said about being a messenger.

“If our differences of opinion are this severe I don’t even know where to start. Okay. Anyway I won’t give you a copy of the New King’s Letter.”

“You cheeky brat. Aren’t you two years my junior? How dare you spit on your senior’s words?”

Derek had already been defeated by Arael and had to retire. There was no way he would look kindly on Azadin Arael’s blood relative.

But since you keep doing such hateful things…

But just as Derek and Azadin were raising their voices and becoming more aggressive a commotion suddenly started outside.

*********

The post town was ruled by Sir Jeran a knight who received the stipend of Count Salasma.

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Originally the son of a nearby baron he was now 25 years old. Although he was in the prime of his life his father showed no signs of dying and his father’s second wife’s child was also over 15 years old so he was becoming increasingly anxious.

Although he was still the official successor he was worried that his father who had fallen for the second wife’s pillow-top lawsuit would have him marry into the king’s church and pass the land to his younger brother.

To appease this worry I had no choice but to accumulate more and more.

So he guarded the gate of the post town and took bribes from passing merchants and travelers. If he received bribes he would secretly exempt or discount customs duties and make the passage process simpler.

But as the sun was setting a young knight leading a band of mercenaries came in.

It was Tarki the illegitimate son of Count Kazel and his mercenary band.

“What? Are there armed troops? There are too many of them. It’s almost sunset so let’s rest at the inn outside today or camp out in the open space and come back tomorrow.”

Jeran Kyung was picky. Well that’s not wrong. That’s the norm.

But when you say something like that most travelers tend to offer a bribe. Indeed Tarki secretly offered a bribe to Sir Jeran.

“No please don’t do that. Please accept this instead.”

“Hmm. Sir Tarki. This is difficult. You are a knight too.”

Isn’t he also the illegitimate child of the count who is his current employer?

“If we do that wrong won’t both of us be ordained to the King’s Church? Please accept us for we are in the same boat.”

“Well then.”

Jeran accepted a bribe and allowed Tarki’s party to enter the gate. But the moment they entered

-Whew!

Suddenly blood was sprayed onto the roadside.

“huh?”

Jeran Kyung looked puzzled as he watched the soldiers fall. The guard soldiers standing on both sides of the door fell splattering blood.

And in front of his eyes was the mercenary captain with his dual swords drawn.

Surprisingly the mercenary captain swung his sword from side to side subduing the soldiers one by one with each strike.

“uh?”

Jeran Kyung was startled and tried to draw his sword in a panic but the mercenary captain who had already drawn his twin swords rushed in and struck Jeran Kyung’s head with his sword.

-Thud!

The helmet struck him and his eyes flashed. A dull pain and numbness came over his body but Jeran was still a proper knight. He grabbed the guard of the longsword on his waist with both hands and pushed it forward stabbing him with the pommel without pulling it out of its sheath.

The mercenary captain steps back and raises his sword aiming for Jeran’s chin.

“Ugh! These guys!”

Jeran managed to dodge the attack and pull out his sword. However in the meantime the mercenary force that had already stormed the gate was attacking the soldiers.

furthermore….

-puck!

Tarki swung his longsword and struck the back of Lord Jeran’s knee the area behind his kneecap. The attack was aimed at the part where his armor folded and Jeran felt a tingling sensation in his leg.

‘This ligament…’

Another pair of flying swords stabbed through the gap in Jeran’s helmet killing him instantly.

“Hey! How dare you be so reckless…”

Tarki was terrified. He had intended to detain Jeran not kill him. But while he was disarming him the mercenary captain had killed Jeran.

It’s a fairly large village so you’re openly raiding the gate and killing the knight guarding it? Are you in your right mind?

If you commit such a reckless act you will instantly become a nationality and be attacked by all enemies. It is not a land dispute or a duel of honor between nobles but an indiscriminate attack?

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“Well done my lord. You are very skilled.”

“Is this kid out of his mind? At this rate….”

Tarki also became a traitor without any choice.

“Don’t worry. There’s a lot to plunder if you do this much. You’ll definitely get a lot of wealth.”

The mercenary captain gave a mean laugh.

Near the gate entrance you can see a campsite where caravans are camping.

“Are they merchants? If we’re going to loot we should first rob them of their territory…”

What he wants is control of the gateway. Now that he has lost the magical wand that can find the Book of the New King he needs to completely control this gateway.

“Let’s first kill the sergeant and get it. There’s no need to fight the merchant guards right now to loot the merchants. It’s important to take control of this town first.”

“We can’t do it alone! We took one gate by surprise but there are three here!”

“Don’t worry. Our power is more than that.”

The mercenary captain said so and opened his hand. A small black dot-like thing was moving and wriggling on his hand.

“what?”

“That’s a spider.”

A group of tiny spiders were writhing around. He blew on them and sent them towards his men.

“uh?”

“Eek!?”

“Get out of here!”

The mercenaries were surprised and tried to dodge but the spiders the mercenary captain sent dancing in the air and touching the mercenaries’ bodies.

“what?”

“Is the poem connected?”

At that moment the mercenaries realized that the thread was coming from their own bodies.

And that’s not all.

“uh?”

“when?”

They noticed that tiny spiders the size of grains of rice were swarming out from their armpits and groin areas.

These weren’t the spiders that the mercenary captain had just sent flying. There were far more of them already inside their bodies.

“You won’t be able to shake it off. They’ve been feeding on your flesh and blood for a long time.”

“uh.”

“Eww!?”

“Save me!”

The mercenaries were terrified and tried to shake off the spiders that appeared from their bodies but spiders continued to appear from inside their body hair.

You didn’t know that the things buried under your skin were coming out of your skin?

And when the spider sent by the mercenary captain reached the spider colony the spiders began to emit a soft green light as if the spider sent by the mercenary captain had delivered a spark.

The spiders that appeared on the mercenaries’ bodies all began to emit a green light and then began to burrow into their bodies again.

“ah!?”

“Aren’t you sick?”

“I told you. They have been feeding on your flesh and blood for a long time. Those spiders are now a part of you. And now with this…”

The mercenary captain said so and picked up the corpse that had fallen to the ground. It was the corpse of a soldier guarding the gate.

Kicking a corpse off the ground is an impossible task for an average human let alone a corpse of a soldier wearing armor. The weight of the equipment alone is enormous.

Yet he lifted the corpse up to head height as easily as if he were kicking a small leather ball.

The corpse was torn to pieces as the twin swords flashed.

It is a terrifying force.

“Now you too can do this much.”

“uh….”

“I feel so powerful.”

The mercenaries were astonished as they felt their bodies overflowing with incredible strength.

“yes?”

“yes.”

“Yeah but.”

“Are you going to resist? That would be good too.”

As the mercenary captain whistled all the mercenaries were startled by the sudden intense pain that surged through their bodies.

“Ugh!?”

“Oh it hurts!”

“Save me!”

“Do you understand now?”

As soon as the mercenary captain stopped whistling everyone’s pain seemed to disappear.

“Your lives depend on me. Then let’s go quickly and subdue the station guard. Some of you will split up and subdue the gate…”

The mercenary captain divided his mercenaries and ordered them to attack the gates and post stations.

Tarki clicked his tongue at the sight.

“Now that I look at it you’re a Kurt cultist.”

“Oh you’re really smart to realize that now.”

“Ugh.”

“Let’s cooperate. Cooperation. You don’t want to be dragged to the King’s Church do you? You can make some money and take revenge on the Count who beat you up and threw you away. I’ll also get a copy of the New King’s Book. Isn’t it better for both of us? Anyway….”

As the mercenary captain whistled Tarki felt his stomach hurt again.

“Eww!”

“You don’t have a choice. The Kurts aren’t all that incompetent. They’re more flexible than the King’s Church.”

“Ugh… this son of a bitch!”

Tarki was indignant but there was no other way now that the spider had already burrowed into his body.

*********

“Oh my goodness. This is chaos.”

Azadin climbed up the ladder onto the carriage and looked around from there.

“The eastern gate has fallen. It’s them.”

As Azadin had expected the Kurt cult mercenary group had really begun to raid the post town.