Night of the Soulless Heathens – 23



#23. Atra Follower 5

“uh?!”

-mistletoe!

The enemy was already on his back.

“This kid!”

Aim at your opponent with spider legs.

But… it doesn’t reach.

“A spider can’t scratch its own back.”

The sword flashed with the messenger’s roar.

-Pfft!

The mercenary captain’s head is blown off. Small spiders pour out of the wound where his head was lost and try to fill the wound but it is useless with his head gone.

The messenger clan that cut off the mercenary captain’s head with a single stroke of his sword leaned forward trampled his opponent and covered the wound with their cloak.

-puck!

As he trampled on the cloak blood gushed out and soaked it.

“Uh… uh.”

Tarki was perplexed as he looked at the man who had attacked and killed the difficult-looking mercenary captain in one fell swoop.

“Is this guy the leader? Even when he’s turned into a spider he doesn’t lose his senses… He must be a member of a group with quite a high position.”

He said that and turned his head to look at Tarki. Tarki is not losing his senses either. Moreover anyone who sees the employer of the mercenary group is suspicious.

“Oh wait a minute. I’m over there…”

-Slurp!

The sword that cut off the mercenary captain’s neck aims at Tarki.

“No you’re the messenger right? Then you shouldn’t kill me! Why… Look at this!”

Tarki hastily pulled the necklace out of his bosom and shook it. A small leather pouch was hanging from it.

“Ah I can’t see it like this. Okay just wait a minute.”

Tarki took something out from inside.

It was a gold coin.

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“….”

The messenger paused for a moment.

“Yes that’s right. It’s just as Mother said! The messenger clan can be dealt with with the Emperor’s gold!”

“Even if gold coins are worthless if you don’t petition it’s useless.”

“Oh shit! I get it!”

Tarki grumbled and threw the gold coin into a nearby engraved triangle. The coin disappeared and a golden light illuminated the inside of the triangle.

The approaching messenger sighed and put away his sword.

“So what? I’m your employer now right?”

“The correct name is not employment but petition. So what is the content of the petition?”

“I’m infected with that spider help me!”

“….”

The messenger sighed.

“Oh no…”

[The petition has been received.]

The Emperor’s voice instead announced the receipt of the petition.

*********

Azadin sighed.

“Why should we accept this piece of trash as a petitioner?”

“Trash that’s too much.”

Tarki who had been listening objected but closed his mouth when Azadin glared at him.

“Where did the gold come from?”

“My mother gave it to me.”

“What about the mercenary group?”

“My mother hired me…”

Tarki was an illegitimate child but his mother was wealthy.

When she heard that she would be made the head of the household if she could find a copy of the New King’s Book she used her family’s money to hire a mercenary group for Tarki and also obtained the emperor’s gold and gave it to him.

“Is that the guy who plundered the village with such ease talking about mother and mother? What kind of a brat is that?”

“What? That kid’s got a habit of talking to his employer right now…”

-Sreung!

Azadin’s blade passed right in front of Tarki’s nose.

“100 million?!”

It felt like the fluff was cut off. It was literally a sheet of paper. If I had moved just a little more my whole neck would have been blown off.

“If you treat me like a servant just because I paid you gold you will be in trouble. The Emperor’s petition is not about hiring slaves in exchange for gold. It is about seeking protection of the law.”

“Then what should I do about it?”

“Before that you couldn’t use magic?”

“uh.”

“Your half-brother Kozel is still dazzling isn’t he?”

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“Do you know Kozel?”

“Anyway. Even if he’s fallen if he’s the last of the Eight Kings he’ll have to use some magic. Oh damn it.”

Azadin twisted his body and looked back at the girl following him.

“Medium.”

“yes.”

“Please weakly thunderbolt.”

“Oh me?”

“Yes please.”

Azadin asked Tarki if he could use magic but he himself could not use magic.

‘Even though I have secret techniques it’s difficult to kill spiders without harming people.’

Azadin asked Midiam. Midiam hesitated.

“No as a fellow countryman from a distant land of course I can help you. But don’t you think it’s a bit much to refuse to accept me as a servant when I’m helping you with the gold contract?”

“….”

When Medium pointed that out Azadin also felt embarrassed.

“Is that so?”

“Could you please acknowledge me as a monk? Regardless I will use the lightning bolt.”

Medium knew how to attack the pangs of conscience.

If you don’t recognize me as a worker I won’t use the wall lightning.

If you say that Azadin will surely find another solution.

But I’m going to use Wall Lightning whether you recognize me as a worker or not so I hope you recognize me.

Isn’t it too much to refuse when someone says something like that?

“Ah you too. What are you going to do as my servant? I understand. I will accept you as my servant.”

“Oh thank you! I will work hard!”

Medium got excited and casted a lightning strike.

*********

“Hmm.”

Ismail groaned. Every word and action Midiam took toward Azadin tore at his heart.

It may be a trivial remark but so far Medium has never shown such interest in any of his peers.

Medium was always like that. She had no interest in what was around her and her eyes were always turned to the outside world.

Because of that Ismail had an admiration for Midiam.

Arael was called the greatest genius of the clan but she was so different in appearance that I had never seen her in person. Midiam was pretty and bold but she was skilled and most of all as a member of the Etar clan she had great influence within the clan.

So Ismail once jumped off a waterfall to get Midiam’s attention when he was young. But she was indifferent.

But now she was being almost unreasonable to Azadin. Seeing her like that it felt like my heart was breaking.

“Why is he like this again?”

Azadin sighed as he saw Ismail’s strange state.

*********

“Kwaaaaak!”

Tarki who was hit directly by Medium’s lightning fell down screaming. Spiders died and oozing fluid from all over his body.

As expected the lightning bolt was able to wipe out all the spiders that had infected the body. It did damage the main body but it was still better than being tortured by spiders.

“Whew. It’s quite difficult to control the power without killing anyone. Anyway the mission was accomplished. Isn’t this pretty good?”

As she spoke to Azadin Midiam stumbled and fell forward. A startled Azadin supported her.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry. I think I pushed you too hard.”

“Oh no. It’ll be okay if you rest a bit. Etar’s daughter isn’t that weak.”

Medium lay down smiling bashfully.

“So now that the petition has been resolved should we kill the interest?”

Ismail asked that question. It seemed that he was annoyed by the fact that Midiam was being too friendly with Azadin.

“What the hell? Huh?!”

Tarki was startled but the power of the lightning still remained in his body so his limbs had no strength. He was in a state where he could not handle a child like this who was trying to kill him.

Besides looking at the magic that little girl just used… even if she was in good health she wouldn’t have been a match for her.

‘Isn’t this incredible? It’s incomparable to the likes of me. Is it really possible for a clan of king-slayers to do this much?’

Even the one who had instantly subdued the mercenary captain he had been so picky about… Tarki now realized that he had no means of resisting them.

“Ismail don’t talk nonsense.”

“I have granted Lee Ja’s petition. So can we take his life now?”

“No. Once we become a petitioner we do our best even if we finish the petition. Killing someone right after the petition is over is not a sincere attitude. Besides the Emperor’s voice gets its energy from the petitioners.”

Azadin rejected Ismail’s request.

“Even though he is a man who breaks the emperor’s laws and sacrifices the people?”

“If that was all no matter how much of the Emperor’s gold he had he wouldn’t be able to petition us. At the very least it means that he is a person who will not significantly violate the laws of the country in the future.”

The gold coin petition is not a simple magic. The petitioner must make a true wish. It is not a magic that can be activated by simply throwing gold coins into a triangle shape. The Emperor’s voice comprehensively evaluates his wishes his goals and such before deciding whether to accept the contract or not.

Otherwise the knights of the King’s Church or the Inquisitors will set a trap after obtaining the Emperor’s gold and the Herald Clan will face a great crisis.

Once you petition the Herald Clan you become a collaborator of the Herald Clan even if you don’t like it.

‘That’s why I challenged you to submit a petition but I never thought you would actually become a petitioner.’

Azadin was not fond of Tarki but seeing him succeed in his petition right before his eyes he had no reason to ignore his petition.

‘Well if you think about it it’s a good thing. Did you already earn two gold coins in one day?’

When the village was attacked the original villager petitioned for gold. However he died before Azadin arrived so the gold used in the petition was simply given to Azadin.

After that Tarki whom he met made another request. This was also successful as Midiam saved him from the parasitic spider with a lightning bolt. In just one day he earned two gold coins of the emperor. This was a great feat.

‘I feel bad for the victims who lost their lives and spent their gold in vain but I’ll feel better if I kill these guys. But I really don’t like this guy.’

Azadin looked at Tarki with displeasure.

“Wait a minute. Aren’t you being too harsh just because they plundered a few pioneers?”

Tarki realized that Azadin who opposed Ismail also did not like him and began to make excuses. But these excuses were truly outrageous.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Aren’t the pioneers just lazy incompetent and stupid worms?”

Tarki fully displayed the noble consciousness towards the pioneers.

*********

The inhabitants of the frontier settlements were forced to cultivate the barren lands while being exposed to dangerous monsters. Thoughtful lords who wanted to cultivate the lands and expand their domains would lower the taxes of such settlers and station troops to ensure their safety.

Since they do more difficult work than others they should be given that much consideration even if the income is less.

This is because once people gather in the settlement the fields become ripe and dangerous wild animals and monsters are driven away the settlement will have the same productivity as other cities repaying the investment made so far.

However most lords do not think that far. From their perspective the people who make demands on the colony are lazy people who do not produce much.

They do not take into account the fact that they live on land that was not originally farmland and that they live in places where trade is not active but they only focus on the fact that they earn less than other places and they despise and hate the pioneers as lazy and incompetent.

This is not only the case with the Count of Kazel. It is a wrong prejudice that many nobles have.

So Count Kazel showed a cold attitude toward the refugees who abandoned their settlements and fled because of the drought.