Night of the Soulless Heathens – 24



#24. Massacre of the Paladins 1

“So the pioneers are lazy and they want to move beyond their own region and live in the fertile lands that others have already cultivated just because there hasn’t been much rain. What lord would listen to that?”

Tarki did not hide his prejudice and hatred for the settlers. It was clear that he did not even consider it a vice that needed to be hidden in the first place.

“Poor people are poor for a reason.”

“hmm.”

Azadin clicked his tongue when he heard Tarki’s remark.

“If you become the loser in the battle for succession and become a monk in the King’s Church there will be a good reason for that right?”

“What? Are you trying to insult me?”

“Yeah. I’m going to insult you. What are you going to do?”

“Oh but I’m the one who petitioned with gold coins.”

Tarki knew that his skills were beyond his reach and he did not dare to confront Azadin.

“I envy your attitude towards life which allows you to look down on others as an illegitimate child. If I were as stupid and short-sighted as you I would have lived happily every day. Are you saying that after earning a single coin with your own hands?”

“No but I’m still a noble! My father is Count Kazel the Margrave of Salasma and my mother is the daughter of Baron Norte and a member of the Cojin Company…”

“And my job is to kill nobles. If you knew why my clan is called the Kingslayers you wouldn’t brag about your noble bloodline in front of me right?”

“….”

Come to think of it that’s true. How dare he boast about his noble bloodline in front of someone who’s known for killing nobles.

“Fortunately you are not a very great noble. If you were you would have burned Atra’s followers who were eating away at your body with magic.”

“You can’t use magic either so you had to ask a kid to do it for you.”

“That’s why I don’t look down on the pioneers. Be humble before your fate. You were born into a noble family and grew up without starving yet you look down on others. Be thankful for the luck of being able to live and breathe while not understanding why the pioneers are less productive than the Okto.”

Azadin picked up the halberd from the corpse of a nearby soldier and examined its blade as he denounced Tarki. It had belonged to the captain of the guard and the blade was very well made.

Azadin took it and approached the spider mercenary who was slaughtering at the gate.

Rather than attacking it right away after approaching it he used nearby obstacles to get as close as possible climbed up the wall and then jumped down from there to strike it.

-puck!

The mercenary’s head was blown off with a single blow.

“It tastes better if you cut off its neck.”

Azadin cut off the spider mercenary’s head quickly scattered the rags and threw a torch at it setting it on fire.

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The spider mercenaries were unable to maintain their senses when their commanding captain disappeared and they were simply absorbed in satisfying their endless appetites.

Thanks to this the damage was not as great as it seemed. They were prioritizing filling their hunger by hanging on to the corpses of dead humans and not creating new victims.

However when people who are tired of such sight attack they counterattack and kill people. So people were running far away to avoid the spider mercenaries.

Avoiding people’s eyes Azadin killed the spider mercenaries one by one.

“…The petition has been resolved and their numbers have been reduced to a reasonable level so there is no point in killing them any more.”

Ismail supported Midiam and advised Azadin to leave the village to the monsters and let the people be killed.

‘This guy is cold and cold for his age. Or is he just really annoyed by the medium?’

Azaddin replied keeping Ismail’s bold statement in mind.

“I’m sorry but I think this is what the person who filed the petition and got killed would want. Even if the petitioner is dead I don’t want them to get the gold for free.”

“No way. He probably wanted to live for himself like that illegitimate child.”

“A bastard? Are you talking about that just now?”

Tarki was indignant at Ismail calling him an illegitimate child. He was very angry because someone so young was speaking so carelessly.

“Stop. That’s it.”

Azadin aimed his halberd at Tarki.

“Say no more. I admit these guys have foul mouths but you’re still enough of an illegitimate child.”

“No you should at least tell me your name.”

“What are you doing? I don’t want to waste my memory space on useless things. An illegitimate child is enough.”

Azadin forced Tarki’s mouth shut and approached the other spider mercenaries. Each of them was busy eating meat and their connections with each other were disrupted.

It is possible to defeat each enemy one by one.

“Hmm let’s try to get rid of it.”

Azadin approached the spider mercenary who was biting the corpse with his back turned to him.

As he enters a certain distance the spider mercenary turns around and becomes aware of Azadin. It is like a demon wary of a hunter entering its territory.

But that vigilance was of no use.

-twilight!

Azadin’s body became blurry and he entered the gap between the spider mercenary and then struck with the halberd! The spider mercenary’s head was cut off in one breath.

Small spiders try to fill in the cross-section to block it but there is nothing they can do about the parts that have already been cut off and fallen off.

“Crook!”

Another spider mercenary lunged at Azadin but he swung his halberd diagonally severing its arm spider leg and neck in one fell swoop.

“It was difficult to deal with at first but I’m getting used to it. But….”

Azadin felt the halberd rattle. The hilt was straining as it cut through human cervical vertebrae reflexive arm bones and spider-like exoskeletons.

Seeing the wooden handle break and twist Azadin simply took the halberd head and picked up another mercenary’s sword.

“How much is left now you bastard?”

Tarki was taken aback when Azadin asked that.

‘Wow that’s amazing! Is this kid a member of the Herald Clan?’

Tarki was in awe of Azadin’s power. He didn’t like the fact that he kept calling himself a bastard but he didn’t want to provoke his temper.

It was when Azadin took a breath and looked around.

The North is in an uproar.

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“It is the King’s Church!”

“The King’s Church has appeared to save the people!”

“We are alive now!”

Judging from the cheers of the people it seemed that they had come from the nearby King’s Church to rescue the people.

*********

Originally the King’s Church was a group of knights who rose up to protect the people from the Kurt gods and demons and to uphold the king’s laws.

Since the lords each with their own fief were only interested in their own property they needed knights who did not own fiefs.

Although it certainly had such a mission in the beginning the King’s Church was now completely secularized. This was because the King’s Church had three main groups of members.

First criminals.

Those who were of noble blood but broke the king’s laws could avoid punishment by becoming monks in the king’s church.

Second those who were pushed out in the palace struggle.

When brothers fought over inheritance rights those who did not inherit the position of head of the family were usually killed by assassins. If they did not want to die they had no choice but to give up all inheritance and become members of the king’s church.

Thirdly illegitimate children.

Illegitimate children who inherit the blood of nobles and can use white magic but are not qualified to participate in the inheritance dispute are bound to become ordained into the king’s church.

As so many people joined the king’s church the church began to grow in power which soon became the seed of discord.

It took a lot of money to feed and arm the knights of the church. The king’s church which had become a powerful military group forced these resources from the king and nobles and strengthened their power by engaging in wars of inheritance among the nobles.

That was the reason why the Knights Templar originally considered a heretic received recognition from the Eight Kingdoms.

Another order of knights was needed to keep the power and troops in check as only the nobles and illegitimate children would be ordained into the King’s Church.

*********

For this reason the King’s Church which normally makes everyone tremble in fear is so welcome in this situation.

“The King’s Church?”

However to Azadin who is a messenger they are just a nuisance. They have already dealt with many of his followers so why are they showing up now?

“What should I do?”

“Well if it’s the King’s Church it won’t be that helpless against Kurt’s followers so let’s leave it to them. There’s no good in meeting them.”

Azadin gave up on killing any more spider mercenaries and called in the Kerim ram.

“Then the petition has been granted petitioner.”

Azadin looked back at Tarki and said.

“Ah… uh. That’s right.”

“Do you have any further requests? Other than that stupid request to make you a count?”

“Well… please let me escape from here for now.”

Tarki spoke to Azadin politely perhaps out of fear.

“If the King’s Church starts investigating they’ll find out that the mercenaries who caused the accident were the ones I hired. Then… that’s the end! At the very least we need to get away to a place where these guys aren’t around.”

“I understand. In any case we cannot allow the petitioner of the gold coin to die at the hands of the King’s Church.”

Azadin allowed Tarki to accompany him. He was not worthy of being made a count but he could not allow him to be captured by the king’s church. He would blow up immediately if he was tortured.

“Then shall we try to escape?”

*********

Azadin’s party escaped the post town through the western gate and moved west. Not only Azadin but everyone was exhausted from the continuous fighting and forced march.

“Oh I just took a bath and changed into new clothes yesterday.”

Medium was sweating and suffering. It seemed like a lie that just yesterday he had bathed and changed into new clothes at the caravan of the Korasarr peddler association.

The refreshing feeling disappears after just one day and your new clothes become a mess from sweat and dust.

“Good. The sun is rising. If we’ve come this far there’s no need to worry about the King’s Church. Let’s get some rest.”

Azadin ordered a rest and stopped by the side of the road.

Farm buildings were visible nearby but hunting dogs were guarding the entrance.

Maybe after a while the farmers will be working. Then you can rent a stable or something and rest.

As he was thinking about that the sun slowly rose in the east and the world was dyed purple. Azadin leaned against a tree and blankly watched the sunrise.

“What are you doing?”

Medium asked.

“I’m watching the sunrise. The sight of the sun running across the sky the boundary line that drives away the darkness is majestic every time I see it.”

Azadin was lost in thought as he answered Medium’s question. He was clearly tired but he was too tired to sleep.

‘In this situation I’m in good condition.’