Night of the Soulless Heathens – 25



#25. Massacre of the Paladins 2

Then Azaddin who was thinking crazy asked Ismail.

“Did you get any food from Derek?”

“Oh you mean that?”

Ismail brought out the food he had packed when he invited Derek to dinner.

“Let’s all eat this and when the farm people wake up let’s go there and ask if we can rest for a while.”

Azadin was still looking up at the sky as he ate his grilled fish.

*********

Azadin who had eaten during sunrise took out his helmet instead of his falcon mask.

“If you’re from the King’s Church you’ll recognize this mask the moment you see it. The problem is that there’s a scar over the eye.”

Azadin covered his face with his helmet and headed to a nearby farm with his companions. When the dogs barked the farmers who were doing their morning work looked at Azadin and his companions and flinched.

The peasants were frozen in fear as Tarki who was obviously a knight approached.

How scary must the knights have been for them to be so terrified at first sight?

“What’s going on?”

“I’m traveling and would like to rent a farm.”

When Tarki said this the people did not understand his true intention. Did he mean to set up camp and pillage by renting the farm or did he just want to sleep there and leave?

“I need a place to rest.”

Azadin explained Tarki’s words in simple terms.

“Oh in that case please use our cabin. We have to do farm work anyway.”

“It’s a shabby master bedroom…”

“Hmm. What a shabby bedroom. Well it’s a little better than a pigsty…”

As Tarki spoke Azadin poked him in the ribs to silence him.

“A barn or warehouse will suffice.”

“No really. Those farmers won’t be using the house anyway because they’re working in the fields. Why don’t we just rest inside while they’re at it?”

“What if I take a long break?”

“Then the farmers go to the barn. They raise pigs in the barn. How is it easy there?”

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Tarki who spoke as if it were obvious seemed completely unaware of what the problem was.

“Okay. What should I do with you?”

Azadin gave up talking to Tarki and gave the silver to the farmer.

“What is this?”

“I’m sorry to bother you. Could you please prepare our portion for dinner as well?”

“Oh of course.”

“then.”

Azadin apologized to the farmers and headed to the barn.

The barn had pigs and other livestock living on the first floor and there was a ladder up to store hay. Azadin went up to the second floor laid out a blanket next to the haystacks and then took off his cloak and covered it again.

There were all kinds of bugs in the haystack so even though it was laid so thickly it still felt like something was moving.

“Ah what if the teeth start to boil….”

“Well most of them are worms and such.”

Azadin lay down on the bed he had made and slept as if he were dead.

*********

The farms in this area were designated as the fief of Sir Jeran the knight. He had the right to collect taxes from these farms and he collected them twice a year in the spring and fall. If necessary he would issue a levy and have the people work.

Instead Lord Jeran was contracted to be in charge of the security of this place and to hunt down any monsters that appeared and protect the people.

however….

“Oh this is a big deal.”

Farmers frowned as they discovered that their outer fences had been broken. The drought that had started in the eastern hinterland was spreading like a plague to the Salasma border.

There were already many refugees. But as the drought continued animals that had not been allowed to enter human territory began to invade the farms.

“Should I contact Sir Jeran?”

“Arthur. Knights don’t touch monsters that they can’t find right away. They don’t do anything unless they can catch them in a day. Do you think they’d enjoy wandering around the mountains and fields looking for beasts? If we stay in the village for too long we’ll only get hurt. Understand?”

The farmers were afraid of the tyranny of the knights and nobles. The laws of the Eight Kingdoms established by the Yaegasu clan prohibited unfair exploitation abuse rape etc. of the farmers but this was only a safety net that applied in the cities.

Farmers in the suburbs and frontier fiefdoms were little more than the private property of the nobles.

Although Jeran Kyung was one of the better noble knights he was someone the common people did not want to see.

“Still. If I do something wrong someone could die.”

The farmer’s son lifted the fence and showed it to me. There were large claw marks on the fence and judging by the spacing I could tell how big the monster was.

“Then would you like to go and talk to Lord Jeran? Instead you should be his guide.”

“…I’ll repair the fence.”

Rather than talking to the knight about something like that I’d rather just repair the fence and hope the beast passes by safely.

It was a time when all the farmers were united with one mind and one purpose.

“hey!”

A man who had gone to the post station village in the morning to sell vegetables pulled a cart returned.

“There’s chaos right now! They say the monsters attacked the post station town last night!”

“What? There’s a monster in the post station town? Is that true?”

“That’s right! Jeran Kyung died what is that?”

“uh?”

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“really?”

“Would I be joking about something like this?”

“What happens if Jeran Kyung dies?”

“But rather than that if the monsters pushed the post station village away shouldn’t we run away too?”

“Oh that’s right. The knights came and repelled all the monsters.”

“That’s fortunate… Are the knights coming this way?”

Paladins are worse than other knights. They wander around without a fief so they are more greedy and have less sense of responsibility.

“No I’m not sure if it’s still there. But….”

Then suddenly the eyes of the farmer who had been speaking shook greatly. An arrow was stuck in his head.

“uh?”

“Eek!”

“Eww!”

The farmers’ voices echoed through the forest.

*********

When noble children enter the King’s Church they first become trainee knights. Even those who originally had the title of trainee knight or knights start out as trainee knights of the Order of the Knights once they enter the King’s Church.

At this time they would mostly wear chainmail armor and go around without saying a word accompanying bishops or priests or following other knights on missions.

Gazrek a paladin of the King’s Church was a veteran knight who trained such apprentice knights.

Originally the knights of the King’s Church had a close and deep educational system in which one senior knight would mentor each trainee knight and teach them swordsmanship knowledge of magic and the mindset of a knight.

But now they repeatedly assign several trainees to one veteran knight increase their performance to a certain degree and then promote the trainees to regular knights.

The king’s church was always overflowing with initiates as the nobles were not producing many illegitimate children.

Now Lord Gazrek’s mission was to take five of his apprentice knights and subdue the demons.

“Ugh I really hate it. It’s annoying.”

Even if you say you’re going to subdue demons you’re not really dealing with demons. It’s more like hunting wolves or bears.

A nobleman who runs a sawmill in the forest donates money to the king’s church and asks them to hunt dangerous beasts that appear in the forest in his domain.

The problem isn’t catching the beast but finding it. No matter how ferocious the beast is it will hide when there are humans running around with a strong metallic smell.

It was a tiresome task having to wander through the forest with spears and bows until the animals grew tired of the weeds and moved their habitat.

“No Sir Gazrek. I was looking forward to it because you said you were going to subdue the demons… How long do I have to wander around here?”

Tasig a trainee knight expressed his discontent on behalf of the group.

“Be quiet. If the beasts hear you they will all run away.”

“Oh Lord Gazrek. Our weapons and equipment are already making noise. Even the beasts will know. You haven’t even seen a rabbit have you?”

“Oh over there.”

Then another trainee shot an arrow. The arrow struck the torso of a rabbit passing through the bushes.

“…You didn’t even see a rabbit?”

“Oh no. Hey Ben. Are you good at archery?”

“Because I practiced.”

A trainee named Ben approached pulled the arrow out of the rabbit and then proudly put the rabbit on his pack.

“Let’s grill this and eat it as a side dish later.”

“But Sir Gazrek.”

“what?”

“Your daughter is very beautiful.”

“Cut off your nerves you guys.”

“But isn’t she our superior? Is this possible?”

Nobles who become ordained to the King’s Church are given the title of priest if they have children of a knight or have been married.

However Lord Gazrek’s daughter was a knight like them and was of higher rank than Lord Gazrek.

“Why would that be? That’s because the child was born while I was a knight.”

“Wow you’re amazing.”

“Arthur. Are you going to have your eyes on the bishop’s chief secretary? And in front of me your father?”

“But isn’t it possible that your daughter might like us?”

“That’s right that’s right. Free love is inevitable.”

“Stop talking nonsense and just train properly. Okay?”

Gazrek looked at those trainees with pity.

Even during the time of Gazrek the knights of the King’s Church studied swordsmanship spearmanship and King’s Church combat again during their apprenticeship course and worked to learn powerful divine magic.

Only after going through such training can one become a knight but recently with the change of Bishop Salasma the policy has changed. They unconditionally accept many knights in training and receive donations from their families.

Because training knights costs money they are made to travel to the suburbs and collect money.

Find the words yourself. Find the money yourself. In fact it is no different from aiding and abetting plunder.

‘Well I’m not in a position to say anything.’

Sir Gazrek was taking bribes from the apprentices under him to improve their evaluations and manipulate their training missions as he pleased.

I roughly looked back on this incident and eliminated some of the demons. I was planning to write it down like that and end it.

But then it happened.

-burdock?!

Suddenly a stupid noise started coming from above their heads.

“Oh my… F*ck!”

When Sir Gazrek heard that he cursed.

“yes?”

“why?”

“Hey be quiet. It’s a wyvern.”

“yes?!”

“Hic!?”

The trainees all became quiet.

-Burdock? Burdock?!

The sound of the foolish noise is definitely getting louder as it gets closer. Everyone becomes tense and draws their weapons.

-Wood thud!

A branch broke and a wyvern covered in black scales was seen running up the tree. It was a small calf-sized wyvern.

However even young wyverns have stingers on their tails that can cause pain similar to being stung by thousands of wasps and their teeth are as sharp as daggers.

Even the most skilled combatants would often die in agony after being hit by a wyvern’s poison. It is a formidable foe that cannot be taken lightly.

The problem is that if there are young wyverns wandering around there are full-grown wyverns deep in the forest…

“Hey! Shoot!”

“yes!”

The panicked trainees all started shooting arrows at once.