Night of the Soulless Heathens – 28



#28. Massacre of the Paladins 5

How can I justify the crime of killing civilians with stray arrows? They were farm guys who were with the Herald Clan so from the King’s Church’s perspective they are no different from a cult. But if I were to deal with the Herald Clan I would die.

however….

The messenger was looking at them without attacking.

“What is it?”

“You must be out hunting. The knights are wielding spears and bows. And even if you’re a trainee knight how can you say nothing to a full-fledged knight?”

“…What does that mean?”

“Why did you come hunting and suddenly kill the villagers?”

“Because the villagers are social.”

“No. You didn’t know I was a messenger until you shook my hand. It wasn’t until our children shot arrows that you realized there was a messenger clan. That is…”

Azadin took stock of the situation and clicked his tongue.

“You accidentally killed someone and tried to silence them.”

“….”

“Is that right?”

Looking at the knights’ reactions Medium realized that Azadin’s reasoning was correct.

“Perhaps they mistook the people digging for herbs or mushrooms in the bushes for animals and shot them dead. In an attempt to silence them they chased them down and ended up wiping out the entire farm.”

“Shut your mouth you soulless blasphemer.”

Sir Gazrek who had been hit hard was indignant.

To be exact the arrow he fired while hunting strayed and killed a farmer who was inspecting the fence but he did not want to reveal such a shameful sight to the messenger clan.

“It would be difficult to silence me by killing me wouldn’t it?”

Azadin picked up the spear from the hand of the knight who had been knocked unconscious by his own shortsword. The hunting javelin was aimed at Lord Gazrek.

“If you stop causing harm to this village and pay the compensation and become knights of penance I will end it without killing you. I haven’t killed you until now…”

Azadin swung his spear into the air and then aimed it at Lord Gazrek again.

“…It won’t be easy not to kill from now on.”

Although the two apprentices have been neutralized the number of enemies is still large. Azadin can no longer fight with tolerance.

‘Are you crazy? Are you saying that it won’t be easy to not kill us from now on? So you’ve been letting us off the hook until now?’

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The knights of the King’s Church had an absolute advantage over the ordinary knights in terms of skill. While the knights of the countryside had no sparring partners and could not improve their skills the knights of the Order which consisted entirely of knights could quickly compare and improve their skills.

Aren’t you saying that you’ve been fighting against those knights with lenience until now?

“You’re kidding. If we back down because we’re scared of that soulless blasphemous bastard… we’ll be punished for that alone.”

“Are you going to continue to commit crimes because you are afraid of punishment?”

“If I catch you everything will be solved! Judging by your skills you must be a fairly high-ranking messenger. If I catch you everything will be solved! These villagers are followers of the Emperor so they deserved to die anyway!”

Midiam and Ismail who were listening had to hold back their laughter because it was so absurd.

Azadin is the 108th messenger. He is the lowest rank among the messengers and is shunned by the messenger clan. How can you overestimate Azadin’s skills?

However their assessment was correct as the Paladins were by no means easy opponents. Both Medium and Ismail agreed that Azadin’s skills were by no means those of a lower-ranking herald.

Then Azadin threw the spear again.

“joy!”

Lord Gazrek simply knocked away the flying hunting spear and cast a spell on Azadin. This time the hammer of holy light fell on Azadin’s head.

Azadin dodges it but the light explodes and the aftershocks sweep away. However Azadin calmly unbuckles the bow from his waist puts the string on and pulls out the hunting arrows from the fallen apprentice knight.

The trainee knights do not carry many arrows according to tradition so they only carry about three arrows.

“Do you think you could take that head-on?”

Sir Gazrek charged.

“okay?”

Azadin raised his bow towards the sky and shot at a high angle.

Is this Lee Seon-gung’s preparatory movement?

It’s too defenseless to say that.

“It’s dangerous!”

Midiam shot an arrow at Lord Gazrek to support Azadin. However Lord Gazrek true to his boast struck the arrow flying at eye level with his sword and charged forward.

“ah!”

When the panicked Medium fired another shot this time Azadin was caught between the arrow and Sir Gazrek.

“ah?!”

Azadin caught an arrow flying in the air spun around placed the arrow on his bow and fired it.

Sir Gazrek who had raised his sword to parry Midiam’s arrow suddenly changed direction and was unable to withstand Azadin’s close-range shot that was fired from the side. Azadin’s arrow pierced his temple and Sir Gazrek fell forward.

“100 million….”

“That’s ridiculous!”

The remaining apprentices were astonished by Azadin’s near-mythical feat. Lord Gazrek displayed outstanding skill even being able to deflect arrows flying right in front of him.

But you subdued him by catching the arrow flying towards Gazrek and shooting it again? It seems like the work of a demon not a human.

“….”

“What is that?”

Even the messenger tribe Midiam asks out of curiosity.

“It’s a technique called arrow feedback.”

“Arrow feedback? Is that because of Kazas?”

“No this is a technique I invented. It’s not that difficult so if you practice a little you can do it too.”

Azadin kindly explained to Midiam and looked back at the knights.

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“So what are you guys going to do?”

As Azadin raised his hand towards the sky the arrow he had shot into the sky just a moment ago was caught in his hand as if it was being sucked into his hand. It must have been for this purpose that he had shot into the sky just a moment ago.

A trap to subdue enemies who rush in letting their guard down because Azadin’s bow is empty. However before the trap can be used Midiam’s arrow is snatched from the air and shot again instantly killing Lord Gazrek.

“Oh over there…..”

“If you compensate the bereaved families for the harm you caused to the farm workers and become a repentant knight I won’t kill you.”

When Azadin said this the apprentices looked at each other in confusion. If it had been before Gazrek died they would have thought it was nonsense.

But seeing even Gazrek get killed by this herald clan… I’m not joking. This guy is really going to kill them all.

‘But if we become Confessors they’ll spare our lives? What if we run away and report to our superiors that the Emperor’s messenger has appeared?’

‘It’s okay if I just avoid this place. Should I try becoming a knight of repentance?’

The apprentices were conflicted by Azadin’s words. It was then.

“No!”

The farmer’s sons and daughters appeared from behind.

“They killed our father!”

“I killed my mother and brother-in-law!”

“They killed us like cattle just to cover up their mistakes! We don’t need any compensation!”

“We must kill them! We want blood not gold!”

The peasants demanded that the messenger Azadin execute the knights of the king’s church.

“These lowly things!”

The knights were furious.

“I guess there is no room for negotiation.”

Azadin was saddened by the way things had turned out.

‘I understand that these farmers are vengeful but if they kill the knights of the King’s Church they will have to abandon their farms and become vagabonds.’

Peasant boys among the people of Hybris often dream of becoming mercenaries or adventurers. Living as serfs who cannot leave their village for their entire lives is a difficult life plan for boys at an age when their imaginations are running wild.

However becoming a mercenary or an adventurer is not that easy. It is impossible for boys and girls who came from serfdom with nothing to become mercenaries or adventurers let alone the fallen warrior aristocracy.

Since you don’t have the basic equipment and training to become a mercenary or adventurer there’s no way a proper place would accept you let alone a group of bandits.

‘The life of a wanderer is so hard. Are they prepared for that and wanting revenge now?’

However Azadin cannot arbitrarily decide to forgive the victims who want revenge. The enraged farmer’s son and his family beat the fallen knight to death with stones and axes.

“You worms! How dare you… approach a paladin! You will all be cursed!”

The knight who was using evil tried to kill the peasants but Azadin’s arrows prevented him from doing so. The peasants attacked the knight who was paralyzed by the shock from Azadin’s arrows and killed him as well.

Azadin clicked his tongue and looked at the disaster.

*********

The peasants decided to collect the bodies of the knights and those who had been murdered. Having lost their families to the knights’ tyranny they wanted to desecrate the knights’ bodies but Azadin stopped them.

“A corpse is just a corpse. If you’re alive you can hate them. But there’s no need to be entangled in hating the dead more than necessary. Don’t the people of Hybris believe in the afterlife? There’s no need to desecrate a corpse and accumulate more evil karma.”

“But isn’t there a need to give the body a funeral?”

“You don’t have to do it. I’ll do it. It wouldn’t hurt to put in a little effort to prevent their undead transformation. And it wouldn’t hurt to show at least a little compassion to those who have washed away their debt. Don’t you think so?”

“….”

At Azadin’s words they reluctantly began to collect the bodies of their own family members.

While they were doing that Azadin collected the bodies of the paladins.

“You are truly a unique person.”

Midiam also began to help Azadin. Ismail searched through the dead knights and checked their equipment.

“It’s best not to take the knights’ weapons. Most of them are church-issued items. Let’s bury them together or use them as gravestones.”

Azadin decided to use the swords and armor worn by the knights as burial accessories wrapped the corpses in cloths and consecrated them in the style of the Knights of Salvation.

‘…I wonder if it isn’t also blasphemy to consecrate the knights of the King’s Church in the manner of the Knights Templar.’

Medium thought so but didn’t say it out loud.

“Phew.”

After finishing his work and holding a funeral in the style of the Rescue Knights Azadin sat down on a tree stump. He had planned to take a break and get some rest today but the atmosphere was not conducive to that.

“But did you really think I would forgive you if you told me to become a penitent?”

Medium asked Azadin.

“It’s not my job to forgive but that’s the law isn’t it?”

“The knights of the King’s Church could make empty promises right? After all they consider us Aragas as soulless blasphemous beings and believe that breaking our promises is not a sin.”

The name that called the soulless blasphemous messenger clan had such a meaning.