Night of the Soulless Heathens – 288



#288. Celestial Fire 2

Azadin who received a permit to travel from Prince Kalintz went first to see Selim.

“Could I borrow a hippogriff? I have some business to attend to in St. Mallory and I’m afraid that if I go by land the Inquisitor will come after me.”

Lord Jecht the Inquisitor who had come as an advisor to Prince Calintz believed that Azadin still had a copy of the New King’s Book.

‘There are cases like Sir Sok so I shouldn’t be too overconfident in my abilities. It’s better to avoid fights that can be avoided.’

So Azadin planned to fly away on his hippogriff.

“What do you mean borrow? Sir Azadin. That’s too bad. I’ll give you one of my fastest and most intelligent ones.”

Selim gave Azadin the best of his hippogriffs.

“It’s the best hippogriff I have. The bishop originally asked for it but….”

Selim beat his chest.

“You the last to be appointed by Sir Planck the Wisdom will bring a breath of fresh air to the old and sick knightly order together with this guy. Oh but even Sir Azadin needs some practice with the hippogriff right?”

“Well how do I ride it? I saw you ride it Selim.”

Selim taught Azadin how to ride a hippogriff and gave him detailed instructions on how to ride it.

Azadin wrote down the contents in his notebook and received the hippogriff from Selim.

It was a sensual looking hippogriff with red and blue feathers mixed on its neck.

“The name is ‘Firewinter’. Doesn’t it suit you? If you have something else in mind you can give it a different name.”

“It suits you well. You have a mane like fire and ice. And when Fimbulbert comes you’ll like the name Firewinter even more.”

Azadin cautiously extended his hand to the hippogriff.

Then the hippogriff immediately tried to strike Azadin’s hand with his forepaw.

Although it was a speed that was too fast for a human to react Azadin’s reflexes were not ordinary. Azadin easily dodged the hippogriff’s front leg attack and smiled bitterly.

“Hey Sir Selim. This is…..”

It was fortunate that Azadin dodged but if it had been a normal person his arm would have been torn off.

“Oh I like to be a bit playful.”

“a little?”

“That’s right. I’m like this too…”

Selim showed off the little scratches here and there on his body.

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Because the Minotaur wears leather armor and has thick fur even a kick from a hippogriff’s foreleg would only cause a minor scratch but for a bare-skinned human these would be fatal wounds.

“Ha. Okay. I guess I’ll try.”

Azadin climbed onto Firewinter’s back feeling the gap between Selim and humanity once again.

Once I got on his back he listened well and I had no problem circling around Fireglyph.

Firewinter was indeed as clever and lively as Selim had recommended. Azadin liked Firewinter knowing that the attempt to claw his arm was not malicious but rather purely playful.

“Then have a pleasant journey. Show the other knights an example.”

“I’m not really trying to show you an example… I’m just going. Don’t have any strange expectations.”

“Ahaha. Sir Azadin. You are fire lightning and wind. When lightning strikes a dry field it is inevitable that fire will start. Even if you try to stay still you cannot stop the fire from starting.”

“I feel like the compliments are too much and it’s becoming poisonous. I’ll just go quietly. Quietly.”

Azadin felt embarrassed by Selim’s strange expectations of him.

*********

After finishing his travel preparations Azadin flew into the sky on his hippogriff Firewinter and headed to St. Mallory.

The hippogriff is so strong that it can even carry the minotaur Selim but its endurance is poor.

Since they only travel by flying for a short time the distance they travel in a day is similar to or less than that of a horse.

However since it flies in the sky and is not affected by terrain it can ultimately fly much farther than a horse.

“however….”

As he flew over the forest south of Fireglyph Azadin sensed an ominous aura in the forest.

There are creatures moving through the shadows of the forest. At first I suspected that they were Lord Jecht waiting to ambush but instead it seemed like a considerable number of troops were moving.

‘What is it? Something is moving in the forest. Should I get down and check it out?’

But I’m afraid that I might cause trouble by doing so.

however….

“Squeak…..”

Firewinter started complaining that he was hungry.

“…I had to go down anyway.”

Azadin looked for a place to land nearby and began his careful descent.

*********

Although it was summer an unsummer-like cold air was blowing in from the south.

Farmer Deegan of Big Well Village a small village south of Fire Glyph shivered from the unusually cold wind.

“Dad. Is this okay?”

Deegan’s son Duns gathered some planks of wood and showed them to his father.

It wasn’t something sold at a lumber yard but rather a roughly made board cut from trees nearby so it would crack when dried but that didn’t matter.

Deegan just needs to somehow survive this summer’s hailstorm.

“Yeah. The carpenters are charging too much for cutting some wood.”

“Oh by the way Mr. Delover from the lumber mill said that some of the young workers there have been disappearing recently. They say they saw a dryad…”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“They say that beauties in the forest seduce woodcutters and loggers?”

Digan’s son Duns’ eyes lit up as he said so.

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Although he thinks it is an absurd story in his head the passion characteristic of adolescent boys makes him want to believe it.

And perhaps the young apprentices at the lumber mill were the same.

Duns had no reason to leave home since his father Deegan was with him but the lumberjacks who were no different from the serfs of the Rescue Knights had no sense of duty or blood relations to hold them back.

It was probably the passion and curiosity that teenage boys would have rather than the harsh reprimands of the lumberyard supervisor that drove them to turn.

“The fortress forest is said to be dangerous Dryad? Oh my you fools. Why do you all do the same thing?”

“It’s the same?”

“Yeah so um. Anyway whatever…..”

Deegan trailed off.

For the young men living in the forest regions the legend of the Dryads was always fascinating.

It was hard for passion and desire to subside until one had wandered foolishly through the forest and encountered wild beasts and monsters something Deegan had already experienced in his youth.

But these days times are not good.

“But why did you enter the forest at such a dangerous time? You’d be lucky if you didn’t end up as food for wolves rather than dryads.”

“But since the hunter’s knife came with him he won’t end up being eaten by wolves right?”

“That guy caught them all in a trap. You guys are saying that the sword looks like it could be a knight but you’ve never seen a real knight let alone a proper Sellsword so you’re saying that. Huh?”

Farmer Deegan was startled by a sudden chill.

From the forest overlooking the garden where they were working a pure white arm stretched out between the trees.

It was a woman’s arm with dazzling white skin that had not been exposed to sunlight.

“Huh?”

Digan’s son Duns also saw the sight so it wasn’t just Digan seeing this illusion.

Suddenly a beautiful woman from Jeolla Province jumped out from the forest and beckoned to them with a captivating smile.

“It’s a dryad! Father! Have you seen it? A dryad….”

“Run away too.”

Deegan picked up the work axe and gave orders to his son.

“yes?”

At that moment Duncan felt suspicious.

‘No way is Father trying to monopolize the dryads?’

For a moment I even had such an absurd suspicion.

But Deegan’s expression was pale and bloodless indicating that he was terrified.

“That’s not a dryad my son! There’s no way a gold bar would fall in the middle of the market and not be picked up by anyone! Likewise a beautiful woman from Jeolla Province wouldn’t suddenly and mercilessly try to seduce us!”

“But still aren’t dryads different from humans?”

“Even fairies love handsome men and beautiful women! Hey! That’s not a dryad!”

The dryad burst into laughter at Digan’s shout.

“You’re a smart human. You’re an ignorant worm who hasn’t learned a single word yet you have the wisdom of an uneducated person…”

At that moment a beast-like monster appeared from either side of the dryad ripping through the fog.

The monster was a beast of a race called ‘Bree’ and had the horns and legs of a mountain goat.

They charged at him carrying axes made by binding deer antlers to clubs.

“Eek!”

Digan’s son Duns looked carefully. Among the human heads and limbs adorned with Bree’s horns there was an arm wearing a familiar bracelet.

It was Hunter Carl’s arm. He always showed off the jade-decorated bracelet he said he received from his girlfriend and the jade-decorated bracelet caught his eye because it was recognizable from afar.

Most of the young people who entered the forest were torn to pieces by the low Bree and their limbs were hung like ornaments trampling on the dignity of their corpses.

And perhaps soon he and his father will join that ranks.

But before Breedle’s violence can wash over them…

An arrow flew in with a howling sound.

The arrow lodged itself in the Brie soldier’s knee but the force was so strong that instead of sticking the arrow in it tore off his knee.

The gaping knees buckle under the weight of the running Brie soldier.

When the surprised Bree soldiers turned around they saw a man wearing a bird mask on his face.

“You have a very wonderful father.”

He praised Deegan and fired another arrow.

To prevent the Bree soldiers from getting to Deegan and Duns they shot the Bree closest to the rich man.

The Bree soldiers’ barbaric armor made of wooden boards and bones was not enough to stop the arrows fired by the man.

“That bow?”

“Could it be the messenger clan of the Chadra Plateau?”

Deegan and Duns looked at the man who appeared before their eyes and thought of the rumored messenger clan.

“Huh? Do you know me?”

The man who rescued Deegan and Duns was Azadin who was heading to St. Mallory.

I came down to check because I thought something was moving in the forest and by chance I ended up saving these rich people.

But why do rich people recognize Azadin?

Perhaps the rumor about Azadin had begun to spread throughout the Chadra Plateau and beyond.

‘It’s not very good.’

Azadin was considered a traitor even among the Heralds so it was not a good sign that his actions were being talked about.