Night of the Soulless Heathens – 323



#323. Banreung Expedition 2

Prince Kalintz looked puzzled as he saw Azadin asking him to write a pass for him.

Going to the Knight Commandery of St. Mallory and crossing over to the Kingdom of Banling were two very different matters.

Of course Prince Kalintz Chapter Master of Fireglyphs had the authority to grant such passage. Moreover the justification Azadin had presented was clear.

“The criminal Chashan has escaped so we are going to arrest him and start an investigation to subdue the forces behind him. Wouldn’t that be enough justification?”

“But Sir Azadin. I just received a call from the Western Front and the Wisdom Order is seeking to summon you.”

“recall?”

“Yes. I want to hold a meeting.”

From the perspective of the Wisdom Order Azadin must be an incredibly annoying guy.

How could they tolerate them beating themselves up and then returning to the Chadra Plateau in good health? It seems like they are planning to hold a meeting to find fault with something.

“You probably don’t have the presence of mind to do that. What about the Celestial Fire Knights?”

“Oh the Order of Courage and the Order of Mercy have decided to send supervisors. It looks like the other orders have gained control over the Celestial Fire using the Celestial secret you discovered as an excuse.”

A committee is created from above to monitor the Celestial Fire Knights so they don’t act as they please and the three sects jointly manage this committee.

This means that the Celestial Fire Knights which were a subordinate organization of the Wisdom Order will be made a subordinate organization of everyone.

It is a proposal that the Wisdom Church has no reason to accept unless they are threatened.

But looking at the fact that it was accepted I wonder if there was some kind of secret struggle going on behind the scenes.

“Traffic was cleared up pretty quickly huh?”

Azadin smiled bitterly.

In the end it seemed that the Order of Courage could not reveal the truth about the Celestials and their weaknesses to the whole world. After all there was no need to reveal the Celestials’ weaknesses to the whole world and commit the blasphemous act of destroying the statue of an angel while fighting among the internal factions.

In the end what each faction of the Salvation Knights wanted was control over the Celestial Fire Knights and they did not want to tarnish the honor of the Salvation Knights as a whole.

Azadin wanted it too so instead of giving the scroll to Lord Jecht he gave it to the Order of Courage within the Order of the Knights of Salvation.

“I guess you want to hold a meeting so I guess you don’t want to hold one. You’re just watching the situation right? That?”

“Yes. You want me to monitor whether or not you reveal anything to anyone outside the church and to submit it as data to the Samunhoe. In other words you are requesting my cooperation in submitting data to the Samunhoe to control you.”

“Hmm. I see it’s only the Church of Wisdom right?”

It seemed that no one other than the Wisdom Order wanted to put Azadin in the Samurai Order. No matter how far the Virtue Orders were from their own virtues the Wisdom Order was not stupid and could not put Azadin in the Samurai Order without a clear charge.

If you were to ask them to steal the secrets of the Celestials wouldn’t that be like confessing to the world that the secrets of the Celestials exist? Furthermore it would be like confessing that the Wisdom Order which is supposed to be a religious order had its heart stolen by a single person so it would be a shameful loss.

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I understand why you’d want to get mad at Azadin and find something to blame for it but to really tie him up you need to write something that holds Azadin accountable.

Are you going to get caught for barging into the Wisdom Church’s research lab?

Then naturally we cannot help but talk about Celestial’s past life consciousness.

Otherwise what crime would they charge Azadin who was in exile on the Chadra Plateau where they had usually ignored him?

“I like the fact that it’s divided into three sects: Courage Mercy and Wisdom. They’re busy keeping each other in check so the Wisdom sect can’t punish me unilaterally. But it doesn’t seem like the other sects like me.”

“So the Wisdom Order is secretly asking me to create a way to tie you up Azadin. They want you to be disarmed if possible so that you can’t resist and tear your subordinates to pieces so that you lose all your power.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“No. I am not of the Wisdom Order. Why should I?”

“….”

Azadin didn’t know what expression to make at Prince Kalintz’s reaction. He understood why Zan and the others liked this prince.

“Anyway you don’t have to listen to what the Wisdom Order orders. If I use this pass it would be openly rebelling against the Wisdom Order. I don’t like that.”

“Then give me a pass for Niselda and a pass for the group that came with me. I gave you a pass for the investigation team but if you say you didn’t know I was leaving wouldn’t that be enough of an excuse for the Wisdom Church?”

“…Ah so there was a way like that. How clever. By the way Niselda you mean the half-vampire Niselda? Are you close enough to her that you can use her name on your pass?”

Prince Kalintz said so and issued a pass as Azadin had requested.

“I wrote it for you but why are you doing this? This time?”

“I’m going to destroy Banreung Academy and the dwarf mafia and investigate the Elemental Wailing.”

Sunwoo’s Sun. An unknown object that can defeat Fimbulbert is related to the Elemental Wailing.

While investigating it it was also a chance to obtain information about the daughter of Azadin’s subordinate alchemist.

Originally these were things he had ordered Chashan to do under duress but it seemed that Chashan was determined to resist Azadin until the end even if it meant dying.

“I’m going to destroy those Dwarven sorcerers. If someone else said it it would sound like crazy talk but it’s different when you say it. Please take it easy. Just don’t make me suffer too. Do you know that this time the pass you’re giving me is different from before?”

Prince Kalintz asked Azadin to confirm.

“Thank you for finding out the secret of Celestial Fire and sharing it with me. However last time it was a pass within the Knights’ Commandery and this time it is a pass to another kingdom. This time like last time there is not much for me to gain. I hope you know that I am issuing you the pass purely because of your kindness. If something happens I will be involved so giving me this document means more than just stamping it and handing it over to you. Do you understand?”

“I know. I appreciate it. Prince Kalintz.”

“It feels like I’ve been stabbed in the side and then got my bow. But I know you know so that’s good.”

Prince Calintz gave us a pass only after much fussing.

*********

The smuggling street that the Azadin warlords had painstakingly built to the east of the southeastern rock fortress had been transformed into something quite plausible.

They cleared a path on a gently sloping cliff built a ramp for cargo and stairs for people to walk on installed a huge tower there and then installed a huge reduction gear that could lower and reel in a rope from the tower to the slope.

If you come here by carriage or wagon you can now tie the carriage or wagon to a rope and pull it up the hill or lower it slowly.

Azadin and Niselda were looking around on the smuggling road.

“The construction was done very well.”

Azadin admired the reduction gear and the well-paved mountain path.

Azadin wanted to supervise it himself but there was so much work to do that he left the construction supervision to others including the dwarves Kalan and Lord Broham. It was a situation where it would be impossible to criticize even if it was made roughly but looking at the current state of things it is made with precision and sturdiness pouring in the essence of dwarven engineering. The large stone tower supporting the reduction gear looks reliable just by looking at it.

“Everyone worked hard. It’s all thanks to Lord Azadin. Everyone can’t help but be enthusiastic when he sets such great goals.”

Niselda said so with a bitter smile.

Among the people that Azadin decided to bring to Banreung was Bernard a blood magician with ties to Banreung Academy.

Blood wizard Bernard is Niselda’s biological father.

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Bernard and Niselda. This father and daughter had no real connection other than their biological blood relationship.

Well that was also the average family situation at the time. Even if poor tenant farmers had poor conditions wealthy merchants and successful noblemen would leave the raising of their children to their wives and focus on their external activities.

However Niselda became a rare being half human and half vampire and Bernard was also responsible for this.

Bernard was disqualified as a father even at the time for many reasons including the fact that Niselda had not been raised properly and her life as a human being had been destroyed.

Niselda also did not have a very cheerful personality and had long ago given up her affection for her father and her duty to raise him so the two of them were on an awkward note.

However Azadin was grouped together with the team that was to go down to the Kingdom of Banrung this time.

“Hmm. If it weren’t for this incident the Vermilion Fortress and the territory would have been on a smooth road. After all the money confiscated from the drug dealer Chashan is also abundant.”

As he spoke Bernard glanced at Niselda. That bothered Niselda again. She wanted to vent her feelings but she had nothing to say.

However it was too awkward to treat him vaguely and somehow the blood relationship between them was worse than that between strangers.

Azadin also felt the strange air of this woman.

“I think I made a mistake.”

“yes?”

“No it’s nothing. Okay?”

Azadin saw the soldiers on the tower that secured the reduction gear approaching him. They were also Azadin’s men from the southeastern fortress.

“Sir Azadin! I heard you are coming.”

“Yeah. Thanks for your hard work. I came here to investigate the disappearance of the caravan.”

“Sir Azadin. In the Western Hemisphere this is….”

They held out something wrapped in paper to Azadin: a letter and a human finger.

“….”

The fingers were rough and rough as if they had been cut with a rusty saw or something and the fingernails were all torn off and the fingerprints had traces of charcoal burning.

After terrible torture his finger was cut off.

Along with him were the demands of Dwarven Arrow and Chashan.

First we will pass the fortress.

Second restore Chashan’s position and compensate him with 2000 nyang of Banreung gold coins for the money he took from Chashan.

Third the drug trade in Dwarven Arrow should not be banned in the future.

There were also other smaller demands such as selling food in bulk at lower prices because food prices have been skyrocketing recently but the three biggest demands were as follows:

“You’re trying so hard to die.”

Azadin was furious as he looked at the fingers evidence of the outrageous demands and brutal torture.

It was a fierce anger that no one who had seen Azadin until then had ever seen.