Night of the Soulless Heathens – 326



#326. Banreung Expedition 5

“…was alive?”

Azadin was shocked to see the humans turned to stone moving around inside the burned down house and the farm suddenly spawned elemental wailings.

[Ahhhh….]

They open their mouths and scream. Not just the one corpse that Azadin is looking at but all the corpses scream at once.

And… a craze arose among them.

“Damage Sir Azadin!”

“Ugh!”

Azadin immediately used his skill of Flower Bird Wind and Moon to escape from that place.

The Elemental Wailing’s patients began to explode all at once. One person was transformed into a giant pile of magic stones expanding to over 100 times its size.

A single person becomes a giant stone pillar increasing in volume and destroying everything around him.

Originally Elemental Wailing patients would suffer continuously until they died as parts of their bodies were transformed into magic stones.

The amount of magic stones that come out in this way is ultimately much more than the body of a single human… But this time it seems as if all of those magic stones were poured out in an instant.

“What the hell is going on?”

Azadin looked in the direction where the magic stone pillars had exploded.

The magic stones had swelled in volume. They were all growing in one direction.

The magic stones grew like thorn trees towards the northeast. They seemed to indicate a certain direction.

“What is this?”

I don’t know yet.

Just because there is an arrow drawn on the road doesn’t mean you can find the way completely. There has to be a signpost to know the way… and if the number of Elemental Wailing patients becomes large enough to become a signpost it will mean the end of humanity.

“The magic stone…..”

“What should we do Captain?”

Bernard asked Azadin. Since the people have been turned into magic stones if we extract these magic stones they will be useful in many ways.

Even if you just sell it you can expect to make a significant income.

But Azadin shook his head.

“I don’t think it’s time to be greedy about magic stones. The elemental wailing might not be the only thing exploding here. If that happens….”

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The price of magic stone will plummet.

But Azadin trailed off thinking that it sounded like a statement that converted human lives into money.

“First let’s hold a funeral for them.”

“Huh? Are you talking about the funeral?”

“Yes. May the spirits of the dead be comforted and may they rest in peace under the guidance of the three archangels… It’s okay. A funeral for the Knights of the Salvation Order doesn’t take that long if it’s held in a simple manner.”

Azadin held a simple funeral for the dead and left.

“He who performs a funeral while using sorcery. Our captain really has no control.”

Blood mage Bernard found it odd that Azadin as a paladin was performing funerals for the dead.

Thanks to that some time was wasted and the sun was now setting.

*********

The Chashan party gathered first in front of the Sandokar Gate.

Azadin missed the Chashan party because he was busy burying the dead from the Elemental Wailing. No one spoke of it.

Azadin’s funeral was a simple prayer so it didn’t take that long.

You can’t blame someone for missing an enemy just because they took a minute to catch their breath.

Besides Azadin and his party were slightly exhausted from the continued fighting.

In order to succeed in individual defeat they had to show tremendous mobility and breakthrough power and with a small number of people that kind of mobility and breakthrough power came back as a physical burden.

Azadin led them to an inn about four leagues from the Sandokar Gate.

But this inn was in a miserable state.

In the stable where the inn was run a horse’s severed neck hangs and the corpses of dead people are strewn around.

The words of the merchants sent by Azadin were dead and the merchants Azadin trusted and sent to Banreung were hanging dead.

Judging by the gunshot marks here and there it seemed likely that the Chashan gang had attacked the caravan at this inn.

There was some resistance followed by a brutal massacre.

The Chashan gang tortured and abused the merchants of the caravan right here cutting off their fingers while they were still alive to provoke Azadin.

Azadin looked back at those terrible traces and his teeth chattered.

“Don’t hold a funeral.”

If the funeral was not held immediately their bodies could be resurrected as undead.

Azadin gave the merchants’ bodies a burial with the prayers of the Knights of Salvation just as he had done for the Elemental Wailing patients.

“In the meantime the Chashan gang will run away even more. It seems that things are different from when the Elemental Whaling patients were present.”

Niselda urged Azadin to pursue. The Elemental Wailing patients had petrified their corpses and were untouchable but here Azadin was disposing of the corpses strewn about in a horrific manner salting and collecting them.

Naturally it took more time and effort than with the elemental wailing patients.

But Azadin shook his head.

“The sun has set so we hasten the chase and fall into a trap. Niselda. Not everyone has night vision like you. And Chashan was originally expelled from Dwarven Arrow. He must be held responsible for consuming so many of Dwarven Arrow’s elite soldiers.”

It is known that Chashan was the founder of Dwarven Arrow but after being purged by his subordinates and coming to the Chadra Plateau he created a drug farm there and once again created a drug organization that rivaled the Dwarven Arrow.

But now seeing that he is trying to take revenge on Azadin by borrowing the forces of Dwarven Arrow it is questionable whether he really fought against Dwarven Arrow.

Isn’t the conflict between Chashan and Dwarven Arrow a camouflage rebellion?

I suspect that this wasn’t just a cover to spread drugs and commit crimes all over the world while avoiding shifting responsibility to the Banrung Kingdom.

“…colon.”

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Then Scott pointed to a place for Azadin.

As Azadin finished the funeral a light began to shine near the stables of the inn.

As Azadin approached the place the spirits appeared. They all had traces of the cruel torture and massacre they had suffered at the hands of the dwarves despite their appearances as they had been when alive. Thanks to Azadin’s simple funeral the one whose head had been cut off was holding his own head in his hand and the one whose waist had been broken was walking around with his upper body on his waist like a boy holding onto his flowing trousers.

[Sir Azadin….]

They were happy to see Azadin. They could have said a word of complaint but they all looked calm.

“I’m sorry. I was immoral and put you in danger…”

[No Sir Azadin. You warned us that this path was dangerous. No noble or knight has ever shown us such fairness.]

“That’s it…..”

Azadin was a persecuted man not a knight or a nobleman.

Although he claimed to have inherited the Emperor’s blood so as not to be pushed aside by others in reality the Emperor’s blood was intentionally amplified within the Herald Clan to the point where it was rare for anyone in the Herald Clan to not inherit the Emperor’s blood.

Although Azadin himself knew that he was not a noble these people who were accustomed to the tyranny of the nobles seemed to have been shocked by each and every action of Azadin who had been appointed as a knight of Fort Vermillion.

Since they did not hate Azadin even in death Azadin had to wonder if these ghosts were illusions he had created for his own good.

[Please don’t be so harsh Sir Azadin. You have been a good lord.]

[If it doesn’t feel real I’ll tell you it’s because the other people are useless lords.]

“…That is a very reasonable statement. I am convinced.”

Azadin nodded to the ghosts’ words.

[Anyway we’re not here to talk nonsense like this.]

[Be careful the Master of the Elemental Wailings is approaching.]

“The master of the Elemental Wailings?”

[The one who unleashed the Elemental Wailings upon humans and his successor are coming to find you.]

[that….]

The ghosts tried to say something but they could not say anything more than that.

“It seems that Banreung Academy has finally figured out how to multiply Elemental Wailings.”

[you’re right.]

“This is a big deal. Giacomo’s daughter is in danger. I promised to save her.”

Azadin had promised to find Giacomo’s daughter a young girl who was afflicted with the Elemental Wailing.

If the research on Elemental Wailing is completed and the desired results have been achieved there is no longer any reason to keep Giacomo’s daughter alive at Banreung Academy.

So when Azadin expressed his concern the ghosts looked among themselves and nodded.

[The daughter of a subordinate or rather it’s ambiguous to call her a subordinate.]

[Thank you for even trying to keep that promise.]

[So… will you keep our promise too?]

[Please contact my wife to let her know that I am dead. There should be a ring with my body. Tell her to give it to my son… It is now just a faded silver ring but it has runes engraved on it proof of my noble lineage from long ago.]

“I will tell you.”

[I… told my wife to hide the silver coins under the chicken coop and to use them to help pay for my son’s wedding.]

The spirits asked Azadin to deliver their will to their families and to deliver their belongings.

Azadin promised to keep all of their promises and pay compensation of 15 Arangi silver coins to each of the bereaved families.

Then the ghosts were satisfied blessed Azadin and left.

*********

Scott who was watching the scene stuck out his tongue.

“Seeing things like this makes me a little skeptical about using necromancy.”

“Just a little bit?”

Azadin was surprised that a necromancer like Scott would feel skeptical about invading death. But then again what’s the point of feeling skeptical?

“The soul body and mind are separate from each other and I can only use the body and mind.”

“Well I think so too. That’s why we should value funerals even more. Only by holding a funeral can we completely separate the human soul from the body. It’s a ritual to separate the dead from the cruelty of the world so that the soul can rest and the act of damaging the body will not hurt the soul and so that this poor soul will not suffer any more. If you can Scott you should also use necromancy after holding a funeral.”

“…Oh Captain. I’m an Orc but there are many cases where I’m not understood by humans. That statement just now was a bit….”

Even Scott an orc and necromancer seems to have money.

Scott wasn’t the only one surprised to see Azadin conversing with Young like this.

Even Niselda a half-vampire was surprised.

“Does this happen often?”

“with short…?”

“What on earth are you…..”

“By the way… the master of the Elemental Wailing has appeared. It’s fortunate that Giacomo isn’t here. If he had been he would have attacked without hesitation.”

Blood Mage Bernard shivered as he spoke.

“Do you have any idea who it might be?”

“…Oh yes. But. Um. No it’s nothing. There’s no reason for him to come out here.”

Bernard trailed off. He seemed to have an idea but it seemed unlikely that he would get a good answer if he pressed him hard here.