Night of the Soulless Heathens – 346



#346. Erantry Quest 2

A strong sense of pride can be felt in the soldiers’ attitude.

Are you proud to be in the army of the unholy king-slayer?

‘These must be incredibly elite soldiers.’

A soldier who is proud of his affiliation is strong. Edir could tell that Azadin’s warlords were an incredibly elite force just by watching the actions of a single soldier.

Although Edir harbored animosity towards the Herald Clan and Azadin his heart wavered when he saw this soldier.

Even just a short period of refuge had left me physically and mentally devastated.

If there was a hope to lean on somewhere even if it was the Herald Clan I wanted to lean on it.

*********

Azadin’s men patrolled along the road protecting refugees mediating disputes and distributing food to those who were malnourished.

To prevent anyone from collapsing to death on the roadside we led them to the Sandhokar Gate where refugees gathered like clouds.

“Welcome to Sandokar. I am Count Ivechek of Sandokar.”

A middle-aged wealthy nobleman spoke to the refugees.

As a full-fledged nobleman who is a member of the Yaegasu clan and has sworn allegiance to the messenger clan the priests cannot look upon him favorably.

However after being daunted by the long period of hunger and the bitter cold the sight of Count Ivechek greeting them with such a dignified attitude filled them with respect rather than contempt.

“First of all please allow me to use blood magic. It is to weed out those addicted to drugs and those belonging to the thieves’ guild.”

As soon as Count Evecheck finished speaking the blood mage behind him cast a spell.

Blood flowed from his arms and formed into small snakes that scattered among the refugees.

“Don’t touch! I won’t harm you!”

With the sorcerer’s warning the blood snakes moved and burst out in several places.

When the soldiers approached and examined his forearm they saw a black chain tattoo.

“I am a commoner!”

“It was a Dwarven Arrow.”

“Oh no! I’m not even a dwarf and yet you call me a dwarven arrow!”

But when the soldiers subdued him with spears and searched his body opium hardened with resin fell out of his pack.

It was really the blood magic that filtered out drug addicts.

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In this way the work of weeding out drug addicts drug dealers cultists and criminals was completed. When the cultist’s identity was revealed he immediately tried to harm the people around him but the crossbowman fired a crossbow and pierced his head.

Crossbowmen were stationed on the battlements of the fortress waiting for the signal.

“So are the remaining people the commoners? I will give them jobs. I can’t just give them free food.”

Count Ivechek and his men began to sort the refugees.

The aim was to preemptively weed out drug addicts or those belonging to criminal organizations such as thieves’ guilds and to divide up the technicians and farmer warriors and redistribute them to the right positions.

“The stonemason will be paid one shilling and sixpence a day.”

“One shilling for the carpenter.”

“The blacksmith is paid one shilling and three pennies!”

“We’re hiring people to work on the farm! Pay is 10 pennies!”

Count Ivechek’s recruiters classified people according to their skills and occupations.

The refugees were worried that they would live in poverty and slowly die a life of meager porridge but they were all surprised when they were offered jobs with considerably good conditions.

As people rushed to apply for jobs clerks wrote them down by job category and gave them badges with numbers on them.

“Uhm…..”

The priest who fled with Edir seemed shocked to see the refugees being accepted and sorted in Sandokar and the orderly downtown area of ​​Sandokar despite the large number of refugees.

Despite being in a time of turmoil it appears more organized than the original city they lived in.

“Could this be your achievement Count Evcheck?”

“I wish I could say that but no. That is what Sir Azadin meant.”

“…….”

“So what can a priest do? Since you belong to the King’s Church it would be better for you to stay on my side.”

“Don’t you need people who can read write and calculate numbers? It seems like you need a lot of scribes.”

“But the scribes must serve as Sir Azadin’s subordinates and do the job. You as a priest of the King’s Church….”

“I will do it. No please let me do it.”

“Understood. Welcome.”

Count Ivechek accepted the cleric who volunteered to be his secretary and looked at Edir and Gidit.

“You guys?”

The priest who had been guided by Count Ivechek stepped forward and vouched for the two.

“Iza is the servant Edir from Btuma. And Iza is the Doppelsöldner Gidit of the Sel’sword guild. Both of them are quite capable. Thanks to them we were able to escape safely.”

“Is that so? Well there are always vacancies for officers to train new recruits. You’re welcome.”

Evecheck welcomed them gladly.

Edir felt as if he was possessed by some ghost.

The Herald Clan was the enemy that destroyed Btuma but this place run by Sir Azadin a member of the Herald Clan has become the perfect refuge for refugees.

Of course it wasn’t a free-for-all where I had to work but the desperate scenes I’d seen on my way here felt like a lie.

“Your Majesty I beg your pardon… I have heard that Sir Azadin is a messenger but what kind of person is he?”

“Oh you said you were from Btuma?”

The people of Btuma would not have good feelings towards the Heralds. The Btuma people who had lived a life of luxury during the reign of the Golden King Manja Zadek suffered the humiliation of having their king killed by the Heralds and their country destroyed.

“Hospitality.”

“Hospitaler?”

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“Yes. A real hospitaler. Compared to him it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the other rescuers in the Rescue Knights are just con artists wearing tin cans.”

“…….”

Edir was speechless as he listened to Count Ivchek’s boastful words.

“Do not be rude to Lord Azadin. I am an earl of this county but I have offered my sword to Lord Azadin and have entered his service. He is the protector of Sandokar and I will not tolerate any insult to him.”

“But I can’t really believe it… No.”

Expressing your distrust of Azadin here will only upset the Count.

Edir decided to hold back his words and just see for himself.

*********

Azaddin used the gold and silver confiscated from Chashan to create jobs for refugees.

The refugees were able to work as Azadin’s subordinates and receive wages which they could use to buy food to eat.

Rather than simply providing relief Azadin’s consideration was to give them jobs and enable them to support their families.

Of course this would have been impossible without the vast amounts of gold and silver confiscated from the Chashan and the abundance of food stockpiled thanks to the fertile lands of the Chadra plateau.

Thanks to this Azadin’s fame in Sandhokar and the adjacent Naisandhokar region reached the sky.

At that time an official from the Arangi Kingdom came to visit.

“As you know the land connecting the Sandokkar Gate and the Chadra Plateau was originally called… the Naisandokkar region and it belongs to our Arangi Kingdom. You are occupying the territory of the Arangi Kingdom without permission.”

Originally the route from the Chadra Plateau to Sandokar was a land ruled by the Margrave of Arangi and was called Naisandokar. However after the war between Arangi and Banling broke out and Margrave Naisandokar was killed this place quickly became desolate.

The forest was swarming with goblins wolves and demons making it impossible to manage this land without a certain amount of passion.

When the dwarven drug dealer Dwarven Arrow began to bribe and entice the slash-and-burn farmers of Naisandokar they gave up control of Naisandokar and withdrew on the condition that they would continue to receive bribes.

These people had come to see Azadin who had taken control of the Sandhokar Gate and was hiring refugees to expand the Naisandhokar and Sandhokar Roads and stabilize security.

Even though it was a neglected land was it because the detestable Herald Clan had illegally occupied their territory that they were angry?

But their proposal was unexpected.

“Sir Azadin. The Kingdom of Arangi grants you the title of Margrave of Naisandhokar.”

Azadin and his warlords already have effective control over the Naisandhokar region and their reputation is high.

Rather than quarrel with such a well-reputed paladin the Kingdom of Arangi would rather give him a sham honorary position and receive something commensurate with it.

But even if it is only a token honor it is a great thing.

Azadin a member of the Herald Clan officially gains the title of Count.

A true noble status that even the King’s Church cannot spit on.

No matter how much Azadin claims to be a descendant of the Emperor it is nothing more than a meaningless bloodline that has been diluted over several generations.

This is an overly generous offer. And of course the generosity of a king is like a fishing lure hiding a sharp needle inside.

“That is an overly generous offer. I am honored to accept it but what obligations does it impose on me?”

“Duty? Actually I was thinking of sending some people to Naisandokhar… There are refugees from the collapse of the Eight Kingdoms from Korasaar to Btuuma to Banling wandering around looking for a place to live. Sir Azadin happens to be the protector of Sandokhar and a devout follower of the Order of the Salvation. Judging by his faithful teachings and honorable actions I believe he will show the way to those who have lost their homes.”

“….”

So the Kingdom of Arangi was having a hard time dealing with the refugees.

Since the Knights Rescue Corps was attached to the Kingdom of Arangi it seemed like it would be a simple matter to leave it to the Knights Rescue Corps but as Fimbulbert approached the Knights Rescue Corps Commander lost face and started acting picky.

They said that there were spies and cultists among the refugees and that they could not allow them in until the investigation was complete and they were passing it on to the Arangi Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Arangi wanted to deal with these refugees by passing them back to Azadin. To do so they were willing to take the political risk of awarding the title of count to the Herald Clan.

“With all due respect I am a native of Aragasa. Will the King’s church tolerate that?”

“Don’t worry about that. The church of Count Azadin is not in a position to care about such things right now.”

“No already a count? That is a difficult title to bear. I think I will first seek wisdom from many learned people and then be confident that I can handle it myself before I can accept the honor.”

“Then decide quickly. I will stay here this week.”

The lions of Arangi smiled as they spoke. Most of them would have bitten the bullet if offered the title of Count but seeing that they didn’t seem flustered despite Azadin’s delay in their offer it seemed clear that they had a plan for when Azadin refused.

“I guess I have no choice but to accept it anyway.”