Night of the Soulless Heathens – 356



#356. The King’s Prophecy 4

“Understood. Then Count Azadin… what will you do next?”

“We’re going to supply supplies at Coxhal and head to Banreung following Bishop Akenar’s trail. The Celestial Fire Knights are probably attacking Banreung right now right? This is my Erantry quest and if Bishop Akenar is taken away by the Celestial Fire Knights it will be a stain on my career.”

Although the Erantry quest itself was unprecedented Azadin wanted to perfect his career.

If the Northern Emperor wanted to use Celestial Fire to attract people’s attention Azadin had to counter it by attracting people’s attention with perfect results.

“I see. Then. We will infiltrate the Northern Qi for now as per your orders.”

“Are you okay? I heard you were hired by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Arangi?”

“It was a short-term contract anyway. I’m sure you won’t be dissatisfied since I compensated you more than what was in the contract.”

“Then I will guide you to where the supplies are.”

Dimia and Zenith had already searched all over Coxhal and guided Azadin and his party to where the supplies were.

This was a warehouse where food and equipment were stored and the wagons used by the vampires of Banreung to transport supplies to this place.

“The road from here to Banreung is well-paved so it should be possible to travel by carriage. The dwarf vampires also used this to transport supplies.”

“Really? You must have gotten out of there in a hurry. There are still a lot of supplies left.”

Azadin decided to rest for the time being after seeing the supplies remaining at the outpost.

*********

Azadin and his men spent another day and a half at Coxhall resting while feeding their horses and sharpening their knives and arrowheads on a whetstone.

The fatigue from the long journey could not be relieved with a day and a half of rest but I did not have the luxury of wasting more than two days in Coxhall.

Fortunately Bernard’s blood magic helped a lot in recovering from fatigue so the party was able to recover a lot of stamina.

And now it is time to head back to the heart of Banreung.

Before parting Azadin gave advice to Dimia and Zenith Indim.

“Be careful when you go under the Northern Emperor. To be honest the Northern Aragasa have been loyal to the Assander Kingdom for a long time so now they are telling you to split the pie with the Arael tribe rags in fair competition so how can you just sit still? I said I wanted you to go under the Northern Emperor but don’t force yourself to join their command. If you don’t like it quickly get out and come to me in Sandokar or Chadra.”

“If you say so I will be even more embarrassed to see you.”

Dimia smiled. She and her sister were both renowned as talented people among the Heralds. They had a reputation of being unrivaled by anyone in their generation so they could not show weakness in front of the outcast Azadin.

“Understood Count Azadin. See you later.”

Dimia and Zenith Indim said their goodbyes to Azadin and withdrew.

“Then… Heh heh. Should I call you Your Majesty? Count Azadin?”

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Bernard smiled mischievously at Azadin as he watched the messengers leave.

“Your Majesty what? Call me as usual. Edir! I will leave the carriage to you. Can you drive it?”

Azadin made Edir drive the chariot.

“…Of course. But wow. I was so surprised that my heart is still pounding.”

Edir a believer in the King’s Church who was even more zealous than Zibek trembled as he could not bear the blasphemous words being exchanged before his eyes.

Jibek put his hand on Edir’s shoulder and asked Azadin.

“You could… use the King’s mediation?”

“okay.”

“Is this the magic of the New King’s Book?”

“that’s right.”

A copy of the physically existing Grimoire was made into a magic core and placed back into the throne of Btuma. However the knowledge of the Grimoire that he understood and the knowledge of the Book of the New King that Arael understood already remained within Azadin’s body.

“The tangible grimoire has been removed but the intangible knowledge remains and is mutating you. That’s what happens when a king sits on the throne. That’s.”

When the rightful king of Yaegas who has undergone the coronation ceremony sits on the throne the knowledge of the Shinwangjinsho flows into him and for the first time an ordinary Yaegas bloodline is reborn as a being who can be called a ‘king’.

In the process of collecting copies of the Book of the New King Azadin had already performed something similar to the ritual of the throne.

“It’s not a pleasant thing.”

Azadin wiped his nose. The blood was flowing out again.

“….”

Azadin roughly wiped the blood on his cloak and sat down in the carriage.

A rattling carriage moves forward through the snowstorm.

*********

Going into the heart of the Banreung Kingdom was like crawling into the heart of madness.

Along the road Blood God Ashajit’s followers and cult mutants roam and whenever lightning strikes a giant black shadow of Blood God Ashajit casts a shadow all around.

Any rational being would want to scream at the mere sight of such a horrific sight. With the shadow of the blood god Ashajit who sits high above the clouds hanging over the entire world it is doubtful whether humans can fight such a thing.

I could understand why so many cultists chose to give up being human and join the ranks of the Nether.

When faced with such a huge being one would rather become a part of it than maintain one’s own soul and ego as a human being.

It was a horrible experience to drive a carriage while witnessing such madness.

Edir felt like turning around and running away at any moment.

However Azadin’s subordinates including Zibek and Azadin themselves advance towards the heart of madness without any particular problem.

“Are you scared?”

“Yes… To be honest I think you all are out of your minds. Isn’t that the old messenger that was sealed in Netherstrom? How could our ancestors have fought something that big…?”

Aedir a faithful member of the King’s Church has never been at peace since he laid eyes on the shadow of Asajit the messenger of the Nether.

“Of course we are afraid too. But if we retreat from here now because of fear… it will grow even bigger and eventually cover the whole world.”

“Is it possible to solve something like that?”

“It’s possible. I actually solved it before…”

Azadin who was resting in the backseat answered so.

“No what is that? That’s nonsense.”

Azadin had said that he had solved it but Edir simply accepted it as if humanity had survived because it had been solved in ancient times.

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At that moment Niselda looked at Edir and showed her anger.

“If Count Azadin becomes the Emperor then it would be an impious act to dare to spit on the words of a King or rather an Emperor. What do you have a complaint about when Count Azadin speaks?”

“…Stop it Niselda.”

Azadin stopped Niselda.

Niselda resented Griselda all her life. However she did not dare to confront Griselda and was content to fight the dwarf Chashan who was nothing more than Griselda’s lackey.

In the meantime Azadin defeated not only Chashan but also Griselda and took Asajit’s eyes from her… This was enough to turn Niselda who had been half-hearted into a loyal follower.

To her Azadin was already a god-king so it was only natural for him to claim the throne of Yaegas.

Of course from Azadin’s point of view these enthusiastic subordinates were more difficult.

It’s a common occurrence. A monarch who must not show weakness in order to not disappoint his subordinates and ends up being manipulated by his subordinates.

In order to control them without disappointing them Azadin has so far refrained from making ambitious statements such as claiming the throne or becoming emperor himself.

However the heralds of the Arael tribe managed to get Azadin to say that he would seek the throne of the emperor.

“As you know this is an irreverent remark that the followers of the traditional King’s Church absolutely cannot accept. I had no choice but to say it this time but it is not something that should be said openly in front of others. There is no need to bring trouble upon yourself for no reason.”

“I see. Then shall we deal with that servant?”

Niselda asked if she should kill Edir.

“….”

Edir was shocked to hear that. Surely if he were to make a statement here Edir would have to die.

“If we let the author live it will be difficult to control his mouth. It is excessive to kill an innocent person but sometimes foolishness is a crime worthy of death.”

Bernard also secretly agreed to kill Edir.

“Then there would be two Northern Emperors. I won’t do something like that.”

Azadin refused his men’s advice to kill Edir.

“However….”

“Even if Edir goes and calls the Inquisitors I will ignore them. The Inquisitors cannot tell if I am telling the truth or a lie. They have already tried it with Jecht.”

The inquisitors of the King’s Church are said to be able to discern whether a person is lying or telling the truth through years of training and magic. However Azadin was a person who had mastered the New King’s Book and was familiar with the fundamentals of the King’s Church’s magic system.

Even the Inquisitors can be fooled. As Azadin showed his confidence Niselda and Bernard also seemed convinced.

“If that is so then yes Count Azadin. Sometimes I fear that showing mercy to the unworthy may be harmful.”

Niselda glared at Edir with a cold gaze.

“Isn’t it worthless? Hmm?”

Azadin placed a hand on Edir’s shoulder.

“Hic?!”

“Stop the carriage.”

At Azadin’s command Edir stopped his chariot.

Will he kill me now and abandon me in the wilderness? Edir was terrified but Azadin got down from the carriage and approached the village on the side of the road.

Due to the attack by the fanatic mutants the buildings in the village were destroyed and the shops along the road were all clearly looted. In the middle of the village was a collapsed well and around the well were dark shadows of humans.

“omg?!”

Even though the sun is still out ghosts are wandering around.

“this….”

Azadin cast Necromancy and placed a spell at the bottom of the well.

The corpses that fell into the well and died are crawling out of the well one after another.

Azadin then moved the corpses that had crawled out of the well and prepared graves by digging the ground then lifted the spell and performed the funeral ritual of the Knights of the Salvation Order freeing the ghosts from this world.

It was a truly bizarre scene.

After moving the corpses with necromancy their souls are released with white magic.

It was an unacceptable act of transgression whether it was from the King’s Church or the Knights Templar but Azadin was not averse to it.

Then the last of the shadows surrounding the well approached Azadin and knelt before him to pay respect.

[Blessed One of God and Angels. King of this land. Thank you for saving us.]