Night of the Soulless Heathens – 416



#416. Tempest 5

I know they are not in their right minds because madness is reflected in their eyes but I also know that they are speaking their minds without any reservation.

The Hybris people feel threatened by the prosperity of the Herald Clan.

If even low-ranking officers not even the highest officials have such feelings then even if Fimbulbert ends the path to reconciliation between the two peoples will be very distant.

‘Even without that there are hardliners in the Herald Clan who are clamoring for revenge on the Hybris.’

Azadin lamented realizing that the future was not smooth.

“You who kill and eat humans and betray the faith of humanity criticize me simply because I am a member of the Herald Clan. What is the purity and what is the filthiness that you speak of? Even though the blood of the Yaegasu God Clan flows within me and I have proven my sincerity with the light of the King’s Flower you hate my birth more than your own evil deeds.”

“No! We didn’t kill those people!”

“If you didn’t kill them? Who did?”

“You killed them! That’s why we set up camp here to intercept them before they could get close!”

When the soldiers and officers of Azadin’s army heard those words they did not laugh but felt fear.

The enemies are making ridiculous excuses now.

Words that come out when reason is paralyzed are the true unpretentious truths.

They hate and hate the messenger clan even to the point of deceiving themselves.

“You guys smell too bad for that to be true.”

Selim sniffed his way closer and rummaged through their clothes finding a chunk of meat that was still half-dried in a pocket.

“Salted human flesh. These guys are preserving the villagers. What crazy people they are.”

Evidence of killing and butchering humans was found on the bodies of officers who had been making ridiculous excuses.

But they persisted even in this situation.

“Ah! No! Not us!”

“It’s a conspiracy! It’s a plot!”

“Hey you guys just put it in our luggage!”

“You guys are trying to insult us!”

“Eww! Just kill me!”

They still denied their crimes blaming Azadin and cursing the Heralds.

The problem is that here they are just turning a blind eye but in other places their stubbornness will work.

Get notified for updates: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

Anyway everyone hates and fears the Herald Clan so they will only believe the rumors they want to believe rather than the truth.

“……..”

“Excuse me Your Majesty.”

The Jecht who was watching seemed annoyed and picked up a small bug and poked the temple of the officer who had just spoken ill of Azadin with his finger.

“Ugh!”

A hole was made in his temple and a bug entered. The officer’s eyes rolled back revealing only the whites of his eyes and snot and saliva were flowing out of his nose and mouth.

“Language is for humans to communicate with humans. There is no need to communicate with animals that cannot communicate with each other.”

Zect said so and smiled bitterly.

When he an inquisitor of the King’s Church performed his terrible sorcery in front of everyone Lord Astarte and those from the Church were shocked but they all kept quiet because they sympathized with Jecht’s motives.

“Who was your commander in chief in this battle?”

Azadin asked the one possessed by Jecht’s bug.

“Gibnice. Ascendar Knight. Half-elf.”

The officer controlled by Zect’s bug just blurted out the truth.

“Where are you stationed?”

“The Governor-General of the Kingdom of Banreung Bisen Province.”

“Why was the human village eliminated?”

“We didn’t do it. Those dirty Heralds killed and ate the Hybris. Even when Fimbulbert came those Heralds were fattening by eating humans while we were left starving…”

“….”

“Oh this guy is just saying what he believes. But it’s really amazing. It looks like he directly participated in the massacre but he erases the massacre from his mind and rationalizes it like this.”

Zect said so and laughed. It seemed that he had to ask a different question to get a proper answer.

“You slaughtered them with great skill. Was that the skill of Gibnice? Aren’t you afraid of elves slaughtering humans? Even though you slaughter Hybrisians like yourself the king and nobles treat you with respect?”

“No way. The elf-mutt is disgusting too. That dirty elf-mutt cuts people up like pieces of meat and dismembers them. It’s disgusting to see him… but he smells so sweet…”

“As expected these guys killed him. It’s the same as confessing.”

Although Lord Karna said so others around him laughed at Lord Karna’s reaction.

“No given the circumstances it’s clear that they killed them. They’ve been tried multiple times and finally confessed but these guys have already become flesh-eating monsters so they can’t be left alive. They should all be burned at the stake.”

When Astadar a former inquisitor of the King’s Church suggested burning at the stake Jecht shook his head.

“I finally cast a spell so let’s get some more information.”

The bug-ridden officer answers the questions asked by Zect one by one.

It was difficult to get the correct information because the officer remembered the incident in a distorted manner to his liking but Jecht was able to get around the officer’s defense mechanism and get the information by asking appropriate questions.

After hearing the story the Northern Qi forces including this half-elf had been reaching out to Banling in earnest to take over the southern region since two years ago and had been importing a significant amount of iron ore and gunpowder from Bisen.

In preparation for war they established a stronghold in Banreung and imported iron ore and gunpowder while also bringing human forces to their side to fight against the vampire-turned-dwarves.

However when Fimbulbert approached Triodana heard the voices of the messengers and betrayed them and the elves also revealed their true colors and began slaughtering humans in their old ways.

Behind this of course was the fear of food shortages due to Fimbulbert.

The bizarre stereotype that the Heralds were cannibals also played a part.

How could you believe the rumors that the Heralds are cannibals when you live with the elves who are famous for slaughtering and eating humans?

“By the way whose side are the elves on? The Northern Emperor or the Triodana?”

Azadin asked Karna who was from the North. Karna answered seriously.

Join our discord and ping me to update more chapters. Discord: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

“In Assander the elves tend to think of even the Northern Emperor as one of the cards in their hand.”

The elves tended to look down on humans and even looked down on the Yaegas gods.

However rather than directly confronting humans they preferred to take their time and devise schemes.

According to Karna’s testimony the elves held important positions in the royal family of Assander and supported the religious unification of the Northern Qi and the unification of the Eight Kingdoms acting as if they were the masters of such operations.

“They are arrogant guys. However once you sleep with them you will find that humans are too bland to do anything. In fact the Northern Emperor also has many elven concubines so many of his children are half-elves. I don’t even have to go that far; before I was reincarnated as a Celestial my mother was an elf.”

“You were a half-elf?”

“Yes Triodana too.”

“Hmm. Okay. Then let’s camp here today.”

Azadin decided to rob the enemy of their supplies and camp in the enemy’s camp.

The soldiers were exhausted from burying the dead and recovering supplies on the battlefield.

The battle was fought by the Heralds and Lord Jecht Astarte but the march alone was tiring.

“I wonder if they didn’t give Bisen time to react. If they had forced the march without holding a funeral for the body…”

“Then they will become ghouls or evil spirits and harm the residents around here. There won’t be many Bisen troops left either.”

Azadin dismissed the opinions of Jecht and the others and decided to camp here for the time being.

*********

The next morning Azadin’s army collected supplies and tidied up their camp.

The soldiers groaned exhausted from several days of marching but they had no choice but to move.

But then a hippogriff arrived from the rear of Azadin’s army.

The messenger who arrived riding on the hippogriff was surprisingly Prince Sram.

Even after Azadin and Arangi reconciled and formed an adopted brotherhood he remained as a guest in Azadin’s army due to his poor relationship with Carnago IV.

But as soon as he ran into Azadin’s camp he shouted.

“Your Majesty! King Arangi has been murdered!”

“A murder?”

Azadin kept his mouth shut when he heard the news of the king’s death.

“You didn’t kill Sram did you?”

“It would be a lie to say that I didn’t want to kill him but unfortunately I wasn’t the one who killed him.”

Prince Sram was more honest than necessary.

*********

King Karnago IV of Arangi was a scoundrel who ascended to the throne without much trouble and used his power and wealth for his own pleasure.

He would change queens whenever strategically necessary and had countless concubines and lovers. However when the Northern Qi Dynasty gained power he took one of its half-elf daughters as his queen.

However this tall half-elf woman 30% taller than the average human killed King Karnago IV of Arangi in his bedroom and escaped with his heart ripped out.

It was revealed that the elf queen was a follower of the Spider Queen as the relic of the Kurt Spider Queen was embedded in the body of Carnago IV and countless spider eggs were laid from it.

Of course it was Assander’s doing but there were suspicions that he had the Spider Queen followers blamed for it so that the blame would not fall on Cohen but it is unlikely that someone as politically suicidal as Cohen would have ordered such an assassination.

Killing King Aranggi will not bring much benefit to Northern Qi.

Accordingly the princes prepared to succeed to the throne of Assander and sent a pursuit party to capture the elf queen in order to build up a justification.

“I’m surprised. You called me in such a situation.”

Azadin read the letter that Prince Sram had brought.

It was Viscount Eremba Prince Sram’s relative who contacted Prince Sram and Azadin to inform them that he would aim for the throne of Arangi.

“King Azadin. You are also the adopted son of King Arangi so you have a claim to the throne.”

Prince Sram said so but Azadin smiled bitterly.

“It’s so ugly for two to claim the right to the throne when there are still children left. Besides the true throne is not inherited by bloodline but is proven by the light of the crown.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can invite all the idiots and put them on the throne. Of course in Your Majesty’s case you can’t put him on the throne for another reason. If Your Majesty were to shine as a king on another throne… it would be even more fatal to the existing kings. But that’s why it’s necessary right? Aranggi’s throne?”

Prince Sram advised Azadin to take the throne of Arangi.