Night of the Soulless Heathens – 426



#426. Southern King 7

Prince Balthazar was furious at Erasmaya for leaving his choice to her.

Even if she is a merchant of the highest rank her safety cannot be guaranteed if Prince Balthazar a member of the royal family becomes angry.

But Erasmaya laughed at the sight of Prince Balthazar’s anger.

Because Balthazar who has already shown his teeth to King Azadin has no other choice.

Even if we come now and blame her and rush to attack her there is no way Azadin will forgive Balthazar.

Prince Balthazar will open the way to the northern kingdom of Arangi and will eventually have no choice but to become her servant.

however….

“It is a big deal Prince! King Azadin’s envoy has arrived.”

The sergeant came running.

“What? An envoy?”

“This this…..”

The faction handed the sealed letter to Prince Balthazar.

Prince Balthazar sighed as he saw Erasmaya’s meaningful gaze looking at him with alluring eyes.

This is a letter I really don’t want to open.

It is scary to think about what King Azadin might accuse him of and what punishment he might impose on him.

But Prince Balthazar who could not help but open it took the letter from Parval’s hand and opened it.

“uh?”

Prince Balthazar carefully read the letter to make sure he wasn’t seeing anything wrong.

I even held up a candle to it to see if there were any hidden letters.

“What did it say?”

Erasmaya asked about the contents of the letter out of curiosity.

“Well King Azadin is forming a council and he is asking me whether I should join the council as a member of the Arangi royal family or as a lord and baron.”

“yes?”

Erasmaya also doubted her own ears.

In this battle Azadin achieved great success by holding off the Ogre army that had advanced all the way to the kingdom’s capital.

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The Arangian Guard and the Noble Alliance also washed their mouths with Azadin.

‘I decided to do parliamentary politics but that’s for now. I’ll just be the king of Aranggi. Without me you guys won’t be able to take care of yourselves right?’

Even so it was a situation where there was nothing to say.

However Azadin not only kept his initial promise to form a council but also promised Prince Balthazar a seat in the council.

“It’s a trap. It’s clearly a trap to catch the prince by making him let his guard down.”

Erasmaya said that because she was at a loss for an answer.

Prince Balthazar shook his head.

“You lie to yourself Erasma. I’ll give you back what you said.”

Just a moment ago it was Prince Balthazar who was being impatient and being unreasonable towards Erasmaya. But now isn’t it Erasmaya who is being unreasonable?

‘My goodness. To ignore Prince Balthazar’s betrayal. I didn’t know this would happen.’

Erasmaya felt something was wrong and panicked.

*********

“Is your Majesty a good person? Or is he up to something?”

Zion Etar asked Azadin seriously.

“Why do you ask that question?”

“Well people are celebrating King Azadin’s great victory now but wasn’t it actually quite expensive bloodshed?”

From what I can see it looks like Azadin’s forces have won a great victory against a group of refugees who are nothing special.

In the northern rotation Azadin’s army defeated the Ogre army without much damage.

But that’s only what’s visible and in fact Azadin’s army was fighting the King of Tooth’s army in the Naisandhokar region and north of Sandhokar and was suffering heavy casualties.

The Northern Revolution was achieved by deploying the elite of Azadin’s army and Azadin’s own rule but sacrifices are still being made in places that cannot be seen.

If he had made such sacrifices he would have expected something in return but isn’t Azaddin trying to keep the promises of parliamentary politics that he can ignore?

No matter how good a person you are isn’t this a bit too much?

It was on this point that Zion Etar asked Azadin a question.

“There is an ulterior motive. In fact just linking the Sandokkar and Naisandokkar Chadra Plateaus is enough to overwhelm the administrative power.”

“That’s true.”

Azadin’s warlord no the biggest problem in the Ban Lung Kingdom was the lack of administrative power.

In fact just maintaining the trade route from the Chad Plateau to the Kingdom of Ban Lung was nothing short of a miracle.

With the weather getting colder due to Fimbulbert and the carrier pigeons no longer being able to fly properly Azadin was working himself to the bone recruiting and training everyone he could to maintain order along this long trade route.

Moreover as they struggled to crack down on corruption they were unable to expand their territory further due to the lack of administrative power.

“We need talent. I feel sorry for everyone because I’m treating all the talents I’ve hired badly. Since things have come to this I have to somehow get the nobles and intellectuals to do the work.”

The talented men of the Azadin Army are still busy training soldiers and fighting monsters in various places.

The land to be protected is too vast compared to the number of talented people.

Even if he swallowed up the Arangi Kingdom he was too short on talent to completely rule by eliminating the opposition and replacing them with his own people.

So Azadin drew out the voluntary participation of intellectuals through the institution of parliamentary politics.

“But it’s a right that was earned through a lot of bloodshed so to give it away to them for free….”

“Therefore I don’t have to bother trying to prove my sincerity. Isn’t the easiest way to prove my sincerity to take a loss? Besides from my perspective this isn’t much of a loss. But from the perspective of others it feels like a loss big enough for you Sion Etar to worry about.”

“….”

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“Don’t worry. This is the easiest way. I’m not losing money. I’m just playing bigger. What do you think of the Supreme Court Code that will be the foundation of parliamentary politics?”

“I saw it. It was a modified version of the Emperor’s morning. I’m a former herald myself so how could I not know?”

Emperor Yaeslat’s Great Law Emperor Omyeon.

These were laws that described criminal law commercial law administrative law tax law and military law respectively and clearly defined the limits of the vague rights of the nobility and royalty set income tax rates and established the concept of a centralized national army.

It was an excellent written law that was recognized even among scholars during the imperial era but it was precisely for this reason that it was attacked by the king’s church royal family and nobles and was abolished.

Azadin reorganized the imperial system and rewrote it to fit parliamentary politics.

‘Was this Elder Kazas’s dream?’

Sion Etar smiled bitterly as he recalled how Kazas had worked to supplement Emperor Ojeon’s dream of a nation where all races including elves could live together.

Although many in the Herald clan still consider Azadin a traitor to their clan in fact Azadin has not betrayed the Emperor or his master Kazas.

Since he upheld their legacy Azadin could be said to be the true successor to the Emperor’s heraldry clan.

Even though the Emperor’s voice has disappeared Azadin is still the Emperor’s herald.

“After that the parts that are lacking or insufficient will be added or subtracted from by the National Assembly and rewritten. Before that I will lay the foundation. This alone will be a profitable business.”

“Is it a profitable business? If you become a dictator wouldn’t the law and everything be as you wish?”

“If I lived a thousand years that would be okay. But I can’t do that.”

Azadin smiled bitterly. Even now he felt his life shining like a faint light.

We must plan for the future so that it can continue without Azadin himself.

Rather than simply having the successor take over and handle the rest I want to lay the foundation for permanent development by organizing laws and systems.

“But if you really want to uphold your laws you must live long. They follow your laws because they fear you not because they love the law and justice.”

Sion Etar pointed out a painful point: no matter how good the laws Azadin establishes if Azadin does not live to enforce these laws the King’s Church and the royal family will eventually return the world to its old ways.

“I think about that much. I hope I can hold out that long.”

“You don’t deny it do you?”

Sion Etar sighed as he watched Azadin admit that he would not live long.

All of Azadin’s vassals knew this secretly.

They watched Azadin vomit blood and cough it up in front of them but he wouldn’t bleed for no reason.

“Don’t worry. I won’t die that quickly. I might even live longer than you.”

“If that’s the case then that’s fortunate.”

*********

The world was shocked when Azadin announced the draft laws of the Kingdom of Arangi and called the councils together to declare that he would rule the Kingdom of Arangi according to the laws.

Intellectuals of course warmly welcomed it.

During that time intellectuals such as lawyers and professors were oppressed by the authority of the royal family and nobles who inherited the bloodline of King Yaegas the tyrant of the King’s Church and were unable to carry out their own will. So when Azadin who promised to open an era of written law appeared it was truly something to welcome with open arms.

Of course in return the royal family and nobles were not happy about it and the king’s church in particular was vehemently opposed to it.

However within the Kingdom of Arangi there was no justification to oppose Azadin.

“Isn’t this the Emperor’s morning?! As expected from one of the Emperor’s followers he’s a messenger!”

The clergy of the King’s Church were indignant but the authority of the King’s Church had already been lost as much as it could be as the clergy of Azadin showed a much more clerical aspect.

Moreover this had unexpected consequences.

The noble lords of the Kingdom of Bthuma were also interested in forming a council and asked Azadin to help them and also become the guardian of the kingdom.

As the de facto king and protector of the kingdom he asked Azadin to draft the laws of the parliament….

Later the same request came from the nobles of Korasaur.

With their king dead and the throne vacant the two southern kingdoms have been at odds with each other over who will take the throne.

While the people were fleeing as refugees the nobles soldiers and warriors who still had some power were unable to pacify the land where the vacant throne was seething with rebels and were divided among themselves focusing only on fighting each other.

However when Azadin was able to monopolize the Arangi kingdom he established written laws and insisted on parliamentary politics so the like-minded governors gathered and asked Azadin to pacify their kingdom and establish a parliament like the one in Arangi.

When Azadin showed that he had little interest in the Kingdom of Arangi the Kingdoms of Btuma and Korasaur which had been in turmoil also believed in him and followed him.

With this Azadin becomes the protector of the four kingdoms.

He became the true king of the South.

He a soulless impious untouchable lowly man had achieved the greatest feat since the days of the emperor.