Night of the Soulless Heathens – 435



#435. Kings’ Achievements 2

After Azadin took the throne of Banling the legion that entered Azadin’s army did not harm the soldiers or disrupt their discipline unlike in the past.

This was because he who had become the new king’s general could not rule the army as viciously as before.

Although Legion was no different from the leader of a bandit gang Azadin knew that he was a much better educated and well-mannered man than he had thought.

That is why among thieves one works like a thief and when one becomes a vassal of the king one acts like a vassal of the king.

‘In that regard I’d rather praise him. But for the sake of military discipline we can’t just leave it alone.’

Azadin believed that if the Legion made more humane decisions under his influence then even if they lost the war it was inevitable.

The defeat of Naisandokhar had resulted in the deaths of a huge number of soldiers and families of refugees so they could not go unpunished but they did not want to lose people like Legion and Kalan.

How should we handle this without damaging military discipline?

“First let me tell you about my mistake. There were too few officers and non-commissioned officers in Naisandokhar compared to the number of military and civilian personnel. I pushed ordinary people who were ordinary citizens into protecting important trade routes as soldiers and I did not deploy enough officers and non-commissioned officers so you Kalan and Legion had to shoulder a lot of burdens. If I was unable to control the personnel as a result then that was also my mistake. Of course I cannot help but punish them for the sake of military discipline but considering the already insufficient number of high-ranking officers if I sentence them to indiscriminate heavy punishments here the shortage will only get worse. Therefore I will confiscate some of the lands of Kalan and Legion.”

Azadin ordered the confiscation of some of the lands granted to Legion and Kallan.

The punishment of confiscation of land was a truly terrible punishment in the feudal system.

Touching the land that was to be inherited by his descendants was tantamount to demoting his status. It was such a terrible punishment that even his subordinates would betray him without saying anything.

However in the current situation of Fimbulbert most of the territories could not be expected to be very productive so the punishment that Azadin imposed was only for show.

Despite the serious defeat it was a very lenient punishment that was somewhat fulfilling.

“ah….”

“hmm.”

Kallan and Legion were pleased that Azadin understood and cared for their plight rather than punishing them.

This is easier said than done and was not a common occurrence in the armies of the time.

In a world where it is common to make absurd personnel arrangements and then hold the person in charge responsible and then execute them when a problem arises on site it is important to understand the difficulties of your subordinates and admit your own mistakes.

For that alone Azadin deserved the loyalty of his men.

“Okay let’s wrap things up here and think about the problem at hand. The problem at hand is that we have lost control of Naisandokhar and our core logistics network has been cut off. We need to redirect our distribution network towards the Kingdom of Arangi but the route there isn’t properly paved yet is it? In addition Fireglyph has also been attacked so it won’t be easy to transport supplies through the route towards the Kingdom of Arangi for now. Medium. What supplies are left?”

“Sandokar has about two months’ worth of food stockpiled and other areas will likely have the same.”

Azadin continued to extract food and supplies from the Chadra Plateau and transport them through Naisandhokar and Sandhokar stockpiling two months’ worth of food in each region.

However with the trade network cut off if it was not restored within two months a famine would strike throughout Azadin’s kingdom.

It was truly a life or death crisis.

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“First of all when fighting the Cheetahs we have to think of a way to neutralize their light cavalry. Well actually it’s not that difficult if you use scorched earth tactics against the horses.”

Even if they are nomadic light cavalry they need to supply forage and water as they use a lot of horses.

If the enemy is lured into an area with little grass and a protracted battle is fought the Cheetah army will also run out of supplies and lose strength.

“Then what if I do that?”

When Medium asked Ismail shook his head instead of Azadin.

“Our army cannot fight a protracted war. We have to rescue Fireglyph and the Chadra Plateau.”

“Oh that’s right.”

“I’m also worried about the severe cold that will come after the end of summer. When the weather gets cold the war will enter a lull and if we don’t secure our trade network before the lull the results will be dire.”

Azadin was pressed for time.

But then a commotion broke out outside the conference room.

It was Flower Dimia one of the four members of the Flower-Bird-Pung-Wol faction who walked in with her body covered in blood after being hit by an arrow.

*********

“Your Majesty I have just returned.”

Dimia said so and prostrated herself before Azadin.

A black turbid aura spreads from the arrow embedded in her body.

These are arrows imbued with the magic of the Nether.

“Hey. What’s that arrow? Who did it hit?”

It was hard to imagine that someone as tall as Dimia would be hit by someone’s arrow.

But Dimia answered with a smile.

“These are the Northern Aragasa who serve the Northern Emperor. Even though they separated a long time ago they are still of the same tribe so they shoot some pretty impressive arrows.”

“Oh then….”

The other knights who were watching felt the pride unique to the messenger clan upon seeing their conversation.

‘I can’t understand being hit by other guys but I guess I can understand being hit by Northern Aragasa.’

‘The pride of the messenger clan is amazing. They smile so brightly even when they’re pierced by an arrow.’

In the meantime Dimia reported without taking care of her own wounds.

“The Northern Emperor Cohen Lionaire is moving Tarasar and Karasar to recover Btuma and Korasar. He has chosen descendants from Tarasar and Karasar and declared that he will restore the royal lineage of Btuma and Korasar that has been cut off.”

Not only Chitai but also Tarasar and Karasar rose up to attack Azadin.

Tarasar and Karasar were physically too far apart to attack directly so instead they began to put political pressure on Azadin.

“Well are you trying to politically destroy me?”

Having failed to rebuild their royal family Bthuma and Korasar asked Azadin to become the protector of their kingdom while they held parliamentary rule and they prepared to form their own parliament based on the draft laws Azadin had provided.

In response Tarasar Karasar declared that it was heresy for them to set up a council outside the order of the king’s church and that they would instead make their own princes the new kings of this place.

The clash between the old order of the King’s Church and the New Testament order of Azadin was inevitable but it came to a head-on collision in the worst possible form.

However Azadin who was actually attacked because of this felt relieved.

“Those heavy-assed bastards are finally going to send troops. Thank goodness.”

“Thank goodness. If they succeed….”

Azadin loses two kingdoms Korathar and Bthuma.

Of course Azadin wasn’t obsessed with such vain honor but that’s Azadin and such…

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From the perspective of those who viewed Azadin’s activities positively and even gave him the title of King of the South Azadin would seem like a one-time firefly who only had a brief moment of light and soon lost his influence.

“But aren’t you saying that you will liberate those under the Naga Empire? Since the Nagas prey on humans it would be better for any human to recover the kingdom than to go under their control. The Naga Empire will be no pushover so they won’t be able to recover the kingdom in a short period of time so there’s no need to worry. If they really do recover the kingdom the suffering of the people will be alleviated so wouldn’t that be good?”

Azadin didn’t really care if his dream goal was achieved by someone else’s hands not his own.

This is because we are humans for whom dreams themselves are our goals.

However the fact that all the kings were anxious because they could not catch Azadin was like a strangling hand to Azadin’s vassals and they felt extremely uncomfortable.

“More than that Dimia. Let’s see the wounds.”

“Your Majesty. Your body is…..”

Dimia hesitated.

Her wounds were beyond the healing power of ordinary clergy.

The Northern Aragasa the confidants of the Northern Emperor used Nether magic instead of the magic of flowers birds wind and moon and this arrow was also filled with the poison of the Nether.

Azadin had to treat him himself but Azadin’s current physical condition was not good to say the least.

But Azadin persisted.

“Dimia your quick recovery is the way for me to avoid overwork. Talent is precious. This is not a joke.”

If we think about the defeat at Naisandokhar it is because Azadin lacks talent. Azadin speaks his true feelings without any lies.

‘You’re being sincere. This guy isn’t trying to take care of my wounds just to win my favor. He genuinely sees me as a talented person.’

Dimia felt her heart sink.

The four members of Hwajopungwol including her were originally Arael’s vassals and only followed him because Arael asked them to take care of Azadin.

A dropout from the Azadin messenger clan of Mu-an. He is just Arael’s younger brother and a late bloomer who began to function after receiving strange powers from Elder Kazas but they thought his skills and abilities were inferior to theirs.

But it felt strange that such an Azadin would think so highly of them and treat them without sparing their own bodies.

The four members of Hwajopungwol originally considered Azadin as their junior.

No matter how talented Azadin was at flying and crawling their true master was Arael. Azadin was merely a junior who helped Arael according to her will.

But now I even feel proud of following him.

At least Dimia was willing to accept Azadin as her king.

“Okay then Dimia. Drink this first. It’s going to hurt a little.”

“I’m used to the pain.”

Azadin gave Dimia a painkiller made of alcohol and poppy juice and pulled out the arrow himself.

Nether venom gushed out from her wound but Azadin took out his obsidian dagger and removed the Nether venom then used the white magic of the Book of the New King to tend to her wound.

The powerful power of the Shinwangjinseo completely healed Dimia’s wounds. The price was the crushing of Azadin’s body.

He was about to fall down unable to even control his own body.

“your majesty.”

Medium barely managed to support him but his entire body was as hot as a hot poker from a brazier seething with magical power.

“Ugh. Sorry for showing you an ugly side of myself…”

Azadin couldn’t finish speaking.

Medium carried Azadin to the bedroom together with Ismail.

The servants remained and watched the scene.

‘What would happen if His Majesty were to fall here?’

Fear crossed the expressions of the knights on Sandokkar’s side.