Night of the Soulless Heathens – 445



#446. Second Winter 2

“This rude guy!”

“The author must be hung immediately!”

“Everyone stop!”

Sebalhan stopped his angry vassals.

“The author is just a priest who came to deliver a letter. Isn’t he?”

“Yes that’s right.”

The priest nodded in fear.

“So that’s the end of the letter?”

“no.”

“Then keep reading! There will be stories about war right?”

“yes!”

The priest began to read the letter with trembling hands.

[Even the most ignorant of men would know that sacrificing innocent people and plundering their wealth is a sin. It is hard to believe that a descendant of the sacred Yaegas would commit theft that cannot be justified by the customs of the world or the laws of the king’s church. However anyone can make a mistake even a king. If you want to correct the mistake withdraw all soldiers and send the eldest sons of each nomadic chieftain as hostages to take responsibility for the massacre. The supplies will be difficult to transport so you may take them as they are but instead we will establish a trading post in Kaspar a grassland city southeast of Chitai and place it under our jurisdiction.]

“…….”

Sebalhan and his vassals were taken aback by Azadin’s arrogant words.

Currently the Chitai army is fighting and winning against Azadin’s forces.

It’s not cool for someone who’s been beaten unilaterally to beg for peace

‘Do you know that you are dirty and deadly?’

‘Let’s come to an agreement to this extent since we will apologize appropriately compensate set up a trading post at the border manage it and impose tariffs.’

This is what he was saying.

“They want to set up a trading post in Kaspar and make it their jurisdiction. Isn’t that the same as asking for Kaspar to be handed over?”

“I guess you don’t know who was winning the war. It’s absurd for the loser to be asking for territory.”

The Qitai were in high spirits due to their continued victories and the supplies they received from the Northern Qi and the plunder from Azadin.

“You’re talking nonsense. So do I have to answer? Do I have to answer before I can open the next letter?”

“Yes that is correct.”

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“First of all I cannot accept that he is a king. The least I can do is kill the soulless blasphemer who dares to claim to be a king and free him from his lowly life. Naturally I will not negotiate with the scoundrel.”

“…….”

The expression on the elf messenger’s face as he listened crumpled.

Sebalhan did not mention the assassination of the former king by Nampa.

It would be strange not to condemn him in this situation unless you believe that the former king Nampa was not assassinated by Azadin.

Sebalhan glanced at the elf envoy and then scolded the priest again.

“Then what kind of letter are you going to open? It’s annoying that I the king am getting angry at a letter from a thug like that.”

“Oh yes. Please wait a moment.”

The priest opened the letter in a flustered manner.

[You mean to keep fighting? If so I will warn you in advance. If the food provided by the Northern Qi side is distributed in the market you should be especially careful. Be careful of the Nether contamination. Your three-legged army is not scary at all but you want to avoid fighting the Nether clan. Then I wish you good luck.]

“Ugh!?”

The elf who was the envoy of the Northern Qi was terrified when he heard the contents of the letter.

Azadin not only knew that the Northern Qi were providing food and supplies to the Qitai but he also warned them that they were infected with Nether Corruption.

“It’s a serious injury that doesn’t even make sense!”

The elf envoy had no choice but to protest.

“Well I know it’s a serious injury. If I could cause chaos by infecting food with nether taint I would have done it long ago.”

It wasn’t because Sebalhan trusted the Northern Qi. He believed that if it was possible it would have been done long ago.

It is an attitude of having absolutely no faith in the character of the Northern Qi.

‘Can I come back alive today?’

The elf envoy was afraid when he learned that Sebalhan thought that the Northern Emperor was behind the assassination of the Southern Emperor.

“Don’t worry. The Northern Emperor is my strong supporter and Azadin is my loathsome enemy. Even without the Northern Emperor’s orders it’s much more enjoyable to pillage that side. And anyway the King’s Church will officially designate him as the assassin of our former king and King Karasar right?”

As the King of Sebalhan had said the King’s Church had pointed to Azadin as the mastermind behind the previous assassination.

Azadin’s side denied it but proving innocence is not easy.

There was no reason for Chitai to change this situation as it was more profitable for them to receive support supplies from the Northern Qi and plunder Azadin.

Moreover the arrogance that Azadin displayed in this letter scratched Sebalhan’s pride.

“You’ve become quite arrogant lately just because you’ve gained some fame. That’s because you’ve only dealt with worthless guys. I guess I need to show you who’s superior.”

Sebalhan took great pride in Chitai’s light cavalry.

The world considers the Arangian Guard to be the best but the Arangian Guard cannot stop the nomadic light cavalry specialized in hit-and-run.

What kind of tricks would Azadin have to stop his plunder?

*********

As summer ended and fall began the cold set in.

But the nomads of Chitai were people who could not stand the cold.

The season was autumn but the cold was comparable to the northern winter and ordinary people would not have dared to march but the light cavalry of the Chitai nomads who were already accustomed to the cold were able to move in this cold.

“We need to get ready before it gets any colder.”

They were hungry for plunder.

When King Nampa was assassinated Chitai also fell into chaos.

However since the line of succession was clear under Chitai the transfer of power was relatively smooth while Sebalhan quickly established himself as the next king.

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However even so they were not at a point where they could afford to fight so the Chitai light cavalry retreated to the rear for a while to avoid Azadin’s forces.

Sebalkhan strengthened his royal authority again and Azaddin provoked him with letters so plunder was permitted again.

We had to stock up on as many supplies as possible to prepare for the coming winter.

however….

When the light cavalry actually entered Naisandokhar something seemed strange.

“The outpost is empty.”

The Azadin Army knowing that the Cheetah Army used mobile raiding units set up watchtowers on high ground to keep a close eye on the movements of the raiding units.

But there’s no one at that outpost right now.

That’s not all.

The town and the barracks were empty.

“What is this?”

The nomads searched through the barracks. They had withdrawn without leaving a single grain behind leaving only empty buildings and materials. They had swept away everything that could be plundered leaving only empty land.

“We found massive wheel tracks!”

“These kids. Did they run away?”

“You ran away? When did you run away?”

“Why when our king was assassinated?”

“But you sent a letter to our king and provoked him? You said you would take care of Kaspar yourself….”

“I know.”

The nomadic light cavalry was dismayed at the sight of the empty barracks and villages.

It would not have taken a lot of people to transport all the people and supplies that were here.

How many carts and porters are needed to systematically transport a large number of people and materials?

Even if we leave them with only the goods and ask them to move them even the Chitai army which is comprised entirely of cavalry does not have the confidence to move them.

I feel like I’m possessed by a ghost as my luggage and people disappear all at once.

“Is it a deception?”

Only then did they realize that Azadin had sent a letter deliberately intended to irritate the King of Chitai and that it was a deception designed to effectively extract troops and supplies.

*********

In fact Azadin had to expend a lot of energy to push out the Wisdom Cult and clean up the remaining aftermath.

First it was necessary to check the supplies from the Chadra Plateau that had been plundered and to establish a full-scale coastal transport network.

Vaguely occupying something doesn’t solve all the problems.

The Wisdom Cult was annihilated through the ascension that the Nether cultists spoke of and their lands became the realm of the Nether.

And perhaps stimulated by such a sect of wisdom a tribe of fishermen began to appear from the South Sea.

The fish-people a subordinate tribe of the Nether attacked merchant ships and fishermen.

As Azadin who transported food and supplies via the sea route from Fireglyph to St. Mallory and the coastal seas he could not leave these fish-men alone.

The silver lining was that the returning Merciful Order and the Courage Order began to actively cooperate with Azadin.

The clergy of the religious order could be said to be some of the few intellectuals and cultured people in this world.

Azadin who was short on administrative officials had the religious community’s talent pool at his disposal.

So Azadin absorbed that talent pool while assigning the knights of the Salvation Order to Jecht and Sir Astartair and having them subdue the fish-people on the southern coast.

By opening up the South Sea route in this way people and goods were simultaneously removed from Naisandhokar.

Although the resentment of the residents who had been looted arsoned robbed and killed by the Chitai army was sky-high Azadin asked for their understanding and withdrew the residents and troops from Naisandhokar.

Ironically what helped calm the population in this situation was the suspicion of an assassination that Azadin did not commit.

‘May the gods and angels bless King Azadin the king of Banling and the protector of Arangi and Btuma Korassar who has already killed the wicked King Nampa of Chitai! This should have appeased the resentful spirits of our family a little! The deep and complicated thoughts of the king and generals are too deep and complicated for mortals like us to understand. Let us believe in the divine mountain spirits of our king and follow his control for now!’

Even though Azadin denied it the people of Hybris firmly believed that Azadin had killed King Chitai.

While the northern people outside of Azadin’s influence condemned him as a cheap assassin and a new kingslayer those within Azadin’s sphere of influence were rather delighted that Azadin had easily killed their kings.

Thanks to this the introduction work in Naisandhokar was done very easily.

Now even if Cheetah were to challenge you to a fight the fight itself wouldn’t be possible unless you reached the Sandokar Gate.

But Azadin’s kingdom also had a fatal problem….

*********

“There is a food shortage.”

Medium reported to Azadin.

“As a result of accepting refugees without thinking and the Wisdom Cult taking over Fireglyph and draining food if things continue as they are now we will run out of food by next spring.”

In normal times if we can just hold out until spring we can somehow survive with spring crops. However the current weather makes it questionable whether farming will be possible even when next spring comes.

“Even though I divulged the Emperor’s report…”

“Otherwise it would have been depleted a month earlier.”

Even if you eat all the grains in the Emperor’s treasury it would only last a month.

In other words it means that Azadin has been forcibly keeping more people alive by feeding them than the amount of chaos the Emperor had prepared for.