Night of the Soulless Heathens – 45



#45. Curse of Service 7

“I will do it.”

“No please let me do it.”

“Pay compensation for what you plundered. I have written down all your houses. You don’t want to meet me again after doing something foolish do you?”

Azadin sought out victims he could find along the way those who had their belongings stolen and were sitting and crying on the side of the road or those who were walking helplessly and compensated them as much as possible. For those who could not be compensated he collected testimonies and wrote them down on a list.

I’m so busy that I can’t get involved in compensation any further but I’ll do my best.

*********

“Is it all done now?”

When Bühne asked Azadin smiled.

“No there’s one left.”

“what?”

“To eliminate your fighting power for the time being.”

“Huh? What? What are you talking about?”

Instead of answering Azadin took out a pair of tongs from his pack. These were the arrow tongs used for making and handling arrows.

“Consider it fortunate. Murder usually results in permanent damage but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t seem to have reached the level of murder so I’ll let it slide.”

“Huh? You’re going to let this go? What are you talking about… Eww!”

The pain of having a raw fingernail pulled out was enough to make even a grown man cry like a child.

Tarki let out a sigh of relief as Azadin pulled out the thumb and index fingernails of Bühne’s group and chased them away.

“You wouldn’t want to harm me your blood relative just because of the inheritance. People really are bad. At least I was on good terms with Byun brother.”

“That’s right. Inheritance rights probably don’t mean anything.”

Azadin said this to Tarki and wiped the tongs. Then Midiam said to Azadin.

“But I guess you’ve come to your senses a little now.”

“why?”

“No. You returned the things to the people who were looted. It’s nice to see you back to your original self. When you get pregnant your emotions run wild right?”

“Oh my god.”

Azadin sighed.

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“The act of giving birth to a child under the curse of service is not a normal pregnancy. It does not happen.”

“But you really were different from your usual self.”

“I can get angry and emotional too. Then no one can control themselves. By the way the one who is making me angry right now is you Medium.”

“Huh? Me?”

“okay.”

Then Ismail asked

“Didn’t you just sell the silver candlesticks that Tarki’s mercenaries had plundered? Why are you so eager to return them this time?”

“That was too much. I couldn’t return it all by myself and there were too many mercenaries at the time. And the villagers would have had to evacuate anyway.”

“refuge….”

“More ogres will come. We need to evacuate and returning the loot which was mostly furniture would only hinder their progress.”

“But you took the profits didn’t you?”

“I can’t help it. I’m the type of person who has to be flexible at times.”

Azadin is a kind man but he is not a merciless one. As the Emperor’s messenger he must have a cold hard grasp of reality.

“In contrast this one was easy to return and the amount was small. Why? Are you dissatisfied with that?”

“I can’t understand you. You seem like… an alien. I find it much easier to understand those who are obsessed with murder and plunder.”

“Is that so? I can understand you to some extent.”

“You understand me?”

Ismail felt offended that Azaddin understood him. It was as if he was saying that he was easy to understand and he resented it.

At that moment Tarki who was in the lead was heard clicking his tongue.

“Everyone be quiet. There are rescue squads ahead.”

“Huh? The Rescue Knights?”

Azadin began to show interest.

*********

As we approached Salasma it was crowded everywhere. Refugees were pouring in from all over. The rivers were dry due to the drought that had lasted a month there was no support in the settlement and there were ominous incidents happening here and there.

However the count’s illegitimate children are clamoring to find the New King’s Book and are plundering people wherever they go so those who have lost their homes are heading to Salasma where they can at least have food and clothing.

In the vacant lot near Salasma several shops and a rescue team rented an entire inn and operated a relief center.

“Oh! The three-winged wheel!”

Azadin was delighted to see the three-winged wheel banner the symbol of the Knights Templar.

“As expected of the Rescue Knights. Oh they’re great.”

“….”

Midiam and Ismail were speechless at Azadin’s delight at the good deeds of the Rescue Knights.

Unlike the King’s Church the Knights Templar do not rush to kill the Heralds on sight but their members are also Hybris citizens. They also regard Aragatha as soulless blasphemous beings and despise them as cursed beings no different from others.

That relief center is also run by threatening the merchants to receive ‘donations’. In addition the rescue team was accepting children from parents who had given up their children among the refugees in order to increase their size.

Rumor has it that the headquarters of the Knights of the Salvation Order the ‘Inland Sea Peninsula’ has a huge amount of land and needs countless serfs to develop the area.

There was a dark rumor reaching the rescue team that they were gathering orphans and refugees from all over the place and taking them to develop the Inland Peninsula under the pretext of providing relief.

“Should I tell him? No even if I tell him the Rescue Knights seem important to him. It would be useless to tell him right?”

Midiam kept his mouth shut as he watched Azadin look pleased with the relief efforts of the Rescue Knights.

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“I’m surprised. You’re so concerned about what other people think.”

“No that’s right isn’t it?”

Medium shrugged.

“It’s not good for pregnant women to be too stressed because there might be a new life inside Azadin’s body.”

“Hey. Can you hear everything?”

Azadin snorted in shock at Medium’s words which treated her like a pregnant woman.

“Well I guess the higher-ups made a mistake in dismissing me because they were afraid of Arael so if I go and talk to them things will be resolved.”

After some time Azadin who had calmed down realized that he had many means of negotiating with the upper echelons of Aragasa.

There are two copies of the New King’s Book and a lot of gold coins were collected in a short period of time. It is probably unprecedented for a messenger to process three gold coin petitions in such a short period of time.

‘The situation is so dire right now that people are making petitions without holding back. The people of Hybris think that calling a messenger is like selling your soul to the devil.’

Even those who hoard the Emperor’s gold coins only use them when they are in dire straits or in dire straits… They don’t keep the Emperor’s gold coins because they like the Herald Clan.

In other words if there is a drought like now and the Kurt tribe rises up to find the New King’s Book wouldn’t the messengers from other places also be boasting about the highest gold recovery rate ever?

Thinking about it that way made me feel a little uneasy.

‘Doesn’t everyone in the clan hate me? What if they don’t listen to my request to hand over my position? Maybe they’ll try to kill me and take my copy of the New King’s Book?’

Azadin who had been thinking that far shook his head. No matter how much he disliked him being so stubborn and hostile towards him was already in the realm of a persecution complex.

“Let’s prepare for camping!”

*********

Preparing to camp on a dry riverbank. Since the tent is heavy and not to be carried around preparing for camping usually involves leveling the ground.

“Why do I have to do this kind of chore? I’m a nobleman and a knight.”

Tarki was grumbling and picking at rocks on the floor.

“Just do some work there for a bit.”

Azadin ordered the complaining Tarki to do his work and looked around. There were other refugees but when Tarki the knight prepared to camp they all slowly moved away and gave up their places.

When dinner time came the innkeepers were seen handing out cotton blankets and bread with the Knights Templar’s logo on them.

“If you need a blanket I can lend it to you. Since I’m lending it to you you must return it.”

“If you don’t return it you will either end up in hell in the next life or be reincarnated into the messenger clan.”

When Medium heard that he laughed.

“These are very encouraging words.”

“Well the recovery rate of the mofos will be miserable so will all these people be reincarnated into the clan?”

“I guess so.”

As he spoke Medium looked towards Azadin’s stomach.

“What? Why are you looking at me?”

“No if some of those who didn’t return their cloaks are born into our clan then the curse of service will be triggered and the child you give birth to will also be….”

“Hey. Droopy eyes. Was he always like that?”

“yes.”

Ismail lowered his head and said so. He seemed to feel ashamed of Medium’s words and actions.

“His classmates must have really hated him?”

“What are you talking about? My peers worshipped me.”

Medium shrugged and boasted.

“Oh but let me try that bread.”

“Yes? We have food right? I thought you wouldn’t bother with the relief supplies.”

Midiam looked at Azadin and thought that he was a good person even though he was good at keeping the line. He was basically friendly to the people of Hybris helped the weak and was strict with the strong.

But here you’re saying that you’re going to touch the relief supplies that the Rescue Knights are distributing to the refugees? If you do something like that wouldn’t the refugees have less to eat?

“No I just wanted to see what the Rescue Knights’ relief supplies were like.”

As he spoke Azadin approached the wagon distributing relief goods and spoke to the Rescue Knights.

*********

“You must be busy dealing with people so why are you talking to me?”

“Perhaps he really likes the tales of the Knights of the Rescue. That’s why he seems to want to somehow talk to the Knights of the Rescue and become friendly with them.”

After a while Azadin received a loaf of bread from the Rescue Knights.

“Did you really get the bread?”

“Of course I didn’t loot the relief supplies. I just gave them some.”

“The messenger gave money to the Rescue Knights? Alms?”

“okay.”

“….”

“What? Are you dissatisfied?”

“You were here for quite some time. What did you talk about?”

Ismail asked in a cool tone.

“Well I asked if I could get the Rescue Knights seal stamped on the quilt on my parchment but they said they wouldn’t allow it.”

“….”

“Why do you want to get that stamp?”

“I wanted the Rescue Knights emblem. Isn’t it cool?”

“….”

Medium and Ismail looked at each other blankly.

“I don’t think so. It’s not useful and it’s just a cartwheel.”

“But we’re the Rescue Knights. Hmm. Our Aragasa doesn’t really have a symbol. The eagle is our symbol but we don’t show it off anywhere.”

Azadin fiddled with the new mask in his arms. The mask made in the shape of a falcon is Aragasa’s symbol but because of her persecution she cannot show it off openly.

“The Knights of the Rescue in the storybook may have been heroes who treated everyone without discrimination but the Knights of the Rescue in reality would try to kill us as soon as they found out that we were a herald clan. Even if you like the Knights of the Rescue they will betray your heart. Aren’t you afraid of that?”

Medium asked secretly wanting to harass Azadin.

“It’s okay. That’s not what I believe in. Even if they persecute me and eventually kill me that doesn’t mean they’re betraying my faith.”

“….”

After hearing Azadin’s words Midiam realized that his love for the Knights of the Rescue was not a simple childish yearning but rather a strong conviction that went much deeper.

Will faith really not betray him?

Suddenly Medium had a premonition that the fate that was to come to Azadin would soon test his faith.