Night of the Soulless Heathens – 456



#457. Bamboo Growing 1

As Azadin’s army broke through the grasslands of Chitai and set up camp in front of the trading city of Kaspar a diplomatic envoy arrived from Chitai.

“I bring you a letter from His Majesty Sebalhan the rightful occupant of the throne of Chitai and the guardian of the Northwest Sea route.”

“Hmm. When we first invaded we didn’t even declare war let alone send a diplomatic envoy but when we counterattacked we hurriedly sent an envoy. How ridiculous.”

Niselda welcomed the Chitai diplomatic envoys and checked to see if there were any Northern Aragatha agents among them.

Then he had them enter Azadin’s tent. Originally if we were to follow the rules of etiquette we could be extremely strict but Azadin and his subordinates did not like excessive formality.

“You brought a letter?”

“yes.”

“Sir Jibek.”

Xibek the Inquisitor and captain of the Guardian Knights who stood guard under the king’s banner on the battlefield personally stepped forward to receive the letter and bring it to Azadin.

Even though he hated formality King Azaddin could not personally receive a letter from an envoy while being treated so rudely in Chitai.

When Azadin broke the seal and opened the letter the contents were as follows:

‘While the snowstorm and famine are raging and the people of the world are suffering your bravery is shaking the world. How about you know that this is enough and step down from your army to prepare for this severe cold? My heart aches as a father of the people when the people suffer.’

“Have you ever seen such an absurd guy?”

Azadin saw Sebalhan’s letter and chuckled in disbelief.

They were the first to invade other countries massacre civilians and pillage but they just sat there and did nothing but now that they’ve been treated a little they feel bad.

And aren’t you talking about the father of the people?

“So what are the terms of the negotiation? You didn’t think that if I just told you to step down you would just say yes and step down did you? If you feel pain when you see your people suffering as the father of all people why don’t you feel pain when you hear the cries of the innocent peasants massacred by the Chitai army?”

When Azadin laughed the envoy looked embarrassed and said

“Of course that’s not all. We have prepared a dowry of Princess Severine His Majesty’s seventh daughter and her twenty attendants as well as 100 crowns of gold.”

A hundred crowns of gold is certainly not an amount that would be shameful as a royal dowry at least before Fimbulbert.

“I came here to collect the blood money from those who invaded our land and massacred our people not to enter into a sudden political marriage. You still can’t shake off the arrogance of royalty to think that the problems of the military and the people can be solved with something like a political marriage. I think you’ll be disappointed in Sebalhan. Surely that’s not all the cards you brought?”

Azadin glared at the envoy.

Usually envoys receive additional impromptu negotiation strategies in addition to the initial letter they give especially if they are negotiating with an enemy who has arrived at their castle right now like Azadin.

But this time the envoy said this:

“That’s the end of it.”

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

“Are you saying that Sebalhan really tried to negotiate with this? He can’t be that stupid.”

“Are you trying to waste time?”

“I sent a letter like this so how could it take so much time? Oh do you think those bastards think that way?”

Azadin suddenly began to suspect that they viewed him as a much more base being than he had thought.

So currently Azadin’s wife is Midiam Etar who is from the same messenger clan.

…in other words it had no connection to the existing royal family.

If Azadin thought he was a lowly messenger Sebalhan would have allowed a political marriage between his blood relatives and the real royal family and Azadin would have run out barefoot and thanked him for such an honorable marriage.

“Huh. This is true. The endless self-affirmation of the Yaegasu Shinnosuke clan is truly amazing. They must think they’re really great because they’ve been ruling without incident for the past 400 years.”

Azadin trembled at the deep-rooted pride of the Yaegas royal family.

In fact Azadin did not think too badly of Chitai. Sebalhan was by no means a fool. Otherwise he would not have been able to secure power so quickly and stably after the death of the former king.

However even Sebalhan who is a talented person in the Yaegasu clan is a member of the Yaegasu clan.

How much of a distorted perception of the people and their alienation from them can someone who has lived since childhood believing that he is of divine blood and the rightful successor to the divine king have?

“What should we do? Should we kill the envoy or shave his beard to humiliate him?”

Niselda asked seriously.

Azadin shook his head.

“No it’s no use venting your anger on the envoy. You should repay the king.”

Azadin gestured to the envoy.

********

The Chitai palace was in chaos.

The three kingdoms of Assander Karasar and Tarasar are moving busily to attack Azadin’s kingdom but there are still no visible results and it is not easy to move troops or reorganize them.

Even if one country takes the lead it is not an easy task because they have to send a large army far away but when three countries move together they have to watch each other’s every move so things don’t go smoothly.

Meanwhile Azadin’s attacks were left to Cheetah alone to deal with.

The grassland area is a good place for light cavalry to operate but now starting from the trading city of Kaspar where Azadin is stationed there are high-walled settled cities.

The environment is difficult for the light cavalry of the Cheetah Army to perform well.

“King Azadin’s reply has arrived!”

The priests brought a message.

“Yeah. Hmm what did he say?”

Sebalhan secretly hoped that Azadin would reject his offer.

He proposed a political marriage with the princess because the enemy was invading but he was criticized by the stubborn church clergy and other royals.

‘You have gone too far in giving the blood of the Yaegasu royal family to a lowly blasphemer.’

In other words the opinion was that it was too harsh to offer the princess up as a political marriage partner.

The nomads of the grasslands are now being killed by the Azadin army but the people of the northern Chitai who are the settled people of the city do not care about the death of the nomads. Their own face and faith are more important. They are not in a hurry because the fire has not yet fallen on their feet.

But the priest’s expression is strange.

“I am embarrassed to dare to speak to you.”

“What?”

Sebalhan saw the priest’s reaction and knew that Azadin had rejected his offer and made some very insulting remarks.

It is so fearful that a priest might have to say something so blasphemous.

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

“Don’t worry about it. Isn’t it the soulless blasphemer who is blaspheming not you? I must know the truth.”

When Sebalhan said that the priest was still cautious.

‘Ah I have to coax you three more times. No damn it. Even though I’m the king this kind of pretense is really….’

Only after Sebalhan urged Azadin three times to tell him that he would never harm a priest was he able to receive a reply from Azadin.

Azadin’s reply was as follows:

‘Your Majesty I appreciate your generous marriage proposal but I have so many plans for my family that I cannot dare to take on more wives or concubines. Unlike me Your Majesty I know that you are very generous when it comes to taking on more wives or concubines. Therefore if you wish to marry I would like to send one of my children whom I have been raising with great care but I would be grateful if you would at least take me as your concubine.’

“What an impertinent fellow.”

Sebalhan clicked his tongue as soon as he heard it. Azadin had rejected his offer of a political marriage and instead proposed a political marriage of his own. It would have been unsatisfactory to have accepted a political marriage between a person of low status and a member of the royal family but he had made a counteroffer instead.

“I the King of Yaegasu am telling you to get married and should I listen to that?!”

“That’s right. That’s right.”

The priest chimed in like manner.

But Sebalhan is not a fool. Although he was angry when he thought about his feelings of anger in reverse he could understand why Azadin was angry.

“I see! How can this be? This guy is angry. How dare he get angry because I told him to have a political marriage!? What a ridiculous guy! How dare he not know his place?”

Azadin himself thought of himself as a king but he saw through it and thought that they would accept this political marriage as it was which he thought was ridiculous.

then….

“Who is that guy’s political marriage partner? I doubt he has a daughter.”

“that is….”

“What is it?”

“It’s a goat. It’s plump.”

Sebalhan was momentarily embarrassed.

“A goat? Are you talking about the one that nomads give as a dowry? No this guy is giving a goat as a dowry for the king’s marriage….”

“….”

“Wait a minute? Are you really going to send a goat as a bride?”

“Please kill me Lord.”

The priest fell down and bowed for no reason.

“Huh. Heh heh heh.”

Sebalhan was speechless because he was so angry but more than that he was embarrassed.

‘This kid is really crossing the line? Of course I made a mistake at first. It was wrong to try to fill it up with a political marriage but it was a mistake I could easily make. However…..’

Giving Sebalhan a goat and asking him to take it as a concubine was an extreme insult. It also meant that he would not discuss state affairs with Sebalhan any more.

‘This kid thinks I’m an idiot and is trying to throw me out. This is a big problem.’

When Azadin saw Sebalhan’s proposal for a political marriage he decided to finish him off by insulting him thinking that Sebalhan was an idiot who could never get along with him. This was a huge blow to Sebalhan’s pride.

“disrespectful!”

“What a soulless blasphemer! How could he do such a blasphemous thing….”

“We must tear that bastard to pieces and kill him immediately!”

Chitai’s subjects were excited and jumping around. Sebalhan looked at them and asked.

“The guy is coming at us like a blunderbuss but I guess the guards have been saving their talent to tear him to pieces. Would you mind giving us a chance to see what he’s capable of?”

“yes?”

“Don’t just talk nonsense. Come up with an alternative. Don’t just pretend to get angry and go along with the guy’s arrogance and insults. Come up with a proposal that has substance!”

“But that’s okay. That winning streak is over now!”

“Of course! The reason that heretic’s power has been so successful is because he obtained the Celestial Fire of the Holy Knights of the Salvation Order….”

“But from now on we have to fight a siege. Since we’ve come at them with such momentum they’re mostly cavalry and have no siege weapons!”

“Now it is the enemy’s turn to be tied down in our castle. All we have to do is block them with the castle walls and wait for reinforcements from the Northern Qi.”

“Also the nomad units were reorganized…”

But then a follow-up messenger arrived.

“Oh no! We’re in trouble! Kaspar! Kaspar has fallen!”

“…?”

All of Chitai’s staff members became dumb as honey.