Night of the Soulless Heathens – 466



#467. Northern Qi and the Overlord 2

Now that things have come to this it would have been the case that they would have just used the alliance with Chitai as an excuse to subdue Azadin and that would have been the end of it.

However since King Sebalhan of Chitai was clearly corrupt the justification disappeared.

All the plots and plans Cohen had been hatching were falling apart.

But then something unexpected happened.

“Your Majesty a letter from King Azadin has arrived.”

“A letter? From him to me?”

“Yes. It was delivered through the Rescue Knights.”

“What is it about?”

“This is a request for assistance.”

“What did you say?”

Cohen Lioner was surprised.

How can you ask your rival for help when you’re in the middle of a fierce competition for supremacy over Whibris?

Cohen startled stretched out his hand. The letter the priest was holding was sucked in with a strong gravitational pull by Cohen’s magic.

The priest’s feet were lifted off the ground.

If the surprised priest had not put the letter down in time he himself would have been dragged along and seriously injured.

Even for a king like him this was an excessive outrage but Cohen opened Azadin’s letter without even apologizing.

*********

Azadin’s letter contained the following:

‘I offer my greetings to His Majesty Cohen Lionaire Ruler of Assander King of the Church and Protector of the Elves. I am Azadin who despite my lack of virtue has taken on the task of protecting the throne of Banreung and the Kingdom of Arangi.

O King of Kings

Recently Chitai has been violating our borders massacring civilians and carrying out large-scale looting and kidnappings. We have been forced to go to war with Chitai to hold them accountable.

It is well known that waging war in the midst of the severe famine of Fimbulbert is a folly that will torment all people but I am too virtuous to find any other way to appease the tears of my people so I had no choice but to engage in conflict with Chitai.

I have been very worried that such immorality might disturb the mind of His Majesty the King of Kings but since we are a thousand miles apart I am afraid that misunderstandings may deepen if I only convey this message through the church so I ask for your understanding.

‘Despite committing such a foolish act the King of Kings maintained neutrality without any special intervention. I knew that it was simply a matter of him showing mercy to me to the extent possible and I admired him from the bottom of my heart.’

Azadin’s letter was full of extremely diplomatic rhetoric and self-deprecating remarks that were laughable.

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Azadin who is called the King of the South is being overly humble which feels like a mockery.

In fact the part about maintaining neutrality without mediation could be read as mocking the fact that the title of King of Kings is to mediate when conflicts arise between kingdoms.

‘If you were the King of Kings you should have at least pretended to mediate when things didn’t go well between the kings. You kept your mouth shut when Cheetah plundered and killed civilians so how can you be called the King of Kings? What a ridiculous title. If you wanted to hear that title so much I’ll keep calling you that.’

It feels like such a waste of time.

“You’re being a jerk. This guy.”

Azadin’s letter continued.

‘However during the conflict King Sebalhan of Chitai was touched by Nether’s sorcery and lost his reason. Sebalhan first attacked the citizens of Chungking and made them all Nether’s followers. After capturing all the military gates near Chungking he turned his fearsome spears against us. We were so dismayed that we could barely gather some soldiers and retreat.

Although all of this is due to my lack of virtue and I could say that it is my own fault I am worried about the suffering that my immorality will bring to my soldiers and furthermore to the people of Hybris and I find it difficult to bear. If His Majesty King of Kings Cohen Lionaire can use his great generosity to forgive my past rudeness and ignorance and grant me reinforcements to drive out the Nether monsters and the provisions that you originally promised to give to Chitai I would like to express my great favor with two thousand gold coins. Of course with mere foreign goods how can I possibly exchange Your Majesty’s generous mercy? However this is the only tribute I can offer to show my sincerity so I ask that you please rebuke my immorality and guide me on the right path.

The letter ended like this:

To cut through the diplomatic rhetoric and summarize…

‘I will acknowledge the title of King of Kings of the Northern Qi and bow down before you so give me food in exchange for gold coins which are of little use in the current famine.’

It could be summarized like that.

The Northern Emperor clicked his tongue when he saw Azadin’s letter.

“Have a clerk copy this so that you can see it too.”

“yes!”

The clerk received it read the contents of the letter reported them to his subordinates and transcribed the contents of the letter.

The court officials laughed as they heard the contents of the letter read by the secretary.

“This guy is totally scared.”

“It’s a shame to be called the King of the South.”

“What about the tyrant? He was just a small-minded person. He froze in fear.”

Cohen Lionaire’s vassals laughed at Azadin and looked down on him when he came out in a humble manner.

But Cohen felt awkward as he read Azadin’s letter.

“So. How should I respond to this letter?”

“If you are begging for our aid why don’t you dare tell them to stop their heretical acts and hand over the throne to the rightful Yaegasu royal family?”

“Are you saying that I should officially replace the ruler of another kingdom? Isn’t that the emperor?”

In the past Emperor Yaeslat arbitrarily killed the kings of other kingdoms who were his brothers took all the thrones for himself and declared himself emperor.

The king’s church shocked by the emperor’s tyranny forbade the arbitrary replacement of kings of foreign countries.

Of course it is possible to change things behind the scenes through political intrigue but if what the vassals are saying is true it is a blatant violation of the laws of the King’s Church.

The church had been tolerant of Cohen’s transgressions but recently as Karasar and Tarasar began to suspect Cohen the King’s Church also began to feel suspicious of Cohen.

If you break the law like an emperor there will definitely be people who will say something.

However most of Cohen’s followers did not understand why Cohen had such high regard for Azadin.

‘Why are you doing this to a guy who almost bowed his head while holding a white flag? Does the king overestimate his opponent?’

‘Isn’t he acting like that because he feels empty because the guy who has been annoying him for so long gave up on the competition too easily?’

But the elves and the northern Aragats understood Cohen’s meaning.

“A capable enemy in front of me is scary but an enemy with a hidden agenda who comes under me is even scarier. The problem is that since Your Majesty has the title of King of Kings if King Azadin acts so humble there is no reason to reject him.”

“He is not even a king!”

The old courtiers were outraged by the elves’ remarks that treated Azadin a herald as their king.

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“There’s a rumor that he’s a disciple of an elf named Kazas or something and that’s why you guys are fighting over him these days.”

The courtiers of the Assander court mentioned that Azadin was the disciple of the elf Kazas.

The elves glared at the old servant with contempt.

“Your Majesty it is said that a drowning dog should be beaten at that time. If the enemy is asking for our aid they must be suffering from a serious food shortage right now. Now is the time to gather your troops and march to Chitai to cut off the enemy’s lifeline and capture and punish Azadin who dared to claim to be king.”

“But I have already received a letter requesting aid. Wouldn’t it be worse to know the other person’s plight and then attack them?”

The cautious elves objected.

“You’re so afraid of your reputation that you don’t bite off the windpipe of the enemy who entered your mouth. That’s ridiculous.”

“A mean man would kill himself to avoid shame and consider it a resolution but the way of a king is to willingly endure shame for the sake of all his people. Your Majesty I believe it is right to plot and kill King Azadin even if it means tarnishing your reputation.”

The elves and Aragats took a cautious approach but their cautiousness was disparaged as an excuse to back out because of their alleged ties to Azadin.

The elves believe that Azadin is the disciple of Kazas.

The Northern Aragatsas’ legitimate opinion was ignored saying that Azadin was fighting because he was an Aragatsa.

They had no doubt that Azadin’s request for aid was enough to put Azadin’s forces in a precarious position.

“So. Where is King Azadin now?”

When Bukje Cohen asked Agent Aragasa nodded.

“I know that you escaped from Baekho Hall but I will let you know as soon as the evening report comes in.”

“Yeah. You’ve worked hard.”

Cohen praised Aragasa’s efforts.

But then Aragasa’s messenger arrived at the royal conference hall.

“Your Majesty! King Azadin of Banling has arrived at Changgok Pass! However his forces are considerable. In fact it seems that he has absorbed most of Chitai’s forces!”

“What?!”

At that moment all the subjects were shocked.

Changgok was a very important gateway city on the border between Asander and Chitai.

In other words the moment Azadin withdrew his troops from Baekho-gwan he turned his troops to Assander and sent a hateful letter requesting aid.

“This is nonsense!”

The courtiers who had been underestimating Azadin until then realized that they had greatly misjudged him.

*********

After retreating from Baekho Pass Azadin’s forces did not move south but rather north.

If this had happened Azadin’s army would have been cut off by Sebalhan and their contact with the home country would have been cut off but Azadin took the risk and advanced north.

Fortunately because the scholar Garasan of Chitai had joined Azadin the governors and governors of each region did not dare to attack Azadin.

King Sebalhan had become a Nether monster and lost his legitimacy so there was no justification to attack Azadin.

Moreover it was also great that Azadin’s forces were intact without any significant losses.

Even if there were nobles who hated Azadin and wanted to attack him it was not a force that a single noble could handle.

Azadin quickly headed north receiving support from each city through his connections in Garasan.

“You sent a request for assistance to Assander right? But going to Assander could be problematic.”

Jibek frowned.

Azadin quickly moved his troops before the Northern Qi could respond.

Any large-scale troop movement near the border would appear to be a threat with military objectives to anyone.

They gathered their troops before the news could be delivered deceiving the enemy into thinking it was a request for aid.

“If we just send a request for aid there’s no way the Northern Qi will listen right?”

“So are you going there for the sake of a show of force? But a show of force may actually provoke a backlash from your enemies.”

“It’s okay. I wrote the letter really neatly.”

“If the person who wrote the letter says so it will be less credible. I am worried that a poorly designed deception will anger the enemy.”

Zibek felt regretful even though he knew that Azadin’s deception was working well.

But Azadin shook his head.

“This is not a trick it’s sincerity.”

“yes?”