Night of the Soulless Heathens – 512



#513. Night of the Soulless Unbeliever 24

While Azadin was negotiating with the Nagas Erasmaya exchanged opinions with her subordinates and stood before Azadin with a solemn resolve.

Some of the women who appeared to be Erasmaya’s subordinates were sobbing unable to control their emotions perhaps out of fear of the terrible punishment that awaited them.

“So. Telvarin elves. What reason are we going to give for keeping you alive?”

Erasmaya answered Azadin’s question.

“I beg your Majesty the Supreme Emperor. I the ringleaders who committed the crime of betraying humanity will provide 20 new recruits 20000 Mondus of silver and the passage to the outer continent that we have monopolized. Those who were not the ringleaders but mere accomplices were only guilty of following the orders of our ringleaders so I beg your forgiveness.”

“….”

Azadin was inwardly surprised to hear that.

Outer Continent It refers to the continent outside of the Hybris continent where the Aragasa originally lived.

The Nether’s ancient gods were sealed beneath the sea and the powerful vortex known as the Netherstrom arose there making trade with the outer continents a matter of occasional lucky miracles.

But do you really understand it enough to call it a route?

Azadin felt his heart pounding but he didn’t show it. There would be no benefit in revealing that he was attracted to the elves’ offer.

“Hmm. Are you going to hand over the new recruits including you?”

Azadin who had previously felt disgusted by the elves’ selfishness and racial discrimination was slightly impressed when the leader Erasmaya said that she would personally offer herself up for punishment.

It is clearly a noble attitude for someone in a high position to take the lead and offer himself as a sacrifice.

However that doesn’t mean we can just accept their proposal.

“It’s funny. You’ve harmed tens of thousands of people and now you’re going to get away with just 20 lives? You have such high self-esteem. Do you think the people you killed would accept just 20 lives? Of course if you were a king and a count the people would accept it but unfortunately you’re not a king and a count right?”

The expressions of the Telvarin elves darkened.

What Azadin said was not wrong.

Among elves it makes sense for a high-ranking official to give up his life but it means nothing to humans.

If the king and the count had given their lives it would have been understandable. However the Telvarin elves were not kings and counts but merchants who were active in secret so even if their high-ranking officials gave their lives it would not be easy to convince the people.

But if that happens all that’s left is the extermination of all the Telvarin elves.

Erasmaya has stepped forward again.

“Then I will hand over all the guild executives.”

“stop.”

Azadin rejected Erasmaya’s proposal.

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“Erasma. I respect that you sacrificed yourself to preserve your clan. I can honestly say that I admire your willingness to sacrifice yourself. However the way you sacrifice your own lives to protect your clan is seen by others as nothing more than a fearful display of racial egoism.”

“Are you talking about racial egoism?”

“Yes. They seem like individuals who would sacrifice themselves for the sake of the Elf race like ants or a swarm of bees… Don’t you know how much of a threat that is to other races? When you see individuals willingly sacrificing themselves for the group the claim that they had no choice but to do so because of orders from above seems even more like a deception.”

It may have been a praiseworthy altruism among the elves but to other races it was a much more fearsome and terrifying unity.

How one person’s virtue can be a greater threat to another.

Azadin could not fully trust the elves even though they appeared noble.

“If that’s the case…..”

If we are going to annihilate the Telvarin elves anyway should we fight to the death instead? Erasmaya was also trying to steel her resolve.

“Let me give you a solution. I will put a curse on you to serve.”

“yes?”

The elves were surprised by Azadin’s words.

“If you say it’s the curse of service is that what you mean?”

“Of the messenger clan?”

“Yes. It is a curse that requires you to be loyal to me the Emperor for eternity. If you accept this the Telvarin elves will be under my control and the people will be convinced. How about it? Will you accept?”

Azadin glared at Erasmaya the leader of the Telvarin elves.

A curse that will continue to be passed down through the bloodline a curse that will bind the Herald Clan to the Emperor even after he is gone and will be placed on the elves…

The elves looked at each other’s expressions in confusion.

Erasmaya nodded.

“We appreciate your consideration. We will gladly accept the restraints your Majesty bestows.”

“Make no mistake. This is not a position where you can speak for the Emperor as his messenger or anything like that. It is a position where there is more duty than authority and more pain than joy.”

During Emperor Yaeslat’s lifetime the contract of service with the Herald Clan was closer to a blessing than a curse.

The power to convey the Emperor’s voice. It was practically guaranteed.

But Azadin had no intention of offering such a place to the elves.

Isn’t that an act of deceiving the people who were sacrificed to the elves?

‘But if not we will have no choice but to kill them all.’

The elves were in a corner but Azadin was also in a corner.

My physical condition is not good but Nether’s followers are still wandering around the royal castle of Bthuma.

They will need to contact the throne room of Bthuma and clean up what Jecht has done leaving Azadin defenseless in the meantime.

Even if we accept the elves’ offer and punish some of them wouldn’t we be able to show ourselves defenseless in front of the remaining elves?

Then we have to kill them all…

Of course Azadin can kill them all.

‘Say that you will forgive those in charge if they commit suicide and then kill the rest of the elves after the high-ranking officials commit suicide.’

This way even Azadin who is not in good health can kill all the elves currently here.

But this kind of deception… even if the king’s plot is not flawed it is too vile and cruel.

At that moment I thought to myself isn’t there a way for the emperor to have a contract of service?

‘Now that I think about it Yaeslat must have had a hard time controlling the Aragasas. If I think about it from the perspective of the person who signed this service contract.’

Azadin understanding Emperor Yaeslat’s position offered a contract of service to the Telvarin elves.

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As the Telvarin elves agreed an indelible mark of the pact was left upon their souls.

But the elves were rather happy to make this deal because they knew their position well.

********

Having made a contract of service to the elves and solved their problems Azadin now sits on the throne of Bthuma.

[Come my emperor.]

The moment he sat down on the throne the voice from the throne welcomed Azadin.

“I see. So you were the ones who summoned me here.”

Azadin realized why he had been teleported.

The throne itself called Azadin.

To be exact it was through the throne that the spirits of Yaegas summoned Azadin here.

[Yes. Now! It’s time to restore the world!]

Azadin’s consciousness was sucked deep into the throne’s interior… into the depths connecting the Quartz Throne and the heart of the Hybris Continent.

********

This quartz throne created by rising from deep within the earth was a passage connecting the continent of Hybris and the world of the Yaegas spirits.

But now that passage is cut off by a dimensional rift in the Nether and because of it the light of the King’s Flower has disappeared.

“So this is what Jecht did.”

[Yes. And it is also a trace of the Emperor of Naga trying to interfere.]

[This throne penetrates the coordination point of the passage world that connects the spirits of Yaegas and the continent of Hybris.]

[They tried to use it to place their god Devislin’s power in the center of the adjustment point. But we refused….]

[The cracks in the nether reject…]

[You arrived and retreated in fear.]

The spirits of Yaegas must have summoned Azadin in order to drive away the Nagas.

Azadin listened to their words and carefully examined the dimensional rift.

It feels like the two-dimensional crack that appeared above Jecht’s Halo head but with a much more terrifying force.

The Nether world was connected to the Quartz Root projecting the Nether’s power and presence across the continent of Hybris.

The device was originally created to protect Hybris by spreading the power of the Yaegas gods into this world but the power of the Nether was interfering with it and contaminating it.

Unless this rift is closed the beings of the Nether will continue to exert their influence over this land.

[Now use your power to erase the cracks in the Nether.]

Guided by the spirits of Yaegasu.

“okay.”

Azadin focused his consciousness and made contact with the rift.

But at that moment a tremendous force suddenly sucked Azadin in.

Azadin took his hand away in surprise but it felt like a significant amount of his spiritual power had been lost. It had been lost in that short period of time.

Strength would recover with rest but… it seemed clear that prolonged and full-blown contact would cause permanent damage that would not heal.

“What is this? I can’t handle it.”

A terrible curse created by offering ten thousand Naga eggs was condensed within this.

Azadin changed his method drawing upon the sacred white magic he possessed and projecting it into the rift.

A dazzling halo appears above Azadin’s head and a beam of light that cuts through even the night strikes the cracks in the Nether.

As the crack absorbs light it gets smaller but it also drains Azadin’s life force.

The radiant heat wave that Azadin was unleashing now was a powerful attack spell and even if it was sucked in there was no way that Azadin himself would take damage but seeing that Azadin’s life force was being sucked out as well it was clear that the crack was not a simple dimensional crack but the greed itself that yearned for sacrifice.

To eliminate this greedy rift Azadin’s life was inevitably needed.

But that doesn’t mean we can just leave the cracks alone.

This quartz throne is so to speak a device to secure the spiritual position of Hybris and a passageway to the Yaegas gods and as long as a Nether rift is connected to it the Nether dwellers will continue to be able to access Hybris.

If we don’t get rid of this the influence of the Nether Reapers and the Old Gods will continue.

“Huh. What the heck? I’m affected even when I cast an attack spell… What should I do?”

Azadin asked the spirits of Yaegas a question.

Then the spirits of Yaegasu answered.

[You will be the restorer who will remove that rift and restore the connection between Hybris and us.]

[Then he will ascend and be with us.]

[Do not fear the death of the body for you will be born mortal and become immortal through ascension.]

[Your name will forever be praised among the descendants of Yaegas. You will stand alongside us not as a soulless blasphemer but as an emperor with a great immortal soul.]

The spirits of Yaegas promised Asadin that if he could burn all life and eliminate the rift he would ascend to stand beside them.

“It’s plausible that I who was considered a commoner even among the messenger clan called Azadin of Muan became a god and an object of their faith…”

Azadin shook his head.

“When you openly tell me to make sacrifices I don’t want to do it.”