Night of the Soulless Heathens – 61



#61. Arael’s Voice 1

“Are you going somewhere else? Or are you staying in Salasma? If you are staying in Salasma there is a room in my house that you can stay in. There are too many refugees now and all the inns have been requisitioned by the Rescue Knights. You won’t be able to find proper accommodation anywhere.”

“yes?”

“Of course I will give you gold coins. But how can I repay your kindness with just five gold coins? Please invite my benefactor to my mansion and give me a chance to repay the favor even if only a little.”

“….”

In fact the Emperor’s five gold coins were more than enough to compensate for the lifesaving gesture. However the Baroness seemed genuinely grateful to Azadin and wanted to treat him in some way.

“And we hired the children you sent as servants in our mansion. Shouldn’t you also take a look at their situation?”

“Well then I’m ashamed and will apologize.”

Azadin decided to stay at her house because he wanted to hear the story of Count Salasma and was curious about the true identity of the Baroness.

*********

“I was going to do that but I’m sleepy.”

The next morning Azadin was rolling around in bed. He was tired after taking a bath and lying down. He had been traveling along the fort road so he was quite tired.

I’m tired because I’ve been fighting for my life day after day. I’ve been forced to march too much.

‘I’ve acquired five unused gold coins that weren’t used in the contract and three copies of the New King’s Book. With this I can be proud of being quite active wherever I go right?’

Because of the curse of service Medium keeps teasing him but Azadin will never die from that curse.

Maybe that’s why? He felt a little more relaxed and was relaxing in the accommodations prepared by Baroness Noord.

“What are you doing?”

Medium knocked on the door where Azadin was staying.

“I’m resting.”

“Really? We’re thinking of going to the Ware Rat’s lair again. We’re going to check if the Rescue Knights are doing a good job of cleaning up and if we missed anything.”

“Great. I should go too.”

Even though he said that Azadin couldn’t get up. Muscle pain tormented him all over his body.

“But I see you have a lot of fatigue on your face. Let’s go on our own.”

“Be careful.”

“Don’t worry.”

*********

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Medium and Ismail looked around the area near the Were Rats’ den. The Rescue Team was handling the situation. The only thing they were doing was dragging out the bodies and burning the Were Rats’ remains.

The rats that had grown plump from eating human flesh were being hunted down by the refugees.

“The rescue team is handling the incident.”

“Well they’re probably trying to hide it since it’s their fault.”

“Because the Rescue Knights are a lax organization.”

Because of the nature of the Hybris people who value the afterlife most people whether good or bad respond with an open mind when asked to donate to accumulate virtue. They are all familiar with the act of donating and giving.

In times of drought and famine like now it is natural for wallets to be tight but despite this the Rescue Knights have received a significant amount of donations and charity.

The problem is that the Rescue Knights are a rather arrogant organization. Right now there are three branches in Salasma.

The Academy of Wisdom the Relief Society of Mercy and the Knights of Courage.

These three organizations each formed their own factions so they were unaware that one of their facilities had become a den of Wear Rats and that a paladin had become corrupted and become an apostle of Mezeri.

“Hmm… that’s great.”

Medium was amazed to see the Rescue Knights digging out the corpses of the Were Rats from their lair and burning them. The numbers were staggering.

“Azadin took care of all that by himself right? The Rescue Knights just dragged out the bodies and burned them?”

“Yes. Of course they claim that they conquered it.”

“It was their facility to begin with but they’re just lying there spitting. Since they usually manage the organization in a mess they didn’t even know that the Were Rats had set up a nest in their building and were actively kidnapping and killing people and searching for copies of the New King’s Book.”

Medium muttered and looked around.

“I feel a lot of eerie stares.”

Although the Mezeri clan was destroyed the Kurt clan was not the only one. Perhaps more Kurt cultists were hiding in this city.

“miss.”

“Let’s go back. There’s no good to be gained by staying here too long.”

*********

The servants and cooks dispatched to the mansion of Baroness Noir on the hill were bustling about. The Baroness who usually lived frugally called in her servants maids and cooks to clean the mansion and prepare meals for her guests this time.

“This is serious. Um is it by any chance that you have a crush on that woman Azadin?”

“Your assumptions are excessive. Isn’t she already a woman with a grown child?”

“But from the outside you only look like you’re in your 20s?”

“It must be the protection of the Spider Queen. She must be a Kurtite cultist. In fact I think you should have refused her offer. You should have held a knife to her throat and tortured her to get her to spit out information.”

“That’s impossible. After all isn’t that Baroness the lover of Count Kazel? If you mess with her carelessly there will be great repercussions. Ismail often vents his discontent with the world in such ridiculous stories.”

Medium came back into the mansion saying this whether he knew or not that he was the cause of Ismail’s anger.

I happened to meet Tarki at the entrance of the mansion. Tarki had taken off his armor and was wearing regular clothes so he definitely looked like a child of a noble family.

“Ah Tarki.”

“Even kids like you speak to me informally? I heard that the Jeonryung clan places great importance on the Jang Yoo Yoo Seo.”

“That’s why I speak informally. Status is also very important.”

“Ugh.”

Tarki who was born a noble and had never heard anyone say that his status was low except for people like Kozel clicked his tongue at Medium’s bold remark.

“What about your mother?”

“It looks like he went to the castle to see his father.”

“What? Why?”

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“I was kidnapped and then released so I’m reporting the situation. The mansion is managed by servants so if there’s anything you want to eat tell them to do so.”

“Oh really? It seems like your father and mother have a good relationship?”

“It’s not my place to say anything.”

“Because you’re an illegitimate child?”

“No I… No that’s enough. Let’s stop talking.”

Tarki shook his head and then suddenly looked at Medium.

“But is it true that there is a rumor that there was a copy of the New King’s Book in the Ware Rat Den?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“To mother.”

“what?”

“After defeating the leader of the Wear Rats the copy of the New King’s Book acknowledged Azadin and approached him on his own?”

“Hmm. A copy of the New King’s Book?”

“If you have a copy of the Shi Shin Wang Jinseo I’ll take it with me…”

Tarki’s eyes were wide open when he heard the rumor that Azadin had obtained a copy of the New King’s Book.

“You’d better give up. It’s called a copy of the New King’s Book but it’s not a complete collection of pages. It’s probably in pieces. Surely the Count wouldn’t be satisfied with just one page and accept you as the head of the household?”

“but!”

“And our Aragasa also needs a copy of the Shinwangjinseo. No matter what you suggest I can’t give it to you.”

*********

Azadin was checking the escape route from the mansion. Although Baroness Noort was showing him favor there was no guarantee that this place was safe.

“It’s uncomfortable without the Emperor’s voice.”

Baroness Nort clearly has feelings for Azadin. But apart from that it is certain that she is a follower of the Kurt clan and possesses items related to the Spider Queen Atra. She is not someone you should let your guard down.

But then a bird flew in.

[Azadin of the Messenger Clan.]

“Is that the Emperor’s voice?”

Azadin looked towards the place where the sound of birds was coming from. There sitting on his stomach was a crow with large eyes.

[Azadin….]

“Ugh!”

Azadin was surprised and pulled out his dagger. He wanted to throw it and subdue his opponent if necessary. Such a deformed bird could never be the voice of the emperor.

[Calm down. I am the voice of Arael.]

“…what?”

Azadin was shocked to hear that. He had heard that Arael was a genius so many times that it was hard to believe. But Arael could create an artificial spirit with a voice similar to that of the Emperor?

[I have discovered your location so I will send someone to you immediately. If you pledge your allegiance to Azadin Arael you will be granted the status of One Man Below Ten Thousand Man Above.]

“Are you in your right mind?”

Azadin laughed. It was surprising that Arael was trying to persuade him but what she was saying was just funny.

One person underground ten thousand people above ground.

Are you saying that you will become the new emperor? You will overthrow all the god-kings of the Yaegas tribe take their thrones and force the Hybris people to submit?

For that to be possible you’d really have to catch the people of Whibris like this.

First of all people hate the Herald Clan. Even under the emperors who had much more power than they do now the Herald Clan never dared to dream of usurping power.

It was a much better time when the Emperor died and chaos came to the Eight Kingdoms but even then they failed and now Arael?

“Are you crazy? You couldn’t even unite your clan and on top of that you were fired?”

[If you are dismissed you already know how to avoid the curse of service.]

If that were not the case then so many messengers would not have sided with Arael and rebelled.

‘To call it bragging… the results right before my eyes are too great.’

The level of perfection of the artificial spirit that imitated the Emperor’s voice is too great. The problem is….

‘I feel an evil aura.’

This artificial spirit smelled of black magic. It must have been touched by evil magic.

[The messenger clan will not save you even if you offer the emperor’s gold coins or a copy of the New King’s Book. They will try to kill you with the curse of service so ask Arael for salvation.]

The artificial spirit who had been saying that crouched down. His eyeballs which had been only on his stomach sprouted all over his body…

-puck!

He burst into flames with a bang and desecrated the garden of Baroness Nord with blood and fleshy eyes.

“What’s going on?”

The maid approached with a surprised look on her face.

“No it’s a cat.”

Azadin said this and withdrew from the garden.

*********

After Azadin met the ominous voice of Arael Midiam Ismail and Tarki returned.

“You were up.”

“I just have muscle pain and am tired but I can’t sleep forever.”

It was a situation where he couldn’t sleep any more even if he tried to sleep. Azadin asked Tarki.

“So what’s the atmosphere like at the Count’s palace?”

“That… was forbidden from entering.”

“Hmm? You’re an illegitimate child but you’re a knight now right? And yet?”

“yes. ”

“Your mother?”

“They said the soldiers guarding the entrance had already headed toward the mansion.”

“hmm.”

Azadin was half in doubt when he heard that.