Night of the Soulless Heathens – 83



#83. The Brass Knight 3

“Huh. How can I help you when you have two little ones whose fur hasn’t even fallen out yet?”

This is what he said to Midiam and Ismail.

“The merchants pay us but you follow us without any money just to eat for free. We can never work for free.”

“You’re so cruel. Okay. I understand. I’ll get off.”

Azadin began to distance himself from the armed merchants.

At that moment a group of people who had crossed the armed merchant group noticed this and pulled out their weapons around Azadin and his group.

“It looks like they’re not in league with the merchants…”

“Hey! Over there!”

“Give up everything you have and disappear! Then I will spare your life!”

“Kukukuk.”

“….”

The armed merchants laughed at the sight and hurried on their way. They showed no interest in seeing the attack by a group of bandits and just hurried on their way.

“That’s really rude.”

Azadin smiled bitterly as he watched the backs of the armed merchants.

“The girl is quite pretty.”

“The boy is fine too. I bet he’ll sell for a high price.”

The thieves looked down on Azadin and his party and treated them like prey from the start.

“It’s like this when you’re traveling with me so what’s it like when you guys are traveling together?”

“We moved together with the peddlers’ association.”

Ismail said calmly.

“What should we do?”

“Hmm. Let’s try to solve it without killing them and get some information.”

The bandits burst into laughter at Azadin’s words. There were six bandits but Azadin’s group had two teenagers Midiam and Ismail.

It’s natural to look down on it but…

-Pop!

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

As Azadin lightly picked up a stone from the ground and swung it with both hands the two bandits screamed and fell clutching their groins.

“100 million?!”

“Ugh!”

“This kid!”

The surprised bandits drew their weapons but Midiam and Ismail pulled daggers from their belts and threw them at them.

-Pop!

The dagger was stuck in the thief’s head and neck.

“Huh?!”

“Ugh!”

Two bandits fell. In an instant four were rendered incapacitated.

“I told you not to kill me.”

“There are six of them so it would be okay to kill two of them.”

“Life is irreversible. Once you kill it it cannot be brought back to life.”

Azadin said so and smiled.

“Shouldn’t we make them crippled to give them a chance to become new people?”

“Well I wonder if they would even want that opportunity.”

Medium questioned Azadin’s peculiar respect for life.

“Now just a moment.”

“Please save me.”

The bandits were terrified by Azadin’s words and surrendered.

“No I said I won’t kill you.”

“That means… we were originally commoners.”

“We fled to the west because we couldn’t survive because of the drought but there were no jobs and our begging was limited so we ended up becoming robbers. But this is too much. Are you telling us to starve to death?”

“And yet didn’t you tell them to leave them behind? Judging by the fact that you’re trying to sell the children it seems like you’re dealing with slave traders.”

The slave trade was explicitly illegal throughout the Eight Kingdoms. Nevertheless it was very active.

If you are able to establish a network of trade with slave traders it is not reasonable to say that you became a thief simply to make a living. You would have to commit robbery systematically for a considerable period of time to establish a network of trade with slave traders.

“There is someone who does that.”

“Rumor has it that he is a spy for Count Lantaric. In order to weaken Salasma….”

“Yeah yeah!”

The thieves leaked information but Medium pulled out his sword as if he was annoyed.

“What should we do with Azadin? Should I just cut off his finger?”

“Wait a minute. Let me tell you a story.”

“No that’s a story that I have no reason to hear.”

“That’s not it… It’s just a saying that thieves use to survive but it doesn’t sound like an empty promise. Hey so where is that guy who might be Count Lantaric’s lackey?”

“That’s… over there.”

“There’s an old loggers’ village down in the basin and I’m staying there. It’s a day’s walk from here.”

“There will be a three-way intersection. Go north from there then go west at the next four-way intersection.”

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

“Hmm what do you think Ismail?”

“The direction and distance are roughly correct.”

Ismail only looked at Azadin’s gaze and realized what he was asking and confirmed it.

“Okay. Then would you like to guide us to the slave trader?”

“yes?”

“You say there’s someone who captures slaves and trades them? Take me to them.”

“What? I told you the way.”

“I want to go as a customer. If I tell you that I want to go out and buy a woman you will know.”

“Oh but.”

The thieves were confused. If they took him to the thieves’ den of course there were many thieves there so they could show this insolent man a bitter lesson. However that would be no different from making their failure known to everyone.

‘I feel like I’m going to get cursed at and ridiculed for being a victim of this kind of guy.’

‘But if you don’t take me…’

They frowned at the condition of the men who had been hit by Azadin. The pants of those who had been hit in the groin with stones were soaked with blood. They had been castrated.

“Ah I won’t guide you.”

*********

The thieves’ den was in the forest of the basin area. One of the tributaries of the Kora River flowed through the forest supplying moisture to the basin so the tree surfaces were covered with moss.

The eastern inland regions are suffering from drought and we have arrived in a place where moss is moist. However the forests are shady and dense so it is not strange for an attack to come from anywhere.

“It’s a good location for an ambush. I would have been tired if I had just come here without any guidance.”

“But you insist on buying slaves.”

Midiam and Ismail understood why Azadin had brought the thieves as guides and stuck out their tongues.

“Um be quiet. It’s coming.”

Indeed bandits have appeared in the forest. They are aiming their bows at us but with their skill they cannot target Azadin and his party without hitting the bandits that Azadin brought.

“What are these kids?”

“Is that woman caught? I want to buy her.”

“….”

The thieves were taken aback by Azadin’s demands. However one of them who seemed to be of high rank stopped everyone and glared at the thieves caught by Azadin’s group.

“Hey what’s going on?”

“That’s… that’s what I’m saying.”

“I’m going to buy a woman.”

“How did you know that we went out and captured the woman? Are they going out too?”

The bandits deliberately rejected Azadin’s party and talked among themselves.

“Hmm. I would like you to decide whether to sell it or not. It seems like you guys don’t have the basics for welcoming customers.”

“Don’t make me laugh you punk!”

The thief holding the bow pulled the bowstring.

“If you shoot you die.”

“You’re funny!”

The thief shot an arrow. At that moment Azadin lowered his body. His body explosively kicked off the ground and the gap between him and his opponent was instantly closed. Azadin grabbed the hair of the thief who shot the arrow.

“You said you would kill me? I will not go back on that statement. I will not kill you.”

“uh?!”

-Two-tap!

Azadin lowered his face to the bandit and slashed his fist across his face. Blood and flesh fell onto the bushes.

“omg?!”

“uh!”

Azadin’s fist flew like a spear blade and tore off the thief’s face. The thief screamed as his eyes were gouged out and his nose was blown off.

“Eww!”

“If you spend the rest of your lives suffering you might be able to atone for your sins.”

“….”

“her….”

Azadin snatched the bow from the bandit who was holding it and swung it. The arrows inside rained down at Midiam and Ismail’s feet.

“Kill half of them to break their spirit.”

“yes.”

“all right.”

Midiam and Ismail pulled their moonbows from their waists and strapped their bows.

“These kids!”

The bandits tried to attack but Azadin pushed the bloody bandits away from them and approached them extending his hand.

-Snap!

-Wow!

The two bandits fell out their faces sunken and their chests crushed as if they had been kicked by a horse. And…

-Shhh!

Midiam and Ismail’s arrows began to fly. The bandits who had the numerical advantage were quickly pushed back into a defensive position.

“Huh?!”

“These kids!”

“Oh no! These guys are the messenger clan!”

As Midiam and Ismail began to shoot their arrows they also noticed the identity of Azadin and his men.

“That messenger clan?”

“oh my god.”

“You’re late!”

Ismail fired an arrow at the face of the man who was leading the negotiations. Azadin caught the arrow in mid-flight and stopped it from flying into the bandit’s face.

“uh?!”

“It’s more than halfway done.”

Azadin who was counting the number of thieves dying stopped the killing when he saw that the number of thieves was reduced to less than half in an instant.

“But as long as you don’t kill anyone it’s okay.”

Azadin took the arrow he was holding and shot it straight into the thief’s eye before pulling it out.

“Eww!”

The thief screamed and rolled forward.

“Oh my god.”

“This is the messenger clan!”

The bandits who had guided Azadin and his party here were astonished. There were twelve of them who had come out from the bandits’ den to greet them. They thought that they would definitely be able to subdue the enemy with such a large number of people.

But in an instant six out of the twelve died and the remaining two had their faces torn off becoming blind or cripple-like.

“Okay that concludes the training. Go out and tell your boss that I’ve come to buy a woman.”

“….”

The thieves shuddered at the cruel sight.

Let’s say that it’s possible to surprise and overwhelm a much larger number of enemies in one fell swoop. Most bandits are originally farmers and many are refugees who were forced to become bandits due to the drought so they are bound to be weaker than warriors who have received full combat training.

But after all this pressure how confident are you that you are slowing down the offensive by calling it ‘education’?

*********

The Thief King Donair did not understand the tragedy before his eyes. He could clearly see it with his eyes but his brain could not comprehend the situation.

“How did this happen?”

“I am a messenger.”

The bandits completely terrified and overwhelmed approached Donair crouching like dogs in the rain.

“Messenger Clan? What business does the Messenger Clan have?”

Azadin took a step forward as Donair asked.

“There will be a woman out there. I came to buy it.”

“You came to buy something?”

“I normally don’t deal with slave traders but it seems too cruel to kill all of you refugees. I’ll pay a reasonable price.”

“….”

This is such an arrogant statement. It is something that can only be made by someone who is confident that they can play with the lives of all the thieves in the palm of their hand.

however….

‘I’m completely discouraged.’

Looking at the expressions on the thieves’ faces it was obvious that they had no desire to fight the messenger clan even if they were paid a thousand dollars.

‘I am a warrior unlike you peasants. And of course I have subordinates.’

Among Donair’s subordinates were agents deployed by Count Lantaric. They were warrior class. They had martial arts skills that were on a different level from those of ordinary peasants.

‘The peasants seemed to have broken their spirit by demonstrating abilities they could not even dare to dream of but would they be able to do the same against real warriors?’

It was when Donair had such doubts.