Night of the Soulless Heathens – 92



#92. The Tribe of Arael 2

-Wedge!

The arrow which tore through the wind and flew accurately pierced the head of a soldier who was swarming the civilians from the rear.

“Ugh!”

Medium fired arrows repeatedly targeting the soldiers who were leading the people to the front lines and they fell with each shot.

“Shield Soldier!”

The soldiers who had been sending out civilians as arrow shields without much caution because the distance was usually beyond the reach of arrows were then startled and raised their shields to protect their necks.

The moment when the smiles disappear from the faces of those who put others in danger and watch them laughing from behind.

“Ahahahaha!”

Midiam stood proudly on the wall bursting into laughter.

Yeah the guy wasn’t wrong.

The sight of protecting the people is beautiful.

Ismail saw in the figure of Medium who was still ignorant of the world’s filth and was only upright a beauty beyond compare. The embodiment of pride courage and pure passion sparkled under the morning sunlight.

How could one not be fascinated?

But what is cast over this beauty is the shadow of the man. Ismail cannot fully enjoy this situation now that he knows how much influence Azadin has had on Midiam.

Above all the situation wouldn’t get any better just because she had taken down a few soldiers. Rather this activity would only make her and Ismail’s situation worse.

*********

While Midiam was blocking the enemy soldiers’ approach Ismail asked the castle soldiers to open the gate for a moment.

“Are you crazy telling me to open the gate?”

“Where’s the little brat!”

“…No wait. That guy’s the deal.”

“What is that?”

“Messenger Clan.”

“Huh? What?! If you’re the messenger you’re that soulless monster?”

“….”

“Hey I’ll listen.”

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‘No if you’re not deaf you can’t hear anything. Anyway with the people of Whibris…’

When the soldiers reluctantly opened the secondary gate instead of the main gate at Ismail’s insistence Ismail handed over a small dagger to the men.

Then those who had just been driven out and attacked the walls cut the ropes with daggers and entered the fortress. However not all of them entered.

“Why aren’t you coming in? Cut the rope around your ankle with the knife I gave you and come in!”

“Our family is being held hostage!”

“If you leave your children behind and enter the gates now they will kill our children.”

They refused to take refuge in the gates but they also did nothing but gnaw at the gates with their weapons. They were deliberately delaying the action while the Midiam blocked the soldiers’ approach with arrows.

But if the soldiers threaten them with swords they will come rushing in again right away.

“I can’t do it. Close it.”

Ismail closed the gates again and withdrew.

*********

As if an awl in a pocket were popping out on its own it was only natural that stories about these young boys and girls would flow as they were active.

“The messenger clan?”

“Yeah. You know those women who escaped from that gang of bandits? That’s what they’re saying…”

“If you’re a messenger clan aren’t you a soulless bunch of blasphemous people? But… you’re pretty?”

They were talking nonsense about Ismail and Midiam and Ismail heard the story.

‘Damn. The women we rescued are talking about us.’

The people Ismail and Midiam rescued and brought here seemed completely unaware of the concept of a mouth-to-mouth barrier. People have thoughts so they should keep their mouths shut. When I see them suddenly say that those kids are the messenger clan my anger boils inside me.

Of course I know this in my head. Those women are just ordinary civilians. They have no combat training and no education so many of them are illiterate.

It would be absurd to expect such people to think deeply. They would have simply answered questions and in the process exposed the identities of Midiam and Ismail without much thought.

“That messenger clan? That’s good!”

“Save us!”

When the soldiers who were supposed to guard this fortress learned that Ismail and Midiam were messengers they entrusted themselves to them.

They may be doing this now because Count Lantaric’s army is advancing and threatening them right before their eyes but once this threat is gone they will not forget that Ismail and Midiam are messengers and will definitely tell someone.

No matter how much he thought about it Ismail could not like these people of Hybris. But Midiam was different.

“Bring arrows and bows.”

Medium decided to get supplies from them and started firing arrows repeatedly scaring the soldiers who were protecting themselves with their shields and forcing them to retreat.

“If you shoot too many arrows your hands will get hurt. We already had quite a hard time marching last night…”

Ismail let Midiam rest and stood on the watchtower himself.

“Take a breath. If you can get some shut-eye.”

“Okay thanks Ismail.”

Midiam left Ismail behind and stepped back. A man who appeared to be a soldier scooped up water from a bucket with a ladle and handed it to Midiam.

“Are you okay miss?”

“Of course.”

Medium gladly accepted the water and drank it. It may have been drugged but Medium gladly accepted the water and drank it to prove that he trusted them.

*********

Until noon Count Lantarik’s men would occasionally approach to check on the liver only to be shot by Ismail’s arrows and then retreat.

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Ismail would rest with his bow in his hand and when the surrounding soldiers woke him up he would get up and shoot arrows repeatedly. Although he and Midiam were very tired from the forced march the night before just threatening the enemy with arrows and preventing them from rushing in recklessly was a great help to their morale.

but….

‘You’re after something.’

Ismail noticed that his opponents’ reactions made him realize that they had different numbers.

‘Even if they hadn’t brought siege weapons if they really wanted to take this fortress they would have beaten people to it and taken it somehow. And so standing here like this… Huh?’

Ismail suddenly felt a cold murderous smell behind him and turned around. There too was a man wearing a heraldic mask standing on the watchtower.

It wasn’t Azadin. He was quite tall but this man was no less tall than Azadin and his side profile was also incredibly large. He was so large that he couldn’t even wear the Moon Bow of the Herald Clan on his waist but was wearing it on his legs like leggings.

It was impressive to see him carrying four bows two on each leg unusually.

“Hello little one. This is Aragasa.”

“All of you?”

“Hmm. But you are not messengers you are servants? Where is the messenger? Who is the messenger who governs you?”

“We are the servants of the 108th Azadin.”

“Azadin… Are you talking about Azadin of Muan?”

He was surprised to hear Azadin’s name.

“Wow that’s great! Even someone like that has a servant. You guys seem pretty smart for servants. It’s a shame for Azadin.”

“Who are you?”

“This is disappointing. Don’t you know me? There’s no one among my peers who doesn’t know me. I’m Kahsan the 94th Lieutenant.”

“Kahsan…..”

“If you say Kahsan who breaks bows he will be famous.”

As he spoke Kahsan flexed his arms to show off his muscles. Just looking at them they were terrifying muscles. They reminded me of the lean flesh of a horse or a large hunting dog rather than a human. The appearance seemed to be a human form of savagery and violence.

“….”

He is strong enough to easily break the Moon Palace. His nickname is given in that sense but for the Jeonryung clan breaking a bow is not always a compliment. Breaking a bow is also an insult for someone who is careless and immature.

“This is difficult. Count Lantaric is one of our clients.”

“Could it be that the Count is the petitioner? But….”

The gold coin petition system is the emperor’s wish to resolve the people’s grievances. If it were to be used in territorial disputes and power struggles among the nobles wouldn’t the emperor’s wish be in vain?

That was why Azadin was dissatisfied when Tarki the illegitimate son of Count Salasma became the petitioner for the gold coin.

It is very rare for a nobleman to become a petitioner for gold. It is even more unlikely for someone like Count Lantaric who started a war out of blatant territorial greed to become a petitioner for gold.

“Of course you are not the petitioner of the gold coin. But you can become a customer for other reasons right?”

“….”

Ismail frowned when he heard Qahsan’s words. In other words Qahsan was in league with Count Lantarik for reasons other than the gold contract.

“So can you step aside? Where is Azadin? I want to talk to Azadin. Isn’t he Arael’s brother?”

“that is….”

“Hmm. I see he’s not here. What a funny guy. He makes his servant guard the castle but he’s not there himself?”

Kahsan was frustrated because the conversation was not going well.

“Then since it would be insulting to be bothered by the likes of Azadin let’s just deal with it first.”

Kahsan ran at the same time.

-The flowers birds wind and moon at dusk!

The giant swayed like a ghost and rushed forward with a phantom. It was a perfect surprise attack. But Ismail was prepared.

‘Considering Azadin’s reputation even I would want to resolve it by force if my work and Azadin’s work conflicted.’

Ismail jumped over the ramparts to avoid Qahsan’s advances grabbed Salasma’s flag hanging on the outer wall of the fortress swung it and returned to the top of the ramparts.

“Wow! It’s pretty good.”

Qahsan was impressed by Ismail’s skill in dodging his charges.

“Kahsan!”

At that moment a girl’s voice was heard from behind. Medium who had been resting had woken up.

“hmm!”

Kahsan turned to where the voice had come from but there was a cuckoo with its coat trembling and talking to itself. It was the magical cuckoo of the flower-bird-wind-moon.

“aha!”

An arrow flew towards his temple. Kahsan spread his hand and swatted the flying arrow aside. At that moment an electric shock pierced through Kahsan’s body. It was an arrow with a lightning bolt.

“oh!”

Kahsan was smiling even though he was shocked by electricity and his limbs were losing their strength.

“Don’t be too embarrassed if you fall on me for I am the Medium of Etar!”

Medium fired another arrow aiming for Kahsan’s neck which was paralyzed by the electric shock. However Kahsan jumped as if he had never been struck by lightning dodging Medium’s arrow attack. And…

“Etar?”

As Kahsan stomped his feet on the ground the bricks on the top of the wall rose with a loud noise. Even though they were bricks each was a large stone the size of a person’s leg.

“Ugh!?”

As Midiam panicked Kassan suddenly approached her. In a fit of urgency Midiam drew her sword and swung it. However Kassan simply smashed Midiam’s sword with his hand grabbed her and threw her out of the fortress.

The height of this fortress’ watchtower was not high enough for even a herald to simply jump down from it.