CH 7

The Curse of Service.

It was a contract between the Emperor and the Messenger Clan. In exchange for the Emperor providing them with all kinds of benefits and magic books, the clan would continue to provide the right type of talent to act as messengers. The primary condition of the contract was that the whole clan would cooperate with the system made by the Emperor to their utmost limits.

However, this contract would also inflict death on any who betrayed the clan and the Emperor. Throughout the existence of the contract, only one person suffered this.

He was Azadine’s father, Acre the Traitor.

In an attempt to be free of the Curse of Service, the Messenger Clan participated in the war of the Tarasar Kingdom. After many sacrifices, they finally attained the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

However, a member of the clan managed to steal the book and escape with it. This person was Acre. In response to his actions, the clan elders and leaders threatened him by invoking the Curse of Service.

By that point, Acre had already scattered the book into the sky from atop the Heart Mountains of the World and spread it all over the Eight Kingdoms.

Ultimately, the elders and leaders who had lost the book maintained the curse. Acre, who had given birth to twins in a male body, died from the curse and left behind the twins Azadine and Arael.

As ironic as it was, the superior twin as they grew up was Arael. She was a peerless beauty, a powerful mage, a genius swordsman, and the clan’s strongest messenger.

Whereas Azadine was simply a misanthrope.

Arael was blessed in all aspects of power. At the same time, Azadine was incompetent, possessing skills even lesser than an average messenger of the clan.

Everyone in the clan studied the bow at the age of 8 and would be able to make skillful shots by 12. A common skill would allow an archer to shoot down their first arrow with a second.

This showed mastery of the bow.

Azadine, however, still wet the bed until the age of 8, never mind being able to hold a bow. This wasn’t very strange for the people of Hubris, but for the Messenger Clan, it was a weakness.

In the end, Azadine ranked at the bottom of the trainees in the Messenger Clan and was inevitably bullied. At the age of 12, however, he was picked up by Elder Kazas, and this marked his starting point.

Just three months ago, Azadine was appointed as a full-fledged messenger due to the influence of Elder Kazas.

Although he had been made one due to the elder’s influence, it was still a distinguished position for a member of the Messenger Clan.

Everyone within the clan struggled to become a messenger. The moment a child reached the age of 8, they would go through numerous selection processes where they were constantly tested and evaluated.

Azadine was eliminated during that process.

‘Azadine is the dullest and stupidest child of the clan.’

‘This child couldn’t even lift a bow until he turned 12, much less do the required shot.’

‘There is no way he can perform missions like other messengers.’

‘He is no messenger. He’s not even fit to be a servant.’

Those who spent their childhood alongside Azadine spoke endlessly of his weakness, helplessness, and cowardice. They also complained about how unfair it was that he became a messenger.

In fact, parents within the Messenger Clan used his name to scare their daughters.

‘Keep doing that, and I will marry you to Azadine.’

In other words, the entire clan saw Azadine in a negative light.

The cursed incompetent, Azadine.

This was what the clan thought of him.

“Is he really incapable of using magic like the rumors? That he is cursed?”

“I don’t know if he’s actually cursed, but they say he is incapable of magic. However, Elder Kazas paid close attention to him and took him in.”

“Then let’s see… He’s the son of a traitor, right? A traitor’s son who is incapable of using magic. Isn’t it because he is a person who only likes to deal with only one thing? His appointment resulted in a competent person like me not being able to become a messenger. If we ever meet, we should test his skills.”

“Ah, don’t.”

The boy became terrified at the girl’s words.

“Why?”

“A servant cannot attack their messenger.”

“A duel, though?”

“If a servant challenges a messenger and loses, they would be punished. Your life and death will be in their hands.”

“That’s if I lose, right? Hehe. There is no way I could lose to someone who can’t even use magic.”

“But Elder Kazas is notorious for being mysterious with his actions. Although he is well known among the Elders’ Senate, no one has ever met him in person. There is also a rumor of him being an elf, so perhaps he pushed for Azadine to become a messenger for a reason?”

“So? The elder took in and trained an idiot who couldn’t lift a bow until he was 12. He then dismissed him at the beginning of the year or at the end of last year, so just how much did he train him? You think the idiot will turn into someone powerful after just 10 years of training?”

“That….”

If that was possible, then it would be a good thing, but that wasn’t realistically possible.

The Messenger Clan’s training method was nearly perfect, so there were a few cases when the orders were changed at the last moment. However, if there was a shocking difference at the age of 12, then the same skill would grow stably instead of exponentially.

At least if, by the age of 12, one didn’t fall out of practice and could keep up with the others, then there was a chance to make progress.

At that moment, a bird came over her head and landed on her shoulder. The bird was covered in a soft, translucent light that indicated it was a spirit.

A spirit that was artificially created with magic.

It could share its vision and also monitor the surrounding area. Its translucent body also meant that few, if anyone, would notice it.

“Hmmm… I think I found the rumored messenger. Nice. Ismail, go hide behind the rocks with the goats.”

“Uh?”

“I will check out Azadine’s skills.”

The girl took out her Moon Horn Bow from around her waist.

“Ah, oh my. Miss Midam…”

The boy panicked but couldn’t refuse the girl’s orders, so he simply hid as she instructed.

“Okay then!”

The girl took out two arrows from her pouch and prepared one.

“There is no way it would, but I would probably be in trouble if I hit him. Should I greet him like this?”

She fired one arrow high and the other at a slightly lower angle. It was the Messenger Clan’s two-arrow shot and could even be adjusted for a simultaneous hit on mountainous terrain.

After firing both arrows, the girl also hid behind a rock.

-Swish!

Arrows were flying at Azadine.

“Euk?!”

He shifted his body to the side and caught the flying arrows. Both the high and low shots were captured into his hand.

Two arrows had been shot at him.

Using the skill of the Messenger Clan as well…

An arrow had hit the bottom of the wooden plant that he used but didn’t penetrate through. It seemed that it was an arrow with no arrowhead. Still, if it had hit, then it might have been disastrous.

“Who is it?”

The two who had been hiding behind a rock appeared in the open. They were a boy and a girl alongside two goats.

“Hmm… the rumors say that he is a half-man who could not use magic, but a messenger is a messenger, I guess?”

The girl came closer to him. She had bright blonde hair and a condescending attitude, but her beauty was like a fairy.

Judging from the fact that she had a Moon Horn Bow, the signature bow of the Messenger Clan, she seemed to have been the person who shot the arrows.

“You shot these arrows?”

“Yes, I sent them as a small hello. How was it? My greetings?”

“Ach. I-I….”

The boy who followed behind her was scared, unlike the girl. He had brown hair and droopy eyes and seemed to be of lower status to the girl.

“Your names?”

“Mediam of Ethar.”

“I am Ismail. This time, I will be assisting you as a servant.”

“What’s this?”

Azadine burst into laughter at the actions of this reckless pair. Being the son of a traitor who had betrayed the clan, he had been bullied by his peers since childhood, so he was used to this kind of treatment. Yet did he ever think kids who claimed to be his servants would attack him?

“We want to point out that we took off the arrowheads. Aren’t we thoughtful?”

The girl used her words to boldly defend her actions.

“There’s no way a messenger could die from an arrow with no head that was shot from such a distance, right? If you did, you wouldn’t be qualified to be a messenger, right?”

“Are you smiling?”

Azadine’s expression became stiff.

Even though the arrows had no head, it was still a surprise attack. He had felt keenly in the past how much he was despised by the clan, but he wasn’t someone who would stay silent after being insulted by a child.

“First, Mediam, apologize for the rudeness. Otherwise, there will be no conversation.”

“You won’t talk? But….”

Azadine was about to ask again. Mediam was trying to speak but realized Azadine was not joking. The girl proceeded to apologize.

“Mediam of Ethar apologizes for the rudeness, Messenger Azadine. I am Aragasa.”

Within the Contract of Service, all of the Aragasa were one.

The tribe would treat its fellows as an ally, not an enemy.

“Good, I accept your apology. However, do not recklessly use a weapon at anyone from now on. If I had decided to fight back, my arrows would have come for you, get it? Do not use your weapon if you don’t plan to kill.”

“Yes.”

Azadine’s warning rang true. Within the Messenger Clan, it was common to harass someone by removing the head from an arrow. In a way, it was similar to bullying someone to show their worth.

However, once an arrow flew in other places, it was no different from saying that you wished to kill one another. This girl wasn’t a fool, so she immediately understood Azadine’s point.

“By the way, do you have water?”

He showed clear signs of dehydration and felt dizzy because he had moved swiftly to deal with the arrows.

“Ah, yes. H-here.”

Ismail dismounted from his goat, took out his water can, and handed it to Azadine. Azadine then took the can and brought it to his mouth.

He carefully held the water in his mouth to let his body get used to it. That alone restored some life to him.

“Looks like your throat hurts.”

“Hmm.”

The boy and girl waited for an answer while Azadine drank his water. He drank the water slowly to avoid hurting his body and sat down.

‘So different from the rumors.’

Mediam felt embarrassed.

Azadine the Cursed was an object of ridicule among the messengers. The only time a messenger who was known to lack a sense of humor had laughed was due to a joke made about Azadine.

However, she had come this far. She couldn’t turn back now.