CH 12

“You son of a bitch!”

“I will curse you until I die!”

Those who had lost one eye spat out curses that showed their flattery as lies. Many creative curses came out, impressing even Azadine.

“It is good to be hot-blooded, but wrap up that wound, so you don’t lose too much. Wash the wound cleanly. It is important to wash the part where optic nerves were severed using alcohol. Don’t drink until you get better.”

Azadine was giving the bandits advice to avoid worsening their wounds any further as he led his goat away. Mediam and Ismail followed behind him with their own goats in tow.

The goats normally walked without complaint after being fed enough water and grass to recover their bodies. Mediam laughed at the bandits they left behind.

“At first, I was surprised to see that they were given a way out without punishment. But after seeing what you did, I think it was good.”

“Those who harass and plunder from the weak will know how it feels when they too become weak. If you take one eye, their perspective will be lost, and they will face difficulties in the future when it comes to fighting. In this case, those who were once strong and now became weak will inevitably repent. Humans don’t understand another’s point of view unless their positions are changed.”

“In other words, what you are doing is not just saving their lives but their souls. To give them a real chance to repent. Well, if it was other people from the clan, we would have just killed them, but is there now a plan to save them? Ah, but what if their wounds worsened and they died?”

“Well, all I did was create a promise of an afterlife. I am a helpless human as well. I cannot do anything that I am not made to do.”

Azadine was a good man, but he was not an almighty teacher. Those who needed to be punished would be punished. As a result, he would accept the inevitable loss of lives.

In some ways, his method was more brutal than cleanly killing them.

“Is it alright if we just leave them alive? What if they hold a grudge?”

Ismail was still feeling uneasy and had difficulty agreeing with Azadine’s methods. He then shook his head.

“Well, they might be able to make it off the mountain alive, but once they get to the point where they could accuse me, it would be too late. Still, something bothers me.”

“Uh?”

“Margrave Kazel is looking for the book as well. Of course, wanting the book is not unusual, but if it is a noble of that level, we must be careful, right?”

“I heard about Margrave Kazel on the way here. It was said that he had been high on the line of succession for the throne of Korassar. However, after losing the battle for the throne, most of his territories were taken away, and he was reduced to a Margrave.”

Just as Ismail said, rumors about the man were around.

“He had lost the political fight for succession. Since he could not take that path, he is trying to climb back up using the magic book, somehow?”

“That is the odd thing. King Korassar is younger than Kazel. There are no problems with his health. If he is still trying to get the book, then… he is dangerous. We need to be careful until we leave Kazel’s territory. I should take this mask off.”

The bird mask, a symbol of the messenger, left a strong impression on all who saw it. Therefore it was necessary to take it off to hide his identity.

“Ah, finally, we get to see his bare face.”

“Don’t look forward to it too much. It’s quite ugly.”

Azadine said this and took his mask off. A moment after, Mediam and Ismail were visibly shocked.

The face behind the mask was beautiful, with a high nose and sharp eyebrows. The glaring contrast was the long scar where his eyes should be.

“Y-You don’t have eyes?”

“Azadine is…”

Azadine was the name of the eyeless evil dragon from the old myths of the Messenger Clan.

Azadine, the incarnation of the God of Death, the Dragon of Muan, struggled eternally against the righteous angel Arael. Their struggle between good and evil would last until the final day of the world when they both would die and end the age of myths.

To him, who was without eyes, the name of Azadine, Dragon of Muan, was morbidly suitable.

“But you didn’t seem blind.”

“That’s the thing… I can see. Little La- Mediam.”

“You can see without eyes? How?”

“I don’t know either. However, I have always been able to see without eyes. Hence the name Azadine.”

Azadine placed the mask into his pocket and pulled a staff from the saddle on the Kerim Goat.

“Thanks to that, I can easily move anywhere. If I pretend to be blind, even the soldiers don’t bother with me. So I have no problem when traveling alone. But this time, you two are coming along… so I hope we can match our stories.”

Azadine clicked his tongue as he said this.

“Actually, why am I with you people? Let’s just get to a safe place and separate from there, okay?”

“Ehh, seriously. Can you not just accept us as servants? You already know a lot.”

“I don’t want to. Because it is annoying.”

Azadine ignored Mediam’s blatant attempts to charm him and unequipped his bow and arrow.

“It would be odd for a blind man to carry a bow, so the arrows and….”

Azadine stored his arrows and walked with the cane. He looked to all the world like a blind pilgrim.

The Emperor’s Road.

It was a road that Emperor Yaeslat had made after unifying the continent.

The route, which ran through the major cities on the continent, was an amazing feat of engineering and magic. It had been 300 years since its construction but it was still in good condition despite minimal maintenance.

The King’s Church had changed the name of this road to the continental road, but the people still feared the power of Yaeslat. The Emperor who built this road was feared and honored, especially in places outside the church’s reach.

On that road, the pilgrims walked.

The King’s Church, the Faith of the Rescue Knights, and the Gods of Yaegas.

“What?”

Regardless of the differing doctrines of the various churches, the people of Hubris believed in reincarnation. The ultimate aim of life was to be reborn in a higher status through a repeated cycle of reincarnation and the accumulation of karma throughout one’s life.

Pilgrimage to build up merit was an act acknowledged by both the King’s Church and the Rescue Knights. Azadine’s party pretended to be another pilgrimage and walked through the Emperor’s Road.

“Yah- stop watching.”

“No. It’s worth seeing your face just for the eyes. Still, you are quite handsome, so it just looks like an injury from an unexpected accident. You are very good-looking, you know?”

“I think it is better to have those scars than clumsy-looking eyes. Can my imagination fill up the space where the scars are? The character in my head is what looks good.”

Mediam was admiring Azadine’s face.

“You speak like Arael.”

“I speak like her? Did she say the same?”

“No.”

Azadine shook his head.

“She was the one who hurt my face.”

Azadine caressed his wound.

A junction of side roads led to the Eastern Lands on the Emperor’s Road. At the entrance of it was a large village with around 300 families.

In the north, where the population was typically low, this place would be considered a fairly large city. Here, in the center, where the population was quite high, a village of just 300 families was nearly insignificant.

People referred to the village as the Gateway to the East. The village was currently occupied by a mercenary group led by Tarki, Margave Kazel’s illegitimate son, who was searching through the villagers’ belongings and passersby for the book.

Of course, if the mercenaries could not find the book while searching through these things, there was no chance that they would return things in an orderly manner. Instead, if any valuables or money were in the luggage, they would be taken away without hesitation.

In other words, it was open looting.

As its name implied, the Gateway to the East was a gateway to the roads leading to the Emperor’s Road. As a search and check process was being done, Mediam and Ismail were quite shocked.

“Uh?”

“But this wasn’t there….”

Such things weren’t being done when they had crossed the gate before. It was simply a place to pay a toll and move on. Yet now, undisciplined mercenaries were using the spot to openly plunder.

“Hmm.”

Azadine, who pretended to be blind while walking with the cane, was also shocked.

‘Was it because I hurt Lord Kozel? No, it’s only been a short time since I injured him. There’s no way they could already know about it, right?’

Just then, a merchant next to Azadine said to him,

“Look here. You cannot see?”

“Ah, yes.”

“And the children?”

“They are orphans who came onto this pilgrimage with me.”

Azadine said this while crossing his arms, a sign marking his faith in the angels and the Rescue Knights.

“Ah, I see? Then you are taking care of the orphans. You must be a noble.”

“I am not a noble… just a wandering person hoping for some miracle.”

“In this world… may the protection of the three great archangels be with you.”

The merchant repeated the sign Azadine had made.

“But what is happening?”

“You are asking what is happening? Did you not hear the rumors about the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth?”

“The magic book?”

“Yes. Rumor has it that a member of the Messenger Clan had stolen the book and made copies of it, resulting in them appearing all over the world. Magrave Kazel’s illegitimate sons are scouring the land to look for them. Well, if you found a copy of it, wouldn’t sending it to the King’s Church lead to a knighthood or something?”

The inheritance law of the Eight Kingdoms gave the eldest son full inheritance rights. Titles and kingdoms were not divided; the eldest would receive it all. Those not lucky enough to inherit would be lucky to become vassals to their eldest brother…

If the eldest had no intention of distributing positions, they would become an adventurer, merchant, or priest in the church.

Being a priest of the King’s Church might sound nice, but it was a position most avoided due to a high number of missions and few benefits.

Even if one was an illegitimate son of a noble and didn’t have a comfortable life, their life was much freer than a knight of the church. So, if one of these children didn’t wish to be forced to leave the house, they had no choice but to search for the book now.

Or, using the pretext of searching for the book, they could plunder money.

‘Isn’t this bad?’

Azadine’s problem now was that he had a copy of the book. He hid it in a secret pocket, but taking that kind of chance wasn’t an amusing thought. Even now, right in front of his eyes, a mercenary was stealing a jewel that a merchant had hidden inside their underwear.