CH 14

Everyone would lose their fighting spirit and tremble in fear when encountering a terrifying monster. The ogre carried a large black stone axe and devoured animals by tearing them apart alive.

Azadine had gouged out their eyes, but the scene before them was so horrific that their remaining eye resented it.

They tried to twist their way through the cracks in the box they had been trapped in. Still, any idea of escape left their mind when they saw the goblins following behind them, scrambling to eat any blood and flesh that seeped through the cracks.

If they tried to escape here, the goblins would become their doom. At that moment, the ogre…

“Human village. Big. Strong place. Lots of meat.”

The ogre patted his stomach as he said this.

“Boss, what do we do now?”

“What?”

The prisoners were surprised.

Usually, the strongest ogre would lead a group of ogres, hobgoblins, and goblins. Yet this ogre was now referring to one of the goblins as its boss.

At that moment, the goblin stood up. It wasn’t even a human-sized hobgoblin but a goblin the size of a human child with dark blue skin covered in tattoos. It was also holding a staff which was made of animal bones.

“The King of Great Tooth wants the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. There is a piece of the book in… that… village… the King… Uhhhhh!”

The goblin, who was talking like a human, began to scratch its face with its nails, harming itself to the point of bleeding as it pulled off flesh and opened its eyes wide.

“That book! Mine! It is mine! King of Tooth! I will be the King of Tooth with it! Eat shit! I will be the king who is far and near at the same time! The New King….”

The goblin held its staff tightly as an ominous yellow flame rose around it. The goblin then wagged its tail in the wind and pointed toward the village.

“I will have the book! Let’s head there!”

The goblin spoke as such and brushed at the ogre.

“Goldu. Save the meat. Do not eat it all at once. Store it, and we eat for a long time. A smart ogre who knows how to invest can prepare for a crisis.”

The ogre pounded its stomach and moved forward with the other goblins. Soon, the gates lit by a bonfire appeared in front of them.

The town’s guards stood atop the watchtowers, looking for the ogre army.

“… damn.”

“So many.”

They spotted one ogre, three hobgoblins, and around ten goblins that wore cloth decorated with the patterns of their clan.

These weren’t simply wandering monsters but members of an actual clan. They were likely an advance party.

“It is fine. Our gate is strong….”

Just as the hunter said this.

Woong!

A large rock flew and crashed into the gateway. The ogre had picked it up and thrown it from a distance.

The gate held, but the bolts holding it were shaking as dust and wood splinters broke off from it.

“Eik?!”

“This!”

“Shoot!”

Following the hunter’s orders, the archers began to shoot their arrows. However, the ogre swung the meat box made of large trees and blocked all of them.

“Ach!”

The ogre then picked up another rock. The hobgoblins approached the gate with shields raised as the goblins readied to charge behind them.

“Kuak!”

The archers had made a mistake by focusing their first volley on the ogre. The second and third volleys had taken down some of the goblins, but the enemies were moving closer to the gate.

The hobgoblins had their shields above their heads while the goblins were working to open the gate.

“Again!”

The ogre threw another rock. This time, the rock flew high above the gate and was aimed at the archers.

“Euk!”

“Ack!”

At that moment, a hand appeared from below the wall, grabbed a guard’s belt, and pulled him back. The rock passed over their head and hit a nearby tower.

“EIK?!”

“Y-You are?”

“Uh?”

Everyone was surprised. Was this man wearing a falcon mask hanging from the wall with one hand while holding onto the guard by the belt?

This man was a monster.

It wasn’t unusual to lift a person using one hand, but his other hand supported the weight of two people.

Besides, what was with his bird face mask?

“Can I go down?”

He placed the burden in his hand below the barrier and climbed up.

“I will be joining the defense of the gate.”

“Who are you?”

“A passing by… Emperor’s messenger.”

He unhooked his bow from his waist as he said this and prepared the bowstring. For an average man, stringing a bowstring would require holding the bow between the legs and using the entire body to pull. Yet this man was stringing the bow lightly with his hand as if it was a child’s toy.

“A messenger from the Emperor?”

“The Messenger Clan?!”

“Yes, the Messenger Clan.”

The man who had suddenly appeared had claimed to be from the Messenger Clan and proceeded to pick up the archer’s quiver from the floor.

“Be careful.”

A woman with a lantern carefully lit the way while worrying about Azadine.

The refugees comprised the elderly, the children, and the women. The young women with small physiques carried lanterns to light the way. Two of them accompanied Azadine, Mediam, and Ismail, people they had never seen before.

“It is fine.”

Azadine was grateful for the kindness of those who distributed two of the sorely-needed lanterns in consideration of them.

“Pitiful.”

Mediam clicked her tongue.

“What?”

“To think that a knight who eats from the people’s taxes would throw them away. It is not elegant at all. Just ugly.”

“That means you think protecting the people of Hubris is more beautiful than abandoning them.”

“… ah.”

The people of the Aragasa, the Messenger Clan, had differing opinions internally about their future. Among them was the topic of how they should interact with the people of Hubris who lived on this continent. Opinions about that were always divided.

The people persecute us, so we must hate them.

They are inferior to us, and we who are superior must rule over them.

To the people of Aragasa, who had been cursed and persecuted, the people of Hubris were disgusting things who moved to attack the weak without knowing what they were up against.

But…

Nonetheless, Mediam made her stance clear. A knight who abandoned their people was a disgrace.

Those of the Aragasa hated the people of Hubris due to their long-standing oppression. Yet, a saying stated that it was difficult to save and protect.

“That is true. Is it strange that I, an Aragasa, sympathize with the people of Hubris?”

“It doesn’t matter. Because I think the same.”

Azadine took out the mask from his pocket as he said this.

“Anyway, people are too kind when you act blind.”

When you acted like a blind person, you are often met with kindness.

As someone of the Aragasa who had been persecuted by the people of Hubris, they wished they could simply hate all of them equally.

Yet it became difficult to hate everyone after experiencing such kindness.

Well, even people kind to the blind would throw stones if they found they were messengers. This was unavoidable since the King’s Church still ruled over the people.

[Will you be protecting the people?]

The Emperor’s Voice called out as it watched Azadine climb the mountain path toward the gateway village.

[Do wonders, my messenger!]

“Then how about one gold coin?”

[No, that’s not possible. Anyway, good job. My praise is the praise of the Emperor, isn’t it nice.]

“Without giving in a coin or even a public declaration…”

Azadine grumbled as he climbed the rocky path and returned alone.

He changed his appearance by grabbing some clothes used by pilgrims. He stretched out his body and covered his face using the mask. He rushed into the village, saved a person about to be killed, and climbed up to the wall.

“Messenger Clan?”

“Demon of the gold coins?”

“A soulless one… why?”

As the people looked at him in puzzlement, Azadine kicked the archer’s quiver of the guard he had rescued.

Arrows flew into the sky, and Azadine reached out, grabbed them out of the air, and fired them at the ogre.

Swish!

“It doesn’t work….”

The guards had launched numerous arrows, but the ogre had used its wooden box like a shield to block, and their attack had no effect due to the thick layers of fat inside.

But…

Puak!

Two arrows pierced through the ogre’s eyes at the same time.

“KUAKKKKKK!”

The ogre screamed as it fell backward, and people were tossed out of the box in its hand.

“Huk?!”

“What is that?”

The attack had seemed akin to magic.

The Messenger Clan’s special arrow technique was to launch two arrows and make them hit simultaneously. If not for this, the ogre would have moved its body to protect its eye from the second arrow after the first hit.

But Azadine had made sure to take out both eyes simultaneously.

“Kwaaak! My eyes!”

The ogre staggered with its axe flailing around. Losing its eyes had made it unable to walk properly.

The ogre tripped on a rock and stumbled on the mountain path, shocking the goblins nearby.

“A-amazing!”

The atmosphere suddenly changed as if the table had been flipped. The ogre, the strongest monster there, had been removed, making defeating the rest possible.

But…

While the guards were still in awe, the messenger who had taken out the ogre’s eyes leaped down towards the goblin troops.

“Why?!”

“He is insane….”

This was suicide.

In the darkness of the night, there was no reason for someone who had hit an ogre from a distance to throw away the advantage of range by jumping down to the fray.

Shooting enemies from long range was different from jumping down to fight them at close range. A roar of concern rang out at the towers.

Thud!

Azadine jumped below the barrier.

“Uh?”

He then landed on top of a hobgoblin’s shield and trampled it. Azadine had stepped on the hobgoblin and its shield as if he was stomping on an ant. From his new vantage point, he looked at the goblins around him.

That arrogant and strong figure… It drew the attention of the people of Hubris, who had been hostile to him because of his role as the Messenger of the Emperor.

“Amazing.”

A sense of admiration filled the guards.