CH 29

How could the crime of murdering an innocent civilian in a mishap be used as an excuse? Since they were farmers of these Messenger Clan bastards, it was no different from fighting cultists from the King’s Church’s point of view. However, it felt like they would all die fighting this one messenger.

But….

They all looked at the messenger, who was just looking at them and not attacking.

“What is it?”

“It looks like you all came here to hunt. Holy Knights with spears and bows. Besides, even if the trainee knights are out of line, I don’t believe an official Holy Knight would stay this silent.”

“… What is that supposed to mean?”

“Why had you come out to hunt and are suddenly massacring farmers?”

“Because they belonged to a cult.”

“No, you all didn’t even realize I was a messenger until we fought. It wasn’t until after those kids began to shoot arrows did you realize I was part of the Messenger Clan. In other words…”

Azadine analyzed the situation and clicked his tongue.

“You accidentally killed someone and are now trying to silence them.”

“….”

“Was that right?”

Seeing the holy knight’s reaction, Mediam realized that Azadine was accurate in his deduction.

“Perhaps they mistook some people digging for herbs as animals and shot them. After chasing to silence them, they chose to massacre the entire farm.”

“Shut up, you blaspheming soulless one.”

Sir Kazrek, who had been figured out, shouted.

To be exact, it had been a wayward arrow during a hunt that had killed a farmer who was checking his fence. However, he didn’t want to reveal this to someone from the Messenger Clan.

“It would be difficult to kill me and shut my mouth, right?”

Azadine picked up a spear from a trainee knight who fainted after being hit by his short sword. He then aimed that hunting spear toward Sir Kazrek.

“If you men stop harming the farmers here and pay your penance to become penitent knights, I will finish this without killing you. I haven’t killed this one yet.”

Azadine spun the spear in the air and aimed it at the trainee knight again.

“… it isn’t so hard to kill you all, you know.”

Although two trainee knights had been taken down, the number of opponents was still high. Azadine couldn’t think of fighting on endurance alone.

‘Is he insane? We won’t be hard to kill? Has he been watching us and saying such things?’

The Holy Knights of the King’s Church held absolute superiority over normal knights due to their skills. This was because most knights could not improve their skills due to a lack of sparring partners. The Holy Knights, however, were renowned for improving all their skills.

Did he mean he would fight against such people now?

“You are funny. If we back down in fear of one of you… we will be punished for it.”

“Would you continue to commit such crimes because you fear punishment?”

“If we capture you, then everything will be solved! Judging from the skills, you must be a high-ranking messenger, right? If I catch you, then everything will be resolved. These villagers are followers of the Emperor, so they deserve to die!”

Mediam and Ismail, who were listening to this, had to hold back their laughter. Azadine was ranked 108th, meaning he was the lowest-ranked among the messengers. Not to mention, he was also shunned by the clan? Was this man overestimating Azadine’s skills?

However, seeing that the holy knights were tough opponents, their own evaluation was proven right. Both children agreed that Azadine’s skills were not inferior.

Azadine drew his spear.

“Huh!”

Sir Kazrek simply slashed away the hunting spear and cast a spell on Azadine. This time, the Hammer of Divine Light came falling on his head.

Azadine dodged it, but the light exploded and swept the ground away. However, Azadine calmly unhooked the bow from his waist, drew a bowstring over it, and drew a hunting arrow that he had taken from a fallen knight.

Trainee knights don’t carry many arrows, so this one just had three.

“Can you hit me by firing that from the front?”

Sir Kazrek charged.

“Is that so?”

Azadine raised the bow to the sky and shot high.

Was he preparing to use the two-arrow technique?

He was too defenseless for that.

“It is dangerous!”

Mediam shot an arrow at Sir Kazrek to aid Azadine, but the holy knight slashed the arrow away easily.

“Ah!”

Shocked, Mediam shot another arrow, but Azadine got between the arrow and the target this time.

“Ah?!”

Azadine grabbed the flying arrow from the air and turned it around as he put it on his own bow.

The paladin, who had raised his sword to cut down Mediam’s arrow, couldn’t react to Azadine’s shot that came from the side. Sir Kazrek fell forward as the arrow pierced his forehead.

“Kuak…”

“No way!”

The rest of the trainee knights were taken aback by Azadine’s techniques. Sir Kazrek had shown great strength to parry the arrows flying at him.

But to be subdued in this way when an arrow was shot at close range? It was like the work of a devil.

“…”

“W-what is that?”

Even one from the Messenger Clan, Mediam, was shocked and then asked.

“Reshooting an arrow?”

“Reshooting an arrow? Did you learn that from Kazas?”

“No, this was something I made. Well, it isn’t so different, so you should be able to do it with enough practice.”

Azadine calmly explained his technique to Mediam before turning to look at the trainee knights.

“So what are you people going to do?”

As Azadine raised his hand to the sky, the arrow he had shot high fell into his hand. He must have shot for this purpose.

It was a trap meant for enemies who carelessly attacked Azadine while his bow was empty. However, before he could use the trap, he snatched Mediam’s arrow and used it to kill Sir Kazrek.

“T-that….”

“If you compensate the families of the farmers you harmed and become penitent knights, I will not kill you.”

When Azadine said that, the trainee knights looked at each other in shock and at their dead captain.

Seeing that even Sir Kazrek had been killed by the messenger… this was no joke. These ones would kill them.

‘But if we become penitent knights, will we be spared? What if we run away and file a report about the messenger?’

‘All I have to do is to avoid this place. Do I need to become a penitent knight?’

The trainee knights fell deep in thought at Azadine’s words. At that moment…

“That’s not possible!”

The sons and daughters of the farmers appeared from behind them.

“Those people were our fathers!”

“They killed my mother and brother-in-law!”

“They killed us like animals to cover up their mistakes! I don’t even want any compensation!”

“They need to be killed! We want blood over gold!”

The farmers demanded angrily for Azadine to kill the trainee knights.

“These peasants!”

The holy knights became angry.

“Looks like there is no room for negotiation.”

Azadine knew that things were going south.

‘I know these farmers are vengeful, but if they push us to kill the knights, they would have to abandon their livelihoods here and become wanderers.’

Farmer boys in Hubris often dreamt of becoming mercenaries or adventurers. However, living as wanderers who cannot stop moving for the rest of their lives is a harsh reality for these children.

And becoming a mercenary or an adventurer wasn’t easy either. Even children of fallen nobility couldn’t get those kinds of jobs.

They had no money to become mercenaries, weapons, or training. The only group these children would be accepted into were bandit groups.

‘The life of a wanderer is hard. Are they prepared for that and want their revenge now?’

However, if the victims demanded it, then Azadine could not say no. The enraged families of the farmers would kill the knights even with stones and axes.

“These stupid bastards! How dare you say this….. to church knights! You will all be cursed!”

The knights tried to attack the farmers, but Azadine’s arrows prevented them. The peasants then attacked the knights and beat them to death. Azadine simply clicked his tongue as he watched this.

The farmers decided to collect the bodies of the dead knights. They had wanted to desecrate the bodies due to the violence they had suffered, but Azadine stopped them.

“A corpse is a corpse. You cannot hate it so much if you want to live. You don’t have to be tied up to hating the dead more than needed. Don’t the people of Hubris believe in an afterlife? Do not bring bad karma on yourself by doing that.”

“But shouldn’t the bodies be buried?”

“You don’t have to do it. I will. There is nothing wrong with stopping them from becoming undead. There is also nothing wrong with showing compassion for a place where evil has happened, right?”

“…”

Heeding Azadine’s words, the people began to collect the bodies of their families. As they did so, Azadine collected the bodies of the holy knights.

“Such a unique person.”

Mediam also began helping Azadine. Ismail searched the holy knights for their weapons.

“It is better to not touch their things. Most of them came from the church. Let’s just bury them together with their things and use them as tombstones.”

Azadine decided to use the swords and armor that the knights wore as burial items. He then wrapped the corpses in cloth and buried them according to Rescue Knights tradition.

‘…I wonder if it’s wrong to bury knights of the King’s Church this way?’

Mediam thought it might be but said nothing.

“Phew.”

Azadine slumped at a tree stump after finishing the burial. He wanted to train before resting but was no longer in the mood.

“Did you intend to forgive them if they became penitent knights?”

Mediam asked Azadine.

“Forgiveness isn’t something I get to do, so what can I say?”

“Holy Knights of the King’s Church can make false promises, right? After all, they regard us of the Aragasa as soulless beings. They believe that no matter how many promises they break to us, it isn’t a sin, right?”

The soulless blasphemers, a name for the Messenger Clan, had a meaning after all.