CH 39

It seemed that Calpyso was looking forward to tormenting Mediam as a servant for a long time.

“How to respect those superior to you, you say… but you see, looking at our class, you’re my junior, so shouldn’t we start with you regarding and respecting me as your superior? You burst into the area under my jurisdiction, and as soon as you do, you obstruct my work.”

“It’s not an obstruction. I’m just giving you a hand. I told you that the woman’s not one of our people.”

“No, she is one of us.”

“What?”

“She endured ten thousand nights in the name of the Aragasa. If we abandoned this person after she persevered alone through the harassment directed at our clan, simply because she’s not part of our bloodline, that would be a blemish on the Aragasa’s honor.”

“…”

Mediam felt admiration for Azadine’s words.

‘It’s hard to put it into words… but it is clear.’

As an Aragasa, Mediam held little fondness for the people of Hubris. Yet, when their knights looted and tormented the civilians and left them behind when danger came, Azadine had said that protecting the people of Hubris was a beautiful thing to do.

At the time, she thought it was just a pithy statement. After all, she was of the Ethar family. As an aristocrat within the Messenger Clan, she simply regarded other aristocrats who could not fulfill their duties as pathetic.

However, seeing Azadine try so hard to protect an oath he didn’t have to fulfill at this moment… His beautiful philosophy was something that Mediam could feel.

‘I would not walk away from her after she had persevered through the humiliation befitting an Aragasa, even if our blood doesn’t flow in her veins.’

The honor and pride within him were not just a lie he used to calm down a vengeful spirit.

Mediam could feel the nobility of his philosophy at this sincere show of pride and honor. Yet, this was a time when such beautiful philosophies were ridiculed. Calypso and the servants who followed him merely snorted in derision.

“So, a punk like you will decide about the Honor of the Aragasa? The biggest incompetent in the clan, huh?”

Azadine shook his head,

“Regardless of what you guys say, I’m not fighting that duel. Get lost. I’m busy.”

After saying that, Azadine turned towards Mediam and Ismail.

“This woman said she left a journal, right? Let’s find that. If we find that, there’s nothing those people can offer us.”

“Wait! This bastard! Are you underestimating me? The Korasar Peddler Guild’s information network is way better than a slave woman’s writings! You’ll never find them without the information I have. Duel me!”

“The copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth already chose me. I won’t bet it no matter what you say.”

“Ugh…”

Azadine could clearly see what Calpyso’s true desire was. They only wished for this duel to gain the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

“Okay then, Azadine. You win. Fight a duel with me with just the Heavenly King’s Book on the line! If I win, you give it up, and if I win… I’ll liberate the children of that woman who’s not even a part of our clan and, if possible, take them to the sanctuary. How about that? A pretty attractive deal, isn’t it?”

“Ho~?”

Azadine was surprised at this offer.

“That’s definitely enticing.”

“Hahaha. Is that so? Then will you duel me with the Heavenly King’s Book on the line?”

“Hm, okay. Then just this time… I’ll bet on the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. However, you would not only rescue this woman’s children that were sold as slaves, but you also need to become their guardian and raise them as impressive Aragasas, okay?”

“Oh? Okay. That’s not a big deal.”

Calypso was visibly elated as Azadine accepted the duel offer. He could now legitimately claim the copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth away from Azadine. This pleased him as he considered Azadine a joke.

‘Even if he was trained by the mysterious Elder Kazas, wasn’t he still rumored to be the clan’s biggest incompetent? I thought coming this far was all in vain, but it turned out to be quite profitable. To think that my opponent is an idiot like him.’

Calypso couldn’t even comprehend the thought of losing.

Was it not understandable from his point of view? His opponent was Azadine, the clan’s incompetent fool. Losing to such an opponent was unimaginable.

“How do you want to do it? Should we officially start after taking 100 steps?”

“No, how troublesome. Let’s do it right now. After all, only the copy of the Heavenly King’s Book and this matter are at stake, right? Our ranks aren’t even on the line, so let’s keep it simple.”

“Yeah? Okay.”

At that instant.

-Bang!

With a deafening sound, Calypso’s head was smashed into the ground.

Azadine snorted and brought his hands together.

“Huh?!”

Maya, the Captain of the Salasma Parish of the King’s Church, opened her eyes in surprise.

“Ugh…”

Her whole body was filled with pain. This was caused by her usage of the offensive magic spell, the Strike of Divine Punishment. She had been swept away by her own spell, making it also harm herself.

The Strike of Divine Punishment couldn’t hurt a Holy Knight of the King’s Church directly. The problem was the shock wave that was released from the spell’s power. She had been swept away and knocked out by that shock wave.

“What happened?”

She looked around at her surroundings. She had fainted while fighting against the undead, so she should already be dead by all rights. Yet she was inside a small carriage. The place itself was too real to be heaven or any kind of afterlife.

“Urgh.”

“Ungh …”

The siblings, Kaka and Chico, also woke up and looked around.

“Ah, you’re awake too.”

The driver of the carriage said in relief.

“What happened?”

“Oh, the thing is…”

The members of the Korasar Peddler Guild were simple servants, but they took pride in being people of the Messenger Clan.

One of the five founding families, the Savan, supported them. Unlike other messengers who traveled without money, they earned their own keep. With the power from that money, they could even hire mercenaries and purchase land. They could do as they wished and live without regrets.

But Mediam had hurt their pride.

‘Don’t you servants dare talk back to the messenger?’

It was already an immense humiliation. This was doubled by the fact that Mediam was of the Ethar, a rival of the Savan family. On top of that, the messenger that she had defended was Azadine.

Azadine was the son of Acre, the Traitor. Acre was the culprit who had scattered the hard-won copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth from atop the World’s Heart Mountains, wasting the sacrifices made by the people of the Messenger Clan. The Great Sinner of Aragasa.

Although his children couldn’t be held accountable for his crimes, the powerless Azadine had become the object of everyone’s hatred. He was also loathed for his deformed eyeless body.

Treating someone like that as a messenger?

Angered by this, these servants joined hands with Calpyso, a messenger who had been in their proximity.

The messenger, Calypso, was a wise messenger who maintained amicable relations with the Savan Family as he was aware of the money and influence they possessed. And yet…

-Plop!

That very same Calypso had passed out after a single swing of Azadine’s first. Well, at least that’s what they assumed. In reality, they couldn’t see what Azadine had done.

He wasn’t within attacking reach, yet a light swing of his hand was enough to knock out Calypso.

‘Oh? But he’s not within his arm’s reach?’

‘Did he have a weapon hidden somewhere?’

It took all of them a while to come to their senses.

“Okay then, now keep your promise.”

“Ah, wa-wait!”

“It-it was a surprise attack!”

They clearly wanted to deny it as a surprise attack. Yet, an Emperor’s messenger would be disgraced if any injury was caused to them, even if it was due to ambush or poison.

“How can you claim it was a surprise attack when we agreed on the exchange and even the process just before this? Are you people trying to tarnish Calypso’s honor as a messenger?”

Mediam blatantly sneered at their claim and refuted it sarcastically.

“No, they’re right. It was a surprise attack.”

Azadine agreed with them.

“He’s lying down there without any other injuries because it was a surprise attack. If I’d hit him any other way, his head would have flown off.”

“…”

Mediam and Ismail knew very well that Azadine was not joking and was completely serious. Calypso was fortunate to simply be passed out after a surprise blow from Azadine. In a serious fight, permanent damage would have been inevitable.

“How can you bluff so…”

“Oh?”

The servants who thought Azadine was bluffing finally got the hint when they saw Mediam and Ismail’s cautious expressions.

“Okay then, the members of the Korasar Peddler Guild! Give me the sources.”

“Do you mean the information source?”

“Yeah.”

“But we didn’t bring those with us because we didn’t think we could lose.”

“…”

At that moment, Ismail reappeared with a small wooden box from inside the warehouse.

“Looks like this is it, right?”

“Hm…”

Inside were umbilical cords that were wrapped in bandages. Attached to them was information about the children’s birth dates and the names of the merchant groups they were sold to.

“Is this correct?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Seeing this, I can recall some of the information. Basically…”

The members of the Korasar Peddler Guild recalled the information from their memories. They wrote down the approximate locations of the children who had been sold.

These children had been sold because they were thought to have the blood of the Messenger Clan. Even with that, however, it was not easy to keep slaves in major cities. Merchant groups with traceable records would only trade slaves in villages that they frequented.

“It’s unexpectedly close.”

“Yes. The Holy Knights of the King’s Church wouldn’t tolerate having the Aragasa even as slaves, so except for the major cities those guys frequent, well… It’s pretty much the same. The slave trade can’t be done out in the open, so obviously.”

“Great. How about we take care of the wounded now?”

Azadine examined Kaka, Chico, Tarki, and Captain Maya. They had all been wounded and were suffering in silence for a while.

Tarki had collided with the bear head-on but didn’t suffer any serious injuries because he had been wearing full body armor made of malleable metal. However, he still fainted from the shock.

“Um.”

Azadine focused his vision. His eyesight had a particular characteristic. The further he attempted to see, the narrower his vision could focus. As he looked closer, the angle of his vision widened, allowing him to see in a 360-degree range around him.

With proper focus, he could even see under the skin.

“There’s internal bleeding but no fractures. He’ll be okay.”

Azadine then looked at Kaka and Chico. They were both gasping for breath even after they lost consciousness.

The problem was that their spears had been pushed back, striking their abdomens as they collided with the bear. Their injuries were more serious than Tarki’s, despite him having been tossed into the air.

“Still, they won’t die, though it’ll take quite a while for them to heal completely.”

Following this, Azadine did a full examination of Maya. Maya’s physical condition was fine, but the potential issue was her mental state. She had been, after all, swept away by the explosion of her own Divine Magic.

‘Don’t the Holy Knights of the King’s Church avoid teaching Divine Magic immediately? They typically focus on combat skills and teach a few things to ensure they are compatible with the trainee. Because of that, she used that spell at close range instead of other magic and suffered from it. She could have easily escaped from the warehouse if she knew other spells.’

Ismail asked Azadine a question while he examined Maya’s wounds.

“Do we really have to save a Holy knight too?”

“I killed this Lady’s father as well… I don’t want to annihilate an entire family for no reason. Not to mention, others will ask questions if you kill a Holy Knight, so will you just murder all of them?”

If they killed the Holy Knight, they would need to make an excuse to Kaka and Chico or murder them. Azadine, who believed in the three great archangels, wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

Ultimately, they let them live and restarted their journey using a carriage from the Korasar Peddler Guild.