Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Kin of Fangs 1
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According to the rumors, Azadin was the greatest fool ever born into the Herald Clan. Adults even threatened children with marriage to Azadin to scare them straight. Yet the Azadin standing before Midi'am was wise, capable, and even seasoned.
It was hard to believe he was a Herald who'd only been in the role for three months—and one who'd bent the rules to get there, at that.
"What's with that look? Why do you keep staring at me? Something on my face?"
"Rumors say you're cursed. They claim that curse is etched all over your face..."
"So?"
"But you actually look handsome. Then again, your sister Ara'el is said to be a peerless beauty, right?"
"Ugh."
The mere mention of Ara'el had Azadin pretending to retch.
"She's not my sister—she's my little sister."
The Herald Clan upheld strict traditions of seniority; even being born a moment earlier granted greater responsibility and authority.
"She insists she's the older one."
"Have you met her?"
"Not in person, but that's what I heard."
"Then you've heard nonsense."
Azadin declared it flatly and kept walking.
The Herald Clan had its own class system: the five founding families at the top, commoners below them, and at the very bottom, the wretched outcasts.
Azadin and his sister Ara'el were outcasts, sons and daughters of a traitor. They had no inheritance, no honor. And yet both stubbornly claimed to be the elder.
"Heh."
Midi'am couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Azadin just seemed amusing somehow.
"......"
Ismail, meanwhile, stayed silent as he watched her laugh.
*********
After trudging all morning and cresting the ridge, signs of life finally began returning to the vegetation. Nearby, water seeped from the ground, leaving the path damp.
"Ah, this?"
"There's a spring close by. Perfect—I've got supplies stashed there. Shall we go fetch them? You should water your goats too, no?"
Azadin led Midi'am and Ismail to the spring. Water trickled feebly from a crevice in the rock—not much of a spring, really.
"The flow here's diminished a lot too. That's trouble."
It was even less than when Azadin had last checked. Still, it was far better than the eastern mountainside, which was verging on desert.
"Should be around here somewhere... Ah, there it is."
A Kerim mountain goat grazed nearby by the spring. Spotting Azadin, it perked up and bounded over happily.
"Good boy. Sweater, you waited well?"
Kerim mountain goats had better balance and jumping ability than horses, letting them navigate rough terrain with ease, but their long fur made them vulnerable to heat and dryness.
That's why Azadin had deliberately left the goat here by the water to graze while he ventured alone into the arid zone for his mission.
There was always the risk of predators or bandits taking the goat, but this remote spot had apparently spared it. Azadin stroked the goat and scanned the surroundings.
"Let's rest here a bit. I need to recover my supplies anyway."
"Supplies?"
Azadin lifted a large boulder by the spring and pulled out the sack hidden beneath.
"Perfect. All intact."
The emperor's summons had been so urgent that he'd buried most of his gear here and rushed ahead unburdened. Retrieving it safely at last, Azadin let out a sigh of relief.
"Hm. I was hoping for enough to wash up."
Midi'am eyed the meager trickle from the rock, disappointed.
"The flow will pick up once we descend. For now, just be glad you can water the goats."
That's when the brush began to rustle.
"Urk. What the—?"
"Hey! Who gave you permission to take water from our spring?"
Six rough-looking thugs burst out. Deserters from some force? Or wanderers in scavenged armor? Their mismatched plates were bloodstained regardless.
As Midi'am and Ismail glanced at Azadin and reached for their weapons, he stopped them and addressed the bandits.
"I'm not looking to fight. What do you want?"
"Everything, obviously."
"Capture the girl alive—kill the men!"
The bandits swaggered forward, brimming with confidence. They outnumbered their foes, after all: just two young kids and this one guy.
They'd pegged Azadin as their only real threat and dropped their guard. In that instant, he kicked up a rock from the ground and caught it.
"Just to be sure: no room for negotiation?"
"What the hell's with all the chit-chat?"
"Mask on your face—you some kinda clown?"
"Yeah?"
Azadin clenched the rock in his fist and crushed it. Shards exploded outward like bullets, striking the lead bandits squarely in the groin.
"Gah?!"
"Argh!"
Two thugs crumpled instantly, clutching themselves.
"Ah, ah..."
"It's... it's pierced!"
Their pants tore open as blood soaked their crotches in seconds.
"You bastard!"
The enraged bandits swung their weapons, but Azadin shoved them aside and closed in on their leader—the one who'd ordered the girl captured and the men killed.
"Huh?"
"Excuse me."
Azadin threw a casual punch. It whistled through the air like a gale.
*Whooosh!*
Blood sprayed as the leader screamed and collapsed.
"Gaaaaah!"
"B-boss?!"
"Wh-what?"
It had been such a light blow—why was the boss making such a fuss? But as the others approached, they froze. Half his face had been ripped away.
Nose torn off, cheekbone shattered into fragments, eyeball dangling loose beneath. It looked less like a human punch and more like a bear's swipe.
"Gaaaaah!"
"Hic... wh-what the hell?"
"......"
The bandits weren't the only ones shocked. Ismail and Midi'am stared in horror too.
*What kind of power is that?*
*No magic—he just... hit them?*
Fear gripped Midi'am and Ismail.
Three bandits now lay broken; only three remained. Azadin's effortless dismantling of them had utterly crushed their will to fight.
*********
"S-sorry!"
"W-we didn't realize you were a knight, sir!"
"But didn't you want everything? No compromises, you said?"
"Oh no, not at all!"
"So why are you still armed?"
"Eek!"
The bandits dropped their weapons and groveled at once.
"Midi'am, Droopy-eyes. Collect their gear."
"......"
Calling her by name but him "Droopy-eyes"—it was clear Azadin had no intention of using affectionate nicknames.
Midi'am and Ismail gathered the discarded weapons and returned to him.
"Now, questions: why are you here? You don't strike me as simple bandits."
*Huh? Not bandits?*
*They sure seem like bandits...*
Midi'am and Ismail were baffled by Azadin's words, but the thugs lit up with hope.
"Yes, exactly! We're just honest commoners."
No honest commoners, surely. Midi'am frowned, but desperate to live, the bandits spilled everything.
"We're just lowly conscripts."
"Conscripts?"
"Yes. That brat of Margrave Kazel's—he's drafting folks left and right to hunt down some book manuscript, working us like dogs."
"With the inland east suffering months without rain, everyone's turning into wanderers or bandits..."
"We got orders to scout for some hopeless item, ended up here, and—praise the gods!—ran into fine folk like you."
They praised the encounter as meeting nobility. Shameless flattery flowed naturally from their lips.
As if they'd be happy to see Azadin's group. Two were already eunuchs, and their leader—face half-torn off by a punch—might not even survive.
Their words were laced with bootlicking, but the facts rang true.
Margrave Kazel was mobilizing to find a copy of the New King's True Scripture.
"They're just thieves making excuses."
"Doubt it. This isn't a path merchants or travelers would take."
No rain in the eastern inland for a month already. Even bandits raiding wanderers wouldn't pick this deserted route.
"Then we have no choice but to kill them to keep our tracks covered..."
Midi'am suggested killing them offhandedly.
"Hold on, Midi'am. I don't kill people that easily."
"Pardon?"
"We must kill them. Even if they've truly repented, letting them live exposes us."
Ismail argued firmly for execution, reformed or not.
"N-no, sir!"
"It was a misunderstanding—we'd never dream of such a thing!"
The bandits kowtowed in panic. Everyone awaited Azadin's verdict.
"A human life, once taken, can't be undone. How could I end one just for my convenience? Everyone deserves two chances."
"Ah..."
Ismail and Midi'am sighed in unison. Pacifists who refused to kill were rare—let alone among the Heralds?
The bandits, meanwhile, were thrilled.
"Y-yes! Absolutely! Life is precious, sir!"
"As expected of a great lord! So just and righteous!"
"May your house be blessed for generations by your mercy!"
"We'll keep our mouths shut, swear it!"
"Yes, yes! After such grace, how could we betray our benefactor? We're not that shameless. Betraying one so noble, merciful, and mighty would damn us to hell!"
They'd known Azadin mere minutes, yet the flattery was second nature. They could pass for court eunuchs right now.
And weren't two already gelded?
Azadin turned to them with a grin.
"Well, if I give each a permanent handicap, even if they don't repent now, they won't harm others easily. It'll give them a lifetime to reflect—and that's the only way."
"......"
"Huh?"
"Don't move too much. Or you might lose more than an eye."
"Urk?!"
"D-don't make me laugh!"
The bandits tried to resist, but Azadin's fist struck the first one first. Blood and flesh splattered across the others' faces.
"Gaaaaah!"
"See? I told you to stay still. Now you've lost your nose too. Behave, and it's just one eye."
Azadin pitied their excessive wounds but showed no sign of stopping.
"Gaaaah!"
Hideous screams echoed through the trees like thunder.