Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: Golden King 4
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The Aragasa all recognized Azadin, the famous figure.
But Azadin had no idea who she was. Judging by her age, she must have been a herald long before Azadin, only to be recruited by Manza-Zadek.
‘If she came in boasting about herself and I act like I don’t know her, it’d feel like I’m picking a fight.’
Suddenly, Azadin wondered how this woman had lived her life and why she served Manza-Zadek.
Did she know the secret of the emperor’s assassination that Manza-Zadek spoke of, and the true aims of the Aragasa? Had she pledged loyalty to the Golden King with that knowledge? What mindset allowed her to serve such a broken Golden King?
But Karthen distrusted Azadin.
“As an Aragasa, I’m far more senior than you. Keep that in mind. And yet, to receive the golden decree directly from the king...”
Azadin herself didn’t know the exact rank of the Brtuma office of golden decree messenger, but from the squire’s reaction and Karthen’s— the captain of the guards— she could tell it was a very high position.
“So what are these companions of yours? Your subordinates?”
“Yes.”
Shati answered immediately, adopting a humble demeanor.
Scott shrugged his shoulders and said,
“You could call them the captain’s loyal companions.”
“Indeed. A naga and an orc— quite the unusual pair.”
Both Shati and Scott were using transformation magic to appear human, but it seemed they’d been found out. Even more surprising was that they were allowed to enter and exit near the palace despite their true natures being known.
But that might be because Karthen had a weakness to hold over Azadin.
In fact, cold killing intent stabbed at Azadin from multiple directions right now. Armed figures were aiming at her from beyond the wall’s awnings.
“So I’ll ask you this. Which side are you on? The Elder Council? Or the rebels? Were you sent by your sister on some mission? What trick did you pull to win the king’s favor so completely?”
“Have I truly won the king’s favor?”
“Of course. Otherwise, you couldn’t have received the golden decree. That position...”
Karthen started to explain the greatness of the golden decree messenger but clamped her mouth shut. She seemed to have realized Azadin didn’t know the details of a Brtuma golden decree messenger’s prestige.
“I could have you executed right now as an enemy spy.”
“The Elder Council’s heralds are about to infiltrate to assassinate the Golden King, and you want to waste your strength fighting an innocent like me beforehand?”
At Azadin’s mention of the other heralds, Karthen’s eyes wavered. Azadin’s words had struck a nerve.
No one knew the terror of heralds better than their own kind, the Aragasa. They knew full well how grueling the herald selection process was, and how dangerous and demanding the missions were after becoming one.
And now, such heralds were coming to attack.
Even if they were fellow Aragasa, these ones had become the Golden King’s vassals, living off stipends like ordinary folk. Did they really want to waste energy battling Azadin, a herald in her prime?
‘She’s afraid, just as I thought.’
“Either way, I’m the one who plans and directs the security operation, so no matter what you are, you’ll follow my orders. Got it? And since we still suspect you, stay out of the king’s 200-pace radius.”
“How am I supposed to provide security from 200 paces away? And if the attackers are fellow Aragasa, they’ll surely have prepared black river arrows. Do you have countermeasures for that?”
“We’ve prepared black river arrows too.”
“That’s not an answer when it comes to protecting the king...”
“We’ve even made shields out of black river. The slaves will hold them and guard the king.”
“Shields out of black river? Impressive. Then, could you perhaps spare some black river arrows?”
“Don’t make me laugh. Do you know how hard they were to obtain? You think we’d hand arrows to someone of uncertain loyalty? There’s no guarantee you won’t shoot the king with them.”
“Why did you come to pledge loyalty to Manza-Zadek? Did he really lift the curse of service?”
Azadin was more curious about why these people followed Manza-Zadek than the accusations against her.
“What, ignoring what I’m saying to ask questions out of nowhere... Is that really what you want to know?”
“Yes.”
“......”
Karthen faltered, caught off guard by Azadin’s unexpected response.
“Did he lift the curse of service? Yeah, he did. That’s why I’m still alive. And he told us the ones who cast the curse weren’t the emperor, but the Elder Council. Better to earn money under the Golden King than be the Council’s dogs, working like beasts without proper pay. You too...”
Karthen tried to extol the righteousness and joys of serving under the Golden King but fell silent.
The golden decree messenger was the king’s proxy. It wasn’t a position handed out lightly. No matter what tricks Azadin had pulled, it was clear she had truly won Manza-Zadek’s favor.
If such a person decided to rise in Manza-Zadek’s ranks, she’d become a rival for sure.
“I don’t trust you, so don’t get in the security team’s way and stay out of sight. Or go fetch your sister Arael.”
“You’re counting on Arael, then.”
“Yeah. The Elder Council already has the throne of Corasar in their grasp. If they take Brtuma too, conquering the entire Hybris continent wouldn’t be a pipe dream. Arael would just end up a fool of a rebel who accomplished nothing.”
“And that’s why you’re hopeful?”
“You know the saying? Kids born under the curse of service become the greatest heralds. Since you turned out mediocre, the whole clan pinned their hopes on Arael.”
“More like you’re terrified. The Council’s top assassins are coming, after all.”
“Oh, right! We weren’t exactly top performers among the Aragasa! That’s why Manza-Zadek recruited us. We made money, had fun, raised kids... lived the normal human life we deserved. My children grew up without getting thrown into the inhuman herald selection process. But now we have to fight prime Aragasa? What the hell is Arael doing? Sending a half-wit little sister like you!”
Karthen trembled with rage and fear.
An Aragasa’s life wasn’t normal. A clan where everyone had to hit the first arrow with a second one. They were born with exceptional spatial awareness and strength, but without grueling training, it was impossible.
To serve as the emperor’s heralds, the Aragasa had abused children, and Karthen only realized it was a wrong life after Manza-Zadek told her.
But now, forced to fight other Aragasa, she couldn’t guarantee victory.
Battling monsters who’d devoted their lives solely to fighting and killing.
As a herald, she’d never feared even the strongest foes. She had nothing to lose. But now, she had too much to lose.
“I want to see my children grow up. See them live full lives, not as Aragasa. But... damn it, I’ve got to earn my keep from Manza-Zadek.”
“Is what Manza-Zadek says true?”
“Yeah. You’re still a herald, so you can hear the emperor’s voice, right? Ask him. He won’t lie.”
“......”
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[It is true.]
The emperor’s voice gave a curt reply to Azadin’s question.
“You admit it so readily.”
[If we, who exploit heralds’ loyalty, stooped to petty lies while claiming to be the emperor’s voice, it would tarnish the emperor’s honor.]
“Why does the emperor still employ us heralds, who assassinated him?”
[You assassinated the emperor, but that alone doesn’t make me resent the Aragasa. We were created in the early days of his reign. Back then, the emperor was a man who believed in his ideals without a shred of doubt. But many things happened.]
“What things?”
[That is...]
The emperor’s voice recounted events from the past.
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Emperor Yaeslat raged at the other royals and Yaegas divine kin, who focused solely on carnal pleasures while ignoring the people’s suffering under exploitation.
Injustice blanketed the world, tormenting the people, yet they said it was better than submitting to Nether and Kurt’s power— all while indulging themselves.
Unable to endure it, Yaeslat toppled his kin and became the sole, unparalleled emperor.
Yet even as such a being, he couldn’t eradicate the world’s evils. And one event dealt a grievous wound to his soul...
The emperor established relief zones for discriminated lepers and supported them.
He eased their pain, halted the disease’s progress, and healed them as miraculous power gathered. The lepers praised him and loved him more than anyone.
But in the year of the plague... While the emperor directed his miracles to stem the plague, children began vanishing near the leper relief zones.
Investigators uncovered that lepers hiding in the emperor’s zones, misled by superstition that their flesh cured disease, had abducted and devoured the children.
A deep, unhealable wound formed in the emperor’s soul.
He wouldn’t have been scarred by the mightiest blatant evils. But those deceived by superstition and ignorance, committing horrors out of misguided goodwill— they inflicted deeper wounds than any evil.
Beyond lepers, many fools committed atrocities without malice, each time shrouding the emperor’s soul in darkness.
At last, he concluded:
Ignorance is also evil. Evil springs from ignorance, so he would teach the ignorant.
But in teaching, he inevitably learned:
Human intellect varies; some, no matter how taught, lack innate capacity to comprehend...
And human aging turned even the wisest into the dullest, most wicked beings— tormenting the emperor.
Blatant evil posed no obstacle to achieving good and justice. But their inner frailty— if the soil where evil takes root isn’t eradicated, how can evil be uprooted?
The emperor devised a plan to euthanize all illiterates.
By painlessly eliminating those ignorant of letters, law, arithmetic, and reason, he sought to purify the world.
The emperor’s justice was dyed in madness.
In the end, his lover— leader of the herald clan, whom he loved most and who loved him most— Harconia took up the blade herself. No heroic battle, no insidious assassination.
The emperor willingly offered his heart to her blade.
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[Thus, we voices of the emperor do not blame you heralds for your actions.]
The emperor’s voice said.
[The ideals and mission to uphold are those of the emperor who created us; the emperor of that era would have affirmed your deeds. That was the role you, the god-kingslayers, were meant for.]
When the new kings rampaged, as a final safeguard, the emperor had accepted the Aragasa as his heralds.
But with no emperor now, the herald clan had allied with the evil forces once threatening humanity to seize the world for themselves.
If the herald clan stopped the emperor’s rampage, who stops the herald clan’s rampage?