Chapter 230
Chapter 230
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 230
Chapter Title: Northern Aragasa 1
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“Eek?!”
The force of the punch swung toward him suddenly veered downward, and the half-orc couldn’t rein in his momentum, tumbling forward.
Azadin grabbed the half-orc by the nape of his neck and the back of his clothes, spun him around like a kitten, and set the hulking brute back on his feet.
“Ugh. Sis. This guy’s using magic. Scary.”
“Ah, I get it, so shut up. You’re embarrassing me.”
No matter the circumstances, everyone could only gape in astonishment at Azadin’s skill in handling the massive half-orc like a kitten.
‘Indeed, the Emperor’s Herald. The Slayer of the New King lives up to his name.’
‘Terrifying. To handle Kuntach—who no one can control once he goes berserk—like a child.’
Even Squire Knight Izmira, who was a Squire Knight herself, felt uneasy around Azadin.
‘Always wearing that mask—it’s intimidating. As expected of the Emperor’s Herald.’
At that moment, Azadin turned to Izmira with a question.
“So, what about you, Knight lass? Any leads?”
Azadin decided to press the bumbling Izmira instead of the prickly heraldry officer.
“There’s a suspicion hanging over me that I’m Bishop Sehnat’s illegitimate child. They might be using me to tarnish the knight order’s lofty honor…”
“Pfft.”
Halfway through Izmira’s words, the female bandit couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“How rude!”
Heraldry Officer MacDougal glared at the female bandit, unable to contain himself, but she—and even the blood sorcerer—couldn’t hide their smirks, faces pale with amusement.
The part that set everyone off laughing was ‘the knight order’s lofty honor.’
There were likely few even within the Salvation Knight Order who thought of it as honorable. And yet, this naive Squire Knight girl seemed to believe rumors about her birth would sully the Salvation Knight Order’s honor.
“No wonder her gear was too good for a Squire Knight.”
“Even if she turned out to be the North Emperor’s daughter, this humble one wouldn’t be surprised.”
“North Emperor? What’s that?”
Azadin jumped in surprise at Blood Sorcerer Bernard’s mention of the emperor.
“What, you haven’t heard? Assander’s King Cohen Lionor founded the Northern Federation and crowned himself emperor.”
“Cohen Lionor.”
Azadin gave a wry smile at the name.
It seemed Sir Plank’s disciple—the very one who killed the wise Sir Plank—had now declared himself emperor as king of Assander.
‘That means quite some time has passed since Sir Plank’s death. I’ll need to add that to the timeline from what he told me. Looks like becoming a Death Knight messed with Sir Plank’s sense of time.’
Aragasa appointed as Emperor’s Heralds conducted thorough research and study on their assigned regions before undertaking their missions.
Thus, they knew the geography and politics of their areas in detail, but naturally had little knowledge of regions outside their jurisdiction.
In Azadin’s case, he’d originally been assigned to the Korasar region, so he lacked information on Arangki and Assander.
“What’s the nearest place we can get reinforcements?”
“The closest would be the coastal city of Coxhall. As a bishopric, it’s swarming with the knight order’s heroes and champions like clouds. If we just reach there, no matter how mighty the enemy’s evil power, they’ll scatter like darkness before the dawn!”
The Salvation Knight Order had started as a knightly brotherhood, but as its influence grew, it required administrative and political arms, giving rise to a priestly class.
A city with a bishopric was likely a major hub, almost like a capital.
“Then we’ll head that way. I don’t know the terrain here—mind guiding us?”
“Ah, of course. But keep this in mind. The pilgrimage group was originally trying to evacuate to Coxhall too. The enemy’s assaults were fierce, and their eerie fog made us lose our way, herding us like rats in the night’s darkness.”
“So the enemies know we’re heading to Coxhall?”
“Exactly. They anticipated our flight to Coxhall. Without a doubt, their wicked onslaught will resume. I fear not for this body’s harm, but for a promising holy knight like Lady Izmira to have her future cut short…”
“Hmm. We can’t just charge off without supplies, though. Let’s head toward Coxhall for now. I don’t know the roads here, so I’ll ask you to guide us.”
Azadin assigned the heraldry officer to lead the way.
In the current group, only Pursuivant MacDougal the squire and Squire Knight Izmira had horses.
Thus, the party had no choice but to move at a walking pace.
The spectral mountain goat Azadin had ridden was a manifestation of Arael’s altered voice and couldn’t appear during daylight. So Azadin walked alongside them.
“Hey, you.”
The female bandit approached Azadin.
“What do you want?”
“You might fool the others, but not me. You know the enemies’ identity, don’t you?”
“…What are you talking about?”
Azadin played innocent, but Camilla seemed convinced enough not to buy his feigned ignorance.
“You emerged from behind the foes who surrounded and attacked us through the fog, so you must’ve seen them up close. Yet even after slaughtering them, you didn’t bother searching the bodies. You already know who they are, right?”
“Hmm? Didn’t you say wererats earlier?”
“A mere cultist mob couldn’t hit a Salvation Knight pilgrimage group this effectively. If you truly didn’t know, you’d have investigated thoroughly. But you didn’t.”
Camilla assumed Azadin had figured out the enemies’ identity but was keeping it secret.
“I don’t know any more about the enemies than you. They’ll probably attack again on the way to Coxhall, and we’ll find out then. Just…”
“Just what?”
“There are Northern Aragasa mixed in with the enemies.”
“Northern Aragasa?”
“Yeah. Distant kin of mine, you could say.”
Azadin said that and furrowed his brow.
*********
The Herald Clan began when the emperor Yaeslat adopted the five Aragasa families who arrived on five ships, impressed by their skills, and made them his Emperor’s Heralds.
Even after the emperor’s fall, others came from beyond Hubris Continent. They distanced themselves from the existing Aragasa bound by service contracts, settling separately—mostly in the north—earning the name Northern Aragasa.
Unbound by service curses, the Northern Aragasa lacked the emperor’s gifted grimoire *Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon*, but remained peerless archers and deadly assassins.
As Azadin suspected, the pilgrimage raiders were Northern Aragasa.
Precisely, a mixed unit of Northern Aragasa trackers, Mezzeri’s wererats, lizardmen, and hobgoblins.
“You idiots. I went to the trouble of letting you close in on the targets, and you retreat? What the hell?”
The young Aragasa commanding the trackers snapped in irritation. He was a lean, sharp-eyed man in his early twenties with brown skin.
“It’s… the opponent called in an Emperor’s Herald.”
The Northern Aragasa trackers—seemingly still teenagers—waved their arms dramatically as they explained.
To them, their kin bound by the service curse—the Emperor’s Heralds—were objects of fascination.
“Emperor’s Herald?”
“Yes.”
“Strange. Do they come running that fast just because they’re called?”
“Coincidence or not, he arrived incredibly quickly.”
“Hmm. Rumors say the Hatir faction was wiped out in Korasar and Btuma. An Emperor’s Herald really showed up?”
It hadn’t spread among commoners yet, but word of their kin—the Emperor’s Heralds—had already raced through Northern Aragasa circles.
They knew the Heralds had crumbled amid Arael’s betrayal, internal strife, and the Btuma invasion.
“Fascinating. Is the service curse that powerful? Even if they botch things internally and their organization’s on the brink, they still fulfill the emperor’s decrees. Poor bastards.”
“Yes. So the chief’ll probably find this amusing.”
“A golden chance to learn about the Hatir faction’s situation, right?”
“You idiots. Mission comes first. Curiosity’s for later. If you retreat here, those already arrogant pricks will get even cockier, thinking they can reach the heavens.”
The squad leader grumbled and glanced aside, where the wererat shaman and lizardmen were voicing complaints.
“If your men hadn’t fled midway, we’d have completed the mission by now.”
“How do you plan to compensate for our losses? ‘Herald Clan’?”
The wererat shaman and lizardmen gleamed with sly malice.
Less genuine grievance than angling for any leverage to extract gains. True to their vile races that pounce on weakness, they grew haughty at the slightest opening.
‘This is why I hate dealing with them.’
The squad leader sighed and moved. His finger halted right before the wererat shaman’s eyeball.
*Shick!*
The wererat shaman’s whiskers snagged on the squad leader’s fingertip and sheared off.
To slice hair barehanded… Even a blade would struggle for such a clean cut.
“Eek!?”
Had it gone an inch further, it would’ve gouged the wererat’s eye. The squad leader paused and spoke.
“Abandoning the mission midway was a field call. And we prioritize field calls. Battlefields are fluid; disrespecting those judgments lets dead doctrines kill live soldiers. Is that what you want?”
“N-No…”
“And don’t call us the Herald Clan. Consider this a warning.”
The squad leader glared at the mocking wererat shaman, issuing his threat. The shaman immediately backed down, tail between his legs.
“I-I wasn’t trying to anger you. I just meant our stay costs money. My men are starving.”
“There’s plenty of corpses to fill your bellies, no?”
“Discipline slackens while feeding.”
“…Fine. I’ll divide the zone. Loot, eat corpses, rest as you like there. We’ll handle this Emperor’s Herald.”
The Aragasa squad leader allocated sectors, sending Mezzeri’s crew and the lizardmen to the rear.
“Captain, does this mean we face the Emperor’s Herald with just us?”
“Not face—talk first. He might be reasonable.”
The Aragasa squad leader dusted his hands as he spoke.
“Alright then, shall we meet this Emperor’s Herald? Activate the clairvoyance spell.”