Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Massacre of the Holy Knights 1
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"So, these settlers are lazy, and now because there's a bit less rain, they want to cross into other people's territory and live on land that's already been cultivated and made fertile? What lord would ever agree to that?"
Tarki made no effort to hide his discrimination, prejudice, and disgust toward the settlers. It was clear he didn't even think it was something worth concealing in the first place.
"Poor people are poor for a reason."
"Tch."
Azadin clicked his tongue at Tarki's words.
"If you end up losing the succession battle and getting sent off to the King's Church, you'll say it's for a reason then too, right?"
"What? You trying to insult me?"
"Yeah. That's exactly what I'm doing. What are you gonna do about it?"
"Ah, but I paid in gold to make a petition."
Tarki knew he was no match for Azadin and didn't dare challenge him.
"It's enviable, that attitude of yours where a bastard like you looks down on others. If I were as dumb as you with such a narrow mind, I might've lived happily day by day too. You earn a single coin with your own hands before you talk like that?"
"No, I'm still a noble! My father is Count Kazel of the Salasma Margraviate, and my mother is the daughter of Baron Nort and from the Cojin Trading Company..."
"And I'm in the business of killing nobles. If you knew why my clan is called the King-Killers, you wouldn't brag about your noble blood in front of me."
"......"
Come to think of it, he was right. Bragging about his noble lineage in front of someone infamous for killing nobles.
"Luckily for you, you're not much of a noble. If you were a real one, you'd have burned away those kin of Atra eating away at your body with magic."
"Y-you couldn't use magic either, so you had the kid do it."
"That's why I don't look down on settlers. Be humble before fate. You were lucky enough to be born into a noble house, grew up without starving, and yet you look down on others. Be grateful for the fortune that lets that empty head of yours keep breathing— you don't even understand why frontier land is less productive than fertile soil."
As he berated Tarki, Azadin picked up a halberd from a nearby soldier's corpse and examined the blade. It had belonged to the guard captain, and the halberd's edge was exceptionally well-forged.
Azadin took it and approached a spider mercenary who was carrying out the slaughter at the gate.
He didn't attack right away but used nearby obstacles to get as close as possible, scaled the wall, then leaped down from above to strike.
*Thwack!*
A single blow sent the mercenary's head flying.
"Cutting off the neck works well."
Azadin severed the spider mercenary's neck, quickly scattered straw nearby, and tossed a torch to set it ablaze.
With their mercenary captain gone, the spider mercenaries couldn't maintain their reason and were solely focused on sating their endless hunger.
Thanks to that, the damage wasn't as bad as it looked. They were prioritizing feeding on the human corpses they'd already killed rather than seeking new victims.
But when people, revolted by the sight, attacked them, the mercenaries struck back and killed. So the people fled far away to avoid the spider mercenaries.
Dodging people's eyes, Azadin took out the spider mercenaries one by one.
"...The petition's handled, and we've thinned their numbers enough. Killing more at this point is pointless."
Ismael advised Azadin while supporting Midiam. In other words, let the village be plundered by monsters and people killed—he didn't care.
'This guy's cold and ruthless beyond his years. Or is he just pissed because of Midiam?'
Azadin took Ismael's bold words to heart and replied.
"Sorry, but I feel like the petitioner wouldn't have wanted this after we took their petition and they got killed. I don't take gold for free."
"No way. He'd probably have said to save himself, like this bastard here."
"Ba-bastard? Did you just say that?"
Tarki was outraged at Ismael calling him a bastard. The kid was too young to be talking so carelessly, and it infuriated him.
"Enough. That's it."
Azadin pointed the halberd at Tarki.
"Don't say another word. I admit these guys have foul mouths, but bastard suits you just fine."
"No, at least tell them my name."
"Why? I don't want to waste memory space on useless crap. Bastard is enough."
Azadin shut Tarki up by force and approached more spider mercenaries. They were all busy eating meat individually, their coordination in disarray.
He could take them out one by one.
"Hmm. Time to clean them up."
Azadin snuck up on a spider mercenary tearing into a corpse with its back turned to him.
Once he entered a certain range, the mercenary turned, becoming aware of him—like a beast wary of a hunter invading its territory.
But that wariness did nothing.
*Whoosh!*
Azadin's body blurred, and in an instant, he was inside the mercenary's guard. Then a halberd strike! The spider mercenary's head was severed in one go.
Small spiders swarmed to seal the stump, but the severed part was already gone.
"Kruk!"
Another spider mercenary lunged at Azadin, but he swung the halberd diagonally, slicing off its arm, spider legs, and neck in one motion.
"They were tricky at first, but I'm getting the hang of it. Though..."
Azadin felt the halberd rattling. Chopping through human neck bones, reflexively jutting arm bones, and the exoskeletons of spider legs had strained the shaft badly.
Seeing the wooden handle splinter and twist, Azadin detached the halberd head to keep it and picked up a sword from another mercenary.
"How many left now, bastard?"
When Azadin asked, Tarki panicked.
'He's incredible? Is this what the Herald Clan is like?'
Tarki felt awe at Azadin's prowess. He didn't like being called bastard over and over, but he didn't want to provoke him.
It was then, as Azadin caught his breath and scanned the surroundings.
Chaos erupted from the north.
"It's the King's Church!"
"The King's Church has come to save the people!"
"We're saved now!"
From the cheers, it seemed the King's Church nearby had come to rescue the citizens.
*********
Originally, the King's Church was founded by holy knights who protected the people from the Kurt divine race and monsters while upholding the king's laws.
Lords with their own territories only cared about their own wealth, so holy knights without lands were needed.
In the beginning, they truly had that mission, but now the King's Church was fully secularized. This was because it consisted of three main types of members.
First, criminals.
Those who inherited noble blood but broke the king's laws could escape punishment by joining the King's Church.
Second, those ousted from court intrigues.
In succession struggles between siblings, those who didn't inherit the family head position were usually murdered by assassins. If they didn't want to die, they had to renounce all inheritance and join the King's Church.
Third, bastards.
Those who inherited noble blood and could use white magic but had no right to participate in succession struggles naturally joined the King's Church.
As so many flocked to the King's Church, it grew in power, sowing seeds of discord.
Feeding and arming the holy knights required vast sums of money. Having become a powerful armed force, the King's Church forcibly extracted resources from the king and nobles, even intervening in noble succession wars to bolster their power.
This was also why the Rescuer Knights, originally seen as heretics, received recognition from the Eight Kingdoms.
If all nobles and bastards only joined the King's Church, power and troops would concentrate there, so another holy knight order was needed to check them.
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For these reasons, the King's Church was usually feared, but in this situation, it was most welcome.
"The King's Church?"
To Azadin of the Herald Clan, they were just a nuisance. He'd already dealt with many kin, and now they showed up.
"What do we do?"
"If it's the King's Church, they won't be helpless against the Kurt god's kin, so let's leave the rest to them. No good comes from meeting them."
Azadin gave up on killing more spider mercenaries and called for Kerim the goat.
"Then the petition is fulfilled, petitioner."
Azadin turned to Tarki and said.
"Ah... uh. Y-yeah."
"Any other requests? Besides the stupid one about making you a count."
"Uh... at least get us out of here."
Tarki, terrified of Azadin, used polite speech.
"If the King's Church starts investigating, they'll find out the mercenary band that caused this mess was the one I hired. Then... I'm done for! We need to flee somewhere without these guys."
"Got it. Can't exactly let the gold-paying petitioner die at the King's Church's hands anyway."
Azadin permitted Tarki to tag along. He wouldn't make him a count—that was worthless—but he couldn't let him get caught by the King's Church either. He'd crack under torture immediately.
"Shall we escape then?"
*********
Azadin's group escaped the relay village through the western gate and headed west. The nonstop battles and forced marches had exhausted not just Azadin but everyone.
"Ah, I bathed and changed into fresh clothes just yesterday."
Midiam groaned, sweating profusely. It felt like a lie that she'd bathed and gotten new clothes from the Korasar Merchant Guild caravan just yesterday.
The fresh feeling vanished after a single day, her new clothes ruined by sweat and dust.
"Good. The sun's rising. We've come far enough that the King's Church shouldn't be a worry. Let's rest."
Azadin ordered a break and stopped by the roadside.
Nearby farm buildings were visible, but hunting dogs guarded the entrances.
In a bit, farmers would come out to work. Maybe he could borrow a stable or something to rest then?
As he thought that, the sun slowly rose in the east, dyeing the world purple. Azadin leaned against a tree, staring blankly at the sunrise.
"What are you doing?"
Midiam asked.
"Watching the sunrise. The boundary where the sun drives out the darkness racing across the sky—it's majestic every time."
Azadin answered Midiam's question, lost in thought. He was definitely tired, but too tired for sleep to come easily.
'In a situation like this, condition's all shot.'