Chapter 31 – Black Magic Chaos (1)

If it’s gold coins, he had already earned them. Since he had three gold coins, he could have bragged about it and silenced the merchant, but Azadine held back.

“Instead, won’t you give me some tea? I think the other travelers would think it strange if you don’t give me tea.”

“Tea… of course, I should.”

The peddler grumbled and brewed some tea.

“Any sweets?”

“Yes, this is a sweet made from sugar wormwood. Ah, you can’t even get money from this messenger, but he seems to keep taking valuables.”

The peddler at the teahouse gave them some sweets, though Azadine felt slightly sorry about it. It was a cookie made by kneading a bitter and sweet herb called sugar wormwood into dough. Azadine gave it out to his party and asked while he continued to sit.

“So what is the mission?”

“The Rescue Knights are doing rescue work ahead of us. We are setting up camps for the refugees and distributing food to them.”

“You are doing a good job. You don’t mean to kill those Rescue Knights, do you?”

“Yes. Well, it’s not that. The only problem is that they are forcibly asking for donations from the merchants by saying they will use it to help the poor.”

“Hmm, well, that is about it.”

Azadine considered it lightly. It was because he felt it was reasonable for Rescue Knights to forcibly ask for donations from the rich to aid the refugees.

‘The Rescue Knight’s rescue actions feel a bit like bandits. While it sounds fine on the surface, I hear that they usually take more in the end. It wasn’t unusual for Azadine to be generous with others. Still, it seemed like he was especially generous with the Rescue Knights? Did his arms bend slightly because he believed in the archangels?’

Mediam had some suspicions.

The tea merchant, an informant of the Messenger Clan, continued to talk.

“So the merchants gathering at the front are turning around outside the road to make a detour. They’ve noticed that a wyvern has been appearing recently.”

“A wyvern?”

“Yes. Refugees who fled because of the drought had become thieves nearby and also appeared… The Rescue Knights are also looking for the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.”

“And the mission?”

“I want you to deal with the wyverns and bandits on the detour route… will you do it? Or will you refuse again?”

“This much I can do.”

“Ohh, this is surprising? What new wind is this?”

“Since it’s not assassination, but about helping people.”

“Hahaha.”

The tea merchant laughed oddly. Azadine was now slyly criticizing the merchant’s request.

Of course, the tea merchant, who was only a servant in the Messenger Clan hierarchy, had also secretly chided the messenger Azadine. However, the tea merchant presumed himself to have a higher standard. Instead, the tea merchant was the one feeling insulted because he didn’t acknowledge Azadine, who had been pushed forward to become a messenger.

Mediam then asked.

“Azadine… I cannot stand this any longer. Can I do it?”

Azadine nodded at her request.

The tea merchant was puzzled at this exchange.

Srng!

Mediam drew her knife and pointed it at the tea merchant’s neck.

“Uh?!”

Azadine simply continued to sip his tea in this situation.

“How dare a servant mess with a messenger? Are you actually messing with me?”

“N-No…”

“Be polite to the messenger. If not…”

Mediam thrust forward at the merchant’s neck with some force. The merchant had to lie flat on his back with his upper body fully bent to avoid his neck getting pierced.

“Stop.”

Azadine stopped Mediam.

“Mediam, you are of the Ethar and are holding a servant position. However, your opponent has a higher social standing than you. Lineage and position are important, but our clan also values traditions. With that in mind, if you aren’t going to kill him, then put the dagger away.”

“Yes.”

Mediam wiped the blood off her knife and swung it around to sheathe it back before kneeling to Azadine.

As a proud Ethar, she had deliberately knelt excessively to show her respect for Azadine. Of course, it was also for the tea merchant to see.

“…”

The tea merchant was taken aback when he saw how polite Mediam was to Azadine.

“Sorry. The tea you served was delicious, but we showed you such a sight.”

Azadine wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly why Mediam had suddenly drawn her dagger and threatened the tea merchant. He calmly drank his tea and apologized.

“N-No.”

The merchant looked puzzled while touching the wound on his neck. Azadine, the Emperor’s messenger, had apologized on behalf of his rude servant, meaning that the tea merchant had no choice but to accept it. However, feelings were hurt, and the words were true, so the situation felt awkward.

There was a person who lost and a person who apologized. In reality, the two were one and the same.

After parting ways with the tea merchant, Azadine embarked again on the road. After they crossed a hill, he called Mediam over.

“Mediam”

“Uh?”

“First of all, thanks.”

“Huhu, it is nothing. Now that I am a servant. Those who disrespect you will have to fight with me. Besides, the Korasar Peddler Guild belongs to the Savan, right?”

Savan was one of the five founding families of the Messenger Clan, and they have been at odds with the Ethar for a long time for one reason or another. Mediam had simply taken a chance to show her true self.

“Still, thank you, but don’t insult someone who has deep relationships with people from the Savan. As things get bigger, there are even rumors that a former messenger was purged because the Savan family hated them.”

“If it’s just that, I don’t mind.”

Mediam said this but still showed signs of fear for the Savan. Was it because she was still young and full of confidence?

“But the Messenger Clan seems big and has many members. Was that tea merchant a messenger too?”

Azadine clicked his tongue when Tarki asked this.

“Don’t try to know too much. As you know, we can’t expose too much of the organization from our standpoint.”

“Still, it seems really capable and powerful. If I had access to it, I’d be well on my way to becoming Count…”

“….”

“N-Nothing. It was nothing.”

Tarki, who received a glare from Azadine, fell silent. He was becoming greedy after seeing Azadine’s skills and the power of a messenger.

If they actively helped him, he would easily become the Count. It was obvious what he was thinking, so Azadine sighed.

“You believed it when someone said you would become the Count’s successor. Are you stupid?”

“Uh?”

“Count Casel is still young. You don’t want to determine an order of succession at a young age. You said your mother is from a family with money and low nobility ranking?”

Otherwise, there would be no way he could have gotten the Emperor’s Gold Coin and also hired some mercenaries.

“Yes.”

“Since the Count is the head of the family, everyone knows that the wife comes with property and would need to do what is necessary. Should we use this for a good reason for once? It isn’t like the Count is an old man who will die in a couple of days. When the time comes, even new children born before then will gather and change the situation.”

“Then we cannot just give up without doing anything, right?”

“Please just give up. Wouldn’t it be easier on your body and mind to sit back on the Count’s time instead of pretending to be a knight and plundering people?”

“Being at the Count’s court isn’t comfortable.”

“Well, if more people like you who have bad personalities roam around, you’d just end up harming normal civilians. If you feel uncomfortable about being in a mansion, just commit suicide and head to the afterlife. The people of Hubris, unlike the Aragasa, believe in the soul and an afterlife after all.”

“No, why are you being so abusive….”

“Then be aware of the abuse that you are enduring! The civilians that you looted will end up starving to death. Ahh, there is an inn there. The merchant said something about it.”

Azadine spotted the inn ahead of them as he was harassing Tarki. At a glance, it seemed to be an inn for those of higher ranks and adventurers to gather.

Two people, a man and a woman, approached them. Their skin was of a darker shade.

“Brother Tarki!”

“Is it Tarki?”

“You two?”

Tarki, who recognized them, looked at Azadine in shock.

“Who?”

“My half-siblings.”

“Your competitors.”

Azadine’s silent question asked if they were the half-siblings who went after Tarki’s mother’s lands after they overused their stipend from the Count.

“No, not them. They are members of the Cell Sword Guild.”

The Cell Sword Guild was known to be a group of mercenaries and adventurers. It was said that at a young age, they had given up competing in an inheritance battle and joined to act like mercenaries or adventurers.

He didn’t know if they had a good sense of reality or if they had given up due to lacking support from their mothers. However, unlike Tarki, who acted like a noble, they wore lightweight armor and carried swords, bows, and spears.

“Hello, brother. Who are these people?”

“Ah, these people…”

Azadine stepped forward and spoke.

“We are pilgrims. Fortunately, Sir Tarki is escorting us.”

“Uh? Brother is with pilgrims?”

“And the mercenaries?”

“Ah, those people betrayed me.”

“Betrayed?”

“We split up because they wouldn’t listen to me.”

Tarki gave them that excuse. After all, the truth was the mercenaries he had hired had become followers of the Kurt clan and turned an eastern village into a mess… It would be better for him to avoid responsibility after claiming he had no more contact with them.

“Are you fine after they betrayed you?”

Mercenaries often killed their employers when they chose betrayal. Under such conditions, there was little chance Tarki could have survived.

“No, those bastards abandoned me because our conditions didn’t align. Honestly, I don’t know if it can be called a betrayal.”

“I-is that so? Ah, I am Kaka.”

“I am Chico.”

The two siblings introduced themselves to Azadine’s group.

“I am Azadine, this is Mediam and Ismail.”

Azadine didn’t use any fake names but gave them their real names.

“So, what are you all doing here?”

“Ah, we are working at the Cell Sword Guild.”

“The merchants asked us to eliminate a wyvern spotted around here.”

“Wyvern? You aren’t looking for the book?”

“We have no idea where that book even is.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to hear rumors or something when you travel around?”

“Are you also going to search for it and aim to be the count?”

“As if. Our mother isn’t interested in us… and we don’t have the background to fight for that position.”

“If I find a copy of the book. I will sell it. I wish my brother would buy it from me. Brother Tarki is much better than Kozel.”

Azadine, who heard this, laughed.