Chapter 51 – Aldis (5)

“Azadine, I’ll always be on your side.”

“Huh?”

“It may be ridiculous to say it myself, but I’m like a mother to you, right?”

“M-Mother?”

Azadine and Aldis were only twelve years apart, which made it a bit of a stretch for her to call herself his mother.

“So, if you say you hate yourself, that means you hate me too for forcing you to keep living, don’t you? That makes me quite sad.”

“N-no. It’s not that…”

Azadine looked away to avoid Aldis’s gaze. There wasn’t a single thing about himself that he liked. It wasn’t possible for him to like himself even if Aldis was the one who requested it of him.

As the summer solstice festival ended, more and more children dropped out of the ‘foundational training’. Those in the training process were too occupied and exhausted to mess with Azadine, but those who failed had some free time.

They, too, had to receive training as merchants or artisans, but it had not been long since the festival ended, so their spirits were still caught in it. Inevitably, those children with time on their hands had planned to point their arrows at Azadine.

However, the other children could not mess with him since he was by Aldis. She had intentionally stayed at the Sanctuary to make Azadine feel better. She read books with him, taught him the language of fairies, fished, and generally spent time together with him while mending his clothes.

Yet, ultimately, her duties as a messenger meant that she had to leave.

“Oi, they said Miss Aldis left.”

“Yeah? Finally, is today…the day?”

“Ah, that traitorous bastard has been clinging onto Aldis and living comfortably, huh?”

“I’m going to kill that bastard today.”

All of them had been waiting for Azadine. This was especially true for the children who failed the messenger selection. They couldn’t bear that someone like Azadine was the same as them now after their failure.

No matter how they wanted to confirm that, they differed from Azadine. Trampling on someone obviously weaker than them was their way of finding solace from their own failures.

This desire pushed the children to do this.

“Haa, you little bastards, seriously? Aldis coddles him so much. If you mess with him and this blows up, will she just stand by and watch it happen? Your parents could get hurt too because of your short-sightedness.”

A shadow watched over the children from far away.

It turned out that the children couldn’t even hurt Azadine because Arael had inflicted a serious injury on him before they could get their hands on him. During an argument, Arael left a large scar on Azadine’s face.

A long horizontal wound that she had made left a scar across where his eyes should have been.

Despite committing such an insolent act, the punishment given to Arael by the Elders was both biased and unfair. Her punishment amounted to a meager three days in solitary confinement.

While Azadine and Arael may have been born from the same traitor, Arael had grown up beautiful and adored. At the same time, Azadine was treated with disgust and revulsion. Regardless, not much could be done about the difference in their treatment. Most importantly, this was the first time the Aragasa saw such a powerless and incompetent child.

It was natural for children to be weak and immature. Still, the Aragasa did not have enough generosity in their hearts to tolerate such weakness.

“Ughk…Ah ah…”

Excruciating pain seared through his wounds, leaving Azadine suffering through excruciating torment. To prevent any infection, he applied an ointment made of medicinal herbs on the wound. His special ability still allowed him to see, but…

It was agonizing.

Though the physical wounds were painful, the verbal abuse and violence done by Arael were something he could not endure.

“Arael!!”

Azadine called out the name of his only remaining flesh and blood with a voice filled with fury and animosity. Although he had endured abuse and disdain from other members of the clan, the actions of his own blood, Arael, evoked a level of hatred within Azadine that he had never experienced before.

“I’m going to kill you! I swear this before all gods, I’ll end your life!”

The wounded Azadine howled with hatred as his body writhed like the mythical Eyeless Dragon.

After Aldis had departed, Arael visited Azadine.

“You make me sick, Azadine. Pretending to be a delicate child and hogging all of Aldis’ attention, seriously?”

“Arael…”

“I barely spoke to Aldis during this summer solstice festival. She also named me like you, so how come you get to keep her all to yourself?”

“That’s because you were in the middle of the foundational training, so….”

“Is that so? Not because a certain someone kept whining and clinging onto her?”

She held up Azadine’s book about the Rescue Knights Order, something he cherished greatly as it was gifted to him by Aldis.

“Ah! That’s…”

“Why do you have this book full of heresy?”

“We’re not exactly in a position to comment on what is heresy and what isn’t, don’t you agree? Also, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with simply trying to learn more about this.”

“Is that right? Seeing that the page corners are so worn out, you must really cherish this book for you to have read it so many times, huh?”

Arael ripped the book apart in front of Azadine.

“Arael! What are you doing!”

In a fit of rage, Azadine ran up to Arael.

Naturally, he was no match for her. Arael effortlessly grabbed and twisted Azadine’s arm and tossed him away. She then lifted her feet and stomped on his groin.

“Ack!”

“This won’t do, Azadine. Aldis thinks of you as her son yet…”

“What?”

“You like Aldis, don’t you? Not as a mother but as a woman.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m not done yet. I may be too young to understand this, but you two are just twelve years apart. On top of that, the Emperor’s blood runs thick in her veins. You know Harkonia was the Emperor’s lover, don’t you?”

Harkonia, the legendary leader of the Messenger Clan, was the Emperor’s lover who had also borne his child. This was a well-known fact among the families of the Messenger Clan and was seen by Aldis’ inheritance of the Emperor’s silver hair.

“She’ll live long, just like a Yaegas God. She’ll still be beautiful as ever, even when you grow up. Will you still think of her as a mother, then? To be honest, you don’t even think of her that way right now, do you?”

“Stop it…”

Arael’s violence towards him didn’t hurt nearly as much as her words.

Her words also had a ring of truth as, for Azadine, Aldis was the epitome of beauty.

He didn’t even realize the world’s beauty before he met her. The wind was just air, the night sky was a void, and the stars were nothing but lights.

Aldis was the one who gave these things meaning to him, attaching feelings of longing and yearning to them.

It would be a lie for him to claim he didn’t feel any longing or desire towards her.

Even if he were to feel desire for her, he would regard it as inevitable for him to hide it forever due to his existence. Only if he could transcend that desire would his love for her remain untainted.

His longing for her was impossible to realize anyway, so he had sworn to hide it deep within his heart.

However, Arael was deliberately unearthing the secrets that he had wished to hide forever. She enjoyed the pain this caused him and mocked his oath to the gods while belittling his feelings.

“Arael!”

“Yes, Azadine. Start raging in fury. Show who you truly are. Aldis is the Emperor’s descendant. So if you want to hold her in your arms, you’ll have to become the most powerful among the Aragasa! Do you have the guts to do that?”

Arael continued to torment Azadine with her abusive words and physical abuse. In the end, she even slashed his face.

“Aaaaaccckk!”

Azadine’s body writhed in pain as blood splattered everywhere. Arael clicked her tongue for a moment as she felt she had made a mistake, but…

She then licked the blood off her hands and laughed.

“Having a scar where your eyes should be is better than having flesh inside. You’ll be grateful to me for this, Azadine.”

Azadine suffered through a lingering fever. While his wounds were not serious, Arael’s emotional and physical abuse had crushed his soul.

The harsh and abusive words of the other children were nothing compared to this.

Traitor’s son.

Cursed bastard.

Repulsive and horrible monster.

Incompetent, powerless, and weak.

Those disparaging comments were, of course, tormenting for him, yet they had barely pushed past his surface, and he could brush past them. However, Arael had attacked his feelings for Aldis, something he treasured more than his life. This left a deeper wound on his soul than any flesh-tearing violence or vilification.

Azadine groaned as he struggled through his illness in the servants’ shack. At that moment, someone opened the door.

“Are you the rumored Azadine, the Eyeless Dragon?”

“Urgh….”

“Interesting. You have a wound on your eyes. Can you see?”

It was a young man’s voice.

“Oh? Elf…gasp!”

Azadine was shocked.

“Pl-please don’t eat me.”

Azadine liked to read books and tales about elves, but this did not mean he liked them. In fact, he was terrified of them. Not just Azadine but everyone was afraid of elves.

Elves were beautiful, long-lived creatures but were extremely hedonistic and sought pleasure in all ways, including the consumption of human flesh. Unlike their pure, innocent, and pitiful appearances, they were notorious for committing all sorts of disgusting and perverted acts.

Before the Yaegas Gods descended on Hubris, the rulers who dominated the land were the Nagas.

The Nagasura Empire.

The elves were administrators of the Nagasura Empire. They raised humans like cattle and slaughtered them daily, spilling their blood in their temples. Elves were eager participants in this.

It was said that during the frenzied festivals of slaughter and consumption of human flesh, the elves were no different from the Nagas.

“Ah, so you know about the tales of the times of Nagasura. I heard you liked reading books and were quite smart, but this is impressive.”

The elf laughed as he said this.

“Rest your worries. It’s been a while since I’ve quit eating human flesh. After having my breakfast this morning, I’m not going to eat anything for the time being.”

“Ugh, ugh… who are you?”

“I’m Elder Kazas.”

“Kazas? Did you say you’re an Elder? But…”

“Yeah. I know. I’m not an Aragasa, so it’s strange that I’m an Elder, right? Besides, you probably couldn’t see me in the Senate either. Well, to be honest, I’m a secret Elder.”

The elf introduced himself as Kazas with a smile on his face.

“Rejoice, dear boy, for I have chosen you as a disciple for the great Kazas. I shall pass onto you the Writings of Kazas of the Beauties of Nature- Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean “Huh?” boy? Now’s the time for you to cry tears of joy and gratitude. Ah, or perhaps you can’t shed tears because you don’t have eyes, hm?”

Kazas grumbled as he saw no sign of gratitude on Azadine’s face.

“You’re not Aragasa, though, right? Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon…”

“No, certainly not at all!”

“But then what are these Writings of Kazas…?”

“Ah, haha. Kiddo, should I tell you the secret of mages?”

“Wh-what is that?”

“Mages die when someone cuts their throat.”

“….”

“Mages also die if someone pierces their heart.”

“…”

“They also die when you twist and snap their spines.”

“We-well, yes.”

“That’s what the ‘Writings of Kazas’ is for.”

#tl/n: A recap- the Yaegas Gods ruled the Empire in the past, and Emperor Yaeslat was one of them. He wanted all the thrones for himself, so he ordered the Aragasa to kill the other Gods. The Aragasa became the Messenger Clan and, through Harkonia, who was the Emperor’s lover, even people in the Messenger Clan inherited the blood of the Yaegas Gods.