CH 19

“Uh?”

“C-captain?’

The mercenaries looked at him in horror, wondering if this man was really their captain. The face of the captain, however, became stiff.

“W-what do you want from me?”

“I want you to find the person who came from the previous village and looted things that were mine.”

The mercenary captain smiled as he said this, but his eyes shone viciously.

“To do that in my name? Then….”

The King’s Church would seek to punish Tarki and his father, Count Casel. Perhaps King Korassar himself would drop the hammer.

“It is fine. I just need to quickly find my things before this situation gets worse. Moreover…. Isn’t your father full of thoughts of rebelling against the king anyway? So, you must be looking for the book for that reason.”

“….”

“This method is good for finding my belongings, but it will also be good for finding the book. Otherwise we….”

He blew the whistle again, and Tarki had no choice but to crumple down while clutching his stomach. The pain of flesh being eaten from the inside was too much.

“Kuak! F-fine! Let us do it!”

The pain was so intense that Tarki immediately gave in to alleviate it.

“Fine then, young master. Let us do this together.”

The mercenary captain stretched his hand to Tarki with a smile, perhaps looking to confirm the newly established master and servant relationship. Tarki had no choice but to hold that hand.

“Hmm?”

Azadine, who stood atop a tree to watch the mercenaries from a distance, felt a strange sensation.

“I guess it would be impossible to get any closer than this?”

The attitude of Tarki and his mercenaries had changed. They had taken out their weapons and were further sharpening them.

They cut down the trees around to make them into arrows, wiped off the rust of their swords, sharpened them, touched up their armor, and did other checks. They were also preparing food.

They were about to eat a proper meal and utilize well-groomed weapons. In other words, it seemed like they were preparing for something major.

Even so, their scouting was thorough. If one only watched them halfway, this side could end up quite exposed.

“You shouldn’t approach them with the sun up. They are pretty skilled, right? There are guards posted at every corner approaching the mercenary camp.”

Mediam, too, made her judgment as she saw the mercenaries preparing for war.

“Then what are you going to do now? Let’s keep an eye on them. Will you go away and come back at night?”

“No, we should probably head to the village first.”

“Uh?”

“Maybe they are planning to raid the village.”

“But that village down there has people, right? Aren’t most of them adults?”

It was a village of over 500 families. This would be called a decent-sized city in the north, where the population was low. The King’s Church would be quite enraged if a mercenary group tried to plunder this place.

Mediam and Ismail thought this, but Azadine knew something that they didn’t.

‘They had a bone staff made using Kurt magic. If they had looked at the supplies, they’d see that it wasn’t just the loot, but there were a few items from members of the Kur clan.’

If there had just been one clan, that person would have kept the bone staff on their body instead of the supplies. In other words, it was clear that the Kurt magic tool was being used by someone who could manage and touch the mercenary supplies at will.

‘Looking at the staff’s performance and the magic imbued in it, their purpose is likely to find the magic book? But now that the staff is gone, if a Kurt clan member is there, they will reveal their true colors soon.’

With this information that his companions didn’t know of, Azadine deduced that the mercenary group would move to occupy the nearby village.

The village was located near where all the roads in the area merged and were also the best location to check any passing people. Above all, the member of the Kurt clan would have no reason to hide anymore since their bone staff was lost. They would be trying to salvage the situation.

“I have a good reason to act, so let us avoid the mercenaries and head to the village first.”

Azadine hurried to move without telling them of the staff.

The sun was slowly moving to the west.

Azadine once again pretended to be blind this time and went through the gate without difficulty and entered the village.

Since he appeared blind, he wasn’t considered a dangerous person. Besides, the people of Hubris believed in an afterlife. If they saw a blind pilgrim, they would treat them kindly since it was a chance to attain karma.

There was a market in the village at the moment, and various caravans were being set up with wagons and camps spread in an empty lot near the village’s entrance.

“Ah, that is?”

“The Korasar Peddler Guild has arrived. That’s good.”

The children were delighted to see the guild flag.

The Korasar Peddler Guild originally started as an association of small merchants that traveled using backpacks. Now, however, the merchants had more funds, and the guild had become prosperous within Korassar in terms of financial strength and organizational power.

This particular guild was also one of the fronts run by the Messenger Clan, the people of Aragasa.

“Hmm. If it is the peddlers…”

Azadine wore a bitter smile as he headed for a wagon.

The caravan of the Krasar Peddler Guild was encircled by five wagons. It was as if it was a bison herd defending its children.

When they camped in the plains, it was a defensive formation that used the wagons as barriers. A large encampment was set up in the middle of it while the wagons that faced outside became stores that served the people.

Outside of the store, people were performing acrobats to engage the customers. Both the performer and the store clerk were of the Messenger Clan.

The two noticed Azadine as he approached them, and they laughed.

“No, what is this now?”

“Isn’t he the famous 108th, Azadine?”

“Hehehehe.”

“You didn’t know that he’s been acting as a messenger for around 3 months now?”

“…”

Azadine sighed.

It was always the same. From the point of view of the Messenger Clan, they couldn’t bear to see Azadine, the son of the traitor Acre, forget about how he ruined their chances.

On such topics, everyone would speak for Arael as if they were willing to take their hearts out. She had proven her strength, beauty, and talent.

In the past, a man had his jaw broken for acting sarcastically toward Arael. She made sure that any who challenged her would be made to pay the price. Azadine did not.

Eventually, all of the abuse was heaped upon him. Now that Mediam and Ismail followed him, they were being laughed at even more.

“Ah, he even has servants? Right, you are good at juggling?”

“Enough. These kids aren’t with me.”

“Oh, they aren’t?”

“Right. Still, since we are in the clan, place a pair of horseshoes for the goat. Can you do that much?”

“Sure. Whose order will it be?”

“Under the recommendation of Elder Kazas, despite having failed basic training, this person became a messenger without any formal procedures. How could we ignore the orders of such a person?”

Everyone was speaking with knives in their words, but Azadine took out a silver candlestick from the saddlebag that was on his goat.

“Change this into money. And can you pass them on if you have some blue steel nibs?”

“Ohhh. Seems like you brought something pricey?”

“Where did you steal this from? A messenger should have pride.”

“…”

Azadine could deal with sarcasm, but this was still too much. The children looked at each other. They knew that Azadine was hated by members of the Messenger Clan, but this was definitely too much.

These merchant guilds were originally made by the clan to support the messengers.

Of course, there were some changes in the relationship between host and guest nowadays. However, it would still be the mission of the Kosarar Peddler Guild to support a messenger with goods, funds, and shelter.

But these people didn’t seem to like this arrangement.

“I need to change clothes. And can you do some laundry?”

Azadine handed over his clothes to them and took a change of clothes. But what he received was women’s clothing.

“What are we doing?”

“We don’t have any other clothing. Just wear it, okay?”

“Well, isn’t that quite obvious? Hehehe.”

“Sigh. Do not do childish things. I am not doing anything to you because I am exhausted from working. More than anything else, I will continue to be indebted to your guild, so I do not want to hold bad feelings for the organization just because of some half-assed bastards.”

Azadine sighed and returned the clothes.

“What was that?”

“Just because we are letting you speak, are you asking us to wear women’s clothes then? Are you insulting us?”

“You made us into half-assed workers. Are you insulting us?”

They were only returning the insults that had been thrown at them. Yet it was clear that they only cared about speaking the insults, not how Azadine would feel about it.

“This bastard was lucky enough to be a messenger with a recommendation from Elder Kazas…”

“Why did you become a messenger when we are servants?”

“You are the one who failed to pass through basic training! But do you think it is fair for you to be a messenger?”

It seemed that the employees of this guild were Azadine’s training mates.

Those who had seen Azadine fall behind without receiving basic training within the Messenger Clan were clearly dissatisfied. They were displeased that Azadine had become a messenger when they couldn’t.

Mediam, who was watching the scene, then asked.

“If you feel this is unfair, why don’t you challenge him to a duel?”

“Duel? Did this kid say this? Are you talking to us now?”

“Do you want to get scolded first?”

Everyone looked at Mediam with stern faces, but she was unconcerned.

“It seems that none of you have any intention of taking the risk of a duel. Instead, you’re all just chatting behind his back in the dark.”

Azadine heard this and smiled.

‘The risk of a duel? That sounds good, but that’s not what you are saying, right?’

Indeed, when the duel was mentioned, his peers simply sneered.

“Kuak. I wasn’t even planning on dueling Azadine.”

“If we beat this guy, don’t we become messengers? Isn’t that it?”

“The question is, which of us will go first? Doesn’t the first one have the advantage? Hehehe.”

Everyone looked at Azadine as if he was an easy target. Seeing this, Mediam laughed.

“Ah, is that so?”

At that moment…

Mediam made her move.