CH 27

In an instant, the wyvern ran up the tree to avoid their arrows and disappeared from sight.

“It is a wyvern, so why isn’t it flying?”

“It seems to be pretty smart. Probably only flies at night..”

Wyverns with black scales were almost invisible when flying at night. They would be immediately spotted if they flew around during the day.

“Shh. My back hurts. Even if the farmers saw the wyvern, I would’ve considered their words nonsense …”

The farmers had reported seeing a dragon around. Still, when the knights checked, they only found crocodiles and lizardmen.

But this time, those reports were accurate.

“If a young one is wandering here alone, it means there are quite a few adult or near-adult wyverns.”

Sir Kazrek grumbled and walked toward where the wyvern had disappeared. He soon reached the end of the forest and saw the outskirts of the farm. There seemed to be some farmers lying on the ground. Were they groaning after being hit by the arrows?

“…”

The arrows they had shot at the wyvern seemed to have flown over the tree and hit the farmers.

“Damn it. Why were the arrows so powerful?”

When they shot to kill people, there would be cases where the target could dodge even ten arrows. Yet a human would die in one hit when it was a mistake.

As Sir Kazrek looked over this scene, the trainee knights came up behind him and saw it as well.

“Huk!?”

“Uh?”

“Oh shit!”

“Eight Kingdoms….”

The trainee knights who realized their mistake were shocked. Sir Kazrek let out a long sigh and looked around.

“Uhhh….”

“S-save me. We did nothing wrong.”

One farmer had been killed by the arrow, and two others were wounded. They begged for help when they saw the knights.

“W-what do we do, Sir Kazrek?”

‘Is this bastard this stupid? Why is he calling me by name right now?’

Sir Kazrek pointed using his chin at Tasik, who had called him by name and gave him an irritated look.

“This is a cult. End their breathing, Tasik.”

“Uh?”

“Why would farmers come into the forest? They are a cult.”

The trainees felt a shock run through their bodies when he said this. However, Tasik, who had been ordered to kill, understood the situation, and acted accordingly.

“Ah! I-I see. I understand.”

Tasik raised his hunting spear and ended the farmers’ lives.

“….”

The trainee knights gasped in shock. Their conscience was screaming after having killed innocent civilians. Even Sir Kazrek had a bitter smile.

“Now, everyone, calm down. We fixed the trouble you people created.”

“Uh?”

“Who shot the arrows?”

The trainees had shot them.

“You shot the arrows and hit them. So you killed them.”

Sir Kazrek threatened his trainees.

“Speak of the disciplinary code of the Knights.”

“W-we…”

“What happens when you kill an innocent civilian?”

“D-death by hanging.”

“And do you want to be hanged?”

“Ah, no, but….”

Wasn’t the murder of innocents by accusing them of being members of a cult an equal amount of sin? Besides, if a trainee knight accidentally killed someone, there was a way to repent. This method was to become a penitent knight.

A penitent knight underwent penance to atone for their sins. In this position, a knight had to travel around the world without support from the church, defeat any monsters, help the people, sleep in the open, and wander the wilderness until they were pardoned by the bishop.

Very few of the penitent knights succeeded in their journey and became reinstated. Most become corrupt and turn to banditry or die on the road.

Even so, the bishop was a fine person who would allow a knight a chance to change. However, considering the tendency of the Bishop of Salasma, those from mediocre family backgrounds were inevitably bound to the gallows.

‘Damn it. I cannot be a penitent knight at this age. It is like ruining my daughter’s future.’

Sir Kazrek already had his detractors as he had committed adultery and had fathered an illegitimate child. If the fact that he had killed civilians here came out, he would be pushed to the edge.

If he became a penitent knight, his daughter would go through a tough time.

“Then you call these things cult members.”

At that moment, Tasik, who had been in charge of the final blows, wiped the blood from his spear and asked.

“Aren’t there many types of cultists, though? How do we explain that?”

“They’re the followers of Kurt Gods.”

Saying that, Sir Kazrek looked around, slightly startled.

“….”

A pair of clogs were hanging from the trunk of a tree. Anyone could see it was just removed because the insides were clean.

A pair of footprints on the land led into the water.

“Ah, this is really…”

He covered his face with a hand.

“Do you guys really want to do something like this?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Well.”

Sir Kazrek counted the number of footprints.

“This looks like a normal farm, so there should be around two families? The number of people who died here is 3…”

He roughly made some calculations and clicked his tongue.

“I hope there aren’t many children in this place.”

“Uh?”

“Go, you people.”

Sir Kazrek led his hesitant trainee knights toward the farm. He was reluctant to make this choice, but he would do anything for his daughter.

Azadine lay down, groaning at his muscle pains.

The past week had been a series of forced battles and missions. He had collected three Emperor’s Gold Coins, which was difficult to collect for a normal messenger even after ten years.

People who knew of the King’s Church and its workings typically kept the gold coins to make petitions in times of crisis. However, with the change in taboos and the world’s norms shifting, things changed.

His body throbbed.

The Aragasa’s training, as well as their innate skill and talent, made them into something similar to transcendent beings, but they were also humans.

Azadine, in particular, was more human than others. After all, he had to pay more of a price to do something similar to other messengers.

But…

[A mission is calling.]

The Emperor’s Voice spoke.

[Only those who respond when justice calls are worthy of being my messenger.]

“… have you seen people like that?”

Most of the Emperor’s Messengers he had seen never enthusiastically responded to the call. Azadine regarded himself as a human who could not resist justice, but the other messengers had even fewer emotions.

It was the nature of the contract that disregarded intent. Their blood inherited the contract, so the Emperor’s Voice was never wrong.

But now wasn’t the time for the voice to say such a thing. When someone called for help, that meant that someone was suffering.

“Damn it. There is no time to rest.”

Azadine woke up from his sleep and touched his exhausted body.

The son of the farmer then ran inside.

“S-save me!”

“What is happening?”

Azadine jumped down to the ground floor, startling the chickens, and began moving.

“Hmmm.”

“Oh god…”

Mediam, Ismail, and Tarki were still turning around in their blankets.

“Father has been murdered! In the woods!”

The child was in tears. His skin was flushed from running, and he was bathed in sweat. His legs were also trembling, and his shoes were missing.

“Murdered, by what?”

“Arrow!”

“Arrow?”

Azadine frowned.

“Kyaak!”

Another scream came from the farm outside. When he walked out, a trainee knight wearing armor and the symbol of the King’s Church on his chest had just killed a woman working in the field with a spear.

“This!”

Azadine immediately rushed forward, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it.

Swish!

The stone flew, tearing through the air. The throw was fierce, but the trainee knight pulled out the spear he had used to stab the woman and then blocked the stone.

Tung!

The stone hit the spear and bounced off.

“What is this brat? You want to try?”

The trainee knight, however, also looked wary. The stone Azadine had thrown had enough force to numb his hand.

‘Tch. I just woke up and then did this.’

Azadine had been warned by his master to not throw anything with all his strength until he relaxed his shoulder.

He had been able to break armor and throw with enough power to kill people with the strength of his wrist alone without using his elbows or shoulders… As expected, Holy Knights from the King’s Church were not easy.

But he couldn’t stay still since he saw them killing civilians in front of his eyes. Azadine ran across the ground and jumped at the knight.

“You insane bastard!”

The trainee knight fixed the spear in his hand and moved to kill Azadine with a stab. On the other hand, Azadine was bare-handed. The only weapon he had was the short dagger on his waist.

“Huh!”

The trainee knight’s spear was lightly stabbed at Azadine. When it was evaded, the spear was pulled back quickly and stabbed out in succession, hissing like a snake.

It was an unusual skill. Besides, this was a fight between empty hands and a spear. No matter how Azadine was, this range difference made the fight feel hopeless.

However, Azadine evaded the spear’s attack like flowing water. He then picked a stone off the ground and launched it from his hand like a catapult.

“What!”

The knight saw Azadine’s stance and turned his head to avoid the stone.

At least, he should have…

Puak!

The stone hit the knight. As the stone thrown by Azadine turned in the air, it penetrated through his body despite the trainee having predicted it not to.

-The Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon Kazas style!

It wasn’t using magical energy to shift the attack. Still, it was purely a way to break the air by moving through it, making the results similar. However, smooth stones didn’t bend well, so to change the angle of movement, they needed to have mud on them.

Azadine had put a lot of wax on his skin on purpose. Before throwing the stone, he had rubbed the wax on his skin again and succeeded.