Banreung Expedition (6)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠Chashan’s gang gathered in front of the Sandokar Corridor Gate first.

No one said that Azadine had lost track of Chashan’s gang because he had been holding funerals for those who had died from Elemental Wailing.

After all, Azadine’s funeral rites had been simple prayers. They had not taken that long either.

No one could blame him for losing the enemy just because he had taken about a minute to catch his breath. Besides, Azadine’s group had also been slightly exhausted from the continuous fighting.

To succeed in defeating the enemy in detail, they had to display tremendous mobility and breakthrough power, but with such a small number of people, the burden returned directly as physical exhaustion.

Azadine led his group toward an inn about four leagues away from the front of the Sandokar Gate.

However, this inn was in a horrific state. Severed horse heads hung in the stable, and corpses lay scattered around it.

The horses and merchants Azadine had sent, the people he had trusted and sent to Banreung, were dead.

Judging from the traces of gunfire left here and there, it seemed that Chashan’s gang had probably attacked the caravan at this inn.

There had been some resistance, but afterward, a merciless massacre had taken place.

Chashan’s gang had tortured and abused the caravan’s merchants right here, and to provoke Azadine, they had cut off their fingers while they were still alive.

Azadine trembled with rage as he looked over those terrible traces.

“Let us hold their funerals.”

If the funerals were not held immediately, their bodies could rise again as undead.

Just as he had done for the Elemental Wailing patients, Azadine held funerals for the merchants’ corpses with the prayers of the Rescue Knights Order.

“While you are doing this, Chashan’s gang will flee farther. This feels different from the Elemental Wailing patients.”

Niselda urged Azadine to pursue them. The Elemental Wailing patients had even had their corpses turned into magic stone, so there had been no need to touch them, but here, Azadine was taking down the corpses that had been scattered horribly everywhere, arranging them, and collecting them.

Naturally, it took more time and effort than it had with the Elemental Wailing patients.

However, Azadine shook his head.

“The sun has set, so if we hurry the pursuit, we will fall into a trap. Niselda. Not everyone has night vision as sharp as yours. And Chashan was originally someone who had been expelled from Dwarven Arrow. He has consumed many of Dwarven Arrow’s elite soldiers. There is no way they will not hold him responsible.”

Chashan had once been the founder of Dwarven Arrow, but after being purged by his subordinates and coming to the Chadra Plateau, he had reportedly built a drug farm on the Chadra Plateau and once again created a drug organization comparable to Dwarven Arrow.

However, seeing as he was now borrowing Dwarven Arrow’s troops to take revenge on Azadine, it was doubtful whether he had truly fought against Dwarven Arrow.

Could the conflict between Chashan and Dwarven Arrow have been a staged conflict?

Azadine suspected that it might have been a disguise to avoid shifting responsibility onto the Banreung Kingdom while they spread drugs and committed crimes all over the world.

“…Captain.”

At that moment, Scott pointed somewhere for Azadine.

When Azadine finished the funeral rites, light began to shine near the inn’s stable.

When they approached the place, spirits appeared. All of them bore the traces of the brutal torture and massacre they had suffered at the hands of the dwarves in their living forms.

Thanks to the brief funeral rites Azadine had held, those whose heads had been cut off held their heads in their hands, and those whose waists had been severed placed their upper bodies on their waists and walked around as though holding up pants that were sliding down.

[Sir Azadine….]

They looked at Azadine and were glad to see him. It would have been natural for them to say at least one word of resentment, but all of them looked peaceful.

“I am sorry. Because I lacked virtue, I put you all in danger….”

[No. You warned us that this road was dangerous. Until now, no noble or knight has ever shown us such a fair attitude.]

“That was….”

Azadine had been someone persecuted, not a knight or a noble.

He had claimed to have inherited the Emperor’s blood so that he would not be pushed around by others, but in truth, among the Messenger Clan, there were so many people who had inherited the Emperor’s blood that those who had not were rare.

Azadine knew that he himself was not a noble, but to these people, who were used to the tyranny of nobles, every action Azadine took after being appointed as a knight of Vermilion Fortress seemed to have come as a fresh shock.

Since they did not hate Azadine even after death, Azadine had to suspect whether these ghosts might be illusions he had conveniently created for himself.

[Do not be too hard on yourself, Sir Azadine. You were a good lord.]

[If that does not feel real to you, I will say this. It was because the others were useless lords.]

“That is a truly reasonable statement. I am convinced.”

Azadine nodded at the ghosts’ words.

[In any case, we did not gather here to make such idle remarks.]

[Be careful. The master of Elemental Wailing is approaching.]

“The master of Elemental Wailing?”

[The one who spread Elemental Wailing among humans, and that one’s successor, are coming to find you.]

[That is….]

The ghosts tried to say something, but even they could not say anything beyond that.

“It seems Banreung Academy has finally learned how to proliferate Elemental Wailing.”

[That is correct.]

“This is grave. Giacomo’s daughter is in danger. I promised that I would save his daughter.”

Azadine had promised to find Giacomo’s daughter, the young girl who had contracted Elemental Wailing.

If their research on Elemental Wailing was over and they had achieved a certain result, Banreung Academy no longer had any reason to keep Giacomo’s daughter alive.

When Azadine grew worried, the ghosts exchanged glances among themselves and nodded.

[The daughter of a subordinate—no, it is even ambiguous to call him a subordinate.]

[Thank you for even trying to keep such a promise.]

[So, about that… will you keep our promises as well?]

[Please contact my wife and tell her that I died. There should be a ring on my corpse. Tell her to give it to my son… It is now nothing more than a faded silver ring, but it has runic letters engraved on it that prove the bloodline of a noble house from a very long time ago.]

“I will deliver it.”

[For me… please tell my wife that I hid silver coins under the chicken coop, and that she should use them to help pay for our son’s marriage.]

The spirits asked Azadine to deliver their last words to their families and hand over their keepsakes.

Azadine promised not only to keep all of their promises, but also to pay fifteen Arangiian silver coins to each bereaved family as compensation.

Then the ghosts blessed Azadine in satisfaction and departed.

Scott, who had been watching the scene, clicked his tongue in amazement.

“When I see something like this, it makes me feel a little skeptical about using necromancy.”

“Only a little?”

Azadine was surprised that a necromancer like Scott felt skepticism about trespassing upon death. But if he felt skeptical, he felt skeptical. What was this “a little” supposed to mean?

“The soul, spirit, flesh, and body are separated from each other, and at most, I stop at using the flesh and body.”

“Well, I think that too. That is why funerals should be valued even more. By holding a funeral, the human soul and its body can finally be completely separated. It is a rite that gives rest to the soul and separates the dead from the cruelty of the world so that the act of damaging the body does not wound that soul, and so that no further pain is inflicted upon this pitiful soul. If you can, Scott, you should use necromancy only after holding a funeral.”

“Uh, Captain. As an orc, I usually have many cases where humans do not understand me. But what you just said was a bit….”

Even to Scott, an orc and a necromancer, it seemed strange. Scott was not the only one surprised to see Azadine conversing with spirits like this. Niselda was also astonished.

“Does this sort of thing happen often?”

“Occasionally…?”

“What in the world are you….”

“Anyway, they said the master of Elemental Wailing is appearing. It is fortunate that Giacomo is not here. If he were, he would have charged in without thinking of what came before or after.”

Bernard said that as his body trembled.

“Do you have any guesses who the opponent might be?”

“Ah, I do. But. Hmm. No, it is nothing. There is no reason for him to come all the way here.”

Bernard trailed off. It seemed he had someone in mind, but Azadine did not think he would get a good answer by questioning him forcefully here.

It might have been because of Niselda, or it might have been because he was under severe stress, so Azadine decided to speak with Bernard properly in private later and, for now, declared that they would rest.

“Then shall we stay here for now? Let us rest.”

“…….”

It was an inn filled with corpses that had been killed after horrific torture.

Of course, they had taken down the corpses and even held funerals, and the souls of the dead had even emerged and created a friendly atmosphere, but as Scott said, those souls and bodies were separate things.

Resting in such an ominous place? However, Azadine did not care at all. He closed his eyes first and fell asleep.

The Banreung Kingdom was a united kingdom of a dwarf dynasty and the Yaegas divine royal family, and under them, human nobles and dwarf clans theoretically lived in harmony.

The County of Sandokar, its southern gate, was a land ruled by Count Sandokar. Since it lay on the border between the Banreung Kingdom and the Kingdom of Arangi, it was a place where enormous toll revenue could be collected.

South of that Sandokar gate, at a three-way intersection, armed dwarves were moving busily even though the sun had set and curfew had begun.

“Damn it. There are a lot of dwarves around today, aren’t there? Besides, they all seem armed. Shouldn’t we inspect that?”

The human soldier guarding the Sandokar Gate grumbled as he watched the dwarves passing before his eyes.

His jurisdiction was this gate, but since there were dwarves walking around in front of him in violation of curfew, he could not help but be bothered.

“Shh. Those bastards are Dwarven Arrow.”

“I know.”

Dwarven Arrow had been the name of a certain criminal organization, but now people had lumped all dwarf criminals together and called them “Dwarven Arrow.”

A proper noun becoming a common noun. Just as the trademark name of a certain product became the name of that entire product, the name people used often became the name itself.

“I know, but is it right for us to do this?”

The gate soldier grumbled. The soldiers of the County of Sandokar did not touch Dwarven Arrow.

Since the time Chashan had operated a drug farm in Chadra, massive quantities of drugs had been distributed through this Sandokar Gate. Strictly speaking, what had fed the County of Sandokar had been Dwarven Arrow’s bribes.

However, being told to tolerate them openly carrying guns pricked the soldier’s conscience.

“Why do we have to sit here with our eyes open and watch those criminal bastards? If they hid them and carried them around like usual, that would be one thing, but they are walking around openly like a regular army, aren’t they? No matter how much this is their world, aren’t they being a little shameless?”

Indeed, the movements of the Dwarven Arrow members right now were not normal.