Erantri Quest (1)

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Griselda continued sending her subordinates to recover Ashajit’s Eye, which Azadine had taken from her.

However, because the vampires were afraid of Aurelia Dawn, the situation made little progress. No vampire wanted to be burned to death in Aurelia Dawn’s flames.

Even Griselda herself did not come in person because she, too, feared Aurelia Dawn.

But this was also a troublesome matter for Azadine.

An enemy that knew fear was always much harder to deal with than a recklessly brave enemy. Azadine had no choice but to remain at Sandokar Gate to stop the vampires, who might rush in at any moment.

And he had to devote his strength to dealing with the refugees and monsters that kept flooding toward Sandokar Gate.

Edir had originally been a servant of Vthuma.

However, on the day the Kingdom of Vthuma fell, he fled to Banreung with his family, escaping the ferocious attacks of the surging Nagas and the Messenger Clan. After that, he had to live a difficult life.

Since he had martial skill, he could find work anywhere, but the life of a refugee was arduous no matter what.

Living in a refugee camp without a home, and struggling to feed his children and wife by any means, whether crime or anything else, he had to flee again on the day the Banreung Kingdom collapsed.

But where was he supposed to go?

The Kingdom of Arangi?

It was a fact known throughout the world that the Arangiians were harsh toward refugees and beggars.

Then a rumor spread among the Vthuma refugees.

“They say Sir Azadine, a Rescue Knight, has formed a force in the Sandokar and Naisandokar regions, and that it is prosperous and safe.”

“Rescue Knight Azadine? But that bastard is from the Messenger Clan, isn’t he?”

Rumors about Azadine, who had become a Rescue Knight despite being from the Messenger Clan, had already spread widely throughout the world.

Azadine’s reputation was not bad. Edir had heard that he had united the heroes of the Chadra Plateau into one great force, punished bandits and monsters to keep people safe, and paved roads, greatly aiding commerce.

Paving roads and subjugating bandits were things only great lords would do. Once a place had paved and maintained roads, it was practically the same as saying it was a good place to live.

However, for Edir, whose eyes had been engraved with the atrocities of the Messenger Clan that had invaded Vthuma, no matter how good Azadine’s reputation was, he could not acknowledge him.

Fleeing to a land ruled by the Messenger Clan? It was not even worth considering.

Edir led his family and decided to flee in the direction of the Kingdom of Arangi, then began heading south.

But when Fimbulbert began, problems arose. Even though it was autumn, snow fell, and food prices skyrocketed.

This was a problem as well, but the bigger problem was that monsters had begun appearing from the sea.

“They say the envoys of death that had been sunken in Netherstrom are turning sea creatures into monsters and invading the surface.”

“Now, now. You are saying something dangerous….”

The priests of the King’s Church swaggered among the refugees and took care to ensure that people were not bewitched by sinister rumors.

From the refugees’ perspective, they were cumbersome fellows who only swaggered around without doing anything for them, but without them, it would be difficult to distinguish a refugee group from a band of thieves… so everyone followed the priests’ words and stopped spreading and recirculating ominous rumors.

However, that night, a priest came to Edir.

“What is the matter, priest?”

“Edir, you are of the servant class, are you not?”

“Yes. Shamefully….”

“This is Gidit, a member of the Cell Sword Guild. Would you serve as the forward scout of the refugee group together with Gidit?”

“But I must look after my family. I have a daughter of marriageable age….”

Edir, who had a daughter and a wife, did not want to be separated from his family. Although he declined at first, the priest persistently asked Edir to take on the role of scout.

“Just as vicious monsters and heretics are emerging from Banreung… monsters are also emerging from the sea. We need someone who knows how to use a sword.”

“You mean….”

“I ask this of you. Be at ease. I will guarantee the safety of your family. I will keep them by my side and protect them.”

“If that is so.”

At the priest’s earnest request, Edir stood at the front with Gidit and other people who had once belonged to village militias, all equipped with crude arms.

“It is getting colder and colder. The sea wind in particular carries a chill. Good heavens. This is an area where snow hardly falls even in winter.”

“You scouts, be quiet.”

“But if I do not open my mouth, I feel like I will freeze to death. I am hungry, too….”

“Enough useless talk.”

The scouts, including Edir and Gidit, could not endure their hunger and fear and kept chattering. It was not especially good behavior, but wild beasts and goblins would run away if people made noise, so it might actually be better.

If there were monsters beyond that level, then in any case, people of their caliber could not handle them.

“Hm?”

“The smell of blood….”

The stench of blood that stung the nose came riding on the wind. The scouts, who had been chattering as noisily as a marketplace, all clamped their mouths shut.

They soon arrived at a fishing village. On a pole where nets were hung out to dry, a person had been impaled, with traces of having been eaten by beasts left intact, and uncleaned fish were strewn here and there.

“Oh, good heavens….”

“The world is coming to an end. What kind of wicked villains….”

“No, this was not done by humans. First, we finish searching, and if we judge it safe, we will call the priest.”

Edir calmly decided to check whether there were any threats around the fishing village, then call the priest and the refugees.

When they brought the priest and the refugee group over, the priest looked at the devastation of this village and ordered the refugees.

“The fish here are contaminated, so do not touch them. It would be best to leave this place as quickly as possible!”

But that night, commotion began to arise among the refugees. People who could not endure their hunger and secretly ate the fish from the fishing village began complaining of stomach pains.

And after a short while, people among the refugees began undergoing mutation.

“S-save me!”

“I do not want to die!”

“Please help me!”

The refugees who asked for help with their mouths attacked the humans nearby. The bizarre scales growing on their bodies became armor, and the barnacles growing on their hands and feet became wedges that were nothing short of sharp.

When an excited refugee struck someone with a barnacle-covered hand, their flesh was torn away and their bones shattered.

Edir and Gidit, who had been waiting after hearing the priest’s warning, led the soldiers and faced the mutants that had become Nether monsters. Half of the militia, who could hardly be called proper soldiers, died in the process.

“Oh… good heavens. Yaegas God-Kings!”

The priest screamed as he watched people who had merely picked up and eaten some fish turn into monsters.

And the next morning, the refugees preparing to depart discovered that several wealthy landowners were dead after drinking poisoned wine.

Whether they had committed suicide by drinking poison because they could not endure the coming world of madness, or whether it had been a cunning poisoning aimed at their supplies, neither the priest nor Edir and Gidit had the capacity to investigate.

Exhausted to their limits, they held a brief funeral, recovered their supplies, and moved on.

“Let us turn toward Sandokar. Madness is surging in from the sea, so the coast is dangerous.”

The priest of the King’s Church hated Azadine, the God-King Slayer, more than anyone else, but he was the first to say they should head for Sandokar, which Azadine ruled.

Afraid of the abyssal monsters rising from the sea, they changed direction.

For refugees, who had more civilians than combatants, to return safely, it could not be helped.

But as they headed toward Sandokar, they encountered even more refugees other than themselves.

It was not only them. People from all over were abandoning their homes and fleeing.

Even if it was the Rescue Knights Order, could it accept this many refugees?

Fear suddenly came over them. If they came all this long way only to be told they would not be accepted and were chased away, then they would starve to death on the road.

“If that damned Messenger Clan bastard, Azadine or whatever his name is, drives us out, let us kill him!”

Among the refugees, those who seemed fairly strong shouted boldly.

They also had weapons and many people, so they could seize Sandokar Gate and plunder their land! That was the kind of bluff it was.

‘As if that would work.’

The arrows fired by the Messenger Clan were completely different from the arrows of ordinary archers, and could instantly kill even armored knights. Ill-equipped ruffians might be able to extort farmers, but even properly armed soldiers would be hard for them to face, so what plundering were they talking about?

Watching that sight, Edir pitied the people’s bluff, but he did not argue against them.

Even though it was early autumn, snow fell in the southern regions.

Originally, at this time of year, far from snow, people should have been losing sleep because of the heat and mosquitoes, but the wind was so cold that it felt as if they might freeze to death.

As they pushed through the cold wind and walked over roads turned into mire by snow, their stamina drained rapidly, and hunger dragged them down toward the ground like a swamp.

Those who had eaten even a little, such as small pieces of bread or a few pieces of dried sorghum cake, could stand up again, but those who could not simply lost all strength, collapsed to the ground, and waited for death.

In the end, stragglers began to appear among the starving refugees. The priest felt pity for such people, but he could not save them.

Then, at that moment, an armed group appeared ahead on the road. They were cavalry and soldiers carrying the flag of the Rescue Knights Order.

“We are subordinates of Sir Azadine, protector of Sandokar and captain of Vermilion. We are moving to restore order on this road, so clear the way!”

The soldiers said that arrogantly and approached, then discovered the fallen people and raised them up.

Their swaggering attitude was unpleasant, but when they took dried rice cakes out of their backpacks and broke them apart, everyone’s eyes went wide.

‘Are they really giving that to us?’

Everyone looked at the soldiers with expectant eyes. Normally, it was not a particularly great food, but now, after suffering hunger for so long, everyone’s mouths watered.

But then a soldier put a dried rice cake into his own mouth and chewed it.

‘No, is this bastard mocking us?!’

Edir was irritated by the soldier’s attitude, but a moment later, he realized their thoughts had been mistaken.

The soldier spat the rice cake he had chewed from his mouth into his hand, then fed it to a collapsed refugee.

It was so hard that he had chewed it once with his own mouth to soften it, in case the refugee could not eat it if it was given as it was.

It could not be called hygienic, but conditions were poor, and they were not in a position to fuss over hygiene.

The person who had collapsed ate the rice cake and gradually recovered strength.

“Our captain, Sir Azadine, venerates the Threefold Virtues, so by his command, we will protect you. Keep order and follow the road!”

The soldier said that, then broke apart the dried rice cakes and distributed them to nearby children and those whose signs of hunger were obvious.

“…….”

“This is surprising.”

The priest and Edir exchanged glances and shared the same feeling.

A member of the Messenger Clan venerated the Threefold Virtues?

A strong sense of pride could be felt in the soldiers’ attitude.

To think they felt pride in serving under the military command of a blasphemous God-King Slayer?

‘These must certainly be tremendously elite soldiers.’

A soldier who felt pride in his affiliation was strong. Just by seeing the actions of a single soldier, Edir could tell that Azadine’s military faction was an extraordinary elite army.

Edir had harbored hostility toward the Messenger Clan and Azadine, but when he saw such soldiers, his heart wavered.

Just a short period of refugee life had already left his body and mind battered.

If there was any hope he could rely on somewhere, then even if it was the Messenger Clan, he felt like he wanted to lean on it.