How could they possibly justify the crime of killing civilians with stray arrows? The farmhands who were with the Herald Clan were, from the perspective of the King's Church, no different from heretics. But actually confronting the Heralds felt like facing death itself.
However…
That Herald was merely watching them, not attacking.
"What is this?"
"Looks like you're out hunting. Holy Knights wielding spears and bows—how unusual. I could understand the trainee knights, but even the full-fledged knights remain silent."
"…And what of it?"
"Why did you suddenly start killing villagers while out hunting?"
"Because the villagers were heretics."
"No, that's not it. Even until the moment you crossed paths with me, you didn't know I was a Herald. It was only after my people shot their arrows that you realized the Herald Clan was present. In other words…"
Azadin clicked his tongue as he pieced together the situation.
"You killed someone by mistake and then tried to silence the witnesses."
"...."
"Looks like I was right."
Midiam, observing the Holy Knights' reactions, realized Azadin's deduction was correct.
"They probably mistook people for animals while they were foraging for herbs or mushrooms in the thicket and shot them by accident. Then, in an attempt to cover it up, they pursued the witnesses and ended up wiping out the entire farm."
"Shut your mouth, soulless heretic."
Gazrek seethed with anger, struck by the truth.
Strictly speaking, the stray arrow from their hunting had accidentally killed a farmer inspecting the fence, but they had no intention of showing such disgrace before the Herald Clan.
"Killing me to silence my mouth won't be so easy."
Azadin picked up a spear from the hand of an unconscious knight who had been knocked out by his short sword. He pointed the hunting spear at Gazrek.
"If you stop harming this village, pay compensation, and become penitent knights, I'll let this end without bloodshed. Until now, I haven't killed anyone…"
Azadin swung the spear through the air before pointing it at Gazrek again.
"…But from now on, not killing will be difficult."
Though he had incapacitated two trainee knights, the enemies still outnumbered him. Azadin could no longer afford to fight with mercy.
'Is he insane? He says not killing will be difficult from now on? Then that means he was holding back on killing us until now?'
The Holy Knights of the King's Church held absolute superiority in skill over regular knights. While rural knights struggled to refine their skills due to a lack of sparring partners, the Holy Knights, all of whom were knights themselves, could constantly train against each other and hone their abilities.
And yet, had this man been holding back against them all this time?
"Ridiculous. If we retreat out of fear of a soulless heretic… we'd be punished just for that."
"You mean you'll keep committing sins because you're afraid of punishment?"
"If we capture you, everything will be solved! Judging by your skill, you must be quite high-ranking among the Heralds. If we take you in, all problems will be resolved! These villagers were followers of the Emperor anyway, so they deserved to die!"
Hearing this, Midiam and Ishmael had to stifle their laughter in disbelief.
Azadin was the 108th Herald. The lowest rank among Heralds and an outcast even among his own kind. Yet they were overestimating his abilities so highly.
But given that even these Holy Knights were proving to be formidable, perhaps their assessment wasn't entirely wrong. Midiam and Ishmael both acknowledged that Azadin's skills were far from those of a mere low-ranked Herald.
At that moment, Azadin threw his spear again.
"Hmph!"
Gazrek effortlessly deflected the incoming hunting spear and cast a spell at Azadin. This time, a sacred hammer of light descended upon him.
Azadin dodged it, but the explosion of light sent out a powerful shockwave. Even amidst the chaos, he calmly unfastened the bow he had slung around his waist, strung it, and grabbed a few hunting arrows from the fallen trainee knight.
Since trainee knights typically didn't carry many arrows, he only had about three.
"You think I'd just stand there and get hit by that?"
Gazrek charged forward.
"Really?"
Azadin raised his bow and fired at a high angle.
Was he preparing an indirect shot with a parabolic arc?
No, his stance was too open for that.
"Watch out!"
Midiam fired an arrow at Gazrek to support Azadin. However, as Gazrek had confidently declared, he easily deflected the arrow aimed at his eye level and continued his charge.
"Ah!"
Midiam hurriedly fired another arrow, but at that moment, Azadin abruptly moved between the arrow and Gazrek.
"Huh?!"
Azadin caught the flying arrow in midair, spun his body, nocked it onto his bow, and fired it.
Gazrek, who had been poised to deflect Midiam's arrow, was caught off guard by the sudden redirection and failed to react in time. The arrow pierced through his temple, and he collapsed forward.
"Urgh…."
"Impossible!"
The remaining trainee knights were dumbfounded by the nearly supernatural feat Azadin had performed.
Gazrek had demonstrated exceptional skill, deflecting even arrows flying directly at him.
Yet this man had caught an arrow mid-flight, nocked it onto his bow, and fired it back to instantly defeat Gazrek? It was as if he wasn't human, but a demon.
"...."
"W-what was that?"
Even Midiam, a member of the Herald Clan, was so astonished that she had to ask.
"It's called Arrow Reversal."
"Arrow Reversal? Is that also a Kazas technique?"
"No, this one is my own invention. But it's not that difficult—if you practice, you two could probably learn it."
Azadin kindly explained it to Midiam before turning back to the knights.
"So, what will you do now?"
When Azadin raised his hand to the sky, the arrow he had just shot earlier came flying back into his grasp as if drawn to him. So that was the purpose of the shot—he had intended to use it this way from the start.
A trap designed to subdue enemies who let their guard down, thinking his bow was empty. But before he even had the chance to use that trap, he had already killed Gazrek instantly by intercepting Midiam's arrow in midair and shooting it back at him.
"Ah, um…"
"If you compensate the bereaved families for harming the farm folk and agree to become penitent knights, I won't kill you."
At Azadin's words, the trainee knights exchanged uneasy glances. If Gazrek were still alive, they would have dismissed such a suggestion as utter nonsense.
But after seeing even Gazrek slain by this Herald… this was no joke. This man really would kill them all.
'But if we agree to become penitent knights, we get to live? What if we run away and report to our superiors that the Emperor's Herald has appeared?'
'We just need to survive this moment. Maybe we should just say we'll become penitent knights?'
The trainee knights were torn, hesitating over Azadin's proposal.
That was when—
"No!"
The farmer's sons and daughters appeared from behind.
"They killed our father!"
"They murdered our mother and brother-in-law!"
"They butchered us like livestock just to cover up their own mistake! We don't need compensation!"
"They must die! We want blood, not gold!"
The villagers demanded that Azadin execute the Holy Knights of the King's Church.
"You lowly wretches!"
The knights erupted in fury.
"It seems there's no room for negotiation after all."
Azadin regretted the way the situation was unfolding.
'These farmers… I understand their thirst for revenge, but if they kill the Holy Knights of the King's Church, they'll have no choice but to abandon the farm and become wanderers.'
Among the people of Hubris, young peasant boys often dreamed of becoming mercenaries or adventurers. The idea of spending their entire lives as serfs, never leaving their village, was unbearable to boys at the age when their imagination soared.
But becoming a mercenary or adventurer wasn't that simple. Unless they were the fallen children of warrior nobility, peasant boys and girls had no chance of entering such professions.
They had no capital, no initial equipment, and no proper training. Unless they turned to banditry, no reputable group would accept them.
'The life of a wanderer is too harsh. Are they really willing to throw themselves into that kind of hardship just for revenge?'
But since the victims themselves demanded vengeance, Azadin could not arbitrarily decide to grant forgiveness. The enraged sons and daughters of the farmers bashed the fallen knights to death with stones and axes.
"You ignorant scum! How dare you… strike down a Holy Knight! You'll all be cursed!"
A knight screamed in fury, trying to kill the farmers, but Azadin's arrow stopped him. The knight, paralyzed by the impact, was then overwhelmed by the farmers and beaten to death.
Azadin clicked his tongue as he watched the gruesome scene.
***
The villagers began gathering the bodies of both the knights and their slain family members. Having lost their loved ones to the Holy Knights' rampage, they wanted to desecrate the knights' corpses, but Azadin stopped them.
"A corpse is just a corpse. If they were alive, you could hate them all you want. But there's no need to be shackled by hatred for the dead more than necessary. Don't the people of Hubris believe in the afterlife? There's no need to pile on more bad karma by defiling corpses."
"But there's no need for us to bury them properly, is there?"
"You don't have to. I'll do it. A little effort to prevent them from becoming undead won't hurt. And showing a shred of mercy after settling a grudge isn't a bad thing either. Don't you think?"
"...."
At Azadin's words, they reluctantly began retrieving their own family's remains.
While they did that, Azadin started collecting the bodies of the Holy Knights.
"You really are an unusual person."
Midiam, too, began assisting Azadin. Meanwhile, Ishmael searched through the dead knights, inspecting their equipment.
"It's best not to take the Holy Knights' weapons. Most of them are issued by the Church. We should either bury them together or use them as grave markers."
Azadin decided to use the knights' swords and armor as burial offerings, then wrapped their bodies in cloth and consecrated them in the manner of the Salvation Knights.
'…Performing a Salvation Knights' consecration on the Holy Knights of the King's Church… I wonder if that, too, is a form of desecration.'
Midiam thought so but chose not to say it out loud.
"Haa."
With everything finished, Azadin sat down on a tree stump. He had planned to rest and recover today, but the circumstances wouldn't allow it.
"So, were you really going to forgive them if they agreed to become penitent knights?"
Midiam asked Azadin.
"Forgiveness isn't mine to give, but… well, that's the law, isn't it?"
"The Holy Knights of the King's Church could have just been lying. They see us Aragasa as soulless heretics. They believe that breaking a promise to us isn't a sin at all."
Soulless heretics—that was the meaning behind the name they used for the Herald Clan.