Calypso seemed to be expecting to keep Midiam as her servant and continuously torment her.
"Respecting one's superiors, huh... But if we go by seniority, you're my junior, so shouldn't you be the one treating me as your superior and showing respect first? You barged into my jurisdiction out of nowhere and disrupted my work."
"It's not disruption, it's assistance. That woman isn't from our clan."
"No, she is one of us."
"What?"
"She endured ten thousand nights in the name of Aragasa. If we abandon someone who bore the disgrace directed at our clan alone, just because she isn't of our blood, it would tarnish the honor of Aragasa."
"..."
Midiam was in awe of Azadin's words.
'How should I put this? It's hard to explain, but… one thing is clear.'
Midiam didn't particularly like the Hubris people as an Aragasa. However, when the knights of Hubris plundered and oppressed civilians—when they fled the moment true danger arose—Azadin had once said:
'Protecting the people of Hubris is beautiful.'
At the time, she thought it was nonsense. After all, she was an Aether, a noble among the Herald clans, so it was natural for her to look down upon nobles who failed in their noble duty.
But now, witnessing Azadin striving to uphold a vow he didn't even need to keep, enforcing his own sense of aesthetics… it felt beautiful.
'Even if she isn't of our blood, I will not turn away from one who endured disgrace in the name of Aragasa.'
It wasn't just a hollow pride and honor embraced for the sake of consoling a dead soul….
Seeing Azadin truly uphold his pride and honor, Midiam felt a sense of sacred beauty. However, in this era, such ideals were nothing but a joke. Calypso and her lackeys merely scoffed.
"You think you get to decide the honor of Aragasa? You, the biggest fool of the clan?"
Azadin shook his head.
"Say whatever you want, but I won't duel you. Get lost. I'm busy."
With that, Azadin turned toward Midiam and Ishmael.
"You said this woman left behind records? Let's find them. If we do, they'll have nothing to offer us in exchange."
"Wait a minute. You bastard! Are you going to ignore me? The Korasar Peddlers' Guild's intelligence network is far superior to that woman's! You won't find anything without the information I have! Duel me!"
"The copy of the Book of the Divine King has already chosen me. No matter what you say, I won't wager it."
"Ugh…."
Azadin saw right through Calypso's true intentions. These guys were simply picking a fight with him to steal the Book of the Divine King.
"Fine, Azadin. You win. Duel me, wagering the Book of the Divine King! If I win, you hand it over. If I lose… I'll find the children of that woman, free them from slavery, and, if possible, take them to the holy land. How about it? Isn't that a tempting offer?"
"Oh?"
Azadin was surprised by the proposal.
"That is indeed a bit tempting."
"Hahaha. Really? So, will you duel me for the Book of the Divine King?"
"Hmm, alright. Then, just this once… I'll wager the copy of the Book of the Divine King. But in return, you must not only rescue this woman's children—children who have suffered disgrace and been sold into slavery in the name of Aragasa—but also become their guardians and raise them into true Aragasa. How about it?"
"Oh? Fine. That's not too difficult."
Seeing Azadin show signs of accepting the duel, Calypso was delighted. Now, she could legally take the Book of the Divine King from Azadin. She laughed, looking down on him.
'Even if he was trained by the mysterious elder Kazas, this guy is the biggest fool in the clan. I thought I was wasting my time coming all this way, but this worked out perfectly. My opponent is such a moron.'
Calypso had no doubt about her victory.
Of course, why wouldn't she? Azadin was treated as an utter fool by the entire clan. The idea of challenging Azadin to a duel and losing was unthinkable.
"So, how should we do this? Start formally from a hundred paces apart?"
"No, that's a hassle. Let's do it right now. We're only wagering the Book of the Divine King and this matter, aren't we? No status is at stake, nothing else on the line, so let's keep it simple."
"Alright? Got it."
At that moment—
—Pak!
With a loud burst, Calypso fell to the ground.
"And that's that. Keep your promise."
Azadin scoffed as he withdrew his hand.
***
"Gasp?!"
Meiya, the Executive knight of the Salasma Diocese of the King's Church, jolted awake in shock.
"Ugh…."
Her entire body ached. She had cast Retribution Strike, her only offensive spell, and had been caught in the resulting explosion, essentially self-destructing.
While Retribution Strike didn't harm the holy knights of the King's Church, the problem was the shockwave released upon activation. Engulfed in that shockwave, she had fainted.
"What happened?"
She looked around. She had passed out while fighting undead, so by all rights, she should be dead. Yet, she was in a small carriage—far too real to be the afterlife or heaven.
"Ugh."
"Mm…"
Kaka and Chico, the siblings, were also waking up.
"Ah, you're awake."
The carriage driver sighed in relief.
"What happened?"
"Well, you see…"
***
The members of the Korasar Peddlers' Guild, though technically servants, took pride in being the true power behind the Herald clan.
Behind them stood the Savan family, one of the five founding families of the Heralds. Unlike the wandering Heralds who spent money, they were the ones who actually earned it. With that financial power, they could hire mercenaries, buy land, and live without a care in the world.
But Midiam had just wounded their pride.
'If you are a servant, do not dare talk back to a herald.'
That alone was already a tremendous insult, but the one speaking was Midiam of the Aether family, the rival of the Savan family. Moreover, the herald in question was none other than Azadin.
Azadin was the son of the traitor Akre, the very person who, along with the entire Herald Clan, shed much blood and painstakingly obtained a copy of the Book of the Divine King, only to scatter it in the Heart of the World mountain range. A great traitor of Aragasa.
Though they could not hold the son accountable for the father's sins, Azadin had since shown only weakness, becoming the target of many people's hatred. His grotesque, eyeless appearance alone was enough to make everyone despise him.
And they were supposed to treat such a person with respect just because he became a Herald?
Enraged, they immediately coordinated with Herald Calypso, who happened to be nearby.
Herald Calypso. She was a wise herald who understood the wealth and power of the Savan family and maintained a good relationship with them. However…
—Thud!
Calypso was sent flying by a light punch from Azadin. No, calling it a punch was merely an assumption. In truth, none of the other servants even saw what Azadin had done.
Azadin wasn't even within arm's reach, yet with just a casual flick of his hand, Calypso collapsed.
'Huh? He wasn't even in range to hit her?'
'Was he hiding a weapon?'
It took them a moment to process what had just happened.
"Now, keep your promise."
"W-Wait a moment!"
"A s-sneak attack!"
They wanted to argue that it was an ambush, but for the emperor's herald, being caught off guard and losing was shameful, and even being poisoned to death was a disgrace.
"What? You insisted on a duel right in front of me, agreed on the distance and method, and now you're claiming it was an ambush? Are you saying you want to tarnish the honor of Herald Calypso?"
Midiam openly sneered.
"No, it was definitely a sneak attack."
Azadin admitted it outright.
"It was a sneak attack, which is why I knocked her out cleanly with one blow. If I hit her wrong, her face would've been blown off."
"..."
Midiam and Ishmael knew Azadin wasn't joking. If Calypso had taken a direct hit while properly fighting, the damage would have been permanent.
"What ridiculous boasting…"
"Huh?"
The servants, who had thought Azadin was exaggerating, noticed the way Midiam and Ishmael's expressions turned serious. The atmosphere shifted.
"Well then, Korasar Peddlers' Guild members! Hand over the documents."
"The documents?"
"Yes."
"Ah, well, we never expected to lose, so we didn't bring them…"
"..."
At that moment, Ishmael retrieved a small wooden box from the storage room.
"This looks like it."
"Let me see…"
Inside, umbilical cords wrapped in bandages were stored, each labeled with birth dates and the names of the merchant groups they had been sold to.
"This is it?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Now that I see it, I do recall…."
The Korasar Peddlers' Guild members racked their memories, roughly noting down what had happened to the children who had been sold.
Even if these children had been mistaken for members of the Herald Clan, keeping slaves in large cities wasn't easy. So, they had been sold to rural areas or villages frequently visited by merchant groups with established trade records.
"That's surprisingly close."
"Yes. The holy knights of the King's Church wouldn't tolerate Aragasa being kept as slaves, so once you remove the major cities they frequently patrol… the rest is predictable. You can't just openly sell slaves."
"Alright. Then let's start tending to the injured."
Azadin checked on Kaka, Chico, Tarkiev, and Executive knight Meiya. All of them were wounded and suffering.
Tarkiev had taken a direct hit from a bear's charge, but thanks to his full plate armor, he wasn't severely injured—though the impact had knocked him unconscious.
"Hmm."
Azadin focused his sight. His vision had a unique property—the farther he tried to see, the narrower his field of view became, but the closer he focused, the wider his perspective grew, eventually allowing him to see in a full 360-degree view.
With enough concentration, he could even see beneath the skin.
"There's internal bleeding but no fractures. He'll be fine."
Azadin then examined Kaka and Chico. The siblings were unconscious, panting heavily. In their clash with the bear, their spears had been pushed back, striking them in the abdomen. Ironically, Tarkiev, who had been sent flying, was better off—his full armor had absorbed most of the impact, whereas the lightly armored siblings had sustained more severe injuries.
"They'll live, but recovery will take a while."
Finally, Azadin turned his attention to Meiya. Her body was intact, but her mind was another matter. She had been caught in an explosion of holy magic, essentially self-destructing in the process.
'The King's Church's holy knights don't systematically teach holy magic to maximize immediate combat effectiveness, do they? Instead, they focus on a few spells suited to the individual's talents. Thanks to that, this girl didn't use any other magic and ended up getting caught in her own point-blank Retribution Strike. If she had known other holy spells, she could've broken out of the warehouse without a weapon.'
As Azadin examined Meiya's condition, Ishmael spoke up.
"Do we really need to keep a holy knight alive?"
"I already killed this girl's father… I don't want to wipe out an entire family needlessly. And if we kill a holy knight, people will start asking questions. Are we going to kill them all?"
Killing a holy knight would mean either explaining the situation to Kaka and Chico or killing them too. But as someone who followed the faith of the Archangel of Trinity, Azadin wished to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
So, he chose to let them live and transport them using the Korasar Peddlers' Guild's carriage.