— 'Beauty of Nature, Thunderclap, Kazas Style!'
At that moment, the blade quivered…
— Boom!
"Argh!"
"Keck!"
Kellivre and Adan screamed as they were sent flying.
"Gah."
"What, what the hell? This is impossible. Is this… Thunderclap?!"
Kellivre and Adan trembled as they stood up, feeling as if their entire bodies had been electrocuted. They mistakenly believed Azadin had unleashed Thunderclap.
"Y-you said you couldn't use magic! How?!"
As they glared in shock, Azadin let out a sigh.
"Phew. Hey, don't die. Well, at least one of you will survive, right?"
At that moment, Azadin's figure blurred.
"Twilight?"
"Damn it!"
With their hands paralyzed, Kellivre and Adan instinctively reacted with martial arts, aiming a kick at Azadin's trajectory. But Azadin moved like melting into the ground, already slipping behind them.
'Dusklight?'
'Twilight into Dusklight? Not only is the transition seamless, but he's also fast!'
Kellivre and Adan finally realized it. The Azadin they were facing now was no longer the little boy who used to cry after being beaten by them. On the contrary, among the Herald Clan, his level of skill was already quite formidable.
'We're screwed.'
'Why did we even mess with him…?'
But it was already too late for regrets.
"Where are you looking?"
Azadin shot between them like a lightning bolt and kicked them both simultaneously. Kellivre and Adan couldn't even resist and were sent flying, crashing into a nearby tree and a rock.
"Guhk?!"
"D-damn it! This is insane!"
With just one strike, their ribs were broken—not from the initial impact, but from crashing into objects after being sent flying. Worse yet, Adan had tried to block Azadin's attack, causing his arm to break, while Kellivre, who had taken the hit directly, ended up less injured.
"I only meant to send you flying without breaking anything… but with this terrain, I guess I can't hold back."
"...!"
"..."
Azadin's words weren't just empty boasts. With the power and angle of that kick, he could have struck their heads if he had wanted to, which would have meant instant death.
'That… wasn't a human's kick.'
'He didn't even use magic, yet it was that strong?'
The moment they were struck, they grasped the overwhelming gap in ability.
"At least you both survived. Even though you weren't selected as heralds, I guess you haven't been neglecting your training? I meant to knock you out, but your bodies are tougher than I thought."
"..."
Kellivre and Adan, lying on the ground, were at a loss for words.
'Why? Even if we weren't chosen as heralds… there's no way we're worse than Azadin, who couldn't even complete the basic training, right?'
Both had completed basic training but failed to become even servants due to their lack of talent. Every two years, they tried again at the Summer Solstice Festival, hoping to at least become servants, but as peace continued, heralds rarely died. Furthermore, as Arael's exploits reached their peak, the Herald Clan flourished without any sacrifices.
And so, as their youth slipped away, they were forced to live as merchants under the Peddlers' Guild, unable to even become servants.
Imagine their shock, disappointment, and anger when they heard that Azadin, the very loser they used to beat up, had become a herald through Elder Kazas's recommendation.
'This is ridiculous.'
'T-this bastard… became a herald through sheer skill? I can't accept that! If I do…'
Their entire sense of purpose would be shattered. They would become nothing more than pathetic, inferior, and useless failures.
Up until now, they had blamed the Herald Clan and Aragasa's suffocating traditions.
We are more than capable of becoming heralds. We are talented, but because we lack noble lineage, we never got the chance. We aren't from the founder's bloodline, so we were denied our rightful place.
That was how they justified their existence. If only they had the opportunity, they believed they could prove their abilities, fight freely, and break the curse placed upon the clan.
But now, they had to face the truth—against Azadin, a mere 108-rank herald, they were utterly powerless even when attacking together?
'That makes us complete idiots.'
'Damn it. I refuse to accept this!'
They struggled to stand and fight again, but their legs had given out. Their arms and bodies refused to move, and when they tried to speak, bile rose in their throats. A chill even ran through their bodies.
"Well then, let's talk, shall we? What's going on here?"
Azadin gazed at them coldly. It was then—
A large crow flew from the nearby bushes and perched on a tree branch.
[108th rank herald Azadin… there's trouble.]
"Ah, Emperor's Voice. I thought you'd disappeared. But why are you speaking through a medium?"
[The Chief has dismissed you.]
"I already know that."
[That's not all. The Curse of Service has been activated.]
"!!?"
"It's been activated?!"
Everyone was stunned by those words.
***
The contract between the Herald Clan and the Emperor.
The reason it was called the Curse of Service was because not only were the Herald Clan bound to eternal loyalty to the Emperor, but the method of enforcing that loyalty was brutally cruel.
If the collective decision-making body of the Herald Clan—the Chief and the Elders—unanimously decided to activate the Curse of Service on someone, that person was doomed to die. And not just any death. They were required to replace themselves by filling the vacancy within the Herald Clan before dying.
"The Curse of Service has been activated? What happens now?"
[In one year, the Curse of Service will take effect. Most likely, you will bear a successor to fulfill the Herald Clan' duty in your place before you die. Just like Akre did.]
Yes. They will bear a successor.
The cursed one, regardless of whether they were male or female, would bear a child of the Herald Clan and then die. That was the great penalty carried by the Herald Clan' Curse of Service.
"This is absolute bull…"
Azadin, who rarely swore, could not hold back his curses this time.
***
In the past, Akre became the sworn enemy of the clan after stealing a copy of the Book of the Divine King, triggering the Curse of Service. Nearly the entire herald clan was mobilized to capture him.
Yet, astonishingly, despite not being a herald himself, Akre evaded pursuit and even defeated his pursuers for a whole year.
People believed that Akre had absorbed the knowledge and power of the Book of the Divine King, which was why he had grown so powerful despite merely being a scholar interpreting grimoires under the elders. However, even Akre could not escape the Curse of Service.
In the end, he bore Azadin and Arael—twins—despite being male, and then died.
"Ugh… Giving birth as a man? That's disgusting. These people are insane. No, seriously, why the hell did the Emperor design the Service Contract like this in the first place?"
[This penalty was not my doing, but Harconia's.]
Harconia, the first chief of the Herald Clan.
She was renowned as both a beautiful and powerful mage and warrior, but a closer examination of historical records revealed that she had an extremely eccentric personality.
[And… Ah, this is something I'm not supposed to tell you.]
"What? Just spit it out already."
[No can do. You see, this magic known as the Emperor's Voice—it exists permanently in this world under the condition that it does not directly convey specific information. I can only speak about matters concerning your personal affairs. But even reaching out to you through a medium now that you've been dismissed as a herald… it's actually an act that consumes my very existence. Since you are not a petitioner of the Gold Coin, speaking to you directly like this is, in fact, quite a dangerous thing for me.]
"..."
Hearing this, the other members of the Herald Clan—Aragasa—were aghast. The Emperor's Voice was breaking its own principles to speak to Azadin out of consideration.
For the Herald Clan, this was an unimaginable honor, an overwhelming privilege beyond belief.
It could only mean that the Emperor's Voice regarded Azadin as an absolutely crucial figure for the future of the Herald Clan.
Yet Azadin, unamused, simply clicked his tongue.
"And yet, thanks to your curse, I'm going to give birth as a man and die in a year. You're telling me, 'I've cursed you to death, but I acknowledge your worth?' Are you joking?"
"H-how dare you, Azadin!"
"The Emperor's Voice is the will of the Emperor himself! And you dare…!"
Kellivre and Adan rebuked Azadin. But to him, the whole situation was beyond infuriating.
"How dare I? I'm not even a herald anymore! You people suddenly dismissed me and even placed the Curse of Service on me! And now you want to lecture me about propriety and dignity?!"
"W-well, still…"
"There are certain obligations to uphold…"
"If there were obligations, would dismissing me out of nowhere make any sense? Then tell me—why are you trying to capture me? Why did you suddenly strip me of my position?"
"That's…"
The two exchanged glances before one finally spoke.
"Arael has rebelled!"
"What?"
"Arael killed Elder Kenahan and stole the accumulated copies of the Book of the Divine King."
"..."
Hearing this, Azadin tilted his head in confusion.
"And why was I dismissed because of that?"
"Well…"
"You thought I was working with Arael?"
At that moment, Azadin snapped.
"Are you kidding me?! Who left this scar on my face? It was your beloved Arael! And you think I'm on the same side as her? Even if Arael and I were the only two people left in this world, we would still fight each other!"
"How would anyone else know that?"
"To us, it seemed like Arael always looked out for you. She cared for you."
"That's the biggest joke I've ever heard! Arael protected and cared for me? Then what about the scar on my eye?"
"You never had that eye to begin with."
"And you expect me to trust your judgment?! You always praised Arael, calling her the role model of the Herald Clan, the reincarnation of Harconia! And yet, you never saw her betrayal coming? With that kind of insight, why the hell am I being held responsible too?! Did I ever benefit even a penny from Arael's success? No! Even when you try to calm a little child down, you threaten to marry her off to the fool Azadin?! What did I ever do to deserve being dismissed and cursed?!"
"T-that's…"
"We don't know."
"Bullshit! You want the herald position that badly? You can all have it!"
A sinister aura of killing intent emanated from Azadin's mask.
"Now that it's come to this… should I just kill every clan member I see? Give you a real taste of rebellion?"
"...?!"
"W-wait a second! Calm down!"
Adan and Kellivre quickly tried to de-escalate the situation. If Azadin lost control, they would be the first to die.
"You can go appeal to the Chief and the Elders to revoke your dismissal, right?"
"Y-yeah! In all of herald history, after we became the Emperor's heralds, only one person has ever actually died because of the Curse of Service."
"That one person was my father, you bastards! Are you mocking me?!"
Azadin exploded in fury. He looked as if he might literally start breathing fire.
"..."
"T-that said…"
Adan hesitated before cautiously speaking.
"If you're going to appeal to the Chief to have your dismissal revoked, you have to go there anyway. So… couldn't you just pretend that we captured you…?"
"Do you have a death wish?"
The moment Azadin drew his blade, a chilling bloodlust pierced through everyone's skin.
He wasn't joking.
Everyone present instinctively understood—Azadin was fully prepared to kill.