Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
Chapter 97. Necromancy
[We didn’t follow you today, no need to be surprised.]
Russell approached the Death Knight and spoke with a light tone.
However, the Death Knight trembled, hiccuping.
[Just answer my disciple’s questions.]
[… You’re a really strange ghost. No, I don’t know even if you’re a ghost to begin with.]
The Death Knight swallowed dry saliva, then grabbed the greatsword and threw it into the back of the fleeing warlock.
The sword imbued with powerful Darkness, pierced the warlock’s stomach and came out the other side.
Peuk!
[Don’t touch them. Those things are for me to deal with.]
The Death Knight turned his head and gave a short warning to Bethel, who was spewing a powerful murderous aura.
Bethel also glared at the Death Knight.
[Why should I listen to you? You are not the king of this place.]
At Bethel’s question, the Death Knight sneered and sat down on the warlock’s corpse.
[King? Why are you talking so childish, like a little rascal? Why? Do you want to kill those bastards too?]
[Little rascal? Do you know what is coming out of your mouth right now?]
Bethel had such bloody aura that it seemed she would swing her Darkness-filled sword at any moment.
Though worried about Bethel and the Death Knight’s skirmish, Lucion first examined where they were.
He saw a river and a part of a boat between the gap in the trees.
And turning down his gaze, he saw the people killed by the Death Knight.
He didn’t know whether they were sinful warlocks, but there seemed to be around fifteen of them.
‘If they are warlocks, why are they moving in such a big group?’
Filled with doubts, Lucion looked at Hyum.
The flame of Darkness, which burned in Hyum’s eye, grew stronger the closer he got to the Death Knight.
“The line seems to lead to the Death Knight.”
Hyum confirmed for Lucion.
Russell perked up his ears at Hyum’s words and then spoke to the two frosty Death Knights, who were ready for combat.
[Stop, the both of you.]
It was a pity, but Bethel couldn’t face the Death Knight.
[Got it.]
Bethel already made a resolution.
She would protect Lucion as a knight.
[But if that punk attacks Lord Lucion, I’ll protect Lord Lucion even if it means I’ll disappear.]
It was probably the Death Knight Russell spoke about.
She, who loathed warlocks, had nothing to say, but she witnessed the Death Knight murdering a warlock in front of her eyes.
In addition, he had the same eyes as her.
He said it was his life mission, and that Death Knight also loathed warlocks.
If that greatsword turned towards Lucion, perhaps it would pierce him in one strike and leave him cold.
[Ah… So you’re brandishing your blade because of Lucion? Then there is no need to worry. I have no plans of killing him.]
The Death Knight chuckled lightly.
“Hey, Death Knight.”
Lucion, who figured out the situation, called out to the Death Knight.
[If you want to say something, do it…. Ah, wait.]
The Death Knight suddenly rose from his seat.
His eyes turned to Hyum.
[Why is your eye like that? It wasn’t like this before, right?]
“Do you know why it’s like that?”
Lucion naturally asked.
[I don’t know precisely. I think I’ve heard that the person with one eye burning with flames of Darkness is called a guide.]
“Guide?”
Lucion fiddled with his fingers.
That word again.
Once could be a coincidence, but twice it couldn’t.
— Heup! Hyum said that!
Latta’s tail sprung up.
[Yeah. But I only heard it a long time ago, and it’s impossible to dig further into it. Don’t ask me.]
“Why?”
[All of it has already disappeared. What can I do about things that have disappeared? So, it’s useless to ask me. I’ve only heard this much.]
The Death Knight shrugged as if bored.
If he didn’t know, it was meaningless to ask him.
Lucion quickly threw the next question.
“What is the vessel you spoke of last time?”
[Well, I just matched the Darkness who called you ‘vessel’. If you’re really curious, you should ask it directly. Aren’t you a warlock?]
Lucion was slightly annoyed by the teasing tone, even if he didn’t know.
But he barely swallowed his emotions and asked:
“Then what is the orb in your body?”
[Um, something that strengthens the power of Darkness…? I got it a long time ago, but I don’t know what it is.]
“Why?”
The Death Knight seemed to have become slightly unresponsive under the barrage of Lucion’s questions, when he locked eyes with Russell.
When Russell raised his fist, Death Knight sighed deeply.
[Look, Lucion. I’m not as useful of a bastard as you think. I did one thing once, but now all I do is kill warlocks.]
“Just say what you do know.”
[Alright. But I’ll only tell you a part.]
“Why?”
[Darkness wants it. It said you’re not ready yet?]
The Death Knight stood up and pointed at his chest.
[Anyway, Darkness left it to me whispering ‘One day, you will have to return it’.]
As if recalling the past, the Death Knight glanced at the sky.
[So, I took on a mission for the price of this power.]
“That mission was to kill warlocks?”
[To be precise, it was to eliminate the warlocks who try to enter the Empire.]
[Darkness…?]
Russell cut into the conversation and asked.
He couldn’t help it.
Wasn’t it too strange?
Warlocks were people who received the blessing of Darkness. There is no way that Darkness would harm warlocks.
[Yeah. Darkness.]
The Death Knight giggled.
[Strange, isn’t it? You are also thinking it’s strange, right? I think so, too. The Darkness blocks the people who follow it?]
The Death Knight walked slowly.
The sound of heavy armor accompanied him.
[Hey, Lucion.]
The Death Knight called out to Lucion.
“Speak.”
[Even if I don’t know all of it, I know enough to know this strange situation was made by you. Because you’re the only person Darkness calls a ‘vessel’.]
— Lucion is Lucion.
Latta mumbled with a gloomy face.
[Anyway, as it seems we will keep meeting in the future, shouldn’t we introduce ourselves?]
Lucion took off his mask.
There was no need for it, because the Death Knight already knew his face.
Lucion looked at him with a fierce gaze.
[What is that look for?]
The Death Knight who was about to pick up the greatsword he had thrown, instead stared at Lucion at his unexpected reaction.
“Did you enjoy it?”
[What are you talking about?]
“I’m asking if you and the Darkness enjoyed it when those scum bastards harassed me.”
Lucion slightly raised his voice.
[… Ah, I was wondering what you were talking about.]
The Death Knight approached Lucion.
Hyum stood in front of Lucion, and Russell and Bethel were on guard against the Death Knight.
The Death Knight didn’t approach any closer and spoke up:
[Lucion. Aren’t you alive right now?]
At the arrogant attitude that seemed to say that he had saved him, Lucion briefly sucked in a breath.
His face soon twisted and he asked:
“You saved me…?”
[Think about it. How did you, who didn’t have the powers of a warlock, survive among the ghosts who hated nobles?]
The Death Knight abandoned his slightly frivolous tone and continued to speak pretty seriously.
[But it’s a fact that I left it alone, so it’s ridiculous to say it out loud. As it would also be ridiculous to kill all the ghosts at the mansion right now.]
Lucion took a slow breath and swallowed his anger.
He had to know his place.
Right now, it would be difficult to knock off even the Death Knight’s helmet with his power.
“… Didn’t you yourself say that you have to kill warlocks? Why did you spare me? It would have been before you met my master-nim.”
At the word ‘master’, the Death Knight seemed to glance at Russell.
[It’s not something I want to say. Anyway, I’m Broson. I live in the mansion, so I’m going to say hi.]
“Wait.”
[You have a lot to talk about.]
Broson was about to leave, so he responded with annoyance.
[Why? What?]
“Why did warlocks come to the border? And as a group?”
[It looks like they’re moving corpses? Perhaps they want to revive corpses to play with?]
“Corpses…?”
Lucion couldn’t just let go of that word.
Because the moment the word ‘corpses’ came out, a blue thread appeared.
Disregarding several people watching him warily, Broson approached Lucion, dragging his greatsword.
[Anyhow, grow stronger. That’s what both the Darkness and I want.]
The Death Knight put his hand on Lucion’s head and lightly stroked it.
“…?”
Lucion’s eyes grew bigger, and Broson flew off somewhere, while laughing happily.
Bethel at last sighed in relief and Hyum stepped behind Lucion again.
[He is a really strange punk.]
Russell mumbled with a stiff expression.
Lucion put on his mask again and looked at Latta.
Meeting Latta’s eyes, Lucion flinched.
— Latta thought Lucion was going to call Latta. Now is Latta’s turn. Latta!
Latta energetically wagged her tail.
[For the warlocks to flock together like this, it obviously means they’re pressing ahead with some kind of experiment… Disgusting.]
Bethel’s voice was mixed with anger.
[You’re probably right. Let’s check the corpses he said they were moving. I hope it’s not what I think it is.]
Russell moved to the opposite side of Latta and checked the corpses one after another.
Lucion also couldn’t stay still.
The blue thread was heading towards the river, but he rummaged through the corpses first to learn information.
Hyum followed behind Lucion.
“I’m going to search, too…”
[Latta, stop!]
Russell suddenly shouted.
— Heup!
Latta, who was just about to stretch out her paw, was startled and quickly hid her paws.
“What’s the matter?”
The also surprised Lucion spoke up.
[Those punks were corrupted warlocks. Their souls are corrupted, so we can’t dig for information, and probably can’t even summon a soul. There is no need to get your hands dirty. The other place, over there, let’s search that boat.]
Russell pointed at the boat moored at the river.
[… Dog fuckers.]
Bethel, who got to the boat first, frowned deeply.
“It’s full of corpses?”
At Lucion’s question, who followed behind her, Bethel looked at the dead warlocks with a disgusted gaze.
[Correct. The boat is loaded with corpses.]
Lucion was dumbfounded that the blue thread led not to a person, but to corpses, but he calmly called out to Russell.
“Master-nim.”
Now he knew without him speaking.
Russell snickered and asked:
[What do you want me to tell you?]
“Do You perhaps know a way to free those people?”
The moment he saw the corpses and the blue thread, Lucion realized.
The corpses brought by those warlocks were used in one of the central events caused by the bastardly Hand of Void in the novel.
It was such an evil that if it wasn’t discovered by Heint, it could have destroyed more than half of the empire.
It seemed that the Hand of Void was currently using the corpses to create an army to cause that situation.
An undead soldier.
Isn’t that the worst type of enemy?
Because of that, many countries chose to burn their dead to prevent this situation.
“Or a way to stop those bastards who want to play with corpses.”
Lucion’s voice sank for a moment.
With the Hand of Void involved, how could he just leave it alone?
[The opponents are corrupt warlocks. They are people who ignore the rules of black magic, so the best way is to burn the corpses to prevent them from using it. To raise the dead, you need at least a skeleton, but you can do nothing with ashes.]
Russell told him about the fastest and easiest way that he also knew.
“Are there no other ways?”
Lucion guided Russell to tell him the answer he wanted.
Russell sighed.
It seemed that Lucion wanted to use magic that could be used by a warlock.
The black magic of raising the dead.
The magic that made even the people who didn’t hate warlocks disgusted.
‘If not, perhaps that magic…’
“I mean using the corpse to call a ghost, something like necromancy.”
But when more ordinary words than they expected came out of Lucion’s mouth, Russell and Bethel were surprised.
Lucion tilted his head.
Whether skeletal or decaying corpses, using black magic, they could be made to move like living people.
But it wasn’t a magic he had to learn right now.
The ‘rise the dead’ black magic was flashy, fussy and the only loud magic among the black magics.
Didn’t he already see it in person when heading through the gate to the central region?
If he learned that magic here and used it, all sleeping priests would obviously jump out.
“What on earth did You think I was asking for?”
Seeing the two people’s reactions, Lucion suddenly felt bad.
Wasn’t he acting really meekly after breaking the window of the Grand Temple with a chair?
*~*~*
Translator’s note: I’m unsure of your definition of ‘meekly’ Lucion.
Editor’s note: It isn’t Lucion’s definition, it’s Cronia’s definition.
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