Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
98. Necromancy (2)
[That is…]
Russell fumbled with his words.
As they couldn’t touch the bodies of corrupt warlocks, lest they would perhaps be influenced by corruption, wasn’t the only thing left the corpses they were moving?
It was simple to raise a corpse and order it to guide where it came from.
Didn’t Lucion obviously want to know who those people were and where their base was?
Russell put it aside for now.
[It’s a black magic that you’re going to have to learn anyway. Death Knights are but a few, and they can’t attack ordinary people, so this is a magic to protect from that weakness.]
No matter if people scorned it, it was a magic that a warlock had to naturally learn.
“Other warlocks use it, so why wouldn’t I learn it? I’ll learn it. But don’t Master-nim and Bethel hate it a bit too much?”
Lucion smirked and glanced at Latta.
Latta showed no reaction.
If it was really out of the question, she would criticize him like she did a moment ago when Bethel killed the ghost of an assassin.
Then, Bethel quickly waved her hands at Lucion’s gaze.
[Ah, I’m not bothered by it. It’s just that I still feel uneasy about raising the dead.]
[Bethel, I get what you’re thinking. On the outside, it looks like evil magic, but if you exclude corrupt warlocks, all dead are actually raised with permission. It’s a completely false accusation.]
[Really?]
Bethel’s eyes grew wide.
With permission?
It looked like she was about to burst out laughing.
[Naturally. Warlocks are no robbers. I worried that if Lucion used that black magic, he would get drunk on the — what should I call it — feeling of power.]
Russell fiddled with his ear.
One could be entrapped by the power to one day raise an army that would only listen to their commands and no one could do anything about.
However, Lucion calmly pointed to himself.
“I’m already a person with power. I won’t get drunk on this much. And I also have the power to move soldiers.”
He had a card — permission to move soldiers — given to him by the emperor in his hands.
[I was never a noble, so I can’t say anything about it.]
Russell raised his eyebrows very high at Lucion’s confident attitude.
[Anyway, Lucion. It’s not black magic you can use right now.]
“Is that so?”
Lucion spoke with a somewhat regretful voice.
He sighed shortly, and looked at the boat filled with corpses.
They all had to be burned.
“You know, Master-nim…”
Lucion spoke up.
He wanted to leave this matter to Heint, and suddenly a good idea occurred to him.
By whom are warlocks hated the most?
Of course by the temple.
[… Lucion. I don’t know what you suddenly thought of, but isn’t it dangerous?]
If he saw his expression, he would be more certain, but regretfully Lucion was wearing a mask.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if the temple owed a debt to a warlock?”
[The temple… owing a debt to a warlock? Is it possible?]
Bethel asked with a doubtful expression.
“Bethel, did you forget who I am?”
Lucion giggled.
[…Ah.]
Bethel made an embarrassed face, belatedly realizing that she overreacted.
Wasn’t Lucion a saint?
A saint recognized by the empire, the empire’s temple and by the high priest Eol of the Holy Nation Nevest.
[About which temple are you talking about?]
Russell lightly waved two fingers.
The Holy Nation Nevest and the empire’s temple worshipped the same god, but their characters were different.
“The empire’s temple.”
Lucion didn’t want to get involved with Nevest.
Weren’t they people who jeered at him, the saint?
In addition, the side that was closer was better.
[So what do you want to do?]
Russell was frowning slightly.
“I can investigate and solve this matter on my own, but how about letting the organization make connections with the temple over this matter?”
[So, you mean to throw a rope to the temple?]
Russell blinked and asked.
“That’s right. Wouldn’t it be quite annoying if we had to deal with them later? Naturally, I planned to sell the organization’s name from the beginning and restrain them by approaching them. They will be suspicious at first, but if we keep giving them things, those suspicions will change into favor.”
[The temple will certainly deal with this matter properly. But the temple isn’t as kind as you think.]
Lucion agreed with this opinion, but he spoke up, cutting Russell off.
“I know.”
[It’s not about knowing, can you let them take credit for everything that you actually did?]
Russell persuaded Lucion again.
Because the whole world believed in one god, the image of the Light was extremely good, but it was actually different.
Light generally manifested at birth, and it didn’t grow stronger just because one believed in the god.
Like Lucion, they could grow through training.
“There is Troe at the temple.”
Lucion gave the solution right away.
Troe, the Divine Beast of Light, already knew that Lucion was a warlock.
He directly said that he must not die or become corrupted, so Lucion thought he would probably add to his power.
— Troe! Right! Troe will be on Lucion’s side.
Latta smiled faintly.
[Ah. Right. Troe can mediate. Well, it would be good if the temple owes you a debt of any amount. No. Not just good, it would be extremely good!]
The Divine Beast of Light was the temple’s face and symbol.
Even if it was later revealed that Troe helped a warlock, would they chase out the Divine Beast who was their symbol and face?
Rather, it was a great opportunity to overturn the warlocks’ image.
“I should discuss details with Krone.”
Lucion spoke, pleased by the positive reaction.
[… Hey, who is Troe?]
Only Bethel couldn’t follow the conversation.
She never heard of a priest named Troe.
“Divine Beast of Light. The beast who gave me this blessing.”
Lucion pointed at his forehead, and calmly looked at Russell.
“Then Master-nim. Can You teach me necroma…”
[… What!? S-so the rumor that you were recognized by the Divine Beast of Light was true?]
Bethel was shocked.
“Yeah.”
Lucion looked at Bethel again.
[Is… Is it possible? Isn’t Lord a warlock? Aren’t Light and Darkness at odds?]
— No. Troe likes Lucion a lot. Ah, likes Latta, too.
When Latta added to Lucion’s words, Bethel’s expression quickly collapsed, unable to comprehend it at all.
Because she would need time, even if he tried to make her understand, Lucion left her alone.
Russell, who glanced at Bethel, fiddled with his ear and spoke:
[It’s a bit unpleasant. Will you still do it?]
“There are no other ways.”
There were no ghosts who could inform him of the situation. Perhaps they fled to avoid warlocks or going to heaven.
[… Necromancy — it’s a pretty difficult magic. It’s a step before raising the dead, and though it isn’t a high-ranking magic, it needs a slight price.]
“Will I have to send magic into their heads again?”
[No. You need a large amount of Darkness and your own blood so you can make a signpost.]
“…!”
Lucion was truly startled.
Darkness was obvious, but blood?
There were scenes in the novel where warlocks cut their own wrists, so he wondered at the time why they were doing it.
— That hurts!
Latta was horrified.
“Does one have to do it?”
Even Hyum, who stayed quiet before, spoke up.
[Yeah. There is no price cheaper than blood to raise the dead.]
“Will I need to use blood in the future too?”
Lucion asked with complicated feelings.
He hated being hurt.
Naturally, he hated being cut.
[Umm.]
Russell deliberately kept quiet, fearing that Lucion might be uncomfortable with it, but now he thought he had to know.
[Yes.]
The moment Russell’s answer fell, Lucion took a deep breath.
[It’s mainly used in necromancy and raising the dead. Besides those, it’s rarely used. Ah, you unconditionally need it when temporarily strengthening black magic. However, it hurts and can cause blood loss, so it’s best to just diligently train Darkness when you have the time.]
‘Blood can strengthen black magic…’
Compared to Heint, who could grow stronger by gathering relics and items close to relics, Lucion thought it was better that he can just cut himself and sprinkle a bit of blood.
When on earth would he go around gathering items?
‘I hope there are items that can strengthen Darkne…’
Lucion recalled the black orb that the Death Knight Broson had.
Was there just one orb?
Lucion’s gaze momentarily turned to Hyum.
‘Don’t Hyum’s eyes change when close to the orb?’
[Alright, I explained this much, so let’s try it. It’s easy to use.]
Russell lightly clapped his hands.
Until now, Lucion showed absurd learning ability.
Frankly, it was impossible.
Isn’t understanding the words and doing it yourself two different things?
But it looked like Lucion would learn this quickly too.
[Lucion. Stop worrying about Anthony and focus.]
Lucion flinched, feeling a pang.
“I’m listening.”
In fact, the scariest thing was Anthony.
Isn’t it extremely scary when the person who always smiles gets angry?
[First things first, you have to fill a corpse with Darkness.]
At Russell’s words, Lucion looked around and selected one of the corpses rolling on the ground.
With Latta’s assistance, he put Darkness into the corpse as Russell said.
[Darkness will say it doesn’t like it. Naturally, anyone would hate entering a corpse…]
Russell thought that the Darkness wouldn’t listen to Lucion this time, but he soon changed his mind.
[Well, you may have Darkness that listens well. Of course, you’re the first.]
From Russell’s perspective, Lucion’s Darkness was as self-assertive as any other Darkness.
But no matter how much Latta assists him, how could it listen so well?
‘Strange. It’s even more obedient than before.’
Lucion felt the strangeness first.
The mumbling voice ‘I hate it’ that appeared no matter what he did, completely disappeared.
— Wooo. Lucion’s Darkness now understands Latta and Lucion’s will. It became kinder.
Latta, who was helping Darkness to move well, spoke, touched.
[Now that the corpse is completely filled with Darkness, drip your blood. It’s not always the case, but the amount of blood is proportional to the strength of the corpse when alive, so if you’re summoning a soul of a strong person, you need a lot of blood and vice versa.]
Russell pointed at the corpse.
[This corpse looks to be an ordinary person, just three or four drops are enough.]
Listening to Russell, Lucion took out a dagger from his pocket.
He kept it for self-defense, but didn’t expect to use it like this.
[The price is half of the reason you offer blood, but it’s also to lure them to your location. You have to wait for the corpse to accept.]
‘It’s really uncomfortable. The corrupt warlocks don’t go through this process and summon them as they like?’
Lucion grumbled and stabbed his finger.
Cut.
The shock of a blade entering his finger felt more nauseating than painful.
Suddenly, his heart raced.
— Hiss.
Latta let out a hissing noise, as if in pain, and turned her head away.
Drip, drip.
Perhaps he stabbed deeper than he thought; the blood trickled down.
Seeing the dripping blood, Russell opened his eyes in surprise.
[Lucion? Didn’t you stab too deeply? Three or four drops were enough.]
[He stabbed deep. Because of nervousness, he put too much strength in his hand.]
Bethel spoke.
[Breathe slowly, Lord Lucion.]
“I’m fine.”
Lucion appeared surprised by the shock he felt after a long time.
He would hold the sword in the future, so he couldn’t let himself be eaten by the fear of being stabbed.
“Keep teaching me.”
Lucion swallowed dry saliva and spoke.
Russell quickly checked on Lucion, and then sighed quietly.
It worried him, but the necromancy came first.
[See that?]
Russell pointed at the place where Lucion’s blood dripped.
The Darkness was bubbling like boiling water.
[This phenomenon occurs when the soul takes the bait. To speak precisely, it means that the price is sufficient and it will accept your necromancy. Because you shed so much blood, it looks very happy.]
“I’ll remember.”
[Alright, now order them to come to you three times. Whatever you say is fine, as long as you just put that feeling into it.]
Lucion nodded and then ordered.
‘Come to me.’
*~*~*
Translator’s note: Lucion, among the protagonists of all the novels I’ve translated so far, you may be the only one I believe when you say you hate to get hurt.
Wait, no. I just remembered your latchou addiction. Damn it.
Editor’s note: Didn’t you hear him though, Wan? He’s fiiiiine. Totally and completely trustworthy words since they were said by him.
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