Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
At the first order, the blood sprinkled on the corpse spread over the whole body, stiffened like a tree trunk, and soon was dyed black and dripped down from the corpse.
It looked pretty much like lava.
‘Come to me.’
He felt a strange chill at the second order.
It briefly felt like necromancy spread even to him.
‘Wow…’
Lucion momentarily staggered.
Over half of his Darkness was sucked out, making him feel like blood was sucked out of his whole body.
The feeling of dizziness couldn’t compare with normal vertigo, and he almost lost his mind for a very short moment.
[Endure, Lucion. I said it, a large amount of Darkness will be needed. Calling people who have already entered the cycle of reincarnation is extremely difficult.]
Russell held Lucion in place and patted him.
Puff.
The Darkness that had been flowing around the corpse surged upwards and started to take shape.
‘Come to me.’
After the last third order, Lucion hastily half-lifted his mask.
Feeling his Darkness completely draining, he was flooded with shock, as if his stomach was being ripped apart.
“Cough…”
When Lucion vomited blood, Russell frowned deeply.
[… I thought it would be cutting it close. Are you okay?]
— Heup! Lucion!
“Are You okay, Young Master?”
[Russell.]
Bethel looked at Russell with a stiff face.
[It’s because all the Darkness dried up. It can’t be helped. Lucion’s Darkness was insufficient to use necromancy.]
“… I’m fine. Really.”
Lucion slowly sat down with Hyum’s help.
He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief handed to him by Hyum, and looked at the corpse.
The figure-forming black liquid became a cocoon, as if wrapped in an enormous cloth, and then disappeared.
Shaaa.
In its place, a ghost appeared.
— Whoaa!
Latta’s eyes, which were shrouded in worry before, sparkled.
She looked like an innocent child watching a magic trick.
‘A success again…?’
Russell was secretly at loss for words.
Because Lucion’s Darkness dried up, he naturally thought the necromancy would end in failure.
Necromancy was difficult black magic.
You had to evenly spread Darkness over the body.
The blood has to be appetizing enough to lure the ghost.
You have to speak three times while precisely communicating to the ghost your location.
Normally, the magic can only be activated when all three conditions are met.
‘Latta helps with evenly spreading Darkness, so that’s possible. Blood can be appetizing. But isn’t it difficult to succeed in the last step? It’s enormously difficult.’
To put it bluntly, it was as difficult as illuminating the sky with one Light-filled item to find you.
No matter how bright the Light of the item is, how can you find it when you don’t know the distance and its precise location?
But Lucion succeeded right away.
Russell was surprised by Lucion, but he also was in awe of himself.
‘How good are my eyes to choose such a disciple? Kya.’
[I accepted the call and found You.]
The ghost opened his eyes.
Because of the polite words, it felt like Lucion already dominated him.
[The necromancy is time limited, so do your business quickly. If you want to prolong it, you would need to sprinkle more blood, but…]
Russell looked at Lucion’s blood sprinkled on the corpse and stopped talking.
With this much, it would easily last a day.
[Lord Lucion, how about wrapping the wound? It looks like it will need stitching.]
Bethel looked at Lucion’s gripped hand, from which blood was still flowing.
Lucion stretched out his hand to Hyum, and Hyum gave him a handkerchief with an apologetic face.
The handkerchief was immediately dyed with blood.
“Does it hurt? I apologize. I don’t have medicine with me.”
What medicine? Hyum was secretly terrified, like a human who lost a precious jewel.
“It’s okay. I can get treated at home.”
“My apologies. I’ll make sure to keep some with me from now on.”
After Lucion lightly patted Hyum’s shoulder, he tightly clenched the handkerchief and stood up from his seat.
The ghost obediently waited to answer his questions.
“Were the people who killed you the ‘Hand of Void’?”
He became certain when, at Lucion’s question, the ghost’s unemotional eyes began to burn with rage.
‘I was right.’
He already had the answer through the blue thread, but Lucion wanted to confirm it properly one more time.
However, the result was the same.
As expected, the warlocks killed by the Death Knight Broson were from the Hand of Void.
[Ho-how did you know?]
After the ghost asked in embarrassment, Lucion spoke calmly.
“Just guessed it.”
Frankly, at the current stage, there was only Luminos and the Hand of Void, so even if he just guessed, wouldn’t it be the Hand of Void?
— Wow! Lucion is clever!
Latta smiled widely.
“Young Master was an amazing Person from the beginning.”
Hyum started to talk nonsense he didn’t have to.
Lucion wasn’t shaken by Latta and Hyum’s praises, and calmly pointed at a corpse.
“What are the corpses for? You were killed by the Hand of Void, so wouldn’t you know?”
[I know it’s an absurd request, but can…. You kill those bastards?]
The ghost frowned.
It seemed he didn’t die prettily.
“Depends on the information you give. I offered you precious blood, so doesn’t it have to be costly information?”
[They’re making immortal soldiers. Perhaps another warlock…]
[What…!]
Russell suddenly shouted.
[What did you say right now? Say it again.]
Russell stretched his hand and grabbed the ghost’s collar.
[I-I said that the Hand of Void is making immortal soldiers.]
The ghost spit out again because of Russell’s threatening voice.
[Immortal soldiers?]
Russell mumbled it a few times like he couldn’t believe it.
Russell shook the ghost’s collar again with a twisted face.
[You mean the Hand of Void is doing such dog shit lunatic things?]
[Yes. I clearly heard it before I died. Really.]
[Don’t make me laugh! Those crazy…!]
Russell shouted, and then his hand grabbing the collar lost its strength.
The ghost was the victim, it was ridiculous to take anger on him.
[We’re already treated as scumbags, but you’re adding oil to fire? Crazy bastards. Crazy bastards!]
Russell shouted and then bit his lips.
[…The immortal soldiers are real?]
Bethel naturally thought of the undead when looking at corpses, and hearing it, she realized it was real.
[Yeah.]
When Russell replied gravely, Bethel asked again.
[Can the soldiers be maintained long enough to be used?]
[If the price is enough, you can maintain it for a month. The soldiers who don’t die, don’t sleep, don’t eat and even don’t complain are enough to destroy a country in a month.]
Through Russell’s reaction, Lucion realized how big of a debt he could claim with the temple.
“So where are those bastards?”
Lucion asked.
The base of the Hand of Void was in the Neavera Kingdom.
But that was very vague.
How good would it be to hear more details on it?
[That… I don’t know.]
“Then where are they taking corpses?”
[I heard they’re taking them to the eastern region. I also heard something about the Sea of Death.]
‘Eastern region and the Sea of Death?’
Together with the Magic Tower, there was a strange sea called Sea of Death in the eastern region where nothing could live, and if you touched it, you would rot.
Because of the Sea of Death, no one could invade from the east, so naturally the Cronia family, who protected the border, was important.
‘Why the eastern region of all things?’
Lucion briefly felt doubtful, but he thought he couldn’t solve it right now and couldn’t come up with anything else.
‘Considering the way back, I’m going to travel all over the empire.’
In the south, he had to obtain mines for the blacksmith Jamad and the item maker Miella.
To make money, he had to make connections with merchants, so he had to visit the north, too.
Moreover, there were six branches created by the Neavera Kingdom.
‘… Shit.’
Lucion felt his face instinctively crumple.
[Ah, they don’t have enough corpses yet. And I heard that the price is also insufficient.]
Even though wary of Russell, the ghost diligently spit out everything he knew.
Wouldn’t it help to destroy the Hand of Void?
‘The price is insufficient, so there is still time before it happens, right?’
He eliminated Luminos before it grew bigger, so it was also possible with the Hand of Void.
Lucion clenched his fists.
‘I’ll destroy it all. All of it.’
There were still many organizations that were to join hands with the Hand of Void.
***
Crackle.
Lucion briefly looked at the fire visible in the distance.
The ghost he summoned disappeared while thanking them repeatedly.
As he couldn’t let those corpses fall into the hands of the Hand of Void, it was best to just burn them.
‘I hope Father will recognize this signal.’
Fire in the middle of the night.
Wouldn’t anyone get suspicious?
Lucion hoped that Novio would investigate this and naturally make a connection between warlocks and the Neavera Kingdom.
Snap.
The blue thread was cut.
Seems like they were all burned now.
‘…!’
But another blue thread tied him together with someone he didn’t know.
‘It’s not a red thread, but a blue thread.’
Lucion was disappointed, but he checked time first.
Knowing there was still time to meet the assassins, he followed Bethel.
Then he abruptly recalled Novio and Carson, who suddenly went to the walls at the very edge of the border.
“Master-nim.”
Lucion called out to Russell.
[Yeah, Lucion?]
Russell turned his head and looked at Lucion.
“Doesn’t it strangely feel like this incident is connected with the Neavera Kingdom gathering soldiers at the border?”
Knowing that the Neavera and the Hand of Void were one, he couldn’t think of them as separate now.
Especially if they stimulated Novio and Carson’s trauma to turn away their gazes.
[… Thinking about it, there are some strange things about it.]
Russell, who heard the details of Lucion’s theory, squinted.
[Warlocks don’t move in groups.]
— Why? Can’t they go together?
Latta, who was frolicking behind them, asked.
[If they are captured, won’t they be killed regardless of a reason? If they gather, they will be conspicuous, so they don’t move in groups.]
Latta perked up her ears and her eyes grew bigger.
[I know it, too. Even when experimenting with the curse, the person changed each time. They didn’t form a group.]
Bethel added to Russell’s words.
‘As expected, no matter what, it’s abnormal.’
Lucion thought while moving forwards.
— One, two, three, four.
Latta moved her head around, first looking at Lucion and lastly at herself.
— Five!
Latta was startled.
— Heup! Oh no! Five, five! We’re a group!
[No. It’s two.]
Russell pointed at Lucion and Hyum.
How can a ghost count as a person?
— Latta…?
When his finger didn’t point at Latta, Latta stopped in her tracks and looked sadly at Russell.
[Three.]
Russell quickly corrected himself.
Latta immediately smiled and vigorously shook her tail.
— As expected, it’s five, not three. Latta counts well.
[… Latta is really kind.]
Understanding what ‘five’ means, Bethel smiled warmly and petted Latta.
— Right. Latta is kind. Hyum praises Latta every day.
Latta smiled bashfully and chased after Lucion who had become distant.
Swish!
At the air splitting sound, Lucion, who was in thought, and Latta, who was running to him, were startled.
“My apologies. There was a pebble in front of you. I thought Young Master may trip over it, so I unknowingly applied a bit too much force out of anger.”
Hyum was surprised too, and he stepped forward to pick up the pebble he kicked, but Lucion’s hand wave stopped them.
Would there be anything left of the stone? It probably turned into dust.
“Master-nim. After thinking about it, I conclude it isn’t strange at all.”
Lucion looked at Russell.
They had to distract Cronia’s eyes to secretly move the corpses, and the best method was for the Neavera Kingdom to send soldiers to do all kinds of annoying things. There was nothing to it.
The warlocks, who don’t normally move in groups, must be moving in a group out of wariness towards the Death Knight Broson.
[Yeah. The two incidents may look separate, but from my perspective, who knows what’s up. They look connected. Neavera and the Hand of Void can’t act separately?]
Russell gave his opinion and Lucion naturally looked at Bethel.
[I think it’s a very good decoy.]
Bethel also agreed.
Lucion’s mask was dyed blue.
“And I thought of one more thing.”
[One more? Tell us.]
Russell urged Lucion.
“If they safely entered Cronia and survived Broson’s attack, how on earth did they plan to leave? The waterway is closed after 7 pm because of Luminos.”
Novio obstructed all headsprings to block all the waterways and entrances to Cronia for him.
[The answer is obvious.]
Russell laughed.
[There is a traitor. Right here.]
Russell’s finger pointed to the ground.
“Yes. Those are my exact thoughts.”
They heard Lucion chuckle.
Cronia wasn’t the only family in the border region.
Smaller nobles also had territories and held positions at the border.
However, the king of the border region was Cronia, and with their enormous influence, when one spoke of the border, they were automatically referring to the border.
In the situation where Novio blocked all the entrances, it could only be some bastards who opened the way, and who was that ‘traitor’ Russell pointed out?
There was someone among nobles who was often, no, always jealous of Cronia, and joined hands with the kingdom of Neavera.
“Bastards ready for some throat-slitting appeared just when I needed to test the assassins’ abilities. Good.”
He was wearing a mask, but Lucion seemed to smile widely.
*~*~*
Translator’s note: In case someone is confused why necromancy is just a ghost summoning and not raising the dead, it’s the traditional usage of the word ‘necromancy’. Before the fantasy media popularized necromancers, necromancy referred to summoning ghosts and communicating with them.
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