Chapter 13: Confession
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Chapter 13: Confession.
The death of a single life was often compared to falling asleep.
Just as a body soaked in fatigue was freed from the weariness of daily life, perhaps a body soaked in life was thought to be freed from its karma.
Grrk! Krrrk!
However, that rest was not permitted to her, Necromancer Pale.
Exactly one step before reaching rest, something had seized her and forcibly bound her to the world.
A horrific situation where, despite feeling an extreme urge to sleep, she could not fall asleep.
On top of that, the dreadful pain she felt at the nape of her neck shook her mind like madness.
“Kyahahahahahk-!”
She screamed.
A scream filled with pain and resentment.
Yet the silver-haired boy who was listening to it looked at her face with a spinning smile, as if this situation amused him.
“Feeling a bit more clear-headed?”
An innocent, beautiful voice called out to her.
It was a voice imbued with demonic energy, the power a Necromancer accepted in order to reach the souls of the dead.
“Y-you… you……!”
Pain and suffocation. And fear beyond that tightened its grip around Pale’s mind.
The moment she saw Klein’s figure, she could not help but be horrified.
Ah! Aaaahhh…!
Her current self was a wandering soul bound to a body that was no longer among the living.
And so, what she saw was not the outward appearance of a fifteen-year-old boy, but the essence contained within his soul.
“Aki, Akimon…!”
Seeing his essence with the eyes of her soul, Pale tried to speak his name upon seeing the soul held by the fifteen-year-old boy, Klein Leinrant, but—
“Shh.”
At the boy’s single word, with his index finger placed against his lips, she could not even produce a voice.
“G-ghk…!”
Pale could do nothing but open and close her mouth, utterly unable to resist.
Only then did she realize that her body felt strangely light.
And that her field of vision was excessively low.
“U-uh! Uuuh! Uuuuuuh!”
The bizarre pain and sense of severance she felt at the nape of her neck awakened her to the reality she was in.
Necromancer Pale’s body was now being held in Klein’s grasp, with only her head remaining.
“To think only the head would really be revived….”
She saw the figure of a knight lifting his chin as if nauseated.
Dunkel, was it? Yes, that was him.
The very man who had cut off her head.
She directed a venomous glare at him, but Klein, who had bound her to this body, did not even allow that.
“Klein, young master.”
“Yeah, I know. She’s probably realized her situation by now, so let’s talk.”
Klein spoke with a smiling face as he moved closer to Pale.
Klein Leinrant. The cursed young noble who had claimed to be Akimond.
To think that rumor was true…?
Before she could even organize her chaotic thoughts, Klein’s question rang through her brain.
I need information. Who sent you to the north. Who, where, and how many were sent.
“……!”
If you talk, I’ll let you die peacefully like this. If you refuse, I’ll give you eternal life.
Eternal life.
Words of tremendous value, coveted by all the kings of the world, flowed from his mouth.
There was only one problem.
Pale was currently having a conversation with Klein while her head was severed.
“E-eternal life… don’t tell me…?”
“That ‘don’t tell me’ is probably right.”
At Klein’s words affirming her guess, a chill ran down her spine.
To live forever.
In other words, her soul would have to remain trapped forever in this severed head.
The sensation of drying and withering with the passage of time.
The sensation of insects and microorganisms gnawing at her body.
And the sensation of rotting and decaying moment by moment, all while feeling it.
“Uuuh! Uuuuuuh-!”
Unable to withstand the fear and impatience, tears burst from Pale’s eyes.
Even if she wanted to shake her head, she could not turn it, and even if she wanted to flee, she could not escape.
Just the moment of being alive with her head severed was already a hellish sight—yet to feel this sensation forever.
Unlike her life until now, where she had done anything to survive, now she had to do anything to die.
“…! ……!”
Using every means she could, she shouted out all the information she had.
“The Empire released Necromancers in the north, and the Holy Order turned a blind eye to it?”
The hideouts of the remaining Necromancers, their activity plans, and even their personal details.
Among all the information Klein recorded, what angered him most was the involvement of the Holy Order.
“If a priest shows up, I’ll have more to talk about.”
Saying that, Klein stood up from his seat.
“Mm-! Mmm-!”
What if he forgot about her.
Pale forcibly squeezed out a voice that would not come.
To think that she, who had done anything to enjoy the wealth and glory of the Empire, was now desperately begging for death.
A wave of self-loathing came over her, but it could not be helped.
What stood before her was none other than Akimond.
A Necromancer who commanded an army of millions of undead and had driven the continent to the brink of destruction.
To someone as insignificant as her, he was like a god.
“Right. I said I’d kill you, didn’t I?”
Each time the boy’s smile turned toward her, overwhelming terror washed over her.
Satisfied as he looked at her wretched state, Klein rose from his seat and formed a hand sign.
“Don’t worry. I keep my promises.”
As Klein said that and extended his hand toward her—
Hundreds of cockroaches crawled toward her head.
“A-ah, ah…?”
At that moment, as Pale’s thoughts came to a halt and she lost all words, Klein’s voice descended upon her.
“Endure it for about a week. They’ll kill you.”
With those words, Klein and Dunkel turned their backs.
“W-wait…! No, please…!”
Before she could even scream properly, the hundreds of cockroaches rushed at Pale to devour the prey that had appeared after so long.
***
“Is that true? The Holy Order and the Necromancers?”
“Your exact location is marked on the map as indicated. It would be best to deploy the knights as swiftly as possible….”
The Duke Leinrant’s household.
The information Klein brought back from his reconnaissance mission was enough to turn the ducal house upside down.
The undead piled up in the mine numbered roughly 150 when including the test subjects.
Since thirty people had gone missing in just the village I stopped by, it effectively meant that most of the villages belonging to the count’s territory had suffered this kind of tragedy.
‘No wonder awareness of Necromancers has hit rock bottom in the north.’
They kidnapped families, revived them as zombies, and made them attack their own kin.
The noble houses that should have stopped this and protected their territories were instead preoccupied with factional infighting.
If the Holy Order were to dispatch manpower at a time when such suffering had dragged on this long, the Order’s reputation would skyrocket.
Just like how the villagers had showered me with praise when I returned.
“Burkman!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Heinkel called out Burkman, who had been standing beside me, after addressing one of the servants.
“Dispatch the knights to the locations Klein designated. Send the Red Carriage to the southern Cornwell count’s territory, and the Black Shield to the east.”
“Shall we request support at the wall as well?”
At Burkman’s question, Heinkel pondered briefly, then nodded.
“Send a letter. We don’t know how the watchers will respond, but it’s better than doing nothing.”
“I will carry it out as ordered.”
Burkman bowed his head at Heinkel’s instructions and hurried out of the office.
Once the situation seemed somewhat settled, Duke Heinkel sat down with a sigh and looked at me.
“You’ve accomplished a great deed, Klein.”
“I just got lucky. If it weren’t for Dunkel, I would’ve died on the road.”
I naturally shifted the credit to Dunkel while observing Heinkel’s expression.
For the time being, I decided to keep silent about necromancy.
An unprecedented situation where the Holy Order had deployed Necromancers to expand its influence in the north.
If my own affairs were added on top of that, it would only cause further confusion.
“I originally intended to assign you a few more missions before deciding, but it seems unnecessary now.”
Saying that, Heinkel opened a desk drawer and placed something on the desk.
“This is….”
A seal engraved with a wolf, symbolizing the cooperation and mental fortitude of northern knights.
It was the proof of a Leinrant knight.
“It’s a bronze badge symbolizing an apprentice knight. It’s a privilege in its own way, though considering what you’ve done, it might even be insufficient.”
“No. It’s more than enough.”
As I said that, I accepted the bronze badge resting on the table.
“Once your post is decided, I’ll send someone to you, so make preparations to leave at any time.”
“Understood.”
After giving a brief reply to Heinkel, I left the office.
“Hoo…….”
After Klein left the office.
Heinkel, who had been reviewing the mission report written by Dunkel, let out a sigh.
“Over seventy zombies encountered in an enclosed space, one giant-type undead, and even an armed Necromancer….”
As the head of the Leinrant knights, he had a clear grasp of the capabilities of his family’s knights.
No matter how elite a captain-class knight might be, Dunkel was specialized in one-on-one combat.
He was not someone who could shine in large-scale melees like this.
“In other words, all the achievements outside of what Dunkel could handle were done by Klein.”
Having reached that conclusion, Heinkel looked over the report once more.
“Then that means Klein dealt with at least fifty zombies….”
After analyzing that far, Heinkel set the report down and pressed his fingers between his brows.
At fifteen, alone, and in an enclosed space like a cave, facing a platoon-sized force of undead.
It was an achievement that was hard to believe even when written in a report.
“He may have used another method. Your Highness, a hasty judgment is—.”
“Even if he used another method, that power doesn’t just disappear, does it?”
Heinkel countered Burkman’s words and held his head for a moment.
But only for a moment.
With a firm nod, Heinkel spoke to Burkman.
“Send a letter to my elder brother.”
Elder brother.
In the family registry of the Duke Leinrant household, Heinkel Leinrant was the eldest son.
The person he referred to as ‘elder brother.’
At the thought of that man’s existence, Burkman drew in a hollow breath.
“Your Highness. That person is….”
“I know. He’s not someone who would come just because I call for him.”
Saying that, Heinkel spoke to Burkman once more.
“So convey it like this. ‘The genius you have searched for all your life is here.’”
‘Haha, for now, this puts me at ease.’
Unlike the ducal mansion, where outsiders could freely come and go, a knight’s assigned post was a military zone.
For Garrison, who belonged to the Order, it wouldn’t be easy to break in.
“Ah! Young master, you’re over there!”
Just as I was feeling exhilarated at the fact that an escape route had finally opened up, an innocent voice calling out to me came from afar.
“…Arin?”
The kid who was always holed up in my room—what was she doing coming all the way outside?
While I was thinking that, Arin, who had been hopping around, ran over to where I was in an instant.
“What, did you run out of cookies in your room? Then you should go to the kitchen—why come here?”
“Do you think I only eat snacks, young master?”
“Don’t you?”
“Iiiiii—!”
After calming Arin down as she puffed out her cheeks and pounded her chest, she suddenly shouted “Right!” as if she’d just remembered something, and spoke to me.
“Priest Garrison is in your room right now!”
….
…….
………Fuck, what did you just say?
It was the moment I was about to dumbly ask back, not even processing what I’d just heard.
“Klein Leinrant, young master.”
At the sound of his voice calling my name, my head turned without me realizing it.
A proxy of the Holy Order appearing in an unexpected situation.
I couldn’t even guess what kind of expression I had as I faced him.
“Did your mission go well?”
Garrison’s eyes, smiling deeply, took in my appearance.
Eyes filled with warmth and longing.
They were the eyes that mad priest showed when he harbored killing intent.
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