I took a short breath. I had thought there might have been something more to that confusing encounter—perhaps even a trap of some sort—but it seemed to have simply been pure coincidence. However, there were still things that didn’t add up.
“Now it’s my turn. What’s with that body?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I assumed any corpse acting as a relay would resemble the spellcaster, but clearly that’s not the case.”
“What a dull question from someone who managed to come so close to finding me. It’s not even worth answering,” the necromancer said, a hint of disappointment in their voice. “Instead, I’ll let you in on a secret. Take a good look at those around you.”
I took a look at the men surrounding the square, all with the same face. Upon close inspection, they weren’t entirely identical. Some had thinner faces, while others were more portly. Some had round faces, others angular. Some were pale, some were dark, and some had scars. There were differences from the neck down as well. Though they were all of similar builds, their weights and heights differed slightly.
Their clothes differed as well. Though they were all dressed like typical commoners, there were chef and blacksmith outfits mixed in with scattered sightings of women and children.
“It can’t be...” I mumbled. “Are they the citizens of this city?”
“An astute observation.” The necromancer nodded in satisfaction. “I put all the people you saved to good use. To make corpses in the shape I want, I have to start while they’re still alive. The entire reason I left survivors in this city to begin with was to have them serve as base bodies for that purpose.”
“The shaping of corpses was originally a very troublesome task, but for this wide-area experiment, I developed a new method that uses healing magic,” the necromancer cheerfully continued. “It’s quite revolutionary, if I do say so myself. Even if I accidentally slice someone up a bit, I can restore them, and it drastically shortens the time needed to fuse the flesh. That’s why I was able to prepare this many relay corpses in such a short time. Of course, the drawback is that healing magic doesn’t work on the dead, so everything must be finished while the base bodies still live. There are a few whom the movement sealing curse works poorly on and cry out during the procedure, which does pain me, but I simply tell myself that they’re all the same once they’re dead. It’s important to be pragmatic.”
The necromancer’s tone was that of a scholar excitedly explaining their discovery. When someone was strong enough to go beyond human limitations, it wasn’t uncommon for their mind to break along the way. The mage before me was without a doubt one such broken specimen.
“So, what’s your goal?” I asked. “Why do all this?”
“Knowledge,” the necromancer replied as though it were obvious. “The research itself is my goal. What else is worth pursuing? To convert the ‘zero’ that is a corpse into a ‘one’ that possesses value. Necromancy carries a significance that goes beyond infinity. It’s capable of bringing great change to the world.” The necromancer, taking the form of the girl, spoke exactly as expected of a broken individual. “That said, it’s not as though I desire a great number of experimental subjects. I’m carrying out this wide-area project at the behest of my patron.”
“The world is a cruel place. No matter how much money you have, it’s never enough for research,” the necromancer lamented. “In addition to corpses in good condition, I require many different tools. The rarer something is, the more expensive it becomes, and things that are necessary in large quantities aren’t cheap either. For one such as myself, who cannot exist among the living, the presence of backers is indispensable. I must do my best to satisfy their requests.”
“So you do have a collaborator. Who is it?” I demanded. “Who’s backing you?”
“Whoops, I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” the necromancer said with a grin. “It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken with the living. I suppose I rambled too much. You’ll have to forgive me for stopping here.”
“All right,” I said, moving hitogata into position. “Then I have no more business with you.”
“Already out of questions?” The necromancer blinked, seemingly let down. “Do you not wish to know more about the fruits of my research? Just the other day, I finally succeeded in an experiment involving the impregnation and childbirth of a female undead rat. The offspring, of course, are living. In theory, it could even be applied to humans. While I’m not well-versed in the emotions of the living, would a man who’s lost his wife not be delighted by that?”
“Not interested.” The surrounding hitogata began to flicker blue as cursed energy leaked out of them. “There’s nothing I want to learn from you.”
“That’s too bad. Then I’ll make this my final question.” The necromancer looked directly at me. “Who are you? In my pursuit of mastery over necromancy, I’ve gathered knowledge on every form of magic and all things relating to it. I’m confident no scholar could surpass me, yet even with all I know, your power confounds me. You call upon that bizarre sword and dragon through an incomprehensible summoning spell. Your talismans operate on principles beyond understanding. It’s all far beyond the bounds of my knowledge. How did you learn those techniques, boy?” A light shone in the necromancer’s eyes as though they were trying to peer into the depths of an abyss.
“I’m not answering that,” I replied, my expression utterly stone-faced. “Even if I did, you wouldn’t be able to understand it.”
“Heh... Very well. Then I have no further use for you either.” The girl’s delicate hands opened the book she had been holding. Particles of light burst forth from its pages with a tremendous surge of energy, gradually taking shape behind the necromancer. “In your final moments, allow me to show you my masterpiece.”