Late one night, a white object rolled along the forest floor.
It was small, like a pebble, getting stuck in little ditches and bouncing off other pebbles, but it kept rolling, as if trying to go somewhere.
The moonlight illuminated the white object until finally one could make out its shape.
A tiny little skull.
It was like a human skeleton had been shrunk down to that size, but only its head was rolling.
Had one of the Fen Wolves been there, they would have known exactly what it was.
It had been burned into their eyes—as well as their stomachs—during that decisive battle in the graveyard.
The skeleton was the one that had been eaten by the Fen Wolves under Routa’s command, and it shouldn’t have existed anymore: the necromancer, Lich.
“Haah, haah… I managed to fake my destruction and sneak my main body out of my all-important graveyard, but now that it’s been stolen, I have no mana left with which to repair myself… How many months, how many years will it be until I fully restore my strength?”
The skeleton stopped rolling, then looked up at the moon peeking down in the night sky.
“To think one of the Demon Lord’s generals would be defeated so easily… Who in the world was that white Fen Wolf? Enough mana to continuously shoot ultimate destruction magic… Hardy enough to shrug off my attacks… So many wolf soldiers, trained to their absolute best… Strong enough to make me fear him. And that wasn’t the only fearsome thing. His abnormal ideas, too—such as killing me, an immortal, by eating me…”
Lich’s bony body clattered in fear as he remembered the terrible Fen Wolf and how he had gnashed his fangs to devour him whole.
“Weakened as I am, I would not be much help to the Demon Lord. I’ve no idea how much time it will take to regain my original body… My only choice is to go into hiding to replenish my strength. That white Fen Wolf is one to be feared. That one as great as he was born while we were sealed is a grave situation indeed… Perhaps I should be very cautious in my investigation of how to unseal the Demon Lord as well.”
First he’d need to find a safe place… He hated the idea of any more crows and squirrels chasing him around. Why were they so fascinated by a skull in the first place?
As he muttered these things to himself, his skull form continued rolling through the forest.
Then he was stopped—by a high-heeled boot.
“What?! Who goes there?!”
“Oh? Oh, oh, oh, what’s this? I spotted something terribly unsightly, and who should it turn out to be but you , Uncle Lich?”
“That… That voice!”
For him it had felt like a few months. In actual time, however, he had not heard the voice of this cohort in a thousand years, and it had him shocked.
“Carmilla?! You’ve revived as well?!”
The one stepping on Lich was a beautiful girl wearing a mantle over a black dress.
✦ ✦ ✦
Her golden locks and her bloodred eyes glittered ominously in the night.
Her clothing was an ill fit for so deep in the forest and far from human civilization, but the long fangs protruding from her mouth and the big, bat-like wings extending from her back revealed her to be a monster.
“I have indeed, Uncle. It is I, your beloved comrade and vampire princess, Carmilla.”
The girl calling herself Carmilla did a little twirl in place, granting herself an affected sort of elegance.
“But I must say, this is funny. The great necromancer Lich, general of the Demon Lord’s army, reduced to something so laughable!”
Knitting her brows, she giggled. Lich was indignant.
“Where… Where have you been this whole time?! If you had been part of the fight, I might not have lost so terribly…!”
“I wish you wouldn’t ask the impossible. I only woke up just a few days ago, you know. I don’t know why the seal was undone, but I did fly here in a hurry after I sensed your pitiful magic nearby, Uncle. Though we may be of different races, we are both immortal, so I came here to save you. A little thanks wouldn’t kill you.”
Lich had to fall silent after that. If Carmilla put a little more force into her heel, she could easily crush him, weakened as he was.
“First, you’ll explain the situation. Starting with that teeny-tiny body of yours, hee-hee…”
If his body had contained any blood vessels, they would have been quite visible on his forehead. But Lich restrained his anger and chose to proceed with the conversation in a constructive manner.
“…Fine, then. The path to resurrecting the Demon Lord may be as straightforward as we hoped.”
“Oh? Now I’m interested. Why don’t you tell me all about it? And instead of letting others get in the way, I’ll invite you to my crystal palace, Uncle.”
After picking up the skull, Carmilla spread her wings and flew off under the moonlight.