Chapter 8

Beautiful, threadlike, silver hair in a short cut. Dark-purple eyes reminiscent of amethysts. She couldn’t have been twenty yet… She was perhaps in her late teens. Her skin was fair, but not sickly like Lou’s. Her features were, instead, well sculpted, giving the impression of intelligence, and if we hadn’t been in the situation we were in, her beauty would have entranced me. She was shorter than me, and slenderer, but the energy I felt from her was even more overwhelming than when I’d seen her from afar earlier. Lou, who couldn’t sense positive energy, seemed to have felt something, too—she was dumbstruck at the sight of this woman. Even seeing her up close, she seemed almost divine, without a single shadow to be found, and ah, if such a beautiful person was to be the one to kill me—then I must have been, without a doubt, a being who was not permitted to live in this world. Having said that…I would never actually consider allowing her to kill me. Thankfully, my body seemed to be able to fully endure the energy. Actually, maybe that sense that I’d be incinerated upon getting close had been an illusion, and the waves of power emanating from her body had no destructiveness in them. None of the fairy tales had depicted any undead being obliterated just from getting close to someone. But I still couldn’t stop myself from trembling. It would be impossible to flee. My physical abilities would put any human’s to shame, but I wasn’t up against just any humans. “You’re trembling, and you look pale…” That’s your fault. She spoke out of what seemed to be consideration for me, but her tone and gaze were cold as ice. “You really are a strange bird, Senli,” said one of her fellow knights, a brown-haired man with a sword hanging from his hip. He stood behind her, peering at my face and frowning. My preparations should have been perfect. According to the lord, the Ender Knights could sense negative energy and locate its position from far away. As long as I was hiding that with the amulet, they’d never have any proof, even if they were suspicious… I rallied my nerves. If I couldn’t counterattack or run away, I’d just have to deceive them. Lou was remaining silent. The man who was like the sun never approached; he only watched over us—specifically the one called Senli—with a pleasant expression from afar. If they hadn’t suddenly attacked us, then at the very least, they hadn’t found us out yet. Their gazes gathered on Lou’s collar, but slaves weren’t terribly rare. Lou looked like nothing more than an underfed child, and child slaves were everywhere. In fact, it was better at this specific moment that we were dressed in actual clothing. “Sorry. The princess here might sound angry, but that’s how she normally is. She’s actually got a bright future ahead of her.” Normal? This is normal for her? Those sharp eyes of hers—it was like they were seeing straight through my heart… And that was normal? The woman who could have obliterated me with her aura alone seemed displeased with her companion’s words and softened her eyes a little. “Still, Senli doesn’t worry about just anyone,” continued the other knight. “By the way, I’m not sure how to put this, but you look like you have one foot in the grave. You’re white as a sheet.” “Luphrey! What are you saying? That was rude!” The female blond-haired knight behind him gave him a whack in the head, then peered into my face. It seemed I’d avoided the worst possible outcome, but this was still bad. The sunlight was dazzling. With natural motions, I pulled my hood farther over my face. “…N-no. Thank you, I’m just…recovering from an illness, so…I’ll be fine. Until just a few days ago…I was bedridden, and now I’m…finally strong enough to go for a walk outside.” “Bedridden……,” said Senli. “And are you……all right?” “Yes.” The line out of town was moving, so I moved up with it. But the angels of death, not getting the message, followed me. What the hell were they after? Had they already caught on to my identity? Were they waiting for the right time to annihilate me? I was grateful for this undead body. If I’d been alive, I’d have been sweating buckets. The disciple of the moon—Senli—said in a soft voice, “I can understand that. I, too…was bedridden for a time.” “…Oh… Really…?” I gave her a thin smile, and Senli returned it with the same—a somewhat awkward smile. That shocked me in two ways. First, how could this woman possessing powers on miraculous levels ever have been sickly? And second—for her to use that to try to understand me… Back during my life, I’d have thrown something at her. The only reason I could smile at those words now was because my body was healthy. And what was “healthy” for me was not “healthy” for them. What was I to make of all this, then? Having regained just a tiny bit of composure from her words, I lifted my head and looked once more upon the faces of the Ender Knights. They wore a myriad of expressions. A sigh, a smile, admiration. And that was the second shock. The Knights were glowing. But at the same time, unbelievably…they were just people. In the stories I’d read in my lifetime, there had been Knights feared for their blazing-hot passion among their number. But the ones in front of me, at least, seemed incredibly human. They were showing me consideration—me, who didn’t have any interest whatsoever in the people around me—just because my face looked pale. Their compassion was fitting for disciples of light, but they weren’t like the heroes I’d envisioned. The heroes I’d had in mind…would know that I was already dead. In fact, if that man like the sun had come near, he probably would have realized my true identity. He had the sort of presence that seemed to imply he’d do it, whether or not I had the amulet on me. Senli’s eyes widened as though she’d just thought of something. “Oh yes… I know healing magic—it should restore your stamina a bit.” “No, that’s all right. I’m fine now… But thank you, Miss Senli. If it’s all the same to you…I would rather you cast it on Lou. She’s… Well, she’s tired from taking care of me.” In that moment, I was able to give an actual, sincere smile. Healing magic didn’t work on the undead. In fact, any curative spell that shared positive energy with the target, such as the kind Senli was about to use, would be a powerful poison for me. Senli, that deeply compassionate young woman, nodded slightly. She then turned toward Lou, who was tensely standing next to me, and placed her palm on her. The waves of energy flowing from her body contracted, unleashed by a short incantation. The excess of energy, which seemed able to turn someone to ash with a mere graze, poured into Lou, restoring her sickly white skin to a healthy color in the blink of an eye. As I’d thought…she was strong. Very strong. And despite having used powerful enough healing magic to have obliterated me, the presence surrounding her didn’t wane in the slightest. Unlike the undead, the positive energy used by the Ender Knights had a limit. Was that the sheer difference in our strength? But although magic that would instantly kill me had been used right near me, I didn’t even blink. Because I understood. She was both the natural predator of the dark—and an ally of the weak. Compared to her superhuman power, her mind was all too human…and there would certainly be a way to take advantage of that. Mentally, at least, she stood no chance against the crafty lord. I couldn’t fight them fairly, of course. To do so would be the height of folly. I obviously couldn’t stand up to Senli’s strength nor to the sun man’s. I would have to come up with…a plan. A strategy not for killing Senli and the sun man, but a strategy that would let me survive. Without letting my thoughts rise to the surface, I lowered my head. The eyes of the numerous heroes bored into me. “Thank you…very much. We are in a hurry, so farewell—” The moment I nudged Lou in the back and tried to proceed, someone suddenly put their hand on my shoulder. My heart, which had already stopped, felt like it was going to stop again. I had no pulse and didn’t breathe. Plus, my body heat was actually far lower than a human’s. It was simple fortune the surprise didn’t show on my face. The one who had stopped me was the blue-haired man with the guileful eyes who had been standing behind Senli. He hadn’t said a word until now. “What is it?” “Ah, sorry for stopping you like that. We’re actually… Well, on our master’s orders, we’re searching for a necromancer hiding in the area. A dark sorcerer, the kind that mucks around with death and souls.” “That sounds…difficult…” “Nah. People call Senli the most talented knight in history. If we could only find the necromancer, they’d be dead in an instant. But we’re having trouble getting clues. The shadowy ones are always the best at hiding, after all.” His tone sounded scornful; it certainly didn’t seem like how the widely known Ender Knights would speak. But in a way, I had to be even more careful of that than I did with Senli. Giving my features a hard look, the man said, “I’ll be straight with you. Your complexion is very close to that of an undead. I don’t feel any darkness from you…but vampires are weak to the sunlight. Take the hood off. And if you don’t, I’ll make you.” “Nevira?!” Senli’s voice betrayed her blanching face, but Nevira’s expression remained steady. I realized then: Senli was the strongest of the group, but the others were nearly her equal. Their “master,” more likely than not, was the sunlight man watching us. I gave a little smile, then slowly put my hands on my hood and removed it without hesitation. The sunlight entered my eyes, and I squinted against its brightness. With that weakness of the undead shining on my skin, I started to feel a faint prickling. “Like this? I’ve been in bed in my room for a long time, so my skin is weak…” Nevira, seeming surprised by my immediate acquiescence, widened his eyes and observed my face for several seconds. But eventually, he scowled and clicked his tongue ostentatiously. “Guess not. Yeah, you’re fine. Sorry about that.” “Nevira! …We’re terribly sorry.” “Don’t be. It’s your job. I don’t blame you.” Smiling, I shook my head and pulled the hood back over me. Mentally, however, I was nowhere near calm. I had no heartbeat, no pulse, and no breath. And with a low body temperature, there were several ways he could have found out even aside from my resistance—or lack thereof—to the sunlight. But they only checked the sunlight, because that was an undead’s greatest weakness. The powerful ones who were intelligent enough to get lost in the crowd also generally had a weakness to sunlight, and because they were professionals, it didn’t strike them to check for other things. Just like how the lord hadn’t seen through my mutation. …Come to think of it, didn’t vampires have a pulse and a heartbeat? If I recalled correctly, vampires would die if a wooden stake pierced their heart. Furthermore, they subsisted on consuming blood. It wouldn’t be strange for them to have blood running through their veins. I’ll have to read through the undead encyclopedia again once I’m back, I decided. I said my farewell to Senli and the others, my smile never wavering. “Thank you very much. I bid you farewell…” …and pray that we never meet again. This encounter had been a coincidence. For some reason, I had a premonition. The next time we met…would be in battle. I would live. I’d decided I’d live even if it meant turning into a monster. I had no intention of being the one to attack them, but I would have to bat away the sparks falling on me before they ignited. Even if those were no sparks at all, but the light of justice come to purify me. “What?! You—you encountered the Ender Knights?!” Upon hearing my report, the lord’s expression underwent a dramatic change. His twisted, demonic face conveyed the deep power of darkness, unlike the Ender Knights. I told him everything. Lou would have reported it anyway, so it was all the same if I did it. Their numbers and their weapons. The energy pouring off their bodies. The only thing I didn’t mention was the softness I sensed from Senli and the others. And when I told him about the older man whose energy was like the sunlight, the lord’s emotions reached their peak. His eyes blazing with deep anger and resentment, he pounded the table. It was exactly the kind of thing I’d expect to see from a necromancer. After listening to the details, he balked. “A first-rank knight… And the man himself—he’s…he’s here?” “Do you know him?” “…Yes, I do—he has been a mortal enemy for a long time. I thought I’d kept myself perfectly hidden, but to think he would seriously come to this remote area now that my long-held wish is before my eyes, to extinguish me… How long must he get in my way before he’s satisfied?” “Can you beat him?” “Of—course—I—can!” the lord shouted, out of breath. In his words, I sensed an inflated ego, anger, and enthusiasm. He wasn’t lying. Or he didn’t believe he was, at least. He had grounds to think this way. “Still… If I only had a little more time, I would have gained even greater power! Is this…? Is this my final trial?! No—there is still time. Though it pains me to say, with that man as our opponent, we mustn’t delay.” The lord picked up the cloth-wrapped item. From within it appeared a rod with a smooth bend. Black. It had a glossy texture with a thick bottom that thinned the farther up you went… And then I finally realized what the thing was. Without meaning to, I shuddered. When the lord saw me shiver, he smiled deeply. It was…a fang. The fang of an enormous creature. If a single fang was the length of my arm, how big must the rest of it have been? It was nothing remotely comparable to any of the magical beasts in this forest, at least. Carefully stroking the fang, the lord frowned. “But resentment is not enough. I’ll need another. I’m having Hak prepare one… End, you said that you felt incredible power from the Ender Knights, didn’t you?” “Y-yes… They would have obliterated me in an instant. Turned me to ash at a touch. That was the kind of power I felt.” It was pathetic to speak of, but they were on another level. No matter how I simulated it, even in a state where I couldn’t fully measure their power, I could say that much for certain. I didn’t really know how much strength I’d gain from my next rank mutation, but I doubted one or two more mutations would put me in a position to beat them. But what the lord offered to my answer was a loud laugh. “Heh-heh-heh… Haaa-ha-ha! And that is precisely why you are the vessel of the king of the dead! You may rest assured, End—the power you sensed is proof of the depths of the abyss you possess!! The undead are intense shadows cast by the light. And yet a mere ghoul was able to sense it! The vessel shall suffice! We should have a little more time yet before they arrive here! Rejoice, End!” His eyes twinkled with madness and rapture. And it was all the more hideous to behold after seeing the glowing Knights in person. I didn’t need any power. I’d never wished for anything about the depth of my abyss. Once again, I keenly felt the danger the lord posed. I didn’t know what it was he was going to do, but the man before my eyes now was a devil, through and through. He was on the opposite end of the spectrum from the man of sunlight, but he was no less…a monster. I couldn’t stand the idea of getting caught up in a battle between monsters. There wasn’t a moment to waste. Yes—the lord was right. There wasn’t a moment to waste. “I will make you into the king of the dead! And then I will teach these lowly vanguards of the gods how foolish they were for interfering with my magic!” The lord roared. Lou flinched away, afraid, as though waiting for a natural disaster to pass. But the more the lord shouted, the more I felt my thoughts cooling. It wasn’t fear. My survival instinct was overriding that. King of the dead? Count me out. I was a dead man who knew his place. He should have just left me alone like the corpse I was. As for a plan…I did have one. One I’d thought of on the way back—the perfect strategy. It was replete with risks, but I had to try. And unfortunately, I would need help to do it. I’d make a deal with Lou. I’d already thought of what to say to win her over. I understood how the weak felt. It would work. The Ender Knights, necromancers—anyone who got in the way of my peace could die. Every last one of them. The moon shone gently in the courtyard of the lord’s mansion. Using centrifugal force, I whipped my billhook around. Against that attack, which I’d performed with superhuman power, the alert, poised skeleton knight facing me stepped back, then used the sword it gripped in both hands to skillfully parry. I could feel the weight of years of training and experience behind every move it made. A skeleton’s abilities depended on the owner of the bones used for its creation. You could make a battle-worthy one by using the bones of a veteran mercenary, and you could make a skeleton with the bones of a regular person with no combat experience—but there would be a stark difference between the two. Though the story was dubious, one born of a hero of mythology could apparently even kill dragons. I didn’t understand the logic behind it, but maybe their experience had somehow permeated their bones. And that was, it was said, the merit to making skeletons. Like flesh-men, skeletons were one of the lowest ranks of undead. Undead all sprang from one of four roots, namely: skeletons born from bones; flesh-men born from flesh; wraiths born from souls; and zombies, reanimated rotting corpses that had been the origins of necromancy. They each had their own characteristics, but there were no major differences among them. As a ghoul, the result of a single mutation from a flesh-man, I had higher abilities than a skeleton (this one had a knight’s sword and armor, but it was still just a skeleton). The reason it was handling my attacks in one-on-one combat was none other than the difference in our experience. A skull wearing a helmet. A red light shone from the deep, vacant eye sockets. My opponent was only bones, and I was only muscle. I had more strength—and more speed as well. It had more agility, and as for exhaustion—neither of us felt it. Each time it warded off an attack, it made me more certain. I couldn’t do it. At this rate, I’d never be able to match the Ender Knights. If I were to encounter this skeleton on a real battlefield, I would probably win. I could shatter its bony body in one hit if I landed it, and I had strong regenerative abilities, too. But it was only brute force in the end; it wouldn’t work on anything with more power than me. The Ender Knights weren’t just some run-of-the-mill mercenaries. They were heroes. Their skills and experience were far removed from the skeleton knights the lord controlled. Which meant I doubted I’d even be able to stall for time were I to face them. The lord had listened to my request and prepared one of his underlings for me that had an especially good technique; he shouted at me as he watched the mock battle. “That’s right, End. Think. Your intelligence is your strength. Let your resentment, your emotions, your negative impulses burst forth. The abyss hidden within your body is truly deep. And that is the essence of an undead!” And it wasn’t anything I’d wished for. Sure, I might get stronger by letting my negative impulses explode, but strength wasn’t what I was after. Battle was a last resort. If I lost my cool, I’d be mistaking the means for the end. It might even cost me a successful escape. The lord seemed to see a lot of talent in me, but I didn’t trust him enough to take that at face value. Still, I would need a degree of strength. Even if I was to survive and managed to flee the lord, I’d have many more opportunities to battle after that. My current eagerness for this mock battle with a skeleton knight in lieu of raising my negative energy through hunting was for my future’s sake—for the sake of feeling that difference, of feeling what technique truly was. So that I would never grow drunk on power and engage in reckless combat. I’d gotten a pretty good grasp of how much stronger I was than my opponent, so I thrust the billhook down with all my might, almost tearing muscles in the process. As a reward for the dull pain in my arm, the skeleton knight’s sword broke upon taking the hit, and its bony body and armor both were knocked away. Even then, the lord’s skeleton knight was powerful. It turned, broke its fall, and repositioned itself. But the battle was already over. If I could close the distance before it took the fall, I could destroy my opponent. There was no further point in this battle. I lowered the billhook. I didn’t know what metal the black-painted blade was made of, but even after crushing a sword, there wasn’t a chip on it. Perhaps there was a magical power imbued in it, like the Amulet of Shadow or the Cloak of Perpetual Night. “Satisfied, End?” “Yeah. Thanks. I get the gist of it now.” The gist: I wouldn’t be able to gain the mindset of a swordfighter. Maybe I shouldn’t have relied on my natural ability against the beasts in the past, or maybe I just didn’t have any talent for it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t master swordplay in a single day. Even if I could, I didn’t have the time to build up actual combat experience. For now…I’d set it aside. I should fight with the cards in my hand instead. “Then go hunting. Time is short, but you need to gain as much strength as possible. It will make you notably stronger than learning techniques. If you become a darkstalker, your power will be incomparable to a ghoul’s. That…is how the undead are.” The lord’s words had logic to them. One of the reasons the undead were so feared to begin with was—apparently anyway—how they extended their abilities in leaps and bounds by accumulating negative energy. When Lou came frantically running over, he gave her a brief order. “Lou! Give that skeleton a spare weapon from storage. I must prepare for war… End, finish your hunt by the end of the night and return here. Do not forget that you cannot use your full strength under the sun.” “Right. I don’t want to die, either,” I replied shortly. The lord snorted, then headed back into the mansion. Lou trotted over to the skeleton, who stood there idly, having lost its weapon. Her complexion, which had gotten better for a time thanks to Senli’s magic, had returned to its former pallor. This was my chance. The lord almost never used this courtyard, and he had no familiars here. Most of them were outside, on alert for enemies. I walked over to Lou casually, careful just in case there were watching eyes, then whispered to her. “Lou, I have a request.” “……” “I want to make a deal. There’s something I really want. It isn’t much, and it won’t interfere with the orders you’ve been given.” “……I refuse.” Her reply left me helpless to argue. The skeleton was watching Lou, but it didn’t have the intelligence to say anything. The skeletons were wary of me, and I was being monitored constantly by familiars, but they weren’t the same with Lou, nor was she being surveilled. She was a slave and a paragon of weakness. All she did was carry out the lord’s orders. She was like a living undead. And the lord’s expectations of her were, sadly, very accurate. After all, even with the lord’s enemies—the Ender Knights—in front of her, she hadn’t sought help. Even if she was scared of her whole body being racked in agony for disobeying orders, she should’ve been able to do something about them. Lou was weak. She wouldn’t live long like this, and she probably knew it. I squatted, peered into her exhausted dark-black eyes, and smiled. “I’ll make you the same proposal as before. If you listen to my request, then after the lord dies, I’ll bring you to the town safe and sound. In fact, I could even stay with you until you can make a living for yourself.” “…The master…would never die. That’s a…meaningless assumption.” She didn’t seem surprised like she had been at first. Her body, her voice—they weren’t shaking. Her eyes contained conviction, just like before. Even if she hadn’t been punished because of me, she probably would have given the same answer. That was just how she operated. I decided to try assuming just a little bit of subservience. “Then I’ll owe you. If something happens… I’ll help you… So please.” “No. I have…no right to…indebt myself to anyone. And you…definitely wouldn’t…repay me anyway,” answered Lou in a small voice, frowning. She was right. Between a debt and my life, I’d choose the latter. Actually, more importantly… Lou probably had no intention of listening to my request. As I’d planned, I changed the direction of my proposal. I asked the poor slave, “Then why are you listening to me at all?” “……What?” Lou’s eyes widened, her expression showing confusion for the first time today. Feeling taken aback by how terribly human that expression was, I continued to persuade her, voice filled with passion. “If there was nothing you wanted, you wouldn’t have to listen to what I’m saying. You could just shut your ears and leave.” “……You’re…talking nonsense. I…am not listening.” “No, I understand. I’m a weakling like you, Lou. I know what you want—what you wanted. If you bring me what I want, I’ll give that to you.” “……?” I’d had desires in my past life—but Lou, the lord’s miserable slave, didn’t. Lou looked up at me questioningly. Her face seemed even paler than usual. Maybe she didn’t even know what her desire was. I hadn’t personally wanted to make a proposal like this. But I couldn’t weigh that on a scale against my own life. I brought my lips closer to Lou’s ear as she tilted her head curiously before whispering my persuasion to her. After listening to my words and understanding what they meant, her expression changed. Dramatically. She seemed ready to burst into rage, tears, and laughter, all at once—such was the mixture of emotions on her face. “Wh-what…?! Ah… That’s…ridiculous—” “I’ll keep my promise. I swear. Well?” Lou swallowed and shuddered. But it was pointless for her to resist anymore. A single tear dripped from each eye. Now she knew. She knew what she wanted—knew so keenly it brought her to tears. “You’re…horrible… What a horrible…monster…Master Horos Kamen has—!” Her parched lips reviled me. But she couldn’t resist my offer any longer. Even if it meant being struck with terrible pain, she would carry out my small request. After checking a second time to make sure we weren’t being watched and feeling a tinge of self-hatred, I told Lou what I wanted.