Let us turn back time to the morning of the wedding ceremony.
At this moment, Richard’s body was in the underground workshop. His corpse had not vanished, but he was not alive, either.
For, you see, his corpse had been stolen.
Richard now lay atop a pedestal, the foreigner at its side. This man had been the one to make off with Richard’s body. The knights’ security hadn’t been good enough; little wonder, as no one had expected someone would steal a corpse.
The foreigner pulled out a leather bag. Inside was a powder for sorcery made from human bones and decaying meat, along with the poisons of many other creatures. He applied it to Richard’s body and waited a while. First, the fingers of the body twitched. Next, its eyes slowly opened.
“Ah…” Richard’s eyelids lifted. His eyes were cloudy and white.
“I…” He looked down at his own body. In his chest was the hole that had been gouged out by the arrow of light. “What is this place…? What’s happened to me…?”
“I’ve revived you.”
“Revived me…?” Richard looked at the foreigner, sifting through his hazy memories. “…So that’s what happened.”
There had been animated corpses at this foreigner’s laboratory. Now everything made sense—he had brought Richard back to life via the same methods.
However, there was one thing that made Richard suspicious. “It seemed like the animated corpses in your workshop weren’t conscious, though…”
The bodies Richard had fought had been like dolls, without the light of will in their eyes. But he was clearly conscious.
The foreigner answered, “I borrowed the healing might of the Power of God, restoring your brain alone to how it worked during life. Without doing this, I would have had no reason to revive you.”
“And what reason is that?”
The foreigner asked Richard, “What did you do with the Healing Blade?”
Richard realized the foreigner had revived him to ask that question. “…How did you know I acquired the Healing Blade?”
“I figured you were waiting for me to complete the drug that bestows the Power of God so you could kill Sigurd. But then the king was attacked before I completed it. I surmised the reason was thus: You acquired a way to kill Sigurd without relying on my drug. The only thing capable of doing that is the Healing Blade.”
“You’re a sharp man. It’s true that I acquired the Blade. But I’m not going to let you have it. Now that I’m back, I’m going to kill Sigurd with my own two hands.”
The foreigner’s eyes were filled with quiet hostility. “Do you think a mere corpse can oppose me?”
Richard glared right back at the man, gaze just as hostile. “Don’t push your luck, foreigner.”
“Do you think I revived you out of kindness or pity?” The foreigner held up a little doll. It somehow resembled Richard.
“What did you do with the blade?” The foreigner stabbed the doll he was holding with a dagger.
“Urk, guh…” Richard gave a little groan, followed by a scream.
The instant the dagger pierced the doll, he was assailed by a stabbing pain. As he was racked with agony, his mouth started moving on its own.
“The Blade…is at the bottom of a poison bog…in the hunting grounds…”
It was now clear to Richard that he was the doll, and he would be forced to obey all orders from his master, the foreigner. He glared at the foreigner with rebellious eyes. That was all he could do. He was trying to attack, but his body wouldn’t move.
“Let’s head to that bog together,” said the foreigner.
“It’s poisonous. Go in, and you’ll die instantly. There’s no way for you to fish out the blade…”
“Come now, you should know better. You’ll be fine, Richard.”
He followed the foreigner to the poison bog. When they arrived, they could smell the stench of the swamplands even from a distance. Miasma was rising up from the surface of the water, which was bubbling as if it were boiling over. Under orders from the foreigner, Richard leaped into the bog. He was forced to retrieve the sword from the bottom of the muddy water. Though the bog’s poison could kill anything that it touched, it was powerless on a dead man. After fishing out the sword and emerging from the water, Richard felt humiliation beyond description.
Covered in filth, he knelt before the foreigner and offered up the sword.
“You did well.” The foreigner snatched away the blade with gloved hands.
“You fiend…I’ll remember this. Bested by a mere foreigner…”
The foreigner seemed unbothered by Richard’s glares. “Don’t glower at me like that—not when I’ve got a fine gift for you,” the foreigner said, handing something to Richard. It was a small vial. Inside was a fluid that sparkled like the sun. It resembled the Miracle of Life but didn’t glow quite the same.
“What’s this?”
“I’m a man of my word. This is the drug you requested from me. Drink it, and you will be able to wield the Power of God.”
“…So you finished it.”
“More or less, thanks to all the test subjects you provided me.”
But after observing the contents of the little bottle, Richard said, “No, that’s not right. If it were complete, why would you come here to retrieve the Blade? You could have just downed the drug and killed Sigurd yourself… This isn’t finished, is it?”
“I wasn’t lying when I said the drug could give you the Power of God. However, drinking it turns you into a hideous dragon, following which you will expire in a few hours. So no, I will not drink it.”
“How dare you give me such a product…”
“You wouldn’t mind taking it, would you? Since you’re already dead. Your brain is the only part of you I returned to working order with the Power of God. You can’t stop your body from rotting.”