32. Ballad of the Necromancer
“It seems to have gone smoothly. He did not notice until the last moment.”
“Um, it came out excellent.”
A girl with bowl-cut black hair and a somewhat gloomy complexion, No. 0666 Totomorti, was leading Isshi into the room.
“When you combine Verde’s and Fortuna Rossa’s , it’s not difficult to discover enemy spies. Never in their wildest dream did they consider that they were being monitored by us.”
Well, Totomorti said that in a light manner, she also was waving her right hand.
Surprisingly the bucktooth man who got stabbed not that long ago begun to respond with timid movements.
But,
“Isshi-sama I think that this thing is already useless. However, as you said earlier, with proper management we can still train it to do some simple actions.”
While the girl spoke the bucktooth man get up.
“A, u, e, a, o, e , a”
As it began to groan words that doesn’t even makes sense,
“See.”
“Really? It can’t be wrong if the Necromancer herself says so. It can’t perform well because I kill him in ambush, right?”
Toward that inquiry, Totomorti shook her black-haired head in denial.
“No. I think it’s because the hooked-nosed man’s attack awoken a strong sense of mortality. Though the projection was shown by Rossa’s , the sword was simply too quick to see. I think the blow had pierced his heart? Surely this man didn’t realize that he was already dead. That’s in itself was the ideal situation.”
Upon hearing her word, Isshi simply asked; “Is it so?”.
Um, the girl nods,
“My Necromancer gift is the power to manipulate the dead. However, this power comes with a lot of restrictions. Fresher corpses are better to give detailed instructions to; however, the best ones are those that didn’t realize that they died. It’s similar to the man you killed. They are able to reproduce the actions of living people almost perfectly. However, if months or even years have pa.s.sed since the person’s death, then only simple commands can be given. Something along the lines of attacking people at best.They would also lack the ability to speak.”
“I understand. Please put that corpse away for now.”
The girl said “Understood”, then started to wave her hand in a manner simulator to that of a composer.
Then, with a 「pishi pashi」 sound, the head and body of the bucktoothed corpse started to enter some kind of s.p.a.cial rift.
In a matter of seconds, the man’s body began to crumble like sand, and as if being blown away by a gentle breeze, it soon disappeared as if absorbed into thin air. Silver: I should learn some Necromancy, it seems to come with some fun sub-skills
“By the way, how about the other one. Though weren’t you a little flashy in your disposal of that one?”
Towards that question,Totomorti became a little pouty,
“I’m not denying it. But, it was for the sake of our strategy. When people close to me are on the verge of death, I can project their own death visage in their minds.”
While saying so, the two glanced at the corpse of the goblin that had been placed atop the bed.
Thanks to her interference the hook-nosed man saw his own corpse rather than the one of the beast that had been hunt beyond the city’s limits.
“Is there any meaning in showing a person their own death visage?”
“Of course. Do you think I do such a nasty thing as a hobby?”
While Totomorti had misinterpreted his meaning, she still began to wave both her hand on the air.
As if she was playing the piano.
What was transpiring now was a performance for death itself.
Thus a short time later, the hook-nosed man’s corpse began to respond with 「bikuri bikuri」sound.
“Because they die seeing their own corpse, they reject the fact that they have died.
That feeling, the disbelief, the denial that oneself is dead; it causes the corpse to house darker emotions. Necromancers tend to prefer these types of corpses, I think. Though I’m still in the experimental stages.” Silver: Well, we now know what happened to the mercenaries after the battle.
Even while immersed in such an interesting topic, she continued to move her fingers to the finest detail.
While moaning “Uu . . . uugh . . . .” the hook-nosed man starts to unsteadily stand up.
“Fufufu, rise, you pitiful child possessed by death. From now on I will let you trample upon the logic of this world!!”
…
..
.
“Wah!?”
That was what the hook-nosed man said when he awoke.
He seemed to be standing at Jirumu’s entrance.
Although it was late into the night, the pedestrian traffic was not yet zero.
So sometimes a pa.s.serby would throw a suspicious glance in his direction.
“What in the world, why I am here…. How did I end up in this place…?”
When the hook-nosed man tried to recall his memories,
“Guh!? Uugh, what is th-this pain!?”
A throbbing pain run through his head.
But, the pain subsided after a while, and he was able to remember what happened before he lost consciousness.
“Aah, that’s it. I and my partner easily infiltrated the enemy’s base. But, a myriad of traps had been laid as antic.i.p.ated. As we retreated my partner was nearly caught by the enemy and committed suicide. Somehow I was able to escape out of the town’s entrance along with information regarding the enemy’s forces. However, I seem to have blacked out as I ran for my life.”
Remembering everything to such an extent, the deathly pale expression that floated on the man’s face a moment ago disappeared.