The villagers all held their breaths the moment they heard ‘Necromancer". They exchanged glances with each other, then grasped their farming tools even harder.
The light in their eyes turned hostile.
Well, they finally figured out where the b*stard that destroyed their village and their lives was hiding, so without a doubt, their hatred should be boiling like crazy.
"What should we do about Charlotte?"
Gril looked at the girl. But she simply shook her head.
Her tightly-shut lips parted just a little. "I… go with you."
"It"ll get very dangerous. That"s why you should….."
"I"m coming with you."
"Charlotte, you"re putting us in a spot here. Don"t be stubborn, and…."
She stared at Gril with a completely emotionless face. Those crimson eyes of hers displayed not a hint of agitation, no feeling, nothing.
"I am coming with you."
The air seemed to get so much heavier just then.
The kind of pressure that no young girl should be able to emit came bearing down on us. The man feeling the most of her sunken, emotionless gaze, Gril, hastily swallowed back his saliva.
A short while later, the villagers including Gril, all turned their heads away and avoided meeting her stare.
"….Got it."
When confronted by a venomous snake vying for blood, the hapless puppies - the villagers - got petrified beyond salvation.
She then asked me nonchalantly as if she had finally gotten her permission from the adults. "I"ll support you. Will that be alright?"
I didn"t say anything and quietly studied her for a while. Even though our gazes were interlocked, she didn"t try to avoid me. Well, she used a kitchen knife to fight off zombies, so that was understandable.
If we were to run into more undead later, then this girl should prove to be far more reliable than the menfolk from the village, instead. Besides, she was the only one who could support me anyway due to our similar height.
Gril could carry me, but one wrong reaction from him and I might get killed inadvertently, so that"s definitely a no.
I deliberated on my choices, but in the meantime, the girl took my silence as a tacit agreement. She spoke up. "Let"s get going, then."
She supported me and began walking forward. Naturally, the villagers started following us, too.
As I expected, we didn"t run into any zombies. The zombified bear must"ve been the b*stard"s final line of defence. What a relief that was - if a monster even more scary than the bear popped up, then we"d be annihilated, that"s for sure.
Eventually, we reached the deepest part of the cave.
"Looks like we"re here."
Indeed. Because we could see a wooden door at the end of this dank cave.
The farmer Gril and the hunter Hans stood before the door and exchanged glances with each other, They then cautiously opened the door.
The villagers tensed up and gripped their farming tools tighter.
It was dark inside. The men raised their torches and cast some light in the interior of the chamber. We were then greeted by incredibly harsh stench and rotting corpses strewn about everywhere. Also, scrolls and grimoires written in unknown Rune characters were messily discarded on the ground, too.
"I guess the sorcerer types don"t really like tidying up, huh," said I.
Well, we were talking about a Necromancer here. Even among the sorcerer types, Necromancers were known as light-hating invalids who shut themselves inside dark, dank chambers somewhere far removed.
It was then, Gril suddenly cried out. "Oh, oh!! Oh my G.o.ddess!"
The villagers hurriedly ran towards the corner of the chamber. On a certain rocky wall of the cave, we found a nude woman tied up by her arms and legs dangling in the air.
Her body was riddled with wounds as if she had been tortured.
"Who… are you…?"
With some difficulty, the woman opened her eyes and asked us. It seemed that her vision hadn"t gotten used to the lighting provided by the torches yet. She failed to discern her fellow villagers.
Her question elicited loud answers from Gril and the other men.
"It"s me, Gril! Morian, I came to rescue you!"
"What are you on about?! This is Hans! In order to rescue you, I risked my life to….!"
I became dumbfounded by this spectacle.
I knew that they were somewhat excited right now, but shouldn"t they be acting a bit more rationally than this?
"Hey, you lot. Before yapping on about stuff like that, why don"t you untie her first? Looks like it"s putting a toll on her."
"Ahh! T-that"s right, the Imperial Prince-nim is here to rescue you, too!"
The villagers quickly untied the rope and supported the woman away from the wall.
"Imperial… Prince-nim did?"
She looked in my direction with a surprised expression.
For sure, she was a looker. Pale, blemish-free skin, clearly defined facial features, plus black hair and eyes which were rare in the Continent.
She was surprisingly attractive.
There was no need to even mention her figure, too; abundant b.r.e.a.s.t.s, hand-spun waist, and rather supple b.u.t.tocks. It was like looking at a sculpture, actually.
Any hot-blooded males would dearly love to, uh, share their love with her at least once in their lifetime. She was that kind of a woman.
However….
I began ma.s.saging my temples. "You dumba*s grandson…."
I simply had to insult the original owner of this body.
Sure, the boy"s eyes had opened up to the joys of carnal activities until he became blinded by it, but seriously? This woman had to be in her early thirties, man. To think that he tried to hang himself just because he got rejected by a woman twice his age. What the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l?
I couldn"t help but sigh helplessly.
It was then, something tugged at my mind so I s.h.i.+fted my gaze back to the woman once more to use [Mind"s Eye] on her.
[Name: Morgana
Age: 63
Speciality: Honey trap, Necromancy, dissection, hexing, a.s.sa.s.sination.
+ Currently in an extremely tense and agitated state.]
63 years old?! Necromancy??? Dissection, hexing and freaking a.s.sa.s.sination????
"The Imperial Prince-nim came for me….?" The woman was forming another surprised expression. She sneakily brushed aside the villagers helping her and approached me. "Is it true? You really came for me….?"
She began blus.h.i.+ng a little. Then, with an enraptured expression belonging to a maiden experiencing her first love, she embraced me.
Her smile was so alluring that hearts of men would totally go wildly out of control.
"Ah, ahh! Your highness, thank you!"
I wordlessly pushed the woman away and grasped the shovel. With every ounce of energy I could muster, I smacked the woman in the head.
(TL: In 3rd person POV from here onwards)
Understandably, the villagers freaked out and their expression stiffened in an instant. Even the usually-taciturn silver haired girl had to open her eyes wide.
The woman staggered from the shovel shot to the head before collapsing on the floor.
Her trembling hands rose up to touch the wounded head. Perhaps she still couldn"t comprehend this situation yet, because she kept staring dazedly at the ‘Imperial Prince".
"Argh, should"ve hit her with the shovel"s blade, instead."
The Prince"s utterances caused Morian"s expression to pale instantly. She reached out to the other villagers and flailed about. "H-help me!! P-prince has lost his mind! Please…!!"
The Imperial Prince strode over to her. "I was thinking that something stank real hard here. If only I knew, I"d have searched each and every villager thoroughly." The Imperial Prince cracked his neck and shoulder muscles. And while gripping the shovel, he glared at the woman and snickered. "So, what should I do with you? Beat the living sh*t out of you and then tie you up? Orrr, just bury you six feet under so that you won"t have a chance to play tricks on me?"
The woman screamed out loudly.
It was at this point that the villagers finally regained their wits and stepped in front to protect the woman. They confronted the Prince and spoke up.
"I-Imperial Prince-nim! What are you doing?! Why….?!"
"How could you wield your shovel against a frail young lady?!"
As soon as the villagers stood up for her, Morian quickly hid behind them and s.h.i.+vered away.
Meanwhile, the Prince formed a dumbfounded expression as he scanned the villagers. "Get out of my way. I"m gonna finish this. Or else, you fools are going to get hurt."
The village men quickly shook their heads. To them, the Prince before their eyes had lost his mind.
The boy"s sharp glare, rude and harsh tone of voice - those belonged to a neighbourhood thug, not a prince. He was renowned for his mangnani personality, sure. Lately though, people began thinking that he had improved somewhat, but as it turned out, nothing had changed.
A mangnani would always be a mangnani, indeed.
But then, the Imperial Prince said something completely unexpected to them. "Did you just say she"s a frail young lady? This b*tch is 63 years old. She"s old enough to be your mother, and then some."
Morian"s expression hardened in an instant. Her body began shuddering, too.
This Prince, what was he saying? He knew of her age? But, how….?
"Also, her name"s not Morian or whatever. Was it Morgana? I heard that she showed up in the village three months ago. She must"ve been preparing to start this horsesh*t since then. What a savage b*tch. As expected of cowardly and cheap as*holes, though."
Morian"s eyes grew cold right away. He even knew her real name.
The villagers formed flabbergasted expressions. But that was understandable - she worked as a pharmacist in the village and saved quite a lot of villagers in the process.
So, between such a pharmacist and the mangnani Imperial Prince, who could you trust more?
It was obvious that the villagers would find the Prince unreliable and perhaps, even mad.
"Your highness, could you p-please explain what you mean….?"
The Imperial Prince pointed at Morian and spoke. "That b*tch is the Necromancer."
That one announcement, and the whole cave fell into silence.
The villagers stared at Morian with hardened expressions. Even Gril sneakily distanced himself away from her as cold sweat trickled down his face.
Such a scene left Morian utterly fl.u.s.tered.
‘Uh? What"s this?! They actually believe the words of a crazy prince?"
Such a thing couldn"t happen, though.
She worked so hard for the village"s sake until now, yet they trusted her less than the mangnani prince??
Morian hurriedly shouted out. "That"s not true! That"s not possible…. I"ve been kidnapped by the zombies…!"
"Isn"t that strange? It"s not like they were trying to mature a bottle of wine or something, so why did they kidnap a woman but let her live?"
"T-that"s because I"m the bait…."
"There"s no need to keep you alive, in that case. I mean, you served your purpose when people saw you get kidnapped alive, right? There"s no way a Necromancer would keep bait alive when it could potentially escape and become an annoyance later."
"T-that"s because the evil sorcerer was using me as the hostage….!"
"In that case, we should see someone else besides you here, no?"
"……….."
Morian shut her mouth up.
Cold sweat drops travelled down her cheek and pooled on the tip of her chin. Her trembling eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.
Even the villagers that initially believed in her innocence were distancing themselves away from her. Why? Because they definitely hadn"t run into anyone resembling a Necromancer during their journey through the cave.
Only Morian was here, waiting for them.
She hurriedly shook her head and stepped back.
"No, it"s not true! I"m not lying…! This is a trap! A trap laid out by that evil sorcerer! Why… why don"t you believe me…. Sob…."
She covered her face with both of her hands and began sobbing away. The villagers saw that and exchanged sympathetic glances with each other.
Could they have made a mistake?
Such thoughts entered the villagers" heads. However, they had to change their minds the moment the Imperial Prince said these following words.
"You idiots, are you all wild animals or something? Don"t listen to your base instincts and use your heads a bit more. You actually believe what she"s saying in this situation?" The Prince harshly criticised them and s.h.i.+fted his gaze over to Gril. "Hey, Gril. You still have the holy water with you, right?"
"You mean, your holy water? Yes, sir. I still have some."
The farmer nodded his head and pulled out a vial of holy water from his inner pocket. The Imperial Prince s.n.a.t.c.hed that away and tossed it to Morian. She hesitantly caught the vial, looking confused.
"Drink it. It"s holy water."
Morian shut her mouth up. Just taking one look at the holy water caused her to involuntarily cover her nose. Even though the vial"s cap was securely shut, the stench wafting out from it was extraordinary.
This couldn"t have been any ol" regular holy water. No, it must"ve been created by a high-ranking Priest praying for several days and nights straight. Indeed, it was an incredibly dangerous ‘poison" to a Necromancer that contained a sizeable amount of divinity.
"You"re injured all over, too. You were probably tortured by the cowardly Necromancer, riiight? Drinking that should fix you up right away. However, if you"re that Necromancer…."
….The moment she ingested this liquid, her innards would start incinerating.
Morian took a look around her.
The gazes of the villagers were now focused on her. If she didn"t drink this holy water right now, things would become very bad for her pretty quickly.
She lowered her gaze to the vial and with trembling hands, took the lid off. The stench stung her nostrils.
Just where did that unhinged fool of an Imperial Prince get himself such powerful holy water?
She now could tell that the liquid was imbued with an otherworldly amount of divinity. She then abruptly realised that the divine power that lit up the cave couldn"t have come from anyone ordinary, either.
This b*stard of an Imperial Prince, something had changed in him three months ago.
"Ah, well, I…."
She deliberately loosened her grip.
Clang, smash….
The vial of holy water oh-so naturally slipped out of her grasp and shattered on the floor. Morian feigned shock and shouted out. "Oh, no! I, I was too tense and lost my grip….!"
"No need to fret."
The Imperial Prince glanced at Gril once more. The farmer hesitantly looked around and pulled out three more vials of holy water. He had enough spares, in other words.
That sight caused Morian"s complexion to darken considerably. Her eyes trembled greatly, agitation clearly written in them.
‘You Imperial son of a b*tch!"
She gritted her teeth.
This was a completely unexpected turn of events. She was supposed to ‘a.s.sa.s.sinate" the exiled prince, but now found herself in danger, instead.
In order to dispel the villagers" suspicion, she behaved like a saint and worked as a pharmacist for the past three months, but everything had gone down the drain in one moment, just like that.
It was almost time for the ‘Tide of Death" to rise up from the Land of the Dead Spirits. The Holy Imperial Family wouldn"t have had enough leeway to investigate the death of the Prince, in other words. She planned this event to coincide with that, but now, things had become tangled up beyond repair.
Morian"s eyes slowly s.h.i.+fted over to the wall behind the Imperial Prince. That was where the only exit of this cave could be found.
Her gaze then gradually lowered to the floor.
The gla.s.s vial that used to hold the holy water had shattered into several sharp pieces. Although there were traces of holy water on them, if she roused up all of her demonic energy and dyed them with her blood, she was confident of changing their nature.
Her previously terror-filled expression suddenly crumbled away. The corners of her lips curled up, and with madness-filled eyes, she glared at the prince. "….You stinking Imperial Prince dog."
Was it because of those words? The villagers immediately pounced on her.
"C-catch her!!"
Unfortunately for them, though, the first one to move was Morian.
She quickly picked up a gla.s.s piece from the floor. Her skin burned away from the holy water.
She quickly injected her demonic energy in the gla.s.s and pounced at the Imperial Prince. Blood oozed out from her hands, and she quickly scattered it all around the boy.
As the blood dyed the floor, she quickly recited the spell in her head. It was a Necromancy spell, one designed to summon an undead stained by eternal resentment.
Demonic energy escaped from her body rapidly. Her once-firm skin instantly shrivelled up to form countless creases.
Her stamina also rapidly abandoned her, and even vitality left her in droves. As the remaining demonic energy was quickly consumed, she aged at a visible rate.
Morian sensed her body grow heavy.
She knew she"d have to work hard for a while after growing old again, but it"d be fine - she only had to steal the life span from another living person, after all. She might not get to extend her life, but at least, she should be able to maintain her youthful looks.
A magic circle was drawn in the blink of an eye around the Imperial Prince, and as a large Rune character appeared, the earth overturned to reveal white bones.
"Your highness-!!"
"Oh my G.o.d….!"
"Save the prince!"
The villagers stopped trying to arrest Morian and instead, tried to rescue the boy prince. However, it was already too late. The skeleton grabbed onto the prince"s hand and leg.
She couldn"t use a proper summoning magic so only the upper torso had been summoned to capture the prince, but that was already more than enough.
Morian extended her hand. She aimed the bloodied gla.s.s piece at the boy"s neck, and then….!
BANG-!!
The Imperial Prince instantly crushed the summoned skeleton with his shovel. As the monster"s bones shattered and flew apart, the boy bent down and spun around to swing the shovel as if to borrow the momentum from the centrifugal force.
The blade of the shovel accurately flew in towards Morian"s head.
‘You insane b*stard!!"
There was not a shred of hesitation in his actions. If she got hit by that, half of her head would be split apart by the blade and she"d die.
‘Don"t make me laugh! You think I"ll get killed that easily?"
Morian gritted her teeth.
She was an ‘a.s.sa.s.sin".
From her young age, she learned Necromancy, hand-to-hand combat, as well as a.s.sa.s.sination techniques from the ‘Black Order".
So, that level of attack from the boy was nothing to her. She simply ducked her head lower and dodged the shovel.
It was done. The Prince was now exposed instead after making such a huge move. If she dug in right now and cut the boy"s neck before making her escape, then…!
It was then.
Something approached Morian from her side with a frightening turn of speed. A set of slender-looking fingers suddenly grabbed her hair as well as her scalp. Pain accompanied her senses soon after.
This unexplainable oppressive pressure caused Morian to look to her side. A girl with platinum-white hair was glaring at her with a pair of gooseb.u.mp-inducing red eyes.
"Huh….??"
The girl held Morian"s head in her grip and slammed it down hard on the ground.
< 010.="" imperial="" prince="" is="" hunting="" a="" witch="" -3=""> Fin.