The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 130
“…Do you really think this opportunity is worth more than taking in Anelis, the ticking time bomb?”
“Yes. We have to grab this chance. And if we do, we can bring Tia along.”
“That’s not something to worry about. As long as we survive, Tia will too.”
“Don’t worry. And don’t forget that killing Anelis would also come with great risks. We’re in a situation where we’re at odds with the Divine Empire, specifically the Goddess Church. We can’t afford to make things difficult with the royal family.”
“…I understand. I’ll accept your opinion. But it might be hard to get close to Anelis.”
“That’s fine. Just don’t show the same attitude as before. Especially towards Athena.”
“…I understand. At least, I won’t provoke her.”
“That’s enough.”
After our discussion ended, I finally looked at Anelis.
She had watched the entire process from start to finish and had finally gained the opportunity to join my party, just as she had said before.
“Has your mind changed?”
Anelis quickly shook her head at my question.
“Thank you for believing in me and giving me this chance. I will never betray you. I’ll do my best to contribute to this party.”
At her words, Athena’s face showed obvious discontent, and Kyle didn’t seem to trust her either.
But since she had promised not to betray us, I didn’t say anything.
Anelis must have wanted to intervene in our conversation multiple times.
It was natural to think that her fate was tied to our discussion.
However, she endured until the end and finally got her chance.
“It’s not like we gave you this opportunity out of kindness. We accepted you into our party, but it’s not easy to gain our trust.”
“I’ll take responsibility for my mistakes. I’ll definitely make up for my past wrongdoings.”
“You need to be careful with your words. If you slip up and get caught, it won’t matter if the master tries to defend you – you won’t be forgiven.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Kyle warned Anelis, and she answered without hesitation.
Since she had obtained this opportunity, her attitude was that she had to say this, so I didn’t stop her.
“Then, let’s get back to work and return.”
As I spoke, my companions quickly began to move.
“You’re late. We don’t have much time until our return.”
“It’s okay. We got results.”
“…What? Results?”
Gwen, the coachman who had been waiting for us in the village, widened his eyes at the mention of results.
Originally, I wouldn’t need to explain the situation to him, but he was someone sent by the royal family.
So, I decided to give him a brief explanation.
It was only natural that I didn’t plan to reveal everything.
“I’ve discovered the ruins. It wasn’t a grand place, but there were quite a few ancient artifacts.”
“Amazing. Congratulations.”
“There was also an unfortunate incident.”
“An unfortunate incident… what do you mean?”
“We were ambushed. A few mercenaries from Juturs and Doliren secretly formed an alliance.”
“Really…!”
Although he was sent by the royal family, I knew about the relationship between Juturs and Doliren.
Grenan had an incredulous expression, and I replied nonchalantly.
“It’s fine since we survived.”
Griyan will handle the aftermath. To be honest, I benefited more than I lost, and now the royal family’s request is more important, so I didn’t add anything else.
“The only problem is that time is running out, so let’s head back as quickly as possible. We’ll head to Juturs first, but since we don’t know how Eryun will react, we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
“…That would be really dangerous.”
“We might be attacked by Doliren and Juturs. But don’t worry, even if it takes time, we’ll arrive safely.”
“…I understand. I’ll do my best to escort Doliren.”
Grenan said with determination.
We didn’t rest properly and immediately set off on our return journey.
In Iclamba, we said we were leaving immediately, but no one tried to stop us.
It was as if they didn’t care at all.
Thanks to that, we were able to move quickly and arrived at the border of Juturs earlier than expected.
“Ah, you’re here.”
Eryun himself was waiting for us.
He seemed very welcoming, and fortunately, he didn’t show any hostility towards us.
“I almost left if you were any later.”
“Didn’t you tell me to stay and guard this place?”
“Ah, I made some adjustments. My body’s not doing well, you know.”
“Good. This time, can you guide me to Doliren without stopping at the estate?”
“The schedule is tight. Something went wrong on the Iclamba side.”
“Hmm. Well, since it’s a request from a client who’s willing to pay a lot, I can’t refuse.”
He readily agreed to my request.
‘Hasn’t he been recruited by the Goddess Church?’
It was unexpected. It seemed that the Goddess Church hadn’t taken over all of Juturs yet.
He sent me to Iclamba without stopping at the estate, just as I requested, and I paid him the remaining fee on the spot.
“Ah, that’s refreshing.”
Eryun smiled, seemingly satisfied that I paid the fee immediately.
“Well, that’s it. Good luck with the request.”
And then he left without a care in the world.
The party, who had been tense until the end, let out a sigh of relief.
“Do you not know?”
I nodded in response to Atina’s question.
I don’t know why.
It might be that the situation hadn’t been fully grasped, or maybe the guild and the lord had differing opinions, and they were pretending not to know.
“It could be that we were completely excluded.”
Thinking about what Juterus had said, and how I had publicly announced my request to the guild and had it properly handled, it seemed like there was some complicated situation internally.
However, I didn’t need to dwell on that.
Whatever the situation, it had benefited us, and thanks to that, we were able to reach Dorimleyung quickly.
“If we keep going at this pace, we can arrive within two days.”
That would be within the deadline. I thought we might be late, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
“The best possible result.”
Thanks to our rapid progress, Persos’s remnants and the Moses Commerce couldn’t grasp the situation properly.
To that extent, I thought there wouldn’t be any major issues here.
And my prediction turned out to be correct.
We had prepared for unexpected situations by deploying Specter and moving, but there was no one monitoring us, and we were able to safely arrive at the Dorimleyung territory.
We exchanged brief greetings with the familiar-looking guard and entered the territory, where we saw some people looking flustered upon seeing us.
“They’re from the Moses Commerce.”
Some of them had a look of defeat and immediately ran off somewhere.
It seemed like they were going to report back.
We had completed our request and returned to the territory, aware of the entire situation.
Now that we had come this far, there was no way to turn the situation around.
I immediately headed to the mercenary guild and found Sabiso, informing him of the completion of our request.
“I’ll convey the news to the client.”
“Is the guild master present?”
“Yes, he’s upstairs.”
“There’s an important matter I’d like to discuss. May I talk to him directly? If it’s related to this request, he’ll grant permission.”
Sabiso immediately conveyed the message, perhaps because my expression was serious.
“He says to come up.”
As expected, the guild master immediately summoned me, and I headed to the reception room with my party.
Colmail was waiting for us.
He was alone, probably because he had heard it was related to the request.
“What’s going on with the request?”
Colmail asked first, without even giving us a chance to sit down.
“The Persos Mercenary Unit and the Moses Commerce have betrayed Dorimleyung.”
“What do you mean?”
I began to explain, starting from what had happened at the Juterus lordship, then finding the ruins, and finally their ambush.
“Erwin…?”
“Do you know him?”
“I’ve heard the name. We’re not personally close, though.”
I added that he was someone who could vouch for me in Juterus.
“Anyway, I heard you discovered the ruins.”
“It seemed like a religious site. There were altars and statues, but nothing particularly remarkable was found. A few old books were discovered, that’s all. The ruins were mostly destroyed during the battle, and they intentionally damaged some parts.”
“There were no survivors, you said.”
“Yes. We were desperate, too.”
Instead, they presented their equipment and mercenary badges as evidence.
As a necromancer, I could imagine how their corpses were used.
“A mercenary badge, indeed. With this many numbers, it’s conclusive evidence.”
“There’s a high possibility that the Goddess’s Church is involved.”
“The Goddess’s Church?”
“It’s difficult to provide concrete evidence. They thoroughly erased their traces, so we can’t make it public. However…”
“The suspicion is clear… If it’s indeed the Goddess’s Church, then Inha-nim has a sufficient reason to do so.”
Colmail’s expression turned serious.
“That can’t be made public.”
“I think so too.”
“We should inform Griean-nim about this. Perhaps we should explain the situation to the Young Master as well.”
Colmail looked a bit troubled, but eventually let out a sigh, as if he had no choice.
The situation was too big for Colmail to handle alone.
After a moment of thought, Colmail turned to me and said:
“Thank you for the information. We’ll invite you again when Griean-nim arrives. Ah, regarding the ancient tome, we won’t interfere with your personal achievements.”
“Yes. It’s better to hand it over to the royal family, anyway. I’ll discuss it with Griean-nim personally.”
“That’s a good choice….You don’t need to worry about Persos or Moses. I’ll take care of it.”
Colmail’s face was extremely cold when he mentioned Persos and Moses.
It was a side of him I had never seen before, but it was natural, given his position as the head of a large mercenary guild.
At that moment, I added something, as if I had just remembered.
“Oh, and about Anneliese…”
“…Did she cause trouble again?”
“No. On the contrary, she showed a decent side. She helped us, so I was going to reward her, but she made an unexpected request instead.”
Colmail let out a sigh of relief, as if he was grateful.
“What request did she make?”
“She wants to officially join our party.”
Colmail’s gaze turned to Anneliese, who naturally lowered her head and avoided eye contact.
This was a story we had fabricated together, to make it seem like she was naturally joining our group.
“That means…”
“It’s hard to just accept her, given her past behavior.”
“…I agree. You can’t easily trust a traitor.”
“Still, it’s unusual for a dark mage like her to want to join our party, so… I decided to give her a chance.”
Colmail’s expression was surprised.
“Then…”
“Even if I have the backing of the Doirem branch, being a dark mage doesn’t change. It’s difficult to recruit additional members, so… I’ll accept her as a temporary party member and work with her on requests until she becomes an officially recognized dark mage.”
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It was just a title, after all. I glanced at Kayla and Atina, but fortunately, they didn’t show any unusual reactions.
“Good news, indeed.”
It was a story that was fortunate, at least. The royal family and Colmail would have been a headache for Anelis.
Especially Colmail, who had been “taken care of” by the royal family, would welcome me with open arms if I accepted Anelis.
Colmail looked at Anelis and said,
“That’s a good judgment. Although Inha-nim is a dark mage, she’s different from the dark mages known to the public.”
“…Yes. I’ve come to realize that while working together. To the point where I deeply regret my past mistakes.”
“Glad to hear that you’ve come to your senses. I hope you seize this opportunity.”