The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 140
The situation would be more awkward if we had to command a large group of mid-to-high-ranking undead.
Among them were mages and priests, so it wouldn’t be simple.
Kaila also nodded in agreement with my words.
“Orie was also surprised.”
“It seems to be more helpful than expected.”
“It’s good that we can communicate with the high-ranking undead, and there are many things that can replace Inha.”
“It’s definitely giving off a substitute master vibe.”
“It seems like Orié has good manners. I didn’t think she would show such respect to me and Valdeur.”
In a world where strong individuals reign supreme, it was surprising to see Orié, who is suspected to be stronger than us, display such an attitude towards me and Valdeur.
As a result, both of us praised Orié without reserve.
We also discussed the individual elites of the Living Armor, exchanging various opinions.
Since it was just the three of us, our evaluations were more candid than before. When Atina brought up a topic, Kaila would provide a calm and collected assessment.
Anelis was also mentioned, and although there were many points to criticize, she had only recently acquired her magical powers and wasn’t causing any hindrance, so the evaluation was relatively lenient.
As we chatted about this and that, we ascended to the surface, and our return was met with a hasty welcome from merchant Paul.
“What, so early? Why are there only three of you…?”
I laughed lightly, sensing his unease.
“We’re in the process of eliminating the remnants. The time it takes will vary depending on the size of the ruin.”
“Then, what about the Living Armors…?”
“I’ve taken care of them. And I’ve secured this.”
I revealed the artifact I had wrapped in cloth before him.
Paul’s expression was one of shock.
He likely didn’t have any information about the artifact.
If he had confirmed the Guardian, he wouldn’t have been unaware of this.
“It’s an artifact.”
“I didn’t know it existed.”
“I’ve heard rumors of an artifact being discovered.”
However, he hadn’t been able to confirm it up close.
At that moment, Paul’s tense expression turned grave.
“I’ll hand it over to the royal family.”
“…Will you do that?”
“I promised to do so.”
We had given him the priority to purchase it.
Still, since we had discovered the ruin ourselves, Paul’s tension was understandable.
“…Thank you. I’ll make sure to report your favor, Do-inha nim.”
When I asked about the compensation for handing over the artifact, I requested something other than money.
“Can I receive the corpse of someone who possessed high-level skills during their lifetime or the Shadow of the Soul instead?”
“…That needs to be confirmed.”
Paul’s expression was one of surprise, as if he hadn’t expected such a request.
Perhaps he realized anew that I was a dark mage.
It wasn’t an easy task to obtain the corpse of someone who had been powerful during their lifetime.
That’s why I made this request to the royal family.
“It’s a bit too brazen, but it’s not a bad demand, either….”
Orié’s achievement this time was exceptional.
Moreover, the royal family might appreciate this even more.
“The compensation for the artifact is uncertain, but if it’s the corpse of someone who was powerful during their lifetime or the Shadow of the Soul, it’s a small price to pay.”
From the royal family’s perspective, providing corpses to a necromancer might be unpleasant, but as long as they maintain a good exterior, it’s better to save money, especially when they need to develop multiple ruins.
“If they don’t have it, they’ll make it for me.”
It’s not that difficult, is it? This is the world we live in. You can get away with anything if you have the right connections and money, and even the talented ones can get away with it if they try hard enough.
But if you try to use bribery or connections to get out of trouble, the royal family will quietly intervene and make it impossible.
Paulie seemed to have finished his calculations and said he would try his best, and I replied that I would leave it to him.
“If things don’t go well, I’ll even open the royal treasury.”
The royal treasury. I’m sure there are things I can use in there.
“The royal family doesn’t forgive those who cross the line, even if they’re powerful wizards.”
The sacred artifact was handed over as a deposit first.
I was already deeply involved with the royal family, and it was impossible to back out now.
We exchanged some light conversation, and I left a message saying I would regularly visit the ruins.
“We need to supply the remaining members, after all.”
“That’s something we can handle on our side…”
“You might even meet the statue.”
“I’ve contracted with a decent mercenary group, and they’re not bad. The Living Armors were a bit much, but the statue should be manageable.”
It wasn’t bad.
I would be able to show off my enhanced undead powers, but that would only increase my value.
“If you’re judged to be too strong, they’ll be wary…”
But I’m not at that level yet. The royal family isn’t some ordinary household, and it’s too powerful for me, a 5-class wizard, to be wary of.
I think I’d rather be grateful.
The king wanted me to help with the Linate territory.
“I need to show off my skills to some extent, so I can send them a proper corpse.”
I nodded, having finished my quick calculation.
“Then, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Just don’t get involved in the subjugation itself, okay?”
Paulie seemed curious about the reason, but he thought it wouldn’t harm him and nodded.
With the supply issue resolved, I had nothing to do for a while.
The undead were all sent to clean up the ruins, so there was even less to do.
Kailra, on the other hand, was always by my side, seemingly unconcerned, and Artina had nothing to do, so she was lounging beside me, yawning.
But Artina’s expression didn’t show any signs of boredom.
“Ah, it’s nice to take a break for once.”
Her face looked rather satisfied.
After all, this request wasn’t originally ours, but we had received it with ease, so it was a welcome break.
As such, we could only welcome the opportunity to rest legally.
“Kailra, you should take it easy too. Artina is relaxing, after all.”
“It’s okay. This is my break.”
“I don’t plan on leaving, so I’ll rest in my room at least.”
“That’s right, Master. I understand you’re worried about not having any undead with Inha, but we’re together in the room. Rest is also part of training, isn’t it?”
Even Artina encouraged her, and Kailra seemed to hesitate for a moment before sitting down.
“I’ll take off my armor too.”
She eventually became lightly dressed, but Kailra didn’t let go of her sword until the end.
I didn’t stop her either.
It seemed like my mind had become more at ease, as I moved closer to Kylla and lay down beside her.
Kylla glanced at me briefly, let out a short sigh, and then ignored me.
I smiled faintly, watching Kylla’s reaction.
Seeing this, I felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity.
Thinking back, when the two of them were together, they were almost always focused on training, and I had rarely seen them relax like this.
“Have we gained some leeway?”
Indeed, compared to before, there was a more stable atmosphere now.
The connection with the royal family had been established, and our abilities were steadily improving.
As an undead, my quality was increasing, and my numbers were also growing.
It was only natural that we had gained some leeway.
And this was a rare break.
It was a short rest, but after this period, this leeway would disappear.
I knew that opportunities like this were rare, so I decided to enjoy this time leisurely.
The three of us, including myself, enjoyed the silence for a while.
Then, Atina opened her mouth.
“Once this is over, I’ll become a publicly recognized dark mage and go to Rinero, right?”
“Then, when will you bring Tia?”
“Maybe soon?”
It seemed like the qualifications for junior membership would be granted soon, but there was no news, and the schedule seemed to be delayed.
“We also need to request an artifact, don’t we?”
If things got delayed, I thought about making a request through the royal family to the royal mage tower.
“I don’t want to owe them a favor, though.”
The royal family having a sense of obligation towards me and me owing them a favor were different situations.
No matter how much the royal family had done for me, if I kept asking for small favors, their goodwill might fade.
So far, the royal family’s actions had been clearly benevolent and clean, but thinking back to the nobles I had seen in my past life, I knew that being careless was taboo.
Therefore, I tried not to ask for favors whenever possible.
Of course, the exception was the matter of the soul’s shadow and the corpse that I had discussed with Paulie. That was a clear transaction with a guarantee, so it was a different story.
“If you gain junior membership, I’ll hire a mage and assign them to you. If junior membership is difficult, I’ll just ask the royal family to find a mage separately.”
It was a kind of passport. The royal mage tower’s mages were generally not interrogated.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
I was also planning to hire some mercenaries as bodyguards.
It would be a long-term request, so it would cost some money, but I had enough.
I had the money from selling gold and jewels previously.
“So, are you going to abandon that dungeon entirely?”
“That would be a waste. From the start, I planned to bring only Tia and Mutr.”
“I’ve gotten too deeply involved with the royal family. That place will be our last resort. And it’s better for the people there too.”
“…Well, it’s safe there, isn’t it? There aren’t any nobles who would exploit them, and they have undead to protect them too….”
We also had an alliance with the dwarves.
Atina, who had once lived as a refugee, seemed to understand what I was saying.
“Of course, Mutr will have to be kept hidden and brought over.”
From the start, there was a reason why I needed a magician.
If things didn’t go well, I’d have to go myself, since I could easily hide Mutr with the dimensional fragments, but the situation wasn’t favorable.
“…Besides, if the Siglen family finds out, it won’t end easily.”
“It’ll be a huge mess.”
Mutr was a dwarf. As dwarves were extremely rare, even noble families like the Siglen counts valued them highly.
Considering I had lent him to the Owalan baronetcy in the past, he was a very useful existence in many ways.
Therefore, it was highly likely that he was still being kept hidden.
If discovered, it would be difficult to get help from the royal family regarding this matter.
“If things go wrong, we might get involved with the Monster Wave.”
The noble family’s murder was also involved, so we might have to kill Mutr to conceal the information.
In this situation, it was worth considering going myself, but as I mentioned earlier, the situation wasn’t favorable.
Becoming a publicly recognized dark magician made it difficult to leave my post, and I wanted to find the dragon’s corpse and insert it into the dimensional fragments as soon as possible.
To do so, there were many things I had to do beforehand, so I was very busy.
“I’ll be careful. Got it.”
“If we avoid the Siglen territory, it won’t be that dangerous.”
“Can we avoid it?”
“We can hire a magician from the Magic Tower for that. There’s a way.”
Athena would become the client, and her request would be to bring her brother along.
“There’s no reason why we can’t make up an excuse.”
I had entrusted Tia to a retired dark magician who could cure her illness, and now that the time had come, it was just a matter of bringing her back.
As I was a dark magician, I could use my connections to justify it, and having a strong guard would be sufficient for any unexpected situations.
My connections as a dark magician would be enough to justify it, and the image of a dark magician was already tarnished.
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The reason for the retirement was, of course, because I was a dark magician, so that would work.
The Magic Tower’s magician was hired as a means to pressure the dark magician.
“The people we hire will wait in the village, and Athena will go alone to bring her back. That’s it.”
If the negotiations don’t go well, I can use the excuse that I have to go with her, and that’s it.
It wasn’t difficult.
Of course, I would hire people who were tight-lipped, but just in case.
“This way, you can give a reason and go into the Monster Forest alone to bring her back.”
This method would work even if it wasn’t the Siglen territory, as long as it was a neighboring domain adjacent to the Monster Forest.