The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 169
It was something I heard from my old teacher. It was a passing remark, so it wasn’t accurate.
“The interspecies alliance, which is currently the continent, is divided into three factions: the Holy Empire, the interspecies alliance, and the 6 Kingdoms Alliance. Among them, I heard that the leader of the interspecies alliance is a descendant of the Dragon.”
-Is the Elf affiliated with the interspecies alliance?
-Then that’s correct. They’ve taken a significant position on the continent.
In a somewhat faint voice, Dragon muttered.
-Then the Holy Empire is the Church of Light.
Dragon spoke as if affirming, and I nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. And the Dark Mages… well, they’re almost extinct. There’s a group called the Black Star in the south, but they’re practically shunned by everyone.”
-…The Black Star still exists?
“Do you know the Black Star?”
-I know.
Dragon replied in a cold voice.
-The dogs of the demon tribe. They’re the worst humans who tried to sell the dimension to the demon tribe. Humans thought they were necessary at one time, but when the demon tribe began to summon many offerings, they abandoned them. It’s surprising that those guys still exist, and the Dark Mages are indeed stubborn.
“…Are you also a dark wizard?”
“You’re different. You didn’t make a contract with the demon tribe and didn’t go crazy from magic either. You’re a rare human. Your magic style is even similar to that of the dark elves. Was your teacher a dark elf?”
I didn’t answer, but the dragon seemed to have already made up its mind.
“The dark elves also survived, it seems.”
“They’re alive, but they lost their dark magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Catacombs collapsed. They say it was the elves’ doing.”
“The elves destroyed the Catacombs? Why…”
The dragon remembered the elves and dark elves as not being as hostile as they are now.
“At one time, they cooperated with each other… What are the Dragonians doing, then?”
“How would I know? So, I told you this much, and now it’s time for you to tell me what your last task is.”
“…You can tell me, I suppose. The black star has been abandoned, and you’re a human unrelated to the demon tribe. That’s good.”
The dragon continued speaking.
“My last task is to eliminate the bright church and the dark wizards, specifically those who made a contract with the demon tribe.”
I asked, looking puzzled.
“The bright church and the demon tribe?”
The demon tribe could be a possibility.
The rulers of the demon realm, especially those at the demon king level, could bring the continent under their control if they crossed over.
Therefore, it was reasonable for the self-proclaimed guardian dragons to be wary of such demon tribes.
However, the bright church was a different story.
“Are they exerting a bad influence on the continent?
“They are. They’re also invaders.”
“The bright church is an invader?”
“Exactly. The goddess of light is the invader. She’s crazy.”
I looked at the dragon with a confused expression, and it continued speaking.
“It’s true that the gods are more friendly to the continent than the demon kings. In reality, most gods receive faith from their followers and provide them with divine power in return. And that’s it. They have a symbiotic relationship with the continent, just like the spirit realm. However, not all gods choose coexistence.”
“So… the goddess of the bright church is not choosing coexistence, but rather invading and occupying the continent like the demon kings?”
“But, although they were discriminatory towards other species, they treated most humans well, excluding dark wizards, I think.”
Of course, this is a story without personal biases, looking at it objectively.
It’s true that they’re arrogant, exclusive, and discriminatory. However, at the same time, they cherished their followers dearly.
“Even the demon tribe is relatively kind to their contractors. The goddess of light is kind to her followers because it helps her achieve her goals.”
It’s said that most gods target humans for proselytization because human faith is the most efficient.
“She’s crazy, thinking of connecting her territory, the land of light, with this continent.”
The so-called “paradise” in the bright church refers to the land of light.
“What does that mean? It’s the same as connecting the demon realm with the continent. Her soldiers will cross over to the continent and kill all living beings except for her fanatical followers. The continent will become their colony. Is that not an invasion?”
In such a world, I thought I wouldn’t have a place to stand.
“That’s why the guardian dragons of the past tried to eliminate them. However… we fell for their scheme, and we also made a huge mistake.”
“Mistake?”
“They spread false rumors that the dragon would destroy all humans. We disguised the condemned bright church members as ordinary humans and made the dragon the enemy of humanity.”
“All humans united against us. At that time, humans were in their second golden age, having inherited the ancient civilization. They occupied a significant portion of the continent, and their numbers were enormous. Therefore, humans were full of confidence.”
If the dragon said it was the second golden age, it was only natural to have confidence.
-They opposed us. At first, we tried to communicate, but we couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe. Moreover, humans already distrusted us. Our words didn’t reach them. So, we made a decision.
-As the strongest species, dragons had no choice. Our mission was to protect the continent, and for that, we had to be strong. And so, we were filled with pride and… simultaneously, arrogance.
It was as if we knew what to say.
-We decided to move according to their will. We couldn’t tolerate the spread of the Church of Light anymore. We designated all humans as enemies and began to attack the continent indiscriminately.
“Crazy…”
-Even if humans called it the second golden age, they were weaker than in ancient times. They crumbled helplessly, and at the same time, the other species they had oppressed began to rise up.
-However, as I mentioned earlier, we were arrogant. We thought only dragons could kill dragons, ignoring the existence of dragon slayers in the distant past. We underestimated humans.
-Many humans died, and several kingdoms, including the empire, collapsed. Most humans fled from us, but there were those who resisted to the end… and grew stronger, overcoming numerous hardships and adversities.
There were those who gave up, and there were those who resisted to the end.
-Among them were dark magicians. They used countless corpses to gain power and formed contracts with demons to fight against us. They were the beginning of the Black Star. Although they weren’t called the Black Star back then, it was essentially the same. From our perspective, it was unbearable. The Church of Light had intervened, and now the demon world was involved as well. We were enraged and began to slaughter them mercilessly.
“…It’s a boast.”
But the dragon ignored my words and continued speaking.
-However, the dark magicians, who had been summoned by the demons, were soon abandoned by humans. Some couldn’t abandon the dark magicians due to their usefulness, but those people were the first to be eliminated by us. The abandoned dark magicians banded together and called themselves the Black Star.
-Humans became more desperate and relied on their gods. Human power weakened, but the Church of Light’s influence continued to grow. Other religions also grew, but they couldn’t compare to the Church of Light. Thus, the Church of Light boasted the highest level of prosperity, rivaling the great temple of the land. And for the first time, a dragon was hunted.
The first casualty appeared.
-Only then did we realize that something was going wrong.
* * *
◈ Anomaly
“Wait a minute.”
At that time, Kaila stepped forward and said,
“I’ve never heard that story before. Didn’t the empire collapse due to the invasion of other species and natural disasters?”
-That’s how it was recorded.
“It’s not like dragons appear in stories or legends. If they had emerged on the surface of history, there’s no reason they wouldn’t have been recorded.”
That’s true.
At least, if they had emerged like that, there’s no reason they wouldn’t have been recorded.
-I’m not human, and I’ve never recorded history, so I don’t know about that. But if I had to guess, it might be because of our actions afterwards.
“…Continue.”
-Yes. The first casualty was a joint effort by the Church of Light’s priests and the dark magicians.
“The Church of Light and the dark magicians worked together?”
I spoke as if I couldn’t believe it, and the dragon affirmed my words.
-Yes. The Church of Light and the Black Star formed an alliance. Our guardian dragon fell into their trap and died miserably. We realized the truth too late, and later, we had to face those who wore the armor made from our comrade’s corpse.
-After the first casualty, we realized that something was wrong, but we couldn’t stop now. The Church of Light made equipment from our dead comrade’s body and gifted it to exceptional humans. And so, another comrade was killed by those who wore the armor made from our comrade’s corpse. Only three guardian dragons remained.
In other words, it meant that only five dragons were left to rule the continent.
-We didn’t just die. Most of the human elites were killed by the second comrade, and fortunately, we were able to recover our comrade’s corpse this time. Although we couldn’t prevent our comrade’s death, the enemy had moved too secretly.
And in the process, we recovered an enormous number of artifacts.
“It’s not like we couldn’t win if we wore equipment made from a dragon’s body.”
-From then on, we established the principle of not revealing our true form. Instead… we decided to use a different method. We paid attention to the vengeful other species.
…
– Especially, the elves had a strong sense of revenge. They had their world tree burned down by humans, and due to their beautiful appearance, they received the most popularity and the most persecution. We handed over the artifact to the dragonians who had been serving us, and ordered them to secretly support the elves and unite with them.
It seemed like the starting point of the interspecies alliance.
– The elves pulled in the dwarves and beastmen who were also persecuted, and although they were somewhat weakened, they still possessed strong power. They asked the dark elves, who were still powerful, for help. With the dark elves joining, a force that even humans couldn’t underestimate was born.
– But that wasn’t the end. We focused on the monsters of the Great Forest.
“The monsters of the Great Forest?”
– The Great Forest… was a land that even we feared.
A land feared by dragons. Dragons are powerful beings who can bring the entire continent to crisis with just five of them.
The fact that they feared that place…
– It was a place that had once been occupied by invaders.
Suddenly, something came to mind.
“The giants…”
– Do you know?
“A little.”
I had heard it from Riet Hildegard.
The red ogre claimed to be a descendant of the giants.
“It seems that Riet Hildegard was… connected to the dragons.”
I paused for a moment, thinking about the dragon’s words.
– Fortunately, the story will be fast. Yes. That place was once occupied by the giants. Many dragons died in battle against them, and the glorious ancient civilization was destroyed due to the war.
At that time, there were only five guardian dragons left due to the aftermath of the war.
Even after a long time, the dragons couldn’t increase their numbers.
– Due to the blood of the giants and dragons that had stained the ground, the monsters of the Great Forest were all special. Even the monsters living under the pyramid were fierce and powerful. We created gates in various places to find the Great Forest.
– And using those gates, we summoned the monsters and made them attack humans.
“…At this point, you guys look like devils.”
– I understand. From a human’s perspective, it would seem that way. However, it was better than the continent being taken over by the demon world or the goddess of light.
An ordinary human might be enraged by the dragon’s attitude.
But to be honest, I didn’t feel much anger towards the dragon’s words.
I’m not a person of this world. I’ve been through a lot in my past life, so I’m just calm about it.
“It’s also a matter of reaping what you sow.”
I was deceived and didn’t know, but in reality, the dragon was moving to protect the continent, and humans were hunting it.
Of course, it was for survival, and as the dragon said, it was the dragon’s mistake, or rather, its fault.
“Most ordinary people who didn’t know anything were just caught up in it.”
– It’s amazing. I thought you would be angry, but you and that woman seem unaffected.
“As long as you don’t harm our lord, we don’t care about others. It’s already in the past anyway.”
As I listened to Kaila’s words, I lightly shrugged my shoulders.
Suddenly, something occurred to me.
“No, wait a minute. Then this barren land…?”
– Are we calling it a barren land now? Yes, that’s right. I did it. I created the gate’s central axis deep underground and placed my rare item on top of it. Originally, my rare item was somewhere else, but I had to move it there due to necessity. My dwarven slaves worked hard for me.
“…Is the central axis of the gate under my rare item?”
I didn’t even sense it.
“I’ll have to find and destroy it.”
It seemed like Dragon had noticed my thoughts.
-“With your current abilities, you can’t destroy the central axis. But if you stop the summoning, that’s a different story.”
“That’s the method we need.”
“That’s enough.”
-“I was going to tell you anyway. Instead, help me.”
It seemed like he didn’t have any intention of giving in.
“What do you want?”
-“Isn’t it obvious?”
He seemed to want the severance of the demon world and the destruction of the Church of Light.
“If that’s the case…”
I didn’t know about the demon world, but the Church of Light was already being restrained, so I wondered how to put it into words…
“There’s room for negotiation. Briefly. But didn’t you say you were the last dragon guardian?”
-“Yes, that’s right. They’re all dead. I’m the human who surpassed the wall, and the other two were killed by the demon king.”
“…Demon king? What on earth happened back then?”
-“All sorts of things happened.”
It started with the Church of Light, which was fueled by Dragon.
As a result, Dragon was destroyed, but the Church of Light still boasted an even higher prestige than before.
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-“I already told you that the Black Star allied with the Church of Light scum.”
So I was quite shocked. Given their current attitude, it was unimaginable.
-“The Church of Light wanted to eliminate the strongest school on the continent, the Terra School. They secretly supported the Black Star, and the Black Star used that support to summon the demon king.”
“…Didn’t the Church of Light also want to conquer the continent? But they helped summon the demon king?”
-“They had their own reasons. The place where the demon king was summoned was the Terra School’s main temple. The Church of Light didn’t underestimate the demon king, but ultimately, they did.”
“I thought the Terra School could stop the demon king.”
It seemed like they succeeded. The continent was in chaos, so it was possible, but…
-“Yes, that’s right. They believed that if they hunted my kin, the dragons, humans could handle the demon king. So they supported the Black Star, and the demon king descended upon the continent.”