The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 192
But it was too precious to abandon, so I sealed it away and had a conversation with the dragon inside the dimensional fragment during my return.
This wasn’t a loss for the dragon either, as it could obtain various information from Yeriya about magic based on mana and dark magic based on magic power.
Of course, I wasn’t completely ignorant about dark magic, but Yeriya’s knowledge as a dark elf who had researched various dark magics for a long time was not something to be underestimated.
Moreover, she possessed the old dark magic of the dark elves, so she knew about many dark magic essences beyond what I had learned.
By the way, she planned to rebuild her dungeon later with the help of dwarves.
The inside of the dimensional fragment was tempting, but it seemed she didn’t want to create a separate research lab in her own space.
I would do the same. And in fact, there was no need to create a dungeon inside the dimensional fragment.
It was a place where no one could enter without my permission, after all.
Just setting up a research lab would be enough.
So, without any major incidents, we returned to the forest of monsters and then to the territory of Linaeta, where an unexpected person was waiting for us.
“Hmm.”
It was Crown Prince Rasheed Superten and…
“I didn’t expect you to come so late.”
It was the 3rd Princess Sharon Superten.
“…….”
And there was also the lord, Prina Linaeta, who seemed to have reached a state of enlightenment.
It was difficult to deal with people of such high status who came to visit unexpectedly.
It was a busy time, and I wondered how they managed their internal affairs.
“There are almost no people…”
“…I greet Your Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess.”
I couldn’t just stand there, so I first paid my respects to the two royals.
To be honest, I wasn’t surprised by Princess Sharon’s presence, but I didn’t expect the Crown Prince to come in person.
“Hmm. It’s nice to see you again. And the person next to you…”
“Her name is Kayla.”
“Lady Kayla. It’s nice to meet you. I heard you’ve reached a great height as a free knight, and the appointment letter was a small help, wasn’t it?”
“I was able to discover my own unknown charm.”
“It’s an honor to have contributed to the birth of the Master, even if only a little…”
“Thank you.”
The prince’s attitude was strange.
Princess Sharon was smiling brightly, as if it was only natural.
The prince seemed to want to say more, but Kaila didn’t show much interest, and so he turned to me instead.
“You’ve heard the conditions. So, you’ll erase the Priogaha family?”
“Yes.”
“You and Kaila are overflowing with talent. There’s no reason to refuse the offer. The deal is accepted.”
I thought as much.
“I’ve prepared what you requested. I don’t know why you need a dwarf, but it’s not a big condition. The only thing is, since we’ve formed an alliance with the interspecies union and agreed to gradually free the interspecies slaves, you can’t own them for life like before.”
“That doesn’t matter. We didn’t intend to use them as slaves from the start.”
“Hmm?”
I revealed my goal to the puzzled prince.
“I have a dwarf who has agreed to cooperate with me on the condition that I find their family.”
“Hmm. That’s the reason, then.”
“So, I’ll choose the dwarves to receive directly.”
“That’s right. Then, you’ll take as many as the number of families you’ve found.”
“Yes.”
“Understood. I’ll make it so.”
It’s unlikely that the prince would come all the way here just to handle this matter. It doesn’t seem like there’s another agenda either….
‘Did you really come all the way here to meet Kaila in the midst of a war?’
There might be a purpose to strengthen our friendship as well. And the ultimate goal is….
‘Recruitment… perhaps.’
I don’t think Kaila will betray me. There’s the oath of mana, and even if there wasn’t, Kaila isn’t the type to betray.
It’s just that, despite not having a bad relationship with the royal family, it’s uncomfortable to see them act like this.
It’s not unexpected, but it’s not pleasant either.
Of course, I didn’t show it on the outside.
I haven’t taken any special actions yet, after all.
I still need the royal family.
The royal family knows that, which is why they’re taking this action.
At the same time, when I think about the empire in the future, the royal family will need me, and they won’t be unaware of my special relationship with Kaila, so they won’t overstep their bounds.
‘Ah, so they’re trying to draw me in completely?’
Maybe they regret sending me under Linetta’s command.
A dark mage directly under the royal family….
‘Well, I have no intention of accepting.’
That’s enough for now. I didn’t plan to get closer to the royal family anyway.
“Considering what they’ve asked of us, we can’t just take down the Priogaha Duchy, can we? How long do you think it’ll take?”
“It won’t take that long. At most, it’ll take around ten days to prepare.”
“Hmm, ten days. If we factor in travel time… Ah, as an undead, rest is unnecessary, right? The Master and the Mage’s physical strength will differ, too. I thought it’d take a month, but if we arrive in twenty days, that’ll be fine.”
The prince, who was calculating various things, looked at me and said,
“Then we can meet Master Luches.”
“Is Master Luches at the front lines or in the mansion?”
“There seems to be an internal issue. Thanks to that, the front lines are currently in a state of reduced activity.”
I thought we should attack faster, but if we do, they might regroup, and some might try to persuade us, so we’re not attacking.
It seems we’ve chosen to prioritize minimizing damage over taking them down quickly.
“The Priogaha Duchy is not a target for persuasion, it seems.”
The prince nodded firmly.
“It’s a warning. Despite being treated well as a Master, they committed a grave betrayal at a critical moment. Even if they come crawling back now, we can’t forgive them.”
There are things that even a respected Master cannot be forgiven for.
“If possible, I’d like to capture the Master alive.”
He’s thinking of publicly executing them. Of course, he’s making it clear that the rights to the corpse belong to me.
“Of course, I won’t force it. You and Kaila have only recently reached a high level, so don’t overexert yourselves. Just do what you can.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“That’s enough.”
After the conversation, the prince invited me and Kaila to dinner, and Sharon and Prina were also present.
As expected, he was subtly testing Kaila, especially since she had cleared the final hurdle through her knight title, to see if she was interested in honor or status.
However, Kaila showed no interest in that and clearly stated that being a free knight was enough for her.
The prince then tried to have as much conversation as possible, but Kaila only gave brief responses, which seemed pitiful from his perspective.
Meanwhile, Sharon, who seemed to have received the prince’s instructions, tried to talk to me, but Prina didn’t intervene.
Kaila occasionally glanced at Sharon, and the atmosphere seemed to be bad, so the prince soon ended the gathering.
Of course, he didn’t just end it abruptly.
“The King wants to meet you once.”
A royal summons.
Refusal was difficult.
However, putting it off was possible.
“I’ll visit after taking down the Priogaha Duchy.”
“Hmm, that’s important too. I’ll prepare accordingly.”
Even in the midst of war, or rather, because of the war, the invitation has been extended.
It’ll also be an opportunity to take credit for defeating the Priogaha Duchy.
As the prince and princess returned to their residence, Prina soon let out a sigh.
“This is troublesome.”
“….”
“They’re openly trying to take away our family members… We haven’t forgotten the favors we’ve received, but when we’re trying to rise to the top… This is frustrating.”
From Rinet’s perspective, it was understandable.
Moreover, I’m Prina’s fiancé.
This is equivalent to ignoring Rinet.
Please note that I will not provide any additional explanations or interpretations.
“It’s because our value has increased to the point where we can afford to take that on.”
I said this to reassure Prina, as if to calm her down.
“I have no intention of going under the royal family’s wing.”
“I know. You prioritize freedom over honor, but that doesn’t mean the royal family will give up.”
Prina said that even if we tried our best to resist, the royal family had given us too much, so we couldn’t block everything.
The crown prince and the three princesses met us, but they didn’t return immediately.
They stayed for a few days, making a nuisance of themselves, and I could have used the undead production as an excuse to leave, but Kyle couldn’t escape easily.
I couldn’t use my guard as an excuse because there was a risk of something happening inside the Rinetta territory, and Prina, the lord, was right next to me.
If I argued here, it would mean that the territory was in danger, so I couldn’t refute it.
But even without Prina’s help, Kyle, who had once been a knight, had a low chance of making a big mistake, and yet, they were royalty, so they could create a lot of trouble if they wanted to.
Thanks to Prina’s help, we were able to get through the situation without any major incidents.
“Ugh, really. I need to learn more.”
On the other hand, Artina, who was left out, burst out in frustration.
She couldn’t even join us for the first meal.
As Kyle’s disciple, she wasn’t completely ignored, but it seemed that focusing on Kyle was more important for now.
“I need to become a master too.”
“Do you want attention?”
“No. I just want to improve, and our enemies are too strong. I need to take the second spot too.”
She gritted her teeth, saying that if they showed interest in her now, she would reject them coldly, using what had happened as an excuse.
Meanwhile, I succeeded in creating over 100 skeletons using the Skeleton Knight technique.
The status was good, and I even got all the equipment from their previous lives, so it was like creating a real knight squad.
Entin couldn’t hide his joy when over 100 knights were added at once.
The ducal family might not be easy to deal with, but with me, Kyle, and Entin’s undead knight squad, we could conquer anything.
“We’ll do it gradually, but…”
“Are you and the master going together?”
“Yes. You have something to do separately.”
Prina’s request came in.
I asked her to return to the oasis and bring back Valdur, and to protect the forest’s shield.
“Bring back the people from the underground dungeon and the orcs who have passed through the Monster Forest.”
“The humans might not be a problem, but the orcs who have settled down might not want to come.”
“Tell them that there are orcs who have joined the interspecies alliance and that they can live among humans if they want. Then, they might show some interest.”
At the very least, we could make it so that the orcs wouldn’t be enemies in the Rinetta territory.
“Do they really need to live together?”
“If they live together, at least they won’t be openly attacked.”
The most dangerous force around us was humanity.
We already knew how powerful human forces were.
It was questionable whether the current power of the Dolgaebaram tribe could handle even one of the Siglen ducal family.
“I don’t know how much I’ve grown.”
If I couldn’t win, I’d join forces. It was one of the ways to survive.
Artina also nodded her head in agreement with my words.
“Got it. I’ll make sure to convey the message.”
◈ Punishment
On the day the Undead were completed and set out, the Crown Prince and the 3rd Princess saw us off at the entrance.
“Come to the capital after the punishment is over. Don’t forget.”
They emphasized it until the end.
All settlements with the kingdom would be made there, and they repeatedly emphasized that they must bring Kayla along.
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After receiving multiple confirmations, they seemed to feel a little relieved.
As soon as we left Rinetta, Kayla let out a rare sigh.
“It’s troublesome. If only we hadn’t crossed the wall at that time….”
It would have been better to hide it, but instead, we foolishly tried to secure the first place and got into even more trouble, Kayla lamented.
“Prina turned out to be more talkative than I thought. We should have had more conversations besides just training…”.
“Prina did help you a lot….It seems you’ve become quite close.”
“Yes. Yesterday, we talked about how to have a comfortable conversation, and I decided to treat her as a friend. Unlike Master, I don’t have any particular status in Rinetta, so I speak formally in official settings, but in private, I treat her as a friend.”
Just like how Master would have a separate conversation, we received a lot of help and became closer than expected.