The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 68

From noble mtl dot com

“What are the Horned Orcs of the Great Forest doing here?”

“… You know us? Are you from the Black Star?”

The Black Star is a group of black magicians based in the Southern Great Forest.

It is considered to be the top among the black magician groups, and the military power of the entire Black Star is said to be on par with a kingdom, or perhaps even beyond what a single kingdom could handle.

‘I don’t know if that’s true, though.’

Even if it were true, it would be impossible for the Black Star to go to war with a kingdom.

Black mages are a group of people who can never be united. If they are a minority, it may be fine, but the more they gather, the more they become a disorganized rabble.

In fact, the Black Star is a group created by black mages, who are outcasts on the continent, for their minimal survival, and they don’t do anything specific as the Black Star.

I heard that even their discipline is at a very minimal level.

If they are attacked first, they will inevitably fight together, but unless there is a good reason, it is impossible for them to invade the kingdom with a common goal.

‘Wouldn’t they hit each other in the back of the head before that?’

Rather, it would be more likely for a single, powerful, absolute being to appear and run wild alone.

But it’s all a story I heard from my past teacher.

“You are not from the Black Star.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

It seemed that the Black Star was not a very good image even to the horned orcs.

‘Well, where would the image of a black mage be good?’

There was no reason to like a black mage who was basically a psychopath.

“So, I haven’t heard the answer yet.”

“… Well, I guess I can’t help it if you’ve made your nest here. “The horned orcs have abandoned the Great Forest.”

“Why?”

“We lost the war. We were defeated by the red ogres and were driven out of the Great Forest as a result.”

The expression of the chief of the Gale Wind tribe, Lithild, was distorted with shame and anger.

However, he soon regained his composure and said.

“We are scattered and looking for a new land, avoiding the red ogres who are chasing us.”

“… Red ogres?”

“Hmm? You don’t know the descendants of giants?”

‘Red ogres? Descendants of giants?’

I don’t know about that.

In the first place, I only know about horned orcs because I went to the Great Forest, and I know about them because I will join the Inter-Species Alliance in the future.

Except for a group like the Black Star, I don’t know much about the Great Forest because I haven’t heard anything from my teacher.

I only know what I’ve heard as rumors.

“Hmm… We know you, but they don’t know them… How strange.”

But that wasn’t important, so I asked again.

“I understand why the horned orcs left the Great Forest. I also understand that you are looking for a new place to settle. Are you planning to settle around here?”

“… I haven’t thought about it that far yet… “I called you because I wanted to ask for your help.”

“… Help?”

“Yes. It was good that we escaped the Great Forest to avoid the red ogres, but we were also scattered from our fellow tribesmen. That doesn’t mean we can die, so we were wandering around looking for a new settlement. But… we had a conflict with the orcs.”

Orcs and horned orcs have similar names, but they are clearly different species.

I heard that horned orcs treat orcs almost like primitives or monkeys.

In fact, even if orcs are of the same race, they fight if their tribes are different, so there was no reason to treat them as horned orcs.

“In the process, we lost some of our tribe members. And their size is so big… We had no choice but to fight. They are also very persistent bastards.”

It was expected that it would be difficult to escape.

‘It seems that they have had a conflict with a large tribe.’

There is only one large orc tribe that can be said to be large near here.

It’s a bit deep, but since it’s so big, its territory is also vast.

To be honest, the reason why the Ovalan Barony didn’t advance any further in here and instead expanded sideways was because of that large tribe.

‘If we fight…we’ll lose. In the first place, we can’t even compare to the combat strength of the Ovalan Barony.’

To avoid clashing with them as much as possible, they stopped their development here.

But then, it said that that tribe clashed with the Gale Wind Tribe.

“There was a place among the orcs around here that we suspected was a branch of theirs. Since we’d end up fighting them anyway, we planned to take care of them beforehand, but they must have noticed us and ran away.”

That’s when they happened to find us.

“I remember that this place used to be human territory, but I thought it had fallen due to the recent turmoil. But I never would have guessed that a necromancer would have made their nest here…and when I saw them fighting the orcs , I thought they might be of some help.”

“So…are you saying that those were a branch of that large tribe…and that you sent them here?”

“It wasn’t intentional.”

In other words, we might have ended up fighting orcs we didn’t need to fight.

‘We’ve been dragged into this.’

Even if they said it wasn’t intentional, it didn’t change the fact that I was the one who suffered.

If they had attacked us first, and we had repelled them, there wouldn’t be a problem.

But instead, we, my forces, ended up wiping out the ones who were fleeing from a surprise attack.

If the orcs thought that I and the horn orcs were the same group, I would have no choice but to go to war with them as long as I didn’t abandon this place.

‘I can’t win.’

If thousands of orcs came at me, no country would be able to stand.

Even if all of these undead were still here, we wouldn’t be able to win. We would just have to close down the dungeon and endure until they left, or we would have to flee if they didn’t.

As I organized my thoughts, I felt anger rising within me.

But I didn’t show it, and I suppressed it as much as I could.

There was no point in expressing my anger recklessly here. What’s done is done.

I cooled my head and spoke to Rithilt.

I couldn’t stop my gaze from turning cold.

“How shameless. You dragged us into your fight, and now you’re asking for help?”

“…I apologize for that. As I said before, it wasn’t intentional. I thought this place would have already been destroyed by the previous turmoil.”

The turmoil he was referring to must have been the monster wave.

It was likely that the monster wave was also caused by the red ogres and horn orcs.

I think that the power structure within the forest was disrupted by their pursuit, and the chaos led to the monster wave.

Of course, that didn’t matter. In the end, it worked in my favor. But this was different.

His apology didn’t make my anger go away. Of course not. My dungeon, which I had worked so hard to build, was in danger, and I wasn’t going to be appeased by a simple apology.

I needed a solid solution and compensation.

If he showed any irresponsible behavior…

‘We won’t be able to avoid going to war with them. But even after that’s over, I’ll have to give up on returning safely.’

I’ll kill them all.

The horn orcs, who are relatively few in number compared to the large orc tribe, would be easier to deal with.

While it would be difficult to push through with overwhelming numbers, we had no reason to lose in a small-scale battle.

I was also confident in our magical warfare.

And there was a way to get some compensation.

‘Their horns…store mana.’

They act as a kind of jewel.

You plan to pluck them out and use them as research material for your herbs.

Sensing that my anger had not subsided, Lithild quickly continued speaking.

“Of course, I’m not just asking for your help for nothing. To be frank, our forces are not that weak. We just didn’t want to fight because if we just clashed, our side would also suffer terrible damage. It’s not that we’re being pushed back. And we’ll pay the price.”

He quickly continued speaking.

“I will give you the horns of our deceased brethren and… the treasure of the tribe. The horns… are disposable, but they have mana comparable to that of a precious gem. They are useful in many ways.”

I know that they don’t give up the bodies of their brethren that easily…

It certainly seemed like an urgent situation.

“The treasure… is not more important than the lives of the tribe members…”

“What is this treasure?”

“…A dagger made from the tooth of a Wind Dragon. We used it for rituals, but… you would use it differently.”

Suddenly, I remembered that they had said they were descendants of the Wind Dragon.

“It is no ordinary dagger. It is imbued with a part of the soul of the great Wind Dragon, and it has magical effects. …You could even consider it a type of artifact.”

“I would like to see it in person.”

He hesitated for a moment before taking out the sword and showing it to me.

“This is it.”

The pure white sword was about the size of a dagger, just as he had said.

From the blade to the hilt, it was the same color as if it had been made entirely of teeth, and it was covered in what looked like drawn patterns.

‘It doesn’t seem to be a magical imprint…’

Since he had called it a ritual item, I guessed it was probably a drawing for a ritualistic spell.

“…Just holding it makes you feel lighter as if you are blessed by the Wind Dragon. If you infuse it with some mana, it will create a faint wind blade, and if you infuse it with a large amount of mana, you can even use Wind Cutter.”

The effects are permanent.

“Depending on the quality, amount, and control of the infused mana, it can unleash power far greater than an ordinary aura, so it would be a mistake to think of it as an ordinary Wind Cutter.”

Despite his stiff human speech, he was full of pride when he introduced the dagger.

“It is one of the treasures that has been passed down through generations in the Whirlwind Tribe. Its name is the Fang of the Wind Dragon. There are few tribes that possess such a treasure.”

If his explanation is true, then it is not an exaggeration to call it a treasure.

Without any special enchantment, just the fact that the material is the tooth of a Wind Dragon gives it such effects… it is fair to say that it is imbued with a soul.

Honestly, I think it’s more than enough compensation.

Now that dragons are nowhere to be seen, you can’t buy such a weapon with money.

To be honest, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it’s worth more than the three roots of the blue root of the Trenelcy that I obtained in the past.

That one is finished after one use, but this one is literally an heirloom that can be passed down from generation to generation.

Perhaps places like the royal family or noble families would value the dagger more than the blue root of the Trenelcy.

From my point of view, I prefer the blue root, but that’s just the objective value.

‘It means its power varies depending on the user.’

It’s definitely valuable, but it’s only useful if we can get through this crisis.

There was something more important than that.

“How strong are your forces?”

“The ones present here are only a fraction. Most of our people are currently guarding the young tribe members. We have about 50 people capable of fighting. All of them can use wind magic of 3rd class or higher, and I am at the 4th class level.”

‘They’re more useful than I thought?’

Fifty magicians of 3rd class or higher could be considered the level of a decent magic corps.

“…Originally, we were a much stronger tribe, but most of our ancestors were killed in the war…”

It seemed that even his current power was nothing compared to his past glory.

‘Maybe this guy recently became chief.’

Objectively speaking, a tribe that had such a treasure shouldn’t be this weak.

Looking closely, he certainly didn’t seem that old.

“The problem is… we lack soldiers. If your undead can stall for time, we can deal with a tribe like that. “So please help us.”

According to what he said, we certainly had a chance of winning.

If we put the young orcs in the dungeon for protection, we could make this land of death our battlefield…

‘We can do it.’

I could feel the rage that had reached my head start to simmer down.

Instead of answering him right away, I began to calculate coldly.

If the large tribe only directed their anger at the horned orcs, it might be better to not fight.

It was natural that the artifact, the Wyvern’s Fang, was tempting.

It was tempting, but safety was more important.

I couldn’t put myself and my party in danger because of greed.

I knew that much.

The problem was that there was a high chance that they wouldn’t recognize us as enemies, but there was also a high chance that they would.

‘If we’re going to fight, it would be better to do it now while the undead are still intact.’

If we waited, the time-limited undead would all collapse.

If they recognized us as enemies by then… there was a high chance that we would suffer unnecessary damage.

That’s why we had to make a decision now.

‘The price… Honestly, it’s not bad.’

No, it was good.

If it was that price, we could forgive the ‘mistake’ they made when we won.

‘Plus… the horned orcs will eventually join the Heteromorphic Alliance.’

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If that was the case… creating a connection with them wasn’t a bad choice.

I was in a position where I had no choice but to become enemies with the Holy Empire anyway. The Heteromorphic Alliance hated humans, but they weren’t stupid enough to become enemies with capable humans just because of that.

In fact, most of the kingdoms that belonged to the Six Kingdoms Alliance had a neutral relationship with the Heteromorphic Alliance.

‘The problem is that if we fight, we need to lure the orcs of the large tribe here… ‘

It didn’t seem difficult.

Even though they were quite far away, if we prepared for two days, it wasn’t impossible.

‘We just have to destroy their main force first.’

After that, they would be defeated one by one, and from then on, it would be our stage.

Since we had a magic legion on our side, we had a good chance of winning.