Chapter : 09
Necromancer of the Mine (1)
Kaaang—!
It had been a long time since I had basked in sunlight.
At the training grounds, Delain’s sword and mine were clashing with exhilarating force.
“Waaah, it’s flying again.”
I muttered blankly while looking at my practice sword soaring up into the sky.
“Be honest. You used mana, didn’t you?”
When I spoke to Delain with half-lidded eyes, he shook his head with a serious expression.
“No, that’s not the problem.”
As he said that, Delain closed the distance until he was right in front of my nose and grabbed both my shoulders.
My practice sword, which had fallen a beat late, struck the ground with a clatter!
“Little brother.”
“Stop calling me something that gives me goosebumps, and just tell me what the problem is.”
One week had passed since the Duel Trial.
Since I had gotten Father’s acknowledgment of my swordsmanship anyway, I enthusiastically grabbed Delain and sparred with him.
But the result was total defeat every time.
The biggest cause of those losses was that monstrous strength and stamina Delain kept pouring out.
No, seriously, my technique was better now, you know?
Want me to show you? My five-hit consecutive Meteor Sword?
“Klein. Did you do the exercises I taught you yesterday?”
“Uh…. Huh?”
At his question that hit the nail on the head, my voice came out strange.
“You didn’t. Right?”
“Uh, um, that is….”
The slower my answer became, the closer Delain’s face drew.
That muscle monster obsessed with stamina and exercise.
“Wait a second, listen to what I have to say!”
“Go on. I’m listening.”
After barely stopping Delain, I desperately argued my case to him.
I had plenty of logic to explain myself.
No, honestly, what did a Necromancer even need stamina for?
Instead of exercising, it was far more efficient to study one more anatomy text or construct one more mana circuit theory.
Tear muscles on purpose to build up the body? While spending three or four hours a day?
It was inefficient.
“So what I’m saying is, exercise is really nothing but an utterly foolish—.”
That was when I began a long-winded explanation of why I didn’t exercise.
And as always, I failed.
“That’s just because Young Master is lazy.”
By the time I returned to my room after dinner, the sun had already set.
From the moment I started explaining, I had been dragged away and trained by Delain for three hours.
As I lay sprawled on the bed, completely exhausted, Arin added her two cents.
“Lazy? Can’t you see I’m reading a book even now?”
“You said it’s a knight novel anyway. Then that’s just playing around.”
“Ugh….”
Unable to find a rebuttal, I silently turned my head and opened the book.
‘Who knew her being illiterate would be this helpful.’
The cover was a knight novel from the library, but the book I was reading was not actually a book.
It was a blank, empty book.
Inside, it was densely filled with lists of anatomy, mana circuits, and spell formation diagrams that I wrote down every night.
“Oh, but you know, haven’t you noticed something strange lately?”
“Strange how?”
As always, the chubby maid with a cookie in her mouth pointed at the window and spoke.
“Like, when I’m cleaning in the morning, you know?”
“Uh-huh.”
“They say there are tons of handprints left on that window.”
Pff—!
At those words, I almost spat out the black tea I was holding.
“You okay, Young Master?”
“Kgh, cough! Uh…. I’m fine. S-so?”
Watching me cough after choking, Arin shrugged and continued her story.
“Yes. Mary, who stays in the next room, said, ‘These handprints were made from the inside—!’ so….”
Cold sweat broke out on its own.
The early dawn hours when Arin went to sleep were my research time, when I demonstrated the spells I had recorded.
With actual souls and the spiritual bodies I constructed roaming all over the room, it wasn’t strange for something like that to happen.
“I’ll have to tell them someday….”
Honestly, secretly conducting research like this had its limits.
On top of that, with Priest Garrison already suspecting me, there was no telling what he might do.
No matter what, I needed to secure safety and a proper research environment away from that priest.
Knock knock.
As my worries deepened, I tilted my head at the sound of knocking coming from beyond the room.
“A knock? At this hour?”
Dunkel, that priest bastard, and Arin—the ones who usually came into my room—never knocked.
From the moment I first arrived at this mansion, I had told them to come in whenever they wanted, and now even if I told them not to come, they would just barge in anyway.
Then the person who would knock at this hour was….
“Young Master Klein. It’s Burkman.”
As expected, it was Burkman, the butler of Heinkel, calling my name.
“What is it?”
When I opened the door and said that, Burkman bowed deeply to me and spoke.
‘It’s true I upheld the family’s dignity during the Duel Trial, but isn’t this a bit too much?’
While thinking that as I looked at his increasingly polite attitude lately, Burkman gestured for me to come out and said,
“His Grace the Duke is summoning you.”
“Your Grace. The two young masters have arrived.”
“Let them in.”
With Duke Heinkel’s permission, the servant opened the door and ushered us inside.
“Sorry to trouble you so late. Burkman.”
“Not at all. I will come to escort you once the conversation is over.”
With those words, Burkman left the room.
What remained were Delain and me, standing side by side.
And Heinkel, sitting silently in the study, reading a book.
‘What is it, did I do something wrong?’
‘No, nothing? Isn’t it because you don’t exercise?’
‘He’s calling me at this hour just because I didn’t exercise? He’s not you.’
‘Didn’t he do that to you? He called me.’
“Word has arrived. Count Cornwell has withdrawn from all affairs due to personal reasons.”
Heinkel spoke to us as we mouthed words at each other.
“Thanks to that, it seems a vacancy has opened in the security of the eastern mines he was managing.”
Listening to that, I nodded.
‘Well, the delirious state would easily last for over a dozen years, and even if he woke up, he’d suffer lifelong aftereffects.’
Recalling his ruined state, I shrugged my shoulders.
Karma, I guess. I nearly died thanks to him.
“And at that mine…. there have been eyewitness reports claiming they saw this.”
As he said that, Heinkel pointed to a picture placed on the desk.
A twisted skeleton and a body riddled with holes.
Delain’s eyes widened when he saw it.
“A zombie came out of the mine?”
At those words, Heinkel nodded.
“There are already more than ten eyewitnesses, and I’ve heard there are reports of fatalities as well. Therefore….”
“I’ll go.”
Hearing that, I immediately cut in.
Undead, a mine, and the reason we were summoned.
What would follow was obvious.
“Klein. Will you be all right?”
“Yes.”
I felt strangely moved.
Until before the Duel Trial, even if something like this happened, he and Delain would handle it, and I wouldn’t be given any choice.
Being given work was proof that my value here was being acknowledged.
‘At least I’m considered to pull my own weight? Or should I see this as a kind of test?’
Even as I read the mission outline Heinkel handed over, my worries deepened.
To fix this precarious household, I needed to earn Duke Heinkel’s trust.
I was at the point where I’d have to dig up work that didn’t even exist to do so, and yet something like this had rolled right in—if anything, it was fortunate.
‘If it’s something related to the undead, I might be able to dig into those guys I met before.’
Once I finished my internal calculations, Heinkel’s order came down.
“Then depart as soon as preparations are complete tomorrow. Dunkel will accompany you, so there’s no need for excessive worry.”
“Understood.”
“Hm. And Delain.”
“Uh, yes?”
With tasks decided, Heinkel tossed something toward Delain, who had been standing still.
“Did you think I would summon you both for no reason?”
“Ah…….”
So he really hadn’t done it. He actually thought there’d be nothing for him.
Listening to that ambiguous voice that was somewhere between a sigh and an exclamation, I smiled in circles.
“You don’t need me to tell you where your destination is, do you?”
At that, Delain’s expression grew even more sour.
In his hand was an absurdly thick fur cloak.
“There have been reports of movement at the Northern Great Wall. Go and check it out.”
Seeing both his words and Delain’s expression, I realized it instinctively.
As expected, the one enjoying the easy job was the sharp one.
***
Crackle—! Crackle—!
Watching the embers flare up at steady intervals made all stray thoughts feel as though they were being erased.
“It’s done.”
“Ah, yes.”
At my words, Dunkel grabbed and tore into a chunk of venison that had been roasting over the campfire.
“Does it smell a lot?”
“I can endure it. But Young Master….”
“I don’t fuss over that either.”
Chewing the torn venison, I looked up at the night sky filled with stars.
It was my first long-distance journey since reincarnation.
It was also the first time I was visiting a completely new place, not a church or mansion I had been cooped up in for fifteen years.
Whenever I saw the rapidly passing scenery, I could newly realize just how different the present was from two hundred years ago.
And there was an unexpected fact I learned during the journey.
“As expected, I should also do something….”
“Can’t you see that pile of kindling? Staying still is what helps.”
Despite being a knight of unit commander rank, Dunkel was utterly useless when it came to survival skills like cooking or hunting.
“Th-that is, Young Master. I don’t know how I should put this….”
“Don’t say anything, just eat. I’ll grill more.”
Riiip—! Riiip—!
I shoved my fist between hide and flesh, exposing the meat of the hunted deer.
After that, trimming away some fat and carving out the lean meat was the end of it.
‘I spent over a dozen years running from the Alliance joint knight order. That experience doesn’t just disappear.’
Looking at the neatly butchered venison, I smiled with quiet satisfaction.
“Th-that…. did the church teach Young Master things like this as well?”
Seeing my handiwork, Dunkel spoke as if he couldn’t believe it.
Watching a fifteen-year-old boy who had barely been outside doing this, it must have seemed strange.
“When I look at you sometimes, Young Master, I feel that you’re different from other noble children your age.”
When you lay down using the night sky as your blanket, conversations tend to bloom.
As Dunkel, poking at the campfire, brought it up, I stood as well and responded.
“Compared to kids my age, my mouth’s a bit dirtier, right?”
“Well, that too, but….”
When he added, ‘Even our knights couldn’t keep up when it comes to foul language,’ I honestly laughed a little.
“Hiding your talent with the sword, and the last Duel Trial as well. When I was your age, it was something I couldn’t even imagine.”
“Ahh….”
“And because of that, sometimes—just sometimes—I have thoughts like this.”
Dunkel, choosing his words carefully, looked at me and smiled awkwardly.
“What if you really are Akimond reincarnated, that kind of ridiculous thought.”
“…….”
After staring at the fire in silence for a moment, I soon laughed it off lightly.
“If I really were Akimond reincarnated, do you think I’d have left this place alone?”
At that, Dunkel laughed and accepted my words.
“True. According to the records, he commanded a massive army of millions of undead. With that, he could just sweep away the current North.”
The current North.
As he said that, Dunkel’s face looked slightly clouded.
“That’s right.”
With a brief affirmation, I slowly lay down.
There was still a long way to go, so we had to leave as soon as day broke.
“So that’s the mine?”
“Yes. That over there is the entrance.”
A mountain towering in the middle of the plains.
Confirming it from afar, I frowned as I looked at the mountain’s entrance.
“What should we do? Going in quickly before night falls would be….”
“No.”
Places where undead ran rampant bore signs befitting them.
Marks formed of demonic energy, invisible to the eyes of ordinary swordsmen or mages.
“…It’s more serious than I thought.”
“Yes?”
At Dunkel’s question, I waved my hand and unfolded the map, pointing to a spot with my finger.
“First, let’s go to this village. There’s something we need to prepare.”
After saying that, I once more looked at the distant mine entrance.
The density of demonic energy formed at the entrance was at colony level.
That mine had become a Necromancer’s workshop.
