29 Chapter 29: Millennial Town

After the ferocious battle, I took the opportunity to devour Minamoto Kureha's corpse. I posted my four zombie knights on the outskirts of the devastated crater to keep a lookout for any enemies that might approach.

I had half-expected the other heroes to come out here, looking for Minamoto Kureha, but none of them showed up.

That's weird. Why did she come chasing after me then? Did she not tell the others that she spotted me or something?

There were a lot of questions running in my mind. I was riding by myself, not bothering anybody when Kureha and her contingent of knights showed up suddenly from nowhere, pursuing me for no other reason than her recognizing who I was.

Wait. If Minamoto knew who I was, why did she come after me alone, not counting those human knights? Why didn't she get any of our other classmates to follow her?

I was sure that she wasn't the only one who wanted me dead. Kobayashi Kenji and Yamada Yuji would jump at the chance to hunt me down and kill me as well. Yet they were nowhere else to be seen. The only reason I could think of was that Kureha didn't tell them that she had spotted me riding off by myself somewhere.

Why was that?

"Hey," I called out to the zombie knights who were standing guard at all four corners. I had dismissed Thousand Astral Graves to preserve my magical energy, and they had reverted to their normal forms. Even if they were no longer buffed into the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they were more formidable than regular zombies, so I wasn't that worried. In any case, even if they were dead, they should possess several vestiges of their memories when they were alive, and I sought to extract the information from them.

"…"

The nearest knight turned to me.

"What happened? Why did Minamoto come after me alone? What about the other heroes? In fact, why did she know I was riding this road?"

The zombie couldn't reply verbally, now that his vocal chords were rotting. Being a necromancer, I could hear his thoughts telepathically as I interrogated him. Images flashed into my mind, causing me to stagger. I closed my eyes and absorbed the thoughts from my thrall, allowing my mind to automatically rearrange the images in a clear, chronological manner.

It was like a flashback. How convenient…if this was a game, it would be a cinematic, I supposed. Well, whatever worked, I guess?

The knight in question had been standing at attention after the parade dispersed. The heroes were heading toward the governor's palace when Kureha noticed something.

"Rawne, take a squad and follow me."

"Where are you going, Minamoto-san?" Hoshizaki Kozue asked curiously as Kureha mounted her horse and urged it to a gallop.

"To the edge of town."

"Eh? Why?"

"What? Tsukishima-san? Where?"

It was only natural for Kozue to get excited. Tsukishima had gone missing for at least a week now, ever since the battle with the Demon Lord. While the class wasn't that worried – they strongly believed that there was nothing in Restia who could kill Tsukishima – they were growing impatient that both she and Kijima Takeshi hadn't contacted them for so long. If they wanted to have an adventure on their own, or even elope, that was fine.

At least inform everyone else beforehand!

While watching the flashback, I smirked. So none of them had even remotely suspected that I was still alive, never mind that I was behind their disappearance.

"It might just be a mistake. I could be seeing things. That's why I'm going to have a look around, to make sure it's really her. If she is, I'll let you know."

"Make sure you don't run off on your own just like Tsukishima-san and Takeshi."

It was Kobayashi, who was wearing a mocking grin. Kureha shrugged and smiled back, knowing that he was joking.

"Perhaps I will. Now that the Demon Lord's dead, I might just join Tomoyo-chan and go on a vacation with her. If I see that Kijima-kun is with her, I'll tell him to send you a postcard."

"Heh, he doesn't have to. He's a big boy, he can do whatever he wants. Even better if he finally succeeded in confessing to Tsukishima-san and going out with her."

No wonder Kijima was following Tsukishima so closely that time after the battle with the Demon Lord. He had always kept his eye on her because he was in love with her. I almost laughed. How fitting it was that the two died together.

"All right, I'll see you then!"

After getting Rawne and his knights to follow her, Kureha rode on to the outskirts of the city, futilely searching for any signs of Tsukishima. Her lack of success was beginning to frustrate her, so Kureha ventured further and further out.

"Send my classmates a message…um, the other heroes a message. I'll be exploring the forest outside the city. It might take me a while."

"Yes, Hero-sama!"

The runner saluted before taking off on his horse. With the remaining squad, Kureha rode toward the forest.

"Are you sure about this, my lady?" Rawne asked, but received a glare in return. To be honest, he saw no point in continuing the search. There was no sign of the two missing heroes at all, no matter how long and hard they searched.

But it was clear that Kureha didn't want to return emptyhanded.

"Let's search a bit more," she insisted stubbornly. Without the authority to overrule a hero – one of the heroes who had defeated the Demon Lord, won the war for humanity and saved countless human lives, Rawne merely obeyed quietly and reformed his troops to flank the hero in a protective formation. If she had noticed, Kureha said nothing.

They had spent quite some time in the forest until Kureha spotted somebody. I recognized my own figure riding off into the distance.

Kureha tensed, and then whipped her horse around.

"Tanaka…" she hissed.

"What, Hero-sama?" Rawne asked blankly, but she didn't explain. Instead she urged her horse forward while shouting at the knights.

"After him! Don't let him escape!"

Rawne didn't understand what was going on, but he couldn't let Hero-sama go alone. Rallying his men, he instructed them to follow Kureha and give pursuit.

"Who is that guy, Hero-sama? A demon?"

"Worse," Kureha growled. "A pathetic loser who doesn't deserve to live. A weakling who refuses to accept his place in the order of things and resist even though he should just allow himself to get beaten up."

Rawne didn't understand what Kureha was talking about, but he did know that he didn't want to be the target of his rage. So he kept his counsel and followed the hero in hunting the poor, unfortunate soul who had drawn her ire.

And the rest, as they say, was history.

As the cinematic flickered off, I opened my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. So Kureha wasted these men's lives like this on a whim, just so she could teach me to "know my place"? For such an absurd reason she tried to kill me, and in doing so forced me to massacre an entire squad of knights in self-defense?

What kind of stupid joke was this?

For a long time, I knew that my classmates harbored a hatred for me that bordered on irrational, but I didn't understand why. I was still no closer to comprehending why they were so determined to kill me, even though I had done nothing to them. They probably reasoned it as karma, or "Nature" where the strong ate the weak, but even though their reasoning failed and I proved to be stronger than them, they refused to accept reality and continued to distort their justifications for murdering me. It was like they were being evil and murderous for the sake of it.

Or to drive the plot forward.

Meh, sometimes they don't need a valid reason. They want to do it, so they will.

Giving up on understanding these murderous bullies, I turned my attention to more important matters. Raising my hand, I conjured my blue holographic screen.

Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

Species: Undead

Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich Lord

Title: Hero Slayer

Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon, Sword Saint

There was not much change other than the new Sword Saint special ability that I had plundered from the deceased Minamoto Kureha. I was about to dismiss the holographic screen when I realized that there was a slight change, particularly with Lord of Darkness.

"Hmm?"

Scratching my head, I tapped on the Lord of Darkness tab while staring at the small bell that hovered over it as an update.

Lord of Darkness: As Master of Darkness, you have gained access to powerful arcane spells and bonuses of ominous origins.

Spells: Reanimate, Thousand Astral Graves, Doombolt, Corrupting Darkness, Shadow Lunar Fang, Dark Barrier

Bonuses: Resistance to darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, power of darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, energy cost of casting darkness-type spells decreased by 500%, durability and magical energy buffed by 50%, Machiavellian Charisma (all demons are 50% more willing to obey you + Lich Bonus)

While initially it appeared that there was no change whatsoever, I saw that the Dark Weapon Mastery had completely disappeared. Not only that, there was a new + Lich Bonus in Machiavellian Charisma. I had some idea of what that entailed, but given my current situation, I knew that the skill was currently useless.

"Oh well. At least I now have Sword Saint."

I picked up Kureha's sword. She no longer had any use for it…except that it was broken because of Death's attack. No matter…even when it was broken, it was still the pieces of a legendary sword used by a hero. If I could repair or reforge it anew, then it would certainly serve my purposes.

The problem was finding a competent enough blacksmith to repair the broken sword…

"Ah, well…I don't need a sword anyway."

I was a Lich Lord, not a Sword Saint. If I tried to fight with too many styles at once, I might end up confusing myself in the heat of battle. Speaking of which, I was curious about one thing.

Is there a limit to the number of special abilities I can earn through Devouring?

Sword Saint was great and all, and it would certainly apply to my proficiency with my staff, but it didn't complement my other special abilities, not like Kijima's Summon. Tsukishima's Absolute Appraisal was an odd one – useful regardless of what other special abilities I had, but Sword Saint? Was I going to be a bastardized magic swordsman-lich or something?

Focus on one thing and master it to the extreme…I would prefer that.

On the other hand, it would be a waste not to take full advantage of my Devour special ability and gain as many of them as possible. I was more worried about the side effects of having too many special abilities, or reaching a limit.

Speaking of which, maybe there's something about Devour in one of the books…

I got up and glanced into the distance. There was still a chance that someone might come looking for Minamoto Kureha if she didn't return for a while, and I didn't want to be here when they found her. I would feel safer searching my Library of Eden inside a secure, enclosed room than out here in the open, where I was just begging to be found.

"Let's go," I told my zombies. I had several of them bury Kureha's remains, and then picked up the pieces of her sword. Summoning Matsukaze, I hopped onto him and got him to gallop out of the smoldering crater and onto the road.

My four zombie knights followed, their skeletal horses silently plodding after me.

We rode for what seemed like hours, unmolested or unpursued by any more contingents of knights or murderous heroes. Matsukaze was a strong and durable horse, even though he was just a summoned familiar. He didn't slow down, not even for a second, as he galloped across the gravel pathway that Legnica was wise enough to construct.

By the time Millennial Town came into view, night had already fallen. I glanced back at my four knight zombies, and they nodded. After escorting me this far, I felt that they deserved the right to be laid to rest. I made a stop and removed the Reanimation spell from them before proceeding to bury them. Since it was quite the exhausting task that I couldn't do alone, I had to summon a few zombies to help me out.

It was ironic. Now that I thought about it, I remembered reading somewhere that the original zombie myth was from Haiti, where they used voodoo or black magic to reanimate the dead, not to devour the living, but to work as plantation slaves, planting and harvesting sugar or some crops for their living masters. They were originally meant to be servants or laborers, not fearless soldiers or mindless carnivores that fed on any living thing they could get their hands on.

"Thanks," I told my summoned undead before dismissing them. Brushing the dirt from my hands, I stared at the gravestones of the knights before saluting them. "You guys fought bravely, regardless of whatever side you were on. Rest in peace."

It continued to irk me that Kureha had thrown away their lives needlessly just to bully me or kill me. Even though I had already vowed vengeance on her and the rest of my former classmates, it wasn't comfortable thinking about the innocent people who were inevitably drawn into the crossfire. Did Kureha and the others think of the knights and the people of Legnica as non-playable characters, to be used and discarded as expendable pawns?

I had seen their treatment of their soldiers, first during the final battle against the Demon Lord, and now, how casually Kureha ordered them about without appreciating their efforts. Even Rawne, the commander whose mind I peered into earlier, wasn't entirely pleased with the way the heroes were treating them.

Perhaps I can use that against them somehow…

There were exceptions, though. The Fifth Lancer Dragoon Company who tried to fight me after I defeated Asura…they seemed to adore Suzuki Shirou. Well, my former classmates couldn't possibly all be murderous assholes. That said, Suzuki still tried to kill me as well. Granted, he probably didn't know the person he threw his spear at was me, but I doubted his decision would change even if he knew that his target was me.

With that task completed, I jumped back onto Matsukaze and finished the remainder of the journey. Millennial Town loomed ahead, dark, seemingly empty and lifeless.

"Where is everybody?" I wondered aloud as I neared the town. Even though the sun had set and night was taking a firm grip on the place, it was still strange to see the streets as empty as they were. The buildings were dark, as if everyone had already gone to bed early…or as if they were deserted. There was not a single soul outside.

I jumped off Matsukaze before dismissing him. Even though he was technically an undead horse, his skin was black, which concealed any sign of rotting, and unless one looked clearly enough, they wouldn't be able to tell that he wasn't a living horse the same way they couldn't differentiate me from a living human. So I doubted it was his presence (or mine) that scared away the townsfolk.

A chill ran down my spine.

In the distance, something howled. It wasn't the howl of a wolf. It was too low-pitched, too deep that it sounded more like the roar of thunder than a bestial bellow. Even so, it was unrecognizably a sound only a creature, living or undead, could make.

The manticore?

I shuddered when I remembered the purpose of my mission here. I was to slay the manticore, a terrifying beast that plagued the town. With such a monstrous thing lurking so close to town, it was little wonder that the townsfolks were firmly staying indoors and bolting themselves inside their houses after dark.

Where the hell is it?

I looked around, wondering if I should get the battle done and over with. If the manticore was already in town, then I could just take care of it immediately.

Or so I thought, until I saw a dark shadow in the sky.

"…"

My jaw dropped when I saw just how immense the thing was. It had wings that blotted out the moon as it sailed across the skies. Even though it was so far away, to be able to see its bulk so clearly at this distance meant that it had to be enormous.

It was the size of a small hill, bigger than even a house or building. Probably as tall as the high orc I had faced a couple of days ago, and several times longer.

The reason why I could estimate its size was because it was silhouetted and perched atop one of the mountains that was supposed to be at least five miles away from the town – according to the map I received from Hughes, anyway. It was almost dwarfing the mountain, its wings wrapped around to swallow the peak as it howled at the night.

Just how huge is that thing!?

I shook my head. This was going to be troublesome. No wonder the request was normally meant for several parties of silver-ranked mercenaries, or even two or three parties of gold-ranked mercenaries. Yet, none of them wanted to venture out this far for a town that was over a hundred and twenty kilometers away. If Matsukaze wasn't an undead horse, I doubted I could have covered that distance in nine hours. A normal horse would have run out of stamina and needed rest, food and water. Matsukaze and the zombie horses didn't.

That was how we managed to make the journey, by plunging forward for nine hours straight.

"Hey!"

The voice was so soft that I almost didn't hear it. But when the manticore's bellow ended, I finally heard a persistent man calling out to me.

"You there! Kid! Psst! Over here!"

I blinked and turned around. There was a balding, middle-aged man with a mustache and a beard waving toward me urgently from an open door. It was clear that he was gesturing for me to come into his house.

"Quickly, now! Before it spots us!"

I found that notion absurd. The manticore was at least five miles away. There was no way it could see us…

…except that I could see its immense bulk, even from this distance. Even if we must look like ants to it, the thing might just be able to spot us.

"Sorry."

Mumbling an apology, I jogged toward the open door. The balding man stepped aside to let me in, then quickly shut the door and bolted it shut.

"Are you an idiot?" he hissed. "Riding into town at this time of the night? You're lucky you didn't get picked off by the manticore!"

"Well, actually, I'm here to kill the manticore."

The balding man stared at me in disbelief. I sighed and produced my ID, showing him my affiliation with the mercenary guild.

"Eh? Iron ranked mercenary? Ah…Lord Beltayn sent a request for the manticore to be eliminated last week. So you're part of the vanguard?"

"Vanguard?"

"You know, the front elements! When's the rest of your party arriving? Tomorrow? Were you sent ahead to scout the manticore's location?"

Ah, I finally understood what the man was getting at.

"No, I'm not the vanguard, and I'm not part of a party. I'm all you're getting."

The man turned pale and began trembling.

"You're kidding!"

"No, I'm dead serious." I looked around the interior of the building and saw that it resembled a tavern. A tavern that was out of business, given the empty tables, the chairs that were put away neatly and the empty, untouched mugs on the counter.

Yeah, it would be hard for anyone to make a ruckus with the manticore prowling outside.

"Is this an inn?"

"Uh…yeah? It was. Until the manticore came and drove away our business."

"Great. Do you mind if I rent a room? I need some place to sleep for the night."

The balding man, who I assumed was the innkeeper, nodded.

"Sure, go ahead. Should I prepare rooms for the rest of your party as well? When can I be expecting them?"

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I sighed. The guy still believed that I was part of a larger force that was coming to subjugate the monster.

"No. I already told you, I'm all you're getting for now. There will be no other mercenaries coming to this town."

"Impossible! Are you telling me you plan to fight the monster alone?! That's suicide! There's no way you can defeat the manticore by yourself!"

I shrugged. "Don't worry. If I fail the mission, I'm sure Guild Master Hughes will send another party to hunt the manticore. Eventually."

"That's not going to work! What are we supposed to do in the meantime? Every week we lose more of our people to that monster!"

I clamped my hand on the man's shoulder and grinned.

"Worry about it after I fail."

The balding man stared at me, his mouth hanging open from shock and disbelief. He tried to say something, but it took him several attempts before he could finally form a few words with his mouth. Swallowing, he glared at me.

"You don't seriously think you can defeat that monster on your own!"

"Oh, but I'm not alone." I patted the balding innkeeper's shoulder reassuringly. "Just because there aren't any other mercenaries participating in this mission doesn't mean I'll be fighting all by myself."