CH 99

The blood that had been sprayed on the corpse at his first command spread throughout the body like a tree trunk, and soon turned black and flowed down on the corpse.

It looked just like lava.

‘Come to me.’

A strange tremor occurred at the second command.

It even passed on to him as he practiced necromancy.

‘Wow…’

Lucion stumbled for a moment.

As half of the darkness he possessed escaped, he felt the blood draining from his entire body.

He almost lost his mind for a moment at the dizzying sensation that was incomparable to a simple headache.

[Hang in there, Lucion. I told you, we need a lot of darkness. It’s so hard to call those who have already gone through the loop.]

Russell held on to Lucion and comforted him.

Whoosh.

The darkness that flowed around the corpse was rising over the corpse and forming a certain shape.

‘Come to me.’

At the last third order, Lucion hurriedly took off his mask halfway.

The feeling as if his darkness had been emptied was followed by a shock as if his stomach was ripping open.

“Cough…”

Russell frowned when Lucion vomited blood.

[…I thought it was risky, but are you okay?]

―Hop! Lucion!

“Are you all right, Young Master?”

[Russell.]

Bethel looked at Russell with a stiff face.

[It’s because his darkness is running out. There’s nothing I can do about this. Lucion’s darkness is barely enough to use necromancy.]

“…I am fine, really.”

Lucion slowly sat down with Hume’s help.

Hume wiped Lucion’s mouth with a handkerchief and looked toward the body.

The black liquid that formed a shape became a cocoon and disappeared as if it were covered with a large cloth.

Sssh.

A ghost appeared in its place.

―Whoo!

Ratta’s eyes, covered with worry, twinkled.

It was like the eyes of an innocent child watching magic.

[‘He succeeded again…?’]

Russell was a bit speechless.

Lucion’s darkness was depleted, so naturally, he thought that necromancy would have ended in failure.

Necromancy was a difficult black magic.

The darkness must spread over the corpse in a balanced way.

Blood must be coveted enough for the ghost to be tempted.

He had to pinpoint his location to the ghost while he was talking three times.

When all of this was handled normally, the magic could be activated.

‘It’s a balanced spread of darkness. Let’s say it’s possible because Ratta helped. Blood, well, it can be appetizing. But the last one will be hard to be fulfilled right away, right? It’s really difficult.’

It was a similar level of difficulty to asking someone to find them by illuminating an item that glowed in the sky at night.

No matter how bright the light of the item was, how could they find it without knowing the distance or exact location?

But Lucion succeeded right away.

While being surprised by Lucion, Russell was busy admiring himself.

‘How good are my eyes in looking for a student? Hah.’

[I come after being called.]

The ghost opened their eyes.

Listening to their polite words, It felt as if they had already been dominated by Lucion.

[There’s a time limit on the necromancy, so make it simple. If you want to extend it, you can drop more blood…]

Russell was speechless when he saw Lucion sprinkle more blood on the corpse.

That was enough to extend it to a day.

[Lord Lucion, why don’t you cover the wound, too? It looks like it needs some stitching.]

Bethel squeezed Lucion’s hand, but couldn’t stop the flowing blood.

Lucion reached out to Hume, who gave him a handkerchief with an apologetic face.

The handkerchief was quickly stained with blood.

“Doesn’t it hurt? I’m sorry. I don’t have any medicine.”

What medicine? Hume was a little scared, like a man who had lost a precious jewel.

“It’s okay. We can go home and treat it.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to carry one around from now on.”

Lucion patted Hume on the shoulder, then clasped the handkerchief tightly, and rose again from his spot.

The ghost was waiting patiently to answer his question.

“Are the people who killed you ‘the Hand of Void’?”

Along with Lucion’s question, he confirmed that anger was blooming in the ghost’s eyes that had no other emotions mixed.

‘It was correct.’

The result had already come out through the blue thread, but Lucion wanted to check it properly one more time.

However, the results hadn’t changed.

As expected, the warlocks that the death knight, Broson, killed were belonging to the Hand of Void.

[H-How did you know that?]

Lucion voiced nonchalantly when the ghost asked, seemingly taken aback.

“I just knew.”

Honestly, the only groups that existed now were Luminos and the Hand of the Void, so wouldn’t it be the Hand of the Void?

―Wow! Lucion is smart!

Ratta smiled.

“Young Master is originally a great person.”

Hume brought up an unnecessary backstory.

Lucion calmly pointed to the body with his finger, unmoved by Ratta’s and Hume’s praises.

“What were they going to do with the bodies? You should know since you’ve been killed by the Hand of the Void.”

[I know it’s a shameless request, but they… Can you kill them?]

The ghost frowned arrogantly.

It seemed they didn’t get to die gracefully.

“Depending on the information you give me. Since I gave my precious blood, shouldn’t your information be valuable?”

[They want to make soldiers who won’t die. Some other warlocks…]

[What…!]

Russell suddenly shouted.

[What did you just say? Say it again.]

Russell reached out and grabbed the ghost by the collar.

[I-I told you, the Hand of the Void is trying to make soldiers who won’t die.]

At Russell’s threatening voice, the ghost repeated.

[Soldiers who won’t die.]

Russell muttered the same thing over and over again as if he couldn’t believe it.

Russel, with his face distorted, shook the ghost’s collar again.

[The Hand of the Void is doing something like that right now?]

[Yes, I heard it before I died. It’s true.]

[Don’t make me laugh! Crazy…!]

Russel exclaimed and relaxed his grip on the ghost’s collar.

That ghost was a victim, so venting his anger on them would be ridiculous.

[It’s already a mess, but just spraying the oil there isn’t enough, then even set the fire? Crazy kids. Those guys are crazy!]

Russell bit his lips as he shouted.

[…Is it really soldiers who never die?]

Looking at the corpse, Bethel naturally thought of the dead, and when she heard the words, she knew it was true.

[Yes.]

At Russell’s heavy answer, Bethel asked again.

[Can they keep that long enough to be usable as a soldier?]

[If the price is enough, they can keep it up for a month. For soldiers who don’t die, sleep, eat, or even complain, a month is enough to destroy a country.]

Through Russell’s reaction, Lucion realized once again how much the temple owed him.

“So where are they?”

Lucion asked.

The home of the Hand of the Void was the Kingdom of Nevast.

That alone was ambiguous.

He wished he could hear more details.

[For that matter… I don’t know.]

“Then where are they collecting the bodies?”

[I heard they were taking it to the east before I died. I heard the word the Sea of Death.]

‘The East and the Sea of Death?’

Along with the Mage Tower, there was a strange sea in the East where no living creature could live, called the Sea of Death, where anything would rot if they touched it.

Thanks to the Sea of Death, no one was able to invade the East, so naturally, the family that guards the frontier, Cronia, became important.

‘Why is it East?’

Lucion felt suspicious for a moment but he thought it was something he couldn’t solve right now, so he didn’t think about it anymore.

‘Looking at what they’re doing, they seem to be able to roam the Empire back and forth.’

In the South, they had to obtain a mine for Zamad, the blacksmith, and Miella, the item maker.

To make money, he had to automatically build a relationship with a merchant, so he had to stop by the North.

Above all, there were six branches created by the Kingdom of Nevast within the Empire.

‘…It will rot.’

Lucion felt his expression contort.

[Ah, I heard that they still didn’t have enough bodies and enough money.]

The ghost was concerned about Russell but eagerly confessed what they knew.

That way, it would help ruin the Hand of the Void.

‘If the cost is not enough, it’s because it’s not happening yet, right?’

Since Luminos was also eliminated before it could grow, the same case was also possible with the Hand of the Void.

Lucion clenched his fist.

‘I’m going to destroy it all. Definitely.’

There were still many organizations that would work together with the Hand of the Void.

* * *

It was burning.

Lucion gazed briefly at the flame seen from afar.

The ghost he had summoned thanked him and disappeared after saying goodbye.

It was best to burn those corpses since they shouldn’t fall into the Hand of the Void.

‘I hope Father understands this signal.’

A fire that broke out during the night

Isn’t that suspicious?

Lucion wanted Novio to investigate this and naturally notice the relationship between the warlocks and the Kingdom of Nevast.

Crisp.

The blue thread was cut off.

It was all almost burnt out now.

‘…!’

However, although he didn’t know who he was connected to, a blue thread reappeared and intertwined with him.

‘It’s not a red thread, it’s a blue thread.’

Lucion was disappointed, but first, he checked the time.

Knowing that there was time to meet the assassins, he followed Bethel.

Then, he suddenly remembered Novio and Carson, who had gone to the wall at the far end of the border.

“Teacher.”

Lucion called Russell.

[Yes, Lucion.]

Russell turned his head and looked at Lucion.

“Wouldn’t it be awkward if this incident was connected to the case of the Nevast baiting a soldier in the frontier?”

Now that he knew that Nevast and the Hand of the Void were one and the same, he couldn’t play the two cases separately either.

What if they had deliberately stimulated Novio and Carson’s trauma to divert their attention?

[…Come to think of it, there was something strange.]

Listening to Lucion’s hypothesis, Russell narrowed his eyes.

[Warlocks don’t go around in groups.]

―Why? Aren’t we going together?

Ratta asked, quickly following him.

[If they get caught, the warlocks get killed right away. They stand out when they’re together, so they don’t go around in groups.]

Ratta’s ears perked up, and her eyes widened.

[Indeed. Even when the warlocks experimented with the curse, the people changed every day, and they didn’t go around in groups.]

Bethel added Russell’s explanation.

‘As expected, no matter how much I think about it, it’s not weird.’

Lucion walked forward thinking.

―One, two, three, four.

Ratta turned her head around Lucion, then looked at herself for the last time.

―Five!

Ratta was surprised.

―Hop! We’re in trouble! It’s five! Five! It’s impossible for us too!

[No, it’s the two of them.]

Russell pointed to Lucion and Hume.

How could you call a ghost a person?

―What about Ratta…?

As Ratta’s finger lowered down, she stopped walking and looked sadly at Russell.

[Three.]

Russel quickly changed his words.

Following Ratta’s quick smile, her tail wagged vigorously.

―As expected, it’s not three, but five. Ratta is good at counting.

[…Ratta is very nice.]

Bethel patted Ratta with a kind smile because she knew what the word five meant.

―Right. Rata is nice. Hume praises Ratta every day.

Ratta smiled and ran after Lucion, who was far away.

Thud!

Lucion, who was thinking about the sound of something harsh hitting the air, was also startled like Ratta, who ran towards him.

“I’m sorry. There was a rock in front of me. I was ashamed that the Young Master might stumble because of it, so I put a little more strength without realizing it.”

Hume was also surprised, and as if to pick up the stone he had kicked, he moved forward but he stopped himself at Lucion’s gesture.

There couldn’t be any stone left. It must have turned into powder already.

“Teacher. After thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that it is not strange at all.”

Lucion looked at Russel.

To hide the fact that they were moving the corpses, they had to draw Cronia’s attention somewhere, and the best way to do that was to have the soldiers who had done all kinds of baiting in the border do nothing.

The fact that the warlocks who normally didn’t form groups now moved as a group must have been because of the death knight, Broson. 

[Yes. The two incidents seem to be happening separately, but in my eyes, they seem connected. Nevast and the Hand of the Void can’t act separately, right?]

Russell expressed his opinion, and Lucion naturally looked at Bethel.

[I think it’s a very good incitement.]

Bethel agreed as well.

Lucion’s mask turned blue.

“And I thought of one more thing.”

[One more thing? Tell me what it is.]

Russell urged Lucion.

“If they safely entered Cronia and survived Broson’s attack, how did they plan to get out? The dock must have been blocked after 7 pm because of Luminos now.”

Novio blocked both the waterway and the entrance to Cronia for him, blocking the source altogether.

[The answer is simple.]

Russell snorted.

[There’s a traitor. Right here.]

Russell’s fingers pointed downward.

“Yes, it’s exactly what I think.”

Lucion’s grin was audible.

The Cronia family wasn’t the only one in the frontier.

A small number of nobles also had their own territory and settled on the frontier.

However, the ruler of the frontier was Cronia, and due to its great influence, the word border was automatically pointed to Cronia.

In this situation where Novio had blocked all the entrances, the fact that there was a way out narrowed it down to the actions of the people on the frontier, and as Russell said, who would be the traitor?

One of the nobles who was always jealous of Cronia had joined hands with the Kingdom of Nevast.

“Just in time, there are guys about to get decapitated, so we can check the skills of the assassins. Great.”

Although wearing a mask, it was as if Lucion was grinning.