Chapter 281: Waaah! I'm Baby Nepmi! (2)[R-18]
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 281: Waaah! I'm Baby Nepmi! (2)[R-18]
Three days ago, before the Imperial Army.
“...I will give you three days. Open the path.”
Laura’s voice, as she calmly issued the command, was clear and beautiful.
However, to the soldiers of the Imperial Army, it sounded like a requiem being offered for their own souls.
Rumble—
Behind Laura stood the Army of the Dead, their numbers so vast that counting them was a meaningless endeavor.
An ominous purple light flickered within the hollow eye sockets of each corpse.
“....”
And finally, the promised third day arrived.
“...The time has come.”
Even after all the citizens had been evacuated to the rear, the Shields of the Empire remained steadfast, holding their positions until the very end.
Ssh—
Laura closed her eyes and reached her hand forward.
She did not wish to see the blood of those innocent men spilled.
However, if she could not open the path now, everyone would simply die.
“All units, advance—”
K-boom—!!
Before Laura could finish her command, something plummeted from the sky at an incredible speed, landing between the Imperial Army and Laura, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
“I... have descended.”
A moment later, as the dust slowly cleared, Elfriede was revealed, kneeling with one hand pressed against the ground.
“Right... It’s been a while. Old Hag.”
Twitch—
Elfriede’s brow furrowed at Laura’s words.
“You bitch, who are you calling an Old Hag? Fuck.”
After spitting those words, Elfriede gestured with her chin toward the Imperial soldiers, who were aiming their weapons at her in high alert, and shouted.
“Hey, you guys back off.”
“T-The Shields of the Empire cannot retreat in the face of the enemy...! And y-you... who are you?! Identify yourself!”
“Ugh! You’re in the way, so just go! Here, take this order with the Imperial seal on it.”
Whish—!
The order Elfriede threw flew straight into the commander’s hand.
“...Retreat! Retreat immediately!”
As the commander shouted urgently after checking the contents, the Imperial Army withdrew without a moment’s hesitation.
While the violence of numbers could solve most problems, dealing with a Necromancer was the exception.
To a Necromancer who used the dead as weapons, the corpses of allies were nothing more than potential enemy reinforcements.
Crack—
As Elfriede cracked her neck while watching the Imperial Army retreat, Laura spoke in a calm voice.
“Old Hag, I express my gratitude for opening the path... However, step aside. I do not wish to fight you.”
“Why? Did that one scrap we had make you nervous? Then wag your tail and run away right now. I’ll let you live.”
“How foolish... Have you become arrogant simply because I retreated once? If you cannot understand even after seeing this sight, then I shall tell you.”
Clang—! Thump—! Thump—! Thump—!
As Laura raised her arm, the skeletal soldiers behind her raised their weapons in unison, the sound of bone clashing against bone filling the battlefield.
“That day, I was not at full strength.”
“I wasn't at full strength either, you Chicken Coop.”
“....”
Laura’s eyes narrowed at Elfriede’s provocation.
It wasn't that she was angry at being called a Chicken Coop.
It was simply because she knew that Elfriede truly hadn't given her all.
‘As I thought... That Old Hag was the one who fixed it.’
After their first encounter and fierce battle at the public cemetery.
When Laura had stepped back into the cemetery to claim souls.
The graves, which had been severely destroyed, had regained their original appearance as if time itself had been wound back.
“...Back then and even now, you seem quite obsessed with the term Chicken Coop. Have you reached such an age that you are still so concerned about it?”
Laura was genuinely curious about the reason.
She absolutely did not say it back because she was angry at being called a Chicken Coop.
“Shut up. No, more importantly, can’t you just live quietly? Seriously, why are you acting out like this? You were a Saintess. I heard people respected you a lot. So why are you so full of resentment toward the world? What’s the problem?”
“...Even if I told you, you would never understand.”
“Ha, honestly, I don’t even want to understand... Back then, you still acted human, so I thought you were more sane than the rumors suggested... But ugh... looking at this. Just how many people did you kill? You crazy murderer.”
“....”
“Look at this. You were talking just fine until things got disadvantageous, and now you’ve shut your mouth. Ha!”
Ssh—
Elfriede let out a hollow laugh as she looked at Laura’s Army of the Dead.
‘Is this the peak of Necromancy? ...This is insane.’
A ‘National-Level’ disaster that was considered possible only in theory because it required immense time, mana, and talent.
To be honest, even Elfriede wasn't confident she could win alone.
Even if Elfriede was strong, if she were powerful enough to overthrow a nation by herself, she wouldn't have needed to act in Elvenheim; she could have just proudly burned down the World Tree from the start.
But...
Thud—!
“...Elfriede, I told you we should go together. Why are you so fast?”
“Sorry, Senior. You’ll get faster once you get used to it.”
She wasn't alone.
‘One Spirit King of mine, two Spirit Kings of Senior’s. A perfect force of three Spirit Kings in total.’
There were as many as three Spirit Kings that could be summoned simultaneously.
With this much, they could certainly hold their own even against a National-Level Necromancer.
“What difference does it make if one becomes two—”
At that moment, Laura’s eyes widened as she recognized Ian’s face, and a voice of disbelief escaped her lips.
“...Daddy?”
“...Ugh!”
Realizing what she had just blurted out, Laura bit her lip and shook her head.
‘I... made such a mistake...’
Glance—
But she couldn't help it.
‘It’s certain... That face... That voice... It’s that man.’
The blonde man that the Old Hag called "Senior" was the man who appeared every time Laura used the blessing of ‘Foresight’ to see her own future, back when she was still a ‘Saintess’ and not a ‘Fallen Saintess.’
—Daddy...♥
Beside that man, her future self was wearing a truly happy smile.
Of course, she still didn't know why she was calling him Daddy...
But because she had seen that image so frequently, she had called him Daddy reflexively.
‘I must forget... That future is already gone.’
Such a future no longer existed.
Whether this plan succeeded or failed, Laura’s end would be death.
“This crazy bitch... Who are you calling Daddy!! You were born way before Senior, have you no conscience?!”
“Old Hag... It is less strange than you calling that man Senior—”
“Shut up!!! Senior!! I think that piece of trash is trying to drive a wedge between us!!! There’s no need to listen to any more, let’s just crush her right now!!”
Whoosh—!!
Elfriede drew up her mana to summon Ifrit.
“....”
At that sight, Ian looked at Laura with a bitter expression.
In Laura, who had become the enemy of the world, he saw an overlapping image of Hayangi.
‘...Maybe Hayangi would have ended up like that too.’
Grip—
“Senior... don’t hesitate. She’s different from Hayangi. She kicked away a life where she could have lived happily as a Saintess forever and committed all sorts of horrible sins like murder, rape, and cannibalism!!”
“Yeah... I know, Elfriede. I won’t hesitate.”
But as Elfriede said, there was a decisive difference between Hayangi and Laura.
In the fifteen years since Laura became a Fallen Saintess.
Murder, arson, grave robbing, cannibalism, rape...
The sins she had committed had far exceeded the bounds of forgiveness.
“...I did not.”
“What? I can’t hear you~!”
If it were the usual Laura, she wouldn't have denied Elfriede’s words.
Since she had chosen to walk the path of corruption, she had resolved to humbly accept whatever sins the Church pinned on her.
But was it because the man she saw in her ‘Foresight’ had appeared?
“...I said I did not commit such acts.”
For the first time, Laura denied her crimes.
“Fuck!! What kind of bullshit is that? Then did you give birth to all those skeletons over there?”
“...Fine, I admit to robbing the graves. I have also seen the blood of the Church’s pursuers who rushed to kill me. But... I have never committed any other sin.”
“Ha, fuck. You expect us to believe that? Would you believe it if you were us?”
“It must be hard to believe... But even if you do not believe it, it is the truth.”
As she spoke calmly, Laura recalled the days when she was called a ‘Saintess.’
The time when she was loved by everyone, singing songs and giving people happiness.
In those days, the only deviance Laura committed was secretly performing as a faceless singer because she loved singing so much, hiding the fact that she was a Saintess.
‘Thank you for another day. Goddess Ellis.’
Laura was always grateful to Goddess Ellis for granting her the blessing of ‘Foresight.’
Because she could save so many people with this blessing.
She hoped to save even one more person in the life she had left.
Then one day, Laura’s Foresight saw ‘it.’
Wriggle— wriggle—
The scene of an ‘Ebony Serpent’ born from within a White Husk swallowing the world.
At first, she thought it was a nightmare.
If it wasn't, the terror that surged through her would have been unbearable.
But...
No matter how much she denied it, the future became clearer and clearer.
Eventually, the ‘Ebony Serpent’ that swallowed the world met its end by swallowing itself.
“No... No...”
To avoid that horrific future, Laura tried to change the future time and time again.
However...
—The sight of the Empire falling into chaos as people who heard of the ‘Ebony Serpent’ fell into despair.
—Groups trying to hasten the end of the world by waking the ‘Ebony Serpent’ early.
Each time, only more horrific results were foreseen.
No matter how she changed her plans and looked into the future, she could see no way to stop the ‘Ebony Serpent.’
‘Goddess Ellis... Please... If you are watching me, tell me the answer.’
Despite this, Laura offered prayers every day, pleading for an answer...
But Goddess Ellis did not respond.
A recurring nightmare.
An invisible answer.
In the end, what Laura chose was corruption.
‘If the future cannot be seen... then I... no, this one shall open the future personally.’
Having made that decision, Laura tore out the ‘Foresight’ that was called the greatest blessing in history and filled that massive void with ‘Necromancy.’
She knew that Necromancy was a horrific act that disturbed the rest of the dead...
But there was no other ability like Necromancy that allowed her to solve everything on her own.
If she could protect the living through the sacrifice of the dead, she resolved to apologize for the sins committed against the dead with her own death later on.
The Fallen Saintess Laura Lavandula was born that way.