Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Side Ep 2. Necromancer's Slave (1)
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« Side Story 2: The Misfortune of the Dead »
You have encountered a sudden danger during your journey.
After procuring horses in Yuta, Lena and I set off once more toward the capital.
"The security around here is unstable, so it might be best to travel only during the day and stick to safer routes."
Lena said.
"Bandits? We can just beat them off."
Buoyed by my confidence from the events in Yuta, I scoffed in response to Lena.
Lena gave me a wry smile.
"That might work, but you never know."
And so, we pressed on toward the next city during the day, then tethered the horses nearby at sunset, built a fire, and prepared to camp.
"We should reach our next stop, Zion, the day after tomorrow."
Lena remarked as we finished eating dinner and unrolled our sleeping bags by the campfire.
"We've still got a long way to go."
"Can't be helped. We're detouring around because we can't use the main roads."
Zion was the largest city in the area.
The main road from Yuta to Zion was held by bandit gangs.
According to Lena, neither Zion nor Yuta seemed keen on launching any expeditions against them.
"Why not?"
"Yuta's too caught up in its internal chaos to bother, and Zion... well, don't hold your breath."
"Why?"
"You'll see when we get there."
Lena said that and lay down to sleep.
I did the same.
That's when I faintly heard signs of movement in the distance.
"...Lena."
I called out to her in a tense whisper.
Lena, thinking the same thing, responded immediately.
"Yeah."
I reached for the weapon I'd placed nearby.
What emerged soon after was a woman whose clothes were torn, covered in wounds here and there.
"Pl... please... save me!"
Spotting us, she burst into tears and begged.
Lena sheathed her drawn sword and approached the woman.
"What happened?"
"It... mon... monsters..."
"Calm down and tell us slowly. Lia, could you get her some water?"
"Sure."
I pulled a cup from my pack and poured water from the canteen, handing it over.
The woman drank, then sat by the fire at Lena's guidance. She trembled and sobbed hysterically for a while before finally regaining some composure.
"What happened?"
Lena asked calmly, gripping the woman's hand tight.
The woman explained everything.
She was one of a group of six peddlers passing through the area.
With the road between Zion and Yuta overrun by bandits, they'd chosen to detour via this relatively safer path, just like us.
"There were six of us total, including me. Two were adventurers we'd hired as precautions—reputable ones, I thought they could handle four or five bandits easy. But then... zombies suddenly attacked our camp."
"Zombies...?"
You recall the contents of Common Sense Every Aspiring Adventurer Must Know, Volume 1, which you read in the past.
Zombies are monsters created by one of two factors:
1. Impure mana infusing a corpse.
2. Artificially summoned via necromancy.
Fortunately, this world's zombies don't transmit any zombie virus through bites.
Of course, there's still the risk of bacterial infection.
"Yes. We tried to fight at first, but... there were so many, and some even wielded weapons..."
"That suggests someone was controlling them from behind the scenes."
"R... really...?"
The woman looked shocked at Lena's words.
Soon, tears welled up again as she said,
"What should I do? We left all our goods at the camp, and the others... If we go back like this, I'll lose everything—my fortune, my companions—they'll all turn into those things..."
She sobbed into Lena's embrace. Lena comforted her while glancing subtly my way.
I nodded silently.
"Don't worry. We'll do what we can."
Lena said.
"Really...? But... if something happens to you two as well..."
"We're not so pathetic as to lose to some coward who hides in the shadows, siccing zombies on defenseless people. Right, Lia?"
"Of course."
I flashed a thumbs-up.
"Thank you both so much...!"
"Save the thanks for after—you can pay us in coin."
"Huh? Oh, yes..."
"Lia, save that talk for later."
Lena chided me.
What could be more important than money?
And so, Lena and I geared up fully and headed to the location the woman described.
"Ugh... the stench of black magic is thick in the air."
Lena muttered, wrinkling her nose.
Ooh, that line sounds just like something from a game.
At the campsite, corpses of the slain lay scattered.
"The goods are gone. That confirms it—this was human work."
"What now?"
"Mana residue lingers. We can track it. Let's go."
"Got it...!"
I followed Lena.
Seeing the bodies, fear suddenly gripped me, my body trembling. Cold sweat poured down my forehead, my grip tightening on my weapon.
Even after all this time thrown into this brutal world, scenes of violence and murder were still hard to stomach.
Thinking about it, even from this girl Lia's perspective—the one I'm possessing—it's not that strange. Her past life in this world was in a peaceful rural village.
But that didn't mean I could hesitate or run.
To be an adventurer, I had to endure this much without flinching.
Rustle, rustle.
Something moved swiftly around us.
"Lia!"
"I know!"
Decaying corpses lurched out from all sides.
Hideous sights that turned the stomach just to look at.
"Not on my watch!"
I roared, swinging my sword.
The blade gleamed blue in the moonlight as it cleaved the approaching corpse.
"What...? That's nothing...!"
Emboldened, I pressed the attack more aggressively.
Two, three, four—with each swing, the shambling husks crumpled like dry cornstalks.
"Is that all you got?!"
Gaining momentum, I charged at them instead, swinging wildly.
I'm the doom guy right now.
Take this big fucking sword.
In the midst of it, I spotted someone lurking in the back.
Holding a staff topped with a crystal orb, watching us fight.
I knew instinctively.
That was the culprit.
"There you are...!"
Our eyes met; realizing they'd been spotted, they bolted in panic.
"Think you can escape?!"
I swept my sword in a wide arc, felling the zombie horde in one go, then gave chase.
"Lia! Where are you going?!"
"Gonna deliver some justice!"
Lena could handle these weaklings alone anyway.
I'd just take out the head.
"Stop right there, you bastard!"
I yelled, pursuing relentlessly.
Damn, sprinting with that staff and cumbersome cloak.
The chase led deep into the woods.
Finally, panting and exhausted, they stopped.
"Would've been easier if you'd stopped sooner. Time to pay for your crimes."
I glared triumphantly.
"Tch...! You bitch...! You think I'll go down easy?!"
The necromancer in the black cloak shouted, raising their staff high.
The ground trembled around us as bones gathered from all directions, forming a massive skeletal figure.
"Oh my... what's this now."
"[Giant Skeleton]! Kill that insolent wench!"
The necromancer swung their staff, commanding.
The colossal bone frame—easily over 3 meters—swung a mana-forged axe down at me.
Boom.
Dust billowed up.
"Kukuku... turned to mush now...!"
"Who?"
I retorted boldly at the overconfident fool.
"Wha...?!"
The necromancer's eyes bulged.
No wonder. There I was, sword locked against the giant's axe in a test of strength.
I could've dodged, sure.
But this was romance.
"Raaah!"
With a kiai, I shoved the bone giant's axe back.
It staggered and toppled.
"Haaah!"
I leaped high, plunging my sword into its skull.
Whoosh. Crumble.
The blade, wrapped in blue light, pierced the crown; the giant deflated like a punctured balloon, scattering back to bones.
"Wh... what the hell are you?!"
The necromancer gasped in horror.
"Just a passing adventurer wannabe... or something like that."
I replied coolly, brushing back my hair.
Cool as fuck.
"Now, come quietly. Unless you want to get hurt."
"Y... you...!"
In a last desperate throe, the necromancer swung their staff at me.
"Die! [Mana Blade]!"
The crystal orb glowed, firing a blade of mana at me.
Hmph, that slow attack ain't—
[Contract: Dominion of Chaos] Activated
The God of Chaos intervenes in your fate.
"Hngh?!"
It happened then.
A strange sensation stirred between my legs.
Startled, I looked down—inside my skirt, covering my lower belly, something glowed.
A bizarre tattoo.
"Wh... what?! When did this...?! Haaah♥"
As I stammered in shock, intense pleasure surged from deep in my crotch, racing through my nerves across my body.
Like an invisible cock—thick and long—brutally stretching my pussy and pounding straight to my womb.
"Hoooht...♥"
The ecstasy lasted only a moment.
A whoosh of air snapped me back; looking up, the mana blade was inches from my throat.
"Wai—."
Slice.
Fatal Injury: Decapitation
No need to explain, but to spell it out: your top and bottom halves are now separate.
"[Corpse Revival]."
A faint voice echoed from beyond.
My vision, shrouded in darkness, flickered with eerie green light.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Status: Controlled Corpse
You are dead. And someone has revived you.
This imperfect resurrection is merely a puppet show, forcing mana into the target's body to control it.
Who or what you were before no longer matters. You're just a corpse now.
Your current consciousness is only a temporary awakening induced by mana—no ego exists.
In other words, you've become a biological auto-responder.
"Rise."
My reviver commanded.
The one who revived me is my master.
I must obey.
I stood at attention.
Something slick dripped between my legs and from my mouth.
Fishy, bitter, thick, warm, sticky mass.
"Fuck, you slut... still look so damn fuckable even now. I just came two loads in your mouth and pussy, and I'm hard again."
My master stood before me, naked.
His cock erect.
"But no reaction at all kinda kills the fun."
Master groped my breasts idly.
His hands were warm.
"Mana's precious, but maybe I should try it...?"
Master mused.
Then pressed his staff to my head.
"[Corpse Control: Brain Activation]."
My head burned.
Flash. Light surged.
Brain connects. Links form.
"Aughghghhh."
I clutched my throat, groaning in agony.
The last memory surfaced.
Pain.
Pain foretelling death.
"Hey, you cunt, introduce yourself."
Master commanded, kneading my ass.
Cunt.
Probably me.
I worked the pooled semen in my mouth and swallowed.
Fishy. Bitter.
Tasteless.
But my pussy throbbed.
That felt good.
"I... am Lia."
I dredged the memory from my brain and answered.
Master slapped my ass.
Reprimand, probably.
Painful.
"Slave like you using informal speech? After getting your head lopped off for showing off."
"Sorry."
"I am the one you respect most in the world, fear most, and must love. So answer with reverence. Got it?"
"Yes, Master."
Master: respect, fear, love. Reverence.
I understand the words, but don't feel them.
Obey commands.
Mimic.
"I am Lia, aspiring adventurer. I was traveling to the capital with Lena, the Heretic Inquisitor—my companion and sort-of romantic interest."
"Sort-of...? What's that?"
"It means more than friends, less than lovers—a subtle romantic relationship."
"Tch. Kids these days invent weird terms. Anyway, Heretic Inquisitor... explains why you're so strong. But what about you? Aspiring adventurer, but why so tough?"
"Because I'm special."
Fact.
"Even dead, this bitch is full of herself... But no reason to lie. If you fought that Inquisitor, who wins?"
I searched my brain.
"Fifty-fifty odds. Past record 1-0 against me, but that's history. Fresh start changes it."
"Not reassuring... But I'll credit your fighting skills. Fine. I'll make you my personal slave wight. Be honored—first one I've revived consuming this much mana."
"Thank you."
"Too curt!"
Another ass slap reprimand.
Painful.
Pain is wrong. Reflect on wrong.
"Forgive me, Master. It is the greatest honor to be made your slave. Thank you."
"Now we're getting somewhere. But if you're truly grateful, words aren't enough. You're no virgin. You know what I mean by 'serve with your pussy,' right?"
Pussy service.
Understood.
"Yes, Master."
I squatted, spreading my legs wide, exposing my cum-and-juice-soaked pussy fully.
Pussy condition: excellent.
Still warm.
This body can serve cock. Will satisfy.
Fact.
"The pussy of this pathetic bitch who strutted around, got schooled by Master, lost her head, and died—now serves Master. Please grant me the chance to repay your grace in reviving and enslaving me."
Master probably pleased.
Cock swelled.
Even more.