7. Good News (7)
7. Good News (7)
- 0 -
Hope was a powerful weapon that could overcome any adversity.
But it was also a mighty flame that could burn the entire world to ashes.
- 1 -
"Come to think of it, I never even gave you a name. Weren't you disappointed?"
When I asked that, I was honestly worried that even a trace of negative emotion might surface.
It felt a little cowardly even to me, but since this one had only ever shown positive feelings, I figured I'd be a bit shaken if she suddenly turned negative on me.
If she were a skeleton with no intelligence whatsoever, I wouldn't have worried, but this kid was genuinely smart and seemed to experience emotions vividly.
Though it had only been a few days since we met, she already held quite a large place in my heart.
- Dalgeurak!
But the girl only reacted with positive emotions, as she always did.
Her consistency actually made me feel grateful.
'Anyway, a name, huh...'
Various names flickered through my mind and vanished.
Names of famous gods like the Goddess of Fate who affirms future possibilities (Skuld), the Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt (Artemis), the Goddess of War and Wisdom (Athena), all sorts of female warriors, and even superhero names.
On top of that, the names of people who were actually men but got turned into women across all sorts of media came to mind as well, but I couldn't decide quickly.
Whatever I chose, I didn't want to settle on it in a mere ten minutes or so.
After all, she was the one who came to me when I had nearly reached despair, delivered hope, and even swept away the loneliness that might have visited me in the future.
"Haru."
- Dalgeurak.
As if my complicated feelings had somehow reached her, the girl, who had been watching me carefully, straightened her posture and pretended to be vigilant of the surroundings the moment I opened my mouth.
She was doing something cute.
Although her outward appearance was that of bare bones, creating a strong sense of dissonance, watching her behavior gradually grow more expressive made me think she had a canine-like personality.
Since she was even reliable, perhaps I should say she was like a large dog.
"Give me just one day. I want to decide carefully."
- Ttak!
Whether she understood my thoughts or not, the girl simply answered my words with a cheerful sound.
- 2 -
Having thus put off the matter of my first soldier's name for a bit, the very first thing I did—
『Name - Libertas (Rita)』
—was to properly check my status window.
『Demon Lord Candidate - Necromancer』
『Grade - Apprentice』
『Attributes - Stamina 10, Technique 8, Durability 13, Magic Power 21, Resistance 14』
The basic information displayed beneath my name was fairly ordinary.
I was still a Dungeon Lord at the apprentice stage. A Dungeon Lord's stats were typically more than double those of ordinary adventurers or summoned creatures, after all.
It was my first soldier who was clearly an irregular, not that my own abilities were low.
The problem lay in what was below that.
『Traits - Alpha Tester, Nobility, Necromancy, Lord of Necropolis』
Unlike when I had looked at the skeletons' traits, the appearance of my own trait window was dazzling beyond compare.
The reason was the grade of the traits.
In Milden, the grades of items or traits were indicated by color, and right now, among my traits, 'Alpha Tester' was dyed red, 'Nobility' was orange, and 'Necromancy' and 'Lord of Necropolis' were dyed green. Of course it looked flashy at a glance.
『Necromancy - Knowledge and skill regarding all aspects of necromancy.』
『Lord of Necropolis - The highest stat of the skeleton army following you increases. This trait grows alongside 'Necromancy'.』
Skills like the Necromancer's Necromancy, the Vampire's Blood Magic, and the War Chief's Overwhelming Domination—which formed the foundation of each respective Dungeon Lord—originally grew in grade alongside the Demon Lord Candidate and the dungeon core.
The 'Necromancy' I had last seen in the modern world had also been red, so there was no need to be puzzled that my current necromancy was green.
Lord of Necropolis was likewise exactly as I had expected, so the same applied.
What was important were the other ones.
『Alpha Tester - Welcome, Demon Lord Candidate! This system's visual interface, tutorial, and growth assistance system are provided solely for you in this world. Please enjoy your growth through the convenient and comfortable use of the system!』
Right.
I got it. The system was solely mine in this world. It wasn't exactly something to be happy about, but it seemed there were some benefits.
'It's good. It is good.'
Of course, I knew this was a major advantage.
There was a huge difference in information usage efficiency between merely sensing everything intuitively and acting on information that surfaced in your mind, versus having it all visualized.
The thing this affected most was none other than attributes—stats.
The objective assessment of combat strength was one of the most important aspects of strategy, and in that regard, it was as good as having an overwhelmingly faster grasp of it than others.
That was probably why it had been given the red, mythic grade.
Moreover, although I hadn't felt it yet, there also seemed to be something called a 'growth assistance system.'
『Nobility - Neither body nor dress shall be soiled, the voice is never raised, the posture never falters, and the heart remains calmly settled. Ever noble, ever beautiful. Standing above all, drawing the gaze of all.』
In truth, this last one was what was giving me a headache.
It was shining in orange—legendary grade—and just from reading the description, it was hard to grasp what effect it even had.
'I've felt its influence firsthand, but...'
Back in the modern world, I hadn't been such a calm or gentle person. Rather, I'd had a somewhat impatient personality and a fairly weak mentality.
And yet, ever since coming here, aside from the very beginning, I had hardly ever been swept up in any great emotional turmoil.
Any great joy or relief would quietly fill my chest as if spreading gently, but I had never once felt the sensation of my heart and brain being violently overturned.
Even when I killed a person for the first time, I had only staggered briefly.
Even in that first moment when I had the awareness that I had lost everything, thinking back, my reaction had been quite quiet.
That seemed to have been the influence of this trait.
And probably this composed way of speaking I was using now as well.
'But why legendary?'
However, that alone couldn't explain why this trait had received the high grade of legendary.
In the end, I had no choice but to conclude that there was something more hidden that I didn't know about.
Since it was orange grade, it probably wasn't a negative effect, but hidden information, by obstructing the objective analysis of combat strength, was not exactly a good thing in the current situation either.
"But I can't exactly blame anyone else for it, which is what makes it troublesome."
- Dalgeurak.
"No. I'm talking about myself."
The even more troublesome fact was that this 'Nobility' was a setting I had only thought about inwardly while customizing this appearance.
After all, my outer appearance was that of such a beautiful and lovely lady.
Wouldn't any otaku add a setting or two in their head?
Or not.
'I hadn't been thinking of it as a concrete setting, so I really can't know what's being hidden...'
But to take something I'd only imagined privately and slap it onto me just like that—it was practically an admission that they'd been observing me even when I was on the other side.
It gave me a creeping, goosebump-raising feeling, as if something were licking my back.
'Now that I think about it...'
『Attributes - Stamina 10, Technique 5, Durability 13, Magic Power 21, Resistance 14』
Looking at it after thinking that, it seemed the attributes had also been taken directly from part of the setting I had imagined.
A cold but fragile dark princess.
Therefore, as a Dungeon Lord, while I wasn't lacking in durability or stamina, my technique was infinitely deficient.
Because I was accustomed to being protected and cared for.
But there was no way I'd enjoy being thrust into that kind of situation. I had originally been a man.
"That pisses me off."
For a moment, the message window seemed to flicker, but that was probably my imagination.
"Alright. I've got a rough idea now."
Anyway, I had mostly finished assessing myself.
The fact that my technique and stamina were average or low was a bit unpleasant, but no matter what anyone said, having tremendously high magic power was a good thing. In this world, there were so many things that could be done with magic power.
For example, right now, like this.
Kukukukung...!!
Starting with altering the layout of the dungeon.
- 3 -
After I had roughly finished assessing myself and configuring the dungeon, I sat in a chair my first soldier had fashioned from somewhere and brought to me, and watched what she was doing.
- Dalgeurak.
- Ttak!
As if she was happy to have a junior to welcome for the first time, the girl was engaged in what looked like communication with the skeleton that had been Remina.
She had set up a wooden scarecrow she'd cobbled together from somewhere and brought over, and was urging her junior to try using a crossbow.
Of course, that junior skeleton probably had only the faintest intelligence and reason—would she even follow instructions from someone who wasn't a necromancer?
Paaak!
Ah, she shot.
But perhaps because her posture was clumsy—different from the posture she'd had in life—the bolt flew wide of the scarecrow that was supposed to be the target.
Still, this was an excellent result.
It meant my first soldier possessed something like command ability.
A newly discovered talent.
- Dalgeurak.
After seeing the result, the girl touched her forehead and shook her head as if disappointed.
Her behavioral patterns really were incredibly rich.
Even though her appearance was neat, it was still the form of a skull, so there was something a bit eerie about it. If she had a human form, I might have been able to properly feel that vitality.
"...Ha."
When I was with this girl, it felt like loneliness would never visit me even if I never met an ordinary person again.
Despite showing a courteous, knight-like attitude when dealing with me, her everyday behavior came across as even innocent, and from the very first time I saw her, she had always shown me nothing but goodwill.
Somehow, it made me smile.
- Dalgak.
In the midst of that, she seemed to have heard my laughter and noticed me watching her.
Then, she appeared to urge the junior skeleton to pick up the crossbow once more.
It was behavior brimming with the feeling of, 'I'll show my master something cool.'
It was just a pity that I couldn't expect good results.
"It'll still take time for that child to adapt. She's different from you."
- Dalgeurak.
- Dalgak.
After hearing my words, my soldier let both arms droop to the floor, performing an action that looked like sighing.
In front of her, over a dozen broken bolts were scattered against the cave wall, and my second skeleton was standing there blankly, not even knowing what had gone wrong.
Even a skeleton standing there so vacantly would probably manage shooting decently well if I gave her proper instructions through necromancy.
Since instructions given through necromancy had the effect of assisting undead actions.
"Alright. I've decided."
- Dalgak!
"Yeah. About your name."
My first soldier made a cheerful sound, as if she knew what I had decided.
I nodded back at her. As a sign that her guess was right.
Her name.
As expected, it seemed best to make the theme 'hope.' The thing I had received from her most greatly, most abundantly.
- Ttak.
She approached, stood at attention with her hands behind her back, and then soon took a prostrating posture. In this girl's mind, any occasion worth commemorating seemed to be fixed as something to be received in this posture.
With my hand placed on her head while still seated in the chair, I slowly opened my mouth.
- 4 -
"How did my name come to be, Master?"
"All of a sudden?"
"Yes. I was curious."
At her question, her master lifted her gaze from her book and raised one eyebrow as she spoke.
The beautiful and noble sight of her making such an expression without a single wrinkle forming on her face was a trait she had come to love ever since she had begun to harbor feelings of respect and affection for her.
"Hmm."
There was no answer from her, but her master furrowed her brow slightly, closed the book, and fell into thought. Even though it was a sudden question, she didn't seem inclined to brush off the words of her beloved retainer carelessly.
Then, she smiled and offered a light joke.
"If I had known you had that kind of personality, I would never have given you that name."
"That's hurtful, Master."
"Think about the things you did. Doesn't my assessment feel rather gentle by comparison?"
"..."
Looking back on her own actions from that time, she nearly nodded her head without realizing it.
Under the influence of necromancy and the habits from her life, she had faithfully followed her master's orders. But around the time she regained her memories and began to properly express her will, she had fiercely displayed her hatred for beings called Dungeon Lords, and they had grown distant for a while.
Because when she had been alive, she had been one of those called heroes of humanity.
"You were so rigid, and so narrow-minded."
"Master..."
"I know. That wasn't your true intention. It was closer to instinct, right after you had recovered the years you had lived, rather than intelligence."
Her master laughed, tapping her own lips. Keeping her gaze fixed on those lips, she reflected on her own present and past.
The relationship between a necromancer and a summoned creature was not one completely colored by unconditional goodwill.
It was only coercion by contract, nothing more.
If there hadn't been an occasion later to properly mend their relationship, they would have barely avoided the worst outcome.
And that, too, was due to her master's one-sided understanding, not hers.
It was something she was ashamed of. So much so that if she could return to the past, she would vow never to inflict such wounds on such a good master again.
"Before that, I had never really tried to say anything to you either. And you didn't pretend to be that smart back then—you were always filled with negativity—but I considered you a pillar I could lean on, and I didn't want to let go."
"A pillar... you say?"
"Yes. So that was probably it. That I didn't think about your past life."
She had felt it.
Even while being repulsed by her own corpse-like body, there was an air of unconsciously leaning on her.
Seeing that lonely figure, she had felt herself drawn in little by little, and the desire to protect had welled up. Though the hatred for Dungeon Lords ran deeper than that, so she couldn't restrain herself.
But her master understood her situation. And without hesitation, she chose to slowly grow closer.
As a result.
Although it took a very long time, she finally opened her heart to her master... and the her of now could no longer imagine herself without her master.
"Right. The meaning of the name."
"Ah, yes."
"Huhu. I did tell you that I'm not from this world, didn't I?"
"Yes. You did. Originally, you were..."
"Yes. I was a man. An ordinary man whose heart was dying day by day."
That was a story that was hard to believe even now, long after she had heard it. Because her master was always noble, beautiful, and even... lovable.
To the point where she couldn't hide her irreverent feelings.
If she hadn't realized the know-how to conceal her feelings before she developed those irreverent feelings, she would have been caught immediately by her master with her pitch-black heart exposed.
Completely unaware of such feelings, or perhaps knowing but pretending not to, her master opened her mouth again.
"In my world, there was a great female warrior. A person who was also considered a saintess."
"A saintess... you say."
"Yes. A living miracle who received God's call and raised up a nation that was on the verge of total ruin... that was who she was. But in the end, a saintess who faded away under the political interests between nations. Jeanne d'Arc."
"Jeanne d'Arc."
Her master nodded at her as she repeated the name and gestured with her hand.
When she approached and bowed her head before that hand in prostration, her master loosened her hand and caressed her head as if stroking a beloved puppy.
Ever since she had come to harbor respect and affection for her, it was her favorite form of skinship.
"But that alone wasn't enough. She was certainly great, but in my eyes, she was ultimately a person who failed."
"Failed... I see."
"Yes. Of course, to that person, if she had only God's love, all things in the material world would have been irrelevant. But to me, it was different. Before the shadows of the countless enemies to come, you, an excellent soldier, were hope to me."
Saying, 'For someone who had once lost everything, losing everything on this earth again was something I couldn't even dream of,' the woman gazed at her with deep purple eyes that smiled.
Looking up at that lovable and respected figure, she gradually pressed down on her pounding heart.
It was far too great a price to pay for a sudden curiosity.
"So, among the various names converted from the name Jeanne, I chose one that held a more meaningful significance to me."
"What is it?"
"'Good news.' Amidst having lost everything, it was the meaning of the name I wanted to give you, who brought me hope."
"It sounds lovely."
"More than the name you had in life?"
"Yes. More than that one."
"I'm glad."
Once again, her master stroked her head as she nodded it fervently. Looking up at that affectionate face, she rolled her name around inside her mouth.
That name, which sounded far more sacred to her than even one of the most sacred names in an entire world.
Her master, too, was holding that name in her mouth.
- 5 -
"Evangeline. That's your name."
- Dalgeurak.
"Yeah."
The skeleton, who deeply respected and loved her master, received her name once more and, from the deepest part of her heart, scooped up a great swell of joy and delivered it to her master.
"I'm glad you like it."
And in response, her master, who had not been in this world for very long, spoke in a voice pitched lower than in her last memory.
"Eve."
She soon called her by an affectionate nickname, filled with fondness.
[I would be glad if you used my body in whatever way benefits you the most.]
Wearing the same smile she had worn at the very end—a sight that had been exceedingly rare in this period of the 'past.'