The Servants' Oath

A body built on a Death Warrior frame, its appearance close enough to the one he had worn in life. The specs had climbed so far beyond his ghoul days that several new skills had been added on top.

The new skill set leaned hard into assassination and detection.

This is… an archaeologist?

At least Eagle Eye left a little room for charity.

Life flooded into the mannequin-like body. Zaug shot upright and started patting himself down with both hands.

"Wh-whaaa—!"

"Body okay?"

"Woooaaaah!!! Ughheeh!! Ughhek!!"

Not okay, then.

Had the soul stone aftershock scrambled his brain? I should restore him first, then figure out the cause.

"The corpse is…"

"Perfectly fine, sir! Please do not disassemble me!"

"Thought your intelligence had dropped."

"The Great Lord himself worked on me—there cannot possibly be a problem!"

"Obviously."

"There is never a mistake in Master's handiwork."

Don't say that.

Only a few months ago I had been living by the motto that failure was the mother of success.

"Look here, my lords!"

A low hum. A blue current coiled along the Silence Dagger—Aura, the miracle granted only to those who had broken past the wall.

"Puhehehe! This Zaug, by the Great Lord's grace, can now wield Aura!"

The experiment had succeeded. And with it, one hypothesis had been proven.

"So even otherworld souls can still grow."

Zaug, who had never used Aura in life, had taken the insight I poured into him and climbed to a higher stage. Sir Isra, Ingrid, and Roan as well—all of them now had room to advance past the peaks they had held before death.

"I have already seen the end of the sword."

"Iron-head. All you've got in that skull is swords and chivalry, isn't it?"

"Hmph! Do not spout such blasphemy, magic-user."

"You could aim for a higher realm. Or pick up fields you never touched while you were alive."

Leave it to Ingrid. She had cut straight to the heart of what I was thinking.

"If there's a soul stone related to gravity, I'd like to use it."

Ingrid's specialty was multi-attribute work. She could handle most of the four classical elements and a wide range of their derivatives. Gravity and space—Old Man Alphonse's specialties—had never been her domain. Which meant that if she took knowledge of those fields through a soul stone, she could wield them as if they were her own.

"I have already reached the ultimate of the blade."

Sir Isra grumbled under her breath.

"I never said I was offering it to you."

"Ah! Ah! I was not refusing my Lord's kindness—!"

Ingrid let out a soft snort of laughter.

"Read the room."

Either way, one hypothesis stood confirmed.

"We've still got a long way to go, though."

The Continent's Greatest Sword. The Witch of the Solar Eclipse. The Saint chosen by a dark god. By living standards they were the kind of powerhouses who would make the Twelve Heroes look ordinary. Restoring them to the heights they had once stood on already felt distant enough—could I strengthen them further still?

"If it is my Lord, it can be done."

"Weren't you just going on about having seen the end of the sword, iron-head?"

"Do not interrupt when I am offering counsel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to my Lord."

Sir Isra's attempt to sound weighty collapsed on the spot. Even so, what she meant to say had come through clearly enough.

Someday I would push the final piece of the Resurrected—the full 100%—into place, and restore every one of my retainers' living abilities completely. When that day came, maybe I would finally become a hunter worthy of the words I had spoken the first time I met Sir Isra: the strongest in the world.

"Ehehehe!"

Motivation welled up so hard ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my mouth opened on its own.

"Even the Great Lord's laugh is bold and grand—truly the bearing of a great man!"

"That is not so, my Lord. Do something about that frivolous laugh."

"It looks honest. I like it, iron-head."

Ah. This feels good.

Zaug had regained the face he wore in life. To mark the occasion, we decided to eat something good.

"How about galbi today?"

"Ah. There's a great place near the house."

"Master! I've been wanting to try that too!"

"This humble one will take anything, sir!"

With all three retainers speaking with one voice, Minho gave a light laugh.

"Wait here, everyone. That place is takeout only—I have to go myself."

"High-minded folk indeed. I trust they will serve a flavor worthy of such conviction."

"At last this servant shall taste it as well!"

【…….】

Roan, the only one whose living form had not yet been realized, kept his silence.

"I'll be right back. Don't fight."

"So long as the magic-user does not insult chivalry, I shall remain still."

"Why would I fight an uncultured iron-head?"

"Hungry, sir."

Click—

The moment the door shut, the smiles vanished from the three retainers' faces.

"We will finish every discussion before my Lord returns."

A chill settled over Sir Isra's eyes. Ingrid nodded hard, as if sealing the agreement.

"Three times. They went after Master three times."

"Correct, sir."

"All who seek to harm my Lord shall be judged."

Back when they had interrogated the masked hunter on the uninhabited island, the three retainers had already locked their opinions into one.

—Any hostile force that threatens Minho will be crushed without exception.

"But, my lady."

"What is it you wish to know?"

"The Great Lord will not give permission, will he?"

That was exactly why they had waited until Minho stepped outside. None of them believed he would approve of them moving this aggressively.

"My Lord is far too merciful."

"Mm. That much is true, sir."

"Judging the enemy is the duty of the First Sword."

"Hmph. Don't try to hog all the glory."

"This servant will help as well."

Three retainers, united against a common enemy—people who, in life, had either stood at the peak of their fields or at least tasted that peak—now set their hearts to one purpose.

"It is fortunate my Lord did not ask too many questions."

"I already have the location of one branch in this city, sir."

"Shall we burn the whole building down?"

Ingrid smiled, bright as spring.

"Foolish. This is why desk-bound scholars are no good."

"What did you just say?"

"Magic-user. The enemy is not one. Plucking a single nose hair is only an annoyance—it deals no real damage."

At the very least, they would have to cut out every secret Chinese branch rooted in this country.

"That side of things is this servant's specialty, sir."

"Your interrogation skill was excellent."

"Hehehe."

"We find the places already identified, purge them, and follow the traces to the other branches."

Unless the network was a pure cell structure, information would remain somewhere. If they struck without warning and gave the enemy no time to bury that information, securing the locations of the other branches was entirely possible.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"It is fortunate my Lord did not inquire further."

"There are ways to hide things, aren't there, sir?"

"You thief. You must always speak the truth to Master. What is there to hide?"

"Hiiik!"

The three had joined their wills for a shared goal: Minho's safety. If that goal could be reached, there was nothing they would not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do.

"When do we move?"

"Tomorrow."

Tomorrow happened to be a day with nothing on Minho's schedule.

"If the Great Lord comes along, it will disrupt the operation, sir."

"My Lord must remain at the residence."

"Huh?"

"The ones who move will be the three of us."

Resolve rang through Sir Isra's voice.

Footsteps. Footsteps.

"What we just discussed—never speak of it."

"I'm not an iron-head like someone I could name."

"Put your worries to rest, sir."

If Minho could have seen this moment of perfect understanding among the three, how happy would he have been?

No. If he had known they were plotting the trouble they were about to cause, he would not have been happy at all.

Clack!

"I'm back. You didn't fight, right?"

"Hahaha! We have been waiting, my Lord!"

"My stomach is already fully prepared."

"The first food since revival—this servant can hardly wait!"

All three retainers greeted Minho with broad, shining smiles.

Morning came the next day.

"Haaawn."

I loosened up lightly and ran through the day's work in my head. Hanil Blacksmith had been too busy lately for me to stop by, and it was also a rest day from gate raids. I was fine with that, but the Rift Agency said they hadn't been able to free up a hunter team to help with the odd jobs. I hoped the support team friends would rank up to B-class soon. Living off the Rift Agency's goodwill couldn't go on forever.

"Then, shall we rest today?"

Sir Isra watched me carefully out of the corner of her eye. The atmosphere felt a little different from usual. Don't tell me—

"We're not doing sword practice."

"Kh. It is not that!"

"Not that, my foot. It's obvious."

Lately, the second she found a free moment she was pushing Imperial Sword Style drills. Did she think I couldn't see through that black heart of hers?

"I've got research to do, so hold off for today."

"Have you already found new inspiration?"

Ingrid's bright-eyed reaction made my own mood lift with it.

"You know that thing I bought last time."

"The Primitive Heart, yes."

"I want to test how it pairs with the raptors."

Dinosaur-type monsters all counted as primitive species. A powerful support ability that jacked up specs across the board. Both the Primitive Heart and the raptors fell under that classification, so—

"I might be able to improve the raptors' performance."

I had plenty of raptor corpses to spare. The bodies alone from the Wave of the Primitive gate ran into the hundreds. What I hadn't been able to absorb when I consolidated everything into the Death Blacksmith was sitting in a rental warehouse. A little monthly storage fee was still far better than throwing away corpses that hard to come by.

"Then, may we go somewhere as well?"

I blinked. Go somewhere—outside, she meant?

"Hoho. Zaug has a proper body now, so we thought we'd get a little air."

"Hehehe. This servant is curious how the world is turning these days."

Oh. Building friendships without me. I had figured they would spend their whole lives at each other's throats, but it looked like they had grown fairly close.

My retainers have really matured!

"Go ahead. Take this."

"Ah. This is that card, sir."

"You know how to use it?"

"Do not worry. Having observed my Lord's every action, I am well versed in such matters."

Sir Isra answered at once. That lack of hesitation was genuinely reassuring. Just in case, I also pressed a few ten-thousand-won bills into their hands.

Honestly. It felt exactly like sending kids out on an errand.

"All right. The three of you go eat something good."

"Sir!"

"Hohoho. Thank you, Master."

"Great Lord, work hard as well!"

I watched the retainers open the door and leave, then stepped into the Death Blacksmith myself.