The Legion and the Father's Sin
How much time had passed? Simon's consciousness slowly began to return.
[Oho! You're awake!]
The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a tall skeleton with burning eyes. Simon bolted upright.
"……Pier! Wh-what happened?"
[The contract was completed successfully. Feel the changes in your body!]
Simon blinked and placed a hand on his chest.
My core……!
It had grown larger. That wasn't all—the jet-black that had once burdened him after only the briefest stay in his body now felt as comfortable as warm, gently flowing water.
It felt as though something fundamental about him had changed.
[Congratulations on becoming one of the seven 'Legion Commanders' in the world, boy!]
Pier grinned. As Simon tried to rise from his seat, a wave of dizziness crashed over him and he pressed a palm to his forehead.
[Don't push yourself too hard! Your body has just undergone an enormous transformation.]
"Ah, yes, sir."
During that so-called contract, Simon had come within a hair's breadth of blacking out again and again.
His whole body had been flooded with an indescribable, alien sensation—that excruciating stretch of time had left him seriously considering biting off his own tongue just to make it stop.
I won't be moving anywhere for a while. I'll have to stay put here for the rest of the night.
Simon let out a small sigh and looked at Pier.
"I have a question, Pier."
[Ask away, boy!]
Pier crossed his arms and spoke solemnly.
"What exactly is a Legion?"
[…….]
A heavy silence settled over the ruins for a moment.
[What! You came here and made a contract with me without even knowing that?!]
"Yes."
He had come because Nephthys, his father's old comrade, had told him the location, and he had been taken in because he'd met Pier, his father's undead. That was the whole of it.
Pier laughed in sheer disbelief.
[It may take quite some time to fully understand a human like you! Fine. I shall explain!]
Pier's gaze turned serious.
[But first—how much do you know about undead?]
"Hmm…… about as much as a first-year freshman at Kizen."
[Ha! A freshman, and yet you had the gall to come all this way alone! You truly are Richard's son!]
Pier began his explanation.
According to him, the undead of this world were divided into three categories.
The first was the Summoned Undead.
Every undead commanded by necromancers fell into this group. They were artificially created from corpses through dark magic and moved according to a necromancer's orders. When the dark magic's effect ran out or a certain length of time passed, they vanished.
The second was the Natural Undead.
These undead came into existence naturally, with no connection to necromancers or dark magic. They were the kind most people knew of—and because of their blind hatred of the living and their extreme aggression, they were objects of terror across the continent. They fell squarely into the 'monster' category designated by humankind.
And the third was—
[The Legion!]
Pier's voice rose.
[A Legion sits at the exact midpoint between the Summoned Undead and the Natural Undead! Each member possesses its own core and can sustain itself like a Natural Undead, yet it also obeys the commands of a necromancer and its superior entities like a Summoned Undead!]
"Legion Undead……"
Simon murmured the words as if committing them to memory and nodded slowly.
[Only seven Legions exist in this world. In other words, only seven necromancers in the world are capable of controlling a Legion. You included, boy!]
Pier's story was one revelation after another.
An ordinary summoning-focused necromancer, it seemed, could lead undead on the scale of a platoon.
Some could move company-sized units of undead, and a high-ranking necromancer of Kizen's caliber—though rather inefficiently—could even manage a battalion.
The reason for these numerical limits was that every undead a necromancer led was a 'Summoned Undead'.
Summoning them, controlling them—both drained jet-black and mental strength.
But the Legion, running on its own internal magic, was completely free of such constraints.
[A Legion has no limits! Whether an army of a hundred thousand or a million, you can field them endlessly! If you've ever heard tales of necromancers commanding vast undead armies, those were without a doubt tales of Legion Commanders!]
"Ah……"
Simon felt joy, but also a touch of bewilderment.
I've become one of only seven necromancers in the world with unlimited military strength? It was a story hard to believe even as he heard it.
[Have all your questions been answered now?]
"Yep."
[Good! The contract is complete, and like it or not, we're in the same boat now. Shall we discuss our plans going forward?]
"Sounds good, Pier."
Pier, who had been slouching in his seat, straightened his posture. Seeing this, Simon sat up properly as well.
[You and I are each in special circumstances. Am I right?]
"Yes. I'm enrolled at Kizen."
[Do you intend to leave Kizen?]
"Not for now. It would go against my father's wishes, and above all, there's still so much I can learn there."
[Hmm, good! I agree that Kizen has its uses!]
Pier tapped his forehead with a finger as he spoke.
[Then let's go over the special situation the Legion now finds itself in.]
"You mean how the Legion was disbanded once?"
[That much goes without saying. If the Legion hadn't been disbanded, there would never have been a contract between us in the first place.]
The blue flames flickering in Pier's eye sockets burned brighter.
[As it stands, we have become the common enemy of all necromancers. You could say we're wanted.]
"Why is that?"
[Because of the crime committed by the former Legion Commander—your father, Richard.]
At those words, Simon trembled faintly.
My father's crime?
[Richard committed a sin that the world of dark magic can never forgive. And the Legion, as an accomplice, helped him commit it.]
"What exactly is this unforgivable sin……"
Pier closed his eyes.
[Treason. Richard fell in love with a Priest.]
"Ah……"
Simon felt as though he'd been struck hard over the head with a hammer.
He was hearing this story HERE?
[The 100-Year War between necromancers and priests was raging at the time. It was an extremely sensitive period! Even so, Richard gave the Legion an order to protect the Priest he loved. He commanded us to attack his fellow necromancers who had come to kill her.]
Simon swallowed dryly.
[There were many casualties. An extermination order was issued against Richard and the Legion, and it remains in effect to this day, even after Richard disbanded the Legion. That is why the Legion cannot reveal itself to the world.]
"I understand what you're saying."
Having heard Pier's story, Simon felt a far stronger sense of responsibility toward the Legion.
Taking in Pier and the Legion and shouldering the risks they carried felt like the natural destiny of a son born between Richard and Anna.
[Boy, you have no need to feel guilty!]
Pier smiled, his jaw splitting wide.
[The Legion moves strictly according to the will of its Legion Commander! Richard's Legion and Simon's Legion are two different things. The necromancers surely understand that as well.]
"Then—!"
[But you are not a complete outsider. You are Richard's son. The elders cannot help but suspect. And above all……]
Pier poked Simon's forehead with a bare skeletal finger.
[If word spreads that a mere first-year at Kizen has come to possess a 'Legion', what do you think the other necromancers will do?]
Simon's eyes hardened with resolve.
His father's legacy would not be stolen by anyone.
"I suppose I'll have to get even stronger."
[Indeed.]
Pier clenched his fist.
[For now, lie low, absorb everything Kizen has to teach, and grow stronger! The Legion, too, will gradually restore its former might. And when the time comes—]
"Yes."
No more needed to be said.
Simon and Pier nodded at the same time.
[Returning to the matter at hand—we are both in special circumstances. Which is why I, as the Legion's Manager, propose a new method of operating it!]
"And that would be……?"
Pier raised an arm and gestured.
The skeleton Simon had summoned earlier and handed a lantern to came shuffling over.
"Huh? Pier, you can control my skeletons too?"
[Of course! We now share a single jet-black, and the undead you summon with your jet-black all belong to the Legion. You, as Legion Commander, hold first command authority, and I hold second. However……]
Pier stroked his jaw slowly.
[This undead has not yet undergone 'Legionification'.]
"Legionification?"
The skeleton walked up to Pier. Pier raised his arm and placed his hand on the skeleton's skull.
Fwoooosh!
Simon's distinctive bluish-black jet-black surged up like flame, and the skeleton's body rose into the air.
The jet-black that had been swirling dizzyingly through the empty air was all at once sucked inside the skull, forming a sphere like a 'brain'.
A moment later, the skeleton dropped to the ground with a clatter.
[Behold—an undead that has undergone Legionification!]
The skeleton slowly began to pick itself up. Its appearance was no different than before, but the same bluish-black flames as Pier's now flickered in its eye sockets.
Simply put, what Pier called Legionification was the process of a 'Summoned Undead' becoming a 'Natural Undead'.
Because these undead each moved on their own core, the summon-time limit disappeared—they could exist forever without Simon having to give them a moment's thought.
"But it's a dead giveaway, isn't it?"
[It is.]
Simon's expression turned troubled. If he brought these things to Kizen, he'd be found out immediately.
[Which is why not every undead needs to be 'Legionified'! Unless an undead has existed as long as I have, it's common knowledge that Summoned Undead are superior in combat efficiency. Boy! Use your Summoned Undead as you always have. Then, when a skeleton's maintenance time runs out, or it's damaged beyond use, bring it to me. We'll Legionify it and garrison it here.]
"Oh, I like that arrangement!"
Common undead like skeletons and zombies had always been one-time disposables—but now Simon had a warehouse where they could be preserved permanently.
What's more, unless they were gravely damaged, Legionification allowed them to regenerate on their own.
[So grow stronger, boy! The better the undead you can summon, the greater the Legion's power becomes!]
"Of course."
While he was at it, Simon transferred the two skeletons that had been damaged fighting the werewolf over to Pier's side as well.
Now turned Natural Undead, the skeletons' behavior patterns changed too.
Before, they had stood around blankly like puppets with cut strings whenever Simon gave no orders; now they scratched at their heads or suddenly went scampering around the area, showing vaguely animal-like quirks. And the moment Simon called, they came running at top speed.
It was proof that his command authority was working exactly as it should.
Even after the serious talk about the Legion's operational plan came to an end, the night was still long.
Sitting across from one another, Simon and Pier fell into easy chatter.
[Boy. How long has it been since you entered Kizen?]
"Three days now."
[I see. Hold on just a while longer! In time, even first-years become eligible for 'missions' issued by Kizen. You'll be able to travel not only around Roc Island but across the entire continent via teleportation arrays!]
Pier's mouth curled up at the corners as he continued.
[And when that day comes, I'll be going with you! You'll be able to wield the Legion freely without watching anyone's eyes! And under the pretext of those missions, we'll gather the Legion's old power bases scattered across the continent! Every one of them will gladly rally under Richard's son!]
Simon's eyes went wide with surprise.
"You know a lot about Kizen, don't you, Pier?"
[Heh heh heh. Naturally! I watched your father's entire time at Kizen with my own eyes! That man was a notoriously infamous troublemaker there.]
This overlapped with what Nephthys had said. And on Pier's face as he spoke of Richard, a wistful emotion drifted past.
[Yes. Those were the good days.]
That sentiment, too, overlapped with Nephthys's. Simon asked carefully.
"……Pier, do you resent my father?"
[Resent? Resent? Hahahaha! Weak emotions like resentment do not exist in the Legion! The Legion merely moves at its Commander's command. Even if your father chose a Priest and cast us aside as expendable, we would accept that order gladly! That is what it means to be a Legion!]
Pier paused mid-sentence, then stroked his jaw.
[Though if his son goes and repeats that same damn lunacy, I might just lose my mind. Wouldn't you say?]
"……Ahaha."
Simon talked with Pier deep into the small hours. They covered countless topics, but the stories about his father left the deepest impression.
They were far more unvarnished than anything he'd heard from Nephthys.
[What would I have to hide? Your father was a legendary piece of trash!]
Pier guffawed.
[Right in front of a girl who trailed after him because she liked him, he'd flaunt it—tossing around the underwear of some girl he'd started dating the day before, playing with it like a toy!]
"……"
Simon's eyes narrowed.
"You're not exaggerating for the sake of a story I've never heard, are you?"
[……Exaggerating? KHAHAHAHA! I'm only telling you moderately embarrassing episodes out of consideration for Richard's dignity right now! Do you have any idea how many wagonloads of women that man made cry?]
There was no way that could be true. Simon shook his head firmly in denial.
[Yes. And that legendary scoundrel……]
A strange note of lingering emotion crept into Pier's voice.
[That piece of trash whom even Kizen's professors clicked their tongues at…… after meeting one woman, everything changed. He became a completely different person. It wasn't a transformation that could be described with clichés about 'the power of love' or any of that nonsense. It was more like……]
Then Pier's voice stopped dead. He turned his head and stared straight at Simon.
[Wait, wait, WAIT! No—why did I never think of this?]
"What is it?"
[You—you said you were Richard's son, didn't you? Then surely……!]
Simon smiled warmly.
"Yep. My mother is Anna Polentia."