The Son of Richard and Anna
The entrance of the abandoned castle was a grim tableau: a dozen or so people, captured in massive webs and dangling like cocoons from the ceiling, looking for all the world as if they were about to be devoured by the spiders. These had to be the very people who'd gone missing from the territory.
On the floor lay a single corpse—the same shriveled, mummified body that had been discovered at the scene. Whatever doubts remained, it was now abundantly clear that Erzsebet was behind the disappearances.
"People! It's people!"
One of the villagers spotted Simon at that moment, and an uproar erupted.
"S-save us! Please, cut us down!!"
"The spider monsters are going to eat us!"
Simon gave a calm nod, drew a sword from his subspace pocket, and began slicing through the webs.
"Pier, please help too."
[Hmph. Useless lot.]
Pier clicked his tongue and swept his greatsword in a wide arc. Five of the web-hung captives dropped to the floor all at once with a cascade of thuds. Since they'd been hanging upside down, wails of dismay rang out from every direction.
Simon laughed sheepishly.
"Pier, gently."
[I have no intention of wasting my time on such pitiful creatures!]
Even as he grumbled, Pier swung his greatsword once more, depositing another batch of people safely onto the ground.
Simon cut down the webbing around one last man with his short sword, then handed the blade over.
"Please use this to free the rest. We're going after those spider monsters."
"Th-thank you!"
"We won't forget this kindness!"
While the villagers worked to free one another from the webs, Simon and Pier turned and walked back into the castle's interior.
[Boy! For all that you call yourself a necromancer, aren't you being a touch too merciful with prisoners?]
Simon tilted his head.
"Then what should a necromancer do?"
[Kill every last one on sight, obviously! Then raise them as skeletons and put them to use as fighting strength!]
"...Kizen forbids killing people for the purpose of turning them undead, you know."
[We're in the field, and there are no witnesses. What does it matter? That's hardly the sort of hang-up I'd expect you to have.]
Simon scratched the side of his head and gave an awkward smile.
"The truth is... my father drilled something into my ears so many times I can still hear it ringing."
[And what was that?]
"That I must never become a monster."
At those words, Pier flinched and fell silent.
"He also said that if you want to avoid becoming a monster, drawing a clear line for yourself is absolutely essential."
The corners of Pier's mouth lifted in something frightening.
[That is advice only Richard could give.]
"Sorry?"
[Khuhuhu! It's nothing! If that is your will, then as manager of the Legion, I shall gladly respect it!]
The two of them passed through a corridor and entered the wide hall of the keep. The glass windows had been shattered to pieces, letting moonlight pour through, and the space was thick with dust and cobwebs.
And then—
"......."
In the far distance, they could see Erzsebet, seated in an enormous chair, sipping tea.
[Khuhuhu! Have you given up on running?]
Pier raised his blade as he spoke. She took a light sip of her tea and smiled around the rim of her cup.
[Oh, hardly, Pier. You've already sensed my jet-black, after all. Wherever I fled, you'd chase me to the very ends of the continent.]
[Well said!]
[So I simply decided I might as well settle matters here.]
She snapped her fingers.
Spiders came pouring in through the ceiling and past the shattered windows. Simon and Pier quickly stood back to back.
[And since you set my playthings free, it seems I'm in need of new ones.]
She flicked her tongue at Simon.
[That boy from Kizen you cherish so dearly—if I toyed with him right before your eyes, I imagine it would make delightful entertainment. Wouldn't you agree?]
The moment Pier's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to speak, Simon stretched out an arm to stop him.
"It's all right, Pier."
[Boy!]
"I'm the Legion Commander. From here on, I'll speak for myself."
Simon strode forward.
The spiders chittered and crouched, ready to pounce at any second, but Simon paid them no mind.
"Erzsebet, commander of the entire Legion."
[...?]
She regarded him with curious eyes.
"I have a formal proposal. Join my Legion."
[Ha.]
A derisive laugh escaped her.
[Were you not listening to my conversation with Pier earlier? I have not the faintest intention of returning to a Legion that cast me aside once already. And besides—]
She leveled her index finger at Simon.
[You expect me to kneel beneath a necromancer with no roots of his own, chosen merely to resurrect Pier's nostalgic past? I do not care for cheap jokes.]
Kuk! KHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Pier's booming laughter suddenly exploded from behind him. Erzsebet's expression twisted savagely.
[What could possibly be so funny, Pier?]
[Huhuhuhuhuhu! Chose the boy because he resembles Richard? How absurd! You know nothing about this one!]
Question marks seemed to float across her face.
"No need to keep it hidden anymore, I suppose."
Simon placed a hand over his chest and continued.
"I am the son born of Richard Polentia and Anna Polentia. Simon Polentia."
[......!!]
Her face warped beyond all description.
[Richard and Anna's...!]
The sworn enemy who had abandoned her—and the woman she hated more than anyone else in this world. A child born between those two. The living proof of their union.
"Let me say it again, Erzsebet."
Simon spoke with the cold composure of someone pouring water into a vat of boiling oil.
"You belonged to my father."
[......Stop.]
"Which is why it is only right that I—his son, and the Legion Commander—take you in."
[Stoooooop!]
An emotion she had buried deep in some corner of her heart. One she'd convinced herself she had 'forgotten' and no longer called to mind. That festering, rotting feeling burst open and seized hold of her mind.
[AAAAAAAAAAARGH!]
Erzsebet's entire body convulsed in agony. Her nails raked across her throat and shoulders, tearing at the flesh until blood flowed. Her body burst apart with a series of cracks, and six colossal legs erupted from her thighs and flanks, bracing against the floor.
The mask covering her face vanished, revealing a woman with eyes like a monster's. Human from the waist up, spider from the waist down. This was Erzsebet's true form as an undead.
[Die! Just diiiiiiiiie!]
Berserk and beyond reason, Erzsebet charged at Simon in a straight line. Unless she erased that terrible truth right this instant, she truly felt she would lose her mind. Her jet-black-coated nails elongated, reaching for his throat.
And Simon simply stood his ground, expressionless.
[Well done, boy!]
Whoosh!
In an instant, Pier's back and cloak blotted out Simon's view. From beyond the cloak came a huge, raw, splitting sound—CRACK!
When the cloak settled, the tableau revealed itself: Pier mid-swing with his greatsword, and Erzsebet plummeting toward the ground with four of her legs severed.
'Now's my chance!'
This time it was Simon who moved. A spear sprang from his subspace pocket into his grip.
'Jet-Black Reinforcement.'
The spearhead darkened, dyed black with jet-black. Pier smirked and stepped aside, and Simon shot forward like a bolt of lightning, thrusting the spear.
THUD!
The spearhead punched into Erzsebet's body.
But it failed to pierce all the way through. She had caught the spearhead with her right hand and was holding on. Simon stomped brutally down on her face and drove his weight into the spear.
"This is your last chance."
His voice was ice.
"Join the Legion, or be annihilated here and now."
[Hah!]
Her remaining legs shot out like awls. Pier leapt in front of Simon just in time.
SHRAAAAK!
[Ghh!]
She was powerful enough to shred the plate armor Pier wore like so much paper. Simon gritted his teeth and poured more force into the spearhead.
As the human and the two undead remained locked in their struggle, the corpse spiders crept closer, trying to reach their mistress.
And directly above them—
VMMM!
A white orb of light rose into being. Pier saw it and roared.
[Damnation! Get away!]
The orb expanded at tremendous speed and slammed down onto the ground.
Dazzling shards of light scattered outward, tearing apart everything around them.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
[Tch!]
Pier, who had pulled back beyond the blast radius, sank to one knee and set Simon down.
The spiders caught in the explosion vanished without a trace. Erzsebet—despite half her legs gone—had somehow managed to dodge it, and now leaned against the wall, panting for breath.
"Aww, too bad~ That was perfect timing!"
Every gaze turned.
Beyond one collapsed wall stood a girl holding a staff.
[A mere Priest!]
Erzsebet thrust out her hand roughly, and the spiders on the ceiling swarmed down toward her.
"Oh well, nothing I can do about that~"
She gave her staff a light twirl, and spears of light flew out, impaling the spiders mid-leap. The spiders twisted in agony, shrieking as they writhed.
'She really is strong.'
Simon's expression hardened.
"Ancient evil spirits, disgusting hordes of spiders—I shall annihilate every last one of them, right here and now!"
She produced what looked like a gem from her robes, tossed it into the air above her head, and struck it with her staff the moment it began to fall.
The gem shattered, and an immense wave of divinity erupted skyward.
"Farewell!"
FWAAAAAAAAAH!
The expanding orb of white light transformed into countless spears of light, raining down in every direction. Simon and Pier hurriedly hid themselves behind a pillar.
The heavy lances of light hammered indiscriminately into the floor, and the corpse spiders died one after another, spraying dark blood.
'...This is going to be difficult.'
Simon bit his lip.
Erzsebet had to be captured alive, not killed. She was hard enough to handle on her own, the spiders kept swarming in, and now there was an Efnel student in the mix besides.
[Boy! At this rate, we strike the Priest first!]
"Can we beat her?"
[Hmph—her divinity is a nuisance, nothing more. One blow will be plenty!]
Simon nodded. Erzsebet, her legs severed and her mobility gone, was as good as captured already. Pier circled back behind the pillar, moving in silence.
"Oh my!"
The Priest spun her staff and smiled. Her gaze was fixed on Erzsebet.
"It seems your legs are rather hurt!"
Unable to dodge because of her injuries, Erzsebet had taken spears of light in several places across her body.
The Priest thrust her staff forward, and a pure-white magic circle unfolded, from which a spear made of pure divinity materialized.
"Mission complete!"
FWOOOOOOOOM!
The spear of divinity flew at terrifying speed. Erzsebet stared at it, dazed and unmoving—
THUUUUD!
[Ah...?]
Something happened that never should have. Simon stood before her with both arms spread wide, blocking her from the attack. Erzsebet's pupils shook wildly.
"Ghh...!"
The spear of divinity had pierced clean through Simon's back and jutted out of his chest. There was no physical wound, but for a necromancer or natural undead—any being with a core—divinity was more lethal than the deadliest poison.
[Wh-why would you...?]
Erzsebet's face was still frozen in shock.
Simon collapsed to his knees.
Agony wracked his body as his vision spun in dizzy circles. Darkness slowly closed in from the edges, and Simon crumpled to the floor.
Crackle. Pop.
At the sound of a campfire burning, Simon slowly opened his eyes.
'...?'
The atmosphere was so peaceful it made the earlier chaos feel like a strange dream. He turned his head—and a multi-eyed corpse spider was staring back at him from inches away.
Simon jolted upright in shock.
—Kiri. Kiririi...!
But the spider didn't attack.
Instead, it nuzzled against his arm, then looked up at him fixedly—an expression that seemed almost to ask, are you all right?
[Oh! You've come to, boy?]
Pier, sitting on the ground with his greatsword planted beside him, smiled.
Simon rose in a daze and looked around.
Still the interior of that same abandoned castle. The once-terrifying spiders were now ambling quietly about the floor, making soft clicking noises. Pier, for his part, showed no inclination to attack them either.
And then—
'...Erzsebet.'
Returned to her human form, she wrenched her head away the instant her eyes met Simon's.
He remembered her injuries being fairly severe, but thankfully she seemed unharmed.
"Koff! Koff!"
A coughing sound came from above.
Simon looked up to find that Priest bound tightly in spider silk, hanging upside down from the ceiling.
"My l-lord!"
Because of the campfire smoke drifting up toward her, tears and snot were streaming down her face.
"Please, save me, I beg you! WAAAAAH! Koff! Koff!"
Simon let out a helpless laugh.
...How on earth did everything end up like this?