A Deal With the Lord, a Farewell to a Priest
In the end, Lord Raymond dismissed his soldiers and groveled at Simon's feet.
Being made to grovel before a boy young enough to be his son had his blood boiling, but there was nothing he could do in the face of an undead Legion.
"……Even for Kizen, this kind of display of force is inexcusable."
He hadn't completely surrendered yet. Strength gathered in the lord's eyes.
"The Dark Alliance firmly recognizes the autonomy of its member states and territories. Kizen has no authority to interfere! What do you intend to do if this escalates into a diplomatic incident?"
Sitting in the lord's seat, Simon let slip a faint smile.
"Let's get to the point, shall we."
He drew the pieces of evidence from his coat and dropped them onto the floor.
The broker's contract, the advance payment he'd given Ellen, and even the tattered remains of an Efnel uniform.
"You've been colluding with a Priest of Efnel."
Raymond felt the blood drain from his entire body.
"While simultaneously accepting a commission from Kizen's side, no less. That would be treason — and an attempt to incite a clash between necromancers and Priests. Am I interpreting that correctly?"
"……N-no, that's not—"
Simon's eyes glinted coldly.
"And you said my actions could escalate into a diplomatic incident? By that same logic, your actions are a matter that could escalate into a war spanning the entire continent. Wouldn't you agree?"
Cold sweat poured down Raymond's face.
The reason he'd tried so desperately to keep Simon inside the lord's castle had been precisely to prevent a collision between Kizen and Efnel over his double-dealing. But Kizen already knew everything.
He agonized. If things went on like this, he would die. Not just him — the entire territory would be put to the sword.
I have to do something. At this point it's do or die……!
Raymond sprang up from where he'd been kneeling.
"Insolence!"
Then he roared at the top of his lungs.
"You hold nothing but your affiliation with Kizen — not a shred of real authority! How dare you speak of treason with such flimsy scraps of evidence!"
Simon let out a short snort of laughter. The man was now running headlong with his own neck held out.
But it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.
With every card in hand, watching his opponent thrash about like this was, he thought, a fairly enjoyable pastime.
[Keh-heh-heh! So the true personality finally starts showing itself, boy!]
'……My skull is ringing, so please be quiet, Pier.'
Simon shook his head at Pier, and in response, Pier parted the robe that wrapped around his body.
"Uh…… uhhh?"
Raymond's pupils began to shake violently.
Something was wrong.
This was very, very wrong.
What emerged from Pier's robe was Ellen — standing vacantly with unfocused eyes, head tilted, drool trickling from the corner of her mouth.
A magic circle was drawn across her forehead.
"I captured a Priest of Efnel during my mission."
Simon spoke as though pronouncing a death sentence.
"I've placed a curse on her, so her mind is briefly lost. If I send her to Kizen for interrogation, I imagine there will be quite a lot of interesting stories to hear. Don't you think?"
Thud.
Raymond collapsed to the floor.
The matter was, for the moment, settled.
Raymond confessed to every crime, offering his own neck on the condition that the territory itself be spared.
And one thing had come as a small surprise: Raymond was a figure of considerable renown among the people of his land.
He had staked his entire political career on the territory's development, running himself ragged to attract investment from the Crown. He had even, with great difficulty, arranged a visit from the Crown Prince this year.
But the disappearances had tripped him up. If the matter became public, there was a real danger that the Crown Prince's visit and every other plan would dissolve into foam.
So Raymond had joined hands with Erzsébet, who ran an information guild, and blocked every piece of information leaking outward (though it seemed he had no idea whatsoever that she was the very architect of the disappearances). And then, quietly, he'd hired mercenary companies and famous knights of renown — and sent a request to Kizen.
But Kizen gave no answer for three months, and a frantic Raymond finally made contact with a Priest through the broker.
Then Simon had snapped up the very commission Kizen was about to discard and intervened, and that was how the situation had become this tangled mess.
"I have committed a crime worthy of death."
Raymond, prostrate on the floor, wept openly.
"The truth is, I never trusted the brokers from the start. They claimed she was a Priest of Efnel, but I couldn't imagine someone of that caliber having any reason to go through a broker. I accepted the offer out of sheer desperation, grasping at straws — I never dreamed an actual Priest of Efnel would come…… I was far too complacent."
Sitting stiffly on his makeshift throne of dignity, Simon's face stiffened for an instant. At the same time, Ellen — lying sprawled on the sofa, feigning unconsciousness — went equally rigid.
The truth was, the magic circle on her forehead had been fake too.
"This affair was my decision alone! Take my life as you please! But I beg you — spare this territory, at least……!"
A faint prickle of guilt beginning to creep over him, Simon cleared his throat and spoke.
"Very well. I understand the situation."
"……"
Raymond lay motionless, forehead pressed to the floor. The posture of a man prepared to accept whatever punishment came.
"Lord Raymond. Let's make a deal."
"……Pardon?"
"I haven't been here long, but I've grown rather fond of this territory. The front line, so close to the Holy Federation. I have no desire to see such a strategic stronghold — one that would have to supply countless soldiers the moment all-out war breaks out — turned into a wasteland."
Raymond lifted his head, his face blank.
"Of course, if procedure runs its course, Kizen will erase everything and everyone who ever dwelled in this territory."
"Ah……"
"But I don't believe you stirred up this situation out of malice. I'll bury this matter on my own authority — just enough that no harm comes to the territory."
"Y-you'd truly do that for me?!"
"I'll certainly try. In exchange."
Simon lowered his voice.
"There may be a small fee."
Raymond slapped his forehead back to the floor and shouted.
"I'll pay it, even if I must empty my entire fortune!"
And so Simon came into possession of 500 gold — ten times the original commission fee of 50. Tucking the fat money pouch into his subspace pocket, Simon left the reception hall under the most lavish of escorts.
[What's this, boy? You were acting so vicious, yet you let them off rather cheap.]
"I'm fine with it. For settling a trouble like this, squeezing out this much is enough."
Simon said with a shrug.
"Besides, that money is all taxes — the lifeblood of the territory's people, isn't it? It's not as if we're robbing an innocent man."
The corners of Pier's jaw lifted.
As the son of the former Legion Commander Richard, the boy shared many of his father's traits — but at his core, there was something fundamentally different about him.
"Good work too, Ellen."
Ellen poked her head out from inside Pier's robe.
"Hehe! How was my acting? It was good, right?"
"Maybe wipe the drool off your mouth before you talk?"
"Ah — aah!"
Flushing, she ducked hurriedly back into the robe, and Simon chuckled.
With one problem resolved, they were strolling casually out of the lord's castle when the surroundings suddenly burst into commotion.
"Move, move! Quickly!"
"Hurry!"
Soldiers in full battle gear were streaming off toward something.
"What's going on?"
[It would appear someone has come to attack.]
"Let's go see."
Simon ran after the soldiers too.
"……!"
Looking down from the castle's second floor, he saw a seething swarm of countless corpse spiders massing before the castle gates. And standing before them was a familiar figure.
Simon whirled around and sprinted down the stairs.
[Boy! Slow down!]
"Kyaagh! That hurts!"
Simon outpaced the two of them and reached the castle gates. The heavily armored soldiers were just then preparing for battle.
"What's happening?"
At Simon's question, the commander of the guard — helmet on — spotted Simon and hastily saluted.
"Undead, sir! It appears they intend to attack the lord's castle. It's dangerous — please get inside, quickly……!"
"Open the gates a crack, please. I'll go take a look myself."
"Y-yes? But that's far too dangerous!"
Simon grinned and placed a hand on his chest.
"I'm still a student, but I am a necromancer. Handling undead is my job — so trust me on this one."
"Hmm……"
In the end, the guard commander opened the gates just wide enough. Simon slipped through, and Pier and Ellen, who had followed, joined him.
When Simon glanced back and nodded, the guard commander nodded back with a stiff expression and shut the gates.
'I didn't expect you to just charge out like that, though.'
Simon walked forward slowly.
Before the swarm of spiders surrounding the castle stood a woman in a wine-red dress.
The madam of the thieves' guild.
And at the same time, the former Legion Commander — Erzsébet.
"What brings you here, Erzsébet?"
[Simon Polentia. Son of the former Legion Commander, Richard Polentia.]
With a gesture overflowing with grace, she sank to one knee.
[I, Erzsébet, wish to serve you as my master. Thus, I humbly beg for the chance to join your Legion — and to be tested.]
Pier snickered and crossed his arms.
Simon, managing his expression carefully, cleared his throat.
"Have your minions withdraw. Let's talk somewhere quiet."
Simon had decided to part ways with Ellen before heading to the inn. With his own hands, he untied the rope that had bound her arms.
"Neither of us benefits if today gets out, so keep it a secret from now on too, alright?"
"……"
She stared straight at Simon's face.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Ah, it's…… it's just, you're a little different from all the rumors about necromancers I've heard."
Pier grinned and hoisted his greatsword.
[If this is a matter of keeping it secret by turning you into a skeleton, I can arrange that on the spot!]
"Eeek!"
She yelped and hid behind Simon's back. Pier roared with laughter, while Erzsébet — watching from a short distance away — bit her lip and glared at Ellen with terrifying intensity.
"And this, too."
Simon pulled a pouch from his subspace pocket.
"Your share of the commission fee. The one I took off you earlier."
"Ah……!"
"Take good care of your siblings."
As she clutched the pouch to her chest, tears of gratitude began welling in her eyes.
"Truly……! Thank you so, so much, Simon! I will never, ever forget this kindness!"
"Where did you say you were headed again?"
"A territory in the Holy Federation called Roharon."
"Right. I hope you make it back to the Holy Federation safely."
"Yes! Thank you! I'll never forget you!"
Simon turned to leave, and Ellen called out loudly after him.
"Will I get to see you again someday?"
Simon shrugged.
"Who knows. Next time, it'll probably be on a battlefield?"
"Haha……"
So he really does draw his lines without a flicker of hesitation, Ellen thought.
"If I ever happen to need to go to the Holy Federation, I'll count on you to guide me then."
"Yes! Of course!"
Truly moved, she waved earnestly until Simon and his companions vanished from view.
[Not only sparing a Priest's life, but sending her off with money in hand. I see.]
"Yes."
[And your reason?]
Simon smiled faintly and crossed his arms.
"I figured that someday, when I have to carry out missions from a black commission, it wouldn't hurt to have connections on the Priest's side. Besides, giving her money makes her a true accomplice in every sense — and she'll genuinely trust me for it."
[Keh-heh-heh! Watching you act, I cannot tell whether you are a man of virtue or of villainy!]
"Hmm."
Simon tilted his head back, hands buried in his hood's pockets.
"Do I really have to sort it all into two neat little boxes like that?"
[……]
"Half my blood is a Priest's. I have no intention of hating the people on the other side of that line, and no reason to. That goes for sending Ellen away, and for squeezing a bit of money out of the territory too. There's no need to go to extremes, is there? I'll just stay in the middle and take what benefits me."
The corners of Pier's jaw rose deep and wide.
[Truly, it seems it will take time to fully understand the human that is you!]
Simon smiled brightly and turned his head.
"Erzsébet."
[Yes.]
"You're not planning to loose your spider Legion on Ellen, whom I just freed unharmed — are you?"
She flinched inwardly, but soon bowed her head.
[……O-of course not.]
"Good enough."
Simon went back to trading jokes with Pier. Erzsébet, following behind the two of them, found herself caught in a strange swirl of emotion.
Still burned before her eyes: the image of Simon's back as he took the holy lance in her place.
When Simon had refused her once, Erzsébet had steeled her heart again and again.
Joining his Legion would bring her nothing. It would only bind her in a troublesome contract for nothing.
And yet.
'……In the end, I'm walking back into hell on my own two feet.'
Not once in her existence had she ever triumphed over her own feelings.
"Erzsébet?"
[Ah — yes. I shall follow.]
And still.
Even if she came to regret it, even if she could see the future, even if that end proved unspeakably bleak —
She would make the same choice, again and again.