Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: My Servant (1)
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He was a small figure wrapped in something black.
The only visible part was a single right eye glowing purple.
Hanni asked in a trembling voice.
"......What?"
"Is it fun killing your subordinates?"
At those words, he looked back at the charred corpse.
Clearly, the explosion spell 'Buster' had been aimed at this guy.
Yet the target that should have been hit by countless explosions stood unscathed before his eyes.
So whose corpse was that?
"B-Big Brother."
Then came the voice of another subordinate.
"I-It was Pin....... Pin!"
"Ah."
Only then did Hanni's mind start turning.
Pin was missing.
Pin was the only one among the subordinates he'd brought to capture Jans and Philip who wasn't here.
And what remained was a single charred corpse.
"3rd Class. About that level, huh."
The small-statured man said.
He smirked with his glowing purple eye.
"Trying to play the madman with just that much is a bit off."
"......You bastard."
Hanni's face twisted.
Red cracks spread across the whites of his eyes.
He raised his wand.
He didn't know what this guy was, but he'd dared to ruin his art.
On top of that, he'd lost a subordinate.
Though it was Hanni himself who'd done it, it was a trivial matter to him now.
He'd been tricked.
That alone enraged him.
"I'll kill you!"
3rd Class Explosion Magic: Buster
Power incomparable to 5th Class Explosion Magic Explosion, but lethal to the unprepared.
Yes.
He could burn this puny little brat to ashes without a trace.
He didn't know what trick he'd pulled, but it wouldn't work twice—
"The mind, you see."
Piiing—
The world began to spin.
"Grows infinitely weaker in the face of someone stronger."
Jamie spoke in a cold voice as he watched Hanni stagger, unable to keep his balance.
"That's why I enjoy kneading the brains of those weaker than me."
Though you wouldn't hear this part.
Jamie didn't voice the last thought.
He watched Hanni flail about, then turned his gaze to the men trembling in terror behind him.
The realization that their leader had fallen to this tiny something seemed to strike great fear in them.
Well, to their eyes, Hanni had probably just collapsed suddenly without any warning.
They were followers of a mere 3rd Class mage.
It was only natural they'd be terrified of the merciless power of 'Black Magic'.
"Think of it as bad luck."
He could extract the information from Hanni.
There was no reason to spare the rest.
Letting them live would only spread strange rumors.
"W-Wait a—!"
One of the men cried out desperately, but
Jamie looked at the spot where Hanni's subordinates had stood—now no longer existing.
Then back at Hanni.
"My slave. Speak now."
"......Yes, Master."
The information Hanni spat out wasn't much different from what Jans and Philip had said.
It simply added the mission to capture the two who seemed to have betrayed them.
"So all I learned is that they're involved in human trafficking."
This was something he could just report straight to Count Welton.
"What to do with this one."
Hanni was completely deprived of his will.
Drool trickling from his mouth, unfocused eyes, limp arms—all signs his soul had shattered.
A 3rd Class mage would make a decent undead.
Unfortunately, Jamie lacked the ability right now.
Mages had stronger mental fortitude than commoners.
3rd Class wasn't high, but it still required innate talent to reach that level.
With Black's help, turning him into an undead might be possible, but it wasn't suitable for use here.
'Can't maintain the appearance.'
Fine on a battlefield, but a rotting undead's look would be poison in a peaceful area like this.
"Well, doesn't have to be undead. This'll do just fine."
Jamie's small lips twisted upward.
A 3rd Class mage was a lump of mana in itself.
Yes. A lump of mana.
Jamie's hand rose above Hanni's head.
"Bon appétit."
'Not bad.'
He maintained the Full Body Breathing Method, but opportunities to absorb this much mana weren't frequent.
Hanni's mana was impure, likely self-taught, but that was trivial for Jamie.
"Definitely full to bursting. Quite the strain."
His body had reached its limit, preventing a breakthrough to 5th Class.
"More importantly......"
Jamie licked his lips and looked at Jans and Philip.
He'd stopped their skin from necrotizing, but they wouldn't last long.
He approached them.
Mind control still in effect, they stood motionless, feeling no pain.
"Hm."
He crossed his arms, lost in thought for a moment.
What to do with them.
Absorbing them like Hanni would exceed his current mana capacity.
Even if not, digesting Hanni's mana first made more impossible.
Meanwhile, Black released suit mode and climbed atop Jamie's emerald hair.
Kik—
Tilting its head.
What was its master planning?
Just then, Jamie decided and gathered the two corpse-like men in one spot.
"If they're going to die anyway, better to make meaningful use of them."
Hanni had shied away due to the burden, but these two would suffice.
Jamie slowly raised his hand and murmured.
"It's been a while."
'Necromancy' was the power to raise corpses.
Similar to resurrection, but different.
Corpses raised by Necromancy were no longer living beings.
Defying Heaven.
Rejecting nature's laws, defying the will of the heavens.
Undead.
The dead who do not die.
"From now on, you shall live as my faithful servants, transcending death."
Jans and Philip.
They weren't dead yet.
Jamie had no intention of killing them.
He would simply turn them into undead in their current state.
"Black, assist."
Kreek!
Realizing its master's intent, Black spread its leathery wings wide.
Raising a mere corpse was one thing, but the Necromancy Jamie was about to unleash went beyond that.
It preserved their former appearance and mind—a high-level black magic.
In his prime, a flick of the finger sufficed, but now even with Black's help, it was challenging.
He wondered if gaining servants this way was necessary, but they'd be invaluable against the Zenith Church ahead.
"Beginning."
Jamie's eyes glowed purple as he focused.
From his lips flowed an ancient dead language forgotten by all.
"Abandon life and rise. An immortal body awaits, and you shall transcend death." "Sinners, come to me!"
⟨ Necromancy ⟩
Jans and Philip's bodies shuddered violently.
Mind-controlled and will-less, their instincts still clung desperately to life.
Yet in their near-death state from Hanni's attacks.
As Black's wings grew, all surrounding mana turned murky.
Turning the living into the undead-who-live was difficult.
But once achieved, their life's obsession would transform into chaos.
"I bestow upon you new names."
Black smoke billowed from the two men.
The man once Jans, the man once Philip.
Jamie gazed at them with dull purple eyes and declared.
"Azad. Raiza. Those are your new names."
Becoming undead meant shedding all from one's former life.
Thus, the master must grant fitting new names.
'Nameless rabble undead don't get them from the start.'
He'd made them as errand boys, but personally crafted, they were far from rabble.
"We receive your command, Master."
The two undead bowed politely to their new master.
The one once Jans: Azad.
The one once Philip: Raiza.
They retained their former appearances.
To an outsider, they wouldn't seem undead.
If not for the black smoke wafting around them.
"Hm."
Jamie hadn't yet implanted self-awareness in them.
So they stood like dolls, motionless.
"Why the lingering black smoke?"
The ritual had been perfect.
Deficiencies covered by Black.
Kreek!
Glancing at Black, it flapped its wings as if to say it wasn't its fault.
"What did I say? Now I'm suspicious."
Kikik!
"Fine, fine. Just a joke."
Black's assistance had been flawless.
Yes. If there was a flaw, it was himself.
"Still too much for me."
He'd anticipated failure since it wasn't basic Necromancy, but the bitterness hit anyway.
His past glory felt like a distant memory.
A new body brought possibilities, but the emptiness of loss remained.
"Can't use them like this."
This level would shock other black sorcerers, but it fell short of Jamie's expectations.
They needed to infiltrate and gather intel on the Zenith Church.
In this state, they couldn't even enter a regular restaurant, let alone the church.
The black smoke had to be dealt with.
Kiiik!
Then Black tapped Jamie's cheek with its wing.
"You brat, casually touching your master's cheek?"
Kreek!
Regardless, Black flew to Azad and Raiza, hovering above them.
It alternated glances before landing on Azad's head.
Then spread its wings wide.
"Oh!"
Change happened immediately.
The black smoke from Azad began getting sucked into Black's body.
Black's body swelled like a balloon.
Gulp—
A burp escaped its small mouth, expelling a bit of smoke.
Jamie stared at his familiar in disbelief.
"You could do that too, huh."
Kreeak!
Black proudly thumped its inflated body with its wings.
Thanks to it, Azad regained his exact former appearance.
Black then hopped to Raiza's head.
Normally it would fly, but the smoke made it hard.
Huff—huff—
Panting from just the jump.
Jamie found the sight amusing.
Black spread its wings again, absorbing the smoke.
Kuueeeak—!
Intense light gleamed from Black's eyes.
Ting—ting—
"Good work."
Jamie patted Black's round, swollen body.
Black lay fainted, eyes turned to X's.
The black smoke—residue of black magic from Azad and Raiza—was plentiful.
Absorbing it all into its small body must have exhausted it.
It certainly looked that way.
Jamie turned to the two standing like dolls.
Thanks to Black, he could use them as intended.
"Time to implant consciousness."
His eyes turned purple.
As Jamie extended both hands, they naturally bowed.
He placed his hands on their heads.
"Awaken."
Sinister mana spread through their bodies.
Black light flashed.
Jamie slowly withdrew his hands.
The black light faded.
He stared at them silently.
Neither Azad nor Raiza raised their heads.
They didn't twitch a finger, like the dead.
Jamie didn't call to them.
Their minds would be chaotic; waiting until they grasped their situation was consideration for the 'undead'.
Eventually, Azad lifted his head first.
His eyes held the same vitality as in life.
He spoke.
"......Did you do this to me?"
His appearance unchanged, but Azad knew.
His body had become something horrific.
Somehow, the old scar on his face throbbed.
"Yes."
The child, who looked no older than seven or eight, answered sternly. It felt awkward, but Azad saw something immense in him.
Something impossible to see before, but visible now due to subjugation.
"Wh-Who are you?"
A word flickered in his mind.
But it was too absurd?
Something from childhood storybooks, utterly evil.
"Do I look like the Demon King?"
Azad's pupils shook wildly.
His thoughts had been read.
As he stammered in panic,
"I don't know if you're the Demon King or not, but to us, you don't look human at all."
Raiza, who had kept his head bowed, gazed at Jamie with cold eyes.
An expression no servant should show its master.
Another imperfection here.
Jamie clicked his tongue at his own shortcomings.
In the past, this would've been unthinkable.
So he beckoned with a finger.
Thud—!
"Kgh!"
Raiza's knees slammed to the ground as if crushed.
His stiff neck snapped downward like a turtle's.
"Forgiveness is once. If a servant shows such a face to its master again, annihilation awaits."
Under the absurd pressure, Raiza couldn't speak.
"Answer."
"......Understood."
This was soul subjugation.
Whether they wished it or not, the contract bound their breaths to Jamie.
That was black magic.
"You too, remember that."
"......Yes."
Azad swallowed dryly, glancing at the suffering Raiza.
"Anyway, I'm not the Demon King."
He'd once been called that.
But he wasn't.
"I am a Black Sorcerer."
Once aimed to kill gods, and still existed to kill gods.
Black Sorcerer.