Chapter 47
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Acquiring a Convenient Slave
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As soon as I was away from the others, I pushed my lightness technique to its limit and dashed forward.
"So this is the North Wall."
As expected, it seemed most of the monsters had been at the first defensive wall, as there were hardly any left at the North Wall. At this rate, they could retake the North Wall without a single casualty.
I crossed the North Wall and headed up the treacherous-looking mountain just ahead. The mountain was littered with the corpses of large monsters, as if someone had failed in an attempt to resurrect them.
"This is a textbook evil wizard's dungeon."
About halfway up the mountain, I found a cave with a damp, eerie atmosphere that sent shivers down my spine just looking at it.
"But this isn't the place."
I ignored the dungeon and went over the hill, where a massive wall of rock appeared. Spreading my senses, I felt a place where the flow of ki was distorted.
Creator's Eye is activated.
"Just as I thought, I can see it."
The Creator's Eye could even see through the wall's illusion. It was all solid rock, except for one spot that was wide open like a tunnel.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Hmm."
The moment I stepped into his hideout, a sound like an alarm bell echoed throughout the cave.
"An alarm spell, I see."
Since I was already discovered, I figured it was best to move as quickly as possible and used my lightness technique to head inside.
I wonder what he's up to.
I didn't know if he had already returned to this hideout or was still waiting for people in the dungeon, so I stayed on high alert, sharpening my senses as I moved.
"Ha."
As soon as I arrived at his hideout, a dry laugh escaped me.
A robe that he seemed to have been wearing lay on the ground, and a crystal ball on top of it was showing the cave I had just passed through.
"Heh."
The funniest part was that my Creator's Eye could see a small, translucent skull floating in mid-air.
Click.
Pretending not to have seen him, I pressed a button on the wall concealed by an illusion spell.
"How did you find this place?!"
"I just saw it."
It was true. I could feel the distorted flow of ki from the wall, and with the Creator's Eye, his illusion spell was easy to see through.
It was a piece of cake.
"Kugh!"
Vwooom.
Pomera was trying to generate his physical body again. Black smoke gathered, and then snow-white bones began to form.
Thump.
But I already had Pomera by the leash. His soul vessel, the orb containing his spirit, was in my hand.
"...You fool!"
After a brief hesitation, Pomera summoned a black orb that was sitting next to a book into his hand.
"Hahaha. To think you'd mistake a common crystal ball for my soul vessel! This orb is the true vessel containing my soul!"
"Oh?"
Pomera sneered at me while caressing the black orb. If I could see his expression, I'd give his acting a ten out of ten, but he was just a skull.
"Is that so?"
"As if this great one's soul would reside in such a clear and transparent orb!"
"Then I guess I'll have to break it."
I grinned and applied a little pressure to the hand holding the white orb. The orb had a squishy texture, like a child's bouncy ball.
"Kuaaargh!"
The moment I squeezed the orb, Pomera fell to the ground and started thrashing about.
"What's wrong? It's just a common crystal ball, isn't it?"
"Gah! You... you bastard."
"I heard liches can't feel pain, but it seems stimulating their soul vessel does the trick."
"You knew all along!"
"Just as you said, if there were a white orb and a black orb, most people would assume the black one is your soul vessel. But I already knew. Nice acting, by the way."
I'm the one who set the lich's soul vessel to be transparent. Unless I'd been shot in the head, there was no way I'd fall for Pomera's robotic acting.
"Grrr, human!"
Blue flames blazed in Pomera's empty eye sockets.
Name: Pomera
Traits: Manifestation lv3, Mana Design lv3, Mana Application lv2, Lich
Favorability: -94 (Murderous Impulse)
Current Mood: Wants to kill you and turn you into an undead.
His favorability and current mood were no joke. It seemed I'd made the worst possible first impression on Pomera.
"Pomera, a 5th-circle mage from the Tower of Illusion. Ah, but you fell into lichdom, so that makes you 6th-circle. And since more time has passed, maybe you're a 6th-circle master now?"
"Just what in the world are you..."
"You conducted various experiments in the North using an orb of dark magic and the Grimoire of Kroll, then attempted to flee. Only to be caught by me."
"Ugh..."
The sound of his bones grinding together made it perfectly clear how Pomera was feeling.
"A-Are you from the Tower?! I was used by you people for over ten years! You devils..."
"The Tower? Don't be ridiculous."
"What? Then who are you to..."
"I am Yuren Lox."
"Lox? The House of Marquis Lox?"
"That's right. The one who will be your master from now on. Remember it well."
As I said that, I gave him a sly smile, as if to say, "Let's get along."
"Master?! A mere human!"
"That's not it."
"Kuaaak!"
I squeezed Pomera's soul vessel, and he screamed, collapsing to the ground.
"I don't particularly want to be called 'Lord Master' by a lich every time, so let's compromise. Just 'Master' will do. And use formal speech."
"..."
"You lived as a research slave for the Tower for nearly fifteen years and have only been a lich for one, so why is your head held so high?"
"If you have nothing to do with the Tower, how do you know all that... Kuaaargh!"
Since Pomera was still speaking informally, I squeezed the soul vessel again.
"You still don't seem to understand your position."
This guy was dangerous. I figured if I didn't establish a clear hierarchy now, he'd become a nuisance later.
"M-Master..."
"Good. And you look scary right now, so change back into that small skull you were before."
His eyes were burning with blue fire, and his bones had a dark sheen. To be honest, it was a rather frightening appearance.
"So you did see me... no, you saw me."
He started to speak informally, but upon seeing my hand move again, Pomera switched to formal speech.
"Hoo..."
"There. That form is much better."
Pomera let out a sigh and chanted a spell, his skull and body shrinking until he resembled a skeletal doll.
"Are you not going to kill me?"
"If I were going to kill you, I would have done it when you were floating in the air."
"Then why are you letting me live..."
"To use you as my little shuttle."
"Sh-Shuttle?"
The miniaturized Pomera didn't know the exact meaning of my words, but he seemed to grasp the nuance from the tone, clattering his teeth.
"Ah, I guess that word doesn't exist here. I plan to use you as my personal mage. A warp slave, someone to clean up my messes, and occasionally to scare people."
"Y-You're insane! How dare you see this great Pomera as... St-Stop! I-I'm sorry."
Enraged by my words, Pomera raised his voice, but one touch to the orb made him shut his mouth and shrink back.
"Just because you're a necromancer doesn't mean you can't use support magic or warp spells, right?"
"W-Well, that's true, but are you serious?"
"Of course."
I can just carry him around in his spectral form and have him materialize only when needed. A portable lich mage. It sounded incredibly convenient.
"Ugh, how did I end up..."
The tiny Pomera hung his head low, his shoulders trembling.
"Heh."
The sight was somehow cute, and I couldn't help but laugh.
The truth is, Pomera is a villain who reappears later in the story.
He absorbs the power of the dark orb, masters the grimoire, and returns as a high-level lich capable of commanding Death Knights.
The Pomera of now and the Pomera of then are different beings, but...
In any case, I came here intending to eliminate him before he became a problem, but seeing him in his spectral form changed my mind.
I decided to take his soul vessel and work him to the bone.
"Find out where the others are right now."
"H-How am I supposed to do that?"
"Hah, stop the nonsense and get your invisible dragonfly working."
"You really know everything..."
I had deliberately acted like I knew everything about Pomera to gain the upper hand, and it seemed to have finally worked.
"Umm..."
Pomera held the crystal ball and muttered a spell, and the images of people appeared. The knights and soldiers were cheering, having retaken the North Wall.
"Time to go."
I put Pomera's soul vessel, the black orb, and the Grimoire of Kroll into my magic pouch. Pomera said nothing, just stared at me with a sullen expression.
"Hmm, if you turn into your spectral form, can priests detect you?"
"S-Since becoming this body, I haven't encountered a priest, so I wouldn't know."
"Well then. We'll have to run an experiment."
"Your Grace, the Duke."
"Yuren! Thanks to your efforts, we were able to enter the North Wall without bloodshed. Thank you so much!"
"Not at all. It was thanks to everyone's combined efforts."
All I'd done on the way here was kill one or two undead in front of me, but I quietly accepted his gratitude with humility.
"Haha! To think I failed to recognize such talent. Whoever spread those vicious rumors, I won't let them off easy if I catch them."
"I truly was a scoundrel in the past. I've only just come to my senses."
"Hah, the more I see, the more I like you. If only I had a daughter..."
"Even without such a connection, House Lox and House Elion can still build a strong friendship from now on, can't we?"
"Hahaha! Yes. That's right!"
Duke Roper must have really taken a liking to me, as he laughed heartily and slapped my back.
"Well then, we must go deal with the mastermind behind this incident."
"I've already been."
"What?"
"Huh?"
Everyone who had been listening to our conversation turned to stare at me with baffled expressions.
"D-Did you go and kill the necromancer by yourself?"
"No. I found his dungeon halfway up the mountain and went inside. It seems he'd already left, as there was no one there."
"That's a relief. But to go to such a place alone... no matter how strong you are, acting solo in a dungeon is dangerous."
"My apologies. I was just thinking that if I handled things quickly, everyone could rest easy..."
"Hah, you truly are something else..."
The people who heard my words let out another gasp of admiration. Everyone's favorability was rising by the second.
"Still, we should go and check it out. A cave, you say? There was nothing like that there before..."
"Of course. I'll lead the way."
I took the Duke, the knights, the mages, and the priests to the dungeon.
"Hmm, so this is..."
"These bones mostly belong to monsters."
"It appears the necromancer was conducting experiments on monsters here."
The Duke, the mages, and the priests began to examine Pomera's dungeon, each in their own way. A short while later, those who had finished their investigation came back outside.
"They're saying the Magic Tower will send another team to investigate the site."
"I see."
"It's a shame we couldn't catch him. He seems like the type to cause big trouble somewhere..."
"He fled in fear, so he probably won't show his face again."
"I hope you're right."
Duke Roper was worried about what the necromancer might do, but it was a needless concern.
That guy was currently cowering in his tiny, spectral form.
"Now that we've retaken the North Wall, I'd love to hold a festival, but we have a lot to do, so it might take some time."
"Of course. We don't know when the monsters might attack again, so we must first repair the gates and walls and prepare our defenses."
"You really get it. I'll soon be giving a great reward not just to you, but to everyone who helped with this matter, so be sure to visit again."
"You don't have to give me anything. It's quite all right."
"But I'm not all right with it. I'll come find you... no, wait. There's no need for that."
The Duke seemed to have thought of something and gave me a pleased smile.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It seems we'll be seeing each other again soon. At the royal palace, no less."