The Goddess of the Black Swamp (5)
The Undead King creates his thralls through his own sorcery.
Two curses are bound to every thrall by default.
"The first is the Curse of Immortality."
It is a curse that makes a corpse — something that ought to possess no life force at all — behave as though it does.
Even by the time of Luke's Biography, the formula for this curse had never been deciphered. With Karl's innate sense for black magic, unraveling it still seemed impossible. That was only natural. It was a formula only the Undead King himself could use — which was precisely why a second Undead King had never appeared.
It was because of the Curse of Immortality that the second curse could function at all. Curses operate by consuming life force, and a corpse has none. Where the Curse of Immortality itself drew its motive power from was unknown. Like the Curse of Obsession that created ghosts, it might simply absorb life force from its surroundings.
"The second is the Curse of Worship."
A curse that forced thralls into absolute obedience toward their master. A curse that made it impossible, under any circumstances, to defy the master's will. A curse that erased even the faintest possibility of rebellion from the thrall's mind.
It was not only the Undead King who used this curse. His thralls employed it as well, binding lesser thralls beneath them with the Curse of Worship.
A way to put that curse to use was already taking shape in my mind — but I set it aside for later.
I turned to Veronica.
"Captain. Any luck?"
"……We haven't found it. ……Agnes is searching hard, but……"
Agnes, who had simply stood and watched as Priest Patrick fled. After Veronica tore into her for it, she had transformed into a black bear and was tearing through the village.
I had asked her to find the corpse of the old elf — the elder among the Black Swamp elves who had lived in this village.
To meet the Goddess of the Black Swamp, one needed tokens from three elf elders. This elder, and the elders of the other villages, were almost certainly dead already. But the tokens themselves might still be obtainable.
"The elder's body is gone…? I distinctly saw him fighting to the very end. I didn't witness his final moment, but……"
The surviving elf spoke in a voice thick with confusion.
"If there's no corpse, there's only one explanation."
"……Enthrallment."
"Exactly."
It meant the elder had become one of the Undead King's thralls and was moving with the rest of them.
"The thralls' objective was to enter the Black Swamp and meet the Goddess. They knew about the tokens, which is why they turned the elf elder into a thrall."
"……They said they came from the west. ……The other elf elders are that way as well. ……If the western villages met the same fate as this one…… then all three elf elders have already been turned."
"In that case, the entity leading this raid has almost certainly already entered the Black Swamp. We're one step too late."
"……Is it impossible to enter the Black Swamp without the tokens?"
"It is. Whether you believe the Goddess exists or not — without a token, she'll devour you. I won't stop you if you insist on trying, though."
It was a setting implemented as a system rule even in Luke's Biography. Any character without a token in their inventory died the instant they set foot in the Black Swamp.
"……Then I suppose we have no choice but to wait until the thralls emerge from the Black Swamp. ……We'll have to let them achieve their goal in the meantime."
"If there's no other option, yes."
"……You sound as though there is another option."
"There is one."
I held out the skull to her — the head of the Apostle of Death, a thrall of the Undead King.
"We use the Curse of Worship bound to this thing."
"……The curse that enforces obedience to a higher entity's commands."
"Even the ones who entered the Black Swamp would have no choice but to obey an order from a superior. We send them a directive to leave the swamp immediately."
"……I understand what you mean. ……But which higher entity is going to issue that order?"
"Simple. I transfer the curse currently on this apostle to myself. Then I alter it and seize control——"
"No."
Veronica spoke without the slightest hesitation. Whether from the pain of the Curse of Severance or something else, her brow furrowed.
"……It's too dangerous."
"Of course it is. I could end up in a state of obedience to the Undead King myself. But a curse weakens when transferred. I should be able to resist it long enough to alter——"
"……That isn't what I mean. ……Your lifespan will shrink."
She was right. Curses drained their host's life force. To be cursed was to have one's life shortened.
But it wouldn't kill me immediately. It wouldn't interfere with this operation.
"Does that matter?"
"……Do you want to hasten your own death?"
"The longer a person lives, the uglier they become with age."
"……"
Veronica stared at me in silence for a moment. Then she let out a breath and spoke.
"……Haa. ……This is something I should have said much earlier. ……My first impression of you was not a good one, young master."
Not a good first impression. I couldn't recall doing anything particularly objectionable. Maybe she simply didn't like my face. Come to think of it, Priest Thomas had said some harsh things about my appearance too. I'd put on some weight since then, and Karl was handsome enough by most standards.
"……It was your eyes. ……I didn't like them."
"……"
The dark circles, then. Hardly my fault I couldn't sleep properly — plagued by nightmares every night, pinned under sleep paralysis, and held captive by Dorothy on top of it all.
She was free to dislike my eyes. I just couldn't see why she was bringing it up now.
"I don't understand what you mean by saying that. Especially at a moment like this."
"……You're right. ……It was a pointless remark. ……The longer I talk, the more it hurts only me."
"……"
"……What you're about to do. ……May I tell your younger sister as well?"
"Ah."
That would be a problem. If Clara found out I was doing something dangerous with Karl's body, she certainly wouldn't sit still.
"I'd rather keep it a secret from Clara……"
"……Haa. ……I don't like it. ……But stopping you would be overstepping my place. ……Do as you wish."
"Then could you gather everyone and prepare for combat? Once I give the order, the thralls will come flooding in. As for Clara… just tell her to stay in the carriage."
Clara couldn't fight alongside Veronica anyway. Veronica had altered the Curse of Severance so that no attack could harm her, and she used black magic that redirected every spell's target onto herself. Clara's magic would never reach the enemy.
Veronica nodded and went to explain the situation to Agnes and Alexander.
Dorothy was in her wolf form, so there was no point explaining the plan — she wouldn't understand. Letting her rampage once the thralls arrived would be enough.
I looked at the Apostle of Death's head. As its activity ceased, I could feel the Curse of Immortality and the Curse of Worship collapsing. The Curse of Immortality was beyond interference even in this state — I understood nothing of its principles. But the Curse of Worship was another matter.
The catalyst was the Apostle of Death's head itself. The Curse of Immortality was irrelevant either way; ordinarily the heart served as catalyst. It was fortunate my illusory creation hadn't smashed the skull to pieces. Without a catalyst, a curse couldn't be transferred.
If I used the Curse of Worship this time, the Undead King would notice. He would take measures to ensure I could never command his thralls again.
But I had no intention of using the Curse of Worship only once.
The curse would be bound to the Undead King himself in an altered state as well. It was a curse that impressed the master's will upon his thralls. The creations I forged by combining the Curse of Illusion and the Curse of Obsession were powerful — but controlling more than one at a time demanded an enormous outpouring of mental strength. With this curse, my creations could behave as though they possessed a semblance of intelligence. I would be able to command far more of them at once. Precision would suffer somewhat, but that was a fair trade.
In sorcery, a target's hair was often used to symbolize their fate. As with the Curse of Obsession, the subject was already dead, so hair shouldn't have been necessary — but just in case, I caught a strand of my own hair between the skull's teeth. The Curse of Obsession had arisen by chance. This one had been placed by someone's deliberate will. That difference mattered.
A black magic circle rose above the skull. The interior of the formation began to rewrite itself under the influence of my dark energy.
As the curse transferred to me, I felt the Undead King's will flow into my mind.
Rest for all that lives……
The target of the curse had changed, and its power had weakened accordingly. It was not enough to consume me outright. Focusing on resisting the Undead King's will, I began to alter the Curse of Worship, piece by piece.
A place so choked with enormous trees that looked half-rotted that sunlight barely reached the ground. The floor was a black mire where eyeballs drifted freely, and above it hung a dense gray fog.
At the center of it all, a figure clad in black armor felt the sudden summons of a higher being and turned.
【……】
"You have to go, don't you, child?"
A voice drifted from beyond the gray fog. The figure in black armor glanced forward once more, then turned and began retracing the path it had come.
【……I will return.】
"Hurry along. This auntie has no interest in chatting with a stinking corpse."
From within the gray fog, a being of skin so white it was almost chilling revealed herself. She mocked the figure in black armor with open contempt.