Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Episode 31
Before I knew it, I had risen from the throne, my mouth hanging open.
Soon after, the light of the magic circle began to slowly subside.
Within it, I could see a woman slowly rising to her feet.
When the light of the magic circle had completely faded.
The one standing before me was unmistakably Jegal Yu-yeon.
She looked exactly as she had in life.
Neatly arranged black hair, a scholar's robes, a refined bearing.
But one thing was subtly different.
Her skin had a faintly pale cast to it.
Most importantly.
Her lips were stained a vivid red.
Not just any red, but a bright crimson close to the color of blood.
Lips that gleamed bewitchingly, as if she had just taken blood into her mouth.
In the midst of her dignified strategist's appearance, that one feature alone was strangely alluring.
"...Huh."
A breath escaped my lips on its own.
Jegal Yu-yeon slowly opened her eyes and quietly examined both of her hands.
She was lightly clenching and unclenching her fingers, repeating the motion.
"My body has returned."
The voice flowing from her lips was quite different from when she had been a spirit.
It was not that distant, hazy voice of her spirit state.
It was the clear voice of a living person, exactly as I had heard it in her lifetime.
"And this body is from just before my prime, no less."
She bit her crimson lips lightly and smiled.
Between those lips, I caught a glimpse of fangs.
Long, sharp, unmistakably the fangs of a vampire.
"Haaah...."
I sat back down on the throne and let out a sound that was neither quite a sigh nor quite admiration.
The Dimensional Tower had really gone overboard this time.
Two Legendary Grade rewards combined and out popped a True Ancestor?
True Ancestors weren't just a trope from pop culture; they were known to exist in the Dimensional Tower too.
Actual True Ancestors had never appeared directly.
Only creatures like their underlings had appeared, mostly above Floor 50.
In other words.
A final-boss-grade race that hadn't even appeared yet had become my subordinate!
Was this... balanced?
"Strategist Jegal. How is your body?"
At my question, Jegal Yu-yeon gave a light nod.
"It is excellent. I can feel additional power flowing through me that this woman did not possess in life."
"The power of a vampire, then."
"That would be so. Since it is a True Ancestor, it is surely no trivial race."
She answered, lightly tracing her fang with the tip of her tongue.
The sight was so strangely bewitching that my gaze stopped for a moment without my realizing it.
She looked exactly like the proper strategist I had seen in my former life.
But the allure added on top of it created an odd atmosphere.
"...Well, this is something."
I leaned back against the throne and muttered quietly.
Dimensional Tower.
You really are determined to shower this lord with gifts, aren't you.
Giving away this much isn't just favoritism.
It clearly felt as though something was being practically forced to grow.
"Well. What's given, I'll take."
I grinned, and the thought came to me on its own that I had done well not to do the summons with the stream on.
If I'd just let that play out on stream, it would have been absolute chaos, wouldn't it?
"So, what can our proud True Ancestor Strategist Jegal do now? It seems you're receiving information from the Dimensional Tower, so I'd appreciate an explanation."
At my words, Jegal Yu-yeon, who had been inspecting her own body, raised her head and looked at me.
"You still have good instincts in these matters, Mad Martial Sovereign."
"Stop using that old epithet. In this world, I go by the Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign."
"It is because of the Necromancer restrictions imposed by the Dimensional Tower. Understood."
Since she was receiving information directly from the Dimensional Tower, I didn't need to explain things, which was convenient.
"At the same time, you are circumventing the Dimensional Tower's restrictions... For you, that is a remarkably clever course of action. I shall praise you."
"Hey. What did you think of me? I used my head quite a bit in my former life too."
"I wonder. As I recall, you, Mad Martial Sovereign, tried to resolve everything with force...."
"There's a very good saying in this world. Let me tell it to you."
"To suddenly change the subject...."
She frowned slightly.
"Listen. It's a saying that fits this situation perfectly."
"Hah. Very well. What is this saying?"
"If the work isn't getting done, let's consider whether we're lacking in strength."
"Hah...."
Jegal Yu-yeon let out a sigh.
Seeing that, a laugh came out on its own.
Wasn't this a precious sight I'd never seen in my former life!
In my former life, she had practically been an enemy, and we had actually gone for each other's necks more than once.
But all of that was a matter of my former life.
"So. What can you do?"
"You can set me as the administrator of the subdimension that belongs to you. If you do that, I can manage this subdimension in your stead."
"Oh."
That's... freaking sweet.
"Good. Then I register Jegal Yu-yeon as the administrator of my subdimension."
The Dimensional Tower responded to my words and will.
[The vassal True Ancestor Jegal Yu-yeon has been set as the administrator of the Town-Grade Undead Subdimension.]
"So can Strategist Jegal operate the buildings that need intelligent beings?"
"Yes. Of course. However, I can only function at twenty percent of their original performance. If you appoint a person in charge, twenty percent is added to the original performance."
"Twenty percent...."
"That is because it is, at best, an ability as a subdimension administrator."
So the explanation was that even though the buildings were empty, because she was the administrator, she could force them to operate, but their performance only came out at twenty percent.
Still, compared to not being able to operate them at all, it was incredibly good.
"I'll need to get more Intelligent Undead somehow."
"You need only obtain more of the same kind of item you used to summon me."
Should I spend DP to buy them? Or should I go mining for souls too?
Actually, since I had a ton of DP, buying them was the better option.
DP was easy enough to earn again anyway.
I could just open a gambling hall like last time or receive sponsorships.
"Since it's come up, I'll buy them right away."
I connected to the market.
Then Jegal Yu-yeon came over beside me and looked at the screen as well. When I ran a search for soul summoning stones, more results came up than I had expected.
"Now that I think about it, do I really need to buy soul summoning stones? I could just buy ready-made Intelligent Undead."
Intelligent Undead.
Were any for sale?
When I searched the market like that, surprisingly, there were.
[Selling Specter (with intelligence). Selling because it's male]
Selling a Specter I raised well. I'm done with male ones now....
There were people selling them like this!
Amazing!
No. It was probably just that I hadn't known because I had no interest in Necromancers.
There were various listings, but before buying souls, I first checked the list of buildings I owned.
[White-Bone Workshop] [Flesh Workshop] [Soul Workshop] [Multidimensional Corpse Pit] [Corpse Processing Plant] [Necron Ossuary]
Among these, the ones that currently needed Intelligent Undead were the three workshop series.
In other words, I needed three.
"You aren't planning to obtain souls without any thought, are you?"
"Uh... I can't?"
At my words, her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Mad Martial Sovereign. Your manner of speech...."
Ah. She had a complaint about that?
I let out a short laugh.
"Earlier I just wanted to put on some airs, so I used my former-life speech. This is the current me. Get used to it."
"Hah...."
Just how many times was she going to sigh?
I was looking at her while thinking that when Jegal Yu-yeon spoke.
"Can you not at least deduce that unless you bring a soul suited to the building, proper performance cannot be guaranteed?"
"That's a fair point."
I hadn't thought of that.
Come to think of it, that was true.
If you told a martial arts master to use magic arts, they couldn't do it, right?
The workshop series was the same.
If they didn't have the relevant ability or aptitude, placing them would be meaningless.
I changed the search conditions on the market.
Among the results, several things caught my eye.
[Selling Necromancer soul, White-Bone Studies expert for White-Bone Workshop]
I'm pushing ghouls, so I'm selling this since it's not my thing.
[Selling Wraith for Soul Workshop.]
Souls eat up too much DP, so even though she's pretty, I decided to sell her
[This seems like it's used for the Flesh Workshop, is that right?]
Why does a warrior get crap like this?
That was the gist of it. They were exactly what I needed.
The prices were 1,000 DP, 5,000 DP, and 500 DP respectively, but they weren't particularly burdensome prices for me.
Purchased immediately.
Flash!
Three orbs appeared before me, and I opened them right away.
"This place is... the Dimensional Tower? What powerful god's trickery is this now?"
-Where is this? I... Ahh... This place is....
"Grrrk. Here. Where? Me. Why? Grrrk."
One was a fellow in wizard-like attire with only bones remaining. One was the ghost of a beautiful woman. And one was a fat, snub-nosed orc.
Judging by their races, they were a Skeleton Wizard, a Wraith, and a Ghoul.
At my current level, these were undead I couldn't create.
But using them by placing them in the subdimension would probably be possible. If not, Jegal Yu-yeon would already have been uncontrollable too.
All three were briefly in a state of confusion, then soon came to their senses.
"I greet my master. I am the Necromancer of White Bone, Whiteram."
-I greet my master. I am Asra, a witch who died by drowning.
"You. Master? Me. Orc death-shaman! Nice to meet you!"
All three seemed to recognize me as their master.
As expected of the Dimensional Tower.
"Nice to meet you all."
I greeted them in return.
"First, you're all aware of your situation, right?"
"Of course. By the will of the Dimensional Tower, I, who had been extinguished, was revived, and I fully understand that I must serve you, Master."
The one called Whiteram of White Bone said that and bowed his head politely.
-Yes. Master. If you give me an order... I will carry it out.
"Give. Order. Follow master's order. Obey!"
The other two were obedient as well.
I didn't know the details, but it seemed there was something like a restriction from the Dimensional Tower.