Chapter 13

Confession.

The death of a life is often compared to falling asleep.
Just as a body soaked in exhaustion is freed from the fatigue of daily life, perhaps people believed that a body soaked in life itself was being freed from its burdens as well.

Grrrk! Krrrk!

But for her, the necromancer Pale, that rest was not permitted.
Exactly one step before reaching peace, something seized her and forcibly bound her to this world.

A horrifying situation where she felt an overwhelming urge to sleep, yet could not fall asleep.
On top of that, the terrible pain radiating from the back of her neck violently shook her mind.

"Kyaaaaaaah—!"

She screamed.
A scream filled with pain and terror.
Yet the silver-haired boy listening to it merely spun around with a delighted grin, as though the situation amused him.

"Feeling a little more awake now?"

An innocent, beautiful voice called out to her.
It was a voice imbued with demonic energy—the power necromancers accepted in order to touch the souls of the dead.

"Y-you…!"

Pain, suffocation, and something beyond even that—fear—bound Pale's mind.
And the moment she looked at Klein, she could not help but fall into shock.

—Ah! Aaaahhh…!

She was no longer among the living, but a wandering soul trapped within flesh.
Thus, what she saw was not the appearance of a fifteen-year-old boy, but the true essence contained within his soul.

"Archi, Archimond…!"

The essence she saw through the eyes of the soul.
After seeing the spirit harbored within the fifteen-year-old boy, Klein Leinrant, Pale tried to say his name, but—

"Shh."

At the boy's single word, spoken while pressing his index finger to his lips, she found herself unable to make a sound at all.

"Ghk…!"

Unable to resist in any way, Pale merely opened and closed her mouth helplessly.
Only then did she realize that her body felt unnaturally light.
And that her viewpoint was far too low.

"U-uu! Uuuuuu!"

The bizarre pain and sensation of disconnection from the back of her neck awakened her to the reality she faced.
Necromancer Pale's body now consisted of nothing but a severed head, clutched in Klein's grasp.

"To think only the head revived…"

A knight nearby tilted his head back in disgust.

Dunkel, was it? Right.

The very man who had severed her head.
She shot him a venomous glare, but Klein—the one who had bound her to this body—did not permit even that.

"Young Master Klein."
"Yeah, I know. She's figured out her situation by now, so let's have a little talk."

Still smiling, Klein leaned his face closer to Pale.

Klein Leinrant.
The cursed young master she had claimed was Archimond.
That rumor… had actually been true?

Before she could even organize the chaos in her mind, Klein's question rang through her head.

— I need information. Who sent you to the North? Who was sent, where, and in what numbers?

"…!"

— If you speak, I'll let you die peacefully. Refuse, and I'll grant you immortality.

Immortality.

Words of immeasurable value—something every king in history had desired—flowed casually from his lips.
The only problem was this:

Pale was currently speaking to Klein as nothing more than a severed head.

"L-living forever… you can't possibly mean…?"

"Looks like you guessed right."

At Klein's affirmation, chills ran down her spine.

To live forever.
That meant her soul would remain trapped within this severed head for eternity.

Feeling herself dry out over the passing years.
Feeling insects and microorganisms gnaw at her flesh.
Feeling herself rot and decay moment by moment.

"Uuu! Uuuuuugh—!"

Unable to endure the fear and panic, tears burst from Pale's eyes.
She could not shake her head even if she wanted to.
She could not run even if she wanted to.
Merely being alive as a severed head was already hell enough, and now he was telling her she would feel this forever.

Unlike the life she had lived until now—where she would do anything to survive—her current self was in a position where she would do anything just to die.

"…! …!"

Using every means available, she desperately spilled all the information she possessed.

"So the Empire unleashed necromancers in the North, and the Holy Church turned a blind eye to it?"

The hideouts of the remaining necromancers, their operational plans, even their personal identities.
After recording every piece of information, the part that angered Klein the most was the Church's involvement.

"I'll have a lot more to discuss if that priest bastard shows up."

With those words, Klein stood up.

"Mmph! Mmpph—!"

Afraid he might forget about her, Pale desperately forced out sounds from her voiceless throat.
The woman who had once done anything for wealth and glory under the Empire was now pathetically begging for death with all her might.

A wave of self-loathing washed over her, but there was nothing she could do.

Because standing before her was none other than Archimond himself.
The necromancer who had commanded an undead army of millions and driven the continent to the brink of destruction.
To someone as insignificant as her, he was practically a god.

"Right. I did promise to kill you, didn't I?"

Every time the boy smiled at her, overwhelming terror surged through her body.
Satisfied by her miserable appearance, Klein rose from his seat and formed a hand seal.

"Don't worry. I keep my promises."

As Klein extended his hand toward her…

Hundreds of cockroaches began crawling toward her head.

"A-ah…?"

For a moment, Pale's thoughts froze completely.
Then Klein's voice descended upon her.

"Try enduring it for about a week. Those things will eat you to death."

With those words, Klein and Dunkel turned their backs.

"W-wait…! Sto—please…!"

Before she could even scream properly, the hundreds of cockroaches rushed toward Pale, eager to devour the rare feast that had appeared before them.

"That's true? The Holy Church is supporting necromancers?"
"The exact locations are marked on the map. It would be best to deploy the knights as quickly as possible…"

Leinrant Ducal House.

The information Klein brought back from his reconnaissance mission was enough to throw the ducal household into chaos.

The undead piled up in the mines numbered around one hundred and fifty, including the experimental subjects.
Thirty people had gone missing from the village I visited alone, which essentially meant that most villages within the county had suffered the same tragedy.

'No wonder the people of the North despise necromancers so much.'

Kidnapping families, resurrecting them as zombies, then forcing them to attack their own loved ones.
Meanwhile, the noble houses that should have protected their people were too busy fighting among themselves.

And if, after all this prolonged suffering, the Holy Church suddenly dispatched aid to the region, the Church's reputation would soar overnight.

Just like how the villagers had showered me with praise when I returned.

"Berkman!"
"Yes, Your Grace."

After speaking to one of the servants, Heinkel immediately called for Berkman, who stood beside me.

"Dispatch the knight orders to the locations Klein specified. Send the Red Carriage to the southern region of Count Cornwell's territory, and the Black Shield to the east."
"Shall we request support from the Wall as well?"

At Berkman's question, Heinkel pondered briefly before nodding.

"Send the letter. I don't know how the Watchers will respond, but it's better than doing nothing."
"As you command."

At Heinkel's command, Berkman bowed his head and hurriedly left the office.
Once the situation had been somewhat organized, Duke Heinkel sat down with a sigh and looked toward me.

"You've accomplished something great, Klein."

"I just got lucky. If it weren't for Dunkel, I probably would've died on the roadside."

Naturally shifting the credit toward Dunkel, I carefully observed Heinkel's expression.
For now, I had decided to keep silent about necromancy.

The Church deploying necromancers in order to expand its influence in the North was already an unprecedented crisis.
If my own situation became entangled with that, it would only create even greater confusion.

"I originally intended to assign you a few more missions before making my decision, but it seems that won't be necessary."

With those words, Heinkel opened a desk drawer and placed something atop the table.

"This is…"

An emblem engraved with a wolf—the symbol of the unity and spirit of Northern knights.
The insignia of a Leinrant knight.

"It's a bronze badge symbolizing a knight apprentice. Consider it a special privilege, though given what you've done, it may still not be enough."

"No. It's more than enough."

Saying that, I picked up the bronze badge resting on the table.

"Once your post is decided, I'll send someone for you. Be prepared to depart at any time."

"Understood."

After briefly answering Heinkel, I left the office.

"Fuuu…"

After Klein left the room, Heinkel let out a sigh while looking over the mission report Dunkel had written.

"In a confined space, they encountered over seventy zombies, one giant-type undead, and even an armed necromancer…"

As the head of the Leinrant knights, he had a complete grasp of the capabilities of the family's knights.

No matter how skilled a commander-class knight might be, Dunkel specialized in one-on-one combat.
He was not someone who could truly shine in a large-scale melee like this.

"In other words, everything outside the range Dunkel could handle was Klein's doing."

Coming to that conclusion, Heinkel reread the report.

"Then at minimum, Klein dealt with over fifty zombies himself…"

Having analyzed that far, Heinkel set the report down and pressed his fingers between his eyes.

At fifteen years old, fighting against a platoon-sized group of undead inside an enclosed cave.
It was an achievement so unbelievable that even seeing it written down made it hard to accept.

"He may have used some other method. Your Grace, making hasty assumptions—"

"Even if he did use another method, that power doesn't simply disappear, does it?"

Refuting Berkman's words, Heinkel held his head in thought for a moment.

But only for a moment.

Soon, Heinkel nodded with a hardened expression and spoke to Berkman.

"Send a letter to my elder brother."

Elder brother.

Officially, according to the Leinrant Ducal House's family registry, Heinkel Leinrant was the eldest son.
And yet, the man he referred to as "elder brother"—

The moment Berkman recalled that person's existence, he involuntarily sucked in a breath.

"Your Grace. That person is…"

"I know. He's not someone who would come just because I called for him."

Saying that, Heinkel spoke once more to Berkman.

"So tell him this instead.
'The genius you have spent your entire life searching for… is here.'"

***

'Haha, this should keep me safe for now.'

Unlike the ducal estate, where outsiders could freely enter, the knights' assigned quarters were military territory.
For Garrison, being affiliated with the Church, breaking in there would not be easy.

"Ah! Young Master, there you are!"

Just as I was reveling in the fact that I'd finally found a way out, an innocent voice called out to me from the distance.

"…Arin?"

The girl who spent every day holed up in my room actually came outside for once?

While I was still thinking that, Arin bounced over and ran straight toward me in an instant.

"What's wrong? Did you run out of cookies in my room? Then go to the kitchen. Why come all the way here?"

"Do you think all I do is eat snacks?"

"Isn't that true?"

"Ai-lololololo!"

After calming down Arin, who puffed out her cheeks while pounding her chest in protest, she suddenly shouted, "Oh right!" as though she'd just remembered something.

"Priest Garrison is waiting in your room right now!"

…Fuck, what did she just say?

For a moment, I couldn't even process what I had heard and was about to stupidly ask her to repeat it.

That was when—

"Young Master Klein Leinrant."

At the sound of his voice calling my name, my head turned on its own.

An envoy of the Holy Church appearing in such an unexpected situation.
I couldn't even imagine what sort of expression I had on my face as I confronted him.

"Did your mission go well?"

Garrison's eyes, carrying a deep smile, reflected my figure.

Eyes filled with joy and longing.

Those were the eyes that mad priest showed whenever he harbored killing intent.