Necromancer Of The Black Bible (150)

The winter at Grovebern Domain’s Brandstein Castle was warmer than ever.

It was thanks to the winter preparations led by the new lord, Natasha.

Villagers in thick padded clothes doubted every morning whether it was truly winter.

“Oh my. Has spring already come? The morning sun is so warm.”

“You thought so too? I thought the same.”

“Things are strange these days. No snow at all. With weather like this we could even farm.”

As they felt, the temperature in this Grovebern Domain was incomparably warm compared to before.

This was thanks to the Elementalist Laerin.

She could command Wind spirits freely, summoning the warm southerly breezes of the continent here.

Into this Grovebern Domain, mages from the Empire’s Mage Tower had infiltrated.

They were there on the Emperor’s orders to assess the current situation.

Three mages handpicked by Clara, Head of General Affairs of the Tower, were disguised as animals and watching Brandstein Castle.

Estella, the reconnaissance leader and a Fire mage of the Tower, transformed into a red-feathered eagle and soared above, observing the ground.

‘No notable changes today either.’

The shock when she first arrived here had been great.

Undead soldiers seen here and there, and an inexplicably warm climate.

And the new lord’s radical policies.

All of these were things not easily seen in other imperial territories.

Estella confirmed these and quickly reported to the Empire.

But after that there was no progress.

No special weakness of the enemy was visible, and the Deputy Towermaster Hyro they were searching for could not be found either.

‘No matter how I look at it, it’s threatening.’

Estella held the position of senior mage in the Empire’s Mage Tower’s most powerful school of Fire.

From youth she had been recognized for her talent by Towermaster Leopold, and though collateral branch, she was also a member of the Eckhart family.

She was elite among elites, having also received strategic and tactical training reserved for high-ranking mages.

In her eyes, Grovebern Domain was the ideal stronghold.

Fertile fields stretched wide with abundant grain harvests, and mines and forests produced various minerals and resources.

Moreover, Brandstein Castle was so intact and sturdy that it was hard to believe it had seen several battles.

‘It’s a place that can be defended with a relatively small garrison.’

She had already reported these findings to the capital.

Sending a large army blindly would surely result in a great disaster.

‘By the way, the Deputy Towermaster is still hard to find.’

Estella began to communicate with the other three mages dispatched here.

-Report your status, everyone.

-Nothing unusual.

-Same as yesterday.

-It’s almost enviably peaceful.

Receiving the replies, Estella gave a bitter smile and asked again.

-Have you looked for Hyro’s whereabouts?

-We’re searching diligently, but we don’t see him.

-His illusion magic is exceptional even within the Empire, so he won’t be easy to find.

-I’ve set up several magic circles so we can detect anyone using mana.

Estella smiled with satisfaction at Miles’ reply, the youngest in this reconnaissance team.

‘That was well done.’

Miles, being of the Metal line, was treated as a minority in the Tower.

But he had a keen eye and meticulous nature, always making good calls.

If they found Hyro this time, it would be thanks to Miles’ meticulousness.

Estella issued an order to Miles.

-There are two mages we found here. One is a Necroturgy practitioner and the other seems to be an Elementalist. Hyro’s magic resonates differently from theirs, so we can use that to find him.

-I’ll remember that, Leader.

Afterward Estella gave orders to them all.

-Survey a little bit more. It’s too early to rest.

-Understood!

-Yes!

-Yep!

Estella’s recon team continued scouting across the skies until sunset.

Then, upon Miles’ report that he’d found something, they headed to the location.

Meanwhile, Hyro, who had infiltrated Grovebern Domain, was in a mountainside cave overlooking the whole territory.

Having stayed there for three months, the cave’s interior was fairly well arranged.

A carved wooden desk and a campfire set up in front of it.

An old pot, seemingly picked up from somewhere, contained a suspiciously colored liquid slowly boiling.

Hyro added some ingredients and chanted a spell.

The liquid cleared and something appeared.

A scene illuminating the inside of the castle.

It was focusing on the lord’s audience chamber.

Hyro watching this looked very different from before.

His once-glossy skin had become rough, and his clothes were worn.

And wrinkles had increased noticeably.

Hyro scratched the deep furrow in his brow and watched the scene revealed by the pot.

Three people were in the audience chamber.

A woman wearing black glasses seated in a chair, an armored general in heavy armor, and a warrior in light armor.

From three months of intelligence, Hyro knew who the three were.

‘Lord Natasha, the general Kael turned undead, and the ghost knight Verdin.’

Hyro focused his mind and listened to their conversation.

-It’s difficult to manage the newly joined soldiers.

-They are like us. They can think for themselves. We mustn’t treat them like undead raised by Necroturgy.

-Then what should we do?

The two could not answer Natasha’s question easily.

Though he only heard a few lines, Hyro immediately grasped the topic of their conversation.

‘It’s the issue of the ten thousand or so newly acquired undead soldiers.’

Over the past three months of observing the castle interior, Hyro had learned various facts.

He learned that Lord Natasha was a Necroturgy practitioner and that the recently joined undead had different natures.

Judging from the conversations he’d heard, Hyro reached several conclusions.

‘All who seized Brandstein Castle are undead. Natasha, Kael, and Verdin are undead too. But this is truly strange.’

With only the Necroturgy he knew, such a force could not be built.

Undead resurrected with only residual memories from dead corpses cannot appear like living humans.

‘Could it be that a new lich has been born?’

A lich is an undead wizard.

An immortal mage who anchors his soul into a dead body to enjoy eternal life.

The technique used at this time is not simple Necroturgy.

‘Necromancy. They say it’s a forbidden art that no one but a god can use.’

Hyro’s gaze deepened.

Records about Necromancy were scarce.

Therefore, what he knew could be said to be all there was.

There were claims of mages becoming liches using the forbidden Necromancy, but these were often dismissed as baseless superstition.

Most mages who had studied it reached the same conclusion.

-Necromancy exists only in theory.

But Hyro did not agree with that conclusion.

All the facts he had experienced so far contradicted it.

‘The soldiers moved by Necroturgy are certainly conspicuous. They move mindlessly as ordered, and very slowly. But those commanding them, though undead, move like living people.’

If he hadn’t installed a magical device in the audience chamber to spy like this, he couldn’t have found out so much.

But the problem began now.

How to report this, and even if reported, what countermeasures to take, he had no idea.

At that moment something appeared at the cave entrance.

Night had already fallen, so the figure looked like a blot in the darkness.

At first it looked like a small bird, then soon changed into a human form.

Hyro, having confirmed this, spoke.

“Stop there. If you don’t, you’ll be shattered immediately.”

The other party did not move further, as Hyro had said.

Watching them, Hyro spoke again.

“You’re not alone.”

The moment he said that, three birds landed and transformed into human forms.

Though they were in the dark outside the cave, Hyro could see them clearly.

“Sent from the Tower?”

“Yes, Deputy Towermaster. We have come to find you by His Majesty the Emperor’s command.”

“Kuh…”

Hyro snorted with a chuckle.

The Emperor wouldn’t dispatch an investigation party for such a trivial reason.

“Perhaps to find out how fifteen thousand troops failed to take this one place.”

The others remained silent.

Hyro deactivated the trap magic set at the cave entrance and spoke.

“Come in.”

“Thank you.”

The mages entered the cave one by one.

Hyro, looking at their reflections in the campfire, pretended to recognize one.

“You… I know that face. Was it Estella?”

“That’s correct, Deputy Towermaster.”

“How did an elite like you get assigned here?”

He had some idea, but Hyro wanted to hear the reason from Estella.

She spoke with a calm expression.

“Three months ago, news reached the Capital that the army was annihilated. It also reported that the enemy was a Necroturgy practitioner and undead.”

“So there was a survivor in that chaos.”

“Yes.”

Hyro brushed his shaggy beard and muttered.

“I thought they were all dead.”

“A single survivor reached Graneum Castle. If he hadn’t been a Swordmaster, he probably would have died.”

“I see.”

Hyro nodded slowly.

It made sense that the survivor was a Swordmaster.

If he had been a common soldier, his report would be hard to believe, but as a Swordmaster it couldn’t be ignored.

‘The situation is better than I feared.’

The very fact that the Emperor took this seriously was hopeful.

“Hyro, have you been here the whole time?”

“Yes.”

Hyro recounted the events without hiding anything.

“The annihilation of fifteen thousand troops happened in an instant. Neither the commander nor I expected it to conclude so quickly. I thought it’d take at least a month, so I went out on reconnaissance for a while.”

The mages who heard his story looked incredulous.

But Hyro continued.

“I suppose if I were in your shoes I wouldn’t have believed it either. So instead of returning, I hid here to observe the situation.”

Only then did Estella and the others nod.

Estella spoke with a serious expression.

“Over the past three months we’ve also discovered many things. Judging by the undead legion stationed here, their leader appears to be a Necroturgy practitioner, and the residents are under their protection. The granaries are full. And…”

Hyro just listened.

After Estella reported all they’d discovered, Hyro spoke.

“So what do you think? What decision should the Emperor make to take this place?”

“Well….”

It was a difficult question, but since she had considered it before, Estella answered immediately.

“Even generously, the enemy’s forces don’t exceed twenty thousand. I think gathering a hundred thousand troops would give a good chance of victory.”

“Hmm. Is that really so?”

Hyro gave a wry smile.

He then told them what he had discovered so far.

At the end of the tale, Hyro added this.

“If my suspicions are correct, even committing a million troops would not be enough to take this place. We must look for other means.”