Necromancer Of The Black Bible (152)

Brandstein City was not as peaceful as it looked from the outside.

Inside, problems they had never faced before were erupting.

Most of them stemmed from undead revived through Necromancy.

“Ah, this is suffocating. Why do I feel like I’m going crazy?”

“Me too. I thought being reborn would be a little more fun….”

“I want a little more freedom. I need something a little more intense.”

Most of the undead were feeling hollow as they recalled the sensations and emotions of their former lives.

Because of that, they began acting out in provocative, impulsive ways.

There were cases of fighting for no reason, deserting outside the city against orders, or pouring huge amounts of liquor into themselves at the tavern inside the city.

Whenever such reports came in, Natasha caught them and locked them in prison, but the problem was not being eradicated.

Natasha’s worries grew deeper by the day.

The matter kept being discussed at the morning meetings held every day.

“Yesterday, a soldier also caused a ruckus in the village. We need a countermeasure here.”

“It wasn’t just one soldier. A total of seven of them fought each other with weapons drawn. It started in the tavern, but then they broke into another house and turned everything into a mess.”

“Locking them up in prison is too weak. They don’t seem to be very afraid of that, either.”

They reported it to Natasha, but she didn’t exactly have any better solution.

‘I wish Verdin were here at times like this.’

But he had left the city to search for Princess Lillian right after winning the battle three months ago.

At the time, Natasha had only asked him to report back as soon as he learned what was happening inside the Empire.

Natasha, thinking back on it, soon shook her head.

‘Even if Verdin were here, nothing would change.’

The current situation had nothing to do with Verdin.

Because Damian could not control the ones he had personally raised with Necromancy as if they were Verdins.

In the end, Natasha looked at Kael, who was sitting at the end of the table, and spoke.

“Sir Kael. For the time being, please take charge of the entire 2nd Unit.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. As you know, our forces have no knight other than Sir Kael.”

Kael eventually accepted it.

Originally Verdin had been there, but everyone knew he had left.

Natasha added while looking at Kael.

“I’ll grant you all authority under military law. Use it at your discretion.”

“Understood.”

The meeting ended there.

Though it was unclear how effective military sanctions would be against undead who wouldn’t die even if killed, Natasha had no other option left.

Kael could understand the undead soldiers’ feelings.

He was in the same position as they were.

‘I’m empty.’

A hollow, unfillable emptiness tormented him.

It wasn’t an especially intense feeling.

If he ignored it, he could certainly push it aside, but when he was alone, that feeling grew stronger.

It wasn’t the kind of intense feeling that stimulated the nerves at the fingertips.

It was more like a damp feeling that slowly soaked in.

That emptiness made his whole body heavy, and even his emotions heavy, and sometimes drove him mad.

‘Why is it? Why do I feel this way?’

Undead were, by nature, the dead.

Could the dead even have feelings like this?

At first, he was grateful and happy for the newly gained chance at life, but now he wasn’t sure.

If he had to live carrying these feelings through an infinite stretch of undefined time, it was worth considering whether this was a blessing.

‘I think too much. Thinking alone won’t get me anywhere.’

Repeating the truth he had learned as a child, Kael stepped into the training grounds.

There were several undead soldiers there, each spending their time in their own way.

Some sat in corners exchanging jokes, while others had set up their own spaces and were practicing.

Looking at it this way, the undead causing trouble were only a minority.

Most were simply coming out here and honing their skills.

To shake off his complicated thoughts, Kael picked up a practice spear.

Then a huge soldier appeared beside him.

An undead soldier whose skin had nearly been eroded away, leaving bone fully exposed.

The guy looked down at Kael and spoke.

“Hey, buddy. I’ve always wondered something, so is it all right if I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

“Why are you the only one here wearing such fine armor? Are you some kind of commander?”

A greedy grin showed at the other’s gaping mouth.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t properly introduced myself yet.’

In the army, a commander’s appointment would normally be tied to a major ceremony.

But there was no such system here.

In fact, before the undead soldiers who had risen through Necromancy existed, there would have been no need for it.

Everyone had obeyed Natasha’s orders absolutely.

But these were beings with reason.

However terrible they looked, they had the same tendencies as humans.

Therefore, they needed to be treated like people.

Kael looked at the undead who had asked the question and answered.

“That’s right. I’m the commander. I was assigned starting today.”

“As expected.”

The guy turned around and shouted loudly.

“I told you so, right? This guy’s the commander!”

Then several undead chimed in.

“Damn it! Lost again!”

“I thought he was just a janitor.”

“Anyway, what do they use to choose a commander here? He looks incredibly weak.”

Kael was a little surprised.

Most of those here were soldiers dispatched from the Empire. Some had been assigned to his own unit, so he could recognize them.

It was strange that they couldn’t recognize Kael despite there being quite a few familiar faces here.

‘Have all the memories from their lives disappeared?’

Kael looked at the huge undead and asked.

“Do you really not know who I am?”

“How am I supposed to know you if I’ve never seen you? Do you know me?”

When Kael couldn’t answer, he raised his voice even more.

“Don’t act like you know me just because you’ve seen me somewhere.”

Hearing his voice, several undead soldiers gathered this way.

Most were nothing but bones, but Kael could read their expressions.

‘They look like they just found something fun.’

A big event had just appeared amid these dull, hollow days.

Kael laughed as well.

He wasn’t the only one who was bored.

“Oh? You’re laughing? Hey, buddy. Am I funny?”

“You are.”

“What’s so funny about me?”

The way he kept nitpicking every little word was just like some neighborhood thug.

Kael had dealt with this type countless times in the past.

Because the place he was assigned to after graduating from the Knight Academy was a recruit training camp.

In the Empire, soldiers are conscripted.

Once you turn 15, whether you like it or not, you have to come to the army.

Of course, there are cases where you’re exempt if you pay taxes or enroll in an academy, but most commoners can’t afford that, so they enlist.

In the recruit training camp these conscripts enter, there are all sorts of strange people.

And Kael knew how to train people like that.

“Do you know what happens when you look down on a commander in the army?”

“A commander?”

The undead soldier snorted with a laugh.

“A commander by who says-so? I never acknowledged you.”

Then the other soldiers behind him chimed in.

“Yeah. Doesn’t an army usually choose the strongest person as commander?”

“How can he be a commander if he’s not even stronger than us?”

“If you’re the commander, show us your skills!”

Kael smiled.

Because the situation he had hoped for had come about.

He asked the huge undead soldier standing opposite him.

“If you doubt my skill, why don’t you put it to the test?”

Then the guy laughed greedily and answered.

“If I win, what happens? Do I become the commander in your place?”

“Of course.”

Kael said, looking at everyone.

“If a commander leading the army isn’t strong, how can he command? Right?”

The undead answered with cheers.

They were delighted to have a rare bit of entertainment.

Some even shouted that they would go first.

Kael looked around at them and said,

“Don’t all fight at once. I’ll handle you one by one.”

“Oh? You’re talking as if you’ve already won.”

Blue light lit up in the undead soldier’s eyes.

Kael gave instructions to the undead gathered beside him.

“All right, don’t just stand there. Make some space. You can’t fight without a battlefield, can you?”

“Ah, right.”

The guy and the undead soldiers beside him each stepped back to make room.

Once a fairly spacious area was prepared, many soldiers soon gathered here.

There was nothing as entertaining as watching a fight, so it made sense.

As Kael and the huge undead soldier stood facing each other, cheers rang out.

Kael looked at his opponent and asked,

“I’m Kael. What’s your name?”

“Bolt.”

“All right, Bolt. Lift your weapon.”

Bolt picked up a huge war hammer.

Seeing this, the soldiers cheered one after another.

Kael drew in mana and shouted to them.

“I am Kael, commander of the 2nd Corps. This Bolt here challenged my command authority, so we’ll settle it here. If I lose here, I’ll hand command over to Bolt, but if I win, I’ll cut off Bolt’s head.”

Under normal circumstances, the atmosphere would have been chilly, but here it was different.

After all, even if their heads were cut off, they could just be put back on.

“Your preamble is too long, Commander!”

“Show us your skills already!”

“Shut up and start already!”

Kael angled his spear and nodded.

“Come, Bolt.”

His voice was low, but everyone could hear it.

Bolt flinched at Kael’s suddenly changed demeanor, but he couldn’t show it in front of everyone.

In the end, he charged at Kael with a great shout.

“Die!”

Bolt’s movements were more nimble than expected.

He was fast for his size, and his weapon-handling posture was fairly good too.

‘Seems like he has some confidence.’

The war hammer he used was fairly heavy, so a beginner would immediately lose balance if they picked it up.

If you swung it without any real training, you’d often stumble from the hammer’s weight.

But Bolt didn’t.

He charged while lifting it cleanly into position, then brought it down at the exact distance.

Kael slipped into that opening and thrust his spear toward the guy’s neck.

And then.

Thud-

The hammer, having lost its target, sank uselessly into the ground.

The result of a single exchange.

With Kael’s spear pointed at Bolt’s neck, the result was effectively decided.

But Bolt irritably raised his arm and knocked the spear away.

“Damn it! What kind of show is this!”

Kael stepped back.

The mood of the watching soldiers was the same.

“Take his head off!”

“They won’t die anyway!”

“If you’re going to hold back, get lost!”

Kael gave a faint smile.

They all knew.

That even if a spear pierced their necks, or even if they were cut down, they would not die.

Because they were immortal, they wanted to see it through to the end even more.

“If that’s what you want, then I’ll give it to you.”

The moment those words fell, Bolt charged again.

“I won’t go easy on you!”

A strong presence could be felt from Bolt’s whole body.

Crude as it was, it was aura.

It seemed to be the foundation he had relied on until now.

‘That would work on the guys here.’

But to Kael, it was nothing more than a cheap trick.

A shallow level of martial prowess that a talented person could grasp in ten days.

Kael stepped forward lightly again.

Then, without hesitation, he swung his spear.

Shaak-

The spear blade narrowly avoided the hammer, then slashed through Bolt’s neck, and Bolt’s head soared high into the air.