Necromancer Of The Black Bible (35)

[Smells delicious!]

Geo had been following us underground all this time.

I sensed his presence through a faint trace of energy.

Geo would sometimes speak to me, telling me the situation whenever he did.

And when we were captured by the bandits and thrown into an iron cage, he tried to show himself—but I stopped him.

Since it wasn’t all that dangerous.

But back then, Geo gave an unexpected reply.

[But, Dad. I’m hungry.]

Come to think of it, after hatching and eating his eggshell, Geo hadn’t eaten at all.

For nearly half a month.

This was definitely a problem.

Even a legendary Sand Dragon could suffer if it went this long without food right after hatching.

At the time, Equinox had also said this.

[Young Sand Dragons eat corpses, unlike the adults. After you’ve finished what you came here to do, Honored Master, you can let Geo handle the cleanup.]

I had agreed with him then, and now the moment for cleanup had arrived.

I spoke to Geo, who was staring at me with his big eyes.

[You must have been starving all this time.]

[Yeah. Really hungry.]

[You can eat everything here.]

[Then can I eat those too?]

Geo looked back and forth between the cages.

In the far cages were the merchants, while the nearby ones held Sanchez and Mobin.

He was asking because they weren’t corpses.

I shook my head in reply.

[No. Not allowed. For now, you mustn’t eat the living.]

[Hmm… for now? Then later, can I eat them?]

[Later, perhaps. When the time comes, I’ll tell you. I’ll say you can eat them. Understood?]

Geo chirped cheerfully in response.

Then he darted to the nearby corpses and began to eat.

I gave him two more instructions.

[You can eat all the food here, but not what’s inside this tent.]

[Okay!]

[And after you finish, can you bury the bones in the ground?]

[Yes! I’ll do that!]

Geo answered brightly and continued eating.

Even the body of a grown man was large, but Geo swallowed it in one gulp.

Each time his belly bulged, growing larger and larger.

‘Is it okay for him to eat like that?’

I began to worry slightly.

After all, there were animals that overate beyond their limits and burst.

Then Equinox eased my worries.

[The digestive power of a Sand Dragon is incredible. A young one just entering growth will digest at tremendous speed, and in the process, it rapidly grows in size.]

[So you mean whatever he eats just turns into growth?]

[Seeing it yourself will make it clearer.]

Indeed, just as Equinox said.

In just a short time, Geo’s body had grown.

A moment ago, swallowing one corpse had made his belly bulge noticeably, but now it hardly showed.

Seeing this sight brought me a new concern.

[How am I supposed to keep a glutton like this with me? I can’t always feed him in this way.]

There were plenty of bandit groups across the continent.

But seeking them out would be difficult—unless they came to us like this time.

[Sand Dragons normally feed intermittently. A hundred corpses will last one or two months. They store what they can’t digest immediately in their bodies and process it slowly. For Geo, food once every month or two will be enough.]

That was a great relief.

With all my worries resolved, I sat by the campfire again.

There was the pot I’d hung earlier, bubbling with well-cooked meat soup.

I sat before it, ladled some into a bowl, and savored it slowly.

‘A bit bland?’

I picked up the spice box beside me, filled with pepper and other seasonings.

I chose salt and sprinkled it into the soup.

Now the taste was much better.

I called William over and handed him a bowl, which he silently accepted.

He took a spoonful and said to me,

“It… tastes good.”

“You can taste it?”

“I can.”

William ate more soup.

Though he wouldn’t feel full, he kept eating.

Each time he swallowed, the mana suffused in his body absorbed it.

And each time, the light of his mana seemed to grow stronger.

When William finished his bowl, he spoke.

“It feels as if I’m alive.”

“But you are alive.”

When I smiled and asked, William smiled back and replied,

“You’re right.”

He stared intently at his palm under transformation magic.

Seen like this, it hardly looked different from a living being.

A body that didn’t breathe, didn’t sleep, and didn’t need to eat.

Those set it apart from the living, yet could this state truly be called death?

William flexed his fingers one by one, then asked me.

“What will you do with them?”

He meant Sanchez and Mobin, sleeping soundly in their cage.

“I’ll wait until they wake.”

I didn’t want to disturb their peace.

Nor my own.

I refilled William’s empty bowl with meat chunks and soup.

We ate until the moon set and the sun rose.

It had been a long time since we’d had such a peaceful night.

When Sanchez opened his eyes, the surroundings were thick with fog.

The scent of mountain dew tickled his nose.

A refreshing smell mixed with smoke.

Likely the remnants of last night’s campfire gave off that smokiness.

Tracing his thoughts this far, he remembered.

He remembered eating the bread and soup the underlings had brought.

After that, he lost consciousness.

‘Damn it!’

Startled, Sanchez looked around.

Mobin was still asleep beside him, but the priest Raiernov and Andre in the next cage were gone.

His heart sank.

“Father!”

He leapt up and cried again.

“Father! Where are you! You bastards! What did you do to him!”

Then a familiar voice came from ahead.

“I’m right here, be at ease.”

It was Raiernov’s voice.

Then his figure appeared through the heavy fog.

Raiernov in his priest’s robes, with Andre, walked toward Sanchez.

“Father! I thought something terrible had happened.”

“Terrible? Hardly.”

Raiernov chuckled and came over to unlock the iron gate.

He held a bundle of keys in his hand.

“That is…?”

“When I woke, I found someone had tossed these into my cage.”

“Ah, I see.”

Sanchez quickly made the sign of the cross and prayed in thanks.

To think he would experience such a miraculous fortune.

Yesterday, when he’d been caged, he thought he’d die.

‘What a relief. Thank you, Lord.’

Finishing his prayer, Sanchez woke Mobin and looked around.

But the fog was still too thick to grasp the situation.

“Father, where are they now? Did they go out to raid again?”

“Who knows.”

Raiernov stroked his chin, thought a moment, then smiled slyly and beckoned.

“Come here first. Aren’t you hungry?”

Just then, Sanchez felt hunger.

Mobin too looked hungry.

They followed Raiernov to a certain tent.

An old tent with a fire burning inside.

They sat down to warm themselves and received soup ladled out by Raiernov.

“There’s no sleeping herb in this, so eat as much as you like.”

“Yes, thank you. But…”

Sanchez looked around and continued in a low voice.

“What really happened? If the bandits find out, won’t this be dangerous?”

“Just being here at all is the real danger.”

At Raiernov’s cryptic words, Sanchez looked puzzled.

Then Andre, beside him, spoke.

“It seems they left us during the night and moved on. They vanished without a trace.”

“Really?”

It was truly strange.

That the bandits would abandon hostages and move on.

Perhaps it was because they were priests of the Kallios Theocracy.

Sanchez blew on the hot soup and asked again.

“Then what about the caravan’s hostages?”

“Who knows. Once the fog clears, let’s search together.”

Raiernov looked at Sanchez with a gentle smile, and Sanchez felt reassured as he began to eat.

The meat soup was a little salty.

The meat had grown very tender from long boiling, but the seasoning was strong.

Still, it wasn’t inedible.

Mobin seemed to think the same, as he silently devoured his bowl.

Once their stomachs were filled, the fog slowly began to lift.

Soon the blue sky appeared, and radiant sunlight spilled across the forest.

As the light brightened the forest, the surroundings became clear.

The bandit camp and forest were empty.

Only the chirping of small birds broke the silence.

Sanchez followed Raiernov up the mountainside.

Dozens of tents were visible below, but there was no sign of people.

Even the campfires that had lit the night were all extinguished.

‘What happened last night?’

Did the bandits relocate their camp, as Raiernov said?

If so, why?

Leaving all these tents behind.

‘It’s not easy to get new tents. Did the caravan wagons have better ones?’

As he thought that, something even stranger appeared.

They found the caravan’s hostages.

They were all alive, without a single injury.

Raiernov used a key from the bundle he’d found earlier to open the cages and free them.

A gaunt young man bowed deeply.

“Thank you, Father.”

“Give thanks to God, not me.”

At Raiernov’s urging, the young man knelt on the spot.

The other six in the cage knelt with him.

They made the sign of the cross toward the sky and offered prayers of thanks in the style of the Kallios Church.

Seeing this, it seemed these people were well-trained in caravan conduct.

When the prayer ended, Raiernov asked their identity, and the young man answered.

“I am Ray of the Black Leaf Caravan.”

Ray?

Sanchez searched his distant memories and asked again.

“Lord Ray… could you be the caravan master’s fourth son?”

At Sanchez’ question, Ray nodded.

“Yes. That’s correct.”