Necromancer Of The Black Bible (44)

Elin tucked her silver hair behind her ear and began explaining the information she had uncovered step by step.

“In this book, Balthazar is the name of a demon. This demon teaches the protagonist forbidden necromancy.”

“Necromancy? What’s that?”

“It’s an ancient forbidden art that raises the dead. Haven’t you heard of it?”

At her question, Sanchez stroked his chin.

Necromancy.

The word was utterly unfamiliar to him. He was forty years old, a ten-year veteran investigator, yet he had never once heard of such a forbidden art that raised the dead.

“Raising the dead… Is it like the divine power of resurrection?”

Elin shook her head.

“It’s different from resurrection. Resurrection breathes life into a dead body and recalls the soul, giving it another chance to live. That person then continues their life. But necromancy merely anchors a soul into a dead body. The flesh continues to decay since it’s already dead, but the soul doesn’t die—so it lives forever.”

“Living forever in a rotting body?”

Just hearing it was horrific.

It was truly a cursed art.

Sanchez shook his head and spoke.

“Who on earth would ever want such a thing…”

“More than you’d think.”

Elin gave a faint smile and continued.

“History is full of them—those who sought eternal life.”

“Ah!”

At last Sanchez understood what she meant. He recalled countless figures from the history books he had read.

“Yes. The first emperor of the Valkyr Empire, Alexion. The fourth emperor, Leonard. Even the sixteenth, Serena, who in her final years sought eternal life and ended up summoning a demon king.”

“Exactly. And that’s what led to war.”

Elin smiled gently as she gazed at the book in her hands.

“For elves like me, eternal life isn’t alluring—it’s a tiresome shackle. But humans seem to think differently.”

“Most would call it the greatest blessing.”

“A blessing…”

Elin’s expression turned bitter at his answer. From it, Sanchez could read many things.

The futility and transience of life.

And emptiness.

After pondering quietly, Elin looked back at Sanchez and spoke.

“Life isn’t so different from death. Humans just live too briefly to realize it. They lack time to understand what death really means.”

“Hm.”

Sanchez couldn’t refute her words.

For he too was human.

He hadn’t noticed it when he was young, but now he felt it keenly.

Time moved far too fast.

He still hadn’t even decided what he truly wanted to do with life, and yet he was already forty.

At this rate, he’d be an old man before he realized it—and dead.

Sanchez gazed quietly at Elin’s face.

He had once heard she was 427 years old.

She had lived over ten times longer than he had, yet was still young and beautiful—and he envied her.

Perhaps this was why he had never confessed his feelings.

To her, he was probably just one of countless fleeting mortals.

“What are you thinking?”

Her question snapped Sanchez out of his thoughts.

“Nothing. Just wondering if I’d want to live forever.”

“And your conclusion?”

Elin asked playfully, and Sanchez smiled openly as he answered.

“If I had a friend to share eternity with, maybe living forever wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Oh. That’s not a bad thought.”

Elin met his gaze with a bright smile.

Then she spoke again.

“So. Do you have such a friend now? Someone you’d want to spend eternity with.”

It was a rather blunt question.

Elin was always like this—she never minced words on important matters.

And Sanchez liked her for it.

He too was sick of evasions.

Sanchez didn’t avert his eyes and answered honestly.

“Yes.”

He exhaled softly, then spoke more clearly.

“If I were to live forever… I’d want to spend it with you.”

It came out like an untimely confession, but he didn’t care. He believed it was the right time to finally say what he felt.

Elin’s eyes flickered.

Her cheeks seemed faintly flushed.

She smiled crookedly and turned her gaze to the book in her hands.

“Then maybe you’ll need this book.”

“Are you serious? If that book revives someone, their body rots, right? You’d be fine with that? The stench, the horror?”

“Is that really what matters?”

Elin smiled still, holding his gaze.

She didn’t say more, but he could guess the rest. Her eyes seemed to peer straight into his heart.

Feeling that, Sanchez couldn’t help but chuckle.

So the two of them smiled and looked at each other.

After a while, Elin returned her gaze to the book.

“Strange, isn’t it? When I first saw this book, I couldn’t understand why it was banned. But now I do.”

“I still don’t get it. Just reading it doesn’t mean you can actually learn necromancy, right?”

At his question, Elin’s gaze deepened. She turned the pages one by one as she spoke.

“At first, I thought so too—just fiction written like a story. But the deeper I read, the more it wasn’t. Here, Balthazar teaches the protagonist necromancy in very detailed ways. Detailed enough that anyone with even slight knowledge of magic could follow along.”

“That’s… pretty chilling.”

Elin nodded at his words, then asked him.

“Do you want this book?”

Sanchez hesitated.

It was Raiernov himself who had asked him to find Balthazar von Rubenstein.

Considering the favor he owed, Sanchez should comply—but this case was odd.

‘He asked me to find a person, yet here it’s just a name in a book.’

If he said the man was merely a book character, Raiernov might find it absurd.

‘I’ll keep searching. If I find nothing else, then I’ll tell him.’

The library almost never failed to locate people.

But not absolutely all.

There were a rare few not recorded.

Most of them could be traced through the Adventurers’ Guild or Merchant Guild.

Especially those who had slipped in illegally—guilds usually knew.

Having decided, Sanchez answered Elin.

“Not now. I’ll ask if I need it later.”

“Really? Then…”

Elin smiled radiantly and spoke.

“It’s almost quitting time. Want to have dinner together? Drinks too, maybe.”

“Of course.”

Sanchez nodded readily, and Elin closed the book and put it in her desk drawer.

Before closing it, she glanced at the book once more.

A worn black cover.

On it were written the words:

Aium de Equinox (Equinox of Eternity).

When I came to, I was standing in a certain space.

Unfamiliar yet oddly familiar.

As I took a step, I understood where I was.

‘A corridor.’

A long passage leading into the past.

I remembered rushing through it at tremendous speed once before.

But now there was no force pushing or pulling me.

So I simply walked forward.

Step, step.

My footsteps echoed unusually loud, but I kept walking.

And the scenery around me began to shift with each step.

They were all my memories.

Scenes I had once lived flickered by as I walked.

After several steps, a door appeared ahead.

A black door adorned with ornate patterns.

Its handle gleamed gold.

I approached and opened it.

Inside was pitch-black space.

Someone stood in its center.

A figure in a worn brown robe.

Even without seeing his face, I knew who it was.

“Equinox.”

“I have been waiting, Honored Master.”

Equinox approached me, hood drawn low.

I asked him:

“Why are you here?”

“To deliver something important.”

Coming close, Equinox raised his left hand and pointed.

There was another door.

“There is something you must know before going there.”

“What is it?”

“Illinas has noticed.”

A chill swept over me.

For the Great Demon King Illinas was the one who had sent me back in time.

Equinox continued calmly.

“Through the link bound to your heart, he sensed that you gained the power of immortality.”

“But…”

I recalled the laws binding demon kings and asked.

“This was a deal. I gave him tribute, and he took it. The bargain can’t be undone.”

“You are correct. That law is ancient and absolute—even a demon king cannot nullify an agreed contract. But regardless, he may still interfere with you.”

I pondered the rules of the demon kings. As I recalled, they could not obstruct a contractor merely out of dislike—doing so would shatter the trust in all bargains.

Reading my thoughts, Equinox nodded slowly and spoke.

“Recall carefully. That clause has an exception, Honored Master.”

“If the contractor is certain to threaten the demon king’s existence in the future, interference is permitted. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Correct.”

His answer said much.

The thread tied to my heart was far more dangerous than I thought.

It didn’t just relay my growing power—it showed him my very future.

‘Should I sever it now?’

But severing the link meant open war with Illinas.

Now, with my third Mana Rings forming, I was far stronger than before—but could I truly stand against Illinas, ruler of half the Demon Realm? Doubtful.

I knew firsthand what a demon king could do from my previous life.

As I thought this far, Equinox spoke again.

“At this point, I do not recommend open war. Illinas too is uncertain—so he won’t interfere openly, not yet.”

“Uncertain… meaning there’s leeway.”

“Yes. You may determine his existence in the future, but that is only a possibility. Illinas will act solely to erase that possibility.”

That made sense.

The primeval laws were that strict.

None in existence could ignore them. Even a demon king who broke them would face the judgment of causality.

A judgment none could escape.

This was the very reason contracts with demon kings were possible.

“Then how do you think he’ll try to hinder me?”

At my question, Equinox’s green-glowing eyes wavered as he answered.

“He will use the most certain method.”

“The most certain… meaning…”

“Eliminating your very existence.”

No more explanation was needed.

The reason I had come to the past.

And the reason Equinox was explaining it to me now—both pointed to one thing.

‘Illinas intends to interfere with my past.’

The same way my master had sent me back to erase the first Mana Ring bound to my heart.