The Chain Of Vengeance

[Chapter 2] KNT’s of the Sword and Balance

Ekarraat’s eyes were called the Sagacious Eyes—they had the ability to jack into the sight and hearing of creatures such as rats, bats, mosquitoes, and flies.

Hearing the information obtained that way, I suddenly felt the wine’s intoxication wear off.

“So… that means I’ve gone and made the entire country my enemy—does that sound right?”

The only member of the Hero party I failed to finish off—Ruru.

She was a member of the Royal Palace’s intelligence unit.

Having escaped the S-Rank Dungeon 【Crimson Night Moon】, Ruru ran to the Royal Palace and reported that it was because of Sid Ranorus that the Hero party had been killed.

The Hero Sylvan’s father—the King, upon receiving news of his son’s death—issued a decree ordering his vassals to bring him my head.

That order reached the Royal Palace Knights—the old corps of the Heavy Knight Garen who served the Palace.

At the same time, the strongest combat unit of the Holy Church to which the Mage Lilium belonged—the Knights of the Stigmata—was also aiming for my life.

“Wait, Ruru was with the Palace too? They said it was a mixed party of all races and classes, but they’re all insiders. The whole ‘Hero tale supported by commoners’ is elitism when you open it up—no dreams or hope. No wonder I was the odd one out in the Hero party.”

“Um, Master…?”

Rin, concerned, spoke to me as I worried, raking back my bangs with one hand.

“Sorry, Rin. Make some coffee. I’m not in the mood for wine anymore.”

“Make tea for me. With plenty of honey.”

Right now I want calming caffeine rather than mood-elevating alcohol.

Well, it’s unclear whether this body is affected by alcohol or caffeine, so I’m probably just riding the atmosphere—a so-called placebo effect—but it’s better than nothing.

Besides—I can’t let Rin hear what comes next.

“Y-yes, understood!”

Rin flipped the hem of her maid outfit and hurried off to the kitchen.

“But I was prepared for it.”

After confirming Rin was gone, I resumed the conversation.

“I took revenge on the Hero party. If so, I have to accept that the relatives of those I killed will seek further revenge—otherwise it wouldn’t add up, right?”

But that’s not what really troubles me.

I lowered the hand that had raked back my bangs a little and peered through my fingers, staring into Ekarraat’s crimson eyes.

“So… is it true that the Shikai Tribe was persecuted as heretics by the Holy Church because a once-awakened Shadow Necromancer tried to overthrow the state? Is that true?”

“It’s true—in fact, I saw the battle between the Holy Church and the Shadow Necromancer inside a dungeon twenty years ago. Sorry I kept quiet until now.”

“There are good people and bad people. But because one—just one—bad member of the Shikai Tribe ran amok, the entire Shikai Tribe ended up persecuted. Did the Holy Church make that decision? The Holy Church that preaches morality, proclaims world peace, and calls itself noble? What a fraud.”

“It only means those priests fear the Shadow Necromancer that much. Sid must be aware too—that the shadow power dwelling in you holds the potential to overturn the world.”

It would be a lie to say I had never thought about it.

If you control defeated monsters as faithful Shadows that resurrect with a small amount of MP no matter how many times they die, and if the monsters slain by Shadows are also absorbed as Shadows, your forces would multiply exponentially.

Shadows defeat monsters and the Experience Points are returned to the summoner, further expanding the forces.

If you delve into dungeons, you can obtain an endless supply of monsters to serve as soldiers.

Before long—you could single-handedly create an army that rivals a nation.

If it came to war with humans, you could turn slain enemy soldiers into Shadows to bolster your forces.

――A convenient fantasy one indulges in on sleepless nights.

But the Shadow Necromancer can, in theory, make that a reality.

“And—there’s precedent.”

I can understand why the Holy Church would marshal all its forces to kill me.

“Because of my family’s idiot, my hometown… my life…”

If I could meet the awakened Shikai Tribe member while they stood before me, I’d like to punch them in the face once.

“But what if you think about it the other way—Sid?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Hero party that cast you aside, Sid, if traced back, was part of the Hero plan concocted by the Royal Palace. In other words—if you trace revenge to its origin, it goes back to the Royal Palace and the Holy Church. And the Holy Church burned Sid’s hometown, killed your family, and reduced them to slavery. Both sides have a cause.”

“I see… so my revenge isn’t over yet, huh.”

“You are the strongest-class Shadow Necromancer, harboring the strength to change the world alone. It’s not impossible for you to take revenge not only on the Hero party but on the entire world.”

Ekarraat laughed merrily, gruesomely, and with glee.

I don’t know this girl’s past, but she wants me to descend into carnage.

She wishes for me to fall to the same place as her and become her kin.

“There’s no backing out now. We have to do it. If we don’t, we’ll be destroyed.”

Thus—my revenge restarts――――

――BOOM!!

“”—!?““

――At that moment, the mansion’s front door was forcibly smashed open!