The Other Shadow Necromancer

Indeed, there was Ruru.

And――

“Hey――I’ve been wanting to meet you, Sid.”

“Who the hell are you…?”

――A man with black hair and black eyes, just like me.

He was seated at the back of the inner chamber on a large throne he must have brought in.

He looked to be in his forties or so.

Ruru stood at his side.

A short distance away lay the corpse of what seemed to be the Dungeon Boss, as if they had been lying in wait for my arrival.

“That’s right. First, I should introduce myself.”

The black-haired, black-eyed man—meaning a member of the Shikai Tribe like me—said.

I had expected a large royal guard to be waiting, but when the lid was lifted, the people there were a strange mix of Ragiu Tribe and Shikai Tribe men and women.

Well, it’s the same combination as me and Rin, though.

And with the Vampire Princess thrown in as a bonus.

I couldn’t imagine the Royal Palace would take in members of the Shikai Tribe, whom the Holy Church loathes.

Just who on earth is he…?

As if answering my question, the Shikai Tribe man on the throne placed his hand over the monster’s corpse lying in the corner.

“――Shadow Necromance.”

“Wha!?!”

Then, what happened next.

A black mist emerged from the monster’s corpse and formed into its living shape.

“Hmmm, it’s only a D-rank dungeon boss――doesn’t look very useful.”

The man tucked the extracted Shadow into his own shadow and snapped his fingers.

“Goruuuu…!”

The shadow at the man’s feet twisted and――from the ground, a monster surged up.

It was a different monster from the one he had just turned into a Shadow.

The monster had the twisted horns characteristic of a goat’s head, a humanoid torso, and was cloaked in a mantle; it was pitch-black like a shadow, its eyes flickering like blue flames.

An ability to extract a Shadow from a monster’s corpse and make it a servant.

The ability to freely send servants in and out of one’s shadow.

“Wha!?! That ability is…!?”

‘Well, well――I’m surprised, truly surprised.’

Though the eye color was different, there was no way I could mistake what that was.

――A shadow monster.

――Shadow.

“My name is Sobra. Like you――I’m a Shadow Necromancer.”

――Sobra.

The Shikai Tribe man seated on the throne.

A human who controls Shadows――someone with the same power as me.

“Well, well――what a surprise. I didn’t expect you to be alive.”

“(Ekarraat――do you know him?)”

Ekarraat within the shadow is astonished.

‘I mentioned before――that twenty years ago a Shikai Tribe member awakened as a Shadow Necromancer and plotted to overthrow the state.’

“(You don’t mean to say it’s him?)”

However――I had heard that that Shadow Necromancer was slain by the Knights of the Stigmata at the time.

‘Well, I never thought he had evaded my Sagacious Eye for a full twenty years.’

Are you saying the Holy Church, capable of killing even the Undead, failed to kill him?

And on top of that――he’d been lying low for twenty years?

“So… what does that Shadow Necromancer want from me? Sorry, but I have no use for you. My goal is to kill the Ragiu Tribe woman beside you――Ruru.”

I directed my killing intent at Ruru, who stood beside Sobra on the throne.

“Sorry, but that’s an impossible request. Ru is my precious partner――just like Rinrin is to you…right?”

Rin’s name came up.

I see—my information has been thoroughly collected.

“……..”

Sobra reached out his hand toward Ruru from his throne.

Ruru rubbed her head against that hand.

Her face softened.

“No way…”

In the days of the Hero party, Ruru didn’t speak a word and was like a stray cat that trusted no one.

But in front of him――she behaved like a pet cat spoiled by its master.

The Ragiu Tribe gives names with doubled syllables――and those close to you have a custom of calling without the repetition.

Just as I call Rinlin ‘Rin’, Sobra called Ruru ‘Ru.’

It seems that truly――a bond of trust exists between the two.

“So that means the Royal Palace intelligence agent identity was fake too?”

Ruru, who gathered the kingdom’s off-the-record information, was a spy for a world-class terrorist.

She collected the necessary information and erased anything inconvenient for Sobra in advance.

That’s how this person must have concealed their existence in the shadows for years.

“That’s the deal――so let’s let the past go. And we should join forces.”

Me and Sobra――two Shadow Necromancers joining forces.

If there are two extra-class individuals with the potential to wage war against a nation single-handedly, they could eradicate both the Holy Church and the Royal Palace, and a coup would likely succeed.

――But.

“I refuse.”

If you trace back why the Shikai Tribe was persecuted and my hometown destroyed, this guy is the cause.

There’s no way I’d take that man’s hand.

“If you cooperate――I’ll give you everything in the world, I’m telling you.”

“Normally, the going rate for that is half the world, isn’t it?”

“True――but I no longer have use for this world.”

“Then what’s your goal, you bastard?”

Sobra rested his elbow on the throne and supported his temple with his bony fingers.

Quite an arrogant attitude.

Sobra, who once tried to replace the king and seize the world――what is he seeking if not the world itself?

“To become a god.”

“…Huh?”