Chapter 17: This is about unfaithful necromancers

28 June 422

Things were certainly looking just as I could remember from this segment of the Volume.

We were all waiting inside the Karsten office, a small section of the castle that was assigned to house some pseudo-embassy to the Karsten family.

Furnished with a Conversing mirror connected to the Karsten mansion and with a small home for the officer established there, it generally worked as a quick mean to gather around the nobles in time of emergency. It was sited in one large quarters that contained other offices, as much as there were noble families worth of such honor.

But the problem at hand didn't allow me enough time and capacity to scan thorough the entire place, my full attention taken by the outburst coming from Felix, the cat-eared knight slamming down at the dark desk, eyes sporting immense horror and fury at the news now unfolded by the officer.

I didn't say anything, merely look around the room and glancing absently at Julius Juukulius and Reinhard van Astrea, both men being part of the incensed demihuman squad and following the same example as mine while the predicament unfolded in a quieter declination.

With Fourier intervening to calm down his childhood friend, the officer finally conceded the entire report to the group and... yep, the case was as it was wrongly displayed.

Biehn Argyle, Ferris' father, has been caught 'smuggling slaves' in his mansion for unknown reasons, completely breaking the rules from both the Kingdom's law and the ones from the Duchy it was part of, which was led by the Karsten family.

After making sure of having the entire building encircled and isolated, Crusch herself decided to try her hand at diplomacy but said attempt failed and not much was heard of the young woman ever since then, causing a further increase of guards and a letter to Fourier himself to be sent.

I detached myself from the discussion the moment the officer continued to detail about the current state of the little army led by Bardok, one of the captains incredibly loyal to the family it worked for.

Why? Well, I was contemplating two major issues over the matter:

1) The Volume itself wasn't much descriptive of the mansion as a whole, only of some of the rooms were the action happened and I was utterly unaware of the extent of such building. I knew Crusch was kept in the basement, specifically the room which once was Felix's, but I didn't know how to reach it from the entrance;

2) The guards covering the lands of the Argyle family, the three knights and Fourier didn't knew the horrible surprise the insane bastard had left for them to discover, the slaves having not been used as a work-force but... as specimens for some resurrection spell that was meant to bring Felix's mother back to life.

So much to do, so little to move around without causing any awkward issues with the others, especially with Julius.

The light-purple haired young man had some good relations with his spirits and I couldn't risk trying to force a lie if one of said creatures was capable of knowing the truth from the false.

I had to play my cards carefully to bring some more preparation to the rescue party and... I had a big, insane and incredibly dumb idea to bring up.

But first, I needed to bring up the 'curious' clues left out by the report.

"The slaves," I spoke up midst of the concluding sentences of the officer. "Did any of the guards see them, even through the windows?"

The man stopped to stare in surprise at the interjection, the whole room focusing on me as I blinked at the officer. "Please, do answer that question." I pressed on, gaining a slightly nervous look from the diplomat.

"A-Actually no."

The reply caught some frowns , Reinhard being the one to recover first.

"There was no sight of any of the dozens of slaves purchased by Lord Argyle?" The redhead asked quizzically. "I thought with so many men dispatched, someone would have seen someone-"

"If there were slaves wandering inside mansion to begin with," I interrupted quietly, once again gaining control of the situation. "I just have two questions I wish to ask, then I will see if this theory of mine is truly worth of be brought up or not."

Just as I said this, I turned my eyes at the diplomat once again. "Did Lady Karsten ask for any documentation about the current standing of the Argyle family? The economic side of the report."

The man gave a quick nod and he quickly went to search and bring up the small stack of papers, which I was quick to take hold on and start to look through.

Felix blinked and walked towards me, stopping as he started to look quickly at the data written on the papers while Fourier frowned at the scene.

"What are you trying to find, John?" The blond asked without hesitation, something I found myself nodding at as I found the ledger I was trying to find.

"Something that is dignifying my worries," I replied and I looked up at him. "You know that slaves are used by some nations as unpaid labor, right?"

The prince nodded and I continued. "Well, considering the quantities reported I can only assume from a logical perspective that the number of slaves would have been used as a free workforce to improve the already-declining state of the family's economy-"

"But the treasury is still declining, even faster than before," The brunette muttered as he continued to glance at the paper. "This mean that Count Argyle didn't use them as a workforce."

I nodded at the deduction while ignoring his little poisonous words toward his father. "That's correct and... that means that there are other reasons that had forced the man to buy slaves," I hummed, eyes resuming their stare at the officer. "What about the guards to the mansion, were there sightings of any garrison protecting the building or-"

"T-That is actually another abnormality that the scouts couldn't explain," The diplomat commented with a brief stutter. "There was no one guarding the mansion before and after Lady Crusch entered the place."

The knights tensed up and Fourier's frown deepened... while Felix was now staring at me.

"You mentioned a 'theory', can you say what is it, Johnyah?" He finally asked, causing me to blink back at him.

...Goddammit Felix.

I let out a sigh and nodded. "Since the slaves have not be seen, they haven't been used as unpaid labor and there is no guard to 'keep a watch over the slaves', I think that the situation is completely different that everyone's initially thought it to be."

The prince huffed. "Then please, do tell what kind of theory you have; every moment is essential," He stated quickly to which I nodded curtly.

"I think that the slaves have been used for something, something that goes a little beyond the barrier imposed by morality itself and... it would match with another event that has happened to Volacchia thirteen years ago," I commented with a serious tone. "Eight-arms Kurgan was slain and the Kingdom lost one of their greatest heroes... to which no one has been able to even reach in terms of power to properly replace him."

"How does this detail connect to this case, Mayor Bukharin?" Julius swiftly questioned, yellow eyes sporting an inquisitive glint.

Nothing in terms of factual truth as the Volacchian connection was just minimal compared to the whole plot but I was going to make a little 'alteration' to the real situation, something to had a backstory and a reason to be wary of the situation while also hiding my current knowledge as... mere knowledge without proof.

"The Karsten's lands border with Volacchia," I quickly pointed out. "And Volacchia does allow slavery, which is why Lady Crusch suggested a possible foreign support to Count Argyle."

"Your theory stretches quite a lot, John," Reinhard commented, landing a cautious note around dropping formality but I nodded at him, and then continued. "But it does bring up some important details that were previously ignored; If Count Argyle is indeed dabbling in necromancy, then we should be wary of approaching the area and we should warn Captian Bardok of-"

"Reinhard, if I may intercede you, I think there is something missing from this supposition," Julius piped in politely, looking once more at me. "I still find it a long jump to consider that the Head of the Argyle family could be making use of such horrible kind of spellcraft. But I reckon from your stare, Mayor Bukharin, that you are ready to provide some more evidence."

"Please, do refer me as 'John'," I started quietly, drawing a surprised look out of him. "It's more of a safety measure, if something bad happens everyone needs to be able to address each other without having 'mouthful names' to sprout at any issues."

He blinked, still confused by this development but... giving a slow nod back. "Then I suppose I could ask the same from you, of course only for times of need," Julius concluded and I nodded with a small smile.

"Good and," I hummed quietly. "I guess I can give a strong detail that prove my standpoint a little more, beginning from what 'could make' necromancy a good probability."

I turned at Felix, the cat-eared boy staring back. "Ferris, did you ever have the chance of listening anything about your family's secret arts?"

The sudden question was met with surprise and confusion, the young man blinking at the query before shaking his head.

"Before I explain what kind of 'secret arts' I'm referring to, I've to bring up a fact that only Fourier knows about."

The blond tensed a little and I nodded to him.

"I've a secret spy network that used to work for the Royal Family," I revealed placidly, ignoring the surprised stares from the rest of the room. "And I've some material over some nobles' secrets. One of these is quite the infamous burden of the Argyle Family."

"Which is necromancy," Reinhard guessed correctly, getting a quick nod from me.

"Before I name this spell, I wish to know how 'safe' this room is. I don't want to have any leaks of the info that I know much of the entire Lugnican Nobility's secrets."

The diplomat blinked and, after spending some moments thinking about it, ended up giving a nod. "The room has a powerful soundproof spells to keep discussions of this kind hidden from everyone."

I nodded. "Then I can go ahead and say that the name of the spell is 'The Immortal King's Sacrament', which technically is just a large fragment of a working spell that was used in the past to bring people back to life."

"A fragment?" Felix quipped him. "You mean that it doesn't work well or-"

"It does a partial resurrection, the soul is manifested but quickly rotten if the caster has a limited understanding of the magic behind it," I turned at the demihuman. "Which is why your father 'needs' you as a new hostage."

His cat ears tensed at that comment, twitching uneasy at the situation as I concluded with one last note.

"Considering the possible presence of some important Volacchian figures, I suggest that Fourier is guarded for the entire duration of the mission," I pointed out without hesitation, drawing a pout from the prince. "If he is spotted during the raid, he will be considered a prime target to capture and that is not acceptable."

I saw several nods and Julius stepped forward. "I will take care of His Majesty," The knight said and before anyone could say anything about it, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my neck while a certain face started to nuzzle my cheek.

"And I will be meowre than happy to take care of you, Johnyah~." Felix explained much to my confusion, shock and inner facepalming.

Goddammit Felix!

A few hours later, Argyle Mansion...

Just as the novel had commented over the state of the grounds before the building, I couldn't help but compare the scene as a full-fledged battlefield.

Part of the field outside the gates has been scorched, corpses made by undead foes and soldiers were now littering some of the sides as Bardok's unit had suffered some non-negligible losses against the ambush of the zombies even with preparations having been made.

Some of the still-living fiends were lurking around the courtyard and the duo formed by Reinhard and Julius was quick to end the first line of resistance made by the undeads.

Fourier was, just as I had expected him to do, keeping up with Julius much to the purple-haired knight's dismay as 'he could not stand behind and do nothing for this situations'.

I was glad that Ferris was actually smart enough to not engage in direct confrontations until the foes got to close and I would give help when it was needed.

The place was the least infested by the zombies now festering those lands, the quantity of zombies being far beyond the mere dozens as it easily looked to be hundreds, between two and three to be exact, and the odds were quite grim for the current guards dispatched on the area.

A rally of sort had been summoned and some of the nearby houses were already mustering enough troops to combine and strike at the undead horde, while we were left to deal with the epicenter of this sudden dangerous force.

I glanced at the derelict building, seeing some monsters already coming to wander from some of the secondary entrances, further increasing the number of zombies.

"We have to hold," I muttered curtly, gaining some nods as I was perfectly aware of the unfair situation, but I knew perfectly how to deal with this all at once. "Or we can try something quite mad."

"How mad are we talking about?" Ferris mused quietly, gaining a snort from Fourier.

"Probably something as dumb as going inside the mansion but... that would just be too silly and-" The prince stopped in that very moment as he noticed my surprised look. "You two are not entering that place."

I huffed. "It wouldn't be that bad-"

"Considering that Count Argyle wants only Felix, he could order for your death-"

"If he had some guard to order around," I interjected at Reinhard's comment of genuine worry, my eyes glancing at Fourier. "I know it's a bad idea at first glance-"

"It's a bad idea. Period," The blond snapped without leaving me space to continue. "Don't make me order you to stand down, John."

"To be fair, Your Highness," Ferris butted in. "I think I can protect him and vouch for him if we were to 'concede' to his demands."

Then the brunet glanced at me with a tiny smirk. "You want to infiltrate the place and... destroy the cause of the spell, right?"

I slowly nodded, actually surprised that he would-

"S-Still, I can't have two of my friends go inside that horrible place and-"

"Now you are stopping me to save my friend, Your Majesty?" Felix interrupted with a serious look. "You know that I have to help Lady Crusch."

The blond blinked, stopping in his rant at hearing this sentence and... groaning.

"I-I will accept it only if you promise me to come back all fine and without any injuries," His scarlet eyes narrowed at me, causing me to flinch briefly. "If I catch any little cut on both of you I will-"

"We understand," I said ultimately, my tone grasping to some impatience. "And I think we both appreciate the worry... but-"

He looked surprised when I pulled him in a quick hug. "Good luck with the situation here, I think I can say that I will punish you if you get too boldy with the monsters here."

The young man blinked twice and... cracked a defeated smile. "How is it possible that you can manage this with me and I can't do it with you?"

"You mean coaxing to not do something?" He nodded and I smiled widely. "Why, I guess being the oldest between the two of us I've more wisdom-"

"Says the 'wise one' going inside the evil building," He sassily interrupted, causing me to huff.

"Well, see you soon then." I waved as Felix and I wandered inside the mansion, avoiding the first floor and rushing at the staircase as many of the undeads here were still unable to discern any enemies, having been spawned possibly quite recently.

Once we reached the upper floor, we were greeted by a surprised individual.

The middle-aged woman looked partly-surprised at our presence, then her weary eyes focused entirely on my bodyguard and she started to relax.

"Welcome home, Master Felix," She greeted with a somewhat warm tone, my heart clenching in silent discomfort as the demihuman scowled slightly at her.

How tragic it is for a mother to be treated like this by her blissfully-unaware son?

"Spare us the small talk. Where's Lady Crusch?"

It was just like in the novel, my presence seemingly adding nothing to the scene but I was glad when the maid merely ignored my presence while interacting with Ferris with the 'weird' familiarity the brunet couldn't make any sense of.

"-The master is waiting. If you'll follow me..."

The next few moments were spent becoming a silent witness for the following 'two pages' to unfold, the ominous walk through the hallway filled with seemingly-harmless undeads that just left me with even more disgust towards the man that was Biehn Argyle.

The situation remained unchanged until we reached the door that led to the study of the horrible bastard, the moment we entered inside noticing the lack of surprise at my presence here in that very instance.

He was smiling, I was looking at some devious fool smiling at the predicament as if nothing mattered.

He was empty, his eyes almost glassy and dead-like as he greeted us.

"You made it back, Felix," His smile widening. "And I see you have brought with you someone quite interesting."

He stood up from his chair and walked around the desk, his smile never fading and my scowl never once regressing.

"John Bukharin, the Mayor of Erindor, the one that not only out-smarted Prince Ivan but also made it alive after that encounter," He described mirthfully, gaining a frown out of me.

"Biehn Argyle, Head of the Argyle Family, true cause of this sudden case of necromancy and... unfaithful husband."

I admit I had gone heavy with my premises, but the horrified look did made a pretty sight before the red-purplish rage spread all over his face.

"What?" Ferris asked softly, eyes going wide open while the maid still there seemed to have seen a ghost at how pale and tense she looked like.

I blinked, frowning again as I realized that the man couldn't technically use spells this close and...

So anyway, I started punching and things escalated even more. Some people screamed, some people watched in stunned silence... and there was the preserved corpse of a woman lying there without much to do in that very moment. What an odd day for sure.