Chapter 23

Necromancer.

Often depicted as a one-man army in novels and comic books, this is a profession that uses corpses to perform black magic.

Tervis was also strong.

Two years later, he led a great army of hundreds of thousands of undead into the Holy Empire. The war lasted ten days. In the end, he is defeated and imprisoned in Burning Hell.

The Holy Empire is unable to repair the damage, and the events that follow lead to its downfall.

With that, the gates of the Demon Realm are opened, and Tervis gains the power of the Demon Realm to become an Arch Lich, the final class of Necromancer.

-If there were a God like the one you believe in, he wouldn't have let all this happen to all of you.

-Despair. Fall in fear!

-God is dead, and I will become the new god of this world!

The lines of Tervis.

In five years, he may be a formidable force, but for now, he's just one of the more common Necromancers.

'It was a stepping stone for my promotion.'

"Three Dullahans might be worth a shot."

"S-sigh.. That's the end of it."

Jaino giggled as his eyes rolled back in his head.

Drool flowing from the mouth.

Red spots popping up all over his body.

After being exposed to drugs for a long time, side effects have appeared. Now that all the questions have been answered, it's time to wrap up.

Let's raise the sword.

The corner of Jaino's mouth twitched.

"You can't get out now… the moment I die… this city will be locked down, until you're dead."

"I'm aware."

"thwack!"

He stood up, leaving Jaino to collapse on the floor. Necromancers can get information from their slaves.

The condition is the death of the slave.

The moment Redin realized he was a slave of a Necromancer, he had no intention of killing him. After all, he's the only one who can alert Tervis to his existence.

*Clamp!*

He took out the mana control cuffs he'd been given when he joined the task force and placed them on Jaino's arms.

And that's the end of the official mission.

He discovered the information about the Heatherlock that Riena had ordered, and he also learned the story behind it.

Plus the presence of Tervis.

That should be enough to get him recruited and recognized for his skills. Now all that's left is to hand over Jaino to Riena and capture Tervis.

"Then slowly…"

As Redin hoisted Jaino over his shoulder and headed out the door, He sensed a number of movements coming toward them.

Judging by the muffled footsteps, they weren't trying to hide.

Each step was accompanied by the creaking of armor seams, and then there was silence.

"I'll go first."

Riena's voice came from beyond the door, and Redin looked towards it, ready to flee out the window just in case.

*knock* *knock*

"Redin, it's me."

"Black chicken."

"Red lion."

They exchanged passwords to verify their identity.

"Come in."

The closed door swung open to reveal Riena and Rebecca, followed by a group of armored knights.

Unmarked armor.

A knightly order of unknown affiliation. A man who appeared to be their leader stepped forward.

A man with a black beard.

Slightly skinny, with an unfriendly face.

The corner of his mouth quivered at the sight of Jaino slung over his shoulder.

"Give us everything you find out about him."

What kind of bullshit came all of a sudden?

"what?"

"From now on, we will take charge of this case."

Redin frowned without realizing it.

Riena must have seen that and quickly came over and whispered quietly.

"For now, do as you're told."

* * *

Before Redin's nickname became a household name of the game community.

A lot has happened.

Perhaps the most eventful of these was when he was just getting started in the community.

Many of the first strategies he thought he had found were unknowingly known, and quickly buried in the hundreds of posts that were regenerated.

Luck.

The first time Redin hit the #1 most popular post, he realized there was a lot of luck involved.

After that,

He put in a lot of effort, but none of my strategy articles made it to the top. Then, out of the blue, he saw a popular post.

[Today's Popular Posts].

1. Strategy book for newbies by Bern – Recommended 34231

A post that's getting tons of recommendations.

He wondered how that post got so popular.

-Job Recommendations, Starting City Recommendations, and Starting Item Recommendations.

-Regions and monsters that are good for beginners in each region to level up.

-What you need to do when you reach level 10.

.

.

.

-Once you get to this point, you can escape as a newbie.

The strategies he had written were uploaded as if they had been copied and pasted. The moment Redin saw it, he was shocked.

"So this is what it means to open your eyes and get a bloody nose."

He've spent a lot of time and effort on it, and it pisses Redin off that someone took it and made it look like they created it.

Some might say it's no big deal.

It mattered, at least to him.

He joined the community in the hope that someone would listen to him and trust him, that he would be noticed and recognized.

-This is a paraphrase of an article by a guy named Redin. Link attached.

-This is really disgusting.

-Are there still people like this?

When it was later revealed that it was me who wrote the strategy, the nickname Bern was publicly executed by the community.

Although everything came back to him.

The combination of the situation and the memory of almost having something taken away made the unpleasant feelings deeper and more lasting.

If it was, something was taken away from him twice.

That means there's something wrong with him, he reasoned.

That's when he stopped being an introvert and started being aggressive.

By being active in the community.

I became a fighting rooster, smashing all those who coveted what was rightfully his.

And so he gained ground, and fewer people argued with Redin. Plus, he now has people who are on his side.

After that, his temper died down and he stayed quiet.

There was no need to bother.

Then, for the first time in a very long time, he was reminded of an old memory.

"Can't you hear me? I'm telling you to turn over the information to him right now!"

Who the fuck does he think he is?

Without any explanation.

'You're just forcing me to hand it over.'

'That's hilarious.'

It's been a while since he showed this personality.

"How dare you… disrespect my words!"

He turned his head to look at Riena.

What kind of situation is this?

Redin shot her a look that demanded an explanation, and she spoke calmly.

"This mission is a kingdom request from a nobleman in the Kingdom of Crane, and you know the mission: find Heatherlock."

He understands kingdom requests.

So that means that the red-faced knight's master has a kingdom request to find Heatherlock.

Wait a minute…

A very good idea occurred to Redin.

"His tone was so aggressive, I thought he was a mugger trying to steal credit." came the bored deadpan voice of Redin while staring at Reina

"What?"

The knight commander's greedy face distorted.

"How dare a mere prison guard… try to disgrace a knight!"

"Can you kill me?" taunted Redin.

Burning Hell's Special Task Force.

Though they are looked down upon by the knights, paradoxically they are privileged to serve under the protection of any kingdom.

To summarize

He will never be able to kill Redin.

Unless you turn all kingdoms into enemies.

"You bastard… gah!"

The Knight Commander's face is getting progressively redder.

*Snicker*

Now that we've exchanged a fair bit, is it time to give carrots?

He turned and looked at Riena.

"This guy's name is Jaino. This is Heatherlock who contacted Darit Volta. Also, behind Jaino is a man named Tervis Zerbin."

The answer comes not from Riena, but from the Knight in the back.

"Tervis Zerbin? Who is that?"

She sensed something was up.

There was a change in the Knight Commander's voice. There was a strange excitement in his voice.

'It's falling into place the way I want it to.' came the thoughts of Redin.

"He's a necromancer, and he's feeding off the corpses of fighters through Jaino to improve his skills." continued Redin.

"Are you sure about this?"

He nodded at Riena's question.

"It is clear if you compare what you saw on the first-level wanted manifesto made by the arrest team and what I've heard from Jaino." supplied Redin.

*gulp*

Behind him, Redin heard the Knight Commander swallow his saliva. He was right, the reward on the head of a first-class fugitive is huge.

That's why he told them on purpose.

In hopes that the Knight Commander would give in to his greed.

"Hmph! Since this technically started with House Volta, we'll finish the job. Where is he?"

Riena nodded lightly, signaling for the information to be handed over.

"There's a passageway in the basement of the building at the north end of Colloum. Go through it and you'll come to where Tervis is."

"Let's go!"

The knight commander rushed out with his knights. Riena, seeing that, came to the side and tapped his shoulder.

"Are you resentful?"

If it wasn't for Redin's previous experiences, he might feel resentful.

Even if it was a request.

It felt like it was being taken away from him by force.

But since he's dealt with a lot of people over the past decade, He know all too well that that's a bit of a medicine.

Above all, this is a board he made.

Those knights will never be able to capture Tervis. Their role is only as a guide.

Allowing him to reach Tervis comfortably.

"it's okay."

"really?"

"I'm rather pleased to say that we've successfully completed our first commission."

Riena looked at him as if she didn't know what to make of him, then shook her head and extended her hand.

"Let's do well in the future."

"Thanks."

After shaking hands with Riena.

He glanced at Rebecca. She didn't change her expression, it seems like we passed the exam together.

"Bet, you remember?"

Rebecca slightly looked away at my question. And then she muttered in a hushed voice.

"I…"

"Do you admit that I won?"

"uh."

He stretched out his hand in quick recognition.

"Please take care of me in the future."

"Huh?"

Redin grabbed Rebecca's hand and shook it gently as she looked puzzled.

"Please take care of me. That is my wish."

Next to us, Riena was smiling contentedly at us.

"You look great. I'd love to have a quick chat, but given the circumstances, why don't we make our move?"

"Follow them?"

At Rebecca's question, Riena shook her head.

"No. We're not going to get Tervis with those troops anyway."

"Then shouldn't we stop them?"

"You'll see when you're in the business, but those snotty knights are stubborn as hell and won't listen to us, so it's easier to leave them alone."

"Yes."

"Rebecca, you follow me. I'll show you how to request backup from headquarters and how to send a letter of cooperation to the Holy Empire. And Redin, you keep an eye on Tervis' movements. Can you do that?"

He answered Riena's command.

"I can do it."

"Your mission's first priority is to live. Don't overwhelm yourself with surveillance, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll keep that in mind."

Let's go get Tervis, shall we?