Chapter 27 - Undead

Chapter 27 - Undead

All the trainees assembled on the training field.

"66th batch of trainees. Starting today, you're on leave," the senior instructor announced.

"The reason for giving you leave before your assignment is simple: those who plan to leave, leave for good. The duration of your leave is indefinite. Permanent, even," he said, tapping the ground with the end of his wooden staff.

"However, any fool willing to return must do so within a week."

And with his final words, he concluded, "Well done. Dismissed."

"Thank you for your guidance!" the trainees responded in unison.

The 66th batch exited the training grounds for the first time in eight months.

"Mago, what on earth did you do in the capital? Why is Commander Shimenna coming to meet you…?" Kinjo asked.

"Human cannon?"

Kinjo repeated himself, bewildered.

"What the hell did you do?"

"I'll probably get kicked out if I return anyway," Amon muttered beside me.

"I don't even know why I did it. It was blatant insubordination, but I must have lost my mind for a moment," he said, sinking into gloom as memories of the second invasion resurfaced.

"Because of you, Amon, your peers were saved. You went from the most hated to the most beloved person—what's there to worry about?"

"I don't need that kind of attention! If it were Louis, maybe! But now I can't even join the Special Ops…!"

"I don't think that's the case," Mago interjected.

"How can you be so sure, Mago? I've got a target on my back, and my personal evaluation report will obviously be a disaster..."

"I'll explain later."

"Fine. Later, then. For now, let's take a break!" Bell draped her arms around both Amon's and my neck.

"Let's go! To my house!"

We were invited to the Red family mansion.

In particular, the second daughter, Elizabeth Red, had promised to repay us.

Louis had politely declined the invitation, leaving Mago, Kinjo, Amon, and Oscar to attend.

I had spent 13 years living in the Shua family's mansion—not as a member but as a slave.

That was before Kinjo had marked me as a free man and before the war began.

The Shua family mansion had been both my home and my cage.

If it had been the Red family mansion instead, the cage I lived in might have been a sight to behold.

The Red mansion was massive, fitting for one of the Empire's three great houses.

"No wonder the instructors had it tough. Ignoring this and treating Bell the same as us must've been a pain," Oscar muttered as he gazed up at the mansion.

Three servants opened the massive gate, which required all of them to move.

As the doors swung open, Elizabeth appeared to greet us.

"Good to s-see you again," she said gracefully, bowing with elegance.

"Eat to your heart's content. Rest as much as you want," she added with a bright smile.

As we looked around while stepping inside, Elizabeth approached me.

"Mago," she whispered softly.

"Our family has prepared a special gift just for you," she said.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Let us know anything you'd like. We'll try our best to prepare it for you."

It was an unexpected reward, but I answered without hesitation.

I had plenty of needs, but one stood out immediately.

"I need a weapon. Not something I can buy—something custom-made."

***

Dark blue uniforms.

Dead Imperial soldiers.

They rose again, lifeless yet walking.

Undead.

That's what they were called.

There were soldiers with twisted limbs.

Others with gaping holes in their bodies.

It didn't matter how they had died.

It didn't matter how much pain they had endured.

They rose again.

Soulless beings who no longer felt pain.

It was a curse.

In this absurd and brutal world, magic was innate, an exclusive gift for a select few, like Marcello Arnis.

And like the silver-haired woman standing before me.

"What are you?"

"Hmm?" she tilted her head and lightly brushed her shoulder against mine.

Her beauty was blinding.

So striking that it felt as though my eyes might fall out.

It was an appearance entirely out of place on a battlefield.

"A necromancer. The only one in the world!"

I could tell at a glance.

"Otherwise known as the Ghost Queen," I said.

She was the Demon Lord's secret weapon.

She pointed at herself with a revolver—a weapon with a rotating chamber.

In her other hand, she wielded a massive greatsword.

"Queen, huh? Who decided that?"

"All undead are my citizens. Sovereignty lies with me. No one can stop me. Wherever I set foot becomes my territory," she said with a smirk.

"So why wouldn't I be called a queen?"

Her tone resembled that of a theater actor.

"If you're a queen, why serve under the Demon Lord?"

"Me? No, that's not it. It's a partnership between two monarchs. I'm not some mere subordinate of the Demon Lord."

"Do you hate humans that much? Why not include our emperor as a friend instead of picking sides?"

The silver-haired woman burst into laughter.

"Sorry. That won't happen," she said, pointing her greatsword directly at me.

The soldiers of the 63rd Company all turned their eyes toward me.

Just moments ago, they had fought alongside me to kill this silver-haired woman.

Now, they were set on killing me.

I had considered it my duty to honor them with a proper funeral, but they had come back on their own.

There was nothing more I could do.

I would just have to kill them again.

If I killed them twice, it would give me a purpose.

"What if I fail again?"

Then, I'll just give up.

What more could I possibly do?

My comrades from the 66th class had long since perished.

Even the commander of the Empire's elite 1st Special Ops Division, Commander Shimenna Extine, was dead.

Humanity's hope, Marcello Arnis, was also gone.

The commander of the Royal Knights, the Warriors of the Sea, and the thousands of comrades who fought alongside me—they all met the same end.

I'm tired of it.

This endless cycle of defeat and despair is sickening.

I've endured more than enough, to the point where the Silver Tomb has no room left.

When I was halfway to giving up, a blessing—and a curse—descended upon me.

A single drop of power that allowed me to keep fighting.

It spread out along with a wave.

***

"Ahh...!"

I lay down on a spacious and comfortable bed in the Red family mansion.

It was a nightmare.

"It feels like I'm being rushed… Damn it, I know already."

From now on, it begins.

In about three years, I'll recover my weapons and magic tools.

"This time, they won't break."

Then I pictured those ominous faces.

The Demon King's seven commanders.

They currently aren't affiliated with the Demon King's forces, so I'll cut them down before they can gather.

"The first target among the seven will be that vampire. That's why I've commissioned a custom weapon..."

After the Demon King's commanders, there's the head and leader—the Demon King.

And even in my dreams, the figure that appeared...

"That damn Ghost Queen."

I lit the lantern beside the bed.

Its light revealed the papers on the desk.

They were blueprints I had created with El.

El had been shocked by my drawing skills and ended up sketching them for me.

Apparently, it was so astonishing that she rolled up her sleeves and took over enthusiastically.

The nightmare had banished all traces of sleep.

I went to the lake.

The Red family mansion even had an artificial lake.

It was the place where I felt the most at ease.

The lake was more comfortable than the bed.

It had become that way.

"Mago."

Even without turning around, I knew it was Kinjo.

He sat down beside me.

"Why are you awake?"

"I just woke up suddenly. What about you?"

"The bed's too soft… My back hurts. I can't sleep."

"All that noble veneer is gone, huh? What'll you do now that you're used to training camp beds?"

"Probably the same as Amon and Bell. I bet they can't sleep either. Being noble doesn't matter—we're creatures of habit."

It was a seemingly irrelevant comment.

"Someday, we'll adapt to peace too."

"I hope so."

"We've come this far."

"What's with that line, Mago? Sounds like you're tying up loose ends."

"It's not an end—it's a beginning."

"I know. It feels like yesterday when my house was destroyed."

Kinjo would never forget that day.

"Thanks to El for inviting us here because of her younger sibling. I used to get along well with my siblings, too, like El and Bell."

He hadn't changed since the day he vowed revenge.

Every day, he thought of his family.

"Yeah… I know."

"Mago, we must go to Aquella. Kill all the monsters and drive them out."

"Yeah."

"We never found the traitor."

"The traitor? Oh, you mean the orc dummies."

"Yeah. The one who hid the swords in them. I looked into it, but nothing came up."

"It's not the kind of thing someone careless would leave behind. Whether it was really a traitor or just a mistake from the shop that supplied the figurines..."

"Mago, how could that have been a mistake?"

"You're right."

"I'll keep looking."

"Actually, I..."

"Hm?"

"Actually, I feel embarrassed for not finding anything. That's all. No answers have come to me yet."

"There aren't many clues. It's tough right now... Oh, and speaking of wrapping things up, our time with Amon and Bell is coming to an end, right? They didn't qualify to join the Special Ops Unit. I guess we won't see them for a while. It's a bit sad."

"About that, I've pulled some strings. That's why I went to the capital."

"Wait, did you really ask the Special Ops Unit for help? What happened? Do they know?"

"No, only El knows."

"If you told El, it means it worked out, right? When will you tell them?"

***

After breakfast, at the dining table.

"Mago, say that again."

Amon looked dumbfounded, speaking with food still in his mouth—a distinctly un-noble gesture.

"You and Bell. Commander Shimenna used his discretion to assign you to the Special Ops Unit."

"Wh-what... What are you talking about?"

"Why? Don't you want it?"

"It's because what you're saying is nonsense. I'm ranked 14th, damn it—14th!"

"That's why I said Commander Shimenna used his discretion. Rankings don't matter."

"But the head instructor looked at me like he wanted to kill me..."

"Shut up, Amon. Mago, are you sure this is confirmed with Commander Shimenna?"

Bell pushed Amon aside and asked.

"Yes, Commander Shimenna gave his word. He did say it was ridiculous to put someone ranked 41st into the Special Ops Unit, though."

"Either way, it's done...!"

"But Bell, you've already achieved your goal, haven't you? You killed their leader and got your revenge. Do you still want to join the Special Ops Unit?"

"I don't like sitting idle."

"Th-thank you, Mago... Next time, come to my house..."

Amon spoke softly.

"I just don't want to lose talent. Neither does Commander Shimenna."

"Talent, huh... Hah!"

He was openly pleased.

"Congratulations, everyone. Though I'm not sure if it's something to celebrate, considering your survival chances just went down. Anyway, it looks like everyone but me is going to the Special Ops Unit. Even Louis said she was joining..."

Oscar spoke up midway.

"Oh, Oscar. You should apply for the Special Ops Unit too."

"What? No way! I'm joining the Knights. That's why I enlisted!"

"They want to assign you to the Special Ops Unit's tech division. Commander Shimenna specifically requested you, so think it over."

"No, no. I don't want to! It's the frontlines!"

"You ran a forge back in your hometown, right? Alone at that."

"Alone?"

All the comrades turned their heads at once, staring intently at Oscar.

"When the war ends and you reopen the forge, you'll make a fortune. Won't you, Oscar?"

"Stop, Mago! Don't make useless assumptions. Don't lure me in with hopeful words!"

Oscar frantically waved his hands.

In my past life, Oscar had worked in the Knights, manufacturing firearms, including muskets.

I desperately needed him.

The Demon King's army began using revolvers in the eighth year of the war.

If I could use my knowledge, Oscar might be able to craft revolvers.

It would mean pulling the Demon King's technology into the present—before they even got to use it.