Chapter 68

Leinrant (1)

Kurururur…!

With the harsh rattling of chains, the closed gates slowly opened, revealing the sight inside the fortress.

“Hey, that…!”
“I thought they were just black suits of armor, but now that I look closer…”

Of course, the fortress itself wasn’t the only thing that caught their attention.
The first thing that greeted me was caution.
Eyes filled with fear directed toward the Death Knights.

—Hahaha! These fools can’t even recognize their own ancestors?!
—It can’t be helped. You agreed to the contract knowing full well what it meant.

The dragon slayers who once protected Paul Wyvern.
But now, no one remained who could recognize them.

Even if I preserved the essence of their souls and their egos, their appearances were unmistakably those of Death Knights.

Just like Helian, they were the byproducts of a dreadful power that had plunged Paul Wyvern into chaos.

Clunk—!

The moment the five wagons entered the fortress, the gates shut once more.

Shrrrng—!

What followed wasn’t an escort, but an encirclement.
The knights and soldiers who knew nothing of the situation immediately drew their swords toward me.

“Everyone, stop!”

But Laia’s voice rang out and halted them.

“My Lady!”
“No matter if they’re allies, we cannot allow undead into the fortress!”

As several knights protested, Laia squeezed her eyes shut in frustration.

‘It’s not simply because I’m a necromancer, is it?’

I examined the expressions of the nobles from Laia’s faction watching me from afar.

Wariness.
Disgust.

And something beyond that—

Fear.

They were probably remembering my birth and the rumors surrounding me.

“I understand your caution.”

As I said that and stepped down from the wagon, the startled soldiers instinctively backed away.

‘Either stay wary or stay afraid. Pick one.’

Even while thinking that, I pointed my thumb toward the wagons behind me.

“But before anything else, could you please protect these people?”
“…People?”

The knights, tense as though ready to charge at any second, suddenly looked bewildered.

“They’re citizens of Paul Wyvern kidnapped by Helian.”

The one who said it wasn’t me.

It was Garrison.

And when a priest of the Holy Order stepped down from a wagon driven by undead, the knights’ expressions only became more incomprehensible.

“N-No, wait…”
“Why is Father Garrison with a necromancer—no, with Prince Klein…?”

Leaving behind the dumbfounded knights, Garrison gestured toward the wagons.

“W-Well…”

Now that they’d heard the words “citizens of the territory,” they had no choice but to confirm it.
The knights hesitantly approached the wagons and opened the thick iron doors.

Clank—!

And inside were—

“U-Uwaaaah?!”
“Where are we?! Why are we here…?!”

Terrified citizens huddled in the corners of the wagons.

“What happened? Why are the citizens from the capital here…?”
“Take care of them first. I’ll explain everything later.”

I may have rescued them, but I was still an outsider from Leinrant.
It wouldn’t look good if people learned they’d been saved by another family.

‘Well, they’re also terrified after seeing undead.’

Just as I thought that, Laia immediately understood my intention and hurried toward the people.

“Is everyone alright?”
“M-My Lady…?”
“Look, everyone! It’s Lady Laia!”

The moment a few people recognized her face and shouted, relief spread through the terrified crowd.

‘Much better than having a necromancer commanding undead try to comfort them.’

The citizens gradually relaxed upon realizing Laia herself had saved them and began stepping outside one by one.

“Quartermaster! Prepare meals!”
“The injured, come this way! We have a medical ward prepared!”

Perhaps because Laia stepped forward personally, everything afterward proceeded smoothly.
Blankets and stretchers were immediately brought out, and the women within the fortress emerged to tend to the rescued citizens.

‘This will strengthen the justification for striking Helian even further.’

A lord caring devotedly for citizens rescued from a tyrannical ruler.

Watching the scene unfold, I began considering what would happen next.

Helian, who had seized power unlawfully and oppressed the people.

And these citizens would become living witnesses to Helian’s tyranny.

‘Once rumors spread through them, unrest will erupt in other territories as well. And after that…’

It was then—

“E-Excuse me!”

A weak voice sounded around waist height.
I glanced downward, and one of the children who had been trapped in the wagons was approaching me.

“…What is it?”

I looked at the child suspiciously.
Laia and the soldiers were already taking care of them, so there was no reason for the child to come to me.

“T-This!”

The trembling child stretched out both tiny hands toward me.

Resting within those small hands—

“…A flower?”

It was a flower.

A white flower whose petals had become wrinkled from being carried around for a long time.
As I stared at it blankly, the child spoke again.

“I know! Mister Knight was the one who saved us, right?”
“Knight? I’m not…”

At those words, I faltered for a moment.

But only for a moment.

I couldn’t exactly leave the child’s outstretched hands hanging there, so I reached out and accepted the flower.

“Thank you for saving us, Mister Knight!”

After shouting that and bowing deeply, the child hurried away to rejoin the others.

“Haha… well, this is awkward.”

A tattered flower rested atop my worn leather gloves.

“Knight… huh.”

Looking down at it, I let out a bitter smile and muttered softly.

A strange sensation welled up from deep within my chest.
I had never felt an emotion like this before.

It felt unbearably unfamiliar.

“That’s a title far too grand for a necromancer like me.”

I had acted only for utility.
Political influence.
The benefits Leinrant would gain through these people.

That was all I had considered.

I had always believed things like chivalry or righteousness didn’t suit me.

And yet, it seemed the child had seen my actions differently.
As a hero who protected the weak and rescued people from danger.

Like the very image of the knights everyone admired.

“So this is what it feels like to become a hero, Berkel.”

I recalled my previous life, now feeling distant and hazy.
The battle at the Ice Castle came to mind.

“After seeing eyes like that… there was no way you could’ve stayed uninvolved.”

Chuckling quietly, I wrapped the shabby flower in a handkerchief.
Like storing away a priceless jewel, I carefully tucked it close against my chest.

“And now I’ve even received something this precious.”

Making an uncharacteristic vow, I stared toward the tightly shut gates.

“I’ll play the role of your precious hero perfectly.”

At the earliest, two days.
At the latest, within the week.

There was a mountain of work to do before the coming war.

Pwak—!

Laia and Klein’s heads shattered instantly and rolled across the floor.

More precisely, they were grotesque liquid monsters imitating their forms.
Doppelgangers.
Undead created by Klein.

“So you said they were under perfect protection?”

The Imperial Army’s main encampment stood between Laia’s faction and Helian’s capital fortress.
The one swinging her scabbard in fury was Duchess Helian.

“Some ironclad surveillance that was.”

Helian spat the words out with her face twisted in rage.
Her insolent tone toward the Imperial commander clearly crossed the line, yet Count Pensta found himself unable to say anything.

“That wretched Laia caused all that chaos in the capital, while the Imperial Army got played by these pathetic fakes!”

Kwaajik—!

Helian crushed the fallen fake Laia’s head beneath her foot and glared at Count Pensta.

“B-But there was nothing we could do! Even our necromancers said they’d never seen undead like these before…!”

While he desperately tried to defend himself, the necromancers dispatched by the Empire stared at the doppelganger fragments in utter shock.

“T-To recreate the structure of the human body entirely through mana?!”
“An undead capable of speech and even eating… this is…!”

For them, the very concept of creating undead without using corpses was utterly foreign.

The necromancers, awestruck by a realm beyond their understanding, forgot even their duties as they became absorbed in the doppelganger fragments.

“To think someone would inject demonic energy into ectoplasm—this method was actually possible?!”
“Amazing. This alone is enough to rewrite introductory necromancy textbooks…!”

They rattled off countless technical terms, yet the creation before them existed beyond their comprehension.

In the end, they learned only two things.

That its material was ectoplasm infused with mana.
And that it was an undead created through demonic energy.

“But now it’s certain.”

After hearing that information, Helian slammed the floor with her sheathed sword as though everything had finally clicked into place.

Boom—!

The instant the scabbard struck the ground, the entire fortress trembled violently.
It felt as though it had been struck by siege weaponry.

“Ugh?!”

Several startled knights let out groans, but Helian ground her teeth together as though she couldn’t hear them at all.

“It was you…! You were the one who killed Hector…!”

Suspicion became certainty.
And the target of her hatred became crystal clear.

You killed my son, then strutted around arrogantly while mocking my grief.

That cursed Leinrant bastard!
How dare you!

“Adjutant!”

At Helian’s near-roaring shout, the waiting adjutant immediately appeared.

“Y-Yes, Your Grace…!”

A woman who tore apart nobles of even higher standing than herself like slaughterhouse pigs.
The adjutant trembled in terror as Helian issued her command.

“Gather the soldiers immediately.”
“W-What?!”

The one who flared up at those words was Count Pensta.

“That’s absurd, Duchess Helian! Now that the Lady’s faction has fully united, moving troops carelessly could leave the rear vulnerable to attack—”
“The Imperial Army—!”

Cutting Count Pensta off, Helian’s roar thundered through the fortress.

Kurururur…!

The chamber shook violently as though unable to withstand the overwhelming force pouring from her body.
Faced with such monstrous power, Count Pensta could say nothing further.

“Your Imperial Army can defend the capital instead, can’t it?”
“…!”

Now she had abandoned even formal speech entirely.

Count Pensta’s face flushed red with humiliation.

“If you don’t, then you’ll return empty-handed.”

Without giving him room to argue, Helian stepped closer until their faces nearly touched.

“The territory I promised you. The rewards the Emperor would grant. Every deal we made together!”

Helian rampaged in a complete frenzy, yet none of her words were wrong.

‘With public opinion in the territory already unstable, if this drags on any longer, we’ll be completely drawn into Laia’s plans…’

Count Pensta rapidly calculated the situation.

The backlash from the frontier if the Imperial Army openly sided with Helian.
The benefits the Empire stood to gain in return.
And finally, the deal between Helian and himself.

‘If we miss this opportunity, there won’t be another.’

Having reached his decision, Count Pensta addressed his knights.

“All forces… advance toward Paul Wyvern Castle!”

Several knights cried out in shock.

“Count?!”
“That violates the Emperor’s decree—!”

The moment they said that—

“On the battlefield, my orders are the same as His Majesty the Emperor’s!”

Invoking the authority of the supreme commander, he crushed all dissent.

“…!”

“T-That…”

The knights fell silent upon seeing the seal hanging from his shoulder.

But at the same time—

‘Unexpected situation. The target is out of control.’
‘Confirmed. One of us should report to Intelligence…’
‘I’ll prepare the mages.’

The necromancers exchanged signals with one another before quietly slipping away.

“All forces, prepare to move!”

And together with Count Pensta’s command, still unable to hide his unease—

“This time, Paul Wyvern will become mine!”

Helian’s voice, overflowing with greed and resentment, echoed throughout the fortress.