12 Chapter 12: Thousand Astral Graves (2/2)
”I know you want me to release them. They will automatically be released once they finish their meal, so let them enjoy their last meal first, okay?”
”Enjoy? What do you mean enjoy?” Elia spluttered, livid. I held up both hands and gestured to the horde.
”I know they were once your dead comrades, but they are empty vessels now. The only thing that remains is their desire for vengeance. They are no longer your subordinates, Lieutenant Kratz. They are undead, mindless puppets without any soul or intelligence. No memories, no personality, nothing. Just pure emotion. So let them vent out all their emotions first. That's the only way they can pass on. Please believe me.”
Elia Kratz studied me skeptically for a few seconds before she sighed.
”I can't deny that you saved our lives, so we owe you. We'll give you the benefit of the doubt. But I'll ensure that you keep the end of your bargain.”
”Yes, Lieutenant Kratz.”
Even as I affirmed her command, I had to suppress a retort. Seems like you're the only one who needs to be convinced.
Her surviving soldiers didn't seem to care about the fate of their former comrades. They were all staring at me in awe.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
”You're awesome!”
”You saved us!”
”Hey, boss.” One of the burly knights turned to Elia Kratz. ”Are you sure you should be speaking to that person in that tone? He killed one of the Chosen of Evelyn, you know?”
”Um, yes…?”
The burly knight scowled. From my Absolute Appraisal, I could glean his identity.
Name: Gio Vanni
Species: Dark Elf
Job/Rank: Soldier/Sergeant
Special Abilities: Tenacious Survivor
A sergeant, huh? He also seemed much older than the seemingly young Lieutenant, who appeared to be no older than her mid-twenties.
”Doesn't that feat alone automatically earn him the rank of a Lord? Shouldn't you be more careful about being disrespectful to someone of higher rank? I mean, you may be a noble, but his slaying of a hero just allowed him to surpass you in rank.”
”Eh? Eh?”
Lieutenant Kratz looked flustered upon the revelation. I merely looked at her dumbly, and shrugged. Unfortunately, I remained ignorant of all the trivial details and formalities, and had no wish to learn them.
But that explains why I'm a Lich Lord now.
I did find it weird that I was suddenly promoted into a Lich Lord, but dismissed it as a mere increase in rank after my achievement of slaying a hero. I didn't think it carried any real significance. From what I had seen so far, the ranks appeared to be arbitrary. The different statuses carried no meaning to me, an outsider.
However, there was something I could use to my advantage.
”Uh, speaking of which, I might need your help.”
That was right. If I wanted to find out more about the world around me, I needed to rely on these guys. I needed to learn about Restia and its ways, and get acquainted with the demon race and their outlay of forces. If possible, I would like to commandeer them and unleash them on the heroes. I had no interest in annihilating the human race, but I had a vested interest in enacting my revenge on my former classmates.
I was going to ensure their death, no matter what it took.
”What help do you need?” Lieutenant Kratz asked hesitantly, trying to defer to me now that she realized my new rank. I scowled.
”Just speak to me normally. I don't care about all this lord nonsense. I'm just a normal undead, so don't worry about formalities.”
Even as I said that, I realized the great irony behind my words. Just a normal undead? No, I was far from being a normal undead. There was a massive difference between me and the zombies that were snacking on Tsukishima Tomoyo's corpse. Those were normal undead. Not a walking, talking, intelligent corpse like me.
Well, that was no point busying myself with such trivial details, so I focused on the issue at hand. Pushing my glasses at hand, I flashed them my winning smile and hoped that my Machiavellian Charisma would kick in.
No such luck. The demons just stared at me blankly, waiting for me to continue. I took a deep breath and proceeded sourly.
”I kind of lost my memories and have no place to go. The only thing I remember was being hunted and attacked by those so-called heroes.” I glanced in the direction of Tsukishima and my zombies. ”But that's all I remember. More of them will be coming, and even I wouldn't be able to beat all of them at the same time. I need help. And a safe place to stay.”
”So you need a place to stay?” Sergeant Vanni echoed. I nodded. He shrugged. ”Well, I could put you up at our place, if your lordship doesn't mind shacking up with us lowly soldiers.”
I scowled. ”I told you to stop it with that lordship. I'm not a lord.”
”Sure you are. Even if you weren't, the moment you slew a hero, you're automatically promoted to a lord.”
”Ugh, I'm trying to keep a low profile…” I complained, but none of the demons were paying attention to me. They were chattering excitedly at the prospect of rooming with a lord. Only Kratz looked displeased, but she remained silent.
Despite her sharp tongue, she was a good leader. Kratz was obviously aware that she couldn't afford to destroy her men's morale, especially after such a crushing defeat. This sense of elation was necessary to keep the demonic army fighting even after the demise of their king.
”We'll escort you safely back to Helsfort,” Kratz spoke up determinedly, which earned cheers of approval from her men.
”Don't you mean I'll be the one doing the escorting?” I replied, drawing laughter from the soldiers. ”But I'll take up your offer. Please lead me to Helsfort. Is that…?”
”You really lost your memory, didn't you?” Kratz shook her head, amazed. ”That's the capital of the demonic realm, Morten. After his majesty was killed, it'll be natural that everyone will retreat back to the capital and prepare for a siege.”
”Huh? Isn't this place the capital?” I blurted out, gesturing in the direction of the castle where the heroes had fought the Demon Lord. ”The Demon Lord…I mean, his majesty was waiting for the heroes there, in that castle.”
”Are you an idiot? That's because his majesty decided to meet the Chosen of Evelyn in the frontlines, and so he set up base in the border castle to stop them from invading our territory. This isn't the capital. It's the border between Helsreach and Midgardia.”
The names meant nothing to me, but judging from the pattern, I could guess that Helsreach was a province belonging to the demons, and the Midgardia was part of the human kingdom. Come to think of it, Kratz had a point. The castle was in the middle of nowhere, situated in vast plains framed by mountains in the background. There were far too little buildings or urban landscape to mark it out as the capital of a civilization.
Furthermore, the demons were referring to my former classmates as the Chosen of Evelyn instead of heroes. That made sense. They weren't heroes to the demons. Rather, they were more like monstrous villains. Given how the goddess Evelyn had chosen them to fight the demons, I guessed that name was as logical as any.
”…I see.”
That made sense. Stopping the humans from punching deep into demonic territory by staking everything on a border fortress…obviously, the Demon Lord failed, but his plans were sound. Unfortunately, the moment he was killed, that gamble collapsed and he lost everything.
”We were probably going to die a slow, painful death from despair,” Vanni remarked with a chuckle. ”But with you around, we'll probably inspire everyone to raise arms once again and resist those humans to the bitter end.”
”You'll be a symbol of hope,” Kratz added, her voice rising from excitement. ”If we can isolate those heroes and have you pick them off one by one, we might just be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!”
”You give me too much credit.”
While it was indeed my goal to exact revenge on my former classmates, I was under no illusions regarding the difficulty of my task. It was easier said than done.
”I'm not some special messiah who has come to save you all. I'm just one guy…a perfectly normal guy.”
”Bullshit. A normal guy wouldn't possess the power to fight a hero on even footing.”
”I just got lucky, I guess?”
I wilted under the intense glare of Sergeant Vanni, who wasn't buying into any of my BS. As expected, there was no hiding the fact that I wasn't normal. But I couldn't very well tell them that I was from another world, just like the heroes who had ravaged their kingdom and killed their king. The backlash from that revelation might cause them to turn on me.
Especially when they learned of my human origins…
”That was no luck. You had a plan and you stuck to it.”
Elia Kratz had noticed my confidence and lack of panic as my plan unfolded against Tsukishima Tomoyo. She wasn't letting that go.
”Yeah, whatever. Anyway, the zombies should be done. Let me check on them and bury them before we proceed…”
And then I stopped, a chill running down my back. Turning to Elia Kratz apologetically, I bowed.
”I'm sorry. I might have to borrow your comrades' bodies for a bit longer.”
”What are you talking about? You promised…”
As I expected, Kratz was enraged at my audacity. Raising her voice, she snapped at me, only to trail off in midsentence when she noticed what I had detected.
”…boss?”
Vanni glanced at her, concerned, but Kratz shook her head, her face paling.
”There's another hero approaching.”
”Go,” I snapped at them urgently. ”Get out of here before he comes. I'll buy you as much time as possible.”
”Too late.”
Cackling gleefully, Kijima Takeshi stepped into the clearing, his golden lions emerging from the woods to surround us. He scanned the clearing triumphantly, his sneering gaze widening into a scornful smile.
”I've finally caught up to you bastards.”
Turning to his lions, he snapped his fingers and grinned.
”Kill them all.”