The Necromancer Who Was Despised

“…Go.”

The Athena sisters saw us off with unnecessarily anxious faces, and we set off, thinking that we had to come back as soon as possible.

The cave was quite far away, so it took a long time to walk.

Kyla’s pace was rather slow, but since we had already finished the reconnaissance and secured a safe path, the slow speed didn’t matter.

As we walked for a long time, Kyla spoke to me.

“Please tell me honestly.”

“What is it?”

“That cave, is it dangerous?”

It seemed she was still considering the words I had said before leaving.

“No, it’s not. I don’t think there’s much danger there, so I said it would be okay for the two of you to go. But it might take some time.”

A slightly late reply.

“… “Master.”

“Why?”

“Do you… “Do you not trust me or Athina?”

“… “Trust you?”

I do trust you. I have grasped your weaknesses and bestowed favors upon you. I have even received an oath, so there’s no reason not to trust you.

“Then, is it because we are lacking?”

“Kayla, what do you want to talk about?”

“I can understand that Master does not tell us everything. You are the leader, after all. But… even so… I would like to be trusted a little more.”

Kayla was still walking, looking ahead.

“Master is a truly good person. It has not been long since we have been together, but you are so kind that I cannot possibly see you as a black magician.”

“… That’s a misunderstanding. You don’t know how cruel I can be.”

It would be difficult if my image were to be misunderstood. I am treating you well, but I can always show a cruel side, and if you were to see my actions in the future while having such a good image of me, you might have a negative reaction.

Fortunately, however, Kayla was not mistaken to that extent.

“I’m sure you have that side. You are a black magician, after all. But at least, you are endlessly kind to those who have come under your shadow.”

I had no intention of doing anything that would cause my integrity to deteriorate among my colleagues.

I need reliable colleagues. They are the ones I have gained with great effort. If I were to wield the weaknesses I hold against them, they would only resent me.

I may be giving you a lot of consideration now, but that’s only because your situations are not so good. I have no intention of doing this forever.

“For my part, I wanted to become a knight.”

Kayla suddenly confessed.

“Not a mere knight who only does dirty work, but a knight who serves a proper master with loyalty and trust.”

However, she added that it could never be.

“I was betrayed, my family was destroyed, and I was abandoned. I thought my life was effectively over, but then I met Master.”

“I heard that if I go through this cave, I can grow further. Then the day when my legs are healed will come sooner.”

“That’s right.”

“I will not resent you if I fail. But if I succeed, and if I become stronger, if I become more useful.”

Kayla looked at me with intense eyes and said.

“Can you trust me a little more?”

“I have not forgotten the oath. If you heal my legs, I will be loyal to you even in death. But… just a little, just a little more than before, please trust me. “That is my wish.”

“… It’s not impossible. And even now, I trust you quite a bit.”

It’s just that I have many secrets that I cannot share with anyone.

“Is that so? “I apologize for speaking presumptuously, Master.”

I didn’t think it was presumptuous at all.

I have a rough idea why she thought her attitude was presumptuous.

‘She must have thought she was forcing her trust on her master.’

There was no reason not to listen to that much.

Listening to Kayla’s confession that wasn’t really a confession, I thought to myself that perhaps I had been hiding too much.

I had treated her well, but I had kept my information strictly hidden.

On top of that, I had hidden most of the information I had found out about this cave and the curse because I had traced it back to her…

‘Still, I’ve done my part, and perhaps because she trusts me as a person, she’s followed me well so far.’

I felt that in order to become closer, I needed to approach her a little more.

No, to be exact, I don’t think my sense of distance was wrong.

It’s just that Kayla wanted a deeper and stronger relationship than the current one, so she said those things.

In other words, Kayla reacted more than I expected because the effect was greater than I expected.

‘Well… it’s not bad.’

Of course, I had no intention of revealing information such as regression or the future.

However, it’s not difficult to show more trust than I do now.

Since she wanted to get closer, it wasn’t a bad idea to meet her halfway.

‘This is an opportunity, if you look at it that way.’

While I was thinking about this and that, we arrived at our destination, and Kayla shuddered at the ominous atmosphere.

“…I feel an ominous aura.”

“Magic. A faint magic is leaking out.”

“…Is that so?”

“Let’s rest for a moment and then go straight in.”

Since we had come this far with all our equipment on, it was better to take a short break rather than go straight in.

A moment later, I summoned a skeleton and said,

“Are you familiar with it? You’re going to move in a similar formation to when you raided the goblin village.”

I sent the skeleton into the cave, and when there was no problem, we also proceeded into the cave.

The inside of the cave was quite dark.

I lit the torch I had brought and moved slowly, keeping an eye on the surroundings.

‘Surprisingly, monsters aren’t popping out right away.’

Well, Tia said she went inside for now.

I feel the inside getting wider as I go deeper.

“…Has it gotten a little brighter?”

At Kayla’s words, I suddenly looked around and it definitely felt that way.

It was a subtle difference, but the surroundings had definitely gotten brighter.

‘Is there a magic lamp inside?’

When it comes to monsters that emit light, there’s the wisp, a type of spirit, but it’s very difficult to see, and since there is a faint magic in the entire cave, the possibility of there being a wisp is close to zero.

Considering that this is where the Lich’s artifact is, it was more likely to be a magic lamp.

Rustle.

At the sound from somewhere, we immediately stopped walking.

As we assumed a military power, the owners of the sound realized that we had noticed them and gradually revealed themselves.

“Kekeke…”

“Monsters… orcs and goblins.”

“There are trolls too.”

“…I see. There aren’t… many.”

About ten or so.

There was a faint magical energy coming from their bodies.

“They’re monsters under the influence of magic. Are those the ones Tia met?”

“… Yes.”

Meanwhile, the monsters began running towards us.

“Kig!”

“Grr!”

The skeleton goes into defensive mode. Unlike before, it didn’t charge first. It seemed to be more concerned with protecting the rear, as it could have blown away the goblins like before, but this time there were monsters mixed in.

‘It’s definitely useful.’

It looks like a skeleton that has been in dozens of battles.

I quickly cast a buff on the skeleton, and as soon as the buff was cast, the first clash occurred.

The first one to collide with the skeleton was a troll.

It ran faster than the other monsters and threw its body right over the skeleton’s shield.

The skeleton reacted quickly.

It immediately lowered its posture and took a stable stance to withstand the troll’s charge, then deflected the blow of the goblin that came running after it.

It focused solely on defense instead of counterattacking, and that was the right thing to do.

I ran towards the troll that had fallen over, and Kaila pierced the neck of the goblin that the skeleton had intentionally let go.

The orc that was about to attack the skeleton immediately changed its target to me when the troll was in danger of dying.

However, it couldn’t block my attack.

The skeleton that stepped in between contained the orc, and I ripped open the troll’s stomach and immediately retreated.

Meanwhile, another troll that had dug in from the side lunged at Kaila.

Thud! Rustle.

Kaila showed incredibly smooth movements, even though she was supposed to be uncomfortable on her feet.

The troll died instantly, and the triangular formation was once again formed.

“… Are skeletons originally that strong?”

“That one is special.”

“Is that so.”

“Krrrrrr!”

“… They’re agitated.”

“It seems to be because of the smell of blood.”

The terrain is advantageous to us, who are outnumbered.

The passage was quite wide, but it was true that the left and right were blocked.

“We’ll attack first.”

It’s better for us to push forward than to let them run wild.

I immediately gave instructions to the skeleton, and the skeleton charged towards the orc that could be considered their vanguard.

“Khaha!”

The orc blocked the skeleton’s charge as if it were laughable, and swung the club in its hand as if to smash its head.

However, it was unable to fulfill its intention.

I cut off its hand, and Kaila cut the goblin that was aiming for its side in half.

Even so, the agitated monsters did not back down.

Even the orcs with their arms cut off charged at us as if they didn’t care about the pain, and just like that, the ten or so monsters breathed their last.

“…They’re stronger than ordinary monsters.”

“They’re being controlled by magic.”

Even so, they were no match for us.

The orcs were somewhat useful, but they were so reckless that they lost their savage nature that is unique to orcs.

It’s not enough to just increase your physical abilities.

That’s why they had no choice but to be slaughtered by us.

“The smell of blood is getting stronger.”

It was noisy from the fighting, so if there were more monsters, they would have noticed our intrusion.

“How’s your stamina?”

We had only fought about ten monsters, so our stamina was fine.

“Then let’s keep going.”

We moved deeper into the cave, with the skeletons in front.

The deeper we went, the brighter it became, and soon we found a fork in the road.

“What should we do?”

We could guess where the artifact was.

There was a slightly stronger flow of magic coming from one side.

However, I chose to go in the opposite direction.

“The destination is most likely to the left. However, in order to be as safe as possible, let’s search from the right.”

If there were monsters here, we could be attacked from both the front and the back in the worst case scenario.

‘But the artifact is probably the most important thing, so if there’s a guardian, it won’t move from there.’

We immediately entered the right side, and soon we found a chamber that was divided into several branches.

“This is… It’s like a living space.”

There was something like a door on each chamber.

Even though a long time had passed, the doors still looked pretty intact.

Moreover, the interior was very bright, and as expected, several magic lamps were brightly illuminating the surroundings.

“This is… It looks like a research journal. But it’s a script I’ve never seen before.”

“That’s the language of the Demon Realm.”

“Can you read it?”

“Of course.”

There was no sign of monsters inside, so I immediately checked what was supposed to be a research journal.

“…This is ridiculous.”

It seemed that this place was something like a research lab secretly created by a lich of the Demon Realm.