The Necromancer Commands Slaves, Not Undeads

5 – Death is not the end

***

Dorothy Richmond is from the Kingdom of Morton. When she was at her homeland, the world she observed was shiny. The beautiful landscapes, the people peacefully living among them, her happy childhood was spent in harmony with them.

Kindness, care, warmth, satiety, she was born in an environment where she could experience all these pleasant feelings at once. Dorothy considered herself fortunate.

Everything in the world appeared beautiful to Dorothy Richmond. She thought that the world would always be filled with beauties. However, one day…From that point on, she was shattered into pieces.

She became a slave. Consequently, the world began to look as gray as a lie. Violence and insults directed towards her, pain, the world was full of negativity.

She learned happiness in her childhood, but after becoming a slave, she learned misery. When she was sold from the Kingdom of Mortonia to the empire, the world began to darken gradually.

The more time passed, the more her body deteriorated. Her heart also grew sick and her once vibrant, energetic eyes darkened to a dull gray. She discarded any hope of survival. In her sick state, she had no purpose in life.

That is, until she met the boy, her new master.

The boy treated the battered Dorothy with kind words and treatment, and her deteriorated body began to revert back to its former shape.

Her tightly closed heart also began to open bit by bit. He gave her the hope to live. He said that he would free her from slavery once she had fully paid her price.

The ashen world of the girl began to fill with color again. The boy, who was smaller than she was, filled her eyes with blue again.

Dorothy gained a new purpose in life. As the boy’s slave, she decided to work honestly and live as a free person…

That was the reason why the girl fiercely resisted fear and blocked in front of Morse.

***

“Dorothy….”

Most slaves flee when their master loses strength. They choose to serve a new master as spoils. But for some reason, Dorothy made neither of those choices.

The other party is an expert. Dorothy and I are just children. The situation was too absurd for a 13-year-old boy to survive. In this situation, we both would die.

Death, an early childhood spent wandering through the slums, I was able to survive because I luckily met an old man and his assistant. And again that death approached me when the old man died.

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“Your courage is commendable. You look like a well-to-do commoner but your speech is of a foreign slave. I don’t have the taste for killing children, but I was planning on killing you anyway.”

He approached while holding a knife. Then Dorothy shuddered. But she absolutely did not run away.

“Stop….”

Dorothy barely opened her trembling lips. But even if he heard her, Morse would not stop. I didn’t see any mercy in him.

We perish.

I and Dorothy will be killed by that ruffian.

“Well, speak. If you don’t speak, you will only die painfully. If you speak, I will put an end to it comfortably.”

I was standing on the boundary between life and death. Pain, blood, fear, resistance. Moments of death began to etch into my brain frozen by fear.

Then I saw Dorothy’s flame, the only thing that burns brightly in the black and white world reflected in my right eye. Unlike Dorothy’s flame, Morse’s flame was too peaceful.

The left-eye view, dyed in its original color, the right-eye view dyed in black and white, it was only then that I could understand the difference between the two disparate worlds.

‘Magicians draw their power from the mana existing in creatures and objects, but we can draw power from the soul, a much stronger force.’

The flames in my right-eye view were not just Morse and Dorothy. I could see the blue flames hovering thickly in the forest.

The blue flames were souls. They don’t exist in objects and plants. It’s something that only moving creatures can have.

An exclusive privilege granted only to thinking and moving beings. A power that can act for will, not bound by understanding or reason.

Thus, it was noble. One could see it by looking at the girl, Dorothy, in front of them. The girl who fiercely resisted fear and did not run away made me feel ashamed of my past self, who was too cowardly and gave up.

The soul is a power that only those who act can have. Although the living cannot see it, even in death, that will is engraved in the world and remains.

Necromancy is engraved in the world, lingering onIt is magic that borrows the power of that soul.

‘When the living intrude on the realm of the dead, souls instinctively show interest. Wake up the souls that are close to you. Then they return to where they should have been in their lifetime. They will serve as your faithful servant for a while for the grace of returning to the realm of the living.’

I understood the meaning. The refreshing and clear feeling took over my head and the thrill swept through my body.

From the moment I gained a soul, I was already setting foot in the realm of the dead. Hence, they showed interest in me who is alive. I just couldn’t feel it.

‘Wake up.’

Instinctively, I reached out my hand. The blue flames lingering around me began to flicker.

“Wake up from eternal sleep.”

Then Morus gripped the knife reversed. The moment he was about to swing the knife to kill the girl, he halted his actions by the sudden eerie aura.

‘What’s this?’

The ground began to shake. Dorothy and I were equally startled by the vibration. The earth cracked open, and a pale white skeletal hand came out.

“──.”

The emerging skeletal hand touched the ground. The skeleton with a human shape looked like it was climbing a cliff. The pale skeleton woke up from death.

The skeleton that climbed up from the ground stood on the earth and glared at the enemy of the one awakened it. The creepy blue pupils started to stare at Morus.

Dorothy collapsed on the spot. Paralyzed due to the strange necromancy he had never seen before, Morus froze. He had seen human bones.

But it was the first time he had witnessed a spectacle of human bones moving, even though he had experienced all kinds of hardships.

The skeleton’s fist hit Morus’ face. Over time, the skeleton’s bones, which had been weathered and lost their strength, become firm as healthy human bones again.

“What is this…!”

The skeleton’s punch landed right on Morus’s nose, enough to stagger him. The skeleton made the next move. He firmly kicked at the guy’s chin.

But Morus was startled only for a moment. Morus calmly caught his breath and guarded the kick with both arms. With the dagger he had, he swung it at the skeleton’s neck.

Kang──! Sparks began to fly. The destructive power of the dagger could not cut or break human bones. Rather, the blade of the dagger was damaged by the blow.

Dorothy watched the scene blankly. I got up staggeringly from my spot. And I caught my breath and spoke to Dorothy.

“Let’s… take this chance to escape quickly.”

“M, master… Is it okay?”

Dorothy hastily approached me. And she supported me. I simply nodded slightly in response, unable to get a proper expression because of the pain.

My leg was injured and I couldn’t walk properly. It seemed deeply pierced as I felt severe pain every step I took. Unable to look any further, Dorothy picked me up.

And with me on her back, Dorothy hurriedly left the forest. Morus tried to follow us, sticking out his tongue, but the skeleton never let Morus go easily.

“Damn, do you think you can escape!?”

With a flustered expression, Morus stared in the direction we had disappeared. But we had long since vanished.

***

I could hear Dorothy’s tired breathing. Dorothy, who was shaking and worn out, looked very unstable. Even though I was light and small, she was still a young girl.

Carrying me all the way to the hut was not an easy task. All I could do was to silently rely on Dorothy. I was grateful for Dorothy, who was struggling but moving forward without complaint.

We were finally able to get out of the forest and arrive at the hut… Dorothy barely sat me on the bed. She collapsed on the floor, completely exhausted.

“Hah, hah… M, Master… What should we …?”

“Uh… That’s true. Firstly …”

I realized that the hut wasn’t a safe place. We had to prepare to flee quickly.

Looking at his left thigh where a knife was buried and blood was dripping profusely, he thought, “I need to stop bleeding first… Could you bring me what I ask for?”

Dorothy nodded. Her time spent as an assisting hand to the old woman was helpful even in such dire circumstances. The old woman had treated the wounded in Elia-territory. She had knowledge she observed over her shoulder.

“There should be a blue powder in the attic. That’s a coagulant. And please bring a bandage, towel, and strong alcohol from the kitchen. Also, a needle and thread…”

“Understood…”

After administering the first aid, we had to leave this place immediately. He wiped the cold sweat trickling down his face with the back of his hand.

Upon hearing his instructions, Dorothy left his room and headed for the attic.

He closed his eyes and took a rest while Dorothy was out to get things.