"The Honorable Lord? Who, Me?" (2)
Deep darkness shrouded the mountains.
A dozen or more pursuers, torches in hand, were tearing through the mountain paths.
"This way!"
"I've found the trail!"
"Do not let him escape! Blessings of Allium shall be upon the one who captures this devil!"
On the opposite ridge, two young men were frantically racing along the mountain path.
"Huff… huff!"
"My lord! Run faster!"
Spurred on by Baros, Karnak cursed under his breath.
"Damn it! If I'd known, I should've learned Death Steed summoning first!"
Unused to physical exertion, his lungs burned after only a short run.
Riding a summoned warhorse would have made this much easier—but he had postponed learning it, thinking he didn't need it yet.
Did I really think I'd have to run for my life like this?
But if he stopped now, the pyre would be his immediate fate. Gritting his teeth, he forced his heavy legs to move.
How did they even find out? I erased every trace, I swear!
When he had dealt with his father, stepmother, and two brothers, everything had gone smoothly.
His necromancy had reached its peak, and no one had suspected that Karnak himself was the cause of the nightmare that had struck the Jestrad family.
I thought all that remained was to claim the family's holdings and live a carefree life…
Suddenly, the priests of Allium had appeared and identified him as a necromancer. There was no chance to plead it was a mistake.
They were absolutely certain!
Perhaps his feet were too slow.
A squad of pursuers had already closed in, blocking the path of the two.
All were heavily armed, robust warriors—elite troops brought by the priests themselves.
Drawing their swords, the soldiers shouted.
"You devil!"
"Think you can still run?"
"Accept your punishment willingly!"
Baros glanced at Karnak, fear in his eyes.
"M-My lord!"
"Hmph!"
Karnak snorted and spread his arms to either side. The wide sleeves of his robe flared roughly.
"Do you think I'd fear mere soldiers, even if they were Allium priests?"
A darkness spread from Karnak's entire body. Grim murmurs flowed like liquid night through the air.
"Come, wandering spirits… erase the fate of the living with the light of the abyss…"
The darkness soon solidified into the shape of vengeful spirits.
Wrapped in a veil of shadow, the wraiths claimed life itself.
The soldiers' faces turned pale.
"It's necromancy!"
"He's summoning spirits!"
"Everyone, raise your protective charms!"
Frantically, the soldiers drew items from their packs.
Hexagonal bronze plates of varying sizes, engraved with scales—the charms of the moon goddess Allium, said to repel dark energies.
Just as they raised the charms, a chilling sound rang out:
"Shreeeeaaak!"
The wraiths slid through the air with a horrifying shriek.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The moment the wraiths' energies touched the charms, every single one shattered into pieces.
"What… what's happening?"
"Does the goddess's blessing not work?"
The spirits swept over the soldiers. Shields blocked them, swords swung, but all was in vain. The wraiths passed through like illusions, claiming the soldiers' lives.
"Argh!"
"Uwaaah!"
In mere seconds, more than ten warriors collapsed, coughing up blood.
With the situation cleared in an instant, Karnak's cold smile spread across his face.
"Good. That gives us additional forces."
He began to move his fingers in a grotesque, intricate motion.
"Rise, dead ones. Walk the earth again."
Those freshly slain twisted their eyes open and rose to their feet.
Blood streamed from their eyes, noses, and mouths as they staggered, retracing their path backward.
"Krrr…"
"Krruuuhhh…"
Watching the zombie soldiers retreat, Baros asked,
"Is it safe now, my lord?"
Karnak shook his head.
"No… these were made too hastily, so I can't use my full power."
At that level, those zombies were probably only a tenth as strong as they had been in life.
At best, they were only good for buying time. That meant they had to hurry and get out of the area.
Karnak and Baros started running along the mountain paths again.
As they frantically moved, Karnak ground his teeth once more.
"I finally got my revenge! I finally took back the family's holdings!"
And it was all thanks to that mysterious author of the necromancy manual.
"That cheating bastard! What? Nobody noticed? The priests already figured it out!"
Even in the middle of a desperate escape, Baros interjected.
"I told you, ordinary people wouldn't notice. Clergy aren't ordinary, though."
"He wrote it ambiguously from the start!"
To be precise, the manual had said:
"With this method, ordinary people will never notice traces of necromancy. Even knights skilled in divination or wizards adept at magic will not detect it."
"See? It doesn't say anything about priests noticing."
"Then he should've written a separate warning! It's common sense!"
"Common-sense humans wouldn't have learned necromancy in the first place, right?"
Even in a life-or-death situation, Baros kept nitpicking—clearly it was in his nature.
Karnak shouted irritably:
"Shut up and let's run already!"
Recalling their past hardships, Karnak and Baros exchanged wistful looks.
"Those were really tough times."
"I thought it was over, but we got caught and chased day and night."
"It was the beginning of the legend of Karnak the Necromancer."
"Eh, not really. The legend came much later. Back then, it was just a pathetic third-rate necromancer running for his worthless life like a cockroach…"
"Baros, you were running with me! Don't act like it wasn't your problem too!"
Back then, Karnak had overestimated his own necromancy skills.
He believed that if he moved stealthily, he could achieve anything without anyone noticing.
It wasn't exactly foolish. Given his knowledge at the time, that was the reasonable limit of what he could anticipate.
Glancing at a mirror, Karnak spoke curtly:
"So I can understand why he had that misconception."
He shrugged, referring to the version of himself in the mirror as if it were someone else.
"He must have thought that with stealthy necromancy, he could defeat someone like Randolph. And honestly, it would be powerful enough."
The typical method most necromancers use in open battle: act as if you're fighting normally, then secretly cast curses—snap!
To ordinary eyes, it looks like a normal battle.
"But if I do it that way, it'll just repeat the same mistakes of the past."
You might fool ordinary people, but you can't fool the priests.
Clergy attuned to divine power are especially sensitive to traces of necromantic energy. No matter how secretly necromancy is used, they will detect and pursue it.
The past Karnak had been caught the same way.
Priests of Allium, suspicious of the Jestrad family curse, eventually discovered his identity. He was chased relentlessly, building a fearsome reputation—until he finally gave up on remaining human.
"I went through all the trouble of turning back time to live like a proper person, and now I can't do that."
To use necromancy without being caught, one must meticulously erase every trace—almost to the point of paranoia.
Even the slightest slip would cause the Seven-Goddess Church to hunt you down like a bloodhound.
"So basically, in front of priests, I should never use necromancy?"
"That's right."
"But… this is a duel trial, right?"
"Yes."
"Then the judges will be priests, won't they?"
"Exactly."
"But what kind of nerve did you have to volunteer for a duel trial in the first place, young master?"
"I told you, back then I didn't know any of this."
"Ugh…"
Baros groaned and sank into thought. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Then… can't we postpone the duel for half a year? I'll whip myself into shape no matter what and fight for you."
The reply came instantly.
"We can't postpone it."
Judging by how fast he answered, it seemed Karnak had already considered that option himself.
"Not even if something happens to one of the duelists? Like if you got injured, young master…"
With a meaningful look, Baros glanced at Karnak's leg.
"If we shatter your leg bones, it should take a solid half year to heal. Or we could say you fell ill and need long-term recuperation."
Karnak snorted.
"It's a duel overseen by priests. Do you think they'd let that slide?"
The priests of the order possessed healing powers bestowed by the goddess.
"You could whine about being hurt all you want—they'd just heal you with divine power and shove you back onto your feet."
"Oh, right. Healing magic exists. Living as a Death Knight made me forget that living people can receive the blessings of holiness."
Of course, priestly healing magic wasn't omnipotent.
The stronger the priest, the more expensive the healing. It wasn't something even a wealthy family could easily afford, which was why most people still relied on conventional medicine.
"But if a rich family that owns a copper mine claims they can't afford it and asks to delay the trial, who would believe that?"
Moreover, even healing magic couldn't regenerate lost body parts. If someone had lost a limb entirely, like Paralt, recovery was impossible.
"And it's not like we can just cut off your entire leg to delay a duel trial."
Baros came up with another idea.
"Then what about cutting off Randolph's leg before the duel?"
Cutting off Karnak's leg would be a terrible waste.
But Randolph's leg? Whether it was cut off or not, no one would miss it.
"All we need is to neutralize the duel trial, right? This seems doable."
Karnak looked at his servant as if he were an idiot.
"And who's going to do that? You said yourself you're no match for him yet."
"Huh? You could just curse him, young master. Or kill him outright. You did wipe out his parents and siblings like that before, didn't you—"
"And then we were chased to the ends of the earth afterward, remember?"
"Oh, right. We'd get found out anyway?"
They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Back then, Karnak might have thought it was a great idea and eagerly run off to learn necromancy, but looking at it now after regressing, it was sheer stupidity.
"Ugh… I should've just started a territorial war. Then I could've secretly used necromancy to manage somehow… no, I guess I'd still get caught in the end."
"How about coating the blade with poison?"
"Priests have purification magic, Baros."
"Ah, so that won't work either. If we use poison and get caught, that's an instant forfeit, right?"
No matter how much he thought about it, only one option remained.
"Should we just run away?"
The duel trial had been issued in the name of Allium; backing out now was impossible. Doing so would mean execution for mocking the goddess.
So the plan would be to gather valuables and money beforehand, flee, abandon his identity, and live as an ordinary adventurer in hiding.
"That doesn't sound so bad. You know future events, so you could live quite comfortably. You'd also have time to rebuild your strength."
"But things are too good right now to give up."
The loathsome family members had taken care of themselves, he had become the head of a wealthy family, and unlike his previous life, he was even loved by the people of the domain.
Everything he had once wanted was now in his grasp.
"I don't want to give this up…"
"It's better than dying, isn't it? The only real solution was to put me forward as your champion, and that option's gone now."
"Well… that's true, but…"
Seeing Karnak clinging to his regrets, Baros shrugged.
"I'll do whatever you decide, young master."
Standing up, he continued,
"I'll be going now. The old butler gave me an errand. Let me know once you've decided."
Watching his servant leave the room, Karnak could only groan.
"Ugh… what should I do…?"
Karnak summoned Baros again the next morning.
"Why did you call me again? I was in the middle of doing laundry."
Baros asked gruffly, wiping his wet hands.
With sunken eyes, Karnak spoke.
"I've made a decision."
"Oh! Should I start packing? I've already checked where the valuables and domain funds are kept."
"…When did I ever say we were running away in the middle of the night?"
"There's no other option."
"I've thought of a way."
A determined smile formed on Karnak's face.
"It'll involve taking a bit of a risk, though."