The Necromancer Who Was Despised

Religious forces are actually small except for the Goddess Church.

No, to be honest, they are not just small, they hardly exist and most of them are persecuted.

There were countless religions that had disappeared altogether.

‘At least it’s not a religion that has disappeared or been forgotten yet.’

I know it as a place that still maintains its name, albeit small.

They’d probably be thrilled if I brought it to them. But…

‘They won’t be able to handle this, and they won’t be able to repay me.’

It’s better for me to just use it.

“It will take a day.”

“It will be done in a day?”

“It won’t be perfect, but I just need to make sure it’s infused.”

If it is contaminated beyond a certain point, it will never return to its original state without external help.

Slightly beyond that point, it becomes impossible to recover even with external help.

Tildie nodded and said to me.

“Then… I will recover the bodies of my colleagues.”

It seemed that he had no intention of checking the corruption process in detail.

“Do that.”

With my permission, Tildie immediately headed to where Cereo and his party had died.

Perhaps they wouldn’t be in perfect shape, but it seemed that he wanted to recover them as much as possible, so I didn’t stop him.

‘Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.’

I immediately began to extract the magic.

Conscious of Tildie’s gaze, I used an artifact to mix in a little impurity, but it was still pure magic in essence.

‘…I guess I’ll have to do this all at once.’

It’s a bit difficult to deal with the remains of an adult.

I thought so and was about to act.

“Inaha.”

Athena suddenly called out to me.

“…Here, it looks like there’s a hidden space.”

I had a surprised expression on my face at her words.

“…A hidden space?”

I glanced at Tildie.

He was still busy recovering the bodies of Cereo and his party.

Their bodies were of no use to me, so it didn’t matter.

“Where?”

She immediately pointed down with her finger.

“…There’s a hidden space under this altar?”

As I traced the markings along her fingers, I too realized belatedly that there was a hidden door.

‘That’s amazing.’

I exclaim in admiration.

That’s some sharp observation. Even I had my eyes on the performance first… .

That wasn’t it.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t a coincidence or because I had let my guard down that Athena had discovered such a thing before me.

‘Well, I had been defeated by her before anyway.’

As an awakened mana user, her physical abilities surpass mine.

Her senses are the same.

With the aid of magic, I possess senses that are on a level that cannot be compared to ordinary humans, however, they were lacking when compared to a knight who fights directly on the front lines.

And she was an assassin to boot.

It was only natural that she would have discovered it, considering she had received specialized training to prepare for all kinds of situations.

Even so, I could tell that the speed at which she was absorbing that knowledge was tremendous.

“… Let’s pretend we don’t know about it for now.”

Athena nodded at my words.

‘I’ll have to come back here later.’

By the way, the harvest from this request is amazing.

To be precise, the place I visited is somewhere… .

‘A sword and armor, and even a shrine to the Earthly Religion hidden in a previous life… .

A strange thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Wait a minute. But… This isn’t the Earthly Religion’s emblem… ?’

Did the Earthly Religion change its emblem in later generations?

It’s a very special case, but it’s not impossible or unheard of.

‘But they usually wouldn’t change it if there were relics, would they?’

The emblem engraved on the relic cannot be changed. That’s because it was handed down directly by God, so it’s a different story.

‘Did they lose the relic and change it?’

Even so, a religious group that once had a relic wouldn’t do such a thing. If there was an emblem engraved on the relic, it would become a kind of orthodox emblem because it would have been handed down directly by God.

‘It’s the same as the emblem at the entrance of the shrine.’

The emblem engraved on the shield was the same as the emblem at the entrance of the shrine, so the religious group’s emblem should be correct… .

‘But that’s not the Earthly Religion’s emblem.’

I was a little confused.

Tildie had been convinced that it was the Earthly Religion through her divine power… .

‘Did she also think that the emblem had been changed in later generations?’

It seemed that I would have to investigate this and that.

As I watched Tildie collect the bodies of her comrades, I spread magic over the cup and robe.

And in the meantime, Specter returned, and there was no sign of Anelis around Specter.

‘Did he kill her?’

However, I soon realized from Specter’s behavior that he hadn’t killed her.

‘Looks like he drained her of all her energy and left her.’

That’s good.

I instructed Athena to follow Specter, and soon enough, she returned with an unconscious Anelysis.

“… “She ran away?”

When Athena, who had apprehended Anelysis, asked what had happened, I answered truthfully.

At my words, Athena dropped Anelysis as if she was dirty, and Kyla and Balder also looked at the unconscious Anelysis with considerable contempt.

“I thought she was an opportunist, but I never thought she’d be a traitor.”

“It’s not an incomprehensible behavior. “All her colleagues except for Tilde were dead, and there seemed to be no chance of winning.”

She didn’t know that I had my ultimate move.

“So? Are you going to forgive her?”

Athena asked, looking at me with surprise.

Of course, I shook my head and answered.

“No way.”

“I’m surprised.”

She seemed to have misunderstood a little, as she spoke as if making excuses, knowing that I was not that kind of person.

“But if you’re going to do that, why did you bring her here instead of just leaving her?”

“I’m going to execute her through the mercenary guild.”

She could have fallen into slavery.

In that case, I planned to take her and execute her.

It wasn’t difficult. Since we were the ones who were betrayed, we could take her whenever we wanted.

“Is that necessary? She might be able to tell us about the ruins. “It’s dangerous.”

“It’s the official procedure. And don’t worry. She won’t be able to say a word after this.”

I planned to cast a permanent curse on her.

‘It was difficult in the 4th class, but now it’s possible.’

As the number of circles a wizard has increases and their class goes up, the number of things they can do increases exponentially.

One of the things I was able to do when I reached the 5th class was to leave a curse that would have a permanent effect.

The reason I wanted to go through the official procedure was simple.

‘I went through all the trouble, so I have to take what I was going to take.’

I had expected to go through some hardships because I was a black magician, but I didn’t think things would get so messed up.

“Are you going to seal her mouth with a curse?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just cut out her tongue?”

“That’s not bad either. But she might die if we do that.”

And with a curse, healing is also possible. There was nothing better than hopeful torture.

I immediately cast the curse of silence on Anelysis.

‘She seems to be a half-blood…’

As a human, her magic resistance is strong.

Still, she couldn’t stop my curse.

‘It’s definitely easier when you reach the 5th class.’

The types of magic I can use have also increased significantly, and above all, the number of undead I can have under my command and the types of undead I can create have also increased a lot.

‘Moreover, when you reach the 5th class, you can also apply it.’

You can specialize in existing undead or make major improvements.

‘You can also handle souls.’

Class 5 could potentially become a rooftop seat. Of course, it would normally be ignored without some kind of achievement, but just being able to do so was a great thing in itself.

Strictly speaking, it could be said that he was a mid-level performer among the wizards.

In the meantime, Tilde came looking for me after collecting the bodies of the party.

“The work….”

“It will take time.”

“…Can I leave the bodies of my colleagues around the base camp?”

To be exact, it was part of the body. Most of them couldn’t even find traces of it, so they only collected the remains.

“Yes. Anyway, I think it will take a while, so I plan to stay in the central hall for a while.”

Tilde frowned slightly when she found Annelies.

“I caught her. She didn’t go far.”

“…What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to punish her through the mercenary guild.”

Tilde nodded as if she understood when he said that he would follow the legal procedure rather than direct sanctions.

It seemed that he had no intention of stopping him.

‘Well, he’s been betrayed.’

I ordered Valdu to help move the remains and belongings. I also ordered him to bring Annelies to the base camp.

Then Tilde thanked me with a wry smile.

He also seemed to realize that this was not a simple favor.

‘Surveillance.’

Valdur would be monitoring Tilde and Annelies at the same time.

I took a break from time to time, making the robe and cup half-soaked in magic.

Before I knew it, the sanctuary of the hall was almost gone, and the robe first crossed the threshold.

‘Let’s stop this for now.’

Then, when I concentrated on the glass, it also crossed the threshold.

At that point, I stopped working and called in Athena and Kayla, who were resting nearby.

“What is Tilde doing?”

“Nothing.”

I said to Athena.

“If he comes, can you stop him from coming this way?”

“Huh? That’s not difficult….”

She looked at me as if wondering what she was going to do.

“I’m going to make a shadow of the soul and explore the hidden space you made.”

“The shadow of the soul….”

“I used it when I made the specter.”

“Are you going to make more?”

“Not now. I’m in Class 5 now. I’m going to use it to strengthen the existing undead.”

“I see. I’ll keep an eye on you.”

“It won’t take long.”

The sanctuary of the hall was also much weaker.

As Athena left her seat to keep watch, Kayla spoke to me.

“They must have really displeased you.”

“Well. It is annoying that they tried to flee… but it’s not just because of that. It’s just that they were useful and could be helpful to me.”

Kayla’s reason for saying this was simple. The people I was trying to turn into soul shadows were Cereo and his party members who had died.