The Necromancer Who Was Despised

I hadn’t noticed such gazes last time.

‘Anyway, a tavern for our first meeting… ‘

I had thought the same thing the first time, but it was very blatant.

However, I had no intention of letting it slide this time.

Anellis greeted the bartender naturally and sat down in a corner seat. The bartender glanced at me once before taking her order and leaving.

“I ordered whatever I felt like since I know this place well. I’m paying, so feel free to order anything else you want.”

I nodded briefly at Anellis’ words.

I had no intention of ordering anything else.

Anellis had ordered quite a lot of food, and I didn’t plan on drinking much either.

She was after my body, but I wasn’t.

There would be no mingling of bodies between Anellis and me this time.

‘I might as well kill her.’

I could have seduced her to provoke Kereos, but I didn’t want to go that far.

‘I don’t even want to sleep with a woman like that.’

When I was ruined by Kereos, Anellis had treated me like I didn’t exist.

Even now, I couldn’t forget the coldness in her eyes back then.

Kereos had attacked me when Anellis wasn’t around, and when she heard about it later, she had only come to see me once.

It was true that she was objectively beautiful. Among mercenaries, she could be considered a woman with high sexual appeal.

But that was all. The thought of sharing a bed with her filled me with disgust. Even so, I kept a faint smile on my face.

Light snacks and drinks came out first, and we chatted lightly over drinks.

Anellis was the first to speak.

She told me an amusing story about a recently completed quest, and in the process, she briefly commented on her party members.

Of course, she didn’t give me any details. It was just general information that I would naturally learn if we were active in the same area.

‘I know it all anyway.’

“The leader, Kereos, is a bit self-centered, but he’s skilled. He recently acquired the Mana Breathing Technique…”

Her party had six members in total, and her role was long-range support.

“There’s a priest, but he’s a bit of a free spirit, so his divine power isn’t that strong.”

We’d already heard everything there was to know about priests, so we spoke freely about them.

If magicians, especially black magicians, had a psychopath image, then priests had a stick-in-the-mud image.

They were both stubborn, but the priests didn’t suddenly get angry unless you insulted their god, so they were much better received.

On top of that, since they sometimes healed wounds and illnesses, it was inevitable that their image would be somewhat positive.

There were even people who preferred such a steadfast personality.

‘That’s why there’s a prejudice that the more steadfast and principled your personality, the stronger your divine power.’

In fact, it was true that the more of a stick-in-the-mud you were, the more excellent your divine power. That was because you would hone yourself more stubbornly and pray to your god with a faithful heart, so it was natural that your divine power would be stronger.

The quantity and quality of your training were different.

‘Keireo must have already acquired the mana breathing technique by now… ‘

It was versatile, but I knew it was a mana breathing technique on a completely different level from the one I had written in the past for cosmetic purposes.

‘It’s something you can only buy if you have a lot of money.’

Still, he wasn’t talented since he would eventually grow into a skilled user who could even use it in Ora.

Personally, I thought Valdur was better.

She asked me a question as she naturally ended her story.

“But why have you come to the Doriem estate, Inha-nim? I heard you haven’t been doing mercenary work elsewhere…”

I had been waiting for this question.

I thought she would ask me at some point, but I didn’t think she would ask me so soon.

I pretended to be calm as I opened my mouth.

“Ah. I came because I’m looking for something.”

“Looking for something?”

I cleared my throat as if I was being cautious.

“Do you know anything about the Minotaur tribe?”

“The Minotaur tribe? Don’t they act alone? Like ogres. I’ve heard that trolls sometimes form tribes…”

“Hmm… You don’t know.”

“But why the Minotaur tribe…?”

“Ah. I came because I’m looking for something.”

“Looking for something?”

I glanced up and down her body before I spoke.

“Now that I think about it, it seems like your party is quite skilled, Anellis-nim… It seems like you’ve been working in this area for a while.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

Did she notice that it was an important conversation?

Anellis completely stopped the flirtatious behavior she had been subtly showing me while we were talking.

“Our leader, Keireo, has learned the mana breathing technique, and we have a priest too. It’s likely that we will be promoted to a mercenary group within 1-2 years. Ah, of course… We are far inferior to Inha-nim’s party.”

I would know if she had heard rumors about me, but to be honest, the skill level of my party was so high that it would be difficult to see them as people who had just become mercenaries.

‘From the perspective of mercenaries… They’re out of spec.’

Even if you just looked at Kyla, you could tell.

The branch manager of the Matop branch was a 5th class, and Kyla was a high-level expert who could be considered his equal.

I was a black magician, so that was to be expected, but to be honest, the other mercenaries wouldn’t understand why she was following me around as a mercenary.

They must have been dying to know the reason.

However, an opportunity arose to clear up that question.

It even sounds like a serious story.

Aneliset’s reaction was understandable.

‘Her brain might be filled with lust, but she’s not an idiot.’

“Hmm… I was just looking for some collaborators…”

Perhaps she had guessed that it was a big deal. Aneliset gulped.

“Well, the sooner the better… The party has a priest, but they’re open-minded enough to ask a black magician first…”

She muttered as if she wanted me to hear it.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, she bowed briefly.

“I guess it’s okay.”

“What on earth is it…”

“It’s an artifact.”

“…!”

“Kayla and I were after an artifact… I think it’s in their hands.”

“An artifact… A monster?”

“It’s equipment. There was a dungeon we found, but it had already been cleared. In the process, we learned of the Minotaur tribe. We chased after them… and somehow ended up here.”

“…So…”

“I became a mercenary to get an official status and to search for the ones we lost.”

“…If you become a mercenary, you will definitely get information about monsters right away.”

“That’s right. In fact, thanks to that, I even caught a troll. Ahahaha. Thanks to that, Lady Otriocka took a liking to me.”

At the word ‘artifact’, Aneliset’s eyes showed strong suspicion and a faint greed.

“But if you’re after an artifact, is it okay to give me information so easily? Even though it’s a troll, you might go the other way…”

“Oh. The reason I’m giving you information so easily is that the artifact is sealed.”

“Perhaps the Minotaur bastards aren’t using it properly. The seal needs to be broken, and I’m the only one who knows how. I found out when I was searching for the dungeon.”

For the record, it’s true. The artifact was indeed sealed.

‘I know how to break it too.’

In fact, even if I left it to Matop, he could have broken it in a month or two, but since the situation is what it is, he seemed to believe my lie.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter if the story gets out.’

I already knew the approximate location of the Minotaur tribe.

Even if the information gets out, it’s fine if we get there first. Rather, I would be grateful if these guys would stir up the Monster Forest looking for them.

‘They really settled in a dirty place.’

It’s not for nothing that the Minotaur tribe has been unknown until now.

‘They’re hiding quite deep.’

Aneliset’s face hardened slightly at the news that the artifact’s function was sealed.

She seemed to think it would be difficult to monopolize.

“We’ve been after it for months now. We lost track of it and it became difficult for us to find it.”

“In other words, it wasn’t sent somewhere else…”

“It means that we’re still pursuing it by other means.”

I joined the mercenary guild to get information about monsters quickly. And…

“Even if others find it, it’s a sealed artifact anyway. I’m the only one who knows how to understand it, so you’ll be able to buy it for a relatively cheap price. I just caught a troll, so I have If it doesn’t work, you can just take one.”

“…One? Don’t tell me there’s more than one artifact?”

“Yes. Two. A sword and armor… Since we need the sword, I think we can get the sword if the condition is to remove the defense equipment.”

“You must have guessed by now, but in fact, it’s not that great of an artifact. If it were, it would have been known already, and I wouldn’t be this relaxed. But still, it is an artifact, so… ”

“It must be expensive.”

“It will cost dozens of gold. I need the sword for my research, and when the research is over, I will improve it and give it to Kyla.”

“So… ”

By the way, the dungeon is made up. However, most of the content about the artifact was true.

Sword of Regeneration and Armor of Vitality.

One of the chances I was aiming for, and an ancient relic that was later discovered by another mercenary group.

“Ugh. Honestly, if we find it, it’s not a problem to get it with our skills… ”

The Minotaur is a medium-sized monster, and it is certainly a powerful being…

‘Our average skill is too high.’

To that, their Compared skills are not enough to handle the Minotaur tribe. In other words, if they want to get even the scraps, they have to stick with us.

The bait has been thrown.

‘It would be nice if they take it, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t.’

“How about it? Do you have any plans to cooperate with us?”

‘I asked for the bait.’

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a definite answer.

Of course. The leader is Kereos, not Anelis.

Besides, Kereos can’t decide everything alone.

It wasn’t an official mercenary group, and if it was a party unit, party members could leave anytime depending on the situation.

Therefore, it was natural for them to coordinate their opinions.

-I think everyone will agree. You said you would pay for the reward…

Of course, I was going to pay for the reward with gold, not artifacts.

If they had found and brought it, it would have been a different story, but if not, this was the obvious outcome.

‘Because I spent a lot of money.’

I spent 5 gold on the condition of keeping it a secret.

‘I don’t know if I can handle it… ‘

It’s luck from there.

‘Well, it’s hard to get revenge for the grudge from the last round in the first place.’

It’s not just me, there are three other team members.

Therefore, it was not easy to deal with them for no reason.

‘Besides, it’s not long since we came here, and if the party we met is annihilated, there will be talk.’

I wanted to avoid that.

There were more than a few radicals, so I couldn’t give them a chance.

It’s not for nothing that they say luck intervenes.

‘Even if I can’t handle it all at once, if I make friends with this incident, I’ll have a chance later.’

Someday, there will be a chance to deal with it naturally.

If I’m lucky, this will be the chance.

Of course, as I first decided, I didn’t spend any more time with Anelis.

When I said I wanted a quick answer after making the offer, she looked like she wanted to catch me more, but since the size of the job was too big, she gave up and ended up just eating and parting ways.

Heading back to the inn, Kyla spotted me and asked as if in doubt.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Yeah. A bit.”

“I thought you said you were going to meet someone…”

“It was for work.”

Kyla didn’t say anything else.

Since I don’t drink very often, she just made a slightly curious expression.

“If it goes well, we might be able to act together with other parties.”

“Hmm? Are there people who want to join us?”

Kyla said as if a little surprised.

“Yeah. There’s a good opportunity.”

“Are they by any chance after something else?”