The Necromancer Who Was Despised

When I answered that it seemed to be right after the request was over, Athena made a subtle expression.

Kayla also had a face that was unexpectedly slightly uncomfortable.

In the midst of that, Baldur spoke.

“I don’t know about her skills, but she seems quite experienced. It seems that she has often worked with other parties, and judging from the fact that she also knows information about the deep parts of the monster forest, her abilities themselves seem to be helpful to us.”

It was as if he was speaking on behalf of Kayla, who would have normally said that, after seeing her condition.

I think so too. Although personal feelings are mixed, it is true that it is definitely helpful.

‘There’s also a justification for it.’

If we were to obtain what we were originally looking for with the help of another party, we would be able to avoid attention, at least initially.

‘If we go through the mercenary guild, the news will spread properly.’

Athena, who had been silent, opened her mouth.

“… Well, it doesn’t matter if we just do one request together. It seems like it would be really helpful.”

Kayla did not voice any opposition either.

‘Unexpected.’

Honestly, I didn’t think that Athena and Kayla would be reluctant because of Anelise.

In particular, Athena is addicted to training in anticipation of her younger brother, and in Kayla’s case, I thought that she would ignore Anelise because she was not at a level to be wary of her, but…

‘Anelise’s reaction was also unexpected.’

I never thought she would act in a way that would cause a disturbance in a place where people gathered formally for a request.

Of course, rather than doing anything blatant, it’s more like she did something a little sly…

‘She played it well.’

But thanks to that, Cereo was offended, and the women on our side were annoyed.

Fortunately, it didn’t turn into a big problem…

‘I guess we can’t get too close.’

I had a feeling that it would be difficult to get any closer than a certain point.

It’s a good thing for me.

After all… they were the ones I planned to deal with someday.

For tomorrow, the party went back to their respective rooms to rest, and when the day dawned, they headed to the Mercenary Guild.

The receptionist seemed a little surprised to see us placing a request.

“5 gold… ”

“I will cover the commission fee.”

“You’ve specified the Cereo party.”

“I did mention it beforehand. I’m a black magician there, so it’ll be difficult to get it for cheap.”

“The request is… exploration, is that right?”

“Yes. There’s something I’m looking for. I think I’ll have to go deep into the Monster Forest, but we haven’t been here for long…”

It’s a story about how we met a party that was more welcoming than we thought and ended up joining forces.

“Even considering the hazard pay, it’s definitely a lot of money. But if you consider that I’m a black magician… I understand. I’ll make sure it’s processed.”

“The Cereo party will probably be here soon.”

There was also a confidentiality clause, so the price went up a little more.

Just as I said, the Cereo party entered the mercenary guild not long after, and Cereo, the leader, officially accepted the request and received the down payment from Serviso.

With that, the official request was established.

“Nice to meet you. Wow, you ladies are beautiful.”

A man dressed as a priest said with a cheerful smile.

“No, why is a priest like you with a black magic party…”

“Don’t be like that, Rabid.”

“You’re the weird one, Tilde. Rabid is normal.”

“I think Flayna’s right.”

“Even so, we’re going to be working together, so what’s the harm in being nice?”

Cereo’s party members look at us and discuss among themselves.

‘Is this the first time I’ve had a direct conversation with party members?’

To be honest, I didn’t have any strong feelings about Cereo’s party members.

In the past, I used to hate them just because they were a party.

But now that I think about it, they haven’t done anything particularly wrong to me.

In the first place, there was no contact at all.

Cereo’s party consisted of six members in total: Cereo, the leader and swordsman; Annelace, who provides ranged support from the rear; Tilde, the priestess; Rabid and Arahad, the shield warriors; and Flayna, who wields a spear.

‘The balance isn’t bad.’

For your information, Flayna and Anelace were female, and the rest were male.

The formation was decent, and they had a priest and an archer, which is rare among mercenaries.

‘With two shield warriors and a spearman, it’s a pretty solid formation.’

And now they have a swordsman who has learned the mana breathing technique. I’ll have to see about his skills, but his job classes are well-balanced.

They were definitely a party that would be promoted to a mercenary corps in the future.

No, it’s amazing that they have a priest in their party in the first place.

‘I don’t know how she got involved with them.’

Priests are usually treated as senior mercenaries.

If their skills are lacking or if they have no experience at all, they may start out as intermediate mercenaries, but they are generally a highly respected profession because they can use divine power to heal wounds, buff, and recover on the spot.

In fact, priests are the ones who are promoted to senior mercenaries soon after starting out as intermediate mercenaries.

‘They’re not as outspoken as wizards, either.’

That’s why every mercenary corps wants to have one, and some mercenary leaders even go to great lengths to visit temples in search of priests.

Of course, according to Anelace, she lacks divine power for a priestess, but it’s true that a party’s stability changes greatly depending on whether or not they have a priest.

“You’re the party leader and the black magician, Mr. Inha. Nice to meet you. I’m Tilde, a priestess who serves the goddess. I’m still a novice, so I’m still lacking. I’d appreciate it if you could help me out during the request.”

I looked at Tilde, who was smiling and holding out her hand to me, with a slightly curious expression and took her hand.

“Doin Ha. Please call me In Ha.”

“Hahaha. You’re certainly quite the eccentric fellow, just as the rumors say.”

“It seems the same could be said for you.”

“I hear that a lot. Ahahaha. My comrades are very wary of you, but they’re not bad people. Please bear with them. In Ha, you seem a little different, but you know, the black mage image.”

“I understand.”

“…What a strange person. I think you’re the first mercenary who’s treated In Ha without such caution.”

“My, my. Aren’t you a beauty? It’s a pleasure. I’m the priest Tildi.”

“Atina. Nice to meet you.”

“But this isn’t your first time, is it? I heard that Anelace approached you first.”

“……Is that so?”

Tildi looked puzzled by Atina’s attitude, but she soon greeted Kyla and Baldur as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Anelace greeted the others with a moderate level of politeness, but she was slightly more friendly towards me, while the rest of the party, including Kereos, introduced themselves with a somewhat stiff demeanor.

None of our party members were easygoing enough to approach those who had initially been standoffish, so the atmosphere remained a bit awkward overall.

Then, the leader, Kereos, stepped forward.

“So, as we discussed yesterday…”

“Let’s search in order.”

“Ah, In Ha.”

Just then, Serviso approached me.

“Once this request is complete, the branch manager would like to invite you and your party.”

Kereos and his party’s pupils dilated at the news that the branch manager wanted to invite us.

“I understand. We’ll accept the invitation.”

“Thank you. I wanted to invite you sooner, but due to scheduling…”

“I heard. It’s fine.”

It seemed like he wanted to say that they hadn’t discriminated against me because I was a black mage.

‘There’s no need to be so cautious…’

It seemed that the influence of Otrioka was greater than I had thought.

After a brief conversation, we left the territory.

The first place we headed to was Nolmeri Village.

Naturally, we were greeted with great hospitality, and Kereos and his party’s pupils shook violently at the sight of us being offered lodging.

“We’re fine without lodging. We plan to head into the forest right away…”

“That’s unfortunate. But would you be able to spare us a moment of your time…?”

I wondered what was going on, but it turned out that two survivors I had saved in the past wanted to see me.

There was no reason to refuse, so I nodded without hesitation.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, my daughter and I were able to survive.”

“Thank you…”

“You’re a mother and daughter.”

“My wife…”

“She passed away a long time ago…”

“I apologize for bringing up such a painful subject.”

“No, it’s fine. Please, feel free to talk about it…”

“This is convenient. “I’m glad to see you healthy.”

Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything. I won’t be of much help, but… .”

This was a bit unexpected.

Even if they were saved, it was common for people to hesitate to approach a dark mage who helped them… .

‘They seem like good people.’

The timing was especially good.

I glanced at Cereo and his party, and I could feel their agitation even from here.

“… We’ve also visited often… .”

“Come to think of it, wasn’t that the only request they put in?”

“This much recognition for just one request?”

The situation was that our evaluation, especially mine, was going up in real time.

‘What luck.’

I didn’t need to be close with them, but basic trust was necessary.

‘That will be a trap for them.’

I could see Artrina looking very proud at their agitation.

She usually hated it when I was looked down upon for being a dark mage, but here, she was receiving all sorts of recognition, and she seemed to be vicariously satisfied when it was shown to the mercenaries who had been wary of us.

Cereo and his party kept coughing at the sight of Artrina.

Tildy, the priest, chattered excitedly, saying that it was the first time he had seen a dark mage welcomed by the village, and Artrina seemed to enjoy Tildy’s reaction, sharing stories of the time when we had subjugated the troll.

Thanks to her, we were able to enter the Monster Forest in a much better state than before, and we were able to pass through the entrance of the forest in a relatively good atmosphere.

Just after we passed the entrance, Cereo spoke.

“You need to be careful from here on out.”

Even without his words, his party members were already tensing up.

“Sometimes, high-ranking monsters appear in these parts.”

“If they’re high-ranking, then… .”

“They’re basilisks. … Your party members can all handle mana, so it’s better than nothing… .”

Basilisk. They were troublesome monsters with strong bodies and a petrifying breath attack.

“That wasn’t in the subjugation request, but do they appear here?”

“They used to in the past, but they were never caught. And recently, there have been fewer sightings, and since they’ve never come out to the entrance of the forest in the first place, the Guild hasn’t paid much attention to them lately.”

‘This is unexpected.’

There was no mention of a basilisk being found near the Minotaur tribe.

Although the search request was still active, I didn’t need to go back, so I planned my route so that I could naturally go towards the Minotaur tribe after stopping by a few places.

‘In the first place, there are only a limited number of terrains where medium-sized monsters like Minotaurs can live.’

If I had a rough estimate of the scale, I could take the initiative.

Cereo gave me his opinion and listed some candidate locations, and all I had to do was make the appropriate choice from there.

Therefore, it wasn’t that difficult to guide them.

‘I was active in this area, but I never heard any rumors about basilisks… .’

But then again, I had been targeted by Cereo and his party and had been working almost entirely alone, so I had never gone deep into the forest.

I also didn’t have the opportunity to see the requests of high-ranking mercenaries. So it wasn’t strange that I didn’t know.

“By the way, you may know this, but the monster territories around here change frequently. It gets worse the further you go in.”

“I don’t think it’s changed much since I was here, but just in case. “If you make a commotion, the monsters may react in a chain.”

If that happened, there might be a small monster wave because of the excessive fuss.

‘That would be troublesome.’

Even though it’s called a small monster wave, it’s essentially a territorial dispute.

They only called it that because the commotion made it seem bigger, but it had its limits, so it wouldn’t affect the area outside the Monster Forest.

The reason it could be troublesome was because our stamina wasn’t infinite.

‘There are undead, but most of them are human.’

This is the Demon Subjugation Front. Even if they’re low-level monsters, the fact that they survived inside means that they have a reason to.

Additionally, since it’s an environment where territorial disputes happen often, if you’re pushed back once, there’s a high chance that you’ll end up fighting desperately.

So, Kereos’ warning definitely made sense.

I took out all the Living Armors that I hadn’t taken out because I didn’t have anything to use them for, and Kereos’s party flinched at the sight.