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With Prince Alford having been killed by a cultist, the forces supporting him, as well as his maternal relatives, were left in a precarious position.

Of course, they didn’t accept defeat so easily. They caused a commotion, demanding a thorough investigation into Alford’s death.

But soon enough, they quieted down.

The deeper the investigation went, the clearer it became that Prince Alford had colluded with the cult.

Although it was difficult to grasp the full picture due to the cult’s intentional cover-up, the evidence pointing to Alford and his close aides associating with the Dark God’s cult kept surfacing.

Even those who were not directly involved had a sense of what was going on.

No one, unless they were a fool, could be unaware that the prince was scheming something in the background. They simply chose to turn a blind eye.

In the end, this was the conclusion they reached:

The vile cultists deceived Alford and then stabbed him in the back!

And why?

Well, if the powerful Prince Alford was gone and the weak Lloyd became king, it would be much easier for the cult to take over the kingdom!

Even Prince Lloyd didn’t reveal the whole truth.

He hid the fact that his body had been switched, instead pretending to be an ignorant scholar locked away in his study.

This was based on Karnak’s advice.

“You want me to hide the fact that my body was switched? Why?”

“Because then people might think your soul was also affected by necromancy. It’s best to avoid any misunderstandings.”

“But I have nothing to do with the cult.”

“What does that matter? People will still look at you with suspicion just because necromancy was involved.”

“But doesn’t that make me seem like an easy target for the cult?”

“And is that a problem? Is there some other prince I’m unaware of?”

“Ah, right.”

With Alford dead, Lloyd was now the sole heir to the Kingdom of Yustil. Whether he was weak or strong, there was no one else to replace him.

“So, all I have to do is sit still, and things will work out on their own. Understood, Lord Karnak.”

Lloyd had received considerable help from Karnak and his group in many ways.

Prince Lloyd wanted to express his gratitude, however possible.

“Is there truly nothing you desire? If it’s within my power, I will do my best.”

Karnak responded in a rather indifferent manner.

“Just help us clean up after the cultists later. It’s a headache when nobles or royalty are involved, like this time.”

It was a response that seemed completely devoid of personal ambition.

“Very well, then I’ll give you what you need.”

As if he had prepared it in advance, Lloyd pulled out a golden seal from his robe.

“What is this?”

“It’s proof that you are my representative, authorized to act on my behalf. With this, hunting cultists will be much easier, won’t it?”

It wasn’t just a matter of convenience; with this, Karnak could wield power at will, backed by the prince.

In fact, this wasn’t something to be given away lightly.

“Are you sure it’s alright to hand this over so casually?”

“The man I’ve come to know isn’t someone who would misuse it.”

It felt like Lloyd was both underestimating and accurately assessing Karnak at the same time.

In reality, Karnak had no intention of wielding the golden seal.

It wasn’t because he lacked ambition, but because he didn’t see much value in it.

With little enthusiasm, Karnak accepted the seal.

“Well, it’ll be convenient to have, I suppose.”

Prince Lloyd gave him a slightly resentful look.

“Aren’t you being a bit too indifferent? Then again, it’s precisely that attitude that reassures me.”

***

Karnak and his party had played a pivotal role in the recent events.

Not only had they saved Prince Lloyd, but they had also put an end to the long-standing power struggle within the royal family, stabilizing the kingdom.

“The downside is that we can’t make it public, so we can’t expect any real reward,” commented Commander Erantel.

Karnak shrugged in response.

“True. Officially, I was merely carrying out Prince Lloyd’s orders to stop the mad Prince Alford.”

“Is there anything you want, then?”

“Well, how about letting me take some overdue leave?”

“Leave? You?”

Erantel looked puzzled.

Among the members of the King’s Order, Karnak was especially known for being dedicated to hunting cultists. Since joining the King’s Order, he had barely taken a break, constantly taking on new missions.

So much so that people around him would often suggest he rest or remind him to consider the well-being of his 7th battalion members.

“If that’s what you want, feel free to take it. But what’s the reason?”

“This mission was pretty exhausting. I think we could all use some time to reorganize.”

“Of course. You’re still human, after all.”

Erantel readily signed off on the leave request and gave Karnak and his party a warm smile.

“Then take a good rest.”

As they left the office, both Karnak and Baros were grinning from ear to ear.

“Hey, he called us human!”

“Yeah, looks like we’ve really changed, huh?”

Naturally, Serati found it absurd.

“…I don’t think that’s what he meant.”

Nevertheless, it was true that they needed to reorganize.

The cultists they had captured this time had a lot of valuable information. It would take time to thoroughly interrogate them.

For that reason, Karnak rented a secluded cabin in the forest on the outskirts of the capital.

The cabin was usually used by nobles during hunting season, so it was rarely occupied—making it the perfect place for such a secretive task.

“Let’s go. We’ll hole up somewhere quiet and thoroughly sift through everything.”

***

After arriving at the cabin, Karnak’s party got to work.

Baros cleaned the cabin and prepared it for their extended stay, while Serati headed down to the basement to assist Karnak.

They cleared out the cellar, which was originally used for storing food, and set up a necromantic barrier in preparation for the real work of necromancy.

“This is quite the preparation for once, isn’t it, Lord Karnak?”

Serati asked curiously.

“Don’t you usually summon souls pretty easily?”

“Summoning the souls is still easy.”

The souls of Detzras, Kale, and Olt were already fully subdued.

They were safely stored in the Lantern of the Lost Souls, ready to be called upon whenever needed.

“Then what’s the issue this time?”

“There’s a lot of information to go through this time.”

As with all things, there were pros and cons, and necromantic interrogation wasn’t always easier than torturing the living.

The first issue was the side effects of necromancy.

Interrogating the dead through necromancy is an act that taints the caster’s soul with malevolence, and if one is not careful, the necromancer could be consumed by madness.

Of course, this didn’t apply to Karnak. If anything, the evil spirits would go mad from trying to peer into Karnak’s soul.

The second issue was that to get good answers, you had to ask good questions.

No matter how much you torture a living person, there’s no guarantee they’ll tell the truth. If they have strong willpower, they can endure extreme pain and even deceive the interrogator.

On the other hand, the dead never lie. They faithfully and obediently tell the truth, exactly as commanded.

“The dead have no will of their own.”

But the lack of will is not always an advantage.

“Sometimes, when you want to gather broader information, it’s actually better to torture a living person.”

When you torture a living person and demand they tell you everything they know, they’ll spill both real and false information, much of which can turn out to be useful.

Moreover, since the living speak from their own “will,” they tend to condense and organize the information before speaking.

All the interrogator has to do is sit back, listen, and adjust their methods slightly (like pulling out a fingernail or two if needed).

“In contrast, a soul summoned through necromancy will obey orders to the letter.”

The moment you ask them to reveal everything they know, they’ll spew out all of their knowledge in an incoherent jumble.

“Serati, you’ve seen this plenty of times during your days as a Darkness Hunter, haven’t you? How rambling and disorganized evil spirits can be.”

“Ah, so that’s the issue.”

It’s like they’ll spout nonsense, such as “The sky is blue, the sun is red,” and other irrelevant details.

That’s why, when interrogating a soul, you need to ask clear and specific questions, and that requires prior knowledge of what to ask.

Karnak hadn’t been mindlessly observing Detzras’ unique spell, golem knight, the fusion of magic and necromancy.

“The more prior information I gather, the easier it will be to extract additional details later.”

With that prior knowledge in hand, Karnak had to carefully select each question and interrogate the soul thoroughly, which naturally took time.

“There’s a lot we need to uncover about the cult. We’ll probably be at this for days.”

After finishing his explanation, Karnak reached for the Lantern of the Lost Souls.

“Well, let’s begin, shall we?”

A thick wave of evil energy filled the air, and a chilling voice echoed in the basement.

“Arise, my servant, Detzras….”

With a swirl of darkness, a pale, ghostly soul appeared, bowing respectfully.

“I await your command, my master….”

***

It had been five days since Karnak had taken leave and relocated to the cabin in the forest.

During that time, Karnak had persistently used necromancy to interrogate the souls of Detzras and his companions, extracting information about the Dark God’s cult.

Detzras had apparently held a fairly high rank within the cult. Thanks to that, Karnak had obtained some very useful intelligence.

“The Dark Cardinal, Hudel Grenthal…”

The title “Cardinal” wasn’t particularly important.

The cultists had merely adopted the titles of the Churches of the Seven Goddesses in an attempt to present themselves as a legitimate religious order.

What mattered was that Karnak had gained direct information to infiltrate the core of the cult.

“A handsome young man in his twenties, from the Empire, based in the western border region?”

This wasn’t enough to immediately pinpoint Hudel’s exact location, but it had significantly narrowed the search field.

“I’ll have to investigate further once I return to the King’s Order.”

There were also other valuable discoveries.

Karnak had gained insight into the unprecedented technique Detzras used, which fused magic and necromantic power.

“This is interesting. It seems his method of controlling necromantic power diverged from my Chaos Magic in a completely different way.”

Karnak had refined his necromantic power by purging it of evil energy and malice, transforming it into chaos power.

Detzras’ method went in the opposite direction.

He infused mana with evil energy and malice, making it more akin to necromantic power.

It was a power that resembled necromantic power, yet wasn’t quite the same. However, it was also so similar to necromantic power that it could almost be called a third form of mana.

In this state, it was possible to fuse magic with necromancy and use them together.

Karnak couldn’t help but admire the intricacy of the technique.

“This is truly high-level magic. I wonder who came up with it.”

In the past, Karnak had reached the pinnacle of necromancy. It was through this supreme mastery that he was able to transform necromancy into chaos magic.

Similarly, this was a case where someone who had mastered magic to the highest degree had turned that mastery into necromancy.

“There aren’t many mages alive today capable of this,” he mused.

Only those who pursued the 10th circle, the three archmages, or their top disciples could perform magic of this caliber.

Baros, who had been assisting him, shook his head.

“Doesn’t make sense, does it? What would those people gain from dabbling in necromancy?”

Karnak shrugged.

“In theory, you’re right, Baros…”

But this strange phenomenon wasn’t limited to magic alone.

Karnak had seen instances where necromantic power was fused with aura, or with divine power. All of those cases had been tied to the Dark God’s cult.

To merge necromantic power with another energy like this, there was one fundamental condition that had to be met.

There had to be someone within the cult who had mastered necromancy along with the pinnacle of aura, divine power, or magic.

In other words, someone of the same caliber as the Pope of the Church of the Seven Goddesses, one of the Four Martial Kings, or the Three Archmages would have had to devote themselves to necromancy and then join the cult.

“At first glance, it might seem like an excessive leap. But then again, if we’re talking leaps of logic—two undead who once conquered the entire world giving up all their power and going back in time isn’t a leap?”

“…You’ve got a point there.”

The world is unpredictable; you never know what might happen.

The fact that there was such a high-level magic technique right before their eyes couldn’t be denied. So, no matter how absurd the speculation, it couldn’t be completely dismissed.

Baros shook his head again.

“I just hope it turns out to be mere speculation. I really don’t want to face those guys again.”

“I agree, but we should still grow stronger just in case.”

Internally, Karnak raised his previous standard of “being able to survive the worst-case scenario” to yet another level. He muttered in frustration.

“Man, I just want to live a quiet life as an ordinary guy. Why is that so hard?”

“Are you familiar with the saying ‘You reap what you sow’?”

“Shut up.”

Still, the ritual had been a valuable learning experience. Especially in terms of the techniques involved, Karnak had gained a lot.

Karnak raised both of his hands.

In his left hand, chaos magic swirled, and in his right, necromantic power rose like a shimmering haze.

“With this method, I can apply necromancy to magic as well.”