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The village, now a battlefield, had transformed into a hell.

Everywhere, there were shattered corpses of zombies and monsters. The bodies of dead cultists and necromancers lay scattered throughout the village.

No matter how evil the cultists were, they were still beloved family members and neighbors. Many had been controlled without guilt and died as a result.

The survivors wept as they gazed upon the dead.

“Father!”

“Uwaaaa!”

“Oh noooo!”

But those responsible for cleaning up this calamity no longer existed.

Most of the retainers of the Count’s household, who governed the territory, were cultists.

All of them had been drained of their dark energy by Hudel and died.

Instead, the priests of Saisha, including Alius and Belton, were moving about busily.

The Count’s castle had burned down, the village was half destroyed, and the temple of the territory was in ruins. There was much to be done.

They scraped together food and supplies, managing to prepare a meal somehow. Then, they began the cleanup.

They moved the injured to the relatively intact buildings and set up temporary shelters for those who had lost their homes.

Because there were so many dead and injured, manpower was severely lacking.

Thus, even Serati and Laficel, despite their exhaustion, were helping as much as they could.

“Are you alright, grandmother?”

“Laficel, take this child to the temporary shelter too!”

“Yes, Serati unnie!”

Karnak and Baros were also busy.

Of course, not to help the people. They weren’t quite that humane yet.

They ran straight to the inn they had stayed in to gather their belongings.

“Fortunately, no one stole our stuff.”

“Who would’ve thought the innkeeper was a cultist.”

“It wouldn’t have been a big deal even if we had lost it. We didn’t carry anything that valuable.”

“What do you mean? Elf-made underwear is super expensive.”

“…Did Dame Serati really buy something like that?”

When they returned to the village hall with their packed bags, Serati glared at them.

“I appreciate you packing our things, but could you help over here now?”

Karnak blinked.

“Huh? Why?”

Baros blinked too.

“Do we really have to help?”

“I don’t think anything these people did was as helpful as me defeating Hudel.”

“Isn’t this enough for outsiders?”

Both of them tilted their heads in confusion.

But Serati didn’t bother scolding them.

By now, she understood.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help or found it annoying—they genuinely didn’t understand why they should.

And she was beginning to understand how to handle them.

“You’re right.”

“Huh?”

“Lord Karnak, you’re absolutely right.”

“So, can we just rest?”

“Yes, you can.”

Serati subtly switched the conversation to a secret telepathic message.

[If you want to live like a decent person, help out.]

[Why is helping them living like a decent person?]

[Have you ever understood the actions of other people?]

[No.]

[Then, of course, you won’t understand this either.]

She glanced over at Laficel.

[So, don’t try to understand, just follow Laficel’s lead.]

[Follow Laficel?]

[Yes. She’s supposed to be humanity’s last hero, isn’t she?]

Even now, having lost all her memories and powers and reverted to a child’s body, Laficel was still running around, trying to help people.

[If you don’t want to become a villain again, it’s safest to follow someone who never becomes one, regardless of the situation.]

Baros and Karnak looked at each other.

[That’s… convincing.]

[…Yeah, it is!]

After that, both of them joined the rescue effort.

Karnak used magic to clear debris and save survivors, while Baros diligently carried the injured.

Neither of them had any idea why they were doing it, and their expressions showed it. But they didn’t care.

‘Laficel doesn’t know the reason either since she lost her memory…’

‘But she’s still doing it instinctively, right?’

‘So, there must be a reason.’

The villagers tearfully expressed their gratitude.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“May the blessings of the Goddess be with you…”

Even as the villagers thanked them, neither Karnak nor Baros felt anything in particular.

After all, they would never see these people again once they left.

Moreover, the gratitude of common folk was fleeting, disappearing easily in the storm of the world’s hardships.

But the expressions of the priests of Saisha as they looked at Karnak’s group were filled with warmth.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“You must be exhausted…”

Karnak’s group wasn’t even from the empire; they were from the Seven Kingdoms. Nevertheless, they had defeated the cultists and saved the territory, and now they were helping as if it were their own task.

It was impossible not to be moved.

“There are so many in this world with power who don’t fulfill their duties…”

“These people truly understand the responsibilities that come with strength.”

For Karnak and Baros, it was a rather novel experience.

When they had been fighting the cultists last night, they hadn’t received looks like these.

[So, that’s it. Even if you do good deeds, there’s a difference in the type of good deed.]

[Doing good deeds alone doesn’t raise your reputation.]

[You have to make sure people know about it for it to be valuable!]

Serati sighed again as she watched the two of them reach this new realization.

[…Why do you interpret things like that?]

***

After focusing hard on resolving the situation, an entire day had passed.

It was late afternoon when Karnak and the others were finally freed from their tasks.

After putting the exhausted Laficel to sleep in a corner of the room, Karnak began discussing their future plans.

Roughly calculating, the Evil Slaying Brigade was expected to arrive sometime between tomorrow and the day after.

“We’ll wait until then.”

The plan was to hand over Hudel and the captured cultists while making sure their presence was noted and appreciated. That way, the next time they had to come to the empire, things would be more convenient.

Serati clicked her tongue.

“You don’t understand people’s feelings, yet you’re really good at things like this.”

Feeling wronged, Karnak protested.

“I don’t completely misunderstand human emotions, you know?”

He could understand human greed.

Emotions like fear, resentment, hatred, and anger also made sense to him.

It was just love, compassion, pity, and protective instincts that he couldn’t grasp.

“So, I’m actually a very emotional person. But why do people keep saying I have no emotions?”

“Well, um…”

Serati stammered, unsure how to answer.

In any case, there was something to be done before the Evil Slaying Brigade arrived.

“We need to get what we can from Hudel.”

Baros stroked his sword.

“Do we kill him and extract his soul?”

Killing someone while keeping their soul intact wasn’t easy.

They needed to be fully aware that they were dying to make it easier to perform necromancy later.

Sometimes people died too peacefully, unaware they were dead, and became wraiths, which made soul summoning significantly more difficult.

Baros was well-versed in the technique of making sure someone died fully aware of their death.

Karnak shook his head.

“Let’s try the needle first.”

If they could extract the information easily, there was no need to kill him. It was better to hand him over alive and rack up more favors with the Evil Slaying Brigade.

“If he resists too much, we’ll say it was an accident and hand over the body.”

***

Hudel was imprisoned in the underground storage of a warehouse on the outskirts of the village.

It had originally been a food storage for winter, but now, with the Saisha temple and the Count’s castle both destroyed, it was the sturdiest building left.

Thick iron bars had been installed to prevent theft, making it the perfect place to hold a prisoner.

After telling the guards to step aside for a moment, Karnak and his group descended into the underground chamber.

“How’ve you been, Mr. cultist?”

Hudel, with his necromantic power sealed by divine cuffs, ground his teeth.

“Hmph! No matter what you do, I won’t talk!”

Karnak casually replied as he set up a soundproof barrier.

“Don’t talk, then.”

After blocking out the surrounding noise, he immediately pulled out a thin needle made of chaos power.

Seeing this, Hudel’s face filled with terror.

“Wh-what is that?”

Thunk!

The needle pierced the back of his head without warning. Hudel’s expression instantly changed.

“Uuurgh…”

Drooling, he began to hang his head.

“I’m getting better at this with practice.”

Karnak had become skilled enough in manipulating the brain with chaos power that it was starting to approach the efficiency of necromancy.

“See? There’s nothing in this world you can’t get better at with effort.”

Baros sneered.

“That’s probably the most corrupted version of the word ‘effort’ I’ve ever heard.”

Serati stood by, listening to the conversation with a conflicted expression.

She had gotten so used to them that this kind of talk didn’t even seem strange anymore.

‘Oh dear, I wonder if I’m okay with this.’

After completely subjugating Hudel’s mind, Karnak gave his command.

“Alright, tell me your life story.”

***

Hudel Grenthal’s childhood had many similarities to Karnak’s.

Although he wasn’t an illegitimate child, he had three older brothers, making his chances of inheriting the territory very slim. He had grown up without love under a father who treated his children as possessions, much like Karnak had.

The key difference was that while Karnak had been treated as a good-for-nothing, Hudel had been a bright child from a young age.

But that turned out to be a problem.

Hudel’s talent made his brothers jealous, and they frequently bullied him.

His father, the previous lord, simply told Hudel to serve and follow his eldest brother, not tolerating any defiance.

At one point, Hudel considered leaving the family entirely and becoming a mage or a priest.

But being a mage or priest wasn’t something you could achieve with intelligence alone. You needed an innate talent for mana or divine power.

Unfortunately, Hudel had no such talent. Just like Karnak.

It was five years ago, when the Darkness of Doom first spread across the world, that things changed for Hudel.

After absorbing the Darkness of Doom, Hudel found he could control the powerful power of death with sheer willpower.

For a teenager, it must have been an overwhelming temptation.

Yet Hudel showed a different side compared to other necromancers.

Rather than feeling ecstasy in the face of his newfound power, he felt fear first.

‘Uncontrollable power is nothing but disaster.’

At the time, little was known about the Darkness of Doom. But instinctively, Hudel realized this power was related to necromancy.

So he asked his father to send him to the capital city, Thea Crahan, for study.

He claimed he wanted to support his brothers better by deepening his knowledge and asked for financial backing.

This was a very favorable decision for the Grenthal family.

It solved the troublesome succession issue cleanly, so there was no reason to oppose it.

Thus, Hudel enrolled in the academy in the capital.

While studying administration and other subjects, he delved into magic and ancient texts, desperately searching for knowledge about necromancy.

‘I need to find a way to properly control this power. I mustn’t let it be discovered before then.’

He was extremely careful.

For two whole years, he gathered information without anyone finding out.

Eventually, he even managed to grasp the basics of necromancy.

And yet, in the end, his secret was uncovered.

One day, while secretly practicing necromancy in a secluded forest, a woman appeared before him.

“You’ve managed to learn that much on your own? Quite an interesting child.”

He already knew who she was.

She had occasionally appeared at the academy, and he had seen her from a distance a few times.

So, Hudel gave up on everything.

It was the Imperial Court Mage, Elezar de Reflacion.

What could he possibly do in the presence of that great Archmage?

It was then that a subtle, dark aura began to emanate from her entire body.

“N-necromancy?”

Hudel was shocked.

Even he knew the basic principle that different forces in the world couldn’t mix.

But an archmage? A 10th-circle mage, using necromancy?

How was that possible?

“I’ll take you under my wing, child.”

Her soft voice whispered in Hudel’s ear.

“If you truly want to master the power of darkness, follow me.”

***

“I see.”

A spark of interest flickered in Karnak’s eyes.

“Elezar, was it?”