New recruit, Welcome!
From here on out, I'll need CocoNenne's guidance.
I heard it was near Lukphelton, but I didn't know exactly where.
So, I woke up CocoNenne, who was still sound asleep.
“Wake up.”
Tap. Tap.
As I nudged the sleeping CocoNenne, she started to wake up, mumbling in her sleep.
And then, a moment later.
“What… We're here already?”
CocoNenne stared into the air.
More precisely, she was looking at the forum.
It seemed like she was checking the forum to see what had happened while she was asleep.
After a brief check, CocoNenne got out of the carriage.
“Let's hurry.”
It seemed like she was determined to get things done quickly.
So, I also got out of the carriage and followed behind her.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
This time, CocoNenne was walking ahead of me.
It couldn't be helped.
I didn't know where CocoNenne's place was.
As I was following behind her, lost in thought…
‘..Maybe I should ask.’
A question popped into my mind.
It wasn't a particularly important question, but I was curious.
So, I asked CocoNenne, who was walking ahead.
“Do you know what this is?”
I said, taking the crystal out of my pocket and showing it to her.
The blacksmith didn't know what it was, so I didn't know anything about it either.
I thought there was a chance that CocoNenne, with her vast knowledge of necromancy, might know.
At my words, CocoNenne turned around and looked at the crystal in my hand, her mouth dropping open in surprise.
“...Where did you get that?”
“I got it from some bandits on the way.”
With a flustered expression, CocoNenne slowly began to explain the crystal.
“It's a crystal concentrated with demonic energy. You must have felt it a little while carrying it. It doesn't feel like a good crystal.”
“Concentrated with demonic energy…?”
I couldn't believe it.
Was it even possible to concentrate demonic energy like that?
Of course, it was possible... but I'd never seen anyone do such a thing before, so I was a little surprised.
With that in mind, I asked for more details.
“So, what exactly is it used for?”
This was the most important thing.
I was curious why the crystal had been absorbing so much mana.
When I asked, CocoNenne thought for a moment before speaking.
“If you feed this crystal a lot of mana and byproducts, you can process it later, and it becomes a very valuable material.”
Hearing those words, the crystal in my hand seemed incredibly precious.
I had been a little annoyed at times seeing it absorb mana and byproducts.
CocoNenne continued her explanation, providing more details.
“But it's going to be difficult to get it to that level, you know? It's going to take a lot of mana absorption.”
“I think you're right.”
I had seen it absorb mana before, and it seemed to absorb a significant amount.
As we talked, we continued towards CocoNenne's dwelling.
How much time had passed?
“We're here.”
We finally arrived at CocoNenne's residence.
There was something I was curious about.
“I saw your post on the forum the other day, and you said it wasn't inside Lukphelton?”
I followed her, but I was incredibly curious about this.
When I asked, CocoNenne chuckled and answered.
“If I got caught doing this inside Lukphelton, I'd be burned at the stake.”
While dark magic wasn't treated that badly, necromancy was completely ostracized.
It made sense, since this world fundamentally believed in God, and resurrecting the dead was considered an extremely blasphemous act.
That's why necromancers lived in hiding.
Of course, dark magic wasn't looked upon favorably either, but it wasn't completely suppressed.
People just didn't have a good opinion of it.
CocoNenne continued, still chuckling.
“Can you release some mana for a sec? I need to open this door.”
“Just a moment.”
There was no need to specifically release the mana I was blocking from CocoNenne.
I could just analyze and disable the barrier myself.
I placed my hand on the wall CocoNenne was looking at and channeled my mana.
What kind of barrier would it be?
Woooong-
As I channeled my mana and continued to probe the barrier, I began to understand its structure.
It was a more complex barrier than I thought.
I thought it would be simple.
[Lightning Bolt]
I used Lightning Bolt to accurately grasp the structure of the barrier once again and channeled my mana.
Woooong-!
And a moment later.
Crack-!
With the sound of the wall cracking, a door appeared.
It was large enough for at least three Ogres to enter.
I figured it was built this large to make it easier to move corpses in and out.
With that thought, I followed CocoNenne as she stepped forward.
As I followed behind her—
“Oh.”
I could see many things inside the cave.
There were many things, but the most impressive of them all were the corpses hanging on the walls.
Corpses that were hard to find, no matter how hard I looked, were on display inside the cave.
By the way…
“It's cold.”
It was freezing.
“Gotta keep the bodies from rotting. They'll still move even if they rot… but they'll be weaker.”
Come to think of it, I think I've heard that before.
That a corpse's efficiency decreases if it rots.
With that thought, I began to examine the faces of the corpses, searching for anything important.
But no matter how hard I looked, there was nothing of importance.
“So, where is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Hey, don't play coy.”
When I said that, CocoNenne let out a slightly awkward laugh and lightly touched the bookshelf on the wall.
And then—
Rumble—
With the sound of the wall moving, the wall began to move.
And another cave appeared.
An immense magical energy emanated from within.
Even though it was clearly a corpse, the magical energy was immense.
As expected, a Legion Commander is a Legion Commander, even in death.
That thought reminded me of the Legion Commander I had stored in my subspace.
‘That’s reassuring.’
With that thought, we entered the cave.
It was much colder here than the previous cave.
“..It’s really cold.”
“It can’t be helped. We have to preserve the Legion Commander’s body.”
If CocoNenne was only using the Legion Commander’s corpse to obtain byproducts, there would be no need to go to such lengths, but her goal was to preserve the body intact, which is why she was managing the temperature so meticulously.
By the way…
‘If we leave her like this, she’ll freeze to death.’
CocoNenne was shivering.
If I left her like this, it looked like she would collapse right here on the spot.
So, I used magic.
[Flame Wind]
I controlled the power of Flame Wind, changing the cold wind blowing from all directions into a warm breeze.
CocoNenne stopped shivering.
Having returned to her normal self, CocoNenne led the way deeper into the cave, and—
“Here it is.”
As soon as I entered, I knew by looking at the giant corpse in front of me.
That the thing in front of me was the Legion Commander’s corpse.
Even though it was only half of it…
Despite that, I could feel an immense pressure.
“Good, it’s still intact.”
CocoNenne said and stuck close to me.
It seemed she was doing that because the magic was maintained better the closer she was to me.
I decided not to mind it.
It would be cold if the magic wore off.
In that case, what I had to do now was simple.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Take everything in this cave.
That was my goal.
*
How much time had passed?
It seemed like I had gathered everything in the cave.
CocoNenne had fallen asleep at some point in a corner of the cave.
Didn’t she just wake up?
Why was she sleeping again?
‘..Maybe I shouldn’t have used magic.’
I used magic to make the cave warm, and it seemed like CocoNenne was sleeping comfortably because of it.
With that thought, I woke CocoNenne up.
It was time for us to leave.
“Hmm…”
CocoNenne must have slept soundly because there was a bit of drool on her face.
“Let’s go.”
“Uh-huh…”
So, we headed towards Baruk.
Clack- Clack- Clack-
With the sound of the horse’s hooves as our background music, we quickly headed towards Baruk.
“We’re almost there .”
We were able to reach Baruk.
And quite quickly, too.
First, I cast a spell on CocoNenne.
[Invisibility]
I used Invisibility to make CocoNenne invisible.
It wouldn't be good for her identity to be revealed.
“Passing through.”
Thankfully, the guards at the checkpoint, who recognized my face, didn't inspect us thoroughly and let us pass.
I was worried that they might conduct a proper inspection.
Relieved, CocoNenne and I returned to my house.
“Finally home.”
It felt good to be back home after a long time.
But before I could enjoy that feeling for too long, I had to explain the plan to CocoNenne.
With that in mind, I took CocoNenne to the basement.
“New recruit, Welcome!”
And that’s how CocoNenne and Basil met.
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