episode_0058

Having provided some information about today’s events and Death Heaven, I spoke to the Emperor. I wanted to lie down in my dormitory bed and sleep right then.

“There’s still something to discuss.”

But the Emperor did not permit me to leave.

“This morning, the imperial leadership was in an uproar. You know why, don’t you?”

“Of course! It must be because a Necromancer appeared.”

When a Necromancer uses their power, traces are left behind. Of course, unless they use a strong corpse, it’s hard to find traces. Mordor summoned strong corpses before I could use that skill.

“How much do they know about the Necromancer’s appearance?”

“We didn’t announce it separately, as we couldn’t cause unnecessary chaos and panic. However, some individuals and the Holy Nation would know.”

This was as expected.

“Immediately after the Necromancer’s traces appeared, a meeting was convened. Most of them speculated… that only one Necromancer seemed to have survived after that war.”

Unfortunately, there were still nine Necromancers left. The Emperor would know to some extent, as I had told him that more Necromancers remained.

“Oh dear, it seems like today will be very busy for them. Those people don’t know the Necromancer is dead, do they?”

“Of course not. They’ll currently be investigating the sewers where the Necromancer’s traces were found.”

The Emperor told me everything I was curious about.

“May I ask what was found in the sewers?”

“What was found were corpses of people with skull patterns drawn on them, already deceased children, and finally, a burnt person.”

Although Mordor’s corpse was immediately incinerated, I couldn’t dispose of the other corpses or the children.

‘Senior, dealing with our aftermath will be troublesome, so let’s think about it later. Can you come somewhere with me?’

Because I was embraced and stroked by Johanna, then immediately headed to the children’s graves.

This is a problem. Recalling the situation then, my poker face immediately broke.

‘To think my poker face broke just from imagining it.’

I can’t even imagine what would happen if I actually met Johanna. If I hadn’t been wearing a mask, the Emperor would have seen my flushed face.

“So, the burnt one is the Necromancer. Is there anything else you’re curious about?”

After listening to the Emperor’s words, I hesitated whether to speak or not, but ultimately decided to speak and opened my mouth.

“Your Majesty, is it alright to tell me all of this?”

The investigation related to the Necromancer is likely top secret. But is it okay for me to know everything?

“There’s no one who knows more about the current situation than you, so there’s no harm in telling you. In fact, if there are any inaccuracies, you can correct them.”

The Emperor then said,

“We will announce the fact that the Necromancer is dead, but we won’t say that you killed him. However, too many people saw you running around with Princess Freya this morning, so it might be discovered.”

I certainly acted conspicuously. Actually, moving quietly would have been the best option, but I was too excited at the time to do so.

“It’s alright.”

The Emperor looked at me and spoke.

“All sorts of people will take an interest in you. We’ll keep it as secret as possible, but those who need to know will quickly figure it out. Even if you’re in the academy, they’ll find a way to contact you.”

Everyone who knows about this incident is of high status. For them, contacting you, even if you’re inside the academy, would be easy. A normal person would find such attention burdensome.

“Do you think I would be afraid of such attention?”

I showed the Emperor my mask and red cloak as I spoke.

“Ha.”

The Emperor let out a faint laugh upon seeing my mask and cloak.

“Still, if possible, please help me avoid being discovered as much as you can. I don’t mind receiving attention from others, but I don’t want attention from Necromancers.”

If they knew I killed Mordor, the Necromancers would definitely try to kill me. Not for Mordor’s revenge, but for the cohesion of Death Heaven.

Death Heaven was originally an organization created by Necromancers to avoid death.

But with one of them dead, they would certainly try to kill the person who killed Mordor, for the sake of the organization’s unity.

‘If I were strong enough, it wouldn’t matter.’

In fact, if that were the case, Necromancers coming would be welcome. Because I wouldn’t need to go find them myself.

But it’s still too much for me.

Although I killed Mordor, that’s because his abilities were easy to counter if I already knew them.

Many other Necromancers have abilities that can’t be countered just by knowing them.

Even if I knew the abilities of a Necromancer who uses over a thousand corpses, how could I stop them?

“Then I’ll really take my leave now……..”

“There’s still more to say.”

Was it because I was tired from too many things happening today? Or was it because my poker face broke when I thought of Johanna earlier?

“Huh… is there still more to talk about?”

I said, my voice unintentionally tinged with complaint.

Even though I had learned Shadow Step from the Emperor and met him quite a lot, this was definitely rude behavior.

“Hahaha, could you perhaps pretend you didn’t hear what I just said?”

“Hahahahahaha.”

However, the Emperor laughed at my reaction instead.

“I was going to call for you anyway, even if that incident hadn’t happened this morning. But I called you a bit earlier because of the Necromancer.”

The Emperor paused for a moment before speaking.

“You remember Baron Ashro, don’t you?”

“Yes? Of course.”

I wondered why that topic suddenly came up, but I answered anyway.

Baron Ashro.

In the game, he was a person who addicted villagers to drugs, turning peaceful villagers into murderers. However, I disguised myself as Phantom Thief Cardinal and stole all the drugs from the Baron’s mansion, preventing that from happening.

“You haven’t dealt with him yet?”

This was, frankly, unexpected. I thought the Emperor would have killed him immediately.

“We are currently monitoring him using shadows. Because we can’t for the life of us figure out where Baron Ashro obtained the drugs.”

Now that I thought about it, it was strange. How did a mere peripheral Baron obtain drugs forbidden by law? Even in the game, that wasn’t revealed. Other players and I hadn’t really paid attention to that part.

“You know that the Special Class you belong to receives requests, unlike other first-years, don’t you?”

This, too, was a sudden remark.

“Yes, I know.”

Third-years would already be receiving requests. Through the request system, students could gain practical experience, and people could have their problems solved.

“But what does that have to do with Baron Ashro…….. No way, it can’t be, right?”

As I spoke, a thought of ‘no way’ occurred to me.

“That ‘no way’ is correct. He requested a task from the Special Class. The client is Baron Ashro. The request is to find a certain item stolen by Phantom Thief Cardinal.”

The Phantom Thief Cardinal who stole it is me, and he’s requesting it from the Special Class I belong to?

“Hahahahahaha! That’s absurd.”

“Haha, it truly is absurd, just as you say.”

The Emperor and I burst into laughter. It was unclear whether it was a hollow laugh born of disbelief or a mocking laugh directed at Baron Ashro.

……………….. ………………..

Both of us stopped laughing.

“But didn’t Baron Ashro say in the newspapers that Phantom Thief Cardinal stole nothing?”

“He claims he said that out of embarrassment…”

“Suspicious.”

“Indeed.”

What I stole from Baron Ashro, disguised as Phantom Thief Cardinal, was drugs. It made sense that he hid it. If the drugs were discovered, it would mean at least the revocation of his title.

But to request that from the Special Class? What would he do if the Special Class students found out that Phantom Thief Cardinal stole drugs?

“What do you think about this situation?”

The Emperor must have already thought about this before asking me. The reason he’s still asking me is… He’s testing me, isn’t he?

“It must be one of two things. Either he absolutely needs to find the drugs, even resorting to requesting a task, or he has business with the Special Class students from the start.”

The Emperor, having heard my words, tapped his chair and spoke.

“Which of the two do you think is more likely?”

“Naturally, the latter is more likely. If he absolutely needed to find the drugs, it would be better to empty his assets and entrust the request to mercenaries. To request a task from the Special Class, no matter how much he needs to find the drugs? If that’s truly the case, I’d have to worry about Baron Ashro’s intelligence.”

Tap, tap.

“Then why did you mention the former possibility and not just the latter?”

“Because, naturally,” I said.

“If he were intelligent, he wouldn’t have possessed the drugs in the first place.”

The Emperor burst into laughter upon hearing my words and then spoke.

“That’s true.”

. . .

And the next morning. I encountered Johanna.

…………………. ………………….

Feeling bothered by the continued silence, just as I was about to open my mouth first,

“Um………”

Johanna and I spoke at the same time.

“Senior, you go first.”

“He… my father told me to bring you home sometime.”

“Me??”

Johanna nodded.