Ch.108108. The Dead

Human, undead.

Who would have won?

The Beast King Leoneo, sitting in a formal posture, let out a sigh.

In his heart, he wanted to go to the battlefield himself to check, but that was difficult.

Erick Wellesley. A human obsessed with gold.

The geas contract he had made with the man who was now the Hero had not yet ended. Since they had agreed not to invade each other’s territories, all he could do now was wait.

‘How frustrating.’

The undead army had passed through the beast-folk’s territory a few days ago.

The ominous group, composed of rotting flesh dripping off or bare bones with no flesh left to drip, had marched while emanating a gloomy aura.

During that time, he had witnessed the remains of adventurers who had died at the border over the past 20 years all turning into undead.

While other beast-folk complained of the overwhelming stench of decay, the Beast King observed their movements without so much as blinking.

It was because this army was being controlled by a new member of the Tetrad.

“The new Death King’s name is Olber. Though you may not care, it might be good to know his name at least.”

“He’s a lich who abandoned his humanity and joined the Demonic Land 80 years ago. Unlike other liches who fled to the Demonic Land to escape human pursuit, he has a sense of belonging.”

“He is now advancing toward the human fortress. Will you and your army join him? Ah, I apologize. You made a truce with humans, didn’t you?”

These were the dry words of his chief advisor, ‘Bynessa,’ along with the news that two new powerful beings had been recruited thanks to the Demon God’s grace.

The Beast King couldn’t ignore this information.

His most important goal now was to protect his beast-folk. The emergence of a new Tetrad member might interfere with that goal.

What worried him most were the corpses of his kin.

Specifically, the corpses of a thousand beast-folk slaughtered by the ‘Hero’s Pursuit Squad.’

The bodies of those who had been killed by the crazed humans who had invaded in search of gold mines and selectively dealt death to the beast-folk were buried in one place.

Bodies killed meaninglessly in dishonorable combat. They were in perfect condition to be turned into undead.

‘If I hadn’t been watching, they would have already been used as undead soldiers.’

He doubted anyone would be crazy enough to raise the corpses of beast-folk as undead soldiers in the territory he protected, but one never knew.

Currently, the Beast King’s standing within the Demon Lord’s army wasn’t particularly good. They hadn’t even informed him who the other Tetrad member was.

The Beast King remained vigilant. The Death King might do something outrageous to reinforce his troops.

Of course, the other beast-folk seemed unaware of his concerns.

Even now, two beast-folk, who were even tribal chiefs with the title of legion commanders, were babbling nonsense in front of him.

“Keng. That crazy elf must be dead by now, right?”

“She must be dead, for sure! The elf woman hasn’t been seen for six sun cycles. There’s no way she would stop hunting for that long, so she must be dead.”

“Sometimes the Demon Lord’s army does help us!”

Beast-folk wishing for the quick death of the crazy elf who frequently appeared and got on their nerves.

Beast King Leoneo stared at them blankly. If he knew how to make a “bitter smile,” he would have done so.

But what could he do? The beast-folk who followed Leoneo were always like this.

A race that focused on immediate instincts rather than political considerations.

Even if he explained that the outcome of the battle could affect the beast-folk, they probably wouldn’t understand.

The one fortunate thing in all this was…

“The battle won’t end quickly. Absolutely not.”

Battles between undead and humans typically dragged on. This was because undead could replenish their forces on the battlefield instantly.

Even if humans won, they couldn’t avoid critical damage. From the perspective of the recently weakened beast-folk, this was somewhat fortunate. If anything, he hoped both the Demon Lord’s army and the Empire would be weakened.

…

However, the Beast King soon learned that his prediction was wrong.

Thanks to information brought by a young feline who came running, out of breath.

The young one had been chasing birds and unknowingly ventured deep into human territory, where he witnessed an astonishing sight.

“Leo-nim! I saw it, I saw it nyaa!”

His disorganized recounting of what he had witnessed wasn’t easy to understand, but with patience, the Beast King could make sense of it.

Light that hurt the eyes, bones, smoke, corpses, smell, and more bones. Then humans shouting like madmen in celebration.

Looking at the excited feline boy who repeated the same thing seven times, the Beast King merely blinked.

It sounded like the Hero had killed them all, but he couldn’t readily believe it.

‘The undead legion was annihilated?’

The Hero he knew was definitely not capable of such a feat.

He could say this because he had fought the previous Hero directly.

Just a being who swung a sharp sword strongly, a fool who made a fuss over losing a finger and yelled at his party members. That was the extent of the Hero he had experienced. Even the finger he had accidentally swallowed didn’t taste good.

“What exactly is a Hero supposed to be?”

The Beast King blinked his slanted eyes, completely unable to understand.

***

Eliminating a Tetrad member on the first expedition.

It was an incredible achievement, but the victory cheers lasted only briefly. Silence soon followed.

There was too much damage to celebrate unreservedly.

The landscape surrounding the fortress was a scene from hell.

Roughly nineteen thousand remains were scattered densely. The fact that they had already died once didn’t make it any less horrific.

But even in this grim land, there were things to salvage.

My party members who had fought hard today proved that fact.

First, the mages.

They were collecting bone fragments from the lich I had shattered.

They obviously weren’t collecting them to bury in a sunny spot, but rather to use as magical materials.

“After purification, using them just as fertilizer for magical plants would be profitable, right?”

“Fertilizer, what? Using them like that would be a waste. If we show these to the Magic Tower, they’ll come running with their eyes popping out. …Of course, we’d need the Hero’s permission.”

It wasn’t strange behavior. Mages were the type who would gladly sacrifice their dignity to secure rare magical materials.

Not just mages, but knights were also focused on securing spoils.

Crunch!

The sight of them rummaging through rag golems while minimizing the use of aura.

They seemed to be looking for the magic stones used as cores in the golem-making process. If they maintained their original form, they could be worth money, so it was worth trying.

“Oh my, senior. I wonder if this is really okay.”

“It’s better than burying them in the ground. Just don’t get your hopes up too high, since they don’t always use magic stones for golem cores.”

It was heartwarming to see everyone collecting spoils on their own.

I hoped they would all get something out of it.

After all, these people all had social positions. It wouldn’t do for them to return empty-handed after fighting so hard. If they said, “I helped the Hero defeat a Tetrad member! My reward is satisfaction!” their wives and subordinates would look at them strangely.

But I didn’t see the clergy among them. They had hurriedly entered the fortress.

It didn’t seem like they weren’t interested in spoils. They might have rushed to treat the wounded inside the fortress, but…

‘I’d better check for myself.’

I headed straight for the fortress.

“May the Goddess’s blessing be upon the Hero…”

“No. Stop it.”

After moderately restraining a few soldiers who tried to kneel, I entered the inner fortress.

As expected, the scene inside the castle was brutal.

First, I saw hundreds of corpses piled in one place. They seemed to have been planning to burn them if the battle showed signs of dragging on. There were also severely wounded people groaning on the bare ground without even beds.

Amidst all this, there was one corpse that had been given special care and placed separately.

A group of people surrounded it, and the clergy from my party were there too. It might seem strange that they were focusing on one specific person when so many had died, but seeing it up close, the situation warranted it.

The deceased was none other than the former Saintess.

They said she had died just moments ago.

“…She was fine until just a few hours ago. Right after the Hero arrived, she complained of dizziness and suddenly collapsed. She was trying to say something with slurred speech, so we thought she would get up soon. But alas.”

But far from getting up, she eventually grew cold and died.

Though she had stepped down, she was once a figure whose status rivaled the Emperor of the Empire, and she had died so futilely.

Come to think of it, I was the one who had sent her to the border.

Of course, I didn’t send her to die, but to create a justification for sending modest support funds to the Papal State. But I never expected it to end like this.

The former Saintess wasn’t the only Cordana associate who had died.

The Magic Tower elder who had been involved in proxy trading fell asleep peacefully on the second day of battle and never woke up, and ‘Jora,’ who had been Matthias’s attendant, died instantly when crushed by an undead wyvern that fell from the sky while she was working as a laborer.

“…I heard Gwon Heejin’s lovers are safe. Though if they hadn’t been under the Saintess’s command, the female knight and mage would have died.”

These were the murmured words of the Elder Priest, with a complex expression on his face.

It seemed that the people who had followed Gwon Heejin, or Prince Matthias, and were then expelled, had ended up protecting the safety of the border. It felt somewhat strange.

After a moment’s consideration, I gave instructions.

“Announce that the former Saintess died honorably in battle. Add that she saved many lives.”

This wasn’t to honor her death but a necessary measure for the quick reconstruction of the Papal State.

If rumors spread that the leader who had enjoyed a luxurious life with money from Gwon Heejin and driven the country into a state of panic with wrong decisions had at least atoned for her sins in her final moments, the public view of the church might soften somewhat.

Then fundraising and training clergy would become a little easier.

It might seem odd to engage in politics right after smashing four-digit numbers of undead, but it didn’t feel out of place. After all, I wasn’t a Hero who could just fight.

“Yes, Hero. I will carry it out as instructed.”

Naturally, no one objected to my orders.