Ch.21Chapter 21. The Necromancer’s Tomb (1)

# Chapter 21. The Necromancer’s Tomb (1)

This was the post with the most information.

As expected, it was written by a member of George’s raid party. Most of the information came from their posts.

It feels strange seeing writings from people who are no longer in this world helping those who are still alive.

Just as a tiger leaves its skin when it dies, perhaps George’s raid party left behind their strategy guides when they died.

Anyway, reading through the skills brings back memories of when I used to play the game.

I mean, I spent more time wandering around looking for hidden skills rather than following the standard path, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t use those skills.

Hanna’s skill tree includes “Light Protection,” “Light Blade,” “Master of Combat,” and “Light Explosion.” Except for one, everything is light-related—she’s literally Light Hanna.

According to the post author Hellbrown’s brief comment, she seems to have invested in skills quite well. Even from a quick read of the effects, they all seemed to be fairly efficient skills.

A thought suddenly occurs to me. What if I had been reincarnated as a Paladin?

I probably would have died surrounded by cultists and lesser demons while frantically searching for hidden pieces.

I’m someone who can think calmly when given time, not someone who can move intuitively in urgent situations.

Even if I had survived, could I have become as strong as Hanna? I’m rather doubtful.

But what about now?

Lakye, who can easily subdue a level 4 Paladin, and Kanto, who seems to be around level 3 if measured as a Paladin, are my subordinates.

Besides them, more than forty warriors follow my orders. There’s also no threat to my life.

I’m starting with extremely favorable conditions compared to other reincarnated individuals. Unlike Paladins who have a clear limit of level 10, I have no such restrictions.

My blessings can also have a greater impact than Paladin skills. The first blessings I learned were group healing and status ailment neutralization.

To make a big deal of it, perhaps only I can save the reincarnated people and drive away the demons.

Let me not forget that fact and see this through to the end.

I strengthened my resolve and gathered my determination. It’s my own way of self-awakening.

***

Three days have passed since my promise to Hanna.

Hanna, who has been diligently serving as a sparring partner for the barbarians during this time, is about to leave.

“Ugh.”

Hanna, wearing all her equipment except for what was “looted” by Lakye, lifted her bundle.

I’m watching through divine possession of Muri’s body.

“Though a civilized person, she was an excellent warrior.”

“It feels like I’ve crossed an invisible wall. I’ve grown a lot.”

“I’ll admit she was at least as good as a milk jug.”

The barbarian warriors who had competed with her for days came to see her off. Though “seeing off” just meant standing there watching her leave.

“That bastard is like that till the end.”

Hanna frowned at milk jug youth Dodo’s final words, but she waved her hand to acknowledge the warriors’ farewell. Did they grow fond of each other while fighting?

“I’ll definitely kill you next time we meet.”

Muttering at Lakye, who had come out to monitor her until the end, Hanna left the tribal federation without hesitation. What a grudge-holder.

[NotACatfish: It’s over! Hanna is free]

She sends a private message right away. So casual.

Does she think we’re close friends because we’ve exchanged messages frequently? For me, they were all business messages.

Well, there’s no need to be prickly. She’s just an insensitive and irritable woman, not a bad person.

[Be kind to barbarians next time you meet them]

[NotACatfish: ?? I was just captured!]

[What were you doing when you got captured?]

[NotACatfish: I was just trying to teach those barbarian bastards a lesson when they were hanging around]

[Did you think before speaking?]

[NotACatfish: OK…]

[NotACatfish: I’m heading toward Martvah]

[NotACatfish: Want to come here? Just form a 2-person party for a bit]

[NotACatfish: There’s a sea here since it’s the coast]

[Nope]

[I have business here]

[NotACatfish: Where are you?]

[Dubenheim]

[NotACatfish: That’s really far… let me know if you come this way]

[Take care]

Well, we might meet someday as we live on. If not, I can always contact her via message when I’m bored.

In a way, she’s like an online friend.

I closed the message window and spoke to Muri.

– I’d like to see the completed totem.

“Understood. It might be of lower quality since I made it hastily in a short time.”

– That’s fine. I know you did your best.

“I’m grateful that you understand.”

Muri had been holed up in a residential tent, sleeping little while making the totem.

Although Paya occasionally went to help, it must have been difficult work.

– Go ahead and wait.

I withdrew the divine possession and returned to the altar to wait for Muri.

A few minutes later, Muri arrived at the altar and placed something in front of me. It was a palm-sized wooden totem.

It was round like an egg, with an Eastern dragon carved into it as a pattern.

– I’ll test it.

I bestowed the blessing “Binding Totem” on the mini-totem. Instantly, my view changed.

“How is it?”

I looked up at Muri, who was right in front of me.

– It works well. This is all thanks to you, Priestess Muri.

“I’m glad.”

In the mini-totem state, I used the blessing “Healing Totem (Advanced).”

A space of about 10 meters around me turned blue.

“Ah… I feel my fatigue melting away.”

Muri knelt down and slowly closed her eyes.

Seeing the old woman kneeling before me while using honorific language makes me feel guilty.

Grandma, your joints must be bad, please just stand up. I feel sorry.

Anyway, I confirmed that it works.

I sent Muri away and called for Paya.

“Did it succeed?”

Paya, with feathers stuck in her hair, probably from the feather house, asked. She’s always busy, but she’s become especially busy with the new members.

Lakye has little interest in the tribe, Muri was busy making the totem, and Kanto is useless except in battle, so Paya had to do everything by herself.

This is truly solo governance.

Now that Muri’s work is done, Paya’s workload should decrease a bit.

– Yes.

I ordered her to send this totem and a letter to the Sky Tree tribe in Dubenheim using the sturdy monster pigeon, Tuntuni.

“Since it’s a distant region, it will take five days to arrive.”

– That’s sufficient.

Kwak kwak!

Tuntuni flew away with a powerful cry.

Now I just had to wait… or so I thought, but there was surprisingly a lot to do.

First, I worked on expanding the territory. This was for the new members and those who would join later.

I wanted to order them to use the subjugated village as a new residence, but when I casually brought it up, the expressions of the barbarians, except for Lakye, darkened, so I let it go.

If I insisted, they would live in the village, but I didn’t want to push that far. Besides, my main body totem was in this land.

I could understand their position. The tribal land is a significant place for barbarians.

The Brown Rock tribe, who easily abandoned their land, was an unusual case. Later I heard that Lakye had pushed them without much thought.

She’s truly a strongman (dictator), or rather, a strongwoman.

We also moved the livestock from the village that had been ruled by the snail demon to our area (the warriors had been consistently going down to the village to feed them).

These were livestock that hadn’t been infected by demonic energy despite being close to demons. Suspicious in many ways, I assigned Paya and Muri to research them before bringing them all.

This could be a trick by demons or cultists. They might look fine but cause infection when eaten.

Upon investigation, it turned out that all the livestock had high resistance to demonic energy, which is why they were fine.

The cultists and demons needed to eat too, so they raised livestock, and among those, only the ones that could resist demonic energy survived—that’s our guess.

A kind of natural selection.

We also built many tent-like structures, but we ran out of bison hide, which is the material for these, so we ended up using various hides and eventually even built huts.

“Huh, to think that I, Dodo, would end up living in a place like this…”

The first hut winner’s muttering reflects the state of the hut.

Anyway, time passed quickly as we worked on these tasks.

Five days went by in no time.

‘Can you hear me, Malak? The Sky Tree tribe desires you.’

I hear someone calling me from far away.

It seems Tuntuni has finally reached the Sky Tree tribe.

I used the “Binding Totem” blessing. I could feel the mini-totem even from far away.

It feels like a part of me.

“Ah, you’ve come! Lord Malak!”

A brown-skinned woman wrapped in black panther hide appears before me. She seems to be in her mid-30s.

With eyes full of spirit that make her look like a priestess, and trained arm muscles that make her look like a chieftain, she was quite a woman.

“I am Nix, daughter of Amawa and Juri, both chieftain and priestess of the Sky Tree tribe.”

A dual class, I see.