Ch.8080. Time of Farewell

Late at night.

Instead of getting separate accommodations in Fernan, I lit a bonfire near the beach and was staring blankly at the flames, waiting.

The Magic Judges Tema and Doben were absent on my orders.

The Dark Spiritmaster sitting beside me was stretching her hands toward the bonfire, seemingly feeling its warmth.

Then, as if suggesting we should put sweet potatoes in the fire, she abruptly asked.

[I never thought you would know about Dante.]

“……”

[Getting involved with them isn’t exactly a good decision.]

“I have no choice. They called for me.”

Dante was a secret organization that was only revealed in the very late stages of the game.

[Actually, they once approached me too. Asked if I wanted to join them in saving the continent.]

“……”

[I refused, of course. I have no interest in saving the continent. I only wanted to see the ultimate limits of necromancy with my own hands.]

The Dark Spiritmaster was a woman with an obsessive fixation on knowledge. Even now, she was cooperating with me because she believed I could show her the limits of necromancy that she hadn’t seen.

She had been hiding in her dwelling and only came out because Aria had stolen books containing her knowledge.

“I know.”

I had no intention of criticizing her for being selfish.

[Deus, as you know, Black Mages are the kind who will do anything for their desires and greed.]

But suddenly.

When our eyes met, I felt a distant yet tender emotion. Was this truly just to satisfy her thirst for knowledge?

[But if they’re given a greater cause, if there’s a reason everyone can accept?]

The Dark Spiritmaster gradually moved closer, pressing her body against mine. I couldn’t feel any physical sensation, but her worried expression was quite pitiful.

[They become more radical than when they were just acting on their own desires. And that’s exactly what Dante is.]

We were close enough that our lips would touch with the slightest movement. If not for the black cloth covering her mouth, perhaps they would have.

As I stared at her stoically, I slowly opened my mouth.

“They’re here.”

Keuaaaah!

A scream echoed.

The startled Dark Spiritmaster quickly pulled away, and then a violent, putrid stench of decaying corpses assaulted my nostrils.

Footsteps and screams from beyond the bonfire grew closer, and soon someone emerged from the darkness into the warmth of the fire.

A man with his entire body covered in a robe and hood. Neither large nor small, just average in build, he wore a subtle smile on his face.

Keuaaaaaaah!

In his hand, he held a human face that was still alive and screaming.

It was Volta.

“Is he still alive?”

At my question, the necromancer shrugged and answered.

“About half? He’d die quickly if I released the spell.”

I disliked him from first impression. His voice was unpleasant, as if insects were crawling in his throat, preventing him from speaking properly.

“Spiritmaster Deus Verdi. I didn’t expect you to find me so quickly—I must have created quite an interesting case.”

The corners of his mouth curled up like hooks as he slightly extended Volta’s head.

“I judged it to be an evil spirit capable of wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom. But it wasn’t.”

The man nodded at my words and sat down across from me.

The Dark Spiritmaster swallowed nervously and carefully positioned herself behind me.

It was a position from which she could protect me immediately in any situation.

I wondered if the necromancer could see the Dark Spiritmaster, but seeing how he eerily stroked Volta’s head while maintaining eye contact with me, it seemed he couldn’t see her.

“So why did Dante summon me?”

“Oh?”

When I mentioned Dante first, he let out a surprised exclamation. But he didn’t show any signs of being flustered and smoothly replied.

“More capable than I expected? I guess it wasn’t just luck that you eliminated the evil spirit nesting in the royal palace.”

He knew about Griffin’s evil spirit.

That’s how they had responded, but I wasn’t particularly surprised.

“I’ll be direct. You’ve made things very difficult for us. The kingdom’s ignorance about Black Magic made it a goldmine for capable Black Mages.”

To a Black Mage, the land of Griffin was essentially like a hunting ground for high-level players.

Low-achieving Black Mages would be immediately found and executed by Magic Judges if they carelessly set foot there.

But for the skilled ones, there were no better prey than those ignorant about Black Magic.

However, now that King Orpheus and I were attempting reforms related to Black Magic, Griffin would gradually begin to root them out.

I thought they might be hostile because of this, but that wasn’t the case.

Instead, there was a gentleness mixed into the necromancer’s voice.

“But seeing how you’ve resolved cases and your actions so far, I think you’re a truly desirable talent.”

“……”

“So, Deus Verdi. Join us. You probably already know about Dante, but we don’t simply act for our own desires. We act for the greater cause of saving the continent.”

Yes, there was only one reason Dante was moving.

They knew this continent was at capacity.

Dead souls had nowhere to rest, so they began wandering the continent.

At this rate, the boundary between life and death on the continent would disappear, and people would live in an ambiguous existence.

And Dante was trying to prevent that.

“As a spiritmaster, you know best. If things continue like this, the entire continent will be in danger.”

“Is that why you killed Volta?”

When I bluntly gestured toward Volta’s head with my chin, the necromancer glanced down at him and shook his head.

“He deserved to die. And I paid a sufficient price.”

“Paid a price.”

It was a very irritating choice of words, but he didn’t seem to notice and continued.

“We’re different. Unlike those barbaric ones who just take, we pay a fair price for everything.”

“So you paid that price to his mother, Hernu?”

The necromancer briefly closed his mouth at my words. He seemed reluctant to speak about it, but sighed and answered.

“We gave her the price she wanted. We gave her freedom from her constraints. That was the price she wanted.”

“Volta’s life belongs to Volta.”

“Hernu gave birth to that Volta.”

The conversation was going nowhere.

Just as spiritmasters view souls as mana clusters or consumable weapons,

necromancers put a price on human flesh and pay for it. Like butchers cutting up cows and pigs to sell meat.

It was extremely irritating.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to say the price of a life can’t be measured? You’re not a Saintess, spiritmaster.”

The necromancer snickered mockingly and brought the conversation back to the original point.

“Dante needs you. A spiritmaster like you who can operate publicly. If you join us, we’ll help you establish an unshakable position in Griffin.”

“……”

“We can make you an entity comparable to the Saintess. If we work together, we could achieve results many times greater.”

If I collaborated with them, I could certainly achieve tremendous results quickly, and the church would keep quiet while citizens would gradually come to accept me.

But.

“Y-y-young m-maaaan!”

An old woman’s cry came from far away.

Perhaps she had noticed because of the foul corpse smell, but Hernu was running urgently toward us with tears in her eyes.

“You just said you’d solve it! You only said you’d give me freedom! I never thought you’d really kill him!”

She ran toward us, hurling curses at the necromancer, but stopped abruptly when she saw her son’s face screaming.

Her face was dripping with despair and agony.

“V-Volta?”

Had her legs lost strength?

Or did she feel guilty seeing the face of the son she had sold?

Hernu fell to her knees and bowed her head. She apologized as if she had met a demon, crying.

“I-I’m sorry. Mommy’s sorry. I didn’t know it would turn out like this. I was just… just so tired because of you… That’s why I did it! I really didn’t know they would kill you!”

When I glanced at the necromancer, he shrugged and answered.

“A son who beat his mother. I offered freedom to a mother who had suffered from such a son, and she accepted. I didn’t set the value—she decided it herself.”

She had weighed her son’s life against her own freedom, and she had accepted the deal.

As a result, this situation had unfolded, which she now bitterly regretted, but it was already done.

“The contract is already complete.”

The necromancer smiled as he lifted Volta’s head. Hernu was pounding the ground in despair, apologizing to her son.

Keuaaaaaaah!

Volta’s head continued to scream. Endlessly and desperately, as if reenacting the moment of his death.

His soul must be trapped in there.

“The choice is yours. Don’t worry about it unnecessarily. I’d like to hear your answer now.”

The necromancer stood up and slowly approached me.

Under a strange pressure, he demanded an answer from me.

“Join Dante, Deus. We want you.”

“……”

The extended hand reeked of decay. Unavoidable for a necromancer, but nonetheless repulsive.

I reached out and pointed to Volta’s head.

“Release the spell.”

I didn’t want the mother to hear her child’s screams any longer.

“That will be my answer.”

Volta’s death would show the critical difference between me and Dante, and prove that they were wrong.

“Hmm?”

The necromancer tilted his head as if asking what I meant. But he had no more use for Volta, so he released the spell.

My mana surged and enveloped Volta.

Strictly speaking, Volta’s head had just died.

I created just enough time for him to leave one final word, and the necromancer realized my intention.

“Letting him leave last words for his mother? To give her a wound that will never heal?”

With a snicker, he placed Volta’s head in front of Hernu.

Soon after, Volta’s soul, which had been screaming, was able to borrow his body momentarily to utter one last word.

“Ugh, uugh.”

“V-Volta! Volta! I’m sorry! Because of this worthless mother!”

Volta’s words didn’t come out properly, as if his mouth was filled with dry sand.

Hernu continued to bang her head on the ground in apology, but Volta managed to utter one sentence.

“Mom.”

“…Vol-ta?”

“I’m… sorry… Mom.”

That was the end.

Volta’s body went limp and his eyes closed, and his soul sank into peace as if without regret.

“Huh?”

The necromancer looked at the mother and son with a puzzled expression. He had expected Volta to spew words of hatred toward the mother who had sold him and caused his death.

Instead, Volta apologized to Hernu, which seemed completely incomprehensible to him.

“When do you think people learn the most?”

I calmly began speaking like a professor explaining the answer to a problem.

“The moment of insight when they regret and change the most.”

That was death.

Volta had been suffering, unable to die. But he knew he would eventually die.

He was in a situation similar to jumping from a very tall building.

Not knowing when he would hit the ground, but continuously falling. Death was certain, yet his mind kept racing.

He must have seen his life flash before his eyes dozens of times, and felt regret and resentment intensely.

And as a result.

He must have reflected on his actions. And had no choice but to accept his fate.

Volta had been a terribly worthless man.

He was such a vile villain that the villagers were reluctant to hold a funeral for him.

He was so despicable that his mother regretted giving birth to him and felt the urge to sell him to someone.

Yet even such a young man.

Changed like this at the brink of death.

“In the end, people can change. Humans are beings who can regret, repent, and transform.”

“……”

“You said it yourself, don’t say that the price of life can’t be measured.”

Contempt filled my voice.

He, who lived a life directly connected to death and had seen more human corpses than anyone, seemed foolish to me.

“Even a foolish young man who could only be called a petty villain realized the essence of life when faced with his own death.”

Hernu was wailing desperately, clutching Volta’s head. I could feel the sorrow of finally caring for each other but being unable to be together.

“How dare you put a price on their lives.”

“…You are different from us.”

The necromancer shook his head. He realized that negotiation had become meaningless.

“It’s a shame, Deus Verdi. You should know how to sacrifice the small for the greater good.”

“I don’t believe that those who fail to appreciate the value of small things can save the greater ones.”

With a click of his tongue, the necromancer’s body collapsed to the ground.

It had been just a corpse.

That was the source of the terrible stench that had been emanating all along.

“Volta! Voltaaaa! Huaaaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaah!”

And so the case ended.

The necromancer had escaped, and Hernu would be arrested for soliciting murder.

Only the screams of a mother embracing her son while crying remained.

Soon, the Magic Judges Tema and Doben would arrive. I had told them to wait nearby, but they would come after hearing Hernu’s wailing.

Until they arrived.

To give the mother and son time for their farewell.

I pretended not to see anything.

I closed my eyes.