episode_0082

“Hmm… … . It arrived sooner than expected.”

I climbed up the wooden fence protecting the village and looked at the numerous uninvited guests standing a little distance away. No, to be exact, he was not an uninvited guest. Viscount Tarr, who could be said to be the original owner of this land, had come to visit. And that too with an army.

“Me, Baron. Uh, what should I do?”

The guards looked fearful as they saw Viscount Tarr’s army camped a short distance away. Because all they had faced so far were some bandits, a few monsters, or packs of wild beasts that fearlessly tried to plunder the village. This is the first time I have encountered an army made up of as many soldiers as I have now. It was natural to tremble with fear.

The number of soldiers visible from here seemed to be about five hundred. At that scale, it was clear that our village would be wiped out in an instant. Meanwhile, about ten knights wearing armor caught my eye.

Even if the holey wooden fence, which had not yet been properly repaired, was properly repaired, it was so constructed that it would have fallen in an instant.

“Don’t worry. Are you really going to attack your own territory? what… … . Even if we attack, we won’t be successful.”

Of course, that was only when I wasn’t around.

Whenever there was a chance, whenever the black magic power increased, a large number of skeletons were created. If you include the skeletons in the blacksmith shop, there were more than three hundred skeletons.

Moreover, there were four knights and several mages. At that level, it was not enough to deal with ten knights and five hundred soldiers. Although they were a bit outnumbered, my skeletons were not living creatures, so it wasn’t a problem.

When a human soldier dies, it’s over, but my skeletons can rise again if they aren’t broken beyond repair. Pushing 500 people against over 300 skeletons is the same as committing suicide.

“Master, someone is coming.”

But at that moment, the knight next to me, who was in charge of escorting, pointed somewhere. This was where Viscount Tarr’s army was encamped, and from there a knight on horseback slowly approached the village.

As I was staring at it, wondering what the hell was going on, it stopped at some distance from the wooden fence. It seemed like he stopped with a little more time than the range of an arrow or a javelin, but there was no particular meaning. With the skeleton’s power, it was possible to pierce the knight’s heart with a javelin.

Anyway, since he stopped, he must have done something – I looked at him, thinking, and immediately the driver’s mouth opened.

“The evil warlock who dares to illegally occupy the territory of the great Viscount Tar family must come out and face the judgment of the law!”

As if there was some mana in the voice, I frowned at the loud roar that resonated so loudly. Aside from everything else, I felt very bad when they called me an evil warlock. Where can there be a good-natured and law-abiding warlock like me?

“Illegal occupation? It’s funny. If you want to come in, come in! The door over there is open! What kind of illegal occupation is this? Who stopped you from coming in?”

He put his hands together in front of his mouth like a megaphone and let out a loud sound. He then pointed to the entrance to the village, which was still gaping. In order to proceed with the repair, the hole had to become even larger. This is because the entire door had to be removed to completely replace it.

Anyone who wanted to come into the village could do so. Of course, there were skeletons camped in front of it, but when I gestured, they retreated. He even bowed, pointing to the inside of the village with his hand as if to say, “Please come inside.”

And, the knight who had shouted at the sight of those skeletons looked completely embarrassed. It was clear that he expected me to fiercely resist or something.

But he quickly came to his senses and started screaming loudly again.

“The evil warlock who is illegally occupying the village with skeletons, listen! If you don’t get rid of the skeletons threatening the lord’s territory right away, the mace of condemnation will fall!”

“Isn’t it illegal? It was requested by the village guard! I only placed it legally upon request!”

As soon as I finished speaking, the guard commander came to my side and looked at the driver.

“I am the village guard captain! That’s right, I asked the warlock Baron Steele! Because the village was attacked by a gunman and even the wooden fence was damaged, I had no choice but to make a request!”

The knight hesitated as he shouted and displayed a sign indicating that he was the guard captain. The knight hesitated for a moment, but as if he couldn’t think of anything more to say, he suddenly turned his nose around and ran hastily to the main camp where the army was located.

And, he could be seen shouting at someone who was presumed to be Viscount Tarr. Looking at the man screaming almost like he was swearing and the knight repeatedly bowing his head in front of him, it didn’t seem like anything good was going on.

“Wow, that must hurt.”

He was even seen rolling around on the floor after being kicked by a man who seemed to be unable to overcome his anger.

Of course, it had little to do with me. Whether the article was criticized or beaten was not something I cared about. What I needed to pay attention to now was not the knight lying on the floor, but another knight approaching the wooden fence.

“Viscount Tar, the rightful lord of this land, said he would give us one last chance! Evil warlock, come out now, kneel down and surrender! Otherwise, I will burn the whole village!”

“… … Baron. How do I do it?”

Perhaps because they said they were going to burn the village, the guard commander looked troubled. This is because it was not made of stone like the castle wall, but was literally a wooden fence. As it is a wooden fence, it is vulnerable to fire, so it is treated to prevent it from burning easily, but there is nothing that can be done to force a fire to be lit.

In addition, most of the buildings inside the village were made of wood. If the fire spread, it was not unreasonable for it to start a huge fire that engulfed the entire village. Considering that, it was no wonder that the guard commander was in trouble.

“There’s nothing we can do about lighting a fire.”

I shrugged, turned around, and climbed down from the wooden fence. Several soldiers approached holding burning torches, as if they were going to set them on fire if they didn’t come out right away.

“… … Sorry.”

“Ah, you don’t need to be sorry. In the first place, I’m not going there to surrender.”

“Yes?”

The guard commander looked at me quizzically, but I responded with actions instead of words.

Spreading dark magic strongly, the skeletons spread throughout the village were called to one place. To the entrance of the village where there is a large empty space.

The clattering sounds of bones colliding with each other and the sounds of footsteps as skeletons move in unison began to echo throughout the village. And, the skeletons that quickly began to gather went straight out through the open entrance to the village.

One nine, two nine, ten nine, twenty nine. The number of skeletons that began to rush out quickly increased to over three hundred. Literally, all the skeletons in the village had escaped out of the entrance.

“Now, we went outside.”

“Uh, this is… … .”

I went out of the village with about 300 skeletons in front of me and opened my arms wide, telling them to try anything. Seeing me like that, the knight was completely embarrassed, and the soldiers holding the torches began to tremble in fear.

I was in a situation where I was facing about 300 skeletons with blue natural flowers burning in their eye sockets, a sight that would be enough to scare the average person.

“You went out as you wanted, what should you do?”

I smiled as I looked at the panicked knight and the soldiers who wanted to run away right away.

The driver couldn’t hide his embarrassment when he saw me like that, and he began to slowly move back. The horse he was riding was so frightened by the sight of the skeletons that he backed off without listening to the rider’s control. Naturally, as the knight moved backward little by little, the soldiers holding the torches also slowly retreated.

However, there were also people who were busy moving around at the sight. It was Viscount Tarr’s headquarters. As soon as I brought out a bunch of skeletons, they started to advance as if they were going to go into battle.

When the march began, the knight quickly turned around and escaped, and the soldiers holding torches also threw away their torches and ran away.

And, as I waited for a while while looking at that scene, it looked like Viscount Tarr’s army was coming out and confronting me at a certain distance.

Of course, there was no direct conflict, just a confrontation. A group of people, perhaps a great minister, appeared, fighting through countless soldiers. Just by looking at it, it looks like several knights are protecting a man wearing expensive and luxurious clothes.

The man who came forward, heavily guarded by knights, as if he would not allow even the slightest gap, looked at me with eyes full of annoyance.

It’s like you’re not coming out? Seeing those eyes looking at me like they were doing something, I smiled and made the skeletons move left and right and moved forward. Of course, he was accompanied by four skeletons and mages in the back who were ready to unleash black magic at any time.

“This is Viscount Nicot Tarr.”

“Baron Andrew Steele.”

“… … Your words are short?”

“So, what are you dissatisfied with?”

Since I didn’t have a particularly good relationship with him, I didn’t feel the need to treat him well. It doesn’t matter if you are a royalist, but especially since the factions are different. In fact, I still haven’t forgotten that those knights came to my store, started a riot, and ran away. Of course, it was a good gift.

The Viscount stared at me with a mixture of irritation and anger for a while, then sighed. He seemed to realize that he wouldn’t get a particularly good response from me.

“Give me one last chance. Surrender calmly and convert to the noble faction.”

“You’re laughing.”

“Ha! Are you going to drink the punishment until the end?”

“Beolju… … . Yes, punishment is punishment. If it was made incorrectly, it would be a strong beer with a bitter taste. It would be a hassle if I wiped out all the people here.”

He smiled lightly as he looked at the five hundred soldiers and a total of ten knights standing around Viscount Tar. No, I just laughed.

“These are my elite soldiers. Even if you are a warlock… … .”

“Hmph, elite? If that’s the case, it’s a living thing. Even if the skeleton is destroyed, I just have to raise it again. Will your soldiers and knights also rise if they are destroyed? No, it could happen. Become my skeleton.”

“… … .”

Viscount Tarr’s mouth closed at my words. But that wasn’t the important thing.

As Viscount Tarr fought his way through the soldiers, the surrounding area was full of soldiers, and my words reached them as well.

The sight of skeletons in front of my eyes already aroused my fear, and I had heard that if I died while fighting with the skeletons, I could become one of them.

Naturally, the morale of the soldiers plummeted in an instant. Some of the soldiers were shaking their whole bodies and looking at me as if they wanted to run away immediately. At least since Viscount Tar gave them the title of elite soldiers, they seemed to be sticking to their positions rather than running away right away. Of course, if a battle actually broke out, about half of them looked like they would run away.

Besides, the knights guarding Viscount Tarr were no different. No, on the contrary, morale was falling further. It was none other than because I discovered Skeleton Knights around me.

Everything except the bones disappeared and it was unclear who the original was, but among the skeletons made from the corpses of goblins and orcs, the four human skeletons were bound to stand out. Even more so if they were each holding the weapon they were originally using. Moreover, four people died during the attack, and at the same time, there were exactly four humanoid skeletons around me.

These were not knights who did not know what it meant. They were certain that they would become skeletons when they died, and they seemed to never want to fight.

Viscount Tarr also chewed his lips as if he had seen the soldiers and knights like that. I was fully aware that simple force could not pose any threat to me.