episode_0105

“It’s been a while. Father Thomas.”

Although we were in the same village, now a bit bigger than a city, we were still in the same area, but we hadn’t seen Father Thomas for a while. This is because I had a lot of work to do, and Father Thomas also had a lot to deal with related to the temple.

“Hahaha, I guess it’s because both the warlock and I have a lot of work to do. Ah, now it seems more correct to call him Lord rather than Warlock. Lord.”

“Well, the title is not that important, so do whatever you feel comfortable with. After all, it’s true that he’s a warlock, and it’s true that he’s a lord.”

“Still, from now on I will call you Lord. Wouldn’t there be rumors that I don’t recognize the lord as a lord for no reason?”

No matter how many temples or priests there were, they were all places created by people gathering together. There were secret struggles of their own, and there were also cases where plots were hatched to rise to a higher position. Of course, compared to the general political scene, it is nothing more than a child’s joke.

So, since what Father Thomas said was not completely impossible, I nodded and told him to do whatever was convenient. It didn’t matter whether he was called a lord or a warlock.

Instead, I decided to change the topic of the story.

“By the way, how is the temple being built well?”

“Thanks to your concern, construction is progressing smoothly. We plan to request sculptors from the church soon. I decided to temporarily place the wooden statue from Viscounty Tar’s temple right now, because I thought it would be right to have a stone statue in a place where the goddess is worshiped.”

When I changed the subject of the story, Father Thomas immediately started talking about various things. The story was that the temple was being built, when it would be completed, and that some parts were insufficient and that measures had to be taken.

We continued to exchange greetings and greetings for a while, and before we knew it, we arrived at a place where there was a bulletin board.

“Did you come to post a notice on the bulletin board?”

“That’s right.”

When I took out a document from my pocket and put it on the bulletin board, Father Thomas showed interest.

I think it was because I decided to use the bulletin board to inform people about territory-related information. Since Father Thomas had now settled in his territory with a temple, he also had no choice but to worry about the affairs of the territory. Especially right now, he was the person in charge of overseeing the priests in my territory.

“Is it important?”

“Oh, it’s nothing special. I’m just looking for employees to work at the store. Perhaps because the development of the territory is progressing smoothly, there is no need to make any announcements.”

“This is a very fortunate story. After all, isn’t peace and tranquility the best way?”

I also nodded lightly as I saw Father Thomas nodding his head as he spoke like a true priest.

Although it would be good to sell a lot of war materials in a chaotic world as running a blacksmith shop, I personally did not think that being peaceful was a bad thing. In any case, as long as there is peace, steel products sell well.

Moreover, it could be said that the more peaceful the place, the larger the customer base itself. It was clear that with peace, fewer people would die and more people would be born. It was more profitable to sell ten pots for 2,000 or 3,000 med than to sell one knife for 10,000 med.

“It would be nice if there was peace. By the way, how is the blood collection project being conducted in other territories these days?”

“It is progressing smoothly. Rather, the problem is that it has gone too well. Since less blood is transported than collected, not everyone who wants it has the opportunity to sell it.”

“Ah, transportation. Don’t worry, I’ll have a way to solve that sooner or later.”

“Really?”

“Until now, I collected the goods when I delivered them to the affiliated stores, but soon there will be regular transportation with each territory. Why, there is something going around in town. There it is. That’s what goes back and forth between territories. For reference, I’m going to make the size bigger. Add a few more skeleton horses. That way, we can transport many people and many materials at once.”

“Oh… … ! That would be enough!”

Father Thomas looked impressed when I pointed to a skeletal horse pulling a carriage that was passing near the square.

I walked around the square with Father Thomas, who admired me so much, and talked about various things. Starting with stories about the estate, we also shared some trivial and personal stories.

However, as I was walking around the square while talking about various things, a building being built in a good location caught my eye.

It was the mercenary office building, a facility that could manage and command all mercenaries in the territory. Of course, it was also a building that Amy, the leader of the mercenary group that signed a contract with me, would manage. Perhaps that’s why Amy looked like she was supervising various things at the construction site.

I don’t know much about architecture, but I heard that while working as a mercenary, it was about fixing the parts that made me feel uncomfortable at other mercenary offices. Since the majority of mercenaries are illiterate anyway, make the bulletin board small and create a space for a staff member to read the posts.

Anyway, as I was looking at Amy moving so hard, something suddenly occurred to me. I remembered Amy’s comment that she wouldn’t hesitate to become a Death Knight to be by my side.

“Father Thomas. What do you think about turning living people into undead?”

“… … yes? Okay, could you say that again?”

When Amy spoke up to ask about becoming a Death Knight, Father Thomas looked around in surprise. Then he looked at me with eyes full of wariness.

“Lord. Just in case, I ask you, are you having bad thoughts?”

With a look full of wariness, I hurriedly waved my hand at the sight of Father Thomas, who seemed to be running to the temple at any moment and gathering the Holy Knights.

“No, what are you talking about… … . My goal is just to live a long life without any problems. I don’t want to be subjugated for no reason, so don’t worry.”

“… … So why are you asking about turning the living into undead?”

As I spoke with so much sincerity, Father Thomas’s guard softened a little. However, it seemed as if he still wasn’t completely alert, and his eyes became slightly suspicious.

I wondered if I had said it for no reason, but it was obvious that we would have to talk about this at some point, so we decided to continue the conversation. Since I had decided to accept Amy, I had only three options.

Either let Amy leave before me, turn humans into undead without the church’s permission and have them subjugated, or talk to them enough and get permission. Those three options were all. Of course, I had no intention of choosing the first two.

Therefore, I had no choice but to provide some explanation, even if it was not completely detailed.

“Hmm, what should I say… … . There is a woman I have a rather deep relationship with. He wants to spend the rest of his life with me. But, as you know, the lifespan of a warlock is quite long, right? It depends on your ability, but no matter how bad I am, I will live comfortably for a few hundred years.”

“That’s true, but isn’t there a problem with Miss Jiena because she’s an elf? Even though the lord is a warlock and lives a long life, isn’t he better than an elf?”

“Ah, there is a separate human woman, not Jiena.”

It was a little awkward for me to say that there was a woman other than Giena, but when Thomas heard that, he nodded as if it was nothing strange.

Since they were already calling me lord, I thought it was because they had the perception that I was a nobleman. Since he was a nobleman, it felt like it wouldn’t be strange for him to have multiple women.

“From what you say, it doesn’t seem like you were planning on forcibly turning that woman into an undead… … . Is that correct?”

“Force, absolutely not. I have your permission. In fact, that person asked me to turn them into undead. Even if you do that, you will be with me until the end.”

“Huh… … . Should I call this pure love? … .”

Father Thomas, who seemed to be pondering whether or not to express his pure love for being by my side even after becoming undead, quickly shook his head as if to shake off random thoughts.

“First of all, if we look only at the legal aspect of the denomination, it is not impossible. However, it must be proven that the warlock is not forcing the target to take action and turn them into undead. It goes through a process to check whether such behavior was induced through curses or brainwashing.”

“Then there will be no problem.”

I shrugged my shoulders at Father Thomas’ words. The fact that Amy said she would become a Death Knight caught me by surprise. I really didn’t force anything. It was entirely Amy’s choice to say that it was okay to become undead if we could be together.

“… … So, are you going to proceed with the procedure right away?”

“No. My skills are still lacking, so it’s difficult to make a complete undead. I need to improve my skills further. I don’t want the undead that was my woman, not the undead that was my woman.”

Even though she was Amy with her memories, ego, and soul intact, I didn’t want to be Amy. So there was no need to go through the process right away. It would have been better to use that time to further practice black magic and hone the skills to create a complete undead.

And, as I was thinking about practicing black magic, something suddenly attacked me from behind. For a moment, my body swayed, and I felt a weight pressing down on me.

“Andrew! What are you doing here?”

The person who attacked me was Amy, who was the main character of conversation between me and Father Thomas. Father Thomas did not know that the subject of the conversation was Amy, but he seemed to have guessed it to some extent from her reaction.

“What are you doing so heavy?”

“It’s heavy, isn’t it too much? Are you putting a lot of effort into keeping your body in shape? Quite a few mansions have been built, so be prepared to show them to you soon.”

I don’t know if it’s because they decided to move in together once the mansion is completed, but Amy is looking forward to it… … . No, he said, telling you to be prepared. I was worried for no reason because it didn’t seem like he had asked me to prepare without any meaning.

However, Amy must have not been paying attention to the person who was next to me until that moment, so she looked away the moment the conversation stopped for a moment.

“Hi! Poetry, bride?! Andrew run away!”

And, Amy, who found Father Thomas, saw that he was wearing a priest’s uniform, even if it had some sawdust or glue on it, and grabbed me and started dragging me. I don’t know if it was because I worked as a mercenary for a long time and had to deal with mana, but I started to get dragged down.

“Hey! hey! stop! Because I know someone!”

Amy’s actions, as if she was trying to get me to flee from the priest, continued until I revealed that I was acquainted with Father Thomas.