Chapter 70

Chapter 70 \nAfter exiting the room full of books, we decided to search through the other rooms again.\n

Although it couldn’t be called a thorough search, we were visiting each room with Amako’s foresight. By doing so, we could quickly check if anyone was in the room. Ark-san and the villagers were also on my mind, so we couldn’t waste time by checking through each room in detail.

When we reached the third floor, we found ourselves in a spacious room. Amako paused and her body slightly shook.

Did she find it!?

Or so I thought… But the Necromancer was nowhere to be found.

“Usato, the room we were in…”

“Hm?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Was there something about that spacious room just now?

I checked the room again, just in case. Nothing looked out of place, except for the fact that it was a really large room.

Amako looked slightly worried, so I started to carefully think about our situation.

It was possible that the Necromancer had already run away. I don’t know how they noticed us… They might’ve started to make their escape from the room with light as soon as we infiltrated.

But it was still too soon to assume that they had already escaped…

“This is…”

We were on the first floor.

Did this door lead to the basement? I looked at Amako for an answer.

“It’s dark, I can’t see anything. There’s no source of light anywhere in the room.”

“…Is it storage for food or something? Well, we’ll know once we open it.”

I twisted the doorknob and pulled to open the door.

The moment the it opened.. a cloud of dust and a bizarre smell came from the other side. This smell was… The first thing that came to mind was it was similar to an animal or a beast like Bluerin. However, there was also something that moldy mixed in as well.

“Cough… What is this… Did they keep animals here or something? Amako, you alright?”

“I’m fine, it does smell a bit though…”

Amako held her nose using her sleeve and her gaze fell on the other side of the door.

It was indeed pitch black. I couldn’t tell how big the room was either.

For the time being, I guess I should take a step inside and take a look.

The door wasn’t fully open due to the dust earlier. I opened it all the way and took a peek inside.

I couldn’t see anything even when I squinted my eyes.

However—

“It feels like there’s something big here.”

I wasn’t too sure how to express it. I just felt a presence here of some sort. I couldn’t see anything but I was sure of it.

Oh, right. Isn’t Amako here? Aren’t her eyes better than mine in the dark?

“Amako, look ahead. Ah, I mean normally. Not with your foresight.”

Amako nodded and looked at the darkness in front of me.

I only felt something vague, but how about Amako?

I’m guessing there’s some sort of large antique here. That would explain this moldy smell.

As I was immersing myself in my thoughts, Amako’s body visibly shook and she began to fall…

“Heyyy!?”

I grabbed her by the collar in panic. Amako plopped onto the ground, with her strength exhausted.

Just what are you doing? It’s not like you at all.

As I was about to voice my thoughts, she suddenly hugged my arm.

Is hugging people the popular thing to do today? While I thought so sarcastically, I noticed Amako was quivering.

“Amako, what’s… No, what did you see?”

“……”

It must’ve been very startling. Amako leaned her head against my arm in silence.

It was enough to frighten her this much. I should confirm it myself, right? It might be something that could harm the villagers after all.

If I went back into the room with books, I could take the light and use it to navigate past this door. Just as I got up, Amako applied more strength onto my arm and prevented me from moving.

It seemed like she saw what I intended to do with her magic… Her eyes were desperately telling me to stop.

“Usato… Don’t… Go.”

“I mean, I’ll have to investigate it either way…”

“Our eyes… Met.”

……With who?

Or maybe with ‘what’.

“That’s not a living thing. It’s something much more dreadful. I thought I had seen many things in my life already.. but this is my first time seeing something so repulsive. That’s why, you shouldn’t… Go.”

“…I got it.”

Seeing Amako urge me with her eyes, I reluctantly agreed.

I could probably quickly check the basement but there’s no way I could leave her alone right now.

I gently closed the door and faced Amako.

“It’s fine now… Let’s search somewhere else.”

“……”

This was a failure on my part.

Even if I didn’t know, I made her look at something gut-wrenching. Amako’s personality was like an adult’s but she was still only a 14 year old girl. Certain things will scare her, appropriate for her age.

I felt disgust at my own carelessness and stood up. Amako finally calmed down as well. She looked apologetic once she separated from me and said,

“Sorry, for saying something so selfish.”

“I don’t mind. I’m not such a narrow-minded human that would get angry over something like this.”

“…..Even though you get mad over small things all the time.”

That’s because you’re always saying something cheeky.

Amako pouted in dissatisfaction and I awkwardly smiled.

Afterwards, we continued our search for the Necromancer.

“There are almost no more rooms left to search. After we finish searching through most of them, let’s meet up with Ark-san.”

Just where is the Necromancer?

No, did the Necromancer even live here in the first place? But I’m at least positive that someone is living here.

I don’t think the villagers are lying to us about a Necromancer controlling the zombies…

Seriously, there are just too many things I don’t understand.

As I felt defeated and continued walking, I noticed it.

“……Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Did the noises from outside disappear?”

Before I knew it, Ark-san and the villagers couldn’t be heard anymore. Even if I couldn’t hear their voices, there should be some kind of noise as they were battling and acting as a diversion. It was strange.\nDid they already handle all the zombies or… I didn’t want to think of this possibility.. but perhaps they were the ones who were defeated.

It looked like Amako’s thoughts aligned with mine as her expression became rigid.

“Change of plans. We’ll meet up with Ark-san right now!”

“Yeah!”

We started jogging towards the front entrance.

Searching for the Necromancer was important but the safety of the villagers takes priority!

We arrived and I placed my hand on the doorknob to open the door—

But through the slight opening, a hand that looked like a withered branch came through and tried to grab me. I could see an entire horde of zombies on the other side trying to make their way in…

“Tsk……”

An ambush!?

I grabbed Amako by the collar and lifted her up, as her response would be too slow. At the same time I did so, I kicked a zombie that had come through the door in the abdomen. Although I wasn’t able to use a lot of strength, the zombie flew back from my kick and knocked several zombies down. Using this chance, I took Amako under my arm and ran.

Groans from zombies echoed throughout the mansion as I ran.

I don’t know where they were hiding but—

“Amako, it’s going to shake a bit!”

“Hah!?”

We should get out of here first.

I held Amako under my armpit, dodging zombies attacking from left and right, and made my way up the stairs.

Fortunately, there weren’t many zombies lurking upstairs. I kept going and arrived on the third floor.

Without pausing, I headed for the spacious room. Upon seeing the door leading to the room, I immediately kicked and smashed it open. It was an extremely expensive-looking door, but I have no choice under these circumstances.

The room was no different than before and there was no sign of zombies either.

“We’ve been driven in a corner… Usato.”

This was the third floor; there was no place to run.

I could hear zombies slowly making their way up. Even if we turned around, we would just be trapped.

“Hah—“

“What should we do? Should I try using my magic to find a spot with not that many zombies and breakthrough?”

“That’s not necessary. Instead, there’s a simpler way.”

Just from how these zombies have been positioned, I felt like the person controlling these zombies was purposefully leading me to the third floor and giving me an escape route.

But there’s no way I would feel timid from a height like this.

Who do you think taught me? Shortly after I learned to use magic, I was thrown off a cliff by a savage brute.

“Kukuku, don’t think you can corner me just because we’re on the third floor…”

“…Wait a minute.”

When I abruptly opened the large window, Amako’s voice shivered.

…Pfft, you’re really a girl after all. Being scared of heights, how cute. If it was Inukami-senpai, she would have already fainted. However, we couldn’t avoid this.. give it up.

Obviously, I couldn’t hold her under my armpit and land like this. I placed one hand on Amako’s back and the other one under her knees. I lifted her up, and moved a few steps back from the window.

“Don’t worry. I will absolutely not let go of you.”

“Even if you phrase it cool like that, I still don’t want to.”

“Let’s go! Amako!! Careful not to bite your tongue!”

“Listen to me…”

I vigorously ran towards the open window and jumped off the third floor.

Amako screamed soundlessly.

There were no zombies below us and I was able to land safely. My legs felt a little numb, due to the fact that I was carrying an extra person.

I think we were about 15 meters in height?

“Fuuh… Escape… Success.”

I started applying healing magic on the spot to Amako who was still in my arms. I also made sure to keep an eye on my surroundings for any potential threat.

But there were no zombies anywhere outside the mansion.

“The zombies seem to all be inside the mansion right now. We should search for the others. Can you stand?”

“S-scary… S-scaryyy…”

“……….How pitiful.”

She must’ve been really scared of those zombies. Yeah, no helping it.

I let down Amako, who was still in shock, and the two of us walked on the path leading to the village.

But as we did, I noticed a person’s figure on the ground.

They looked strangely familiar.

Once I got closer, I was able to confirm it was someone we knew.

“Ark-san!”

There was a bit of blood flowing down from his neck. There was no sign of movement from him.

Is he asleep or dead?

“Are you okay!?”

I used healing magic on him. But even after fully recovering his wounds, he didn’t wake up.

He’s muttering and groaning.. is he having a nightmare? I healed him already but I remember there were two small holes on his neck. It looked like something had drilled or pierced through his skin.

It’s possible that Ark-san was like this because of that.

Just what happened to him? And where are the villagers?

“It’s possible that the villagers had run away. And then Ark-san took on everything alone…”

“……”

Although I made an unpleasant face due to Amako’s words, I couldn’t deny them.

Ran away, huh.

The most likely scenario was Ark-san telling the other villagers to run away while he fought by himself. The zombies don’t pose much of a threat alone. In that case, a powerful enemy must have appeared and was outside of our expectations.

However, this is—

“…..!”

When my thoughts reached there, I heard a rustle from a bush. A zombie!? Or so I thought, but what appeared was— The villagers that I thought had already ran away.

When Amako saw the villagers, she quickly hid behind me and put on her hood. In order to have a better grasp of the current situation, I called out to the village head.

“Are you alright!?”

“Y-yeah… Leaving that aside, Ark-dono is…”

“I’ve cured his injuries but I’m still not sure why he’s like this. What happened here?”

Once I said that, the villagers’ expressions turned grim.

Summing up what the village head told me, the villagers were attacked from behind by another monster while fighting the zombies. That monster was exceedingly strong.. their weapons apparently couldn’t even damage it.

Ark-san wanted to prioritize the safety of the villagers. He told everyone to run away and fought against the monster alone…

“……”\nIs that really the truth?

Ark-san was a person entrusted with the duty of guarding over the castle’s entrance in Lyngle.

He was someone who took pride in being able to protect others. If someone like him fought seriously, he should have been able to protect these villagers. But just taking a look at my surroundings, there were no signs of battle at all. It’s unnatural.. especially if you take into consideration that Ark-san was capable of using his flaming sword.

There was also that wound on his neck. If he was bitten by that ‘strong’ monster, then it would have been from behind. I find it hard to believe he would allow a monster to easily sneak up on him like that.

“……You can leave the rest up to us. Please go ahead and return back to the village first. I will carry Ark-san.”

“U-Usato-dono you are…”

“We still haven’t found the Necromancer yet. Also, the monster that attacked Ark-san might still be around somewhere. It’s possible that the monster might head towards the village… That’s why you should all head back first.”

The villagers panicked.

Are they afraid of the monster attacking their village? Or did they not expect me to do this? I don’t know.

…Right now, I should find a place in the forest where no one knows and hide Ark-san. I can entrust Amako to look after him. If the Necromancer isn’t here, I’ll have to go through with my original plan of destroying the limbs of every zombie so they can’t do anything to the villagers…

I’m very reluctant to do so, but sometimes I’m just left with no choice.

“Well then, you should all hurry back to the village so your families know you’re safe.”

“………”

“Hm?”

There was no response.

Thinking that it was strange, I turned around.

However, my arms and legs were suddenly restrained by something.

“…………”

My body couldn’t move?

It was more accurate to say that.. I couldn’t move anything below my neck.

When I looked down, there were bright violet patterns all over my body. I could see the patterns flowing to my arms and legs… It looked like they were binding me.

What’s this?

Just when did these appear…?

“Usato! What’s wrong!?”

Noticing something abnormal was happening, Amako drew closer to me.

But for some reason, the nearby villagers started to attack her. Amako used her foresight to dodge the villagers’ hands but she still looked astonished.

“These people aren’t conscious!”

“What? They are being controlled!?”

I thought the Necromancer could only control the dead.

But weren’t the villagers still alive…?

“Fufufu…”

“!!”

It was a laugh that didn’t come from any of the villagers.

The voice came from the mansion— The open window on the third floor. It was as if they were there since the beginning… They sat by the window and looked down at us in ridicule.

At this moment, the clouds covering the moon had disappeared and the moonlight illuminated the entire mansion. In addition, I was able to vividly see the appearance of the figure sitting by the window.

They had hair that was long enough to reach their shoulders.

However, it wasn’t the brown hair I was used to seeing on her… It was repainted to jet black. Her eye color had completely changed to a bright, bewitching red.

“Neah… San…?”

“Yees, Usato-san.”

She was wearing the same clothes and acted no different than before.. Seeing her like that, I couldn’t hide my confusion.

 

*

 

“………Why are you……”

“Can’t you tell just by looking?”

Neah-san, who was still sitting, replied.

She appeared from the mansion and that’s where the Necromancer is supposed to be. Although I didn’t want to admit it, she is the culprit behind this.. or at least one of the people involved.

“Did you do this to Ark-san…?”

“Fufufu, that’s right. But it seems like you’re calmer than I expected. I thought you would be more flustered…”

I actually want to panic more… But my body is being restricted and I can’t move.

This situation is bad. If these villagers aren’t conscious, it means the girl in front of me might be controlling them.

The villagers’ eyes looked dreadfully hollow…

I looked at Amako who was beside me and muttered,

“……Amako, run away.”

“But Usato…”

“Don’t make me repeat myself! Hurry up and get away from here!! Ark-san and I can’t move! Look at this situation, you’re the only one who can do something right now!”

“…..I got it!!”

It seems like she understood. Her hesitation disappeared and started running towards the village.

The villagers didn’t move.

I turned my attention to Neah-san, who was pleasantly smiling.

I questioned her,

“Are you sure you don’t want to chase after her?”

“Hm, it’ll be fine to catch her later. I’m also interested in the offspring of beastkin but their senses are a little too sharp.”

I see, Neah-san… No, Neah didn’t know about Amako’s magic.

I’m glad I decided to keep it a secret. If Neah had more interest in Amako, it would have been more dangerous.

“So, just what did you do to me?”

“All I did was immobilize your body. It would be difficult to restrain you with just the zombies and villagers, you see.”

She sounded proud and something appeared from her hand… There was a pattern glowing on her palm, similar to the one binding me.

“This is a binding technique. It takes a very, very long time to build up this much binding strength. But the more time you invest, the stronger it will be. It was really difficult! I almost reached my limit before giving up because of how annoying it was… It took 6 hours! Well, I’m sure you can’t understand what I’m saying.”

Neah blew on her hand to erase her technique and jumped off from the window. Black wings sprouted from her back and she gently descended down.

At this point, I was well aware that she wasn’t normal.

Nevertheless, this binding technique… I’m guessing it’s some kind of Magic Art. Before arriving here, she hugged me. That was probably when she planted it on me.

I thought it was strange that she hugged me there but…

“I see, this is a Magic Art. Just like I heard, it seems like it’s quite hard to learn.”

“…….Why do you know about that?”

………..

“Well there was a Magic Arts book in one of the rooms. There was light coming from that room too, so I figured it must be important…”

“……You’re kidding, I forgot to turn it off?”\n\n“Hm, nothing at all.”

I smiled and pretended I didn’t say anything unusual. Fortunately, she only thought she misheard what I said.

In any case, it doesn’t look like she has an intention of releasing me.

“…..If you choose to tell me everything I want to know, you might be released sooner. Ah, of course I’ll know if you’re lying right away. All I have to do is suck some of your blood.”

“I’ll obediently abide… How much do you want to know before releasing me?”

“Yeah, until I lose interest, I guess?”

If I was a normal person, I would gladly accept this proposal. But I was a human summoned from another world.

I must absolutely not talk about that. She treats the unknown like some sort of treasure. If I talked about another world to her, I might end up as her captive for life.

I must avoid that at all costs…

“…What are my other options?”

“What’s the matter? You’ll be released faster if you tell me everything yourself.”

“……”

“Seems like you can’t answer.”

My coat was grabbed and I was pulled forward.

Neah’s curious gaze locked onto mine. She wasn’t using her Charm but I couldn’t look away from her.

“Fufu, once I get the information you want to ‘hide’ out of you, I’ll return back your sanity. Then we’ll have a nice chat over some tea.”

A few seconds. A few minutes. I didn’t know how long, but it felt like a lot of time passed as we kept staring at each other.

All of a sudden, Neah gave an enchanting smile and grabbed my shoulders with her hands.

It was similar to those stories I’ve read before, when a vampire is about to suck blood from a human—

“There’s no way I’m going along with this…!!”

I mustered all my strength and stored power in my right arm.

I felt a surge of pain, running through my arm like lightning.

But I immediately used healing magic to heal it and continued to struggle. I continued this cycle of instantaneous destruction and restoration… I could see that the patterns around my arm were gradually growing dull. I felt like I would breakthrough soon..

I can do it———!

It’s not like I could freely move yet but.. I moved my arm to protect my neck.

Her fangs sank into my hand. Other than the fact that I was bleeding, I was fine. It seemed like she could only control humans she bit on the neck.

“Eufhh!? Whufhhy!?”

“I won’t let you bite me that easily! I’m not tasty either!!”

“Kuh……”

Neah withdrew her mouth from my hand and took a few steps back.

I didn’t think I could just use my brute strength to break through Magic Arts. But it looks like I can do it if I try. I started to do the same to my other limbs, until they could finally move.

“As expected, my trained and tempered body won’t betray me…..!!”

“You just used your strength…? No way!?”

Neah looked at me in amazement as blood dripped from her mouth. Using this chance, I ran towards Ark-san who was lying on the ground.

I should make my escape for now, I can’t wait here to be rescued. I still felt the restriction from the bind but it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for just running away.

“There’s no way I’ll let you get away!! Capture him!!”

While I was running to Ark-san, Neah commanded the villagers. The villagers clung onto my body from every direction but I kept advancing… Since my body didn’t move as I liked right now, fighting back wasn’t an option.

This is something I’m used to… I would carry several injured soldiers all the time, since I’m part of the Rescue Squad. This is nothing.

But it might be difficult if any more weight is added…

While I complained inwardly, Ark-san got up.

“Ark-san!! You’ve finally woken up!! Help me out… a… bit…”

“……..”

“Ah, are you perhaps being controlled?”

As a reply, I got tackled.

This is bad, this is baddd!! If Ark-san is in Neah’s hands, there’s no way I could run away from here. No, even without that, I don’t think there’s much I can do in this situation.

““Gugyah!!””

“Geh…”

Even worse, the zombies from the mansion had started to assemble.

It looks like this is really the end, there’s no way I can handle that many zombies.

It felt like all hope was lost and just when I was about to give up—

“GURUOOOOOOOH!!”

A ferocious growl from a beast resounded throughout the surroundings.

Neah didn’t understand what was going on but I knew what this growl signaled.

“It looks like you’ve finally brought help…”

Ark-san and I couldn’t do anything right now, so there was only one other guy who had enough strength to do something right now. Amako understood that and called for him.

I could hear him rapidly approaching.

In that case, there was only one thing for me to do.

“Bluerin!! Do it right here, including me———!!”

“Guruaaaaaaaaaah!!”

The beast that appeared with a powerful growl had blue fur.. it was the Blue Grizzly, Bluerin. Riding on top of his back was Amako.

Bluerin seemed to have heard my voice and continued running towards me without losing any speed… He then rammed right into the villagers.

Due to Bluerin’s strong ramming attack, the villagers, Ark-san, and I were all blown away— But before I landed on the ground, Bluerin had already moved and cushioned my fall.

Amako helped me up and I thanked the two of them,

“As expected of my partner. You too, Amako… Thank you.”

“Guah.”

‘Naturally’ was what Bluerin seemed to convey while looking content.

“Leaving that aside, we should hurry and get away from here.”

“But…..”

Ark-san— Just as I was about to say that, I stopped.

We couldn’t save Ark-san right now. Perhaps Amako knew that and tried her best to not mention it.

We couldn’t save you right now but… We’ll save you no matter what.

I got onto Bluerin’s back and proclaimed to Neah who was overcome with surprise,

“I’ll come retrieve my comrade tomorrow night… I’ll leave Ark-san in your hands until then, Neah.”

Neah glared at me after I spoke and Bluerin ran in the opposite direction of the mansion.

A Necromancer that is causing a village to decline…

That’s just what it looks like on the outside. It’s just a façade created by a monster who wants to satisfy its lust for knowledge.

A mix of a necromancer and vampire, it’s a formidable opponent— One that we have no choice but to fight.