Chapter 568

Alchemy and dark magic.

Undead and alchemy.

Neither Harriet nor I could figure out how they were connected.

Our initial decision was to send Sarkegar, who was currently stationed at the Allied encampment, to the Temple. Then, Harriet convened a meeting with the Senate to see if they could deduce anything from the clues that we currently had.

Both the head of Saturday, Antirianus, and the head of Friday, Lruien, had studied alchemy for a very long time. They might have knowledge that would help us infer, to some extent, what the Empire might be attempting.

We did not know if Sarkegar would manage to breach the laboratory’s security first, or if a plausible deduction would emerge from the Senate meeting.

Either way, it was crucial that we understood what possibilities the Empire was exploring. Not just because whatever it was might be beneficial to the war effort, but also because it was important to determine whether it would pose a threat to us in the future.

“Ugh...”

I returned to Ellen’s room after enduring a long night.

I had been trapped by Harriet in my cat form, and arrived at the capital still as a cat, since I could only enter as a cat even if I returned to my human form.

It was morning.

Even in winter, the morning light was warm as it fell on Ellen’s face.

Ellen, who was lying down, stretched with her eyes half-open.

It seemed almost like a convulsion, as if she were trying to awaken a dead body.

She stretched from head to toe, her body pulled into a straight line, and began to tremble.

Brrrr...

‘Isn’t she going to break something if she stretches like that? Is she having a spasm?’

“Ugh... Ugh...”

After stretching for a long time and twisting her body about, Ellen, still lying down, opened her eyes wide and looked around.

‘Is she looking for me?’

Meow.

Without even rubbing her eyes, Ellen picked me up from where I sat by the bedside and placed me on her chest, hugging me tightly.

‘Oh...’

Honestly, I was so used to it that it wasn’t even surprising anymore.

“Good night...” Ellen murmured.

Meow!

‘Wait, I thought you were stretching to get up?!’

Ellen closed her eyes again and slept for another two hours.

***

Ellen had gone as limp as a jellyfish.

While it was nice to see her completely relaxed, she somehow seemed almost lifeless.

After two hours, Ellen finally opened her eyes. Still looking disheveled and without going to wash up, she sat me down in front of her, hugging a pillow and staring at me intently.

She looked completely disheveled, but seeing someone who was usually so immaculate fall apart like that... was honestly just adorable.

Then, without saying a word, she suddenly started fiddling with my head and prodding my waist.

After that, she tapped the bridge of my nose for a bit, then out of nowhere, opened her mouth wide and buried her face in my neck for a while.

She seemed to have turned into one of those shut-ins who spent the whole day just staring at a cat.

‘Isn’t she hungry?’

Growl...

Her stomach kept rumbling, but Ellen just stared at me blankly, as if even eating was a bother to her.

‘Is she malfunctioning? Is she becoming someone who finds everything else in life bothersome because of me?

‘Is it time for the cat to exit for the greater good?’

In the end, we ended up just staring at each other like a scene out of some bizarre movie.

Seeing her pick me up and roll around on the bed alone, though, made me feel as though some part of Ellen was still normal, which was ultimately a good thing.

She hadn’t completely changed, and she could still act like a child if she wanted to.

But we couldn’t spend the whole day like that.

Growl...

Her stomach kept growling, but she just kept rolling around.

“I’m hungry...”

‘Well, instead of just mumbling, go eat!’

In the end, I got tired of her pathetic rolling around, stuck in between sleep and the thought of getting up, so I punched Ellen’s cheek a few times.

Pow, pow!

Meow!

Ellen’s eyes flew wide open and she stared at me.

Instead of getting angry, she offered her cheek as if asking for more.

The cat-punch had the opposite effect of what I was going for.

‘Do you want to get scolded by me?’

Hiss!

“Hmm, alright.”

Finally, as if she understood me, Ellen staggered up and headed to the shower.

***

Ellen finally got up, washed herself, changed into casual clothes, and went out into the hallway.

She had lazed around so much that it was already close to lunchtime.

Ellen walked down the hallway, checking to see if I was following her well.

It seemed she intended to feed me while having her lunch.

There was a change in the Class A dormitory from the previous day.

“Heinrich?”

“Oh, hi Ellen.”

For some reason, Heinrich was there. He seemed to have just arrived.

“I decided to rest here during the winter too,” he explained.

“I see.”

Heinrich looked at me and nodded in understanding. It seemed that a few others might return to the dormitory during this winter break.

At this rate, everyone might end up staying at the Temple before long.

Ellen pointed at the banquet hall instead of the dormitory dining hall.

“You can have meals at the banquet hall,” she explained to Heinrich. “The dormitory dining hall is closed.”

“Oh... Right, that makes sense.”

Having heard that explanation, Heinrich decided to follow her to get a meal.

I wondered how things were at the Kernstadt military base.

I hadn’t been too concerned after realizing that Louise von Schwartz wouldn’t kill Heinrich.

His expression did not look too glum, though, so it seemed there weren’t any significant issues.

I couldn’t be sure, but Louise von Schwartz seemed rather stern—and surprisingly, that didn’t seem to be a problem.

Honestly, I had no reason or need to concern myself with Heinrich’s issues.

“Are you the only one in our dormitory?” Heinrich asked.

Since Heinrich was affiliated with the Kernstadt military, he might not be aware of the situation surrounding the Royal Class, though he would know everything he needed to know.

“Yes.”

“What about Class B?”

“Ludwig, Dettomorian, Cristina, Anna, and Louis—the five of them are here. There might be more, but I don’t know.”

“That’s quite a lot.”

“Yes.”

While Ludwig had been forced to return, Heinrich seemed quite surprised that there were five members from Class B in the Temple.

“By the way... You seem to like it a lot,” Heinrich said, his gaze bouncing back and forth between me and Ellen.

“It’s cute,” Ellen said casually as she continued to walk down the hallway.

***

The three researchers weren’t present in the banquet hall during lunchtime. They had probably headed to the university research building after breakfast.

Of course, Ludwig, who was on guard duty, wasn’t there, and Dettomorian was also absent, likely off doing his own thing.

“Hmm?”

Heinrich tilted his head, puzzled that there were no classmates present, despite hearing that there were five members from Class B in the dormitory.

“Where did everyone go?” Heinrich asked as he sat across from Ellen with his meal.

“Ludwig is doing guard duty. The three are doing some magic research. Dettomorian... He has his own things to do.”

Heinrich wondered if Ellen knew what Dettomorian was up to.

“Guard duty?” he asked about Ludwig instead. “In that condition?”

“Yes.”

“Will he be alright?”

Even though Ludwig had already reached superhuman levels, Heinrich was still worried about Ludwig standing guard in his condition. He seemed to think Ludwig was incredibly determined for pushing himself like that.

“I don’t think he will face anything too dangerous,” Ellen said.

Though his combat power had decreased, he was still skilled, and as long as he could use Mana Reinforcement, he wouldn’t be easily defeated.

In fact, Ludwig could probably respond to situations that would usually require not just a single squad but a whole platoon.

There’s a reason they say even a fallen great still has worth.

From the moment Ludwig was assigned to be on duty, he would be treated as an elite among elites.

Heinrich ate his meal while I ate the scrambled eggs Ellen had given me.

Being fed had become so natural that I was starting to take it for granted, which was dangerous.

Anyway, Ellen had returned to the Temple, and so had Heinrich.

If Erhi, Kaier, and others returned one by one, would the Temple regain its old atmosphere? If it did, it would only be a limited respite.

“Hmm...”

Heinrich seemed lost in thought, even during the meal.

“What’s wrong?” Ellen asked, and Heinrich tilted his head.

“Well... I’m wondering if it’s right for me to just relax here,” he said.

Ellen gave him a questioning glance.

“Ludwig is doing guard duty in his condition, so isn’t it wrong for me to just relax...?”

‘No! If you came here to rest, just rest! Why are you trying to emulate someone who isn’t even resting properly when he’s supposed to? If you’re not going to rest, why did you even come back here?’

“I was planning to start moving soon as well,” Ellen agreed, as if she had been thinking the same thing.

I was curious why Ellen had been so lazy thus far, but it looked like she was taking a good, long break to get herself ready for something.

Apparently, today was Ellen’s last day of rest. No wonder she had been lazing around so much earlier on.

Ellen took a bite of sausage. “I’m planning to check out the outskirts tomorrow,” she said “You can take care of half of it.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s do that.”

A guy who wanted to work as soon as he returned, and a girl who immediately assigned work to such a guy...

Meow!

“Do you want to come too?”

Meow!

As a creature that just ate and played, I was the most exasperated.

***

In Rajak, the royal castle and capital of Edina, a meeting was taking place in the Senate meeting room.

“Dark magic and alchemy are practically inseparable,” said Antirianus, head of the family of Saturday, with a sinister smile, after hearing what Reinhart had uncovered.

There were six people present: the five Vampire Lords and the secretary, Harriet de Saint-Ouen.

No others were needed.

The topic of the meeting was magic, and high-level magic, at that.

At Antirianus’s words, Harriet’s lips twisted. “While they are closely related, isn’t it a bit much to say they’re inseparable...?”

“As you know, Secretary, to reach the pinnacle of any magic, different fields need to intermingle,” Antirianus replied.

“Yes... I know that...”

“Even summoning a meteor shower requires a simultaneous understanding of numerous magical systems. Alchemy and dark magic share just such a relationship.”

Reaching the extremes of any magic required the intermingling of two, or even several, disciplines.

In that sense, all magical systems might be called inseparable.

“But we need to know what the Empire is trying to do, not just theories or concepts. We know the Empire is stealing the bodies of past heroes and warriors, just like how we raised the remains of past saints into Death Knights to increase our combat power.”

It was Eleris who replied, “Creating high-level undead similar to Death Knights doesn’t necessarily require alchemy; a dark mage alone is sufficient, Secretary. But if alchemy is involved... That suggests something other than simply creating undead.”

“However, just because there is an alchemist assisting them doesn’t necessarily mean alchemy is involved in the actual work,” Galarsh murmured with his arms crossed. “They could be conducting entirely separate research.”

Cristina was the only confirmed alchemist working in the research lab.

“And that alchemist girl’s talents aren’t necessarily limited to alchemy.”

Although Anna had helped with the creation of Moonshine, Moonshine was not a product of dark magic. Similarly, Cristina might have been assisting with the research using her knowledge of dark magic rather than alchemy.

Was it truly a collaboration of the two magical systems? Or was only one branch of magic involved?

Was it solely dark magic?

“We must consider the worst-case scenario,” Lruien added. “That alchemy and dark magic have intersected, and the remains of warriors are being used. If that is true, then what could they possibly be planning? We need to examine this scenario, don’t we?”

“Indeed.”

They had to assume the worst-case scenario, whether or not it was happening. They had to predict whether or not it posed a threat to Edina.

There was no point in looking at the situation optimistically.

“The heads of the Thursday and Saturday families are well-versed in alchemy, isn’t that right? Do you have any insights?” Harriet asked.

“The alchemy that the Thursday family practices mainly involves flora. It’s rather pure, you could say. Since we don’t deal with alchemy close to dark magic or the forbidden arts, I honestly have no clue...” Lruien said, shaking her head.

Thursday (木曜).

As mentioned, they pursued a very pure field of alchemy.

Their knowledge of alchemy related to flora played a significant part in securing Rajak’s food supply. However, they lacked knowledge related to undead or forbidden arts.

Alchemy was a vast field on its own.

Since Lruien seemed to have no clue, Harriet reluctantly looked over at Antirianus.

“What about the head of Saturday?” Harriet asked.

“You seem to have high expectations,” Antirianus said.

“It might be rude to say this, but I would find it exceedingly strange if the head of Saturday did not know anything about this,” Harriet commented.

Everyone nodded in agreement with Harriet.

Alchemy related to dark magic and the resurrection of corpses...

If it was wicked, evil, and cruel, that perverted lunatic vampire wouldn’t be ignorant of it.