Chapter 112: The House of Flesh (6)

After freeing everyone, Karnak and his group successfully escaped the house of flesh. Though escape made it sound perilous, in reality, there was no danger. The only area that had remained under the witch’s control was the hall. The rest of the domain was already under Karnak’s influence, and the witch was already gone. Thus, they simply walked to the entrance, exited, and sealed the infernal gateway behind them. Once everyone was safely outside, the house of flesh vanished.

"It seems that with the witch’s demise, this place can no longer exist," Serati observed.

In truth, Karnak had been the one to dismiss it, but a different explanation was required. As the gateway to hell closed, the thick fog blanketing the area dissipated. The witch’s forest returned to its ordinary, serene state. Upon their return to Swindler Fortress, Karnak and his party were hailed as heroes.

"Thank you."

"You’ve saved our lives."

No one dared to mock them as mere denizens of the Seven Kingdoms anymore. Even the haughty Leocolt’s demeanor had shifted completely.

"You have saved my life. I will never forget this debt."

Though arrogant, Leocolt was not someone who would dismiss his saviors.

"If ever you need assistance in the empire, do not hesitate to call upon me. I will aid you however I can."

Thus, Karnak had secured a favor from the Brigade of Purification. It was a considerable boon for merely a few days’ delay. But it wasn’t simply because Karnak had saved them that their attitudes toward him changed. The moment they returned to the fortress, Stronoff made an urgent declaration to his peers.

—We must uncover the secrets of his magic!

As a mage himself, Stronoff immediately recognized the value of Karnak’s spells. Magic that could turn a necromancer’s powers against them? Such a feat was unprecedented. Even the Three Archmages had not developed such a technique.

Well, to be fair, it wasn’t that they hadn’t been capable—it was that they hadn’t needed to. The Shadow of Doom had only begun spreading across the world a few years ago. Before that, no one had seen the need for such magic.

Now, however, the timing made Stronoff even more curious. How could such a young mage, barely twenty years old and merely of the sixth circle, use magic this groundbreaking? There was no way he had developed it personally.

Yet, he dared not ask outright. Among mages, knowledge was power, authority, and wealth. Attempting to pry into another mage’s secrets was tantamount to theft.

"...For these reasons, it seems they’re all too hesitant to directly inquire about Sir Karnak’s magic," Alius remarked.

Serati shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, he’s not going to reveal it so easily, obviously."

Exactly how many atrocities had Karnak committed? It was only obvious that he would naturally hide such knowledge, but Alius seemed to interpret her words differently.

”True. He doesn’t seem like the type to enjoy conversations anyway."

"Sir Karnak?"

"Yes. He’s always been such a reserved person. The same goes for Sir Varos."

"Sir Varos?"

Serati was momentarily taken aback. If Karnak and Varos were anything, they were among the most talkative people she’d ever met. Even in the middle of battle, they never missed a chance to boast or crack a comment.

Reserved? Seriously?

Then again, when she thought about it, Alius wasn’t entirely wrong.

Wait a second... we’ve been talking almost exclusively through telepathy, haven’t we?

To an outsider, Karnak and Varos might indeed seem like stoic and composed individuals—an enigmatic mage and a dignified knight.

No, but that’s completely wrong! They’re such chatterboxes!

Still, Serati couldn’t exactly correct the misconception without blowing their cover. She sighed internally and nodded along.

"Right... Both of them are so reserved... Sure... That’s absolutely true..."

In any case, it seemed unlikely that Stronoff would press Karnak about his magic anytime soon. Considering the gravity of the situation, it appeared he intended to wait until returning to the Knights’ headquarters before formally attempting any contact.

As Serati relayed the current situation to Karnak, she voiced her concerns. "Are you sure it’s okay to draw this much attention, Sir Karnak? Haven’t you been trying to avoid standing out all this time?"

When it came to the source of the magic, they could pass it off as the teachings of Dallas, the great court mage from 150 years ago, but still...

"What if someone asks you to teach them?"

Karnak was unfazed.

"I’ll teach them."

"What? Seriously? That’s okay?"

"I already told you, didn’t I? This is actual magic. I designed it to be shared with the world from the start."

Of course, he only intended to reveal the portion related to the interference spell against necromancy, not the full extent of chaos magic. Chaos magic had initially been developed so Karnak could pose as a mage, and the results barely differed from traditional magic. However, as the world grew more chaotic and encounters with necromancers became frequent, he found himself secretly relying on necromancy more often than not.

"The longer the trail, the likelier it is that someone will pick up on it."

There were two ways to deal with an obvious trail: either cut it off entirely or ensure everyone else had a long trail, too.

"What do you think will happen if other mages start using necromancy-interference spells?"

After a moment of thought, Serati replied, "It’ll become easier for more mages to deal with necromancers."

"There’s a more important point," Karnak said with a grin. "It means other mages will also start indirectly handling the powers of darkness."

If Karnak alone wielded magic and dark powers, it would raise suspicion. But if other mages did the same? Then it’d just be a common occurrence.

"I can’t keep using necromancy in secret forever, can I? I need to act before I get caught."

Varos, listening intently, voiced his concern. "But wouldn’t that put you at risk, young master?”

He would essentially be distributing his own fatal weakness as a necromancer to other mages. Who could say for sure that it wouldn’t come back to haunt him?

Karnak waved him off casually. “It’s fine. I’m not planning to live as a necromancer anymore. And even if I do use necromancy, it wouldn’t pose a problem to me.”

The interference spell was incredibly difficult for anyone else to master. The spell required a precise understanding of the targeted necromancy to be effective. The caster had to possess more knowledge and wisdom than the necromancer they were targeting.

"And there’s no way a necromancer more knowledgeable than me exists in this world, is there?"

"Uh... no, I suppose not," Serati muttered, her expression a mixture of admiration and disbelief. It wasn’t that she found his confidence reassuring. Rather, it was so absurdly bold she was left speechless.

Varos, on the other hand, still seemed uneasy. "How will you explain how you manage to use it so effectively, though? That would mean you know a lot about necromancy, right?"

"I’ll just claim I’m a natural genius who operates on intuition. There are rare cases of such prodigies, aren’t there?"

And if anyone couldn’t master it, he’d simply dismiss them with,

“That’s because of your incompetence, not my problem."

"That’s the gist of it."

Varos finally cracked a smile, seemingly reassured. "That should work. Then it’s fine to let the world know about this."

With a sly glint in his eye, Varos added, "But you won’t share it for free, right?"

"Of course not. Nothing in this world is free.”

Karnak’s grin widened as he straightened his posture. He was planning on charging plenty for the magic, an obscene amount, in fact. Satisfied with his plan, he nodded to himself.

"Honestly, this worked out better than expected. I was originally going to reveal this in Grental territory, little by little."

The interference spell had been developed using the framework of techniques stolen from the Dark Cult. That meant someone in the cult might recognize its origins. So what? Well, it would mean one thing.

"That just means we’ve found the culprit."

If anyone recognized the spell, they were either someone who had traversed time or someone closely connected to such a figure.

"We can’t keep chasing invisible enemies forever, can we?"

The original plan had been to plant a bait while securing Hudel. However, the Brigade of Purification were an organization with influence across the entire empire, making this an even better opportunity to spread the bait widely.

Karnak rubbed his neck as he muttered, "We might’ve been delayed a little, but in the end, everything worked out quite well."

They had saved lives, built connections with the Brigade of Purification, and even improved their reputation. By all accounts, it was a rather human-like accomplishment.

"What do you think, Serati?"

Karnak and Varos both turned to her with expectant expressions, like students awaiting a teacher’s evaluation.

Serati nodded reluctantly with a bitter smile.

"Surprisingly, I think you really did well this time.”

***

Lapicel was safe and sound at the inn.

"Welcome back, Sir Karnak!”

"How are you, Lapicel? Everything okay?”

"Everyone’s been so kind to me!"

Of course they were. Even though they were living in turbulent times, and even though leaving a young girl in a foreign town was dangerous, it had only been two days.

Moreover, they’d left her in a village fortified by a regular army, paid the innkeeper extra to keep an eye on her, and she was under the protection of a powerful aura user, an advanced mage, and a high-ranking priest.

If anything had gone wrong?

"Then we would have to find out who’s behind the culprit.”

"Exactly. Something like that would never happen unless there’s a huge conspiracy.”

Even after reuniting with Lapicel, they couldn’t leave Swindler Fortress right away. They still had unfinished business. The rescued members of the Brigade of Purification and Alius were fine. However, the first witch-hunting party, abducted a week earlier, wasn’t in such good shape.

While they showed no visible physical injuries, prolonged consumption of the witch’s confections had left them mentally dulled and noticeably plumper. Considering what those confections were made of, they couldn’t simply leave the victims untreated. So, Alius spent the next day tending to them with divine magic.

Normally, this would have been the responsibility of Felix, the second-class inquisitor stationed at Swindler Fortress. Unfortunately, he too had been captured earlier and shared the same plump predicament. Alius sighed while casting divine spells on the bedridden victims, one by one.

”How tragic..."

He trailed off, hesitating. Even in their addled states, the victims were smiling brightly, their cheeks plump and skin glowing with an almost radiant sheen.

"...Though, they do seem oddly happy."

Karnak and his companions chuckled quietly.

"Looks like they were fed well.”

"Didn’t the witch keep saying she’d fatten them up?”

"Classic grandmotherly behavior, really."

Ultimately, there didn’t seem to be any serious issues. In a few days, the victims would likely recover fully. Meanwhile, Alius extended minor healing spells to other residents of the fortress. It was customary for traveling priests to bestow blessings upon the locals when passing through border regions. This tradition was part of why Karnak’s group had been allowed to pass through the border checkpoint so easily.

After all, a foreign priest meant that the residents could receive free healing. But that wasn’t to say that Felix was normally a money-grubber. It was simply that the doctrine of the seven goddesses church disallowed free healing without reason. Once all the patients had stabilized, Karnak and his group were finally able to leave the fortress.

"Things were quite hectic," Alius remarked as they rode along a winding mountain trail. "By the way, what do you think that witch was?"

The remnants of the witch’s presence had all but vanished, leaving the Brigade of Purification struggling to discern the truth of the matter.

"Not even a corpse was left behind..."

Karnak nodded solemnly. "Indeed, not even a corpse."

And he smiled inwardly.

Technically, I didn’t lie.

His right hand slipped into his robe, brushing against a small, square object. The surface rippled with shadows. It was an ominous black hexagonal cube.

There’s no corpse, after all. No corpse at all.