Chapter 28: Febreezy (2)

‘To think that there was such an easy solution.’

Frankly, Henry was surprised. He loved using the fastest and most convenient methods available, but he had never thought of such an idea. On the other hand, Henry also felt that Hector was able to come up with it just because he was a dead man himself.

“Wait for a while here.”

- I’ll be waiting patiently, so take your time.

Hector was right. Carter was so obsessed with hunting down Black for five years, it was likely that he would not be able to put the matter to rest, even in death. Even though he now resided in the Underworld just like Hector, he probably had new pieces of information that were not written in the report.

Henry headed to Carter’s residence. Most of Carter’s belongings had been collected and handed over to Allonde, but not all. The residence should have been in the same state as when Henry had stopped by a few days ago. After turning on the lights, Henry looked around for items that could contain Carter’s energy. However, contrary to what he thought, Carter’s residence was clean.

‘Oh my… they cleaned it already?’

It appeared that the platoon members had cleaned up the residence.

‘This is a problem. I can’t wake them up in the middle of the night either…’

The platoon members lived together in a common barracks, and it wasn’t possible for Henry to enter as he pleased because of the night patrols. Henry sat down on a nearby chair, thinking for a long time about what memento he could use to temporarily bring Carter back to life.

‘It must be something he loved more than anything else in his life… hmm, perhaps…?’?

Finally, something appropriate came to mind: the ‘Report on Black’ that Carter had written himself while he was still alive.

‘It’s highly likely that Carter valued it more than anything else!’

It just so happened that the report was in Henry’s possession. Henry returned to the residence again, then took out one of the reports that was laid out on the desk and hurriedly began preparing for necromancy.

- By the way, Henry.

While he was drawing the magic circle, Hector, who was watching from the side, suddenly spoke up.

“What?”

- What happens to me if you summon another being?

It was an unexpected question. Henry had honestly never thought of it before.

“Well. I’ve never tried it, so I won’t know. Do you think it would be a problem?”

- I mean, well, yeah…

Henry wasn’t sure, but strangely, he wasn’t worried. Soon, he completed the magic circle. He placed the report inside and began to cast a spell, just as he did with Hector.

“wkRn Ekfktj cu qhwl aktpdu ehrwkslaemf.”

Whooong!

The magic circle was activated, flashing crimson again. Soon, it opened a gap that revealed the Underworld.

- So that’s how it went with me.

Hector looked at the gap curiously, his arms crossed.

‘Seems like Hector is fine.’

Apparently, newly summoned spirits were treated as separate entities from previous ones.

Henry called out Carter’s name to summon his spirit.

“Carter.”

Then, a long time passed.

“Mm?”

The pair of eyes that should have shown themselves at that point were nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, Henry called out Carter’s name once more.

“Carter?”

But once again, there was no response. Henry tried calling out several more times, but each time his calls were met with silence. Henry exchanged puzzled glances with Hector, who had been silently watching. Finally, he spoke up.

- This may just be the old man in me speaking but…

“Mm?”

- Perhaps his soul doesn’t exist in the Underworld?

“What do you mean? His soul doesn’t exist?”

- Well, it's definitely the Underworld over there, but I can’t feel a single soul across it.

“Then do you think the summoning failed?”

- I have no idea. Either the summoning failed, or the offering was wrong. But from what I can tell, both the offering and the magic circle seem perfect.

“And how do you know that?”

- Because the gateway to the Underworld is open.

“...You’re not making this any easier to understand.”

Henry wanted to believe what Hector was saying, but there was no precedent for something like this. Henry eventually erased the magic circle and tried to summon Carter again several times.

But each time, the end result was the same.

‘What exactly am I doing wrong?’

Henry was starting to feel frustrated. He eventually even snuck into the barracks and brought back Carter’s other belongings that were in their possession and tried using them for the ritual. Ultimately, however, the result was always the same.

A few hours later, an exhausted Henry slumped into his chair, his head bowed in defeat.

“This is driving me crazy…”

Because Henry was so new to black magic, he had no choice but to painstakingly double-check every single aspect of the ritual. It was a tedious task, and Henry was growing increasingly frustrated by the consecutive failures. Time was running out.

- This is just a guess, but…

Hector, patiently watching from the side, suddenly spoke up.

- This Carter guy…is it possible that he’s still alive?

“What are you talking about?”

- You said that necromancy is magic that targets spirits, right? Then, what if… this Carter guy is still alive, and that’s why you can’t summon him?

“What nonsense. Even if he wasn’t killed by Black, it's already been so long since he went missing that he would have starved to death by now.”

Henry waved his hand, dismissing Hector’s comment, but Hector doubled down.

- Nothing wrong with checking it, is there? Why not try using a living being to perform the ritual this time?

“And what if something goes wrong?”

- And here I thought you liked taking the convenient route.

“That’s true, but…”

Hector’s confident proposal to experiment with the living caused Henry to have second thoughts.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve thought of another method.”

- You’re so weak-minded. What is it?

“Black’s victims aren’t just Carter himself, but his old subordinates as well.”

- His old subordinates? It's been five years, where are you going to find their relics?

“If this was any other place, that might have been tough. But in the Caliburn Fortress, there is only one place I can think of.” Henry answered with a twinkle in his eyes.

* * *

Henry visited the Cradle of Heroes, a hall where Caliburn’s fallen heroes were memorialized. Usually, these fallen heroes would be buried in the Tomb of Heroes located near the fortress. However, for men like Carter, whose bodies could not be retrieved, they were enshrined along with their belongings in the Cradle of Heroes located inside the fortress.

Henry first gathered information on Carter’s fallen subordinates by reviewing his documents.

Carter had been a man of focus. He had written the names of his fallen subordinates on the other side of his reports in order to keep himself focused on his quest for revenge. Among the names, Henry decided on a subordinate by the name of Holtervelt, as it was the most memorable name out of them all.

With not a single guard on duty, and with Henry’s status as an officer, it was easy to infiltrate the memorial. He sneaked in and looked around for Holtervelt’s name.

‘Found it… here you are.’

The memorial plaque commemorating Holtervelt wasn’t too far away. It was placed in a small glass container and displayed on the wall along with numerous other plaques.

After he paid his respects to the dead, he slid open the container with magic, took out one of the mementos—a pendant—and returned to his residence. Once inside, he quickly re-casted the necromancy spell.

“xhgofk wkrrktl rmfdmf soshk.”

Whooong!

A bright crimson light flashed once again, followed by the chilling rift to the Underworld. This time, a pair of red eyes appeared.

- Success.

“Holtervelt.”

The moment Henry recited his name, Holtervelt’s soul, which had been imprisoned in the Underworld, finally revealed itself.

- …This is?

Holtervelt had a much more innocent face than Henry had imagined. He was huge and burly, but in spite of his size, he had a rather demure voice.

Hector raised an eyebrow.

- What’s wrong with this guy?

“Be quiet.”

Unlike Hector, Holtervelt didn’t seem to realize the situation he was in. Henry approached him and began to speak.

“Mr. Holtervelt?”

- W-who are you? What are you doing with my pendant?

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Henry Morris, Platoon Commander of the special task force under Commander Iselan of Caliburn Fortress.

- Caliburn…? Perhaps, the unit I was serving in…?

“That’s right. I’m also the successor to Commander Carter.”

- Carter? You mean Captain Carter?

“Back then, he was Captain, but he was promoted not too long ago as the platoon commander of the special task force that I’m now in charge of.”

Holtervelt seemed to finally realize what was happening. As soon as he did, he began crying out to Carter like a baby bird looking for its mother.

- W-wait! Captain Carter, ah, no, I mean, Platoon Commander Carter, where is he now? Can I meet him? If you can let me meet him, please let me!

- You two are kindred spirits.

“Quiet.”

Henry calmed Holtervelt and continued speaking.

“Mr. Holtervelt, I apologize for suddenly summoning you from the Underworld out of the blue, but it is precisely because of Commander Carter that I’ve summoned you.”

- Excuse me? Did something happen to the commander?

“Yes. Commander Carter is currently missing because of Black, the very being that killed you.”

It was harder than Henry had expected to explain things to someone who had been dead for several years. It wasn’t easy to bring heartbreaking news to a man who had already suffered death. When everything was said and done, Holtervelt, unable to shed real tears, began to cry out loud.

Some might call such a sight bizarre, but Henry and Hector waited respectfully for him to release his sorrow. After a while, Holtervelt finally regained some of his composure.

- I apologize… I just recalled the times that we had back then…

“No need to apologize. The pain of losing someone close to you is hard to bear, even in death.”

- Still, to think that our commander was fighting alone for the last five years…

He began crying once again, and Henry once again patiently waited.

“Do you remember any noteworthy features that Black had?”

After Holtervelt collected himself, Henry carefully addressed the matter at hand.

- Of course. That’s why I was asking you if I could see Commander Carter.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

With his weak voice came a piece of good news. It was worth all the waiting.

- Some of the information that was reported earlier was incorrect.

“What information?”

- Black is not some transfiguration master. It is not even a Demon.

Henry furrowed his brow when he heard that the valuable data recorded in the five-year-long report was wrong.

“Why do you say so?”

- At that moment, Commander Carter was not present, so he might not have seen it with his own eyes, but I was the last to be killed among Black’s victims, so I got a good look at him. Black is not very good at transfiguration, it is simply a being who wears the skin of others.

“Wears their skin?”

- Yes. It is almost like an evil spirit. At first, I thought it was simply a Black Gehenna from the 7th district, but as soon as it closed the distance between itself and my comrade, it transferred its entire being inside him through his mouth and took over his body in an instant.

‘Transferred its entire being?’

Given this information, several types of demonic beasts came to Henry’s mind.

“But how can you tell that it is not a Demon just based on that?”

- It revealed that by itself. It said that it will soon become a Demon… and that was the last thing I heard.

‘Soon become a Demon?’

At those words, Henry immediately thought of the evolutionary races. Evolutionary races were a type of demonic beast that could evolve into full-fledged Demons. They achieved this through a period of preparation in which they absorbed large amounts of demonic energy.

These clues led Henry to think of multiple possible scenarios.