Chapter 117: A Matter of Mood (8)

"

Hmm.

This is a bit troublesome. Fire doesn’t selectively burn trees, does it? Saving just one person is a hassle."

Gith-Za-Rai extended her bony hand and tapped my shoulder. "Besides, they’re the imperial guard, right? I plan on incorporating all of them into my legion. What do you want to do by saying just one?"

I could only remain silent in response to her question. I wanted to survive, and I intended to save the commander for my own sake. If I couldn’t prevent the assassination of the emperor, then at the very least, I wanted to live.

However, it’s not certain.

Even if the commander survived, there was no guarantee that I would avoid the marquis’ pursuit.

Gith-Za-Rai observed my silence and asked again, "But who exactly do you want to save?"

"Isabelle Simone. She’s the captain of the imperial guard. You can distinguish her from afar," I replied.

"

Oh?

That one?"

"You know her?"

"I just know she’s coming. I was actually planning to turn that child into a high-tier Dullahan... It’d be a bit of a waste to let her live."

Gith-Za-Rai suddenly turned her head and looked down. In the distance, knights were inspecting the highway. The wizards seemed to have already come and gone.

The knights were prodding the ground inch by inch, spreading out to search the roadside bushes. It was the same scene as before. Their attitude of never once looking up toward the hill remained unchanged.

Gith-Za-Rai soon ignored them and turned to face me.

"If I let her live, what’s in it for me?" she asked, seeking to know what I could offer in return.

I muttered my response, my words sounding like a prophecy or a dubious oath. "If you save that woman... someday, I will save you from the fate of inescapable death."

I couldn’t save Gith-Za-Rai this time. Instead, I would flee from the death right before my eyes and keep surviving. I would verify more things, grow as strong as possible, and learn as much about the changes in the world before dying.

Gith-Za-Rai’s bony hand lifted my chin.

Click.

Her eyes gleamed as she looked at me. "Really? Will you save me from death?"

Her lips quivered. The three strands running from her mouth to her chin and neck split open, revealing white bone.

Clatter.

I nodded. "It’s the truth."

From being a fragile F-rank adventurer crushed by other Skeletons, I had died ten times and climbed my way up to this point. If I died twenty or thirty more times and kept repeating my regressions, perhaps I could become strong enough to stand against the ashen knight.

However, just as I thought she was listening seriously, Gith-Za-Rai suddenly grabbed her stomach and burst into raucous laughter. Her white bones curled and flowed like hair, shaking wildly.

"

Puahahaha! Kuhah, haha, puhaha! Kuk kukuk uahahaha! Hahahaha!

"

Her chuckling laughter filled the hill. Thanks to the protective barrier drawn around us, the sound did not carry. None of the knights searching below even glanced up.

"

Hah... ahahahahat... Kukuk!

"

Gith-Za-Rai wouldn’t stop laughing.

"..."

"Y-You’re serious, aren’t you?

Wahahaha!

"

"If not this time, then next time..." I muttered.

"I don’t know who raised someone like you. If the hero’s mausoleum received someone like you, it would be amusing."

Still chuckling intermittently, Gith-Za-Rai rubbed my skull. "It’s fun and interesting, but wait just a moment. I’ll play with you properly once my work is done."

She didn’t believe me, nor did she accept it.

Did I fail?

Swish.

A single bony tendril extended from her back and lifted me into the air, spinning me around. I could see everything below at a glance. Like before, some knights remained on the road while others stood guard near the bushes.

Half resigned, I decided to be completely honest. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Let’s say you won’t change your plan to assassinate the emperor, no matter what. Then what would it take for you to believe in my regression?"

Gith-Za-Rai had already dismissed me as a lunatic skull before. However, even if it was only for my next life, I had to try everything I could.

"What? Regression?" Gith-Za-Rai asked.

"Yes," I replied.

I recounted my encounters with Gith-Za-Rai, but I left out the details about Rubia and Rena. I told her everything from the moment I first met her to when she suddenly kidnapped me.

At first, Gith-Za-Rai smirked at the mention of regression, but unexpectedly, she listened intently to my words.

"

Hmm.

It does sound plausible," Gith-Za-Rai said,

"Do you believe me?"

"Who knows? It’s certainly the kind of thing I’d do. Keep going."

Each time I continued speaking, I heard a faint ding, indicating that the necromancer’s favorability toward me had increased by one.

I continued my story. "And then..."

I mentioned Red Flake, the Confederation Council, and her legion. Gith-Za-Rai's eyes wavered significantly when I described how she would assassinate the emperor.

When I repeated the exact words she had once spoken to Elepher the Wizard, she nodded in agreement. "That’s right. An assassination isn’t an assassination if there are witnesses. But you... you’re trying to create a witness, aren’t you?"

I sighed. "It was a difficult request."

"Yeah. What’s next?"

Gith-Za-Rai’s eyes gleamed with curiosity as she was completely absorbed in my story. I told her how the Ashen Knight would kill her, and I also told her how I would be pursued by the marquis afterward. The story stretched on for hours.

"That’s all," I finally said after telling her everything.

The sun had begun to set in the sky. It was a sign that everyone’s deaths were approaching.

Gith-Za-Rai crossed her arms, tapping her fingers against them as she fell into deep thought. "

Hmm...

"

Unexpected.

Previously, she had laughed and dismissed me as a lunatic skeleton, but now she was taking my story much more seriously.

Gith-Za-Rai nodded. "Alright. It’s a plausible story. Everything you listed is true. If that were all, I wouldn’t be convinced, but the way you described my actions... they all seem like things I would actually do."

With a deep gaze, the great necromancer added, "However, I cannot factor your words into my calculations."

"You can’t factor them in?" I asked.

Gith-Za-Rai didn’t answer. Instead, she glanced into the distance, and I instinctively followed her gaze.

A group of knights on horseback split to the sides of the road.

Gith-Za-Rai tested me. "They’re clearing a path. Guess what I’m thinking right now."

"That it’s ridiculous? That even if someone shouts, '

Long live the emperor

,' it doesn’t matter?"

"That’s correct. But I still can’t base my plans on your words."

"Why not?"

"I..." Gith-Za-Rai slowly said, "I do not trust anything I cannot subjugate. I do not acknowledge what I cannot control. If I were to include such a variable..."

She mimed, grasping the air with her hand. "This little experiment would collapse. The world itself would fracture."

It was if she could never accept such a thing.

"..."

I could say nothing, and Gith-Za-Rai continued watching the emperor’s approaching procession.

"It would destroy my research environment. You said you obtained an essence absorption technique?" Gith-Za-Rai asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Then you’ll grow quickly—perhaps even to my level."

"By... consuming you?"

"Yes. If you wish to meet me in the next life and stop me, then become strong enough. Stop me with force."

Swish.

The bony tendril binding me loosened, and I fell to the ground with a loud thud.

The sound of rustling grass echoed in the air as Gith-Za-Rai stepped forward. "I won’t stop you. Try saving that Isabelle girl if you can."

With a soft thud, a dagger landed beside me. Meanwhile, the sound of the imperial guard’s horseshoes echoed as the emperor’s procession drew closer.

Clatter! Clatter!

"That child?" I asked.

Gith-Za-Rai extended a finger and pointed at the commander. "Yes."

The commander came into view. She wore armor entirely made of mithril, densely engraved with high-level magical inscriptions. Of course, this time, I had no intention of being greedy.

"Does the defendant admit to stripping armor from the corpse of a countess? Does the defendant confess to murder, desecration of a corpse, and the theft of relics?!"

Even now, the scene of the marquis gripping my throat and shaking me in the pouring rain remained vivid in my mind.

I will never take it.

"Alright... do your best to save her."

Gith-Za-Rai smirked before stepping past the barrier.

“Neigh!”

Dozens of gazes were instantly fixated on her.

Dressed in mithril armor, the captain of the imperial guard, Isabelle Simone, coldly called out the names of two knights beside her and said, "Clear the way."

"As you command," one of the knights answered.

The tip of a massive lance gleamed with blue energy. I remained behind the barrier, observing the situation. I couldn’t rush out now.

If I told Isabelle to run, Gith-Za-Rai’s trap might not function properly. That would disrespect the necromancer who had entrusted me with her generosity.

Besides, even if I told Isabelle to flee, would she actually run? Would the captain of the imperial guard flee in a situation like this?

There was no chance of that happening, so only one scenario remained. I would charge in during the chaos and look for an opportunity. I had to find a way to pull out the exhausted Isabelle after she had been drained of energy fighting the legion.

Last time, a Dullahan’s blade had decapitated her.

Clatter! Clatter!

"Wait!"

It’s exactly the same.

A bearded wizard rode forward. The reaction of the knights and the wizard’s words was identical.

"I shall handle this..."

"The three great defenders of Embermere..."

Not a single word was different. My actions in this life seemed to have had no significant impact on the emperor’s procession.

"Do not attack recklessly!"

Clatter! Clatter!

The white-bearded wizard, Erepor, stepped in front of Gith-Za-Rai.

Erepor struggled to maintain his composure from atop his horse as he asked, "What is your business?"

Gith-Za-Rai didn’t even look at him properly. She simply yawned and waved her hand downward a few times.

"

Haaah

... Collapse. Collapse."

Rumble!

In an instant, the ground caved in.

I lunged forward in a rush and exclaimed, "Why so soon?"

Seeing me step beyond the barrier, Gith-Za-Rai murmured, "Talked too much. Got a bit sleepy."

“Neigh!”

"Aaaagh!"

"It’s a trap! Ambush! Ambush!"

Thud! Slash!

Screams and wails erupted everywhere. The sound of metal tearing and flesh being pierced filled the air. The slaughter had begun.

Stealth. Detection. Sprint.

I quickly leaped into the pit. Unlike before, no javelins flew toward Gith-Za-Rai. The emperor’s procession had been caught off guard, less prepared than in previous cycles. Many had failed to react quickly, making the trap even more effective.

Isabelle... she’s not dead, is she?

Standing atop the pit, I searched for Isabelle in her mithril armor. The scene inside was utter chaos.

Clang! Clang!

“Aagh! Aaaaagh!”

The massive undead legion was overwhelming the imperial guards.

There she is.

Amidst the mayhem, Isabelle was a silver blur, cutting through waves of white bone as she pushed forward.

This won’t be easy...

Unyielding Owain stepped in her path and bellowed, "Stop, living one! Prove your honor with your blade!"

Clang!

Shrouded in black smoke, a cursed blade clashed fiercely against Isabelle’s silver-white sword. Neither side gave an inch in the initial strike.

I was calculating a path to approach Isabelle’s back when a hunched wizard unleashed compressed flames stored within a crystal sphere at the front of the imperial guards.

"

Hyaat!

"

Boom!

The condensed fire erupted, igniting the air and blasting toward the Skeletons.

Crackle! Clatter! Clatter!

Dozens of Skeletons were caught in the explosion, sent flying into the air before shattering across the battlefield. The five guards standing in the center of the detonation weren’t blown apart, but their bodies were set ablaze, and they flailed in agony.

"

Aaagh! Aaaaah!

"

"It burns! It burns!"

To do that to their own allies...

Perhaps due to panic, the wizards were losing control even faster than before.

Jumping in now would be a waste.

I waited. A Dullahan, still standing despite taking the blast head-on, came into view.

Gilaut, was it?

"

Hmph

. Freeze," the white-bearded wizard chanted.

Crackle!

The knights who had been burning moments ago and Gilaut—who had endured the explosion—were instantly encased in ice.

Erepor wasn’t finished, as golden light began to surge from his crystal sphere.

"

Tsk...

You aged poorly, old man!" Gith-Za-Rai exclaimed, swinging her blade.

Magic Reversal.

At her quiet incantation, the lightning sealed within the crystal sphere failed to release, backfiring and exploding in reverse.

Now’s my time to move.

With Gith-Za-Rai handling the wizards, the battlefield was being cleared rapidly.

I threw myself into the pit.

The necromancer’s legion still recognized me as an ally, making my approach to Isabelle far easier. Two Dullahans were already attacking her, and the longer the fight dragged on, the more the balance tipped against her.

At this rate, she’ll die.

A towering Dullahan swung a massive two-handed sword toward Isabelle’s waist. I hurriedly thrust my sword to intercept it.

Clang!

The cursed blade crashed against my sword, sending painful tremors through my hands.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The Dullahan, startled by the unexpected resistance, took a step back. Both Dullahans turned their gazes toward me.

"Who are you?"

"We serve our master’s command—why do you stand in our way?"

"Strange... I don’t recall another like you among us five."

I subtly revealed Gith-Za-Rai’s black dagger to them and said, "Gentlemen, if you don’t mind, I need a moment."

The two Dullahans lowered their swords slightly.

"

Hmm...

"

One of them withdrew and leaped back onto the battlefield, eager to continue the fight.

That should speed things up.

Ignoring Owain’s awkward stare, I turned to face Isabelle directly. "Isabelle Simone."

Isabelle stammered, "Wh-What?!"

Even with her helmet on, she visibly tensed as she pointed her sword at me. However, the fact that an enemy had just rescued her—combined with hearing her name spoken so directly—left a note of confusion in her voice.

There was no time, so I decided to bluff on the spot. "Imperial Lieutenant Isabelle Simone. Marquis Leandro von Batienne has been desperately searching for you."

Clink.

The captain of the imperial guards visibly flinched.