Chapter 118 – 118. Chasing the Necromancer (1)
When a person encounters a situation he cannot understand or cannot solve, he goes through three processes before accepting the situation with his head.
The first is ‘negative’.
“Dog, don’t bullshit! There’s no way that’s possible!”
“Why do you think it is impossible?”
“He really uses the souls of the dead as his servants… There’s no way normal humans could do that…”
If they knew how, if they had the means to resist, the bandits wouldn’t have followed the necromancer.
However, they did not have the ability, means, or wisdom to counter the necromancer.
Eun-hyun was able to dig into their psychology even more easily because she had a stupid and narrow-minded mindset that arbitrarily decided that it was impossible because she was impossible, and even the people of the kingdom where various talents were gathered.
“We have a good priest on our side. Have you heard? It’s called ‘Flower of Pernin’.”
“Flowers of Pernin?”
“Yes. You are the princess of the Duke of Armitas, the ducal family of this country, and you are also the one who purged all the humanoid chimeras of the necromancer in the forest before you wiped out the bandits this time.”
“They… I’ve taken care of everything… ?”
The bandit, who heard Eunhyeon’s words, asked with a surprised expression on his face.
“Yes. If you provide us with information and cooperate in capturing them, we will ask the priest to prevent the necromancer from touching your soul after your execution.”
“…”
When the bandit heard Eunhyeon’s suggestion, he didn’t answer right away.
He was thinking hard, trying to figure out in his head whether his proposal was true or not.
It was the moment when I entered the second stage, ‘Doubt’.
Amidst all the possibilities presented, he was thinking about whether it would really be a rope of hope or a rotten rope.
“How can I trust you? Even the priest you mentioned has not been properly proven, so I can’t blindly trust you! Just kill me!”
Unfortunately, the third step, ‘adaptation’, did not work.
The bandits know how horrific the humanoid chimeras were, who had the appearance of synthesizing demons into human corpses.
That’s why, under the necromancer, he did everything he was told to do like a dog, and he has lived until now.
The bandit now divulged the information, but if he couldn’t defeat the necromancer, he was filled with fear that when he was executed, his soul would belong to the necromancer and he would have to live in a less human form for the rest of his life.
Now that he was caught like this, the bandit had no other thoughts than to die in peace rather than trembling in fear.
While the bandit was holding out like that, the door to the interrogation room opened and the other bandits entered the interrogation room one by one under the leadership of Artia’s members.
“… What?”
The bandit who was talking with Eun-hyeon frowned when he saw his fellow bandits entering the interrogation room one after another.
“What? Why did you call us?”
“You… Did you really say that?”
“It couldn’t have been!”
When 10 bandits gathered in one place, the interrogation room instantly became noisy.
Match!
Eunhyeon slapped her palm once, drawing the attention of the raucous bandits to herself.
“Now, let me introduce myself again. I am the man in charge of interrogating you this time.
“Hey, what is it? Who is that guy?”
The bandits who heard Eun-hyeon’s introduction made a noise, and another bandit asked a question to the bandit who was talking to Eun-hyeon in the interrogation room, but he made a puzzled expression and didn’t answer anything.
“Hey, it doesn’t matter what you say. Because we’re not blowing information. Why don’t we just force us to change the content of the execution negotiations right now? With a realistic proposal that is a little more appetizing.”
“… ! Maybe they’ll set us free…”
“That is impossible. It is also beyond my power, and you are sinners who killed and plundered the kingdom’s people. Executions do not change.”
“Then what the hell…”
“Let’s delay the timing of the execution. After killing the necromancer.”
“What the hell does that mean! It’s all the same anyway!”
“If only the necromancer is dealt with, you can die like a human. Wouldn’t it be better than becoming a corpse and not being able to die with that terrible look and suffering for the rest of your life?”
“… ! That, that…”
“Now, think carefully. Those of you who have already been decided cannot change the verdict of execution. But we can change the timing of the execution. If you give us the information, the necromancer will get angry at you for selling his information and settle all of your souls into the corpses and turn them into monsters.”
“…”
“But unless we execute you, there is no way the necromancer can do anything about you right now. The moment a necromancer can demonstrate his abilities is after you die. So, after dealing with the necromancer using the information you provided, I propose that you be executed.”
At Eunhyeon’s words, “You can die like a human being,” The bandits started to show agitation.
Certainly, it was a much more realistic and believable proposal than the method through the priest who had previously purified all the humanoid chimeras.
However, not all bandits were convinced by his proposal.
“Are you telling us to believe that right now?! There’s no guarantee that this country can reliably deal with that bastard! I don’t want to take the risk of just stepping out and providing information and then dying!”
“Anyway, if the necromancer exists, you are not free even after death.”
“What?”
“Do you really think the necromancer abandoned you and fled without doing anything to you?”
“… What does that mean?”
“Your body has a curse engraved by a necromancer. It’s a bad curse that says, ‘belonging to the soul’, that your souls will be subordinated to the necromancer as soon as you die.”
“That’s a lie! Don’t mislead us with bullshit!”
“That’s right! How can we believe what you said!”
“If you have such a curse, prove it right away!”
The bandits who heard Eun-hyeon’s words started to stir and the inside of the interrogation room became noisy.
“Unfortunately, that is difficult. Because there’s no way to prove it. It’s just the energy of the curse that I can only see with my own eyes. And hopefully… Did you really think that the necromancer who treated you like dogs would leave you alone?”
“…”
“It was said that you were not free at the point of encountering that monster anyway. Living in fear for the rest of your life, and even dying, you can’t reach Buddhahood, and your soul is played by that monster.”
At Eunhyeon’s point, the bandits all shut up.
They also knew very well that the necromancer thought of them as bandits, just tools to collect corpses, or expendable items.
That’s why I don’t want to be subordinate to him like that even after death, so I brought the corpses of the villagers I attacked like dogs.
“At least, don’t you see any hope in the proposal presented by us?”
“…”
“This is the condition I can offer. Please think carefully and I hope you come up with a good answer.”
Eunhyun smiled and finished her words, turned around and left the interrogation room.
A large number of bandits entered, and outside the interrogation room, where the door was not closed, Riod, the two members who interrogated the bandits, and Eleanor, a total of four people, were looking at Eun-hyeon with strange expressions.
“What are you doing here, Princess?”
“You said you were going to interrogate. Because I plan to participate in catching that necromancer.”
“Well, that’s right.”
“However… Did you really intend to have me hold a rite to make the spirits of those bandits holy?”
“No.”
Even though the door was closed, it seemed that the contents of the interrogation room had leaked out.
When I glanced at Riod and asked if the soundproofing was a mess, he only had a look on his face saying that the soundproofing was no big deal during the criminals’ interrogation.
Eleanor asked Eunhyeon again when she was laughing at her absurdity.
“Then why did you make that suggestion in the first place?”
Eleanor had a terribly disgusted expression on her face at the thought of holding a ceremony to bring the bandits who had raped women and killed many people to peace.
“It was just a suggestion. To see how the opponent comes out.”
“Then what if you just accepted the offer?”
“I would have eaten the information and hit the back of the head. Anyway, the quality of the information I spit out at that point wouldn’t have been so good anyway. I threw the bait, so now I just have to wait for the catch.”
Not understanding the meaning of those words, Eleanor tilted her head.
“Yes?”
“Put all the bandits in the Riod interrogation room back to the prison. In solitary confinement so that we cannot discuss each other. You shouldn’t give them the slightest bit of communication or the means to have a conversation.”
“I get it.”
“And…”
Glance
As Eun-hyeon’s eyes turned to the two members, Artia’s members avoided Eun-hyeon’s gaze with trembling faces.
Eunhyun’s expression as she looked at the members with a smile on her face was like a snake staring at its prey.
“Do you two do some acting?”
In order to accept the third stage, ‘adaptation’, the snake prepared to spread groundbaits.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Shit… What the hell am I supposed to do…”
The bandit, imprisoned in solitary confinement, was troubled by tearing out his hair.
If the curse of ‘resignation of the soul’ mentioned by Eunhyeon is real, then as soon as one dies, one’s soul is reverted to the necromancer, regardless of whether information is leaked or not.
If so, it would be beneficial for him to reveal all the information he has and stick to the kingdom so that Eunhyeon and the people of the kingdom can deal with the necromancer.
However, Eun-hyeon’s suggestion and the curse he talked about, the ‘reversion of the soul’, are all Eun-hyeon’s claims, and his words have not been proven.
The bandit, who was dominated by the fear of the necromancer, was in an ambiguous situation to blindly join the kingdom.
“Hey, are you really delaying the execution date?”
“Huh?”
The bandit, who suddenly came to his senses at the man’s voice coming from outside the solitary cell, brought his body closer to the iron bars and listened to the conversation.
“Since the captain’s approval has also declined, maybe that will be the case?”
“No, why do we have to be considerate of them in the first place? Those are scum who killed villagers and raped women. I don’t understand why they have to pay for meals like that.”
“Ah, it seems that the captain also heard what was said above. You said that you were insane for delaying the execution of criminals, but the captain didn’t bend your opinion? In the end, they said that a compromise was reached between the nobles of the court and the captain.”
“A compromise?”
“I heard that leaving a large group of criminals, close to twenty, unprofitable and not setting an example in the kingdom’s laws, leaving five criminals in the sand to execute them all?”
“What… ?”
It was the bandit who asked back after hearing that.
The bandit, who was in shock as if he had been hit on the head with a hammer, urgently called the members who were talking.
“Hey, hey!”
“Huh?”
The Knights of Artia, who were having a conversation at the bandit’s cry, turned their heads and looked at the bandit confined in a solitary cell.
“Mo, what does it mean to leave five people in the sand to be executed?”
“What. Did you hear about us?”
“It seems so. What literally Of the twenty bandits, including you, all but five have been decided to be executed.”
“That, you didn’t say that in the interrogation room!”
“We just heard about it, can you tell us anything?”
“Well? If it’s us, we’ll just be black.”
The bandit, who saw the members shrug their shoulders skillfully, put on an urgent expression and cursed inwardly.
‘Damn, Damn, Damn! If this… If you really die like this… To that necromancer… I absolutely hate that… !’
The bandit wasn’t sure if the curse of ‘resignation of the soul’ that Eunhyeon talked about was really engraved on his body.
But ‘really? Maybe?’ The suspicion rises to the surface of consciousness little by little and amplifies the bandit’s anxiety.
“Hey!”
“Ok?”
“Information! I will provide! Right Now!”
Hearing the bandit’s urgent voice, the members opened their eyes wide and looked at each other.
It was an expression that he did not know that the bandit would actually say that he would testify.
Soon, one of the members brought paper and a pen, and sat down on the chair he had brought with him, writing down the information the bandit was spouting.
The content of the information was not very important.
The bandits, including themselves, talked about how they met the necromancer and the alchemist, what their names were and how they looked like, with only one thought to extract all the information in their heads.
‘It’s not possible with ordinary information… Special information, information that only I know. I have to say that so I can become one of those five.’
Even if the information was leaked, if the quality of the information was low or not very helpful, the sense of crisis that he could also be executed in the sand fueled the bandit even more urgently.
