Monarch of Death

No matter how strong a person was, no matter how powerful a king was, everyone was equal in the face of death. That’s why Count Vreeland was able to accept it.

He was determined, even after hearing the harsh story, that even if his precious son, whom he barely saw at a late age, would die slowly due to his innate constitution, there was no way to cure it, even with the sacred spells of the Seven Goddess Church, he would not be able to make it past the age of twenty.

Because that was fate. Because it was a natural principle of the world that human beings had to endure.

But it wasn’t. Fate could have been avoided. The order of the world had not been decided. They (Dark Church) came silently and whispered secretly. To turn to the true God. That way, his son would be able to live.

He wasn’t lying. Certainly, according to their words, the son could not have died. However, it was not something that could be lived. What they proposed was the magic of darkness, the necromancy. Naturally, Count Vreeland was very angry.

“Are you saying you should abandon the natural world and tamper with evil forces?”

However, they rather questioned it.

“Who said it was natural?”

“Isn’t it the principle of the world that the goddess has decided?”

“Did the Goddess really teach you that? The priests of the Seven Goddess Church, who claim to know the will of the Goddess ?”

“Ha! So you guys know the true will of God?”

They gradually denied the teachings of the Seven Goddess Church.

“Anyone who claims to know everything about God must be arrogant indeed.”

“We are not talking about gods and goddesses.”

“It’s about humans following gods and goddesses.”

“All we want to say is, just look at the world a little wider.”

“How well do you really know, Count, what the world calls necromancy?”

Count Vreeland was not seduced.

“Nonsense! Do you think I don’t know what the words of those who fell into the necromancer?”

Stories of those who used necromancy to raise the dead were widespread. After saving a precious person, he became a monster. It was just a rotting, moving corpse. Not to mention the body, even the mind was no longer the precious person he knew, and so on. No law ended beautifully together. Wasn’t that why necromancy was called such an ugly method? They did not deny this either.

“You are right.”

“The necromancer’s words weren’t very good.”

“Until now.”

And, he put the reason in his mouth.

“Because it wasn’t true necromancy.”

Real necromancy was never magic that dealt with the powers of death and darkness.

Tesnarak, the god of darkness and death, was a holy power bestowed by that great Transcendental One.

“It just happened because they tried to wield the powers of death and darkness like arrogant wizards as tools.”

The necromancers, claiming to be the priests of Tesnarak, were claiming their powers as divine incantations of darkness. That was why only they could handle the power of true darkness and death.

“True dark powers must be used properly in the service of Tesnarak.”

“Like the priests of the Goddess worship the goddess and use their powers correctly.”

“Then death will not be destiny.”

“Aging is only a disease, and death is only the result of those who have not been cured of the disease.”

“How can it be considered a wicked act to cure a disease?”

“However, your son is still young.”

“Do you think that it is the natural order of the world for a child to accept death as their destiny?”

Count Vreeland was shaken. Their words were persuasive, and his son was dying.

“Anyway, the 7 Goddess Church is of no help…….”

In the end, the Count broke his will.

“Dear Tesnarak…”

“I want to worship you. Will you accept me?”

Of course, it wasn’t sincere. First of all, after saving his son, he planned to turn himself into the Goddess Church. The son who was dying like that was given a new life.

»»————-　★　————-««
Seven days after leaving the capital, Tarman and Karnak’s party arrived at the county of Vreeland. It was a relatively prosperous place. The village was quite large. Even if you look at the market, there were many kinds of goods, and it was full of energy. Serati muttered as she looked around the street.

“I thought our territory was pretty well off, but there’s no comparison.”

Inadvertently, she referred to the Zestrad Territory as ‘our’ territory. It seemed that she was quite settled. Barros shrugged.

“Because it’s been a while since we got the copper mine. It wasn’t really a center for logistics movement.”

In any case, it seemed unmistakable that Count Vreeland was a competent master. So, it was even more questionable.

“What on earth did he want to end up becoming a cultist?”

Tarman made a small addition to Serati’s question.

“Someone says, but it hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

The fact that the charges were against Count Vreeland was weak. It was just that while interrogating the cultist captured by the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Order, there was only a mention of Count Vreeland.

“There’s more than half the chance that it’s nonsense.”

Infamous Scans

Translator: Anom

Proofreader: Orange
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Karnak asked as if he couldn’t understand.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to have a separate person in charge of collecting information?”

To be honest, he didn’t quite understand.

“Isn’t there a need to gather talented people and have them do these trivial things? I think it’s more efficient to just let the information gathering be done separately and only deal with the King’s Order’s targets.”

At Tarman’s question that followed, Karnak finally realized what he was mistaken for.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Isn’t that why you created the King’s Order?”

“Yes?”

“Then can anyone do a high-difficulty mission like information gathering?”

It was a difference in sensation. The elite troops were precious, so they were left on standby, and the lesser ones were used as the intelligence department. This was the same feeling back when he was still the King of Death. But, what about the conditions of the Ministry of Information?

He didn’t have to be extremely strong, but he didn’t know what would happen in the process of gathering information, so they must have a certain level of combat ability. So, among the third-rate, they used to use undead forces that were still usable as intelligence departments.

The power on the human side that was comparable to that ‘usable level of undead power’ was ‘a red-class Aura user, or a magician before or after the 6th circle or a priest of 2nd or higher level’.

‘The elite troops aren’t like the Death Knight Corps that Barros was commanding, really.’

If it was a minority elite by Karnak standard, it was just an asymmetric power, one-man corps level by ordinary people. Anyway, this was the problem of those who went down well in the old days. To judge the situation while thinking about the past without understanding the subject.

‘Ah, it’s not easy to fix my senses even though I keep paying attention…’

While Karnak grumbled in his heart, Tarman cautiously continued.

“Since it was information obtained through torture, it has not been verified at all. So you shouldn’t treat the count with prejudice.”

Kald and Alice from the side also added explanations.

“Originally, when being tortured, people are bound to say things that do not really exist, so it is not easy to determine the truth even from the point of view of interrogation.”

“Above all, if you’re mistaken, it’s meaningless no matter how much you try to figure out the truth.”

Saying she understood, Serati interrupted the conversation.

“Perhaps there are cases where you believe lies as truth? Due to the nature of the fortune-teller organization, you may deliberately spread false information to deceive the King’s Order…”

And got hit right away.

“Ah, that can’t be.”

“Haven’t you read too many over there storybooks?”

It was a point organization that deliberately leaks fake information to subordinates? What if this happened?

“Go to a nobleman you don’t care about, whisper ‘Long live Tesnarak!’ and then get beaten up?”

He might not give out information, but he could not hand over fake information. If he did, he would be begging for the title with his own hands.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Tarman soothed the shy Serati.

“I can’t help but be mistaken because I’m not a regular member yet. Isn’t that why there is an apprenticeship period?”

As he continued walking, he came across an inn he had seen before. Tarman looked back at the group.

“Let’s unpack, then disperse and start the investigation.”

»»————-　★　————-««
Arriving at the inn, Karnak’s party learned the ways of the King’s Order from Tarman.

“It’s a very obvious thing, but you must never reveal that it is the King’s Order.”

Even if they pretended to be disguised as dark hunters and came to hunt necromancers, they would still be wary. After all, all the leaders of the Church of the Black God were necromancers. They couldn’t go around throwing questions everywhere for no reason. Again, it was good to be suspicious.

“It should be used in a way that does not seem to have anything to do with cultists or necromancers, but allows for natural inquiry.”

So, Tarman took out some portraits from his bosom and handed them out.

“There are many ways, but this is the one I will be using now.”

Barros asked.

“Who is this?

“Helon Kratt, a notorious criminal wanted in the capital. He robbed many mansions of nobles and even committed murder.

“Oh, did something like that happen in Drunda?”

“No. There wasn’t.”

“……Pardon?”

“But if you say you’re looking for a wanted person like this, then it’ll look natural if you ask questions like this, right?”

Disguised as a bounty hunter chasing a wanted person. And went around the village and asked the residents.It seemed that this dangerous human had fled to the county of Vreeland and was hiding somewhere. So, did they see a suspicious person?

Or, please let them know if he hasn’t experienced anything suspicious. Besides, wasn’t he a master of disguise? He wondered if the people he knew well didn’t feel like they’d somehow changed.

“A dangerous wanted man has entered the village, but there are few who will not cooperate. Especially if you give him a penny in moderation.”

In this case, even if the purpose of the question was different, the answer would overlap with the information about the cult. Residents here would also have less mental distance from spreading rumors.

“Because taking our money doesn’t mean they’re doing bad things. Isn’t it just handing information to the bounty hunter and getting a fair price?”

Afterward, Tarman divided the party into three teams: the wizard, Tarman, and the warrior, Barros; the warrior, Kald, and the wizard, Karnak; the priest, Alice, and the Aura user, Serati.

He was a person who distributed power evenly in case something unpleasant happened. Karnak and the others had to learn the seniority method from the sidelines, so they attached one person at a time.

So, the group scattered and began to investigate various parts of the village. If they had a clear purpose, their actions would be confident. Not only did he roam freely without any suspicion, Tarman even met Count Vreeland in person. Nominally, it meant asking for permission.

The wanted man ran away here, and they had come to catch him. He would never do anything that would cause trouble. Wouldn’t it be good for Count Vreeland to have such a dangerous person roaming the territory?

He could understand. They would cooperate as much as possible. He thanked him for his permission. Well, it was kind of like this. After the business was over, Tarman immediately left the count’s castle. Barros, who had been silently following him all along, was puzzled.

“Hey, is this the end?”

He thought he was going to do the interrogation, but he literally only came out with permission. Regarding cults, there was not a word of the hemisphere.

“If you’re going to do this, why did you meet the count?”

However, the experience was different.

“We’ve got enough of what we want.”

Tarman gestured with a confident face.

“We’ll go back to the inn soon.”