Cardboard Houses Do Not Tear

63 – The Battle of the Territory Without a Criminal*

The corpses used by the necromancer went back to their daily lives when they realized that their owners were gone.

He began to enjoy the rest he had been loafing about forever.

“Ha.”

Seeing the guys who had just been running at us lying on the floor right there made me feel relaxed.

But Priest Rien seemed to relax even more.

“I got rid of it-“

I tried to recite even ‘that spell’ unintentionally.

I unconsciously reached out to stop Priest Rien.

“Priest Rien. Wait for a sec-“

And it seemed I wasn’t the only one with that thought.

I saw a slender hand in my field of vision. It was a warm hand, different from the pale ones of the corpses he had seen over and over again.

At the same time, the prianian squad leader stretched out his hand and I met his eyes.

Then, just like when two magnets of the same polarity met, they simultaneously turned their heads and looked at Priest Rien.

“Eup.”

Priest Rien finally realized his mistake and kept his mouth shut, but a question popped up in my head.

‘Why did you turn your head away? Both of us.’

It’s obviously a natural reaction, but I felt something incomprehensible.

I wanted to look at the prianian squad leader again to see his reaction, but that was rude.

Priest Rien stretched out his hand and pointed to the table in the study.

“By the way, is that book a necromancer’s diary?”

I nodded.

“Yes. There are many evil deeds that warlock committed when he arrived here in Britian. You may think that you did not commit it, but achieved it.”

Priest Rien nodded.

“Take what you can take with you, G-House mercenary!”

“Looking at the nuance, it looks like they are plundering something. Priest.”

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Is the sacred ginpai different?

She shook her head and said.

“Books written by warlocks must be severely disposed of. And everything that happened here should be documented.”

It’s a record.

At those sweet, paper-smelling words, I looked at the faces of the corpses.

But I couldn’t read it at all.

I turned my head again and looked at the faces of the people in front of me.

And fortunately, I was able to read it.

It was like being a barcode reader.

***

The study was vast. That’s why we decided to take only his experiment data and diary.

Priest Rien put her materials into the bag on her back and said.

“It was fortunate that he had Alzheimer’s. Like his casting speed, he didn’t seem to be able to use offensive magic.”

The leader of the Priyanian squad gritted his teeth and muttered.

“To think that even a guy like that wears out over time. Should he be called miraculous or punished by God?”

“It’s over now. Priyanian Squad Leader.”

I didn’t put my hand on your shoulder or anything like that.

It was just a cheap band-aid applied to her wounds as a formal consolation.

Because you have to heal your own wounds.

“Thanks to G-House.”

“There is also the virtue of Priest Rien.”

Priest Rien grumbled after hearing that, but the squad leader didn’t say anything.

Somehow, a sense of crisis forced me to say the second verse. I gladly complied.

“It’s only natural that we’re a squad, but isn’t Priest Rien left behind? I think it’s great that the person I saw for the first time today helped me this far.”

Hearing that, the prianian squad leader opened his mouth.

“…Nam.”

“Yes. Other.”

Only then did she nod her head in agreement.

From that expressionless face, I somehow felt relieved.

Really, he is an incomprehensible person.

***

The break ended very quickly.

Priyanian The squad leader’s watch was broken, so he couldn’t tell the time.

Obviously, we don’t look at the corpse and say, “Ah. It’s a natural death even if you pass by that much!’ They weren’t people.

So our party decided not to go the way we came, but to cross the passage where the warlock disappeared.

According to Priest Rien, who read the map in the Necromancer’s library, that passage leads to the middle of the mountain.

“And that side will probably lead to the plain where the territory battle is taking place!”

After hearing her words, she felt even more compelled to check whether she was alive or dead.

He wasn’t like a bar teacher, but he was a walking bar teacher.

If you don’t get rid of it properly, even if it dies, there’s a chance that dark magic or undead will spread in all directions.

Therefore, all we needed was one thing.

“It’s time to knock on the stone bridge twice.”

After hearing my words, Priest Rien expressed his doubts.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you meant to do it right the first time, so don’t ask twice?”

“What Priest Rien said at the beginning is correct. But since this proverb has two meanings, I’m right.”

After covering her mouth with that, we went into the passage.

***

The dark tunnel was very eerie. But, according to Priest Rien, she said she couldn’t feel any black magic.

In case you didn’t know, the incense in the incense burner was still burning, but unlike that, it was very suspicious.

‘Be quiet.’

It was so quiet and cool everywhere.

As if I had come not to the warlock’s escape route, but to the wine cellar beneath the mercenary group where Guilford lives.

I’m not crazy about risk, of course, but danger always springs out of peace.

It’s like the rustling sound you hear in your ears when you turn off the lights and try to sleep.

I slowed down my walking speed for a moment and looked around.

The soil on the wall was moist just by looking at it, and you could see dried soil and fine roots on the rim.

I don’t know how far we’ve come, but at least it was proof that we’ve reached the surface.

At least the roots rarely went deep underground.

And in the meantime, his footsteps never ceased.

…And, of course, the roots do not crawl out of the wall on their own.

Verification was necessary. I stopped the party, raised my sword, and aimed it at the wall.

The dark area covered most of the curves, but a slight bulge was visible.

Like a human stomach.

―Quack!

I felt the resistance peculiar to it, and when I slowly pulled it out, the almost blackened ooze glistened on the tip of the knife.

Seeing that he wasn’t even struggling, he didn’t wake up.

“A rotten corpse.”

As expected, he hid his guards here and there in the dungeon.

If I were a warlock at the level of ordering the corpses in the square to block the path even while my whole body was on fire, a simple hand gesture would be enough to wake them up.

At least by the time we get here, he’ll be more than awake.

That means we would normally have to fight the corpses he’s working on for a second round, giving him time to get away.

Alternatively, there is a way to cause the crypt to collapse by raising the corpses all at once in a safe place.

Whether you have mana or believe in God, oxygen is what sustains your body, and no one will last very long in a situation buried deep in the ground.

But he didn’t.

If he had chosen the latter, he should have felt dark magic in this passageway, but the priest said otherwise.

And the territorial war is going on under the place where the necromancer, who is said to deal with blood and death, is headed?

I can assure you that the probability that a hungry pig will not go to the pork belly restaurant in front of you will be lower because you are on an intermittent diet.

There is that diary.

In my 33 years of living, I’ve been through 50,000 things, and I’ve been hit, but now I feel like I’m going to be f*cked if I don’t stop this.

So I said briefly.

“I need to hurry up a bit.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He’s trying to commit something in the Territory War. Nom, or Yeongjijeon. One of them has to be stopped.”

Priest Rien muttered.

“The Secret of Dark Magic.”

After that, we moved our feet faster.

Has it been that long?

I saw a light in the distance, and I heard a very gruff voice.

Judging from the use of voice amplification magic, he looked like a count from the opposing faction.

“…Earl of Barrington! I didn’t expect to meet you so badly!”

As the group’s footsteps quickened, the light drew closer.

It wasn’t the blue light of dawn, it was almost broad daylight.

The Battle of Yeongji was supposed to start early in the morning. Since it was a cave, we couldn’t tell the time, so the shock we felt was even greater.

“Why?”

The prianian squad leader muttered behind his back.

“I thought it was early morning.”

I couldn’t understand English either.

And Priest Rien knew the answer.

“People with dementia have no sense of time. Perhaps he was telling the truth.”

“Yes?”

She answered the question of the leader of the Priianian squad.

“I don’t know if it’s daytime or nighttime or where I am… Maybe that’s why the warlock isn’t in that plaza.”

Hearing Priest Rien’s muttering, I realized why he had come out of the passage outside the mountain.

When I came to my senses after wandering around the mountain, I must have come right after hearing the signal of the alarm magic.

However, realizing the answer did not change anything. What we had to do was decided.

Even as I was running faster, I heard a magically amplified voice from far away.

It was our employer, the Earl of Berrington.

“Count Terrien, I know that your wife has fallen ill with her illness. I heard that you were looking for ways to save her, so I sent the head of the house to express her condolences. I remember.”

He paused for a moment. I wanted our count to stop talking forever.

But that didn’t happen, and the conversation between the two continued.

“Count Terrien, betraying my goodwill and sacrificing the children of our estate wasn’t enough, I didn’t know you would betray your own duty. I thought you were a noble!”

“I didn’t know it was a nobleman’s duty to slaughter my men to destroy evidence, Earl Berrington.”

“Don’t think about running away any longer, for ominous signs have already been found in the bodies of the victims of your actions!”

“Something?”

The conversation between the two started to get tougher.

Soon, the raw words without even the title came out.

“Ha! The man who used even the people of his own territory as an ingredient for his black magic to save his wife talks a lot, Terrien!”

“Black magic! Insulting my wife I can’t stand it any longer. Berrington.”

“I can’t stand watching your abomination any longer!”

Now, I’m starting to feel the wind.

In the ominous wind, the two men’s ultimatums were mixed.

At the same time, we came out of the cave. The front of my eyes was stinging, so I covered my eyes with my hands.

While my eyesight was recovering, I heard a sigh behind my back.

It was all the more so because I had experienced for five years what that meant and what I could see in front of my eyes.

And the scene on the ground that I saw again after half a day was terrifying.

Suddenly.

I could see trees peacefully shaking their leaves of fresh colors in the wind, and a trail between them.

And down there in the middle, overlooking the whole field like a horizon.

Wow…

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Kill it!!!

I saw a line of people walking slowly towards each other and shouting.

The battle of Yeongji without a single criminal, which he wanted to prevent, began.