The Necromancer Commands Slaves, Not Undeads

27 – Winter and the Pursuer (3)

In the notepad written in imperial letters, it said:

[ ‘When you read this, you’d have all sorts of questions for me, but I ask for your understanding because I cannot answer them.’]

[ ‘By that time, I will be dead and unable to respond.’]

[ ‘You might ask why I don’t just say what I want to instead of going through all these roundabouts.’]

[ ‘Because it’s more fun this way, isn’t it?’ ]

I frowned as I read the phrases written by the elder. He was a respected person who had saved my life and I was always grateful and admired him. However, there must be a point to learn from someone.

Despite being old and near his last days, his prankish side was unlike any elementary schooler. Well, it seemed to be more of his style.It was a peculiar old man indeed…

I began to read the following messages he left.

[ ‘From now on, you’ll have to do what I have to do. There are things I couldn’t finish before my life ran out.’ ]

[ ‘A friend of mine will tell you more about this task.’ ]

[ ‘Go find Moria, the autumn witch.’ ]

[ ‘She’s a young woman with silver hair and purple eyes. Don’t be deceived by her youthful appearance. She’s really a crumpled old lady over 180 years old.’ ]

[ ‘Since she won’t age or die like me, there’s no need to rush.’ ]

I found the old man’s messages to be quite arbitrary. Even if he asked nicely, if he told me this way, did he expect me to just follow his orders…?

[ ‘I’ve already told Moria that if you complete my tasks, she should tell you about your past life. So don’t worry, I’m not asking you to do this without any reward.’ ]

[ ‘Then, good luck. My assistant.’ ]

The old man knew me too well. I had no choice but to act according to his wishes after this conversation… I sighed.

“Whenever you remember, you should at least take a picture, you cursed old man…”

If he had politely asked, I would have listened to his request, but I hated how he always used a reward to force others to act.

With a grim expression, I let out a bitter smile. With the old man’s death, I had unexpectedly stumbled upon a lead to my past life.

It wasn’t that I specifically wanted to return to the original world… but I just couldn’t resist the curiosity.

Although I didn’t get a grand framework to answer Dorothy’s question from yesterday, at least I now have something to do after arriving in the capital and ending the business with the Exitiom clan.

Slowly, with a determined expression, I got up from my chair. I packed the old man’s translated texts and the Necronomicon spread out on the table into my backpack and stretched.

“Alright then, maybe I should explore the village too.”

Slowly getting up from my place, I started walking. As I opened the front door wearing a thick coat, the cold chill started to flow over my skin.

Under such cold weather, Dorothy and I had been camping outside and traveling on horseback. I suddenly remember that fact and hug my body against the chill.

I was tempted to just go back inside… but decided to continue walking.

Being cooped up inside the house with nothing to do was not my style.

Looking around the area, I could appreciate the beauty of the village. The houses built with colorful wood and children playing and laughing outside those homes.

Men were chopping firewood or looking after the livestock, and women were busy doing housework or chatting with other women who came to visit.

It was a typical rural scene, not commonly seen in modern Korea. Watching this scene made me feel warm and snug inside, despite the harsh weather.

Should I take a picture or two… I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket and captured the picturesque village scene.

Just as I was admiring the lovely village, someone approached me.

“Good morning, Baekgolgyeong.”

“Ah, Philip. Good morning.”

The person was Philip, the young village chief. A middle-aged man who guided me to my accommodation and brought me food yesterday.

“I saw that your apprentice went ahead of you, are you spending time separately today?”

“It’s not particularly like that, I just have some things to do. I already told Dorothy to explore the village on her own. Right now, I just finished my work and was admiring the village.”

Dorothy seems to be dutifully exploring the village. Maybe it’s time to catch up with her. It’s more fun to explore together rather than alone.

“I guess I’ll catch up with Dorothy now. Have a great day, Philip.”

“Ah, yes. You too, Baekgolgyeong. Your apprentice must be somewhere on that side.”

Walking with my cane, I headed in the direction pointed out by the village chief.Before long, I could find Dorothy chatting with peers of her age under a tree that had lost all its leaves.

The peers conversing with Dorothy were three in total – two boys and one girl. They appeared to be teenagers around the same age as me and Dorothy, about 13 to 14 years old.

Instead of making myself known to Dorothy, I chose to watch their conversation from afar.

I was wondering what kind of conversation Dorothy could be having with these peers, other than me.

“How did you catch a bear? Don’t talk nonsense. You’re smaller than me.”

“Are we supposed to believe that!? I thought you were a guest from outside and wondered what you could do, but you’re just a braggart!”

“Gala, Tae… it’s rude to our new guest…”

“Braggarts like this need a harsh lesson. Rebecca, stay out of this.”

Apparently, Dorothy had bragged to them about catching a bear. Boys named Gala and Tae ridiculed Dorothy, seeming not to believe her.

Bewildered, a girl appeared to be named Rebecca watched these boys. She was holding a rabbit doll and looked quite cute.

Dorothy’s eyes flickered at the criticisms.

“It’s true! I caught a bear in the Mantico team. In return, I also got 100 golds from Lord Freud. And before that…”

“Phahahahaha!”

“hahahahaha! Ma, Mantico mechanized teams!”

The boys began to laugh and mock Dorothy’s story. The vein in Dorothy’s forehead began to bulge.

Oh dear… Dorothy, you shouldn’t. Your opponent is a 13-year-old child. Of course, you’re also a 13-year-old child, but… you have to realize you can slaughter a bear…?

I had to stop Dorothy from beating the children. I approached them, who were having a conversation.

“You seem to be having an interesting conversation.”

“Who are you?”

“Mistress!”

Dorothy began fussling with the children who were mocking her, expressing her humiliation.

“Rat-sized things keep popping up. They kept making fun of me for being a braggart when I didn’t lie….”

“Hey, have you finished your speech?”

“The one who’s rat-sized is you!”

“Don’t fight….”

I watched the noisy scene and chuckled bitterly. Then, I spoke to the two boys.

“Nice to meet you. I’m a wandering wizard. I don’t have an impressive name to introduce, but people call me Skull. Wizard or Skull, call me whatever you like.”

At this, the boys looked at me with surprised expressions. They also glared at me with disbelieving eyes, just like Dorothy.

“You’re Skull…?”

“You certainly look similar… but if you’re Skull, why such a great person bothered to come to our out-of-the-way village?”

Indeed, news about the Mantico extermination squad had spread even to this Kelt village. As these rumors tend to appeal to young children, wannabee little kids naturally knew the rumors about Skull.

Though it’s distressing to say from my own mouth, the prestige of Skull, who had defeated Mantico and controlled white skulls, was very high.

But because they had just been arguing with Dorothy, they were obviously displeased that I, who seemed to be on Dorothy’s side, was there.

“It doesn’t matter whether you believe or not. Both the fact that Dorothy caught the bear and the fact that I am Skull.”

The most wise way to deal with children’s quarrels is simply to ignore them.

There was no benefit to proving that I was Skull and that Dorothy had caught a bear to these kids.

What’s the point of explaining and hurting my mouth over this?

“Let’s go, Dorothy.”

However, Dorothy looked at me with dissatisfaction. It seemed her pride was hurt by the children’s mockery.

Dorothy was also a child. In such a childish situation of hers,He opened his mouth with a smile on his face.

“There will be an opportunity later to show these kids how amazing Dorothy is. Just save the proof for that time.”

“Okay….”

Dorothy reluctantly nodded.

I gently stroked the tousled hair atop Dorothy’s head.

Unlike Dorothy, the boys in front of us were standing confidently with their arms crossed, gazing at Dorothy and me.

I added one more thing to them.

“However, if what this kid is saying is true, you will all need to apologize for having made fun of a bluff.”

“Pfft. There wouldn’t be such a situation, but if the story is really true, I will apologize.”

From noble mtl dot com

With that, the kids stepped back and the situation was over. From Dorothy’s perspective, it might have been frustrating, but I thought it was an adult-like response.

“Let’s continue exploring the village now.”

“Okay.”

Dorothy and I were about to move on to continue our tour of the village when we heard a desperate voice.

“It’s serious! Serious! Orc hoards are charging this way! Women and children should go inside their homes!”

He was running madly and shouting at the top of his voice in order to spread the news throughout the village. I exchanged a glance with Dorothy.

“It seems that we have something urgent besides exploring the village.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Dorothy and I moved towards the center of the village.