Chapter 36
Soldiers slain by the knights’ hands, knights who lost their lives to the soldiers’ counterattacks, and even knights who had died earlier while fighting the monsters by day — they all answered my summons.
The death soldiers regained their semi-transparent blue-gray spectral bodies and knelt before me in unison.
And Iden, whose hair was no longer red, knelt and kissed the hem of my skirt.
“Master.”
Even though I had expected it, hearing his voice made tears well up in my eyes.
You’re not my master. Don’t call me that.
I should say it, but if I open my mouth I feel like I’ll break into sobs.
At that moment Iden looked up at me and smiled gently.
All the color had gone from him, yet his innocent smile remained unchanged.
“Sir Iden?”
“I was anxious you might not call me.” he said.
“Sir Iden, your—your consciousness…?”
“We’ll talk later. For now, deal with that side, my liege.”
Iden nodded toward the still-rampaging knights and spoke. I was so surprised to find that, like the late Duke Bernstein, Iden’s self remained that I almost forgot the most important thing.
Apologizing to those I’d called back from death without permission could wait.
I gave orders to the many death soldiers who bowed low before me.
“Subdue the knights who have been fooled by the illusion magic. Do not injure or kill them. And—deal with that illusionist…”
I drew a breath before speaking words I had never imagined I’d utter aloud.
If I don’t kill the caster, the illusion can’t be broken. There’s no time for talk of trials or law.
The caster must be held accountable for all these deaths.
“Kill him.”
As soon as I finished the command, the death soldiers all drew their swords at once.
Most of them rushed at the knights trapped in the illusion, and Iden chased after the fleeing illusionist.
Illusions had no effect on the death soldiers under my control.
If limited to dark magic, they were invincible.
The illusionist began to run, and the tide of the battle turned at once.
For the imperial soldiers who had been fleeing to avoid the knights, these death soldiers were another horror.
“Eek! What is this now!”
“I-it’s a ghost! Run!”
The imperial troops fled for their lives, and the death soldiers blocked the illusion-bound men’s path.
Death soldiers cannot fully exert the strength they had in life. That is the limit of command magic and of death itself.
The Bernstein knights, now death soldiers, managed to hold on for a while, but the former imperial soldiers were no match.
Besides, one side was raining down indiscriminate attacks while the other simply tried to restrain them, so the casualties were inevitably large.
Many of the death soldiers were cut and stabbed even when several assailed a single target.
A second death for them meant annihilation.
I could not afford to kill their souls after hauling them back from death at my whim.
There was only one way to prevent the spectral death soldiers from perishing: restore their spectral bodies’ damage with my mana.
Mana began to drain from my core in big chunks.
Filling the damage the death soldiers took with mana consumed an enormous amount.
Thinking I couldn’t hold out long like this, I shouted at Ralph, who had been standing there in a daze.
“Ralph, find the mana potions in the bag and bring them here!”
Ralph, still staring blankly and not even realizing I was calling him, stood awkwardly.
“Ralph!”
“Y-yes?”
“The mana potions! They’re in the bag. Hurry!”
“The mana potions?”
He kept asking questions instead of moving; frustrated, I spun around — and Ralph drew two small vials from inside his coat and asked again.
“Do you mean these?”
“Mana potions?”
“Yes, the ones the duke gave out…”
There was no time for explanations.
I snatched one vial from Ralph’s hand, opened the lid, and poured the purple liquid into my mouth.
“Ugh! Bitter!”
An intense bitterness slammed my tongue so that every hair on my body stood on end, but now was not the time to savor tastes.
Iden, who had been attacking the illusionist, was having a hard time too.
The illusionist kept casting illusions on nearby soldiers and using them as a shield.
I stamped the ground forcefully once more.
“Answer my call!”
At this point it was all or nothing. If I was going to beg, I’d do it all at once.
Dozens more death soldiers answered my summons.
“Go and help Sir Iden!”
The newly arrived death soldiers charged at Iden and the illusionist without even pausing to kneel before me.
A wild melee followed.
The illusionist and the illusion-bound knights and soldiers resisted stubbornly, but numbers won out.
The death soldiers seized and subdued the limbs of those trapped by illusions, and in that opening Iden’s red blade took the illusionist’s life.
I was briefly cheered by the single color left in Iden, but the tragedy didn’t end there.
Those who came to their senses realized what they had done.
The despair of Hamil and the Bernstein knights in particular was beyond words.
Iden and the death soldiers weaved through the fallen, their expressions more pained than when they had been bound by the illusion, and came to me.
Including Iden, twelve of the Bernstein knights remained as death soldiers, and about eighty were former imperial soldiers.
Nearly a hundred death soldiers knelt on one knee before me and cried out together.
“We have carried out your orders, my liege!”
It was a sight to behold, but I had no idea how to behave, so I dropped to my knees and bowed my head.
“I am so sorry! Things were so urgent I had no choice. I’m truly sorry!”
No answer came back.
I stayed prostrate, too ashamed to face them, when Iden reached out his hand before me.
“You are apologizing, and they all grieve. Raise your head. We are glad to serve you.”
When I slowly raised my head, Iden was smiling gently.
I wanted to grab his hand, but I couldn’t bring myself to.
It would be shameless to let my burden lift at the words of someone whose soul I had seized and turned into a death soldier.
My nose twitched with the sting of tears; I couldn’t cry comfortably, so I muttered while avoiding his gaze.
“I should be angry — why are you glad…?”
“I am glad. From the darkness of death you reached out your hand to us, my liege.”
Iden said warmly, his voice a little brighter.
When I hesitated, he took my hand first and helped me to my feet.
Though his cold hand gave no warmth, his eyes were full of sincerity I wanted to believe.
“I will protect my liege. That is my joy.”
How could I repay a heart so constant in life and in death? I didn’t even know if I could.
“Thank you, Sir Iden.”
“Do not thank or apologize. I am simply waiting for my liege’s next orders.”
The tears I had barely swallowed threatened to spill again.
At first I had planned to return everyone to rest once the situation was settled, but I was about to ask another favor using his kind words as an excuse.
Iden had at least voiced his intentions before dying; commanding those I had never met into service felt truly despicable.
Knowing they could not refuse made it even more cowardly.
But thinking that Kastian and the expedition might also face a malicious dark mage using illusion magic, I could not remain idle.
Unable to look at Iden and the other death soldiers, I bowed my head and asked.
“Then… I know it’s asking a lot, but could I trouble you for a bit more help?”
Iden’s face brightened at my cautious request. His bluish-gray eyes seemed to sparkle.
He turned, raised his right fist, and shouted to the death soldiers.
“My liege requires our strength!”
“Woooaaah!!”
A hundred or so death soldiers answered Iden’s cry with a thunderous shout.
Iden said to me with pride on his face, “They are all pleased.”
Was it selfish to feel reassured by their loyalty, when I had made them death soldiers by my whim?
Was it strange to be comforted by the thought that they would all unconditionally be on my side?
Even if their loyalty was a falsehood produced by command magic, I resolved to be sincerely grateful.
I bowed deeply to my soldiers.
“Thank you, everyone.”
And I swore.
Until each of them had safely returned to rest, I would not let a single one be destroyed.
I did not speak the vow aloud, but the death soldiers linked to my soul cheered at my sincerity.
“Woooaaah!!”
I straightened up and took a deep breath, looking each of my soldiers in the eye.
Not because I was unworthy of the titles they used for me, but because I now bore the souls of so many, I had to be strong.
I could not be a shameful liege to soldiers who had given me something more precious than their lives.
