~Chapter 16~
The village of Cori in the eastern region was an ordinary rural town.
Ron landed the wyvern in an empty lot and helped Ivyn down.
“Just follow this path up a little bit.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?”
“Hmm, I’d like to, but I got an urgent call from a dungeon in the northwestern territory. It seems a group of elder slimes has appeared. I need to go check the site quickly.”
Before leaving, Ron gave Ivyn a firm, rock-solid hug with his chest.
“Even though we’ll be apart for a while, I’ll always be thinking of you. Got it?”
“Thanks. I’ll work hard too.”
*Whoosh.* Ron, who had jumped back onto the wyvern’s back, soon disappeared into the sky.
It was just as Ivyn was heaving a low sigh, watching the black wyvern’s figure vanish into a dot in the distant sky.
*Grrr.*
Hearing a sound at her feet and looking down, she saw a rabbit sitting quietly, looking up at her.
“This is…… an undead snow rabbit? Why is it here……”
As soon as Ivyn pretended to know it, the snow rabbit swiftly turned its body and hopped a few steps away.
“Huh, follow you?”
*Grr!*
About a minute after following the rabbit like that?
A shack with a sagging roof appeared at the end of the path.
*’I want to hire an interior construction company for a remodel……’*
That was Ivyn’s first impression upon seeing the house up close.
No, wouldn’t it be better to just demolish it?
Just as Ivyn was surveying the area around the house with mixed feelings.
*Clatter.*
A strange sound came from inside.
It was like, what should I say, the sound of bone joints grating against each other?
Something seemed to be moving inside the house.
A moment later.
*Creeeak.*
The shack door opened.
“What is this……?”
What revealed itself from inside was an unidentified skeleton with hollowed-out eye sockets emitting a greenish light.
*Swish.*
The skeleton abruptly extended its right hand toward her.
It seemed to be offering a handshake.
“It is our first time meeting like this, my great-granddaughter.”
“…… Huh? Great-granddaughter?”
*Creeeak.*
The skeleton nodded its head.
“Me?”
Nod.
“Yours?”
Nod.
“…….”
“…….”
“Why would I be……?”
“……!”
The skeleton’s light flickered.
It seemed to be at a loss for words as the other party was asking too directly.
An awkward silence settled between the two for a moment.
A little later.
*Ahem, ahem.*
It was the skeleton who broke the stillness with an awkward, fake cough.
“Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Glyn Kinzello. I died a heroic death in the war of ‘Gushing Lava’ long ago.”
“Ah…….”
“But I simply couldn’t close my eyes! Because of my deep affection and concern for the descendants of the family!”
Only then could Ivyn set aside her suspicion and accept this skeleton as her great-grandfather.
*Creek, crack.*
She took the bony hand extended by Glyn Kinzello and shook it gently up and down.
“Now, come inside first. Let’s have a warm cup of tea and talk.”
The inside of the shack she entered was surprisingly cozy.
One wall of the living room had a decorative shelf made of skulls, with small-sized animals taxidermied like dolls lined up in a row.
“You worked hard bringing my great-granddaughter here.”
*—Grr.*
As Glyn waved his hand, the undead rabbit hopped to a corner of the decorative shelf and settled down quietly.
*Fizz!*
And soon, the green light in the undead rabbit’s eyes went out.
“So, what drink should I give my pretty great-granddaughter? A glass of juice made from steamed dogbane root and steeped bear bile, blended with mountain berries? I raised them myself. Hoho.”
“Just…… just water is fine.”
*Thud.*
Soon after, a cup was placed on the bone table, and Glyn Kinzello took a seat opposite Ivyn.
“I had been quietly buried here, organizing the Kinzello family’s ancient texts…… but that scoundrel Dylan begged so earnestly that I ended up taking on my first pupil here. Kekeke.”
“I’m your first pupil?”
“Indeed.”
Ah, this seems like a mistake.
And Ivyn’s suspicion gradually turned into conviction as her conversation with her great-grandfather progressed.
“This place is a natural fortress, geographically perfect for practicing beginner-level black magic. Precisely because a plague has been spreading in the neighboring town not long ago.”
“Ah, I see.”
“That means an infinite supply of fresh practice materials. Kekekeke. How about it, aren’t you already excited?”
“Ah, is that area also part of our family’s domain……?”
“Of course!”
“……?”
“No, it’s not!”
“…….”
Before his great-granddaughter, who was looking at him with a dumbfounded expression, Glyn Kinzello laughed boldly.
“And that’s not all?! Since the Holy See is sending a dispatch team to handle the plague here, kukukuku…… we can casually catch a few of them, kukukuku…….”
Ivyn almost blurted out ‘I want to go home’ but stopped short.
Because the faces of her family members, who had been looking at her with eyes full of expectation, flashed through her mind like a panorama.
‘And it’s also a situation where we don’t know what kind of threat the Holy See might pose next.’
As long as Ivyn was born as the youngest of the Kinzello family, people related to the Holy See were nothing but enemies.
‘Anyway, gaining power is the most urgent priority right now.’
The original story’s progression had already derailed.
The problem was whether a concept like “probability penalty” existed here as well.
If so…….
‘It’s certain I’ll face a crisis in some way.’
For her own safety, she needed to devote herself even more to magic training.
Having thought this far, Ivyn quickly accepted her current reality.
“……Please take care of me, Grandfather.”
—
A few days later.
For her first practical assignment, Ivyn was tasked with retrieving five corpses from a nearby village swept by the plague.
“I thought it might be hard for our small, delicate Vinnie to move corpses alone, so I’m sending this fellow along to help you.”
*—Grr!*
Hop, hop.
A familiar snow rabbit jumped out from the decorative shelf.
As Glyn channeled his black energy over it, with a *poof* and a cute sound effect, fluffy smoke billowed up.
*Flap, flap.*
What emerged through the smoke was……
A two-headed, doll-like figure with a pink nose and jelly soles on its feet.
Bat-shaped black wings on its back.
A winged rabbit, complete with a black headband adorned with pink horns.
“This fellow here, despite appearances, is a phantom with quite good stats. It has something called an ‘extradimensional pouch,’ so you can put in and take out various belongings—no need to worry about luggage.”
Glyn said with a proud expression.
He looked rather triumphant, as if he’d created something remarkable.
“Can it talk too?”
“Yes!”
The answer came from the rabbit.
“But me not talk good yet, haven’t talk much before!”
The rabbit answered smartly, mumbling with its tiny mouth.
“It’ll improve quickly if you keep it with you and make it talk often. Ah, its name is Tortellini Zia Mattis Goldilocks.”
“Since I’ll be taking care of it from now on, can I give it a new name?”
Ivyn rejected that name without a 0.1-second hesitation.
“Me new name?”
Tortellini Zia Mattis Goldilocks blinked its big eyes and looked at its new owner.
“O-Bok.”
“…….”
“Or-boke?”
“O-Bok.”
“O-bork?”
“O, Bok, E.”
“…….”
The rabbit seemed not to like its new name and ultimately pretended not to understand, but Ivyn didn’t relent.
“Let’s go, O-Bok.”
*Flap…… flap…….*
Somehow, O-Bok’s wingbeats felt more sluggish than before.
“Come back safely, my great-granddaughter! Make sure to only bring back ones with no damaged body parts.”
“Why?”
“You’re going to learn how to tear their bodies to pieces and then restore them flawlessly without a single scratch!”
—
* * *
—
*Ugh.*
*Uuuugh!*
She’d lost count of how many times she’d retched.
Even wearing something like a gas mask, it was utterly insufficient to block the stench of rotting corpses.
“Me want throw up too.”
Even the phantom O-Bok seemed to be suffering.
But she couldn’t just go back without completing her first practical assignment.
*’I’m a necromancer, a necromancer! I have an intimate relationship with corpses!’*
Gritting her teeth, Ivyn endured and continued the work of examining corpses.
Fortunately, it seemed the plague hadn’t broken out long ago, so the preservation state of the corpses was somewhat decent.
*’Still, this is a pretty big improvement compared to before.’*
Compared to her past life where she’d panic at the sight of blood, her stomach and courage had definitely grown stronger now.
At least she wasn’t rolling her eyes back and fainting in front of corpses.
*’Maybe this is also thanks to being born with the Kinzello family bloodline.’*
As she battled the stench of rotting corpses and piled bodies one by one into O-Bok’s extradimensional pouch, around that time.
“Who are you?”
Along with a familiar, chilling voice, a cold darkness fell over her.
As Ivyn slightly raised her head, she saw dazzling white armor.
Perhaps because of his imposing height and large build.
For a moment, Ivyn was gripped by the illusion of facing a massive white wall.
*—And that’s not all?! Since the Holy See is sending a dispatch team to handle the plague here, kukukuku…… we can casually catch a few of them, kukukuku…….*
Great-grandfather Glyn Kinzello’s words finally came back to her mind, but it was already too late.
*Whoosh.*
Coincidentally, the wind blew, rustling the holy knight’s jet-black hair.
The wind carried ash from burning corpses and embers that hadn’t fully died out, drifting through the air.
“I, I am, um…….”
She was currently wearing the protective suit specially made by Glyn Kinzello.
With the bird-beak-like mask on, there was zero chance the other party could recognize her identity.
But for some reason, her mouth wouldn’t open properly.
“Co, corpses…….”
