Another side
“This is…”
Investigating something can sometimes lead to discovering ill intentions. On the fingertip of the emaciated Undead King, dry and withered like a dead tree, was a magic circle with faint, erased traces. Or perhaps, it was better to call it a former magic circle.
“It may be more serious than you thought, and there’s no time to spare, Demon Lord.”
The hero’s attack the other day, and before that, the rebellion by the hero’s descendant. With such repeated attacks from heroes, the entire organization could not remain at ease. Even though they had driven them away each time, the fact of being attacked could not be erased.
“This spell, this format, this arrangement… does it mean the enemy has intelligent individuals among them?”
Thus, the Demon Lord’s plan was to send the Undead King, the wisest among the Demon Lord’s retainers, to investigate the cause of this recent attack. It was a judgment that would hold up externally and be beneficial in terms of action. That is precisely why the Undead King did not object and followed the instructions, leading his subordinates to investigate the dungeon ruins that the angels had used as their base.
“A spell to grasp the magic flow, a spell to measure output, a spell to measure properties. It seems they formed a rudimentary dungeon with a teleportation circle, and while doing so, someone was investigating.”
As he was investigating, the Undead King initially thought this investigation held little meaning. However, in a certain room, he discovered traces of a magic circle that had been physically destroyed, with attempts to erase its remnants. The Undead King repaired the room and, despite its numerous deficiencies, deduced that this had been a laboratory.
“I thought it was a temporary front line base, but in reality, it was a laboratory…”
It’s easy to say one can create a dungeon, but the reality is quite different. To begin with, it’s impossible for humans to do it. One must create a Dungeon Core, the heart and core of a dungeon, and vast amounts of materials are required to form the dungeon. Creating one requires immense effort, and even nations impose restrictions on replication. They were researching this. The mere fact of this raised the Undead King’s caution level by one notch.
“It seems they couldn’t take all the documents, as expected.”
The magic circle drawn on the floor was a device to investigate the magic flow of the dungeon ruins, the lifeblood of the dungeon’s magic acting as a circuit, playing the role of blood vessels in humans. Investigating this would require an enormous amount of documentation. The walls of the restored laboratory also bore scorch marks, as if from fire.
“However, conversely, it should be seen as having taken more than a certain amount.”
Unlike the dungeon ruins in Isal, the dungeons on this continent were, so to speak, the origin points. Investigating the vicinity of the entrance might not yield significant results, but they had investigated dungeon ruins close to the source. While discarded dungeons were said to have destroyed various confidential information, some things inevitably remain. Destroying such a vast facility entirely would require immense labor. It was an unforeseen consequence of fighting for thousands of years and creating numerous dungeons. They had never imagined that dungeons left behind as ruins would become textbooks for the enemy.
“…Carelessness, complacency, one can call it many things, but is this our fault?”
Faced with such a situation, he could not help but let out a sigh of disappointment at the complacency that had lulled him into a false sense of security.
“All I can do is pray for an opportunity to redeem our honor.”
This was not the Undead King’s responsibility. It was the debt of past Demon Lords. He had been made to pay the price in this generation. The Undead King made peace with that in his heart.
“Hmm?”
As he stood up, as if to lift his heavy frame, he found a piece of paper, scorched and no longer recognizable in its original form. It was not unusual for something to have miraculously survived. It had simply escaped the fire. He picked it up and examined it, but it was blank, yielding no information. Just trash. That is, if he were not the Undead King, an immortal being.
“‘Record Investigation’.”
He cast a magic spell that could trace the records held by an object. While it was impossible to trace back over many years, it was possible to trace back the records the paper held at the time of the battle. It was a form of restoration magic. Gradually, outlines began to reappear under the magic, revealing a single sheet of paper. It contained hastily written notes on the dungeon’s information, nothing new in itself. However, it solidified the Undead King’s suspicion into certainty.
“!? ”
The certainty that they were not using the dungeon as a front line base but were researching it. Despite it being such limited information, a single point on the paper caught his eye. The Undead King’s eyes widened at the text inscribed there, text that shouldn’t have been there.
“This spell, could it be?”
For the person who wrote it, it was likely just a memo to remember. However, this spell should not have existed in Isal at all.
“…Were there any survivors?”
The Undead King, who had created the magic spell of erased existence, could not forget it. It was a magic he had created long ago, in his era when he was still “human.” He had been persecuted for being heretical and ostracized. His entire clan had been scattered.
“Who could it be?”
The Undead King himself had participated in invasions of Isal many times. The reasons were varied. However, each time he invaded, there was a place he visited.
“I only taught this spell to my sons… to know this means…”
It was the Undead King’s homeland. The place where he had memories with his wife, who had now become a ghost. Furthermore, the Undead King had three sons and one daughter.
“Were you alive?”
Faint smiles of beings whose presence had long since faded from his memory surfaced. His family, who had left home that day to fight the Demon Lord alongside the hero, had seen him off. The last scene was of his family being impaled and burned by cultists who intended to massacre his entire clan, including his wife, in their mansion. The Undead King, who had witnessed this and been killed, had his past. With that obsession, he regenerated his abandoned body, became an immortal being from his soul, and was reunited with his wife, who wandered with the same regret. From that day, when he vowed only for revenge, he had never found a clue about any survivors. Was it his eldest son, second son, third son, or perhaps his youngest daughter? It didn’t matter. He harbored a faint hope that they had survived, but he shook his head, putting an end to that fleeting emotion.
“No, it has nothing to do with me now.”
He did not allow himself to be swayed by his position or the emotions accumulated over long years. However, he realized one thing. If the person who wrote this hasty note was of his “bloodline,” it would not be strange for them to have uncovered the mystery of the dungeon.
“However, it’s a bit dangerous to leave it as is… do I need to investigate in more detail?”
Trying to extract more information from a place that had collapsed beyond recognition and left nothing behind was like searching for a needle in a desert. Nevertheless, seeing the value in the action, the Undead King had no hesitation.
“Good grief, my drinking party with Raidou will have to wait for another time.”
Grumbling that it would be troublesome to refuse suddenly, he resigned himself to the situation. Mentally preparing for one of his wine cellars to be emptied, he began to give instructions to his subordinates.
“Arise from the earth, my servants, awaken from your slumber, and I shall grant you a temporary form.”
Then, he chanted a spell to assign them chores, and skeletal beings manifested. These were low-ranking undead monsters, mere bones. Not just human bones, but a mixture of beast bones as well, forming humanoid shapes.
“Search, search every piece of information in this land. Anything that hints at Isal’s presence, search thoroughly.”
Over a hundred in number, this army of bones cracked their temporary jaws and began their search. Some dug through collapsed rocks, others began sorting through debris, each performing a seemingly simple action, yet exhibiting diverse approaches as they tidied the collapsed dungeon ruins.
The Undead King sighed, thinking this would bring some peace for now, and pondered his next course of action. Should he return and report to the Demon Lord, or should he act after gaining a certain degree of certainty? The choice quickly leaned towards the latter, but to obtain information beyond this, he would have to cast a wide net.
“Should I go to the land of Karisetra, or should I chase after the missing Carter… either way, moving around without any leads is not advisable.”
He pondered his course of action for a few minutes. A general plan began to form.
“It would be best to get permission to move the shadows in Isal. Relying only on this area would lead to biased information.”
The Undead King decided it would be better to gather information from Isal as well, and his actions were swift. Leaving the place where the undead stirred, he exited the dungeon ruins while giving instructions to his subordinates.
The moon shone in the sky. He did not find its light dazzling. He only felt a slight longing for the sun, which shone more brightly.
“This is no time for sentimentality.”
When was the last time he had harbored such feelings? In the first place, when was the last time something had stirred his emotions? Such idle thoughts flickered through the Undead King’s mind.
“Kakahaha, I, of all people, would indulge in such pointless thoughts?”
The Undead King chuckled, cracking his jaw, finding joy in this realization. His subordinates looked at him with puzzled expressions at their lord’s sudden laughter, but they accepted that their superior was in a good mood and returned to their work.
“…I suppose I’m more invested in that fellow Jiro than I thought.”
Considering the being who brought about this change, he quickly arrived at a familiarity. An Otherworldly Human. When impulsively given guidance, he revealed an unexpected side. The Undead King, who had been betrayed by humans, never thought he would invite Jiro, a human, for drinks. The trigger was a trivial matter, but strangely, he had no regrets.
“Once this job is done, it might not be a bad idea to make him help appease Raidou.”
On the contrary, he laughed cheerfully, as if he had gained something to look forward to after finishing this troublesome task. For Jiro, it was the moment his hangover was confirmed, the moment he sneezed in front of the Dungeon Core, and the moment he mistook it for a cold, having no idea of the cause.
However, this pleasant memory was contrasted by the recollection of unpleasant things. Unlike the happy recent memories, these were the obsessions that had turned him into an undead. Betrayal. The Undead King would never forgive that single act.
He had his child impaled before his eyes, his wife led to the executioner’s block and burned alive before his eyes. The hated enemy who had killed him, his crying human self. It was ironic that such an enemy had once traveled with the hero as a comrade.
“Are you still listening to the voice of your god?”
Memories are not always good. In fact, many are bad. That is why, with a slight trigger, the past comes to mind. He remembered a man who had always been serious and absolute in his faith in God. He knew his current position. He knew he had been used as a foundation for that position. Whether his enemy for revenge was still alive was a matter of fortune or misfortune.
“Hey, Eld.”
The Undead King’s voice was terribly cold when he called that name. Was it because he was undead, or because he hated the other party so much that his soul had grown cold? No one present could understand that emotion. But at that moment, the Undead King thought. It had been warm, even if only temporarily, when he drank with a man and a fellow human, with a laughing Oni in between. And now, he longed for the taste of that alcohol, whether his still-moving body craved it, or his soul did.
“One should hold onto their obsessions.”
The Undead King did not know.
Today’s word: Secrets are difficult to keep.
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*The first volume of the book is published by Hayakawa Bunko JA. It was released on October 18, 2018. The e-book version was also released on October 31 of the same year. Furthermore, the second volume was released on December 19. The third volume was released on February 20, 2019. The content has been revised and supplemented from the version posted on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, with the addition of unreleased interlude chapters. Please also consider the new releases! We appreciate your continued support for this work.
