Chapter 136: A Wild Believer

After Luke's noisy, busy, and stressful day is finished, it's time for him to deal with another troublesome person who emerged out of nowhere.

Luke, together with Jay, Liam, and Snow, as well as Nash, are now gathered inside a room. Jay was anxiously seated in front of them, staring at Luke and Snow as if he were viewing incredibly significant individuals based on how Jay looked at them, giving Luke goosebumps.

Luke sat calmly on the couch, staring blankly at Jay, who was both nervous and excited as he looked at him. Luke has no idea what this guy's problem is or why he's so thrilled, but he doesn't have time for that and goes straight to the point.

"What brings you here, Jay?"

After a brief moment of silence, Jay shuddered and began to speak as if he was ecstatic to be speaking with Luke.

"I've come to see you,"

Luke's ear twitched, and his confused eyes squinted even more.

"Me? Why me? Aren't you here to see Noah? "

Jay cocked his head, perplexed by what Luke had just said. He appears to be genuinely confused, which causes Luke to be puzzled as well.

"Excuse me if I come across as disrespectful, but I'm not here to see the Duke Swordmaster of the Reece kingdom. I came here with all my heart, solely for you."

Snow ate cookies peacefully with the unseen Nash alongside her, while Luke and Liam frowned over his comment. Luke then asked him a question.

"What brought you to see me?"

Jay's face lit up and he answered right away as if he'd been waiting for this question his whole life.

"I got here as soon as I could after hearing about your valiant and heroic acts throughout the Western Continent. I've heard tales of you putting yourself in danger to protect every kingdom here without expecting anything in return! Your acts inspired me to come here and worshi— I mean, to follow in your magnificent and powerful footsteps! You are an inspiration to me! My hero! The true lor-! "

"Stop, stop. Stop right there."

Jay came to a complete halt and sat down like an obedient dog, which made Luke a little uneasy. Liam seemed to sense this and tightened his grasp on his sword's hilt.

"Should I take care of him-?"

"What? No, no, no! Why would you do something like that? "

Liam remained motionless for a few minutes before pointing his thumb at Jay.

"But, it appears that this guy is making you uneasy..."

"No, I'm perfectly alright. There's no need to go that far, Liam. It's fine, calm down."

'Jesus I don't want a necromancer and swordmaster war here in this room while I am still here! I don't want to be sandwiched and be killed! '

Luke groaned and grimaced. He then turned to face Jay, who was still waiting for Luke to give him permission to speak.

So now.... The Jay Luther fanatic he knew, who used to worship Noah 24 hours a day, is now following him and worshiping him instead... What the hell did he just get himself into? Where did it all go wrong?

Luke had planned to find Jay in the Eastern Continent for a long time. He intends to do so when he travels to the Eastern Continent with Klein to see his family. But now that the person Luke was planning to get has come and is following him willingly, he has been completely caught off guard.

Luke groaned and became solemn. As Jay gulps from uncertainty in response to Luke's sudden serious aura, Luke glanced at Jay's eyes with seriousness. Jay then clenched his hands and began to sweat droplets on his brow as a result of his nervousness.

'Did I... did I make a mistake? Why is he staring at me so intently? Is my devotion insufficient? '

Jay became anxious because he believed Luke was angry with him. He doesn't want Luke to despise him on their first meeting. He must make a favorable and memorable impression on him.

At least, that's what Jay believed. But what Luke said next took him completely by surprise.

"Jay, the necromancer."

Jay felt as if he had been showered with cold water on the head. Jay then laughed awkwardly and stroked the back of his neck. He got chills, literal chills. His fingers were cold and his eyes were trembling.

'First and foremost, he recognizes me, even without me mentioning my name. And now he knows who I am. He knows my secret, which I've been keeping hidden from everyone for years. If this isn't a God then I don't know what this is...'

Jay wanted to laugh, but not because he was scared about being discovered and having his identity revealed; instead, he wanted to laugh because he realized he had made the proper decision to follow and admire the person in front of him. He wanted to go outside and shout to the world that he had found the perfect person to follow, that he wasn't insane.

Luke didn't notice Jay's completely shocked and crazy face and kept talking as it seems that Jay is currently speechless.

"I know your secrets, Jay. I'm aware that you have command over the undead. It must be difficult to keep your status as a necromancer a secret, right? Especially if you've got those ancient runes tattooed all over your body."

Jay came to a halt and turned to face Luke, who smirked confidently at him. Luke then continued to speak.

"Show me your body, Jay."

Jay took a deep breath and slowly rose in front of Luke. While Liam and Snow ate cookies, they just gazed at him, but Jay didn't seem to notice and instead gently removed his robe. Jay removes his robe entirely, revealing his sleeveless turtleneck and slacks underneath. Luke then turned to Jay's arms, revealing ancient runes that encircled his entire arm. He bets that those ancient markings cover his entire body.

Once necromancers have fully mastered the power of necromancy, they are given a distinctive trademark by Aides and the God of Darkness that covers their entire body from neck to foot. To effectively grasp the powers of commanding the undead, necromancers must sympathize with and understand the dead. But because of that, necromancers, like witches, were shunned by society and labeled as oddities who posed a threat to the world.

Unlike witches, who were able to flee and hide from the people's terrible treatment of them, Necromancers were either executed, tortured, or treated as slaves. As a result, the number of necromancers has steadily decreased through time, with only a few remaining on the planet. And one of them was Jay.

Luke mainly believed that Jay approached and worshiped Noah like a lunatic because he needed Noah to shield him from harm in exchange for his unwavering loyalty. However, based on how carefree and foolish Jay appears, this may not be the case. Jay appears to have been a very irresponsible and insane character, as depicted in the novel.

'Hmm, now I'm seriously hesitating to bring this man into the gang...'

Luke exhaled and straightened his back. Since the fish willingly came to him, he needs to get it. He doesn't want to waste this chance.

"Jay... Would you be interested in joining us-"

"YES! ABSOLUTELY! 100%! I WILL FOLLOW YOU! I WILL CERTAINLY DO SO!"

Snow, Nash, and Liam flinched at Jay's abrupt increase in volume, but Jay didn't appear to notice and kept smiling ear to ear as if his lips were about to fall off. His eyes twinkle and are almost teary. Luke resisted the urge to make a strange expression and instead smiled.

"T-then... Welcome, I suppose..."

'Wow, this is a lot easy than I anticipated...'

Luke expected Jay to be perplexed and reject it for a while, but he didn't; instead, he took the hook right away. He even appeared to be waiting for Luke to invite him to join them. Well, he might as well refer to this fortunate scenario as fantastic, because he has gained another character that is not only irritating but also appears earlier than expected. Also, this character was not supposed to be with him, but rather with the original main character.

'Fantastic indeed.'

Luke sighed and brushed his hair back from stress. Snow noticed this and handed Luke a cookie, which he accepted and ate with a blank expression on his face. Snow simply glanced at him; she knew he must be exhausted right now, having just returned from a long dispute with the nobles and now having to cope with this person who seems to adore Luke, Snow can really feel Luke's stress.

"How's the cookie, Dad? Ava made it earlier for me in the palace."

"Hmm, it's tasty. It's also good to hear that you're getting along well with them."

"They're all very kind individuals. They even sewed a blanket for me. I really liked it."

Luke smiled and patted Snow on the head. Nash pouted as he saw this. He also wants to be patted on the head, but he can't because he's invisible and can't show himself until Jay leaves the room. Nash ate his cookie slowly while pouting, but his ears twitched when he heard Luke's voice.

"Nash, come here. You can show yourself."

Nash's eyes glowed, and he quickly dispelled his invisibility and ran over to Luke for a cuddle. He then heard Jay gasp loudly, so he turned to face him and found Jay's trembling eyes staring at him. Jay appeared to be having a heart attack right now since he was so surprised.

"L-le-legendar-"

Luke cut him off and introduced Nash.

"Jay, because you'll be going with us from now on, you should at least be familiar with some of our group's key members. Meet Nash, and he is a legendary beast."

Jay let out a loud gasp and shielded his lips with his palm. Jay then closed his eyes and tried to maintain a steady breathing pattern.

'Keep it together, Jay; you're with someone who knows everything and has a lot of contacts all over the continent.' You shouldn't be surprised if he had a legendary beast as a companion... But still, I couldn't believe that I would meet a legendary beast in person this early in my life, as expected of the glorious hero of the continent!'

Jay calmed down and nodded gently. This firmly assures Jay that he made the correct decision in following this hero. Even though it is only his first day, he can already sense this hero's greatness, and he will continue to sense it as he tags along with him. Jay is enthralled by this thought, and he can't wait to see what experiences await him in the future.

Luke, Nash, Snow, and Liam all looked at Jay, who seemed to be thinking about something wonderful because he couldn't stop smiling. Nash kept his gaze fixed on Jay, murmuring to Luke, who was holding him.

"Dad, are you sure you want to bring him with us?"

"Don't worry, he may appear to be an idiot right now, but he is a skilled combatant. He'll come in handy..."

After hearing Luke's hesitant voice at the end of his sentence, Nash stared at Luke with concern. Nash then looked at Snow, who simply shrugged her shoulders and handed Nash a cookie, which he accepted. When they heard Liam ask Jay, they turned to look at him.

"By the way, what's with the crown prince's introduction to you earlier? Saint of the Church of the Black Coat? Is there such a church? "

Nash could then feel Luke flinching. Nash and Snow only sighed and shook their heads, while Jay came to a halt and locked his gaze on Liam.

"No, it's a church that I built not long ago, right after I got off the boat that brought me here, I quickly went to Reece's capital streets to show the people my loyalty and support for young Master Luke. The people and I deeply understand each other, just as we deeply appreciated Luke's sacrifices for the kingdom and eventually supported me in becoming the people's representative to defend our lor—I mean, to defend our Young Master Luke."

"Haaa, for the love of God..."

Luke leaned back against the couch and brushed his hair back. So, as soon as Jay arrived in Reece, he immediately created a stupid church that miraculously captured the hearts of the people enough for him to be elected as the representative. What's worse, the church was built in his honor.

'...Is it too late to dump him on Noah?'

Luke just wanted to put Jay on a sack and throw it in front of Noah's house at this point. He regretted taking this guy in now. But he has no choice and has to tolerate it since he cannot bear to lose a necromancer that is good for wide-range combat. In the future, Jay will undoubtedly be needed.

"Hey, since you just founded the church, you must be the only member of the church, right?" "

Luke flinched and turned to look at Liam, who was questioning Jay about the church. Luke was perplexed because Liam appeared to be interested. There's no way Liam could be interested, right?

Jay paused for a beat before nodding to Liam.

"That's correct; I am the sole member for the time being."

"Well, you're in luck because the church now has two members."

For a brief moment, Luke and Jay were deafeningly silent. They couldn't believe what they were hearing right now. Jay got ahead of Luke and exclaimed excitedly just as Luke was about to ask Liam.

"Wait! Does this mean that you-!!"

Liam gave Jay a serious nod and raised his thumb. Jay's mouth widened and his eyes twinkled.

"I gained a fellow believer!!!

Luke frowned and looked at Liam and Jay as they both agree with each other. This is a completely unexpected scene for Luke. He expected Liam to find Jay annoying and avoid him, but now they appear to be on good terms, making Luke feel even more betrayed as he thinks about it.

• Man, you're already starting a religion. Who knows? That little church of yours could one day become a temple.

Luke made a scowling expression. He looks so grumpy and unhappy that you might as well say that all of the unfortunate events in the world happened to him to transform his face like that. Luke simply gritted his teeth and rose to his feet.

"Let's go home."

Jay's face lit up at those words, and he leaped from his seat. Nash, Snow, and Liam trailed behind him as they teleported away from the royal palace's guest room. Luke sighed deeply and looked around when they arrived at the floating island. It's been a long time since he's been here, now that he thinks about it. He's always gone.

"Wow..."

Luke turned to face Jay, who was staring around the area in awe. Luke just stared at him for a moment before speaking.

"Once you're inside, you have the option of choosing your own room. This is where you'll be living from now on."

Jay paused and looked at Luke for a few seconds, which made Luke slightly uneasy. Jay then softly smiled at Luke, which surprised Luke because Jay appears to be acting out of character right now.

"Thank you."

Luke cast a silent glance at Jay. Jay seemed sincere when he said thank you to him, which surprised Luke for a moment before he sighed.

"It's nothing, after all, you're one of us now, it's only natural."

"Ho? What's this? A necromancer? "

Luke turned to face the source of the voice and saw Erdene standing in front of them with his arm crossed. He then looked at Jay with amusement before looking at the ancient runes that are marked on Jay's arm. Luke simply came to a halt and introduced Jay to Erdene.

"Gramps, this is Jay, an Eastern Continent necromancer."

"Wow, this is really interesting. You've only recently returned from the dead, but you've already acquired a necromancer. You truly are the magnet of disasters... And also..."

Erdene paused for a moment and focused his gaze on Snow, who is staring at him blankly. He had just arrived from his meeting with Mira, so he hadn't had the opportunity to meet Snow earlier. Erdene smirked and continued speaking now that he had met her face to face.

"An artificial spirit... Spirit of the Ice."