CHAPTER 120

After meeting Laficel, a hypothesis came to mind.

The hypothesis is that one of the future Archmages might have followed Karnak and Baros and returned to this time period.

If that assumption is true, how will the returned Archmage treat the former Death King?

[You didn't treat them particularly well either, right?]

At Serati's question, Karnak let out a wry smile.

[If they regained their sense of self, they'd probably be just as eager to tear me apart as Laficel.]

It had been a struggle just dealing with the crazy Laficel. If a perfectly sane 10th-circle mage appeared, could he even manage to escape?

Oddly enough, however, Karnak didn't seem particularly concerned about that possibility.

In the past, he might have been unaware, but now he should recognize the danger.

[Is it okay to reveal your real name like this? Shouldn't you be using an alias?]

[Hmm, well...]

Karnak pondered for a moment, choosing his words carefully before speaking again.

[I don't know if that hypothesis is true or not, but if we assume it is, there's one thing I'm certain of.]

The regressor doesn't know who the Death King and the Death Knight Lord were in the past.

[The fact that the Jestarad territory is still intact is proof of that. Otherwise, they would've come and killed us by now.]

[What about the copper mine?]

[That part's a bit suspicious, but I still think it's just a coincidence for now. We haven't found anything particularly suspicious.]

He had reason to make such a judgment. Baros added from the side:

[Neither the young master nor I told anyone about the past.]

They were simply Karnak and Baros.

The name Jestarad was never mentioned.

They had killed the entire family, from the lord to the youngest, with necromancy and were now fugitives. If they were discovered, their heads would be on the chopping block immediately. Why would they broadcast their past?

[And once we gained some power, there was no need to talk about it.]

[Neither of us had the habit of reminiscing about the past over drinks.]

[We were progressive and future-oriented in nature!]

Serati's expression turned odd.

[No, you weren't? You guys were always reminiscing about the past. Like a couple of hermits holed up in some room.]

On reflection, that might have been true.

Aren't they both now 100-year-old monsters? In terms of age, they were beyond typical hermits.

[And our appearances have changed a lot too.]

When the whole world had turned against them, both Karnak and Baros were well into middle age. They didn't have the youthful, tight skin they possessed now.

[And even that middle-aged appearance didn't last long.]

One turned into a skeleton, and the other into a blue-tinted death knight.

In other words, even if someone from the future returned, the only way to identify them would be by their names.

But the names Karnak and Baros weren't particularly rare.

Karnak was originally the name of an ancient architectural site left behind by a pre-historic race, and it was often used among nobles. Baros was also a fairly common name among commoners in the Seven Kingdoms.

They didn't know their origins, didn't know their family names, their appearances had changed, and their names weren't unique.

So, from the regressor's perspective, the only clue to finding them would be if a "Karnak" and a "Baros" were seen together.

[But even if they do manage to find us, they wouldn't dare come directly to me.]

Unlike the soul-torn Laficel, the other Martial Kings and the three Archmages had retained their intelligence. Instead of tearing apart their souls, Karnak had inscribed loyalty into their souls, manipulating their personalities and taking them as subordinates.

This situation was very different from how Baros or Serati were bound as subjects through contracts.

A subject's contract was like chaining their soul as a slave.

Although they became slaves, their memories and personalities remained intact.

Since their souls hadn't changed, Serati could still use aura.

Moreover, if only the soul crossed space-time, the chains would naturally remain behind. That's why Karnak and Baros's subject contracts had been broken.

In contrast, with the Martial Kings and the Archmages, he had inscribed obedience directly onto their souls. They were too formidable to control with the softer method of a subject's contract.

[Even if they do transcend space-time and return to this era, the inscriptions on their souls wouldn't disappear.]

It's possible that when the Death King vanished, they regained their sense of self.

Perhaps, driven by their anger toward the Death King, they had attempted space-time reversal and even succeeded.

But even if they returned to the past, they wouldn't dare to seek out Karnak directly.

[Because doing so would mean they'd fall under my control again.]

Karnak of the present couldn't exert the same level of influence over the world as he had during his Astra Spiritus days.

However, even at his current level, he could still re-activate the soul inscriptions if they were nearby.

Once they reunited, he could easily make them loyal subordinates again.

[And they know that well.]

That's why they wouldn't act directly. They'd likely use their subordinates to search for Karnak and Baros.

So, Karnak had been deliberately scattering the names "Karnak" and "Baros" around.

[Hoping they leave clues during their search for us.]

Listening to the explanation, Serati tilted her head.

[...Is that really necessary?]

The three Archmages weren't recluses hiding in some mysterious place. Their whereabouts were somewhat known.

[Can't you just go to them directly?]

If just confronting them would make them loyal again, why was he being so cautious?

[This is all based on the assumption that my hypothesis is true.]

Karnak's expression hardened slightly.

[What if my hypothesis is wrong?]

Even before meeting Laficel, he had already been suspicious of the three Archmages.

The hypothesis was that they were the ones who developed the magic formulas that fused necromantic power and magic, as used by the followers of the Dark God.

But what if they weren't regressors?

What if they were just Archmages of this era who had become followers of the Dark God for some reason?

What if they didn't have any soul inscriptions and were purely enemies?

[We'd be lucky to leave behind a complete corpse.]

If he revealed everything now and it turned out they weren't regressors, he'd be left without any recourse.

So he was only leaking their names while hiding the rest, maintaining his distance and observing their reactions.

[Of course, it could turn out that neither of these theories is true. It's all just unverified speculation, after all.]

They were in the middle of exchanging words when footsteps were heard from outside.

Everyone adjusted their expressions and stopped talking.

Moments later, the door opened, and Alius entered the room.

"The interrogation is over, Lord Karnak."

"Is it my turn now?"

As if waiting for this, Karnak rose to his feet. Baros asked,

"Why do they want you, young master?"

"I'll explain after I return."

***

In the dungeon, built with hard stone walls, the four cultists captured during the day were locked up. They appeared utterly exhausted, likely from undergoing a harsh interrogation.

Karnak approached a corner of the dungeon with his staff, drawing upon the power of chaos magic.

"Those who dare to trespass here, their own strength shall turn against them..."

A faint magic circle formed and then quickly sank into the prison's stone walls, disappearing from sight.

Turning around, Karnak spoke.

"It's done."

Priest Belton expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you for your efforts. Now, even if the cult's spies try something, we'll be able to handle it."

Karnak had been tasked with setting up a magic trap around the dungeon. If there were any spies from the cult within the Saisha Temple, they would get caught by this trap when trying to approach the prison.

Of course, Alius and Priest Belton could also set various protective barriers using holy spells. In fact, they had already installed some.

But the presence of a spy within the temple suggested that the individual might be quite familiar with holy spells. There was a chance they could bypass the holy barriers, so it was safer to also rely on magic.

"We do have some mage collaborators, but they are all out of town at the moment."

"There's no guarantee that those collaborators aren't spies either."

Looking at the cultists sprawled on the floor of the prison, Karnak asked,

"Did you manage to get anything useful out of them? If they know about Hudel, they must hold a fairly high rank."

Alius clicked his tongue.

"Unfortunately, they turned out to be low-level members in a different sense."

The interrogation of the cultists was already finished, but they hadn't yielded much information.

The only cultist Remike knew of was Hudel, the Dark Cardinal. He had no knowledge of other cultists within the territory.

He had only ever received direct orders from Hudel.

"They're low-level, but directly under his command, you could say."

Whenever Hudel was away from the territory, as he was now, they had no specific duties. It seemed that wandering around aimlessly, digging up arrowroots, was their only task.

"And how do they contact Hudel?"

"There is no way to contact him. They only receive orders one-sidedly."

The other three cultists didn't even know Hudel was a follower of the Dark God. They simply acted as messengers for the cultists across the mountains in the Seven Kingdoms, as instructed by Remike.

Karnak nodded in understanding.

"Indeed, none of them seemed particularly strong."

Still, this should be enough evidence to present to the Evil Slaying Brigade.

By tomorrow morning, they planned to send a messenger to Kalat City to make contact.

"And so, from now on, our task is…"

Alius finished, pointing to the cultists.

"To ensure their safety until the Evil Slaying Brigade arrives."

***

"…That's the general situation."

After Karnak's explanation upon returning to the room, Baros tilted his head in confusion.

"Why are we sending the messenger tomorrow morning? Wouldn't it be more certain to send them now?"

Serati gave him a side-eye, as if he were acting like a heartless employer.

"Sir Baros, living people need to sleep, you know."

Even aside from that, the night in this era wasn't safe enough to ride through in the dark. Baros, who was used to commanding undead all the time, lacked awareness of this fact.

"At this point, the cultists will only take one of two actions."

The first was to silence their captured comrades.

"They'll likely try to kill them all before the Evil Slaying Brigade arrives, to prevent them from talking. From the looks of it, they don't seem like vital personnel worth rescuing."

The second option was to destroy all evidence linking the cult to Grenthal County.

"If Hudel were still guarding the territory, he would've probably chosen that option."

No matter how many witnesses there were, they were just cultists. The Empire couldn't easily act against an imperial noble just because some cultists claimed something.

The gap between being suspected and being branded as a cultist was huge.

"But Hudel isn't around, is he? That means the remaining members can't recklessly destroy evidence."

That was the downside of a decentralized organization.

Since they operate so secretly, unless they're directly involved, it's hard for members to judge what's important and what's not.

As a result, when the person in charge is absent, the freedom of those left behind is significantly reduced.

In the end, the cultists' only option is the former—silencing their captured comrades.

They have to deal with their captured comrades somehow, and they'll try to do it as quietly as possible.

"They wouldn't dare storm the temple in broad daylight, would they?"

That would essentially be starting a full-blown cultist rebellion.

If they did that, all of Grenthal County would become an enemy of the Empire, and Hudel would be irreversibly branded as a cultist.

It would destroy the entire religious influence they'd built in this region.

"No one's stupid enough to do that."

Instead, they'd likely try to discreetly handle it using their hidden spies.

"It seems like they're planning to flush out all the spies during this opportunity."

Thanks to that, it was bound to get noisy at night for a while.

The cultists would wait for nightfall and continuously send assassins.

"So, our task is simple."

Karnak shifted his gaze out the window.

Beyond the village, under the moonlit night, he could faintly see the castle of Count Grenthal in the distance.

"Just relax, eat the temple's food, and when the alarm goes off, catch the spies and get information from them…"

Then, Karnak suddenly stopped speaking.

"…What?"

Beyond the scenery, a thick aura of darkness was slowly spreading.

It was a familiar sight. After all, it was something he himself had often created in his previous life.

Whenever he summoned hordes of zombies, ghouls, and other evil spirits and monsters to form an army, the surrounding energy would become polluted, creating such a scene.

"Excuse me, young master?"

Baros, looking out the window, let out a dry laugh.

"They're storming the temple in broad daylight."

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