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Of course, the Followers of Death weren’t heretics from the beginning.

Initially, they were individuals who sought to explore the afterlife and paradise, performing good deeds for the trials of the underworld.

Their transformation began with the influx of certain mages.

The fresh perspectives of the curious mages, who read the scriptures of the Church of Life and followed its doctrines while continuously doing good deeds, served as a catalyst for studying death from a new angle.

If it had stopped at merely exploring, they wouldn’t have become heretics.

However, the mages’ insatiable curiosity about knowledge eventually led to attempts to control death through magic.

Naturally, those who revered death initially viewed such attempts unfavorably, but somehow… they must have been swayed by the persuasive tongues of the mages.

Thus, the Followers of Death, who originally aimed towards death as a destination, transformed into those who treated death like a mere tool.

“Is this all because of the mages?”

“Their curiosity is truly remarkable. It can’t be helped.”

To think that the side effect of mages multiplying through Sia’s book and beginning to develop various magics would manifest here. It was truly unexpected.

Well, I can understand where the mages are coming from. With the grand goal of a real god in sight, wouldn’t they want to get a little closer to it?

It’s like wanting to climb a huge mountain when it’s right there.

They seemed to want to emulate the power of such a god even a little… but, from the perspective of those affected by it, it was nothing short of a nuisance!!!

And one more thing.

At that time, the location chosen by the Followers of Death as their base was… a temple built near a land saturated with the energy of death.

One of the temples erected to suppress the death energy emanating from the Dragon’s Tomb. The temple closest to the death energy.

The Followers of Death planted there… mutated into necromancers and began to use the land’s death energy.

Using the magical power of mana stones like using magic, they utilized the death energy like it was magical power.

Of course, this was not a typical power, making it difficult to master.

The death energy, devouring life and altering magical powers, was like a vile poison that ordinary humans couldn’t withstand.

But they say poison and medicine are essentially the same, differing only in dosage. Somehow being able to suppress and control that poison-like death energy, they succeeded in making it their own power.

They became capable of handling an enormous amount of death energy that typical mages couldn’t possess.

Well, although the quantity of that energy was immense, what they could actually do was limited to matters related to death or life, making them fundamentally different from regular mages at that point.

They could refuse death and seek life, moving corpses, manifesting death energy into objects to create sharp bones, absorbing the life of others to make it their own, conjuring black flames that wouldn’t easily go out, or producing spirits mimicking souls with death energy.

In exchange for accepting death energy within their bodies, most spells that any ordinary mage could use were either rendered unusable or severely weakened.

“But to want to grow stronger by turning the death energy into their own power… it seems somewhat insane.”

“Hmm. Utilizing a power that tries to devour one’s own life is certainly not a common approach.”

In reality, many necromancers lost the ability to use magic normally after accepting the death energy.

It seems they ended up unable to use magic properly because they used their magic to suppress and control the ever-hungry death energy.

“To seek after a power one cannot handle and eventually lose what they originally had. It’s truly a foolish choice.”

“Well, they might be satisfied with it, though.”

From their perspective, death is overseen by the Goddess of Life. They might believe that by stepping into such a domain, they’ve drawn closer to the divine.

Well, how they appear to others… is another story altogether.

“If only they had studied quietly, there wouldn’t have been such a problem…”

“Those who acquire great power in a short time aren’t likely to do that.”

“Yeah. That seems about right…”

The Followers of Death. No, the rise of the necromancers wasn’t a significant problem at first.

There was nothing wrong with researching death itself. Just as no one questioned the Followers of Death researching and spreading the doctrine.

However, they crossed a line at some point. They became intoxicated with the easily obtainable great power.

At first, it was merely the case that more people were entering and exiting the Dragon’s Tomb, but at some point, the death energy emanating from the Dragon’s Tomb greatly increased.

Due to this, during investigations by several priests, it was revealed that the temple used as a base by the Followers of Death wasn’t properly suppressing the death energy, leading to various issues arising, and the Followers of Death fleeing…

It was truly a series of troublesome events.

“Thanks to that, I’ve ended up becoming the High Priest.”

“True enough.”

As the Followers of Death fled the temple while pulling some tricks, the death energy from the Dragon’s Tomb became even stronger… forcing even the dragons remaining in the Church of Life to step in to suppress it.

Even the dragon who previously worked as the High Priest… relinquished their position to another human and was suppressing the death energy.

“Well, thanks to that, I find myself in this rather undeserved position.”

“You can brag about it. You’re the first human to become the High Priest of the Church of Life.”

“Haha… Truth be told, I’ve even unearthed truths I didn’t know before.”

The High Priest chuckled softly. He was in a situation where he had heard many stories from the former High Priest.

About the Church of Life, the Goddess of Life, and the dragons within the Church of Life.

And why the saint of the Church of Life is called the Dragon Priestess.

“So, are you disappointed? That your esteemed Goddess of Life has come down to us in the form of such a young girl?”

“No, I’ve decided to think positively about it. The Goddess of Life personally descended to the earth for us humans.”

The High Priest smiled warmly. Well, it wasn’t inaccurate.

Most of the other gods merely bestowed miracles, lent their powers, or gave prophecies.

But she does everything, even coming down to work directly!

“In the future, there will be even more humans. The dragons working within the Church of Life… are likely to decrease rather than increase.”

I had intentionally been reducing the number of dragons within the Church of Life.

While it’s true that their power is great and they can be useful allies, it’s just… well… it gets dull, doesn’t it?

When everything goes wrong at once, they just swoop in and clean house, it’s honestly no fun.

Of course, one shouldn’t judge everything purely by entertainment!

“I understand. The Goddess of Life intends to make this land her own. While the dragons are powerful, they are far too strong to just be referred to as life.”

“They aren’t bad, but if a too massive being moves carelessly, even the smallest of things can become catastrophic.”

Having a colossal dinosaur rampage through a cutesy city simulation and smash everything is not my cup of tea.

Such things shouldn’t be used unless it’s to wrap everything up and conclude that scenario.

I don’t know when that will be, though.

“Let’s leave them aside for now… um. What do you plan to do about the necromancers?”

“Well, I wonder what would be best…”

From the perspective of South Romania, it seemed they were hoping that the Church of Life would somehow handle the issue since it arose from them.

However, since dragons capable of dealing with them were stabilizing the tomb… hmm.

“Perhaps it would be best to select the most competent priests and have them suppress the necromancers.”

Since their roots are in the Church of Life, they couldn’t escape that responsibility.

Some form of action is necessary.

“Shall we call them Inquisition?”

“Inquisition… that’s a rather ominous term.”

“But it’s fitting.”

Death is merely the period at the end of life; it shouldn’t become a subject of domination.

Those who would seek to use death as a tool could only be seen as heretics.

“Or I could go and smash them myself…”

“Oh, no. The Goddess of Life… no, the Dragon Priestess shouldn’t have to get involved in such matters. I will gather the appropriate personnel to take care of it.”

“Yes. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Please do.”

At the High Priest’s words, I simply nodded before suddenly coming up with a brilliant idea.

“Oh! That’s right! I’ll create a holy magic useful for neutralizing death energy. It wouldn’t do for my precious priests to get hurt in the process of suppressing the necromancers.”

If I create flames that purify the evil energy through faith, the rest will take care of itself!

Perhaps I might even end up burning the bodies of those heretics!

 

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