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Chapter 198. The Incurable Disease

“Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead…”

——Deep within the Demon Lord Castle.

In a certain laboratory of the Undead Palace, a woman was muttering to herself while plucking the petals one by one.

“…Alive… Dead!”

The Undead King, Enma, who was also a “Doll Maker.” After plucking six petals, she opened a gate to the spirit world with a chantless spell.

“[—Come forth, Zilbagias Reiju]”

With a thunderous sound, several ominous magical arms surged into the gate.

They rummaged through the spirit world—but found nothing.

“Ughhh! No! He’s still alive…!”

Enma slumped listlessly over the table.

“…Um, do you need those flowers?”

The one calmly asking while flipping through a magic book was Claire, Enma’s apprentice and a trainee Undead King.

Her expression was as if saying it was ridiculous to change to an exasperated face just for this.

“Because, like, if you don’t wait a bit, it gets annoying, right, Claire?”

Enma pouted while resting her chin on the table.

“Well… I did say that, yes…”

Before doing the flower fortune-telling, she had tried summoning Zilbagias every few seconds, and it was indeed unbearably annoying.

But now, it was annoying in a different way.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, but could you at least do it somewhere else?”

Unbeknownst to many, this laboratory was Claire’s private room.

There was a mountain of flower bouquets piled next to Enma, but where on earth did she procure such a large quantity within the Demon Lord Castle…?

“Well, if I’m alone, it feels kind of lonely.”

Enma, initially with a sulky face, suddenly switched to a mischievous grin.

“—Besides, wouldn’t Claire be happy if Zil showed up?”

Claire froze. She felt a tightness in her chest. Despite her body not breathing anymore.

…What kind of intention is behind that question?

“Because you hate Zil, right? If he dies and joins us, wouldn’t that feel refreshing?”

However, Enma’s continued remarks eased her tension. While she was a bit shocked to realize her inner feelings were seen through, it felt better than being misunderstood as having a crush on Zilbagias, whom Enma had feelings for.

“That is… true, but don’t you have any thoughts about it as his master?”

“Nah? I like Zil, but everyone has their own preferences, you know? Especially since you’re a victim of the Demon Lord’s army, it’s understandable if you have mixed feelings about him.”

Enma shrugged with a nonchalant attitude.

“Anyway, from my perspective, I think it’d be wonderful if he joined us.”

“…Well, your personal feelings are your own business, so I don’t intend to meddle in them.”

—Claire had no right to interfere with Enma’s decisions. Even though they were on friendly terms, Enma was an absolute ruler, and Claire was merely her filthy subordinate.

“Well, I’ve always thought that prince should experience the harsh realities at least once!”

“Isn’t he currently experiencing that on the battlefield? Or is it because he’s a prince that he’s being supported so thoroughly? Either way, he’s strong-willed and shows considerable talent in necromancy…”

Enma smiled cheerfully.

“He has likely flirted with the possibility of retaining his ego even after death. Regardless of preferences, I’m sure he will join us. And once he finds out how comfortable it is here, he’ll definitely want to recruit everyone…!!”

Giggling at such a future, Enma laughed alone while Claire stared at her expressionlessly.

But suddenly, Enma froze.

“Oh, it seems the assault on the royal capital is over.”

“What? Already?”

Claire reflexively pulled her diary from the desk drawer to check the date. …It hasn’t even been three days since the prince set out!

Enma had her eyes closed. Below her eyelids, her eyes rolled around independently as if looking at different scenes.

“They are preparing to send a dragon courier to the Demon Lord Castle. Apparently, the Demon race has suffered significant losses. But Zil seems fine and has achieved great results. As expected!”

“…Master is quite mischievous, isn’t she? You could have contacted the Izanis Tribe or the Dragons much faster.”

The reasoning was simple. A high-ranking undead was mixed among the skeletal horses, and if they caught any crucial information, undead from various regions would relay it to the Demon Lord Castle through spirit communication. If she wanted to, Enma could even possess the “eyes” or “ears” of local undead to view the situation directly.

Witnessing the preparations for sending a message while being in the Demon Lord Castle could be seen as either comical or malicious.

“They say the wise do not speak much, right?”

Enma smiled pleasantly with her eyes still closed. There was no need to show off her power—at least not towards the Demon race.

Just then, Enma opened one eye, mouth curled up, and looked at Claire.

“I heard Zil’s subordinates have been wiped out.”

—As if enjoying Claire’s reaction.

“……”

She couldn’t feel anything positive about this and remained silent.

“It seems they unfortunately ran into the enemy’s elite unit. However, Zil returned uninjured. He’s from the Reiju Tribe, after all. It seems he even wiped out the enemy unit… What a shame, if only the humans had fought a little harder… Grrr.”

Switching expressions rapidly between a wicked smile, an impressed look, and an annoyed frown.

“Moreover, it turns out the number of human casualties is less than expected. The Defteros Kingdom prioritized escaping the younger generation over a full-scale resistance. …Why do they always choose to prolong their suffering like this?”

—After all, they’ll die one day anyway.

“And focusing on the younger generation… The cycle of futile living will continue! We need to break this negative chain quickly; it’s pitiful…!”

“…That’s true.”

“But there seem to be quite a few civilians left in the royal capital. I wonder what they will do? Their policies aren’t very clear. I hope it’s not the same old execution as usual—I really hope so…”

Claire stared at Enma, who was diligently murmuring while collecting information, expressionless.

This skeleton wouldn’t display expression unless consciously switched.

No matter how she felt, she wouldn’t naturally distort her expression—

“Well, despite being fewer than anticipated, we need to arrange for the disposal of the corpses, and it looks like we might gain new allies! Maybe it’s time to expand the warehouse again… Hmm, it seems we’ll be quite busy… Most importantly, Zil is coming back!!”

Clapping her hands, Enma finished gathering information and smiled blossomingly. Her glass-like eyes sparkled, resembling a lovesick girl—

But then she suddenly shifted her gaze to the flower bouquet beside her.

“—Hehe. I need to prepare better flowers for the victory celebration!”

As Enma poked them with her finger, all of them withered and scattered away.

Seeing that, it was the first time Claire changed her expression. —A displeased frown that clearly indicated her protest.

“This is my room, you know? Master, please clean it up!”

Pointing sharply at the pile of petals scattered on the floor.

“………….～♪”

As Enma whistled poorly with her awful whistling skills, she left the room. The ability to produce sound as an undead was an impressive, highly sophisticated skill, but—

“Hey! Don’t ignore me! Master!!”

“Ahh, seems like I’m going to be busy.”

“Stop adding unnecessary work!!”

The Undead Palace was lively as always.

And it awaited the arrival of new dead, rubbing its hands together in anticipation—.

 

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