Chapter 374
Chapter 374: Fortune-Telling of What’s Ahead
“Ooohh—! Why—don’t I want to die—!”
Well then, it’s the necromancer Alexander who just tried calling back the dead at the inn.
Unfortunately, the soul was severely damaged and seemed to have transformed into a vengeful spirit.
“Uooohhh—! Bring me back—! Bring me back my life—!”
The soul, barely maintaining a human shape, struggled and reached out within the barrier. It was like it was drowning…
“This looks hopeless,” I thought.
Yeah. At least in this state, conversation is impossible… I need to do a bit of ‘reinforcement.’
While chanting a calming incantation, I poured magic power into the grieving soul. It felt like it was being absorbed more and more—this is a bit tough, like trying to fill a bucket with holes.
“[My name is Alexander—]”
I couldn’t help but smile self-deprecatingly.
“[A hero and a necromancer.]”
With that, I found a little breathing room. The hazy outline of the soul gradually took shape, transforming from a ‘something like a person’ to a ‘shadow resembling a person’—
“[——]”
Inside the barrier, the mass of darkness shaped like a human was completely still.
“…Calmed down?”
The soul didn’t answer right away.
“Is it about me?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Yes.”
Silence. No further questions or doubts about the current situation. Just the bare minimum of ego, I suppose…
“Talk about what you can remember about yourself.”
“I—don’t remember my name. I was a man, probably of the human race. I think I was in my 30s or 40s. I don’t remember my family structure, but I did have family. As for my origin…”
Just as he began to speak calmly, he showed signs of hesitation.
“…a city-state’s… I can’t remember.”
Only a tiny hint of a name seemed to cling to his memory. The shadow wavered, and a vague outline reminiscent of a middle-aged man emerged on the faceless visage.
It’s frustrating not to remember.
I totally get that feeling…
“I… don’t remember the specifics, but for some reason, I was traveling by ship for my family’s sake. I should have been on a passenger ship. I vaguely remember the cabin. There were several hammocks hanging. I think there were many other passengers too.”
That means it was at least a medium-sized passenger ship…?
“That’s about all I can recall about myself.”
“How did you die?”
“…!?”
The soul trembled softly. Anger—hatred—fear—those emotions remaining in the core of his soul flared up, but quickly calmed by the superficial reason that cloaked him.
“Probably at night. I was asleep, but there were screams coming from somewhere on the ship. I was too scared to leave my room, but eventually, it… it appeared, and it—ohhh!”
The trembling soul quieted down again.
“…What did ‘it’ look like?”
“I don’t remember much. It was too dark to see. But it looked like a human man.”
“How were you killed?”
“I was hit, and my head hurt terribly. I remember being dragged around the ship. There was a burning pain all over my body. Laughter echoed—the laughter of men and women mingled, coldness, fear, fatigue, sleepiness—all of it crashing over me—”
Silence.
“I… died.”
He muttered softly.
“…Is that all?”
“Yes.”
I see.
The information I gained isn’t abundant, but there were several quite important pieces.
“First, you were attacked while on a medium or larger passenger ship.”
Barbara, who had been floating and listening, crossed her arms, pondering.
“This man heard laughter from both a man and a woman, didn’t he?”
Leila looked at the soul and said hesitantly.
“So that means, there was a female vampire as well, perhaps?”
“I thought the same thing. And the possibility is high.”
It’s an inconvenient thought that I don’t want to ponder too deeply, but forming a group is a perfectly normal strategy for vampires. If they move in too large of numbers, the vampire corpses become too conspicuous and are easily captured by the Holy Church, but in a huge lake, that could be easily covered…
In fact, as Arthur mentioned, the water corpses that drifted ashore are likely just the tip of the iceberg.
“It seems they attacked medium or larger passenger ships. They must have had the confidence to annihilate all the passengers and crew—I’m thinking it’s quite a high-ranking vampire, but if they’re working together, even a reasonably strong vampire could manage that,” Ante articulated flatly, with the feeling of “this is bothersome” clearly seeping through.
“…What should we do?” Barbara asked for my opinion.
“We can’t ignore this information; we have to inform Arthur.”
The vampires are banding together and have been prowling the routes of medium-sized passenger ships—this information is huge and will greatly help pinpoint the vampires’ habitat.
“But what about necromancy?”
“…I’ll say it’s my secret art. I’ll claim it has some fortune-telling powers.”
Leaning forward on the bed, I shrugged slightly.
“I’ll forcefully present myself as a hero of the 7th Demon Lord, who has dark attributes. If even Edgar managed to get by with that, I should be able to handle Arthur too.”
“Hmm…”
“Umm…”
“That’s true…”
Ante, Leila, and Barbara all wore complicated expressions. Ante looked stern, Leila seemed worried, while Barbara was deep in thought, searching for a better method.
“Honestly, I don’t see any elements that would raise suspicion. The 7th Demon Lord’s Prince somehow knows Holy Silver spells, has pretended to be a hero, and there’s no reason to help with annihilating vampires.”
“Well, that’s true…”
“So, does that mean we’ll follow Arthur from here on out?”
“I’d like to think so. There’s too little information for us to handle this on our own, plus I don’t even know if we can flush out the underwater vampires.”
Probably, once we narrow down the water region to a certain extent, we can prepare a decoy ship filled with heroes and priests to lure out the vampires and take them down—that seems likely.
Even if Leila searched from the sky, the vampires probably wouldn’t reveal themselves, and if we helped a different ship under attack, using breath would just burn down the ship as well. And asking if I could take down multiple vampires all by myself is…
“Really a pain, huh…”
“Do you think this will all wrap up in one summer? While vampire extermination is essential, will it not waste your precious time?”
“Well, if it looks like it’ll take too long, I might just have to bow out midway.”
At Barbara’s suggestion, I also frowned.
“But if I talk to the victims to gather information and guide it as a fortune-telling, it should certainly be faster to narrow down the water area than if Arthur tried to work solo. I think I could cooperate on that much.”
My “fortune-telling” is incredibly accurate!
I can read the past directly from the parties involved!
“More than anything… I thought that accepting Arthur’s invitation might allow me to relax a bit.”
With that, I weakly smiled at Leila.
—I’m sure it’ll be a leisurely boat trip.
Until we reach a suspicious water area.
“I might wander around various towns and do some food-hunting on the way.”
While occasionally slaying night elves, of course…
“…Yes. I wish for you to rest, Alex.”
Leila smiled back, also clasping her hands in front of her chest.
“If you can do what you desire, I think that is for the best.”
…It really came through that she was thinking about me from the bottom of her heart.
“Thank you.”
I felt a mix of apology and gratitude, instinctively bowing my head.
—And so, our direction was set.
This time, I’ll lend my strength to Arthur as the fortune-telling hero Alexander!!
And we’ll take down the vampires in the lake…!
“What will happen to me, I wonder?”
—The soul questioned from within the barrier.
