Chapter 118 - New Fate -1 (Part Two)
**
On a night with only a lone moon to illuminate away the darkness.
A group of people were traversing the barren landscape on the backs of camels.
“Dammit, it’s still so far away.”
“Is that it? The Black Order’s headquarters?”
These travellers currently stuck inside the harsh winds of sand were Necromancers covering their faces with balaclavas. When they shifted their gazes, they could see a huge temple in the far-off distance.
These men were spies sent by Aslan’s leadership.
In order to invade the Theocratic Empire, Aslan employed a Lich named Nasus. The initial plan was to trap Oscal Baldur by stringing along the Imperial Prince and taking him hostage.
‘…The problem is, Nasus’s current whereabouts are unknown. Even all contacts to the Black Order have been severed.’
A month after Aslan’s great army was dispatched to the border and got utterly annihilated, the Theocratic Empire’s own troops began their earnest march on the kingdom’s soil.
They had enough of a pretext now. The stored image crystal was discovered inside the Third Imperial Prince’s private residence. The recorded footage of Aslan’s people seemingly taking the Imperial Prince as hostage was publicly displayed for all to see.
This caused an internal discord to break out within Aslan’s ruling class. The plan to sacrifice their kingdom’s own nobles to create a pretext and invade the Theocratic Empire was uncovered, that was why.
And for the past two months, the Theocratic Empire was unhesitantly destroying Aslan’s territory.
The Holy Emperor himself, Kelt Olfolse, personally stepped up to fight. And to stop his rampage, King Rahamma and the eleven feudal lords excluding Gallas banded together to fight him.
Despite their combined might, it was only enough to barely defend against the emperor.
Such exchanges took place several times by now.
The repeated cycle of fighting and tasting defeat was gradually forcing Aslan down the path of destruction. The kingdom, as it currently stood, had no way of repelling the Theocratic Empire.
So many cities were already laying in smouldering ruins by now.
Even King Rahamma had realised the severity of the situation. He sent several communiques to Nasus through the communication sphere, but all he got in return was silence.
And so, left with no other choice, he dispatched a group of spies like this. As the Black Order’s headquarters was located in a barren wasteland literally in the middle of nowhere, the spies rushing over in great haste still had to spend almost one month just to reach here.
‘Even if the Black Order was secretly set up, this is just too irresponsible.’
More than anything else, things must’ve spiralled out of control like this because an undead Lich was left in charge.
“Hang on, Oscal Baldur can’t still be alive, now can he?”
“…If that’s true, then we’ll all be dead meat.”
The Necromancers swallowed their dry saliva and pulled on the reins of their camels.
They quickly headed towards the distant temple where Nasus and his gang should be.
**
“Lady Tina! Lady Tina!”
Tina woke up from her sleep and shifted her gaze to Damon.
He urgently spoke up. “They’re coming, my lady. Necromancers are here!”
Those words greatly stunned Tina. “They are…? But why? Without any warning, too?!”
But in a way, this was inevitable.
Indeed, it was actually more strange for none of them to show up in this place for the past three months. They must be scouts dispatched by the kingdom to investigate what happened here.
“Shh. They have already entered the temple. You must… be absolutely silent, my lady.”
“What about Lord Angel?”
“…We seem to be already too late in that regard.”
Tina’s complexion paled in an instant. She hurriedly opened the door and left her room. Her ears immediately caught the sound of footsteps, and she quickly hid behind a boulder nearby.
Not too long after that, Necromancers wielding lit torches entered her view. They were scanning the ruined interior of the temple.
“This is intense. Just how much were they rampaging around…?”
“Isn’t that… holy water? There’s a lake of holy water here?”
They continued looking around their vicinity, moving the torches this way and that as if to investigate even further.
Flinch!
They discovered a few slaves hurdling away here and there and began smacking their lips. There were no signs of other Necromancers in the surroundings, and seeing how all these slaves were running free, it could only mean that Nasus had failed to kill Oscal Baldur.
What about the Imperial Princes taken as hostages, then? Probably in the wind by now, too.
“…Did they really get done in by Oscal Baldur?”
“After all, even a Lich was nothing much, it seems.”
“I hear that over one thousand slaves were mobilised for this plan, but it was all a massive waste, wasn’t it?”
The Necromancers clicked their tongues loudly. Meanwhile, a couple of them broke off from the main group and started walking up the steps of the altar.
“What is that?”
Eventually, they discovered a slumbering boy sitting on a wooden throne on top of this tall altar. Naturally, their eyes widened in shock.
Because they had immediately recognised the mountain goat’s skull on the boy’s head, a grimoire resting on his knees, and a staff leaning against the throne itself.
“Oh my goodness! Aren’t those things relics?!”
“Not only that, those are the legendary relics that belonged to Necromancer King Amon!”
“To think that I’d actually get to see the relics only described in books with my own eyes! Hang on, they aren’t imitations, now are they?”
The Necromancers maintained their stunned expressions while walking over to the slumbering boy. Once they got close enough, they extended their hands.
It was then, a figure quickly stood in their way to stop them.
“Do not touch Lord Angel’s belongings with your filthy hands!”
The Dark Elf, Tina, jumped in their path and blocked them. She stood tall with her back to the boy. The Necromancers furrowed their brows while looking at her.
“A slave?”
“And it’s a Dark Elf.”
“She’s still a little kid. No need to mind her, then. Since she’s a slave, she can’t even use demonic energy anyways.”
Just as they decided to roundly ignore the child, Tina frowned deeply and shouted out, “My name is Tina Aslan. I’m the daughter of your king, Rahamma!”
“…!”
“As the daughter of Aslan’s king, I command you. Step back this instant!”
The Necromancers finally displayed some reactions. They exchanged glances with each other before reverting their gazes back over to Tina.
“What did you say?”
“I shall repeat myself. Get away from Lord Angel right n…”
The Necromancers stared at Tina as the corners of their lips curled up.
“Aha, so that’s who she was. This little kid…”
“…She’s the discarded daughter, isn’t she?”
“Hahaha! What the hell? She’s that daughter who got thrown away? What was that again, you’re King Rahamma’s…?”
They began guffawing out loudly.
Tina’s expression hardened as she glared at them.
“Then again, his majesty does have a strange hobby. A hobby of making children with demi-humans and using them in experiments, that is.”
“Ignore her. Nothing good will come out of dealing with this child. Besides, she has no powers. Our duty is to make a report regarding the state of this place. And then…”
The Necromancers’ avaricious gazes fell on the relics currently adorning the sleeping boy.
“…To take those items out of here too.”
“H-how dare you look down on me!”
“First of all, if we’re talking about children seeded by his majesty, then there are literally more than a hundred of them. Our dear princess, surely you know better than anyone on how they’re being treated and used, now don’t you?”
“…”
“Get out of the way.”
They resumed reaching out with their hands.
It was then, Tina held her staff tightly and slammed it down. “I said, do not touch our Lord Angel!”
A rune letter suddenly engraved itself on the altar’s surface. Roots of vegetation growing around the altars broke out of the ground and rapidly rose up to rush towards the Necromancers, but they swung around their staves to easily defend against the attack.
“You little wretched child! Besides, what do you mean by Lord Angel? I think I figured out why his majesty cast you aside.”
“Hang on a second here. Did she use magic just now? Didn’t her demonic energy supply get cut off before becoming a slave?”
“…No, I sensed divinity coming from her just now.”
Necromancers tutted audibly.
“Little girl, are you seriously calling that boy an angel? Besides all that, divinity? You’ve gone completely mad, haven’t you?”
They wielded their staves and summoned undead skeletons on the spot.
“Since there are plenty of slaves here, we might as well take them all with us. Why don’t we also present this child to his majesty?”
“If all goes well, we might even earn ourselves a Dark Elf permeating with divinity as a lab rat.”
Creepy grins broke out on the faces of the Necromancers.
Tina’s face paled even further, but just as she began stumbling back, a low growl-like voice came from behind her.
“Man, you guys are so bloody noisy.”
She flinched in surprise and turned her head.
The voice came from the boy sitting on the throne. Within the eye holes of the mountain goat’s skull loosely fitting his head, the irises of the boy’s previously-sleeping eyes could be seen shooting a cold glare at the Necromancers.
“And who is this Lord Angel or whatever?”
His low growl-like voice reverberated throughout the temple.
The slaves hearing his voice began emerging from the darkness one by one.
Damon, who was watching and waiting for a chance to sneak attack, also gasped out in surprise and opened his eyes much wider.
The boy slumbering away on the throne…
Allen Olfolse, the Seventh Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire…
…After three months of long slumber, he had finally opened his eyes.
< 065. New Fate -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.