The moment he recalled it, hatred for Verkis suddenly surged up within him without end. Damon
bellowed into the silent plain.
“Verkis, I will make sure you meet a wretched end. To be brought down by a human you thought
nothing of—that will be the fate ordained for you.”
He shouted with all his might, but his voice was swallowed by the ceaseless wind and faded away
powerlessly. Having thus vented even a little of the knot in his chest, Damon unfastened the pack
he was carrying and set it down at his feet.
“Then I suppose it’s time to start preparing. But I wonder if their souls still remain here?”
Tilting his head, Damon soon began drawing a magic circle on the ground to summon souls.
It was to call forth the souls of knights who had died bearing resentment.
Damon’s purpose in coming here was to create Death Knights. In order to take revenge against a
dragon, he desperately needed their aid.
“I can’t expect to improve my magic any further. No, even if I could, facing a dragon with magic
is absurd.”
To face a dragon most effectively, the assistance of a Sword Master who had reached the pinnacle
was absolutely necessary. Only the Aura Blades they manifested could pierce dragon scales harder
than steel and inflict fatal wounds. No matter how high-circle the magic, it did not work against
dragons. Thus, when facing a dragon, a mage could only take on the role of supporting actor, while
the lead role belonged unmistakably to the Sword Master.
But drawing in a precious Sword Master was by no means easy. As an alternative, Damon placed his
hopes on Death Knights. And they had to be master-class Death Knights, no less than Sword Masters.
It was for precisely that reason that Damon had come all the way to distant Northwood.
“The most necessary condition for summoning a Death Knight is the soul of a knight who, filled
with resentment, cannot leave this world. And it must be the soul of a knight who possessed
exceptional skill in life.”
In Damon’s view, this was the only place that met all those conditions. The place where nearly four
hundred Sword Masters had been annihilated. Of course, there was no doubt that most of them had
harbored deep grudges. In that case, it was only natural that the souls of Sword Masters might still
be wandering here.
“I don’t need many. What I need more desperately than a large number of mediocre ones is a small
number of outstanding ones……”
The ones he had in mind were the Four Great Knights who had been the pillars of Ikarot. If he could
turn them, who had come close to the level of Grand Sword Masters, into Death Knights, they would
not fall short in the slightest when it came to hunting a dragon. If he, a master of the 9th Circle,
joined them, their magical support would be more than sufficient.
Having completed the magic circle, Damon quietly began gathering mana.
“Shall we begin, then?”
The Northwood Plains were a place where the flow of mana was extremely irregular, so casting magic
there was by no means easy. However, Damon’s level was the ultimate realm of humanity: the Ninth
Circle. Before long, the surrounding mana began to rearrange itself according to his will.
Sssssss.
With the magic circle as its axis, a vortex of mana spread outward, beginning to send a broad signal
in every direction. The signals bore the mission of conveying the caster’s intent to the spirits
wandering aimlessly through this place.
The Northwood Plains stretched wide enough that no end could be seen. The signal spreading from the
magic circle carried Damon’s will all the way to the farthest reaches of the Northwood Plains.
The first response from a spirit came a little over an hour after Damon had activated the magic. A
pale shadow quietly revealed itself before him.
It was a spirit that appeared in the form of a fully armed knight, but with one arm torn away and
its body drenched in blood, its appearance was more than enough to inspire fear. Its mist-like,
translucent glow also gave it a strange, uncanny quality. The first spirit to appear stared at Damon
as if surprised, then spoke.
—Are you the one who called me?
A voice delivered directly into his mind. Damon silently nodded.
—Why did you call me?
“Judging by your appearance, you seem to have once belonged to the Hero Corps. What’s your name?”
The spirit seemed rather taken aback by Damon’s utterly fearless manner as he bluntly said what he
wanted.
—You are a bold one. My name is……
Unfortunately, he was not one of the Four Great Knights. When the answer he had hoped for did not
come, Damon immediately dismissed him. He, too, must have been a Sword Master in life, but unless he
was among the strongest, he was nothing but someone Damon had no need of.
“I wasn’t calling you. So you may leave.”
—What an absurd fellow.
Leaving behind a rebuke mixed with anger, the spirit vanished from that place. And in its place, the
spirits Damon had called continued to appear without end.
“What’s your name?”
—My name is……
“You’re not the one either.”
The tedious process of confirmation continued on and on. When one vanished, another appeared. But
the spirits Damon sought did not show themselves easily. Even the souls of medium-sized monsters
slain by the heroes came to Damon. Ogres and trolls, that was.
But Damon endured it and waited for the souls he sought to come. What he needed were souls capable
of creating the most powerful Death Knights. After waiting persistently, the answer Damon had been
searching for finally came.
—Who is it that calls me? My name is Helbertron. State your business.
Damon’s face, which had grown weary with boredom and listlessness, brightened at once.
“Helbertron? Is that really you?”
—You know me?
“As expected, you haven’t left this world.”
A look of delight rose on Damon’s face. Though he was now a spirit, Helbertron was one of the few
people in all of Truvenia with whom Damon had been acquainted. He could not help but be glad.
“Don’t you know me?”
Helbertron’s spirit, appearing with half his body crushed, looked Damon over and wore a troubled
expression.
—I have no memory of seeing you. Who are you? Reveal your identity.
“Idiot…… Don’t be fooled by appearances. Look directly at my soul. If you’re a spirit, you should
be capable of that much.”
After staring intently at Damon for a moment, the spirit’s face filled with incomprehension.
—Th-this scent is……
“Now do you understand? I’m Damon. The one who cooked for you……”
Only then did Helbertron recognize Damon. It seemed that even after becoming a spirit, he retained
his memories from life.
—Amazing. To think you are still alive…… But what is with that ill-fitting appearance?
Damon shrugged.
“It’s nothing much. Let’s just say it’s a body I changed into in order to escape a dragon’s grasp.”
—What happened to Truvenia? The Ikarot Empire and His Majesty the Emperor……
Now that he had the rare chance to learn of the outside world, Helbertron’s spirit bombarded Damon
with endless questions. Damon gave a bitter smile and waved a hand.
“Wait a moment. I’ll explain everything shortly. More importantly, are the other three spirits here
as well?”
—They are.
“Good. I’ll state my business once they’ve all gathered. Along with everything about Truvenia’s
current circumstances.”
Even as one human and one ghost conversed, spirits continued to gather. Seeing that, it seemed the
souls of everyone who had belonged to the Hero Corps had been unable to leave this place. Worn down
by the countless spirits pouring in, Damon grew irritated.
“What is this? Why didn’t these fellows go to the afterlife after dying?”
At those words, Helbertron’s spirit gave a self-mocking smile.
—You must not have known. These Northwood Plains are the domain of a god. Therefore, those who died
here must be considered to have incurred the god’s wrath. As the price, their souls can never leave
this place for eternity.
“So that’s why there are so many spirits here?”
—Most likely……
In the meantime, the remaining three spirits he sought also gathered. In effect, every spirit
wandering the Northwood Plains had come to Damon at least once. Once the souls he wanted had
gathered, Damon erased the magic circle for summoning spirits without delay.
“That should do it.”
Recalling memories of the past, Damon gazed at each of the spirits of the Four Great Knights in
turn. Helbertron looked quite gruesome, but the other three were no exception. Reindelre and
Primberg, whose bodies had been completely vaporized, were merely shapes of pale mist, and in
Saramis, whose entire upper chest had been blown away, it was hard to find any trace of his former
handsome appearance.
“Now that you’re all here, let’s begin.”
Damon first told them of the fall of the Ikarot Empire and the fact that Truvenia had fallen into
the hands of the orcs. As expected, their reactions were heavy.
—I expected as much, but hearing it directly does not feel good……
—What happened to His Majesty? The imperial family must have crossed safely to Arcadia, surely?
Seeing the Four Great Knights still concerned for the imperial house even after dying and becoming
spirits, Damon smiled bitterly.
“I don’t think that happened. The Rehert Saber, symbol of the Ikarot imperial family, is in my
possession.”
—Is-is that true?
Every one of them looked utterly devastated. It seemed they even felt guilt over having failed to
fulfill their duty as knights. Watching them, Damon gave a sardonic smile and sneered.
“What remarkable loyalty. To remain loyal even in death to a royal house that no longer exists in
this world—how utterly laughable.”
At those words, the spirits bristled.
—Insolent wretch. To dare insult the imperial house……
—We swore an oath as knights. That does not change even after our deaths.
Damon’s expression suddenly turned cold.
“You fools. Do you even know what is happening in Truvenia because of those idiotic rulers? They are
the ones who, to protect their worthless pride, caused countless people to die and placed a yoke even
upon their descendants.”
—………
“I’ll tell you now how humans under orc rule are living. Pull yourselves together and listen.”
Damon told them of the lives of the human slaves he had seen in the Chugar tribe. Pitiful humans
whose labor was exploited while they were young, only to become food for the orcs when they grew
old. After hearing his explanation, the spirits could only be aghast.
—Su-surely such a thing cannot be……
“This is the truth I confirmed with my own two eyes. Because I came all the way here disguised as a
wandering orc.”
—……….
The spirits fell silent.