The Necromancer Who Was Despised

Plus, she’s also someone who’s tied to me.

“Answer me. Oh, I hope you don’t say something stupid like my body is your goal. Someone like you could easily get a woman who’s better than me.”

‘Is she overestimating me more than I thought?’

But the funny thing is that most of that overestimation is true.

‘What should I call this?’

The subject of her overestimation, me, was underrating my own worth.

That’s not a bad thing for me, but it makes it really ambiguous for me to say anything.

Suddenly, Athena’s face came into view.

Her face was strangely stiff, and she seemed to be afraid of something.

‘I see.’

“Don’t worry. I won’t use you as a consumable or raise you to turn you into an undead later.”

She flinched.

I hesitated for a moment and then decided to just be honest since it was a good opportunity.

“I needed a comrade I could trust. I needed someone who wouldn’t betray me until the end. There’s something you’re mistaken about. It’s true that high-level mercenaries have good credit, but not all of them are like that. And more than anything, dark magicians are seen as trash more than you think.”

I didn’t hide it, since she would find out eventually anyway.

High-level mercenaries can accept a skilled dark magician as a comrade. However, they will never receive more than a certain amount of trust.

They will always be wary of me, and if anything happens, I’ll always be the first to be suspected.

That was the limit of dark magicians in this world.

‘It’s the same even if you become a recognized dark magician.’

You will always be under surveillance.

The research materials can be checked by the guarantor noble at any time, and dark magicians are always followed by unkind eyes.

Someone who won’t be blamed even if they’re betrayed and abandoned. Even the rare good dark magicians are perfect for turning dark in this kind of environment.

‘Of course, I have no intention of becoming like that.’

For me, a comrade who can reach a high level and who I can trust is very useful.

Even more so if I hold the leash.

‘In that sense, Athena is very useful.’

If she were someone I was going to use and throw away, I wouldn’t have explained this to her.

I said with a serious face.

“You’ll move up as long as there are no big problems. I’ll make it happen. So stop thinking useless thoughts and train.”

Seeing my words and attitude, Athena slowly nodded as if she was a little relieved.

“Thank you for being honest. I don’t know if I can meet your expectations, but I’ll do my best.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll have to examine your brother’s body and find out where he got that curse from, so keep that in mind.

“Yep.”

“Whew. Now that we’re talking, I’ll teach you how to breathe mana first, so get used to this.”

It wasn’t difficult to use and it wasn’t as difficult as I thought, and since I had already awakened to mana, it wouldn’t take long to learn.

‘It’ll take a while to master it, but that’s something you have to do on your own.’

Athena’s face was full of determination while she was learning.

‘That’s a good sign.’

A person with hope for the future is bound to grow.

I thought that today’s conversation wasn’t in vain.

So I spent the rest of the day training her, and as soon as the day changed, I told Tia that the reason she wasn’t feeling well was not because of an illness, but because of a curse.

“A curse… huh?”

Tia makes a surprised expression at my words.

“Yeah. Fortunately, Inha knows quite a bit about lifting curses. So I’m going to check it out, do you have any idea?”

Athena asked Tia, and Tia, who had been thinking for a moment, opened her mouth.

The words that came out of her mouth were quite shocking.

“So, were you in a cave?”

“Yes. I saw strange monsters inside….”

She said that she lost consciousness after that because she was already too exhausted. In fact, it was a place she went to rest, and when she encountered the monsters inside, she gave up on life.

That’s why, when she came to her senses, she thought she had fallen into hell because she couldn’t understand the situation of being captured by human hunters.

“From what I can see, it doesn’t seem like they killed me after defeating the monsters and capturing me. My clothes are still intact.”

‘Was it a wizard’s dungeon?’

There’s no way to use monsters as guardians, but I didn’t think a wizard who had built a dungeon and lived in seclusion would let a human who had invaded his territory go.

In order not to reveal the location of the dungeon, he could have been killed or, worse, turned into an experimental subject.

The image of a black wizard is hell, so there are many crazy people among wizards.

Those who are crazy about magic.

Especially high-ranking wizards are more likely to have a screw loose somewhere in their marrow.

That’s why I honestly think the possibility of it being a wizard’s dungeon is low.

“That’s all I can guess.”

Come to think of it, she said that the disease began after she was captured by slave hunters.

Athena had a sad expression on her face as she listened to Tia’s story.

“You’ve had a hard time.”

“No, sister. You must have had a hard time too….”

You must have suffered a lot.

I must have come close to dying several times.

No matter how talented you are, it’s not easy to awaken mana without mana breathing.

Her latent talent had awakened after facing a series of crises.

“Do you remember where it was?”

“…Exactly….”

She said it was somewhere between the nearby reclaimed territory and the Ovalan Barony.

It was called a nearby reclaimed territory, but it was quite far away. Judging from the fact that it had flowed in this direction, it must have been closer to this side.

But even so, the range is too wide.

‘Should I find the hunter who caught this one?’

I have to ask Alverna Kuman, but it’ll take some time.

I can’t reveal my purpose, and I’ll only arouse needless suspicion.

‘I should just memorize it for now.’

There was still a lot I had to be cautious about since I was still weak.

That was an unavoidable reality for now.

“Thank you for telling me. You should rest for now.”

“I… Inha-nim. “Will I really get better?”

Tia also came to know my real name and was calling me that way inside.

However, I told her that I used a different name outside and ordered Athena and Tia to call me Jimnis outside.

“You can get better.”

“Ah… .”

Tia shed a few tears as I said it as if it was nothing.

After a series of conversations, Tia showed a fairly motivated appearance, and Athena looked after Tia like that and continued training her.

She mastered the mana breathing technique in two days and then moved on to learning the aura cultivation technique.

It was an unusually fast pace, but it was possible because she had already awakened her mana and was also very talented.

She still couldn’t convert mana into aura, but that also seemed to be a matter of time.

In the meantime, I earned my living expenses through periodic hunting, patrolled the area, and refined Nenson’s map in more detail while periodically strengthening the skeleton in the basement.

I completely forbade Athena and Tia from approaching the basement, so I was able to strengthen the skeleton at ease and facilitate my own growth.

That’s how about a week passed.

‘Finally.’

Enough magic power had accumulated in my body.

‘Faster than I thought.’

I thought it would take less than a month, but it was faster than expected. It was a pleasant miscalculation.

I immediately began to form a grimoire circle with the magic power accumulated in my body.

I formed a core with magic power in the center of my forehead and created the first ring surrounding it.

Normally, it would consume an enormous amount of mental power and take quite a long time, but I quickly finished things up.

‘1st class. Finally.’

When I entered the third week since my regression, I finally became someone who could be called a real black magician.

A slight sense of excitement enveloped my body.

It was natural.

In the past, I had already been a slave to the Demon King by this point, but not anymore.

I had become a black magician with a completely free body.

Although 1st class was treated as less than even low-level mercenaries, that didn’t really matter.

It wasn’t like this was my limit anyway.

Before my eyes was the skeleton that had been strengthened quite a bit.

I had strengthened it repeatedly over the past two weeks, but my level was so low and the materials used were of such poor quality that its bones had only become a bit harder.

Still, it was now at a level where I could use it in actual combat, even if it was insufficient.

‘Of course, I can’t use it right now.’

I immediately set up a barrier that blocked magic throughout the basement.

1st Class is lacking in many ways, but it’s better than nothing.

‘Once I become 2nd Class, I’ll be able to imprint. I’ll be able to carry them around with me from then on.’

Imprinting. It’s a privilege of high-ranking Necromancers. It allows them to store the undead on the boundary of dimensions and take them out when needed.

The number is limited, but for the time being, it was an incredibly useful ability for me, who had to hide my identity from the outside world.

‘Even though it’s a workaround.’

Of course, 2nd Class isn’t called a high-ranking Magician. It’s possible because they’re blessed by the Magi and connected to the Demon Realm.

After finishing setting up the barrier, I immediately went up to the ground.

“Whew, phew….”

In the yard, Artiz was in the middle of training. Tia was nowhere to be seen, but judging by the position of the sun, it seemed like she was preparing lunch.

It seemed like she was almost done, so I sat in the shade and watched Artiz.

She was drenched in sweat all over her body, as if she had been doing parallel aura and stamina training under the scorching sun.

I really liked the way she worked hard despite being talented.

‘If she grows well, she’ll be really useful.’

Considering her talent, she’s not a tanker, but an assassin, but that’s not bad either, considering a few years from now.

To be honest, it’s harder to find a real assassin than a tanker.

As I was thinking about this, Artiz opened her eyes and got up.

“Huh? What’s going on? You’re always stuck in the basement.”

Unlike Tia, she spoke to me comfortably.

I’m older than her, but it’s a reincarnated body anyway, and in this world, status and ability come before age.

It would be funny to be formal now, so I just left it alone.

“I’m ready.”

“Ready? …Don’t tell me.”

“I’ll be able to slow down Tia’s curse little by little.”

“Really!?”

Artiz ran over to me in a hurry, and I raised my hand to block her excessive approach.

“I don’t have to lie to you.”

“Finally…!”

Joy fills Artiz’s face.

“I can only slow it down, not cure it completely. While I’m slowing it down, Tia needs to get as healthy as possible.”

If I were at my first life’s level, Tia’s physical condition wouldn’t be a problem.

However, in the current situation where she has to be treated as she grows, Tia’s physical condition is bound to be important.

It would be difficult if she couldn’t build up the stamina to withstand the treatment.

“I’ll slow it down, so exercise her as I tell you.”

“Yes. Got it.”

Artiz was also learning basic physical training methods, but she had to learn at a level several steps lower than that.

Even though she looked like that, Artiz had a body that had awakened mana, and Tia’s body was weakened by the curse.

‘There’s a lot more to learn than just mana breathing or aura training methods….’

Unfortunately, there was a limit to what I knew.

In particular, in the case of Artiz and me, our basic tendencies were different, so the knowledge I had wasn’t much help except for the basics.

‘It might even lead to bad habits….’

Passing on the skills they possess is something that should be done with caution.

Bringing in a talented person was great, but there was still much lacking, which was quite unfortunate.

Athena seemed to think that was more than enough, but from my perspective as someone who had gone through it twice, there were more than a few things that seemed insufficient.

‘For now, there’s no choice but to let her gain some experience.’

Since she’s learning the basics, she’ll be fine up to a certain level. But to reach greater heights, it would be faster to find a separate teacher.

‘There is a candidate though… .’

At this point, I was starting to think it would’ve been better if the monster wave had occurred a little sooner.