The current environment is the best, except for the existence of a higher power and the risk of it finding out and preventing my freedom. But I sensed that the time to 'rebel' was approaching.

　The suspicions Lord had once harbored would only grow stronger little by little. He dismissed Luu's words as a lie, but I'm sure those words stuck in his mind like a small thorn.

　All he needed to do was to find the best situation.

　I stopped going out night after night to get the books. I didn't think Lord Horos would listen to his slaves now, and Luu was doing his chores with dead eyes as usual, but I thought it was better to kill any possibility.
　I already had the minimum amount of knowledge I needed. I must be as much trouble for Lou as Lord is.

　Lord's hunting time has increased. He took me into the woods and ordered me to hunt more hexenbiests.
　That order was good for me. Lord would feel uncomfortable if I suffered damage that couldn't be regenerated overnight from my nighttime meals, but during the day, Lord would heal me. The Lord is a ruler who must one day be overthrown, but at the same time, he is the most reassuring companion.

　My plan was succeeding, and my power was growing every day, but I was also growing impatient.

　I couldn't find a clear opening. I couldn't see the bottom of the road. It's weird that I don't know why I'm holed up in this forest, but I also don't know if I have time to look into it.
　If possible, I'd like to gain more power and be sure that I can win before I take on this challenge. It is said that it takes almost several years to mutate from a wraith to the next rank. It's not realistic to wait for that long.

　In the first place, no matter how much power I gain, the Lord has absolute command over me.
　One word of command not to attack and it's over. The only way I could beat him was to put him in a position where he couldn't be commanded with a single blow.

　The undead are powerful. My current regeneration and physical abilities far exceed those of an adult male, and since Lord hadn't ordered me not to be harmed, he could attack me from behind if he wanted to.
　No matter how good a magician he is, I don't think he can survive unscathed by my claws that can slice through the tough neck bone of a hexenbiest.

　But failure is not an option. If I couldn't kill it with one blow, I would be bound by order and my second life would be used up again. That, to me, is more unforgivable than lying on a sickbed.

　What I need is patience. Strength. I tell myself that, push down my frustration, and wait for the right moment.

　Night after night you hunt at the behest of an evil sorcerer. Days spent avoiding the eyes of the slaves and looking for an opening for the lord.
　When I first had a working body, I was satisfied with that, but now those two things irritate me.
　Now that I know my first freedom, I want to have true freedom. I guess this is what people call desire.

　Freedom. Those two words are sweeter than the taste of animal flesh bitten off.

　The visitor came to Lord just as I was torn between risk and return, unable to decide what to do.


§§.


　The Lord has company.
　Even for an evil necromancer, it must be difficult to live completely apart from human society. Once or twice a month, he comes across the Demon Forest with an escort, a man called Huck.
　He's a small man wearing a dirty green ten-gallon hat. I called him "Huck the Corpse Carrier" in my mind.

　As the name implies, he comes trudging through the woods carrying a coffin. The skeletons that Lord had released as a precaution were not targeted by this man.

　I don't know the details of their relationship, but the hack's role is to supply the living and the dead. The hack supplies the Lord with food and other daily necessities, as well as fresh corpses from wherever he digs them up, and receives money and skeletons.
　We know from their conversations that they are buying skeletons for use in battle. And not just any skeletons, but skeletons that have gathered death and gained considerable power.
　The use of the undead is forbidden. I'm pretty sure he's a bad guy.

　Most of the time I'm not at their business meetings, but this time I was summoned by the Lord.
　In the seldom-used reception room, there was a good-looking hack and about five fully armed guards.
　Huck rolls his eyes and says with a curious look on his face.

"Wow, ...... you really are still alive, aren't you? I was expecting him to die soon since he was a sickly corpse.

"I guess the corpse of a nobleman is different.

　The Lord looked up at me with beady eyes and said admiringly.

　Perhaps he's wrong. The only reason I've been able to survive all this time is because of my thirst for life.
　And that craving, which dominated me as soon as I regained consciousness, has not diminished in the slightest even now that I have gained a certain amount of power. On the contrary, I feel that it is even getting stronger.

　It's ......, well, if I had to describe it in words, it's an urge like a burning soul. It is an intense emotion that I never felt before I was born, when I was as dead as alive.

　If I had to describe one major difference between the original undead and me, it would definitely be that.

　But I don't show any of that, and I just look down at Lord quietly.
　His cloudy eyes looked as if he was trying to test my intelligence. But perhaps it's just an illusion. If the Lord was convinced that I was intelligent, he would have given me more specific orders.

"Is there any other nobleman's body you can't get?

Please don't do this. I don't think you'll find many people who are willing to sell the bodies of their relatives, even if they are dead.

But I've already got one. The corpse from which the end came...

　The hack's ugly face contorted greatly at the Lord's brief words. He said in an accusatory tone.

I promised not to ask about the origin of the corpse. By chance, someone tried to sell the body of one of my relatives. I approached Mr. Holos, who was my client, and he decided to buy it himself. That's all.



"...... Oh, I know. I've been on a ...... sickbed for a long time. ...... Irrelevant, or . There was no sign of any training.

　Lord stared at my flesh.

　He was right. I'd been stuck in bed for a long time. Every muscle in my body wasted away, a being barely kept alive by the healing spells of the Shiro Magician who visited me periodically.

　Even now, when he is running around frequently and doing hard work that is unthinkable in his former state, such as hunting magical beasts, his body remains poor.
　A healthy body - of course, I would have been very grateful to have a body without the intense pain that torments my whole body - has been the object of my admiration since before I was born. It is said that if you repeatedly mutate and become a monster, your physical body will also change, so I want to survive until then at all costs.

　However, ...... my corpse was sold?

　I was surprisingly not shocked by this new information.
　Perhaps it was because I did not have such strong feelings for my family. Before I died, I was so busy enduring the pain that I had no time to feel anything else.

　No resentment.

　My family hasn't come to visit me in the past few years, but regular care by a white mage would probably have cost a fortune, and it's true that the life-prolonging treatment did extend my life a bit.
　The important thing in battle is reach. It was fortuitous that I didn't die until I was about the size of an adult man, albeit a poor one.
　Even if the reason for caring for him was not out of consideration for me, it was certainly for my own good.
　And that's not to mention the fact that I sold the body to Huck.

　Suddenly, I remembered the basic knowledge of the undead from the book in my mind.

　The undead move based on the grief of the dead. However, the intense feelings that made me undead were probably rooted in the desire for survival, not the resentment toward the living that most undead people have.
　Even though I couldn't step out of bed and was in constant pain, I never thought about dying. No, I guess not.
　I wanted to live on even after I died. I wanted to keep myself alive. Maybe it was this pure emotion that gave the carnivore memories of his life, which is impossible.

　My knowledge of the undead is very fragmentary, so I can't be sure, but I don't care about proof.

　Lord Horos is my benefactor, no matter how you look at it. I am truly sorry to him.
　But I can't just leave him with the privilege of having me.

　Actually, I have one trump card. It's the kind of card that once you use it, you can't use it again.
　It's not the kind of card you can win with, but it's enough to defeat the Lord if you time it right.

　The more life I kill, the more deadly energy I gather, the more time I can stretch, the more powerful I become. The success rate of surprise increases.
　Gather information. Lord's combat abilities are unknown. The apparent age of a powerful mage is unreliable. All I've seen is necromancy. No matter how close my range is, you can never be too careful against a crafty sorcerer.

　The important thing was timing.
　Huck frowned at me as I fought with a dark, unexpressed determination.

By the way, ...... I heard that the Knights of the End have recently arrived in Engei.

What the ......?　You're not ...... screwing up, are you?

No way. My business partners are all very discreet. But they have a real sense of smell. Just to be safe, you might want to stay away from here for a while longer.

　The Knights of the End. It was in one of the books I read before I died, in Lord's library.

　Knights Without Borders. The most powerful fighting force in the world, bringing an end to the endless darkness.
　In fairy tales, they often appear as heroes, cutting down all kinds of threats and hardships with their swords of light, and their existence is something that children long for.

　The necromancer, who plays with human corpses and creates the undead, is the worst of these enemies. Some of the picture books I used to read when I was still a child were about the battle between necromancers and the Knights of the End. I don't need to tell you who won.

　The Lord's face is twisted in an unprecedented rage. Apparently, it's not just in the books that they're killing each other.

　And the Knights of the End are also my enemies, the living dead, which is impossible.
　Considering the fierceness of the stories in the children's book, there is no way they will forgive me.

Have you followed me to ......?　In a few more years, I would have been able to do my research, but these hounds will kill me and make me their eternal slave.

I can't stand to be caught in the middle of a battle between Lord Horus and the Knights of the End. I'm afraid I'm going to have to retreat.

"............ Wait, Huck. I need something other than the usual corpses. End, go back to the morgue.

　I'm curious about what you're going to ...... ask me to do, but I can't not listen to your orders.
　I left the room with as slow a motion as possible, but in the end I couldn't hear what it said.

　...... Oh well. I've heard some nasty things, but it's better than going on without knowing.
　My limit has shrunk significantly. What should I do to survive?

　I went back to the morgue, put my back against the wall, crossed my arms and started thinking.