1256: The Survivors

「Donad. Take care of Klimt.」

「Yeah, you can count on me. You guys take care too.」

「Nn.」

「No need! I, Jean Duvie, will be accompanying them, so you can rest eternally assured that they are in good hands!」

『Rest eternally? Wouldn’t that make them dead?』

Well, Jean isn’t completely wrong. Having his support is definitely reassuring.

We discussed our future plans upon reuniting with the surviving adventurers and knights, and our decision was to continue heading north after leaving Klimt with Donad.

The hordes of undead would overflow again if left unattended, so we have little choice but to stop the ritual personally. The adventurers offered to accompany us, but they seriously needed a break.

They had been trapped within the barrier for weeks with little to no rest.

The undead hordes were around every corner, and the barrier was slowly draining their mana and life force all the while.

Amanda and the other high rank adventurers managed to lead them out before they got swallowed by the hordes, but not without losing almost 80% of their men.

Hiding in the mountains is what allowed them to evade detection. Then, they began retreating to Kranzel through the perilous mountain trails when the barrier suddenly disappeared.

Ultimately, this decision spared them from being swept away by the undead torrent.

To our best knowledge, this group of a little over 300 was the only survivors of the Kranzel army. Clearly, they needed to return to Alessa first.

Amanda, Forrund, and Jean insisted on joining, so they’ll be coming with us though.

「Please take care!」

「Good luck, Captain! Curry!」

「We’re counting on you!」

「CURRRRRRY!」

Seriously, what’s up with that last guy… Well, whatever. I’m glad to see many of the boot camp graduates got out alive.

With their cheers at our backs, we set off again for the north. The average strength of our group allowed us to maintain a quick pace, and Teiwas’s teleportation only made us faster.

In no time at all, we were already deep within Raydoss territory.

During our journey, Jean posed a question to Fran.

「These individuals are undead, yes? Do they share similar origins as the Genocide Ghouls from before?」

「Yeah. They were Raydoss’s undead, but now they’re mine.」

「I see. To think Raydoss could summon such powerful beings… I have been underestimating them! And it seems like these are no ordinary undead either.」

Jean observed Apollonius and the others closely, seemingly examining them with his Soul Sight. Whatever he saw seemed to deeply intrigue him.

Meanwhile the formidable Hero Zombies were oddly uneasy. Jean’s gaze was akin to that of a mad scientist examining his guinea pigs.

「They called themselves “data reproductions” or something.」

「Hmm? I don’t suppose I could ask the undead a few questions?」

「My liege?」

『Go ahead and answer him.』

「Of course! Feel free to ask me anything!」

「Fuhahaha! Such enthusiasm for an undead! This is a sign of true quality!」

「Hahaha! I’m glad to hear you recognize our greatness!」

「Fuhahaha!」

「Hahahaha!」

Oh boy. Maybe letting Jean and Apollonius talk was a bad idea.

Jean kept firing various questions, and Apollonius responded enthusiastically.

In summary, Raydoss needed a special method to create Apollonius and his comrades, and it was practically a miracle that they maintained the same strength they had in life. To be frank, those sorts of details weren’t very useful to our current situation.

Jean seemed primarily interested in finding a way to replicate the summoning himself.

However, there were also some crucial tidbits of info we obtained. While Apollonius and the others were under my control, their manifestation relies on the Holy Mother’s magic. Any anomalies on her end might lead to their disappearance.

Furthermore, we learned that they couldn’t be resummoned if completely destroyed.

Like I thought, we have to be more careful with them than Avenger.

While Jean and Apollonius were engaged in conversation, Fran was busy questioning Sibylla.

「Sibylla, is the village okay without you?」

「Kranzel dispatched some knights and officials, and Esmeralda said she’d keep an eye on things. Sitting around just doesn’t suit me, especially when Raydoss’s existence is at stake.」

The other Red Knights were probably left behind to protect the village, as well as being the collateral for Sibylla and Madred acting freely. Even so, it was quite generous to grant the two Red Knight Captains such freedom.

「Well, they are monitoring us too. See?」

「Esmeralda’s sand rat?」

「Exactly.」

Sibylla’s hip pouch contained one of Esmeralda’s sand rats, which she was probably using to monitor them remotely.

The one we had must have ran out of mana or something, since it turned into ordinary sand a while back.

「Of course, we also made a contract. We’re only allowed to fight “enemies to Kranzel” that “harbor evil energy”.」

Kranzel’s officials must have fussed over the contract details for a while. Having Sibylla and Madred as allies would significantly bolster our forces, but the risks of them betraying us were even worse.

Moreover, they had no way of determining which factions of Raydoss were enemies or potential allies. Binding them too tightly might render their combat capabilities useless.

Thus, they added the condition that they could only fight against those harboring evil energy.

That said, I’m glad they also added the condition of being enemies to Kranzel. Just going by evil energy would make Fran and I possible targets.

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