Karnak, Monarch of Death-Chapter 80: The Prince’s Scheme (4)

As soon as they left the prince’s chambers, Varos and Serati exchanged a glance and then subtly looked toward Karnak.

“Young master?”

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t live the way you used to?”

Karnak furrowed his brow, looking genuinely offended.

“I didn’t kill him, all right?”

He really hadn’t laid a hand on Alford.

“What reason would I have to kill the man?”

Varos tilted his head.

“To maintain secrecy?”

“There’s nothing to keep secret! What does he even know about me?”

“...Now that you mention it, nothing,” Varos admitted.

Indeed, Alford had no knowledge of Karnak’s group. He had spent his time locked up in the palace, entirely out of the loop.

“Getting rid of him would’ve only drawn unnecessary suspicion. Especially since I was the last one to see him.”

Alford’s death had occurred three days later, long after others had interrogated him. There was no reason for the blame to fall on Karnak.

Recalling the events in the prison, Serati asked, “Then what exactly did you do to him back then?”

It had been hard to forget the sight of Karnak stabbing a needle of light into Alford’s head, digging through his mind as if it were some dark and sinister experiment.

“That? It was nothing significant,” Karnak replied casually.

He had simply extracted information, details on how Alford had allied with the Cult of the Black God and what he knew about the cultists.

“Isn’t that far from living as I used to?”

“...Didn’t you also manipulate his mind and erase his memories?” Serati countered.

Varos stepped in with a mild defense. “Well, technically, he didn’t kill him, so that’s a step up, isn’t it?”

Whether Karnak was involved or not, there was only one plausible culprit behind Alford’s death. Serati frowned.

“So it was the Cult of the Black God, then.”

Varos nodded. “They wouldn’t want Alford leaking sensitive information, and they might have been hoping to extract more from him themselves.”

It didn’t seem to faze Karnak.

“Which is why I acted pre-emptively,” he said.

He had wiped Alford’s memories after extracting what he needed, ensuring the cult would get nothing from him. Serati looked astonished.

“Did you foresee this outcome, Lord Karnak?”

“Cultists are necromancers, aren’t they? It’s not hard to predict their thought process.”

Now all that remained was to cross-reference the information gleaned from Alford with what they could extract from Detzras and his group’s souls.

“I’ll take my time combing through it,” Karnak added.

Serati gave him an incredulous look. “You talk about a person’s soul like it’s a pile of documents to sift through.”

“Well, it’s not like it was an innocent soul. Isn’t this just justice for a criminal?” Karnak countered.

“Does it really work that way?” Serati sighed.

The more time she spent with this group, the more blurred her sense of morality became.

With a faint smile, Karnak turned to leave. “Let’s head back to the inn.”

***

Late at night, in a study within a noble’s mansion in the capital, a blond man in his mid-twenties was receiving a report. The man’s aristocratic features, framed by golden hair and piercing blue eyes, were strikingly handsome. It was a picture of privilege and refinement.

Standing before him was a man in his thirties. He nervously bowed his head.

“The operation in the Eustil Kingdom has failed, Lord Hudel.”

The man giving the report wore plain attire to conceal his identity. But in truth, the man was a high-ranking necromancer in the Cult of the Black God. Even so, he acted tame in front of the young man, as if he were a mere servant.

The man continued, his voice laced with fear, “Prince Lloyd has reclaimed his body, and Bishop Detzras has perished.”

“Damn it...” Hudel muttered under his breath.

Hudel pressed his fingers to his temple.

Who could have managed to derail everything?

Securing a royal prince had required no small amount of effort, and all of it had been undone in one stroke.

“You’ve handled the aftermath, I assume?”

“Yes, my lord. Prince Alford’s soul has been properly collected.”

The dead told no tales, but for necromancers, the dead often revealed far more than the living. This was why the Cult of the Black God placed such importance on postmortem control. Proper necromancy was reserved exclusively for those who served Tesranach.. Improper or amateur necromancy, however, could still yield results, which made vigilance imperative.

“And the prince’s soul?” Hudel asked.

The necromancer retrieved a black pearl from his pocket and presented it.

“Here it is.”

While the royal family of Eustil busied themselves with elaborate burial rites, believing Prince Alford’s soul to have returned to the goddess, the truth lay here. His soul was trapped within the pearl.

"Once the situation has been fully assessed, I’ll ensure it’s completely destroyed."

Hudel took the black pearl handed to him and inspected it closely.

"Is there no other use for it? After all, this is the soul of a royal."

"The quality wasn’t particularly high," the necromancer replied.

"True enough. The value of a soul isn’t determined by lineage or social standing," Hudel said.

In necromancy, a soul’s potency was based purely on its intrinsic nature. In some ways, it was the ultimate equalizer.

Returning the pearl, Hudel asked another question, "Does anyone else know about this?"

"They’ve all been dealt with. Fortunately, Prince Alford confided only in a few close aides, so cleaning up wasn’t too difficult."

"At least the aftermath was handled properly," Hudel muttered, though his tone was devoid of praise.

For a moment, he lapsed into thought.

What now? I can’t just leave Eustil Kingdom as it is.

The Cult of the Black God had spread its influence across the continent, infiltrating nearly every human domain. Yet Eustil Kingdom held special significance.

Because Lady Elezar ordered us to keep a close eye on it.

Elezar de Reflasion—one of the Three Archmages and the imperial mage of the Lacania Empire—was also secretly one of the three saints leading the Cult of the Black God. Only a select few, including Hudel, were aware of this. Recalling his last conversation with Elezar, Hudel frowned.

I still don’t understand why she gave me those orders.

***

“Keep a close eye on the northeastern region of the continent, Hudel.”

The sudden command had left Hudel momentarily flustered.

"Forgive me, but could you be more specific? The instructions are rather vague as they stand."

Fortunately, Elezar hadn’t seemed angry.

"That’s because the situation isn’t very clear," she admitted. "Just pay attention to anything unusual. Anything that seems worth investigating."

Her tone wasn’t one of intentional ambiguity to withhold information. It seemed she genuinely didn’t have the full picture herself.

Encouraged by this, Hudel ventured cautiously, "Could you at least narrow down the scope of the investigation?"

"Hmm... Let’s put it this way," she said with a languid smile. "Look into anything that appears to be our doing but isn’t."

***

Hudel still didn’t understand the reasoning behind the command, but as a dutiful subordinate, he had diligently followed it. Thus, his focus had turned to Eustil Kingdom and the neighboring Tarum Kingdom, both located in the northeastern region of the continent. And sure enough, something had indeed occurred in Eustil Kingdom.

What am I supposed to do about this...?

As Hudel pondered, he noticed the necromancer lingering awkwardly, even after finishing his report.

"Is there something else?"

The necromancer hesitated before speaking.

"There is one more issue."

"What issue?"

"We’ve secured Prince Alford’s soul, but Bishop Detzras’s soul... is unaccounted for."

Hudel’s expression turned deathly pale in an instant.

"What? How is that possible?"

"I... I’m not sure..." The necromancer faltered, startled by Hudel’s severe reaction.

In truth, it wasn’t uncommon for souls to be lost during necromantic rituals. The necromancer hadn’t expected Hudel to take the matter so seriously. But that was simply a matter of ignorance. For those who knew the nature of the spell tied to Detzras, this was a catastrophic development.

A soul branded by Tesranach has gone astray? Could it be that the goddess’s agents have gained such overwhelming power?”

Panic-stricken, Hudel bolted from the study.

"Prepare the altar! I’m heading there immediately for a soul summoning rite!"

The necromancer scrambled to follow.

"Y-Yes, sir!"

***

Hudel and the necromancer descended into the mansion’s underground chambers.

Following a dark hallway, they arrived at a hidden stone chamber. The room was lined with grotesque items: chunks of flesh, black ooze, dried herbs, and bizarre flora and fauna. In the center of the chamber, a crimson magic circle was inscribed on the floor.

Standing at the circle’s center, Hudel closed his eyes briefly before reopening them. His blue irises and even the whites of his eyes turned pitch black.

“Come forth, faithful servant Detzras...”

He chanted the summoning spell several times, but there was no response.

It’s true. His soul is gone, Hudel thought, his face clouded.

What in the world happened?

Had Detzras’s soul already crossed into the afterlife? No, it was too soon for that. His soul bore the mark of Tesranach, the great god of death and darkness. It wouldn’t have simply passed into the afterlife like an ordinary soul.

Which means someone must have stolen it...

Hudel ground his teeth. This was a serious problem. If magic or divine power was involved in disrupting Tesranach’s dominion over death, it raised terrifying implications.

Tesranach was the god of death and shadows. It was impossible for someone to undo or counter his power over death with a divine spell. It was equivalent to a necromancer outclassing a priest of the goddesses in terms of the power of light or healing magic. How powerful were they do have done such a thing?

Or could it be the work of another necromancer?

The world was full of necromancers unaffiliated with Tesranach’s teachings. The remnants of the Shadow of Doom had spread widely, birthing numerous rogue practitioners. Some of them undoubtedly wielded considerable power. But could one of them have erased Tesranach’s divine mark from a soul?

I have no answers...

Realizing he was unlikely to learn anything further from Detzras, Hudel shifted his focus to Alford’s soul.

“Arise, heretic Alford...”

The black pearl containing Alford’s soul trembled.

“Ughh...”

A translucent, spectral figure emerged, bearing the likeness of Alford at the moment of his death. Hudel quickly restrained the spirit and began interrogating it. His expression darkened further with each question.

“What is this?!”

Alford’s soul knew nothing. The problem is, he knew nothing of even the things he should know.

“He doesn’t even know that he’s collaborated with the order!”

It was clear that someone had erased his memories before death. This wasn’t entirely unthinkable. Magic or divine spells could be used to tamper with human memories. But memory manipulation was a method typically employed by necromancers. When combined with the mysterious disappearance of Detzras’s soul, the implications were undeniable.

Elezar’s cryptic command resurfaced in Hudel’s mind:

“Investigate anything that appears to be our doing but isn’t.”

Releasing the necromantic restraints on Alford’s soul, Hudel turned to the necromancer.

“We need to conduct a thorough investigation of the Eustil Kingdom.”

The necromancer bowed deeply.

“Who will you send, my lord?”

Hudel paused in thought.

“This situation is different from when we dispatched Bishop Detzras...”

Their objective wasn’t to expand the cult’s influence but to gather information. In this case, sowing chaos and observing the response would be the most effective strategy.

Didn’t the central temple recently send us a demonic sword?

After organizing his thoughts, Hudel spoke, “We’ll use that.”

The necromancer flinched in alarm. “What? But, my lord, even we cannot control it—”

Hudel’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Why do we need to control it?”

A monster like that only needed to be unleashed to create ripples in the world. Whether their enemy was a necromancer or something else, they would undoubtedly react.

“When the waves rise, the hidden reefs will reveal themselves.”