Okame Nato was currently in a state of utter turmoil.
He had visited this mansion in the first place because Lancelot, the Chief Mage of the Tower he currently belonged to, had told him about it. Ever since his best friend and rival had left the Tower following a certain incident, Lancelot had become the greatest thorn in Okame's side. Egged on by him, Okame had roped in his juniors from his days at the Knight Academy to explore the estate. From the very beginning, he had had no purpose other than a simple test of courage. In the end, he supposed he had just wanted to confirm that this place—which even Lancelot treated with caution—was nothing more than an ordinary, dilapidated old house, and thereby gain the upper hand over the guy.
Naturally, any such hopes Okame harbored were utterly shattered by what actually transpired inside.
His signature spell, Flame Snake, was casually neutralized by that undead woman's ice birds. Flame Snake was an advanced spell favored by Lucas Gisedore, the former commander of the Holy King Mage Knights, who had once been hailed as the strongest in the Holy Amelia Kingdom. For Okame, who idolized Lucas Gisedore, having that magic blocked was tantamount to having his entire admiration trampled upon. That was why he had played his trump card: Flame Snake Duke. Among the phantom serpents, Flame Snake Duke was an entity of ducal rank that held dominion over fire. As compensation for summoning him, Okame had offered half of the useless Kuzuki's vitality as a sacrifice. After all, losing half of one's vitality was something a person would recover from in about half a day. Normally, an entity of Flame Snake Duke's stature would never agree to such terms, demanding instead to drain their victim's life force until death.
Yet, despite endlessly whining about it, the serpent had always accepted these piecemeal offerings of vitality in the past. But the moment he tasted half of Kuzuki's life force, he abruptly evolved into a dragon species. Not a single report of such a phenomenon existed within the records of the Tower. The cause undoubtedly lay with Kuzuki. That much was obvious from how swiftly Flame Snake Duke had betrayed Okame to form a contract with Kuzuki instead.
In other words, Kuzuki—whom Okame had so thoroughly despised and looked down upon—possessed far more talent than he did. It was a merciless reality. Refusing to accept it, Okame had tried to stop the newly evolved dragon, only to have his lower body effortlessly torched.
It was pathetic. And deep down, he had known all along: Okame had no real talent for magic. Looking back, he realized that treating Lancelot—revered as the greatest magical prodigy in the Tower's history—as a rival had simply been his way of refusing to acknowledge his own mediocrity.
As long as you put in the effort, you will be rewarded. He had clung to that belief, throwing himself recklessly into his training. But it had all been a massive lie. The moment true talent bloomed, you were effortlessly overtaken and left in the dust. The sheer ease with which Flame Snake Duke had betrayed him was proof enough.
Then, when Kuzuki was sucked into the dark floor, the enraged Flame Snake Duke went completely berserk. Driven into a corner and preparing for death, Okame was unexpectedly saved by the very talisman woman he had tried to destroy. It made no sense. Why would an undead protect a mage who had just tried to exterminate her? It defied all reason. As Okame was carried along in a state of sheer panic on the woman's back, yet another figure entered the fray: a black-haired youth. That boy, who didn't look particularly formidable at a glance, wiped out the surrounding mini fire dragons and proceeded to beat Flame Snake Duke to a pulp with his bare hands.
It was beyond belief. The ghost swordsman's greatsword had melted just from slashing at the dragon-transformed Flame Snake Duke. Yet this boy was pummeling it with his fists? Such a feat was impossible unless he possessed the total fire nullification or absolute resistance he had casually mentioned. But abilities like that belonged strictly in myth. If anyone truly possessed them, it could only be the so-called Transcenders. To top it all off, the black-haired youth had summoned bizarre slimes after the battle, healing Okame and his companions in an instant.
Leaving the thoroughly bewildered Okame behind, the situation took a sudden, horrific turn. The mansion warped into an abominable, living nightmare. After the black-haired youth drew a sinister longsword from the scabbard on his back and left the room, the talisman woman guided them to take refuge in a storeroom at the corner of the first floor.
The talisman woman introduced herself as Lucile and offered a temporary truce, which Okame readily accepted. He had no will to fight left anyway. More to the point, his mind was such a jumbled mess that he couldn't even think straight.
Now, he was lying low inside the storeroom alongside the talisman woman's companions, who had already evacuated.
Of course, the atmosphere was hardly friendly. The gathered undead glared at them with palpable hostility.
Taking advantage of the lull, Okame decided to ask the question that had been eating away at him.
"Why did you save me? I tried to kill all of you, didn't I?"
That was the one thing he couldn't wrap his head around. Okame and his group were enemies who had sought to unconditionally slaughter every undead in this mansion. There was no reason for these spirits to shelter them.
"Unfortunately, we are already dead. You lacked the power to truly erase us in the first place."
He knew that. He knew they were already deceased, and that killing them here wouldn't truly destroy them. That was just the nature of the undead. But that wasn't the kind of technical non-answer he was looking for.
"That's not what I'm asking! I want to know why you went out of your way to save the very people who attacked you!"
The talisman woman narrowed her eyes, offering a gentle smile.
"I am not so cold-hearted as to stand by and watch promising young people die."
She said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Promising young people?! Ha! An unsightly mage who gets betrayed by his own contracted phantom beast doesn't have a damn future! I'm just a useless, talentless hack!"
It was true. He had spent all this time mocking Kuzuki and Kai Heinemann as useless failures, but the biggest failure of all had been Okame himself. He saw that all too clearly now.
"At the very least, you are reflecting upon your shortcomings right now. A person capable of doing so cannot be called useless."
Faced with the woman's surprisingly firm assertion, Okame shook his head.
"Are you really an undead?"
"Do I appear to be anything else?"
"Yeah. That doesn't sound like the way a dead person thinks at all."
Honestly, it didn't feel like he was speaking to a ghost. It felt more like being lectured by a wise elder. In Okame's mind, the dead were supposed to be savage monsters stripped of reason, driven entirely by raw instinct.
(Man, they really love smashing all my assumptions to pieces. And then...)
There was someone else whose presence had completely upended his expectations.
"Your Highness Rosemary, it has been quite some time."
Okame turned toward the pink-haired princess, straightening his posture and bowing deeply.
"Indeed. Not since the party held for your retired grandfather, Master Nato, I believe."
Princess Rose offered a pleasant smile. In reality, however, her eyes weren't smiling in the slightest. It made sense. Okame's father had allied with the Blood Alliance and forcibly ousted his grandfather, who had long shared close ties with Princess Rose, into retirement. Ever since, Princess Rose and his father had been bitter enemies.
"May I ask you one question?"
"Of course. Provided it is something I am able to answer."
"Was the black-haired swordsman who saved us earlier your Royal Guard, Kai Heinemann?"
Okame asked, having finally worked up the courage.
"He is."
Rose answered without a moment's hesitation, flashing a broad, girlish grin for the first time. Her confirmation sent a wave of whispers rippling through Okame's fellow students.
(I see... So it really was him...)
That was Kai Heinemann. Exceptional martial prowess was an absolute requirement for a Royal Guard. He had always wondered why she would appoint someone widely branded as the world's most incompetent fool to such a post, but now everything clicked. A man like that was more than worthy of serving as a royal's personal guard.
"Man... 'a frog in a well knows nothing of the great ocean' really hits the mark, doesn't it? In the end, he was right all along."
Okame had once had an irreplaceable friend, a swordsman. They had been close companions who swore to enlist in the Holy King Mage Knights and rise through the ranks together.
However, after entering the Sacred Martial Arts Tournament held in the martial city of Luzahal on a whim just to pass the time, his friend had abruptly dropped out of Babel. When Okame had angrily demanded an explanation, his friend had passionately replied, 'I want to become strong like Kai Heinemann.'
It had made no sense to him back then. Kai Heinemann was branded by the entire world as the absolute bottom of the barrel. Wanting to become strong like him? There was nothing more ridiculous. That disagreement had led to a terrible fight, and they had gone their separate ways ever since. But now, Okame understood completely. His friend's words had been entirely justified.
Overwhelmed by surging regret and an unidentifiable swell of emotion, Okame covered his face with his right hand and let out a dry, self-deprecating laugh. Right at that moment, a heavy tremor shook the ground, rattling his eardrums as it approached the storeroom.
"It's here! Lady Lucile!"
"Yes, an assassin sent by the master of the house, no doubt. Everyone, lend us a hand!"
The talisman woman, Lucile, cried out.
"Understood!"
"Got it!"
A skeleton in a butler's suit drew a longsword, while the ghost swordsman gave a firm nod, snatched a blade from a nearby student, and leveled it toward the entrance.
Thunderous footsteps stomped closer and closer through the corridor outside. An instant later, the storeroom door caved inward with a violent thud. Amidst rising screams, several massive impacts slammed into the heavy barrier. Finally, a hairy, monstrous right hand punched straight through the wood. Grabbing both edges, it tore the door completely off its hinges.
Its colossal head was bald, covered in bulging, pulsing veins. Its mouth was slit all the way back to its ears, and its eyes were unnervingly round and bloodshot.
The sheer horror of the creature's appearance drew a collective shriek from Okame's juniors. He couldn't blame them in the slightest. His own legs were trembling so violently that he could barely keep himself upright.
"As I feared... a barrier of my level was not enough to stop it..."
As Lucile murmured quietly to herself, the monster's mouth twisted into a sickening grin.
"It is the will of our Curse King! All of you, become our nouuuurishmeeent!"
With an expression dripping with greed, it scanned Okame and the others, slowly licking its lips. Seized by spine-chilling dread, Okame and his peers could only stand there, their teeth chattering uncontrollably. The skeletal butler and ghost swordsman were in the exact same state, unable to twitch so much as a finger, staring up at the monstrosity in paralyzed horror.
There was only a single exception: the talisman woman, Lucile. Staring back with a completely deadpan expression, she asked,
"You are Kernel, are you not?"
It seemed like an utterly bizarre question given the circumstances.
"Luciiiile! Reejoiiice! You, too, shall become sustenance for our King!"
The monster answered her question with maniacal glee.
Looking at Kernel as if gazing upon a pile of filth, Lucile spat out her response:
"Normally, I take no pleasure in watching others meet their end. But in your case, it will truly be a breath of fresh air. Go on—enjoy your taste of living hell!"
"Well said, lass!"
In the blink of an eye, a bearded, muscular ogre hoisting a pitch-black iron club appeared, stepping forward to shield Okame and the others as he confronted Kernel face-to-face.