Chapter 45: Terror (2)

After roll call ended, all the lights of the night lamps enveloping the dormitory went out.

The Academy grounds, submerged in darkness.

Hidden within it, I took out a leather suit from subspace and changed into it.

I had a place to go.

The Cemetery.

The purpose, of course, was Clatter’s growth.

Caw──!

Upon arriving at the Cemetery, a flock of countless crows welcomed me.

The only light illuminating the darkness was a lantern.

Inside the guard post, I saw the caretaker, Roitz, dozing off with his head bobbing.

I passed by quietly so he could sleep in peace.

The Cemetery Core, where the Necromancer had vanished.

The eerie atmosphere remained, but it had now become an ordinary cemetery.

After looking around, I opened subspace.

“Clatter.”

Clack!

As Clatter emerged, it handed me two books.

They were the necromancy tomes [Understanding of Death] and [Beltus-Style Revival].

“Remember this place?”

At my question, Clatter nodded.

“I’m going to make you grow here now.”

[Understanding of Death] was a secret tome that organized the foundational knowledge and basics of necromancy, while [Beltus-Style Revival] was a secret tome that infused death energy, or sagi , into nearby corpses or remains to turn them into undead.

Today, I planned to use these to make Clatter grow.

At the very least, it needed to move beyond flickering out like a lighter running out of gas, as it had earlier.

My goal was to make it capable of handling sagi on its own.

That was the level of growth I aimed for.

Just then, I heard a presence behind me.

“Hey. You’re here?”

A handsome man wearing glasses, with a somewhat sleepy expression.

It was Luis.

“It’s weird seeing you without the old man’s face, man.”

“Indeed.”

“Your reaction’s so stiff.”

“It is so.”

Replying mechanically, Luis looked at Clatter.

“Is this the guy?”

“Yeah. What do you think?”

Clatter had already stepped in front of me, shielding me from Luis.

“Ha. Doesn’t it look reliable? I told you, it’s a trustworthy guy.”

Instead of responding, Luis asked something else.

“When did you learn necromancy?”

“I didn’t learn it. I stole it.”

As I slightly shook my upper body, the raven head of Raven, visible behind my shoulders, swayed side to side.

Luis nodded with a look of understanding.

“Then why didn’t you steal something better?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I told you, it’s trustworthy. Are you dissing Clatter?”

“Yes. Because it’s a skeleton.”

Luis was blunt.

Clack!

Clatter stomped its foot forcefully.

It swung its fist in the air, expressing its anger in its own way.

But…

“Hmm. I can’t exactly deny that.”

At my response, Clatter turned to look at me.

Its empty eye sockets were filled with a sense of betrayal and hurt.

“Ahem. But it’s fine. You won’t be a skeleton anymore. You’re going to change from now on.”

Clack!

Perhaps because its skull was empty, Clatter was simpler than I expected.

Anyway.

“Did you see that? It just expressed emotions.”

“To my eyes, it just looks like a dumb skeleton.”

“It can even handle sagi.”

“I read your letter. But that’s the part I find hardest to believe.”

Because it’s a skeleton.

Luis’s expression said as much.

What a negative guy.

Fine.

Showing it once is better than explaining a hundred times.

“You brought it, right?”

“Yes.”

Luis took out a notebook from his pocket and handed it to me.

“This is a list of the strongest individuals buried here, carefully selected. But as you’ll see, most of them are villains who were beheaded at the execution grounds.”

“It’s a cemetery. Of course.”

Knights who achieved fame are laid to rest in cathedral graveyards or the Hall of Heroes, but villains with unknown origins are either burned or buried here in the Cemetery.

I planned to use the latter as materials for Clatter.

“Let’s see… Roughly narrowing it down, there’s the drug lord Rendas, the brothel knight Chiron, and the golden leg Radan. These three are the most notorious on the list. Their bodies are intact, too.”

The more infamous they were, the more likely they were skilled in life.

So, we spent an hour scouring the Cemetery Core and successfully secured three sets of remains.

We moved to the Necromancer’s underground laboratory.

I dropped the three sets of remains on the floor and placed Clatter in the center.

“They’re in good condition.”

The method to make Clatter grow was simple.

Namely, [Thought Devouring].

It was a skeleton’s unique trait, allowing it to absorb the thoughts of other undead to grow stronger.

From now on, I would use [Understanding of Death] to gather the deathly aura—*sagi*—that filled this Cemetery.

Then, I would pour all that sagi into the three corpses.

Next, I would use [Beltus-Style Revival] to resurrect those three corpses and have them fight Clatter.

If Clatter won that battle, it would absorb their thoughts and become something beyond a skeleton.

But if it lost—

…Well, I’d have to find another way.

“It’ll lose.”

“It won’t.”

“Don’t you know why skeletons are considered low-tier undead, even with a trait like [Thought Devouring]?”

I know.

Because they can’t use [Thought Devouring].

They can’t defeat any undead to begin with, so how could they use the trait?

“I’ve never seen or heard of a skeleton like that.”

“You’re looking at one right now.”

Clatter had already survived a battle against enhanced ghouls on its own.

That alone proved it wasn’t an ordinary skeleton.

If I had to find more reasons, there was the fact that it expressed emotions despite being a skeleton and could faintly manipulate sagi.

Those two things alone made it worth trying.

‘I’m curious, too. What kind of person was Clatter in life?’

“Why not use these three corpses to create a stronger undead instead?”

“Sure, that’s an option. But do you think I’d choose such a disloyal method?”

Clatter stared at me intensely.

Its gaze felt surprisingly warm.

For a being without eyeballs, it was remarkable how it conveyed such fervor.

The more I looked, the more unique it seemed.

I stared back at Clatter.

I sent it a look filled with trust, letting it know its master believed in it.

“Or maybe you just didn’t know?”

“…”

Goddamn perceptive bastards like him are the worst.

“So, what’s its specialty? Swordsmanship? Martial arts?”

“Don’t know.”

“What?”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t know. The most basic thing.”

Ignoring Luis’s blatant look of disdain, I asked Clatter.

“What’re you good at? Sword? Spear? Or maybe a bow? What were you in life? Do you remember?”

Clatter placed a hand under its chin. Like Rodin’s The Thinker.

So, I waited.

Luis didn’t.

When the wait exceeded five minutes, Luis suddenly let out a sigh.

“Master.”

“Yeah. Speak.”

“I understand what you’re hoping for. Given the situation, you probably want to cling to even the faintest hope.”

Faintest hope.

Is that how it looked?

“But no matter how I think about it, this method won’t work. That thing will never survive. Because…”

“It’s just a dumb low-tier skeleton?”

“Yes. You know it well.”

Luis continued.

“Skeletons are undead created without any attachment to life. But these villains are different. They died on the execution block. How strong must their attachment to life and their grudges be? They won’t revive as low-tier skeletons. They’ll be at least Skull Warriors.”

Skull Warriors were a higher tier of undead than ghouls.

“Even better. If it defeats and absorbs them, how strong will Clatter become?”

“You’re really optimistic.”

Am I optimistic?

Maybe that’s how it looked to Luis.

But as I said earlier, I was just trusting my judgment, [Gaius’s Insight], and Clatter.

And one more thing.

“Luis. What’s a thief’s virtue?”

Luis’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

“Is that important right now?”

“It’s important. You’re betraying it right now.”

“…!”

“Faith and loyalty. The core values passed down since Shadow was founded, and the very will we must uphold now.”

Luis’s pupils widened as he looked at me.

“Clatter is my chosen familiar, a trustworthy subordinate, and a comrade and my comrade is your comrade, too. Yet you’re telling me to abandon my comrade for the sake of a mission.”

“…”

“Luis. Mission or comrade. What’s more important to you?”

Are you a thief?

That’s what I was asking.

Luis’s subsequent action showed no hesitation.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

He immediately bowed.

“My thinking was shortsighted.”

“…”

I looked at him silently.

I understood.

How could I not?

Luis was the one who cared for and thought of Shadow more than anyone.

It was just a matter of choice.

Given the situation, to Luis, who was racing toward the grand cause of “guild reconstruction,” the mission might have seemed more important than a comrade.

But not for me.

A belief that wavers due to circumstances is no better than a hollow facade.

It’s better off not existing.

On the contrary, I believed that for Shadow to be rebuilt, comrades bound by trust were even more necessary.

Luis had realized that, albeit belatedly.

I turned my head.

Clatter, having finished thinking, was staring at me intensely.

The skull’s empty sockets revealed nothing but pitch-black darkness.

But upon closer inspection, the thoughts—the source of an undead—resided within.

I faced those thoughts.

A subtle feeling washed over me.

It was familiarity.

At the core of the emotions in Clatter’s gaze, I could see a deep, long-standing familiarity.

It was different from the bond a familiar feels toward its summoner.

“…”

Now that I thought about it, it was like this when I first met Clatter, too.

Back then, I had briefly questioned this blind, inexplicable sense of familiarity.

This time, it wasn’t brief.

I was curious.

“Clatter. Who the hell are you?”

And Clatter answered.

Not with its usual clacking jaw, but with action.

Its movements were smooth, like a dancer’s.

At times, they felt disciplined, like a soldier’s.

It was martial arts.

So, was Clatter a martial artist who mastered martial arts in life?

But upon closer inspection, something felt off.

The arms sweeping through the air weren’t swinging or striking—they looked like they were throwing something.

The finger bones groping the air weren’t part of a dance but seemed to be caressing something.

And at some point, I realized those overall movements felt strangely familiar.

Yes. It was definitely a vision I knew.

That’s why I could tell.

Why its movements felt awkward and what was needed to complete that awkwardness.

Tiing!

I drew a dagger from my waist and threw it.

Clatter reached out and naturally caught the flying dagger.

It was as if the dagger was smoothly absorbed into its hand.

After that, the awkwardness completely vanished.

Shadow’s Dagger Arts and I wasn’t the only one who realized it.

“Magello…?”

Luis, who had raised his head at some point, was staring at Clatter with an expression of disbelief.

And the moment I heard the name he uttered, I understood the source of the familiarity I had felt all this time.

Magello.

The master of the fourth seat among the four constellations that served Shadow.

And ten years ago, during the chaos of the ‘Fall of the Moon,’ the one who held the escape route until the end so that Gerard and Luis could flee.

He was, in the past, a benefactor to both me and Luis.

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