Death King Karnak Novel - Chapter 22

6. Derat City (2)

Ten days have passed since their stay in Derat City.

Today, as soon as Karnak and Barros left the inn, they stopped by the adventurer’s guild. After checking new information, visiting local restaurants was their daily routine.

“Welcome, Baron Karnak.”

In the lobby on the first floor, a teenage boy greeted the two with a friendly attitude. It was Hans, an apprentice guild member working as a receptionist.

“Are you sure you want updates regarding the request?”

“So, do you have any writing worth discussing?”

“Unfortunately, not so much today…….”

Handing out a gob of paper, Hans put on an apologetic expression. It was because he could see that the guild’s information was trash, even from his young eyes.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t expect too much either.”

Karnak took the papers and flicked through them after responding calmly. There was nothing to pick up again today. Barros made a strange impression while peeking from the side.

“No, isn’t it too much to blame the wife for running away from being beaten by her drunken husband on the darkness of the end?”

Of course, that husband was arguing that she must have been stained with darkness when he saw that his wife, who was usually calm no matter how beaten, was suddenly leaving the house.

“Had she got the power of darkness, would she have run away? She would’ve killed him right away.”

“Then, this is also false information.”

Hans looked up and asked.

“You told me to collect all the information related to the darkness of the end, no matter how trivial it is, but… should I filter it from now on?”

“No. To be on the safe side, keep working like this…….”

Karnak had reached the extreme of necromancy and could grasp the faintest traces of darkness that even the highest priests couldn’t spot. He could find suspicious parts that others couldn’t see, even in the information that looked like trash on the outside. However, there was a problem because he hadn’t spotted such a trivial clue yet.

“It seems like today is also a joke.”

Barros soothed the disappointed Karnak.

“Why don’t we go to Serral Street this time? I heard there’s a bakery nearby that bakes baguettes.”

“Let’s go. I’m already drooling.”

The eyes of the two sparkled in anticipation of a new delicacy. It was a time when the gluttonous master and servant were about to leave the guild, walking side by side.

A thick voice came from the hall across the lobby.

“How can you not believe it? A truly evil necromancer has appeared!”

Barros and Karnak looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Young Master, did he say there’s a necromancer?”

“Shit. Why is the timing this good?”

The person shouting was an ordinary farmer who seemed to be in his early 30s. He said he was from a small village called Zelpa, about a day’s journey from Derat City.

“So, a necromancer appeared in the village, and you came all the way here to announce it?”

The farmer nodded eagerly in response to receptionist Hans’ question.

“Yes! But nobody believes me!”

Because of the commotion, other adventurers gathered beside the receptionist in the hall on the first floor. All the adventurers looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Do you think this is a common story?”

“Isn’t it? From what I hear, it seems like you’ve already been to the temple.”

The event of darkness at the end was something that the Seven Goddesses were also keenly aware of. Normally, when you visit one of the seven churches, they would surely dispatch someone in response. As long as it was an event involving the real darkness of the end.

“Does it mean that you have no faith in the church?”

“That’s right!” The farmer screamed as if Hans’ question was unfair.

One of the adventurers appeased him.

“Now, now! Let’s listen to the story. What happened?”

The farmer hesitated with the explanation.

Not long ago, an unknown outsider appeared in Zelpa Village. After settling in the abandoned villa of an aristocratic family in the village forest, he bizarrely seduced all the village girls and received glares from the young people.

“Even Emily, whom I promised to marry, fell for him!”

“I see. Then?”

“……Then, isn’t that it?”

The adventurers who were waiting for the next story put on blank expressions.

“Wait?”

“Is that all?”

The farmer shouted at him with the impression that what more did he want to hear.

“Emily was a sincere and good woman. She wasn’t the kind of woman who would fall for a guy she met for the first time in her life!”

She was a woman who would shift her eyes if they fell on the wrong guy. The power of darkness must have possessed her. It sounded like something like this. It was a very common story in the world these days, but the adventurer continued the question just in case.

“How does he look?”

The farmer replied after grinding his teeth.

“He’s as handsome as any parasitic fellow.”

“His age?”

“He’s a young man in his 20s.”

“Is it possible he wants to extort money from village girls?”

“No. I don’t know where he came from, but he has a lot of money.”

The adventurers who were listening were dumbfounded.

“That’s why…….”

“Are you saying that this young guy has a good-looking face but has a lot of money and goes around harassing women?”

“Is it something that requires the power of darkness?”

Barros sneaked in while listening to the story from the back.

“Then, did the other villagers just leave him alone? There’s only one person, so there’s no reason to come all the way here, right?”

The farmer bowed his shoulders.

“All the other village women are also falling all over him…….”

“What did he do?”

“T-That’s…”

The farmer’s voice gradually became smaller at Barros’ question.

“Holding a village party, giving medicine to sick people, and so on…”

The young, wealthy, and handsome guy was even kind to the bottom line.

Hans replied in a serious manner.

“We cannot accept your report from our guild’s point of view. Or would you like to make a separate request?”

“T-The fee for that…”

The farmer’s complexion turned pale. There was no way a single farmer would have enough money to hire an adventurer. It seemed that he came all the way to Derat City believing that the Seven Goddess Church was enthusiastically solving the necromancer cases.

The heartbroken farmer finally left the guild building. The adventurers were laughing when he looked back.

“Isn’t it just that the ugly guy is jealous of the good guy?”

“Tsk tsk.”

“Anyway, things like this are so common these days, Won.”

Similarly, Karnak and Barros left the guild with ridicule on their lips. It was just like that until they turned into an alley. Both of their expressions changed suddenly.

“Are you suspicious, Young Master?”

“Not suspicious.”

“Isn’t that just something Young Master would do?”

“I actually did something similar.”

At first glance, the story doesn’t seem strange at all. However, if you think about it carefully, there was something suspicious about it. Certainly, it was no wonder that village girls were seduced by a young, handsome, wealthy, and kind man.

But what if you think the other way around? Why would a man of that level and ability seduce a girl from a rural village?

“If he’s really talented, he’ll seduce a noble lady, so why target a simple country girl?”

Karnak murmured while nodding his head.

“A country girl is of little value to a genuine fraud and playboy.”

But there were also places in which naive country girls are of great value. To be precise, the ‘soul’ of a virgin.

“Is it black magic?”

“I can see it.”

Of course, the world was wide, and there were many eccentric guys, so there was a possibility that he had a fetish for country girls. But it’s worth checking out.

“Didn’t he say Zelpa Village? Let’s go.”

“Thanks to everyone laughing at it, there won’t be troublesome adventurers gathering, and I’ll be able to check it without any issue.”

Although it was said to be a day-long journey, it was for a farmer ambling on his two feet. Karnak and Barros traveled on horseback and reached the village in half a day.

The two observed the situation after climbing a nearby hill to check the surroundings. It was an ordinary rural village. At first glance, there was nothing unusual about it.

But Karnak was pleased.

“We’ve come to the right place.”

Barros asked, “Do you see something?”

“Let me show you too.”

Karnak raised his chaos magic and slightly covered Barros’s vision. He could then see faint black lines connected below the village landscape.

“Oh, it’s a barrier.”

The invisible power of darkness has entangled the village like a spider’s web from the underground. It was so secretly hidden that even the most high-ranking priests could not find it.

“The workmanship is fine. Don’t you think he’s placed it according to the standard?”

Karnak was even glad to see some traditional necromantic skills after watching it. Barros continued his question while continuing to look around the village.

“Is it true that it is the darkness of the end?”

“I’ll have to catch it to know.”

The attribute of darkness can only be grasped by digging into its origin. So even in the case of Fred, he couldn’t confirm the properties until he pulled out and absorbed the darkness himself.

“It’s possible that he might just be a normal necromancer.”

“Maybe.”

Whatever it was, he had to check it out. And checking wasn’t something complex at all. No eyes to see, no colleagues to look out for? Just run to the villa of the aristocratic family where he was staying to deal with him, and it will all be over.

“Looking at the state of the barrier, he seems to be at a fairly high level, but let’s see.”

The confident Karnak was about to pull the reins.

“Okay, let’s go ahead and get rid of it…….”

Suddenly, the complexion of the two of them changed. It was because they could feel a presence on the other side of the hill. And that figure was even running straight towards them.

“Huh? Who’s coming?”

Unlike Barros, who only felt the presence, Karnak was quite surprised.

“Isn’t that a high-ranking priest?”

The necromancer and the priest react sensitively to each other’s presence. The one approaching now possessed a considerable level of divine power.

‘Was there a priest of this level in such a rural village?’

A man’s face flashed before his shocked eyes. He was a young man in his twenties wearing a green robe with mountain patterns and holding an oak staff.

The young man called out the two of them as they ran.

“Well, excuse me! Everyone!”

The young priest who came running caught his breath momentarily and then spoke out.

“Are you an adventurer who came to discover something strange about this village? That’s just great! I was about to check this place too!”

It’s a bit absurd to see him asserting himself before they even said a word.

Barros asked cautiously, “……Who are you?”

Only then did the priest reflect on his words.

“Oops, I still need to introduce myself. My name is Alius, and I serve the great Hatoba.”

Barros also introduced himself while pretending to be confident.

“I am Barros, a knight of the Zestrad family. This is our lord, Baron Karnak.”

Alius’s eyes opened wide after hearing that he was a baron.

“Aren’t you an adventurer?”

Instead, Karnak asked again as if he did not understand.

“Why did the priest consider us adventurers?”

“Well, just by looking at your appearance, you seemed quite talented…….”

Only then did the two realize the situation. To avoid troublesome work, they had changed their attire to look like a competent person to anyone, and he was also mistaken after seeing them.

Alius asked cautiously, like he had realized his mistake.

“Aren’t you two here to investigate this village?”

Barros relayed a magic message to Karnak.

[What now?]

One couldn’t always exchange opinions with just a glance. That’s why Karnak had built a private message system with Barros using chaos magic.

[I don’t think I can say now that I was only passing by.]

[Pardon? This priest, I think he’ll stick to this town anyway and keep digging.]

First of all, he needed to answer bluntly. Karnak said in a cautious tone.

“I didn’t come here to investigate. After watching this place for a while, I just heard something strange.”

“Right!”

Alius said that with great joy, like he already knew that.

“Then, will you please let me help? This is also a sacred duty for the goddess!”

Karnak asked casually, even though he clearly knew what was going on.

“What does Mr. Priest think?”

Alius nervously observed the surroundings. Then, he opened his mouth.

“……There is a possibility that an evil necromancer works secretly in this village.”

[To be continued.]