Chapter 298

“Come on, grow. Skeletons, skeletons…”

Beep!

System

• Lv. 105 Skeleton Warlord has used a special Skill!

• Special Skill, Summon the Dead, has been activated!

• The sleeping dead answer the Commander’s call!

I had never felt so at ease.

Every time I saw a Skeleton spring up like a bean sprout, happiness welled up in a corner of my heart.

Is this what it feels like to be a farmer?

What a bumper harvest. A truly magnificent harvest.

I smiled brightly and swung my sickle—no, my spear—to begin reaping.

Every time I smashed the skull of a Skeleton that had only just awakened, a beautiful sound rang out.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

System

• You have defeated Lv. 71 Skeleton Warrior!

• You have gained a small amount of EXP!

• You have defeated Lv. 70 Skeleton Archer!

• You have gained a small amount of EXP!

The Skeleton Warlord, forced to offer up his subordinates as EXP, muttered in a sorrowful voice.

• Ah, my soldiers. Forgive your disloyal commander. To be caught in the schemes of a wicked human and erased without even getting to demonstrate your true strength…

I was about to swing my spear at the next one when I suddenly stopped.

“What did you just say?”

• I called you a wicked human!

Well, look at this guy.

He was supposed to be groveling, yet he glared at me and talked back. The anger of being demoted from commander of the great undead army to EXP factory manager seemed to have driven out his fear of destruction.

• I would rather be destroyed than offer my soldiers to you!

“Whether you get destroyed or not is for me to decide. More importantly, say what you said earlier again.”

• Wicked human!

“Not that.”

• Not that? Then what?

“You said you hadn’t even shown your true strength, right?”

• …What of it?

“Come to think of it, you have one strange Skill. Something called Commander’s Rally, or whatever.”

• H-how do you know about that?!

“Oh, right. No wonder something felt off. I forgot about that.”

I smiled brightly and patted the Warlord’s skull.

“Use it.”

The Warlord asked again, sounding genuinely baffled.

• Commander’s Rally? Why?

“It raises their Levels when they get the buff. I need to squeeze out as much EXP as possible.”

• …!

“So hurry up and use it. Depending on how you perform, I might even let you go.”

• R-really?

“There’s a saying in the human world. A man’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. It means that a man always keeps his word.”

• A man who lost his mama? What a strange saying.

“Why would he lose his mama? Making mom jokes now, you fucking bastard? Maybe I should just destroy you.”

Crack.

When I tightened my grip around his head, the Skeleton Warlord cried out in alarm.

• Wait! There’s a crack in my bone! My bone!

“Lord, I’m sending one up.”

• Wait!

“So are you going to do it or not?”

The Warlord’s green pupils shifted anxiously from side to side.

For a Skeleton, he displayed a surprisingly wide range of emotions. Before long, he finally managed to force out an answer.

• I-I’ll do it.

“Good choice.”

• But do not misunderstand. This is not submission. It is a contract!

“A contract?”

• That’s right! Not obedience, but a contract mutually agreed upon by both parties!

“…This bastard is more human than I am, despite being a Skeleton. So what are the terms of this contract?”

• In exchange for cooperating with you, wicked human, guarantee the position I currently hold.

“The master of the Black Forest and commander of the undead army?”

• Correct! In addition, cease this indiscriminate and barbaric slaughter!

“…”

What had I just heard?

To be told to stop indiscriminate and barbaric slaughter by a monster of all things left my head spinning for a moment.

“Are you out of your mind? Is that something a monster is supposed to say?”

• How insulting. I am a Skeleton Warlord possessed of cool judgment and intelligence. Though I may have become a fallen undead, the spirit of chivalry is engraved deep within my soul.

“…If you had upheld chivalry, you wouldn’t have fallen like this in the first place.”

• …The truth is, my memories from when I was alive were erased when I became undead.

“Then don’t go on about chivalry. You’re a real piece of work.”

Still, perhaps because he was a Named Monster, he was definitely different from ordinary monsters that were consumed by instinct and did nothing but howl.

Anyway, a contract.

I thought it over carefully before finally opening my mouth.

“Fine. I’ve decided.”

• Human. Will you accept my contract?

“No. I don’t want to.”

• …Huh?

As I watched the green light in his eyes shake in confusion, I continued.

“I’m okay with the first proposal. You can be the master of the Black Forest and the commander of the army, or whatever. But…”

• But?

“From now on, you’re the Peace Guild’s EXP factory manager. In exchange for guaranteeing your position, supply me with as many Skeletons as I want.”

• That’s absurd!

“Don’t like it?”

• I would rather be destroyed than become a human puppet!

“Your wish has been received, valued customer.”

Crack.

The Skeleton Warlord, a crack running across the crown of his skull, answered in a solemn voice.

• On second thought, it is not such a bad contract.

“…”

• A commander cannot abandon his soldiers. Human, as the master of the Black Forest and commander of the undead army, I accept your proposal.

“You said you’d rather be destroyed than become a human puppet.”

• When a commander disappears, the army falls apart. Do not misunderstand. I am merely enduring this momentary humiliation for the sake of the soldiers waiting for me.

“But you have to offer up those very soldiers.”

• I will remember their noble sacrifice until the day I am destroyed. So, how many troops is this month’s tribute—no, how many tribute troops do you require?

“…”

Look at him, giving them away without holding back since he wasn’t the one being destroyed.

At this point, he wasn’t a puppet. He was a snail bride.¹

When I stared at him with an utterly dumbfounded expression, the world’s first pro-human Named Monster, the Skeleton Warlord, hurriedly began chanting.

• Grow stronger, Skeletons, Skeletons!

Beep!

System

• Lv. 105 Skeleton Warlord has used a special Skill!

• Special Skill, Commander’s Rally, has been activated!

• The Strength, Agility, and Magic of the monsters under the Skeleton Warlord’s command have been enhanced!

• The enemies’ Levels have increased by 5!

…He can do it all by himself now.

The harvest was easy.

The first time was difficult, but after doing it two or three times, I got the hang of it.

The Skeleton Warlord made full use of his abilities as a commander to fill his tribute ranks as quickly as possible.

• Army! Rally together!

Clatter, clatter!

Around a hundred newly grown Skeletons gathered in one place. All I had to do was scatter Spear Energy at the monsters that had gathered at his command, and EXP came pouring down.

Swoooosh! Boom!

Ding. Ding. Ding.

The sound of EXP being deposited made the corners of my mouth rise. Watching the scene, the Warlord muttered in a satisfied voice.

• Hmm. This is much faster and easier.

“…”

• Human. Did you see my command ability? This is the dignity of a commander.

What a pro-human bastard.

Watching him take pride in discovering an efficient way to offer up his soldiers, I felt like I finally understood why his soul had become corrupted.

If the winds of liberation ever swept through the Black Forest, the Skeleton independence fighters would put him at the top of their purge list.

This is giving me the strange feeling that I’m the invader.

Feeling oddly unsettled, I began collecting the loot.

Skeletons were one of the most dirt-poor monster species around. Their so-called by-products were either rusty weapons that could cause tetanus or half-rotted bones.

You could at least get beef and bone broth from a Minotaur corpse. Apparently, no matter how long you simmered these, all you got was the taste of a grave.

“Oh, a Magic Gem and some Equipment.”

At least Skeleton Knights, which appeared about as often as beans in a drought, sometimes left behind one or two Magic Gems and decent pieces of Equipment, like this.

Of course, even that only happened once in a while.

“With a Magic Gem this size, it should easily fetch tens of millions of won.”

It had been a good decision to send the Guild members away. I got to monopolize the EXP and the Magic Gems too—the best of both worlds.

As I happily pocketed a Magic Gem the size of an adult’s fist, the Warlord asked me a question.

• Wicked human. What are you doing?

“You can see what I’m doing. I’m collecting the rewards for my labor.”

• Do you intend to absorb it later?

“Absorb it? Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’m selling it.”

• Foolish. Magic Gems are the source of power. Is it not only natural to eat them and grow stronger?

“That’s something monsters like you do. Humans are different.”

It was already well known, but humans were not monsters’ only enemies.

It was perfectly normal for monsters to fight among themselves, and some even ate enemy monsters to grow stronger in the process.

• Is that so? Humans are truly an incomprehensible lot. You could become stronger by absorbing Magic Gems… Is money really so wonderful?

“Money is something we need whether we like it or not, to get by. Besides, humans can’t absorb Magic Gems.”

The energy contained in Magic Gems was commonly called demonic qi. It was the foundation of a monster’s strength, but to humans, it was no different from poison.

It was a type of qi, but it was easier to understand if you thought of it as a contaminant.

After I gave him a rough explanation, the Warlord tilted his skull.

• You cannot absorb it? That is strange. The human group I encountered long ago used Troll blood to heal their bodies.

“Ah, potions? That undergoes a purification process…”

• Then why not purify Magic Gems? Just as you do with the Troll blood you call potions.

“If it were that simple, we would have purified them long ago. You really are simple, just like a monster.”

If Troll blood was a fruit-flavored drink with one percent fruit flavoring, then a Magic Gem was one hundred percent fresh fruit juice.

People couldn’t even remove all the poison from potions, yet this guy was suggesting that they absorb Magic Gems.

I let out a short laugh and continued.

“Anyway, humans can’t absorb Magic Gems.”

• Why?

“Stop asking questions, you question-mark murderer. That’s the established academic consensus. I’ve never heard or seen anything like that.”

• I have never heard of a human like you, either.

I was about to smack the Warlord’s skull when I stopped.

Wait. That actually makes sense.

There’s no need to be bound by common sense all the time.

Was I not an existence beyond common sense myself?

The phrase established academic consensus merely referred to a conclusion drawn from what was known.

The Mana Cultivation Method was the same.

Only a tiny handful of people knew it existed.

I had never thought about it before getting entangled with the Ares Guild.

Before monsters appeared and after they did, their private league had remained unchanged, and their secrets had continued to be shared within the boundaries they had established.

Absorbing a Magic Gem…

Should I try it once?

Just as I was about to open my Inventory and take out another Magic Gem, the Warlord spoke.

• Heh heh. You look like you just got punched. Wicked and foolish human.

“Oh. Do you want me to give your skull an Annihilation Punch?”

• …A rash remark. I apologize.

“You apologized within three seconds, so I’ll let it slide.”

The Skeleton Warlord, having avoided destruction by the universal rule, muttered.

• There is no greater humiliation. Consider yourself fortunate that I have not grown stronger, human.

“For a Skeleton Knight, becoming the master of the Black Forest through a coup was quite a career.”

• I am a Warlord now! The master of the Black Forest and—

“Commander of the undead army. Yeah, yeah. I’m getting calluses on my ears from hearing it.”

I only learned later that he had taken over the Black Forest.

He had actually defeated the black wizard, who was practically the forest’s true master. He must have absorbed a truly incredible amount of Magic Gems.

“So this is a complete human—or rather, Skeleton—victory. Going from an ordinary Skeleton Knight to the master of the Black Forest, and even evolving into a Warlord… You must have absorbed an enormous number of Magic Gems from the black wizard, right?”

• What are you talking about? He did not possess any Magic Gems.

“Huh?”

• Besides, the black wizard was the one who summoned me directly. Until recently, his commands were absolute. A summoned creature cannot disobey its summoner.

“Then how…”

• You mean, how was I able to defeat him?

The Skeleton Warlord’s green pupils narrowed.

• I do not know the reason myself. Not long ago, I suddenly felt that I had escaped his control. Perhaps you could say that I climbed one step higher when my magical power surpassed that of my summoner.

“Suddenly?”

• Yes. My magical power grew tremendously, all at once.

What was he talking about?

Yet, just as the Warlord said, he could not properly explain what had happened to him either.

After thinking about it for a long while, the only thing he added was this:

• Borrowing a human expression, it felt as if I had been possessed by a ghost.

“…Is that something a Skeleton can say?”

Maybe that bastard isn’t a Skeleton after all.

It was at that moment, as I stared at the Warlord with an incredulous expression, that—

• Hmm?

The Warlord’s skull rolled around atop his neck before stopping in one direction.

Looking south with his green pupils shining, he clicked his jawbones and spoke.

• An intruder.

“An intruder?”

• I am the master of the Black Forest. I know everything that happens within the forest. More wicked humans have just set foot in my territory.

“They’re my friends, you idiot.”

Whack!

After enthusiastically smacking him across the back of the head, I picked up the Warlord’s skull and started walking toward the Gate entrance.