I Became The Academy Necromancer
Chapter 337: Side Story - Coincidence And Comfort

As I went further into the village, the number of people glancing my way increased.

At first, I assumed it was just simple curiosity, but the more I felt their gazes, the more I noticed their hostility and discomfort, which left me puzzled.

[This seems rather excessive.]

Perhaps feeling the same as I did, Stella had a worried expression on her face.

I had just said it was a small concern earlier, but if things were this hostile, it was worth rethinking.

“This is strange.”

As I wondered why they felt the need to be so hostile, I headed toward the direction where the sounds of horses neighing came from.

With the smell of manure and some noise, the stable was located at a short distance from the village, tucked in a corner, so it was placed away from the villagers’ homes.

“Hmph.”

The middle-aged man who seemed to be the stable owner glanced at me but pretended not to have seen me as he began feeding the horses.

“Excuse me.”

When I greeted him from behind, the man, surprised that I spoke to him, flinched and hunched his shoulders.

“Hmm, who are you?”

“I’m Kim Shinwoo. I’ve settled nearby recently.”

“Hmm? Settled nearby?”

[He seems to know something.]

I felt like a suspect in a detective story.

The stable owner suddenly asked confidently, almost aggressively even.

“Are you talking about the house on Bolt Hill?”

“…Yes, that’s the one.”

“Ugh! You damn scum!”

While I was taken aback by the sudden outburst, the stable owner pointed at me angrily.

Thankfully, the stable was a little far from the village, or else the entire village would’ve come rushing at me.

“You dare to have the face to come crawling in here! All junkie bastards from Bolt Hill deserve to be killed!”

[This is…]

I immediately understood what he meant. Since Bolt Hill was originally a den for drug junkies, it seemed they now saw us as part of that gang because we had settled there.

“My friend, Beren, is still drinking his life away after losing his son! If it weren’t for you messing with the kids using those damn strange flowers, he would be of marriageable age by now!”

A place scarred by tragedy.

The Yellow Flower hadn’t just ruined the souls I saw.

It had also left deep scars in the village where those souls once lived.

[It’s unfortunate.]

Stella folded her hands and offered a brief prayer for them.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and started explaining to the angry stable owner.

“I understand your feelings. But I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?! A misunderstanding! What misunderstanding?! I thought those damn people finally were gone, but as soon as you bought that land, the Bureau spread the news about it! I never expected you’d dare to crawl up here!”

The Bureau.

I heard that the Bureau was a newly formed department in the Clark Republic, set up to address the chaotic situation in the republic and to help the citizens.

They didn’t handle major cases but dealt with minor issues and public complaints.

So the Bureau was the one who leaked the information.

Though it made me feel uneasy, I decided to clear up the misunderstanding first.

“Weren’t all the drug dealers dealt with?”

“Yeah! The Bureau had promised to clean it up on a certain day, but before that…!”

“It was me.”

The moment I declared it flatly, the stable owner, who was about to threaten me again, froze.

“I was the one who took care of them.”

“…Huh?”

The owner, who had opened his mouth to continue yelling, was now staring at me blankly.

And as the timing felt right, I continued speaking.

“I somehow found out that the group cultivating the Yellow Flower in the Flowergarden had been secretly moving them to another location.”

“…”

“And since I had some bad memories regarding it, I went ahead and took care of them. I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but…”

I raised my hand, releasing mana.

A soft blue flame rose, signaling that I had some ability to use magic.

“I’m a fairly skilled mage.”

[Fairly?]

Having finished her prayer, Stella playfully poked her face out and asked, but I pretended not to have noticed.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t me but Findenai who had handled the matter, but since I was the one who had ordered her to do so, it was still under my direction.

Besides, I couldn’t really explain all the details here.

“…”

It seemed the stable owner was lost in thought.

After what seemed like a long pause, he let out a painful sigh and licked his lips, looking like he needed a drink.

“As I said before, those bastards were dealt with before the date the Bureau had given us. The Bureau claims they made the arrests, but all the villagers know that those bastards were brutally slaughtered as the stench of blood reached the town for a while.”

If they had been captured, there wouldn’t have been any stench of blood.

“Are you really… the one who solved it, Sir Mage?”

The stable owner, now all polite, asked earnestly. To that, I simply nodded.

“I-if you don’t mind… could you tell my damn friend the same thing? Just once, please.”

Seeing the sheer desperation in his eyes, enough to make him change his attitude completely, I didn’t hesitate for long.

“Lead the way.”

We came here to buy a cart, but unexpectedly, I was now going on an unusual errand.

As we re-entered the village, people’s gazes were still directed at us, but when they saw the stable owner with us, their hostility shifted to confusion.

The place we arrived at was a tavern.

I thought the friend he mentioned had been drinking since morning, but it turned out the tavern owner was Beren.

“Norman? Why so early…”

“Beren, we have a guest.”

The introduction was brief.

When the stable owner named Norman introduced me, Beren’s eyes opened wide.

Despite his large build, Beren’s shoulders slumped as he clenched his fists.

“T-the smell of blood led us to the bodies… They were torn apart, completely massacred.”

“Yeah, my maid was the one who did it. There were traces of axe slashes all over them, right?”

“…!”

Upon hearing my words, Beren nodded vigorously.

“Yes That’s right! The moment I saw that, I knew God must exist in this world! Those bastards indeed deserved to be punished by the heavens!”

“If you want to associate it with gods, then go ahead. However, I didn’t do it for your vengeance. It was for my own goals.”

“Ah…”

Leaning against the counter, Beren clutched his face with both hands. His sobbing echoed for a moment.

“My… my son’s face… it melted away. You don’t know how painful it was, as a father, to watch his eyes pop out as he died.”

“…”

“He didn’t even die looking like a human. We even had to burn the corpses that had melted due to the drug use out of fear of contamination.”

Then, as if he were pressing for an answer, he asked me.

“D-Do you think the gods embraced my son, even after he changed like that?”

“…”

I hesitated on how to answer, but before I spoke, I suddenly felt as if I had become Deus Verdi once more.

Now that I thought about it, my tone had also unconsciously reverted to how it was back then.

This is difficult.

Perhaps it was because Deus and I had been identified as one and the same, and we were seen as an inevitable presence on the continent.

Lately, I often felt like I had become him.

However, regardless of who I was, the answer here would remain the same.

“The Yellow Flower destroys everything, even the person’s soul. And even after they became spirits, the victims continued to search for the Yellow Flower.”

“Ah…”

“S-Sir Mage!”

Perhaps because it was such a despairing answer, as Beren trembled and slammed his head against the counter, Norman, behind him, called out to me urgently.

“However, I was able to find their location thanks to them.”

I did not lie.

Though it may have been cruel, I knew for sure that the truth, clear and firm, would be of more comfort to them than the sweet lies.

“And thanks to that, I was able to stop the Yellow Flower from being spread across the continent. Now, that flower will no longer grow anywhere on the continent.”

“…”

“Also—”

Slowly, I reached out and placed my hand on Beren’s.

There was a recent scar on his wrist.

Despite being a tavern owner, he would never be able to fill the void of losing his son with alcohol.

His rough hands carried the weight of his sorrow.

“A certain man risked his life to create a place for them. Unlike their physical bodies, which could not be buried with the others, their souls sleep peacefully alongside others.”

As I thought of the souls sleeping within Deus Verdi’s body, I added words of comfort.

“And if you wish,”

I glanced at Stella beside me.

“I’ll ask the kindest god I know to pray for him.”

Stella naturally clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. The faint smile on her face was truly divine and beautiful.

It was a silent prayer for those who were broken and were burned in this land.

Stella’s divinity began to spread gently, filling the tavern.

“Hicc.”

The father who had lost his son,

“Kuh—! B-Ben!”

He continued to shed tears, but his voice, though forced, was clear as he shouted.

“M-My son’s name was Ben.”

After that, Beren continued to pour out his tears.

Although the sorrow of losing a son would never fade, even over a lifetime, I still hoped that this small bit of comfort might be of some help to him.

***

“Huff! Huff!”

Laila, a 2nd-grade manager from the Bureau, entered Iceburn Village on her bicycle post-haste.

She brushed aside her sweat-drenched blue hair from her face as she arrived at the village.

After hearing the reports from the villagers, she immediately made her way to the tavern.

Could something have happened?

Worrying, she reached the tavern on her bicycle.

However, the sound of a man’s wailing echoed from inside the tavern. Yet, for some reason, despite the crying, an emotion stronger than sadness could be felt.

Could it be said that tears of resentment were being released?

But what stood out even more was the woman blocking the entrance.

Wearing a pure white dress and her hair bleached to a pale white, the woman radiated nobility just from her appearance.

Laila approached her, as if mesmerized.

“I am Laila Vesh, a 2nd-grade agent from the Clark Republic’s Bureau. What’s going on here?”

[Ah, you’re from the Bureau.]

The voice that answered with a gentle smile echoed in Laila’s head, but for some reason, it didn’t feel bad.

On the contrary, the warmth from just hearing the voice made Laila feel good.

“May I ask who you are, ma’am?”

At Laila’s question, Stella pondered for a moment before answering with a smile.

[I’m just a passing nun.]

“A nun?”

She wasn’t wearing a nun’s habit, but upon hearing that, Laila felt it immediately.

In fact, she wondered how she did not realize that from the start—it suited her perfectly.

“What’s going on inside?”

[You could say it’s for comfort.]

Stella scratched her cheek awkwardly as she answered. But Laila, not understanding, looked confused and tried to enter the tavern.

[Wait a moment.]

Stella grabbed her shoulder gently and spoke carefully.

[You’re a person of firm convictions, aren’t you?]

“Pardon?”

Laila was caught off guard by her unexpected words.

She had often been told by people in the Bureau that she was stubborn.

With a worried expression, Stella gave Laila some advice.

[Do not try to learn too much about the person inside.]

“…What do you mean by that?”

[From my experience…]

Stella furrowed her brows slightly and sighed with concern.

[People with firm convictions… tend to be easily swayed.]

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken