Chapter 94

Day 1 of Return: No Effect
"Ah, that was a surprise! Well, I did kind of expect it, you know? Even if your head was cut off, your soul must be firmly attached, so I was just thinking about how I should finish you off from here. But still, that startled me~! Ah, sheesh!"

Marylia pressed her hand against her chest, trying to calm her still-racing heart, and stared at the severed head.

… The cheekbone she had struck had certainly been shattered, but it seemed to have regenerated. Necromancy at this level was quite something.

"... Oi, you’re Marylia Odel Typhon, aren't you?"

"Oh nooo~ the severed head is really talking~... How does that even work...? Oh? But now that I think about it, it's actually stranger for a skull to talk. Ah, but wait, we were talking in my dream, weren’t we? Then I suppose anything goes..."

"Are you listening!?"

"I can hear youuu... And precisely because I can hear you, I think, 'This is so creepy...'"

An exceptionally well-crafted necromantic corpse. Or rather, a severed head.

… This furious, glaring severed head was none other than the current King of Baltoria—the very person responsible for turning this country into a land of the dead.

"You... What is your goal in doing all this!?"

"My goal, you say?"

The angry severed head, realizing Marylia was listening, immediately lashed out at her. However, Marylia remained as relaxed and unhurried as always, so from the head’s perspective, it probably felt like trying to stir a willow tree in a storm.

"Let's see... I suppose I have about three reasons for coming here, but the first one is simply to pay a visit."

"A visit, you say...!?"

"Yes. To someone who once lived on my island."

Marylia smiled sweetly as she spoke, and the severed head’s eyes widened in shock. It knew very well which island she was referring to.

"This is outrageous... So you really did escape to that island!?"

"Escape? No, not at all. I ended up there because I didn't escape. I was banished, you see. That’s why I returned, island and all..."

"Don't play dumb! This was all your doing, wasn’t it!?"

"Ugh... I really was just banished, though... This is a problem. There's no way for me to prove that the King of Fractalia is an absolute fool..."

From the head's perspective, everything must have seemed like Marylia’s scheme. But in reality, she had orchestrated very little.

At most, when she was banished, she had brought along a petticoat, a knife, a pot, and some sewing tools—that was about it. Marylia hadn’t decided to banish herself, nor had she chosen to be sent to that specific island!

In other words, no matter how much the severed head scolded her, there was nothing she could do about it. The real target of its anger should have been the King of Fractalia, but... directing one's fury at someone who wasn’t even present was rather difficult!

"Now, now, calm down. Of course, I didn’t come just to say hello."

With that, Marylia gestured soothingly and smiled at the severed head. The head only seemed to grow angrier, but at least Marylia remained composed.

"I also needed to express my gratitude. Thank you for meddling with my family's domain. Because of that, I was granted the surname 'Typhon' and gained the right to leave my home."

As she spoke, Marylia pondered what might have happened if the domain had never been invaded.

… If she had stayed in the Odeil family, without Baltoria’s invasion or her banishment, she likely would have been used for some political marriage.

The Odeil family was far from wealthy. Their territory bordered Baltoria, making military expenditures unavoidable.

Yet, despite this, Marylia’s father—the head of the family—was not a particularly shrewd man. A passive opportunist, he had continued to downsize the military since her grandfather’s time. Even when the kingdom stopped providing military subsidies, he simply accepted it, focusing instead on forming connections with other noble families to compensate for their lack of industry.

He had surely intended to use Marylia for one such marriage. She wouldn’t have objected, necessarily, but... compared to living freely on an uninhabited island, it would have been far more suffocating.

More importantly, if she had stayed with the Odeil family, she never would have met her companions.

Cyril Eregian and the other knights, who were good-natured and dependable.

Those who had been shunned by their families and forced to become knights, commoners who had risen through sheer effort—such people had been Marylia’s irreplaceable, treasured comrades.

She had met them only because of Baltoria’s invasion.

So in that sense... she didn’t entirely resent the severed head before her.

"And secondly, I have something I wanted to ask you."

Smiling warmly, Marylia took the opportunity to pose her question. The severed head, meanwhile, looked thoroughly perplexed by the genuinely cheerful expression on her face, appearing hesitant—though, of course, it had no waist to be hesitant with.

"Who exactly were you, anyway?"

"'Who?' What nonsense! You dare ask such a thing of the King of Baltoria!?"

"I thought you might be 'one of the slaves who accompanied the prince’s party when they fled to an uninhabited island during the war with the Mirasta Kingdom a hundred years ago.' What do you think?"

"What nonsense! Do you think this body looks like that of a hundred-year-old man!?"

The severed head laughed. Though... it no longer had a body. It was just a head now! Still, Marylia understood what it was implying.

"Well... If necromancy were pushed to its absolute limits, I believe it could preserve a body perfectly. So I thought that might be the case..."

Marylia shared her thoughts, then reconsidered.

… The Baltoria Kingdom had persisted under this king’s rule for nearly a century. That meant the people had seen the same king for all that time... yet Marylia had never heard of such a thing.

Surely, if the neighboring kingdom’s ruler had remained young for a hundred years, at least one or two rumors should have reached Fractalia...

"... Ah, wait, could it be that this body is actually fresh and young...?"

The thought struck her, and she grimaced.

"… Which means, the blood flowing through your 'body' right now is undoubtedly that of the royal family, isn't it?"

What Marylia had reasoned was exceedingly simple.

That a necromancer, who had originally been a slave, had completely seized the body of the prince or his child, who had been on the island at the time… and in doing so, had become king in that body.

In other words…

"The Baltoria royal bloodline continues through the generations, and each time a prince becomes king, he dies. And his body becomes the vessel for your soul. Is that correct?"

When Marylia said that, the severed head fell silent.

Perhaps it hadn't expected her to know that much. Or maybe, being confronted with something so nostalgic had momentarily drowned it in a flood of memories.

In any case, it took a moment before the severed head spoke again. During that time, Marylia simply smiled gently, urging it to continue. Like a saint overflowing with compassion, one who forgives and saves.

"That means the 'body' is undoubtedly that of the Baltoria royal family. But… the 'you' who is here, your 'soul'… surely, you were originally a necromancer and a slave, weren't you?"

"… That's right. I was once taken as a slave to that bastard's so-called new nation."

In front of the saintly Marylia, the severed head's words carried a curse-like bitterness.

"New nation?"

"Ah, yes! That bastard had grand ideals!"

The severed head roared. It was still shackled by loathsome memories.

"He spoke of creating a new nation where everyone could live happily! But what was the reality? We were forced to work in mines or fight monsters, gradually dying off! And what were those of noble blood doing all that time? Investigating, researching—nothing but meaningless nonsense!"

Marylia thought, "Investigations and research are important. Securing resources is just as crucial, though…" but chose not to say anything for now.

"… What of noble blood? Do you claim that blood holds greater value than a soul? That a slave is inferior to a prince? … Look around you! The prince of that time is long dead! And his descendants will be slain by me for all eternity! And I am still alive! This nation belongs to me now!"

Marylia, quietly listening to the severed head's words, thought to herself, "This person must have a severe inferiority complex about his birth…"

"Where is the so-called great achievement of noble blood? Everything has been accomplished by my soul alone!"

If the severed head had a body, it would surely be spreading its arms wide in pride, as if to prove its claim… as if to reassure itself that this nation was truly its own.

"That is everything. I live, and the Baltoria royal family will die forever… And you as well—"

"Well now, I don't particularly think noble blood matters that much either."

At that point, Marylia, who had been patiently listening, finally interrupted. She tilted her head and smiled at the severed head… which now looked extremely uncomfortable!

"A lot of my companions come from commoner backgrounds. But they're all fun and good people. I love them dearly."

Officially, there were no slaves in Fractalia. So Marylia had never actually met anyone of slave status… but at the very least, among the commoners she knew, there were many far better people than some nobles… Of course, there were probably terrible commoners as well, but the same could be said for nobles.

As Marylia smiled cheerfully, the severed head seemed not only uneasy but also frustrated, as if to say, "That's not what I meant to argue about!"

However—

"But I do need to correct something you said. Oh, don't get me wrong? It's not because you were a slave. It's just…"

Marylia peered at the severed head and smiled once more.

"You're not alive, are you?"

… But her eyes were not smiling. She was serious. As serious as she had been when trying to light a fire by twisting a stick into wood.

"As for the last reason I came here… Hmm, I suppose it's to return things to the way they should be."

Marylia smiled and reached out toward the severed head.

"The dead should remain dead. Especially those who have trampled upon their homeland. That's all there is to it."

Then, without hesitation, she seized the severed head with her left hand, raised the spear in her right…

"You let your guard down."

The severed head grinned.

"Mastered necromancy does not stop at merely controlling the dead…"

The severed head sneered at Marylia, laughing, laughing… and then—

"It can even sever the souls of the living from their bodies!"

He had used the ultimate necromantic magic—the overwhelmingly simple yet absolute power to “kill the living.”

The severed head laughed. It laughed and laughed, believing that now, at last, his perfect kingdom would be born.

He had been surprised when the island itself turned into a golem, but considering that all the magic stones left on the island had been gathered in one place, the damage so far was not significant.

Once he replaced their control with his own, he could transform Fractalia into a perfect nation, ruling it completely.

His dream expanded before him. And then—

"Oh my, then it’s you who let your guard down."

… Dreams are meant to be shattered.

"That doesn’t work on me. Sorry about that."

Marylia smiled and thrust her spear forward.

"W-why… why doesn't it work…?"

Even as he was pierced through, the severed head murmured deliriously.

Hearing that, Marylia tilted her head and smiled.

"Because I… am my own golem. In a way, I'm just like you."

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