Translator: Nox

Ch#1

Talochium Empire.

At the entrance of a rift from a small Mana Stone towering over the land.

“Huff, huff……”

Rio, the mercenary from the small island of Modeut, wiped his nape with trembling hands.

“Damn, damn.”

His palm was covered in bright red blood.

“Kerrrrk-”

A dragon-type magic beast, a Rikellops, tilted its head right in front of him, staring intently.

His scattered comrades were already all dead.

Forty mercenaries, excluding Rio, had been completely wiped out by three Rikellops.

“Keruk-”

Rio gripped his broken sword with his weakened hand.

Suddenly, the last image of his mother from the day he left his hometown flashed through his mind.

If he had known it would end like this, he would have at least given her a proper hug.

Soon, the Rikellops bared their teeth.

A signal that they were about to attack Rio.

He swallowed his rising breath and closed his eyes.

He was ready to give up everything, but right then.

[Snap out of it. If you want to live.]

An unfamiliar voice echoed from thin air.

When he looked up, he saw a black something hovering in the air, backlit by moonlight.

“Oops, my apologies.”

Then, people appeared out of nowhere, pushing Rio aside and stepping forward.

Rio froze as he stared at their fluttering cloaks.

“Agavert……?”

The new mercenary group that had burst onto the scene like a comet, quickly making a name for itself across the continent: Agavert.

They roamed the world, writing new history each time, yet they embroidered their uniforms with a strangely shaped pink dwarf, sparking questions.

“Young man, are you alright?”

Rio blankly stared at the old man who approached him.

The elderly man in Agavert’s uniform clicked his tongue and began examining the wound on Rio’s neck.

Meanwhile, an argument was breaking out in front.

“Veil. Come out. It’s my turn to show off to Tiye this time.”

“What are you talking about? We’ve already seen you strutting around with that hammer of yours a hundred times. You’re in the way, so get lost. This time, I’ll show my real skills.”

“……Honestly, you’re still terrible.”

“That’s just your opinion, you pig whose brain is made of muscle!”

“Ha, enough already! Stop fighting, or the leader will be furious!”

Even as the old man poured disinfectant on his wound, Rio couldn’t move.

He couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before him.

‘Is this……even possible?’

The Agavert members were loudly bickering while casually deflecting the Rikellops’ attacks with one hand.

Each time the beast’s teeth clashed in the air, Rio’s body flinched.

Rikellops were no pushovers.

They had just wiped out Rio’s forty-man mercenary group.

Yet these guys were treating their attacks like child’s play…….

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“Stoooop!”

In that instant, something popped out from the bushes and dashed past Rio.

Seeing it, his mouth fell slightly open.

A tiny stature.

Fluffy light blonde hair.

Even a pink backpack on their back.

‘……A kid?’

A child who didn’t fit the scene at all placed hands on their hips.

“You all pwomised not to fight! If you do, Tiye will kick you out of Agavert!”

The bickering members froze.

The burliest man, gripping a Rikellops by the neck, asked,

“Kick us out? What do you mean by that, Tiye?”

“We gotta catch the magic beasts! How awe we gonna do that if you keep fighting? And someone’s huwt too! The only one who gets a ‘good job’ sticker is Gwamps Nordics!”

At those words, the burly man’s face paled.

The other members coughed awkwardly and avoided the child’s gaze.

The child pouted and grumbled,

“Always fighting…… How awe we evew gonna get to twenty membews? Twenty minus five is fifteen, so we still need a wot mowe! We gotta get them quick to register as a big-time mewcenawy gwoup……”

But before the child could finish, one of the fallen Rikellops suddenly sprang up.

The beast bared its teeth, tilted its head, and charged at the smallest target.

The Agavert members exchanged surprised glances.

Rio reflexively jumped to his feet as well.

He reached out to the child, but couldn’t block the Rikellops squeezing through the gap.

“Run away—!”

As Rio shouted desperately,

“Geez. You guys keep wasting time, and this happens again.”

A faint glow flickered in the child’s eyes as they sighed.

Then,

Rustle-

Something began rapidly rising from the damp, dew-soaked earth.

Rio gaped blankly at the sight.

What emerged from the ground were bare skeletons without a scrap of flesh.

‘One, no, two, three, five, ten…….’

Cold sweat trickled down his neck.

Dozens of bones wriggling up from the earth instantly grabbed the running Rikellops’ legs and tripped it.

Then they dragged the beast’s thighs and body into the torn-up ground.

As the clouds parting the moonlight cleared, the beast’s screams echoed through the forest as it was buried alive.

“Ahyohyo.”

Only when the beast had completely vanished underground did the child turn to Rio.

They patted their chest in relief and said,

“If my bone fwiends hadn’t come, it would’ve been bad.”

Rio’s eyes widened at the absurd name for the skeletons, but briefly.

“Uncwe, hewwo!”

The child approached Rio, greeted him politely, then held up two fingers with a serious face.

“Fwom now on, uncwe gets to choose one of two options. Fiwst, fowget evewything that happened hewe and go home. Youw fwiends awe gone, and that’s life……”

The old man who had treated Rio nodded from the side.

“Second is to join Tiye’s mewcenawe gwoup, Agavert!”

Rio’s eyes wavered.

Agavert—they were definitely Agavert.

But this kid.

Hadn’t they just called Agavert “my mercenary group”?

‘Agavert’s master must be the Necromancer King, without a doubt.’

Could those rumors circulating really be true?

Rio asked incredulously,

“You’re the Necromancer King?”

A bright smile bloomed on the child’s face.

“Yup! That’s Tiye!”

His heart sank.

The great mage Necromancer King who had suddenly appeared one day.

He was the strongest summoner of spirits the world had never seen.

The entire continent—no, the whole world—was curious about him.

<Agavert>, founded by the Necromancer King, had reached continent-wide ranking No. 1 in just two months and achieved a 100% Mana Stone siege rate.

Yet until now, no one knew the true identity of the veiled Necromancer King.

‘But…….’

Rio swallowed hard as he looked at the child.

Mana Stones sprouting all over the world had happened quite some time ago.

Endless rifts formed around them, spawning magic beasts from within.

When those beasts began invading cities and settlements, the world entered the era of great mercenaries.

Knights and central armies alone couldn’t handle the Mana Stones popping up everywhere.

In a world needing strong mercenaries, it was natural for eyes to turn to the monstrous Necromancer King and his group.

“Won’t uncwe join our guild? Our unifowm is supew cute. I asked them to add Tanipang hewe!”

Rio’s heart pounded harder.

‘So the pink dwarf embroidered on the uniform is called Tanipang?’

This was unexpected.

But one thing was clear.

Why no one had figured out the Necromancer King’s identity until now.

“Of couwse, if you don’t wanna, that’s fine! Tiye will ewise youw memowy and take you to town.”

Freely wielding necromancy to summon spirits, call forth corpses.

The great mercenary Necromancer King, sweeping Mana Stones across the world like flies,

“Oh! And if you join our mewcenawe gwoup, you can sleep in sometimes! How about it?”

“……Why?”

“I have to go to Tiye’s Tutoring School fwom ten in the mowning to fouw…… So we only wowk at night. Hehe.”

Was just a real child.

One who looked no older than five.

And to explain all this, we need to go back two months.

Precisely two months ago.

To Jongno-gu, South Korea.

A super shy kid is looking for daddy