Ch#199
'What is this?'
That was the only thought she could muster.
Jeong Myung-ja blinked as she stared at the wound on her hand healing before her eyes.
"A-Aga. You......"
Her voice trembled as it escaped.
Tie, who had buried her face in her arms, lifted her head.
"Auntie, sniff! Tie's the Necromancer King."
The child continued tearfully.
"Tie can call her bone friends too. And her subordinates. She can take down bad, huge Tyrannosaurus monsters all by herself."
Jeong Myung-ja's lips parted wordlessly.
"Tie can take down the bad uncle who bullies Auntie too."
At that moment, the dozens of chains connected to Tie vibrated faintly.
At the same time, strange voices she'd never heard before began echoing in Chae Bok-su and Jeong Myung-ja's ears.
[Take her. We can take her.]
[She's still hanging on? Cut off her wrist.]
[She's ours now. Looks tasty.]
They were like whispers right into their ears.
But they didn't sound like the voices of the living at all.
Chae Bok-su shouted "Egg money!" and plopped down on the floor.
Jeong Myung-ja also stared at Tie in shock.
But the child herself showed no sign of fear or fright.
On the contrary, she looked around at the two with wide eyes, then
"Be quiet!"
suddenly yelled into the air.
The whispers coming from all directions cut off abruptly.
"Grandma and Auntie are scared! You have to whisper quietly, or only talk to bad people!"
Silence descended.
Even the wind brushing through the alley stopped as if by magic.
One second later.
The whispers started up again.
[She said be quiet. Master said be quiet.]
[Whisper. Whisper even quieter. Only to this tasteless soul.]
[Should we eat her now? Cut her now?]
[Eat when master says to eat. Leave her for now.]
[Let's scare her. Let's scare her.]
Jeong Myung-ja glanced once at her husband, who was floating unconscious in the air.
She swallowed hard and looked back at Tie.
The light shimmering around the child.
The transparent chains extending from her.
And her palm, completely healed as if it had never been wounded.
"......A-Aga."
The moment she barely managed to call out to the child.
"Tie...... went back home."
The child pouted her lips and lifted her head with teary eyes.
"Dad left Tie here alone, so Tie went looking for Dad......"
Hot tears fell onto Jeong Myung-ja's clothes.
"Tie wanted to say goodbye to Auntie and Grandma, but there wasn't time...... Had to throw everything away and go quickly, so......"
Chae Bok-su crawled over on her knees at the sight of the sobbing child.
Seeing the chains and energy shimmering around Tie, she stammered.
"What're all these? You a shaman or somethin'? No, even shamans would be on the news if they did this!"
Tie let out a wail and hugged Chae Bok-su tightly.
"Tie not a shaman, Tie Necromancer King......!"
Then she sobbed.
"Grandma, don't get sick. Tie will heal you. Definitely heal you......!"
"How could you do that."
Chae Bok-su looked down at the child with a dazed expression.
She didn't even notice the golden energy extending from Tie's body seeping into her chest.
* * *
"......He's really passed out, right?"
Inside room 107.
Jeong Myung-ja asked in the tiniest whisper.
Tese tan nodded curtly.
"Yes."
"......Not dead, right?"
"Yes."
Jeong Myung-ja quietly pressed her forehead.
Then, glancing at Tie's reaction, she continued in a trembling voice.
"I was worried you might get in trouble if......"
"Auntie. Should Tie get rid of him?"
Tie asked with an innocent face.
Jeong Myung-ja looked at the child in surprise.
"If I ask my subordinates nicely, they can send him far away."
"Send......?"
"Yup. To a place Auntie can never come back from!"
"You tiny thing! Keep sayin' scary stuff!"
Chae Bok-su yelled sharply.
As Tie made a sullen face, Chae Bok-su pulled the child into her arms.
"Send what? Yeah, he's a bastard worth beatin' to death, but you can't be the one killin' him!"
"It's not killing......?"
"Ha!"
"Just sending him on a trip to the ghost world......"
"Aigoo, that's killin'!"
Tie tilted her head.
Chae Bok-su threw her head back in frustration.
Staring up at the flickering fluorescent light made her dizzy.
'What the hell is all this?'
Looking back, everything had been strange from the start.
The father and daughter were suspicious from their very appearance.
And their story?
A father who worked himself to death trying to raise his one daughter.
Then the child vanishing mysteriously after.
It was a backstory so tragic one couldn't bear to watch.
Chae Bok-su glanced once more at the empty TV stand where the urn had been.
Then slowly lowered her gaze.
"......Time to listen now. No matter what, you have to explain."
She opened her lips toward Tese tan.
"Tell us."
Tese tan lifted his head.
He wore a troubled, complicated expression.
"Today's the day to hear it. Gotta know what all this is no matter what......!"
At Chae Bok-su's urging, Tese tan finally let out a resigned sigh.
After closing his mouth for a moment, he spoke flatly.
"......Tese tan."
Chae Bok-su furrowed her brow.
"Tese tan is my name. Not Kim Young-su."
Jeong Myung-ja covered her mouth.
Meanwhile, Tese tan turned his gaze to Tie.
"And Astie......"
Tie fell silent.
Tese tan avoided the child's direct stare and added.
"......As you said. Seems she really is my daughter."
"......"
"I still don't understand how that's possible, so I'm confused."
* * *
The capital.
"Valentis Luminen, Clan Leader of Talochioum's Holy Knights, receive the Emperor's golden seal!"
Twenty flags bearing the imperial crest fluttered before the Luminen mansion.
As the Emperor's envoy raised one hand, imperial knights pulled a gold-embellished sealed box from deep within the carriage.
A decree stamped with a golden crest emerged from the box.
"Under sacred resolve! I command you, sword and shield of the empire. Advance to the Central Continent, suppress evil, and prove your worth in extinguishing the flames of heresy and magic!"
The envoy dipped his hand into a cup filled with horse blood.
And drew a line across the decree.
"I grant you command of part of the empire's mercenary forces. Furthermore, First Imperial Princess Ardiana shall lead the vanguard!"
Inside the mansion.
The steward spun around at the resounding voice.
Valentis sat with a hardened face where light streamed through half-open curtains.
"The goal of this campaign is not survival! Death is the duty to the empire and Church, and the final honor for a knight!"
Silence filled the office.
An unannounced visit from the envoy.
And an order to leave the empire for the Central Continent, unforeseen by anyone.
Valentis lifted his head.
He murmured gravely.
"What on earth has offended His Majesty's temper."
Truthfully, he had some inkling.
The friendship he'd built with Agavert behind the Emperor's back.
That was the biggest issue.
But Valentis cherished Astie.
Not just because she was a child to protect.
He had already received favors from that little girl several times.
'Even the child I thought I'd never hold again until my dying day was returned to me.'
But something was off.
To send the Valentis family—who had steadfastly supported the empire—to the Central Continent over some mercenary ties?
Of course, he'd heard rumors of rampant mana stones on the Central Continent lately.
The Church's forces might be insufficient, necessitating additional dispatch of the empire's holy knights.
'But why the princess? And Astie...... why?'
He was pondering when.
The office door burst open with an urgent knock.
Leonardo entered, disheveled as if he'd teleported straight from the battlefield via Teleportation Circle.
"Leonardo."
"Father. I have something to tell you."
Valentis narrowed his eyes at the panting Leonardo.
"It's about the Necromancer King. No. Astie and Theseus."
