Chapter 29 - Introspection

Arthur spent the rest of the night trying to devise a spell to remove the flesh of his future undead, but it was surprisingly tricky, thanks to his limited source of references.

He initially thought a simple modified fire spell would be a good choice, but the process of burning the flesh would take too long. He thought he could increase the temperature to speed up the process, but if he did, the bones would likely turn to ash along with the meat.

Unfortunately, the best method he could come up with was to induce an accelerated decay. He felt it was highly fitting since he was now officially this world's first necromancer, but he didn't even know where to start.

Nithe's medieval-like development meant that bacteria remained a mystery to its inhabitants. However, finding references in other spells wasn't a complete lost cause.

Most spells on Nithe were created by trial and error. That meant most of the time mages didn't fully understand the concepts behind the spell, only the result that formed when they executed it.

So it wasn't impossible a spell existed somewhere that affected bacterial growth in some way without its creator's knowledge. He'd just have to keep an eye out for it.

Of course, that was all under the assumption that bacteria even existed on Nithe. It was a crazy fantasy world with gods and monsters, after all. For all he knew, little invisible fairies took the job of bacteria and caused decay in its place.

As the sun began to peek over the horizon, Arthur had given up on creating a decay spell for the time being. Instead, he focused on the spell to capture spirits since Kyren's ability to interact with the world, and Arthur's immortality relied on the assumption that capturing spirits was inherently possible.

Senna entered the room carrying a bucket of water and gasped as her eyes darted to Arthur immediately after discovering the body lying on the floor. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Arthur pointed toward the corpse. "He tried sneaking in with his sword drawn a few hours ago. Luckily, I was already awake and wearing my hidden blade."

Arthur obviously left out some details, but he didn't technically lie, so he didn't feel too bad.

Senna carefully stepped over the corpse and placed the bucket on his dresser before walking to Arthur's bed. "...I'm sorry, young master. I should've protected you. I can't believe I allowed someone to sneak right by my room..."

"I'm fine, see." Arthur pointed to himself as he smiled. "He barely stepped inside before playing catch with my hidden blade. Besides, you're not some expert warrior who sleeps with one eye open. It's not your fault—also, what did I say about calling me that? It's Ar-thur, not young master."

Senna remained quiet for a moment and took a look at the corpse. "...He looks familiar, but I can't place where I've seen him before."

"He was one of my new guards. You probably saw him around the manor at some point. Elyria likely put him up to it during yesterday's chaos."

"...I hate that you have to endure this." Senna gazed at him with moist eyes and a sense of guilt evident in her expression. "I wish you hadn't been forced to grow up so fast due to that woman..."

"Heh, your evil ways made her cry, kid." Kyren laughed.

Arthur would shoot him a glare if he could, but Senna was looking right at him, so he smiled and attempted to console her instead.

"None of that." Arthur gently grabbed her hand. "I like who I am, and I never wanted to be a snot-nosed brat playing in the mud anyway. Nor have I ever resented my lot in life.

I've always felt strangely comfortable with the constant skulduggery surrounding me. Who knows, maybe I was a pirate in another life. It would certainly explain my hoarding of gold and silver coins."

"Even now..." Senna's tears began falling, and Arthur squeezed her hand to comfort her. "You're consoling me when it should be the other way around."

Arthur wasn't sure what to say, nor did he believe anything he could say would stop her tears. He didn't think her emotions were in response to this morning's event. Instead, she had likely been holding her worries in, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back, as they say.

He hadn't considered how she might feel having her life drastically changed along with his. He regretted not hiding the body from her, but it was too late now.

Senna sniffled and wiped her eyes before feigning a smile. "I'll fetch some help to move the body. You should get ready in the meantime. It'll be a busy day today."

Arthur shook his head. "Don't worry about the body. Just send Foster in. I'll have him take care of it. I need to speak with him anyway."

"Real smooth, kid. I feel sorry for your future wife. Haha!" Kyren laughed as she left the room.

"Hah... I didn't think she'd react like that." He felt a bit helpless as his go-to of acting the fool in such situations wasn't really appropriate.

"That's what happens when you keep your nose stuffed in books all day. You fail to pick up on people's emotions."

"Wha—" Arthur shot Kyren a look of disbelief. "—Why are you acting like you're some guru when it comes to reading people's emotions? You wouldn't know how to read a room even if it was written out for you in ten-foot-tall letters."

Kyren scoffed. "What do you know, kid? Part of being a battlemage is reading people's next move and getting in their heads. So you're dead wrong if you think I can't read people."

Arthur rolled his eyes and laughed. "Ah, yes. Because reading your opponent's moves translates so well to a woman's emotions. How many wives did you have again? If I remember correctly, it was zero. So stop flapping your gums."

"You—hmph." Kyren harrumphed and floated a few feet away while grumbling.

Arthur watched him float away and thought he was a little too harsh on Kyren.

The man had saved his life multiple times in the past twenty-four hours, and Arthur really did appreciate him.

Back on Earth, he and his friends would ruthlessly banter with each other. It was how they showed affection and acted as a type of harsh bonding, but unfortunately, that type of language didn't translate well into Nithian. Whether it was a cultural thing or a difference in intonations with how Nithian was spoken, he didn't know.

It was one of the reasons he believed he came off as somewhat prickly despite his intentions. Of course, he could just be a jerk. He didn't deny that possibility considering his single-minded focus on magic had essentially removed any willingness to form meaningful interpersonal bonds with the people around him.

He felt that Kyren's assessment likely had merit after all, even if he was just attempting to show off. Arthur had spent too much time locked in the confines of his mind and now felt that his social skills had deteriorated because of it.

"Oh, stop that, ya big baby." Arthur called out to the grumbling spirit. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't get a chance to say it before but thank you for saving my life. I would be dead many times over if not for you."

"Hmph, so you do know gratitude after all!"

"Of course, I appreciate you. I just get caught up with what I'm doing and forget to mention it."

"Hmph." Kyren's eyes darted to the canvas flap. "Sounds like the pretty boy's coming."

Foster entered a moment after Kyren's announcement. His reaction to the corpse was much the same as Senna's; he instinctively stepped back and gasped. "Young master? What is this?"

"Do you recognize him? He tried to kill me last night." Arthur announced.

"His name was Bryan. I know he's a fourth circle, but I didn't know him that well." Foster stood over the corpse and bent his back for a closer look. "I didn't think they'd be angry enough with their transfer to try and kill you."

"Use your brain. The guy didn't attack me because he was disgruntled with his assignment... Well, I guess I can't rule it out either, but it's more likely he was put up to it by Elyria."

"Do you want me to get the men and get rid of it?" Foster asked as he lost interest in the man's corpse and turned to face Arthur.

Arthur smiled as a devilish idea formed in his mind. He took control of the corpse and stretched its hand out, grabbing Foster's ankle. Foster yelped and jumped in place before drawing his sword. "Young master, I think he's still alive!"

"Heh." Kyren chuckled.

"He's dead. I was only playing a little prank, look." Arthur laughed and forced the corpse to raise itself into a shaky kneeling posture slowly.

"What is this?" Foster's jaw dropped. "H-how are you doing that?"

While it was theoretically possible to control a corpse in a similar manner using telekinesis, the actual difficulty behind such a feat was mind-boggling.

Balancing the corpse's weight and individually moving each limb would require a god-like level of control, the likes of which Nithe had never seen. So it was no surprise that Foster was shocked and curious about how Arthur controlled a corpse like it was still alive.

"It's called necromancy. While the spell is still incomplete, it will one day allow me to raise the dead to fight my enemies for me." Arthur announced with pride as he introduced a new term to the world of Nithe.

"Eh? Is that what you're calling it? It sounds weird. Why not call it something cooler like life-weaving magic?" Kyren asked with a disappointed expression.

"A-are you a god, young master? Ya know, I've always thought you were wise beyond your years. It explains so much now that I—"

"—Stop before you get both of us cursed. I'm not a god. What do you think I did every day in the library? I was diligently researching magic."

Foster nervously glanced back at the kneeling corpse. "B-but I've never heard of magic to control the dead."

"Of course, you haven't. I created it myself." Arthur had no intention of giving Cline Revan credit. While the mana soul spell played a significant role, Arthur's version of the spell was so far removed from the original that they could hardly be called the same.

Arthur honestly wouldn't mind giving Cline credit but admitting that he gained the idea from his ancestor would provide others with a clue into how the spell worked.

He even took Cline's journal from Revan manor while plundering the study. He didn't want to risk fighting another necromancer in the future, so he had to cut off any traces that people could link back to his spell.

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