Edward felt these past few days were the darkest moments of his life.
As a necromancer, he was already unwelcome in human society. In the Valorian Kingdom, where faith in the Light was paramount, this prejudice was even more severe. Edward was forced to hide in the corners of the city, becoming just another member of the sewer rats.
Because of his identity, he was exceptionally careful every time he attended an underground gathering of supernatural powers. He did not even dare to speak, forced to disguise himself as a mute. He lived in constant fear that the breath of death spraying from his mouth when he spoke would disturb those around him.
Edward was a native of Mistport. He was an orphan who had grown up scavenging for trash. In his youth, he became a lowly body collector. His primary job was to collect the corpses of other “rats” like himself. He would toss their bloated, rotting bodies into the mass graves outside the city to avoid offending the noble eyes of the lords.
“Mistport is the most prosperous city in the Orentia region! Corpses? Those are just country folk from outside the city; what do they have to do with our Mistport? It was their choice to die here,” the noble lords would say. Then, they would turn their heads and return to their extravagant lives.
However, Edward knew very well just how much hidden filth was concealed within the sewers of this flourishing Mistport.
On a dark and windy night, one of Edward’s seniors had quietly come to his rat hole and handed him a magic book made of human skin.
“Do you want to become a being that transcends mortals?”
Edward hesitated for a moment before nodding. ‘Can I really experience what it’s like to be one of the elite?’ Within his heart, he felt a flicker of confusion.
Afterward, the two of them held a secret ceremony together. With that, Edward was bestowed with supernatural power, becoming a “glorious” necromancer.
But his life did not become more beautiful because of it. The only change was that his efficiency in collecting bodies improved significantly. After all, he could now simply awaken the corpses and have them walk to the mass graves on their own.
Though he was somewhat disappointed, he did not dare to ask for too much. ‘It’s actually quite nice… being able to earn a few more copper coins like this.’
He had thought that his life in the sewers would last forever. But after that day two weeks ago… Edward’s peaceful life was shattered.
That day, he was wandering through the alleys of St. John Street as usual, looking for potential work opportunities so he could add a glass of light ale to his dinner.
He quickly found his first target: a strange, shriveled corpse that looked as though it had been dehydrated and sun-dried for years. Edward’s senior had once warned him that if he encountered an abnormal corpse, a body collector should move away as quickly as possible to avoid getting involved in dangerous events.
However, he had paid no heed to the warning, even priding himself on collecting more corpses than his colleagues. This time was no exception.
He walked calmly toward the dried corpse and pulled a large, bloody iron hook from behind his back. He intended to drag the body to a corner, awaken it, and let it walk to the mass graves by itself.
Just then, a man dressed in flamboyant clothing reached out and grabbed his iron hook. Edward looked up in confusion, staring into the man’s red eyes.
“Friend, I saw this haul first,” Edward said. “If you act like this, I’m afraid it doesn’t follow the rules of the trade…”
“Rules?” The man sneered. “By the look of it, it’s you who doesn’t know the rules!”
As soon as the man finished speaking, he actually made a move. With a flip of his left hand, a ball of flowing blood appeared out of thin air in his palm, quickly condensing into a crimson dagger. A red light flashed as the dagger lunged directly toward Edward’s vulnerable neck.
Relying on his youthful agility, Edward executed a sudden backward roll to dodge the fatal blow. He pressed his hand against his racing chest, looking up at the man with lingering fear.
Since the other party had chosen to use lethal force without mercy, Edward did not intend to hold back either. He quickly retreated several paces to open up the distance, keeping the battle in a favorable position for himself.
Edward pulled out a bone staff and unfastened the grimoire at his waist. He waved the staff gently while chanting an obscure incantation. A ball of sickly green death energy condensed at the tip of the staff.
“Go!”
He pointed the staff forward, and the green energy ball flew out with a *whoosh*, heading straight for the man charging at him.
But what Edward did not expect was that the aggressive man was actually all show and no substance.
“Agh!”
The moment the man was hit by the green energy ball, he let out a miserable wail. He was corroded by the energy until nothing remained but a puddle of black corpse water. The blood-red dagger slowly dissipated into the air.
He was in trouble!
One who often walks by the river is bound to get their shoes wet. Edward had always understood this logic, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. He had clearly intended to work for just a little longer before changing professions and leaving this life behind. But then this had to happen…
He abandoned the corpse he had already secured and fled back to his rat hole in a panic. He huddled under his blankets, pretending nothing had happened.
That night, the senior who had introduced him to the craft—the person he respected deeply—knocked on his door again. He left Edward a teleportation scroll and five silver coins. He told Edward to flee Mistport as fast as possible and never to set foot there again.
Before they parted, Edward asked anxiously, “Who exactly was he?”
The senior turned back and gave him a deep look. “The underground nobility of Mistport — Vampires.”
Then, the senior left without looking back.
As soon as he left, the Vampires’ attack arrived. Before Edward could even pack his things, his rat hole was smashed to pieces by a giant wave made of blood. A girl wearing a long red dress, her eyes a dark crimson, stood poised amidst a sea of scarlet blood.
Edward could only endure the pain of abandoning the assets he had worked years for and tore open the teleportation scroll. He prayed silently in his heart. ‘Please don’t let me drop into the sea to feed the fish…’
Perhaps the Goddess of Fortune heard his prayers. He was very lucky to be teleported to the outskirts of Mistport. Edward took off running, fleeing headlong into the forest to the north.
After a week of sleeping in the rough within the forest, he unexpectedly stumbled upon a great treasure. It was a field full of corpses left behind after an attack by an unknown monster!
‘Heaven never bars all exits. I, Edward, am a necromancer. As long as I make good use of this batch of corpses to build an undead structure that can continuously generate death energy, I can establish an undead kingdom of my own.’
‘Tens of thousands of undead will gather under my command. I will march back to Mistport, capture that girl who destroyed my home, and wipe out those Vampires who tried to steal my corpses.’
‘The restoration of the undead is just around the corner!’
‘Hmph… When that time comes… I will appoint Senior Lorn as the Grand General of the Undead Kingdom and let him enjoy this supreme honor with me.’
Edward indulged in fantasies of a bright future. He spent a week working diligently in the forest, moving the corpses.
And today, three guests arrived at his unfinished undead kingdom. Looking at his already fruitful undead domain, he had intended to put on a grand show in front of the guests. He wanted to satisfy his vanity by seeing their faces twist uncontrollably with fear.
In the end…
He once again saw those dark red eyes that made his blood run cold, belonging to a girl whose stature was just as petite as the one before. —