The boy looked around in some surprise. He thought he would be taken into some eerie and dark cave, or a cemetery, or some ancient ruin...... But now, he is in a delicate and beautiful courtyard.

Next to the fountain in the center of the courtyard is a lifelike statue of an elven girl. She bent down slightly and pulled up her skirt, as if she was worried that she would be soaked in the mist, and the thin veil on her slender body seemed to be able to move with the wind.

The boy stared at the statue silently for a long time, and the trace of tranquility and mystery on her delicate face that did not belong to this world fascinated him slightly.

He might have been more concerned about the two men in the nearby hallway who were whispering something about it—the outcome of their argument would probably be at stake for his life.

He had thought he would die in the city abandoned by the elves. The priest of Nesses did nothing to him except to ask him repeatedly, but he knew what was going on, and Jay Oylan warned him over and over again.

He didn't want to die, but he couldn't see any hope of escape. Until one night...... Someone rescued him.

The people who rescued him clearly didn't really want to help him. He didn't even see the man's face before he was handed over to someone else.

A strange man who has not yet reached middle age, his brown hair is already mixed with gray, and his slender face always has a tired and dazed expression. He was dressed like a peddler, but he exuded a peculiar aura that, though not obvious, was too familiar for a young man to misrecognize—the smell of a necromancer.

The man walked with the boy in the barren mountains of Anktan, except for the original sentence "Follow me, don't run around, you may still live." Not a word was said to him, and the boy wisely remained silent, never trying to escape.

They were also people who could not tolerate this world, but the boy had no doubt that if he did anything he shouldn't do, the man would not hesitate to attack him, even more simply than the priests who had to pretend.

On the tenth day after leaving the ruined city, the man blindfolded him without saying a word. After stumbling for most of the day, when he saw the light again, he was already in this courtyard where roses bloomed even in winter.

Crimson roses, blooming in white marble pots, are unusually delicate against the snow.

The decorative carvings on the pots do skulls.

The two men ended their argument and walked over to him, and the man who brought him with him still looked tired, only more unhappy. The other man, much younger, was dressed in a black robe, with a statueque-like face but pale, and curly black hair clearly well-groomed and gracefully hung over his shoulders.

His movements were not graceful at all.

He rudely jerked the boy to face him, raised his eyebrows and glanced at him with an arrogant and critical look, then pulled out a black ribbon and tightly blindfolded the boy's eyes. The oppressed eyeballs swelled with pain, but the boy didn't say a word, and he still didn't resist even when his hands were tied behind his back.

He was pushed in the direction of the hallway, wondering what the hell was the use of blindfolding him now.

The boy is accustomed to the dark, but not to blindness,

He walked cautiously, and his speed inevitably slowed down. The man behind him nudged him impatiently, causing him to stagger forward and nearly fall to the ground.

Anger welled up in the boy's heart, but he was used to patience. He bit his lower lip tightly, didn't make a sound, and just turned silently and continued walking when he hit the wall straight without warning.

The warmth came to their faces, and they entered a room. A man was saying something in a deep, flat voice not far away, sounding like some kind of account. The boy waited quietly, and then a woman's voice sounded suddenly.

"Who's that kid?"

Her tone was lazy and nonchalant, but there was silence in the room.

Even if he couldn't see it, the boy could feel that almost all eyes fell on him.

"Why are you tying him up? Don't tell me you're afraid of such a child. ”

This time, there was mockery in his voice.

The restraints on his eyes and hands were quickly untied, and the boy blinked in a blurred eye, and it took a while for his vision to become clear.

The rosy blush immediately attracted his full attention—a dark-haired woman in a red dress was lazily leaning back in a high-backed clinical armchair, her green eyes looking at him with interest.

She's beautiful. Not the delicate and fragile beauty of the statue of the elven girl in the courtyard, it appeared mature and flamboyant, but no less elusive.

"Come here. ”

The woman lifted her chin slightly at him.

The boy obediently approached, pausing at arm's length and staring down at the ground.

"This kid has news of Gloria. "The man who brought him spoke," Gloria ...... And the news from that ruined city. ”

"Gloria......" the woman sighed softly, "my dear Gloria, always a little less patient. Raise your head, child, and tell me how you met her. ”

The boy raised his head timidly, but his mind began to spin wildly.

"Honey" Gloria...... What does that good-looking madwoman have to do with the woman in front of him? How much can he say and how much he can hide to save his life? How much do these people already know?......

"I met her outside a plague village......"

He spoke softly.

It was the damn woman who had put him in the predicament in front of him—he should have done as the teacher had told him to get his groats and go back as soon as he could, rather than just stay outside the plague-stricken village out of curiosity and watch the woman simply kill a man who staggered and tried to flee the village.

She spotted him, smirking mockingly as he frantically tried to control her spirit.

"A little necromancer...... It was a pleasant surprise to have such a young peer. Did you teach your spell from a corpse crawling out of a grave? I can smell it rotting, it won't help me. ”

They are companions in the dark—but that doesn't mean they're friends.

"What's the difference between your spells and mine?" the boy retorted angrily. The teacher had told him that all necromancers used the same spells after all, and that they could not get help from any gods, but could only trade with the demons of Hell in exchange for power.

The woman did not answer him directly.

"Look at him. She pointed to the body of the man not far away, "Do you know who he is?"

The boy was silent, the question didn't need to be answered.

"A priest, the priest of Nior, the god of water. The woman fiddled with a gorgeous rune ring between her fingers, unable to hide her pride, "But he can neither cure this plague, nor avoid infecting himself, not even his gods can protect him - I spread this plague, and no one can stop it, and that's the difference between us." ”

He couldn't help but take a step back.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. She smiled grimly at him: "But if everything you hear and see leaks a little bit today, you will die and I will live, which is another difference." ”

She walked away and didn't look at him again.

The powerful power of the woman did make the teenager afraid, but more often than not, resentment and doubt. He leaves the village that was about to perish, only to pass through another village and see a different ending than the woman's arrogant description - the village was also struck by the plague, but the priest of Nesses appeared on the only muddy road in the village and healed everyone. Although some people who are seriously ill have lost their memories, it is nothing compared to death.

He had the audacity to sneak into the village, but instead of seeing the legendary priest who had worked miracles, he was only stopped by a man who kept asking him if he was Joan Shaw and where his father had gone.

Maybe amnesia still makes people feel flustered and uneasy.

He broke free from the man and returned to the abode he had never wanted to call home, and couldn't help but tell everything to his teacher, Jay Oylan, a necromancer who had been as old as he was now for as long as he could remember.

The old man was silent for a long time, and then suddenly asked him, "You said that a man said that you are the son of his friend?"

The boy was taken aback, and argued, "He doesn't remember anything...... and he was worried that the old man would mistakenly think that he wanted to escape—he had indeed escaped, but now, where else could he escape?

"From now on, you are his friend's son. The old man interrupted him indifferently, "I need you to blend in with the amnesiac believers. ”

The old mage wanted to know not only where the power of the mysterious priest came from, but also where the power of the female necromancer came from.

"No one will suspect you, and you don't need to do anything. Listen, see, and tell me everything. ”

――If only it were that simple.

Hoan Shaw, who did easily blend in with the faithful by that name, joined the crowd who had gone to join the crowd who had gone to build the temple of Nesses, where it was said that priests could be seen.

Instead of seeing the priest, he met the female necromancer again, and joined them in another group of believers, calling herself Gloria. What surprised him even more was that she didn't need to pretend to have amnesia like him, and the people who traveled with her were from the same village as her, and they knew her, but they only thought she was a quiet, industrious, poor young **.

Before he could find out anything about her, the woman had already found him.

"I told you......" her smile made him shudder as if it had poison hidden in it.

"I didn't tell anyone!" he said, "my teacher, Jay Oylan, just asked me to see what the power of the new god really is!"

The woman was skeptical, but didn't pursue it further.

"Oylan, I've heard the name. She squinted at him, "If you're his apprentice...... I don't think you're going to refuse to do me a little favor?"

“...... What's the hurry?" he asked cautiously.

If it's too dangerous, he might as well run away as soon as possible.

"You'll know...... When necessary. The woman replied slyly.

And he missed the opportunity to escape.

Gloria could easily get the less noticeable men out of nowhere, and then call on Joan to control their spirits, tell them everything they knew, and kill them without hesitation.

Female mages, though able to resist his spells, don't seem to be very good at mind control, which is what makes Jay Oylan famous among necromancers.

Ignoring the woman's unstoppable cynicism and her penchant for making the corpses look weird, they worked almost happily together.

If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to take Ed at the end.......

The boy stopped and licked his lips. He didn't know if he should mention Ed. It wasn't Ed who killed Gloria, but his "brother", but when it comes to serious investigation, it was he who killed the woman......

His heart was beating faster and faster uncontrollably.

"Jay Oylan. The dark-haired woman in front of him groaned, as if she had completely forgotten Gloria and her tragic death, "I've always wanted to see him, but he's really good at hiding. ”

The boy was silent. He knew where Oylan was hiding, but ......

"I'm hungry. The woman said abruptly, and smiled at him, "I think you must be hungry too, aren't you?"

She stood up and held out her hand to him before he could speak, pulling him towards another room as if the others didn't exist.

"Shall we go get something to eat, maybe exchange some funny little stories by the way?" she chuckled as she chuckled, her breath tickling in his ears, and the hand she held him cold and soft.

"My name is Lydia, Lydia Bell, and what about you?"

The boy squirmed his lips. He had a name, but he hated everything that name stood for.

"Hoan ......," he whispered at the end, "if you allow me, my name will be Hoan Shaw from today onwards." ”