"… It's getting cold. Hey, Kanike, our quest is to take down the zombie maker right? I have a feeling it won't be a small fry like that, but a big shot undead."
It was late at night and the moon had risen.
Terly commented suddenly.
"… Hey, don't say such ominous things, what if you really jinx the quest. Our quest for the day is to defeat one zombie maker and return the zombies to dust too. We can then go back to the stables and sleep. We will also go back immediately if anything out of the ordinary happens. Understand?"
Everyone nodded and agreed with me. It was about time. We walked towards the cemetery with me in the lead as I have learned detect enemy from Trish.
Terlys words made me worry, but this goddess always say unpleasant things, so it shouldn't be a big deal.
… Probably.
… Hmmm?
"What is this, I felt something strong. It should be the effect of detect enemy.
Enemies ahead, 1, 2… 3, 4…?"
… Strange, there is too many? I heard there was just 2 or 3 zombies minions around a zombie maker. But this was still within the margin of error… As I was thinking that, blue and white lights suddenly shone from the middle of the cemetery.
… What is happening? That blue light seemed evil and fantasy like. The blue light that was visible from afar was a giant magic circle. At the edge of the magic circle was a figure in black robes.
"… Hmmm? I think… that isn't… a zombie maker…"
Meguma said unconfidently. Besides the black robed figure were several fluttering shadows.
"Are we going in? Even if that isn't a zombie maker, anyone staying in the cemetery at this hour is probably an undead. If that is the case, it wouldn't be a problem with Arch priest Terly around."
Terly took out her sword and appeared anxious to move on. Calm down, you.
Terly made an exaggerated action at this time.
"Ah—!"
I don't know what the suddenly shouting Terly was thinking as she charged at the robed figure.
"Wait! Hey, wait up!"
The charging Terly ignored me and rushed to the figure, pointing at it with her finger.
"How dare of you to show up here, Lich! I will take care of you!"
Lich. On par with vampires, they are the top tiers of the undead. High level wizards could desert their mortal bodies through magical arts and become the immortal known as the overlord of death. Unlike the undead monster that rose because of strong grudges, they twisted the order of nature and were existence which defied god. A powerful monster akin to a final boss…
"Stop, stop–! Who are you? Where did you come from and why are you destroying my magic circle? Stop! Could you please stop?"
"You are noisy, shut up undead! You must be thinking of using this suspicious magic circle for devious means, I will stomp it! Stomp!"
The powerful monster grab on to Terly's waist in tears, attempting to stop her from stepping on the magic circle. The minions besides the lich(?) did not move in to stop the two of them wrestling with each other, and just stood there watching them blankly.
… Eh– What should I do. Anyway, she doesn't seem to be a zombie maker. Terly claimed the person she was entangled with was a lich. But the way I see it, she was just a pitiful passerby that was being picked on by a hooligan.
"Stop–! Please stop–! This magic circle is used to send the wandering spirits to heaven! Look, the spirits are floating from the magic circle towards the sky right?"
Just as the lich said, lots of wisp like bluish white objects that came from nowhere drift into the magic circle and was goes up into the sky along with the light of the magic circle.
"You are acting too arrogant for a Lich! An Arch priest like me will perform such benevolent acts, so just scram! You are taking too much time, watch me purify the whole cemetery along with you!"
"Eh? Wait, stop!"
The Lich started to panic when she heard Terly's words. But Terly ignored her, opened her arms and shouted.
"Turn Undead!"
A white light encompassed the entire cemetery with Terly in the middle. That light seemed to be gushing out from Terly's body and the zombies around the Lich disappeared when they were touched by the light. It was the same with the spirits gathering at the magic circle of the Lich, they disappeared when Terly's light reached them. The Lich was also basked in that light…
"Hyaaa–! My, my body is fading? Stop, my body is disappearing! I will be purified!"
"Hahahaha, foolish Lich! Your existence goes against the law of nature, an undead which defies the will of the gods! Disappear, be vanquished by my power!"
"Hey, stop it."
I stood behind Terly and knocked the back of her head with the hilt of my sword.
"…! That hurts! Why did you hit me!?"
Her focus was probably broken when the back of her head was hit and she stopped emitting light. She held her head and scolded me with tearing eyes.
Lighttress and Meguma reached here at this time too. I ignored Aqua and spoke to the Lich that was trembling while curled in a ball:
"Hey, are you fine? Erm… Can I address you as Lich?"
Looking closely, the feet of the Lich had turned translucent and was on the verge of disappearing. The feet slowly became opaque again, and the Lich stood up unsteadily with teary eyes.
"I, I, I'm fine… Thank, thank you for saving me from that crisis…! Erm, you are right, I am a Lich, my name is Wiz."
After that, she took off the hood she was wearing closely. What appeared under the moonlight was a beautiful woman with brown hair about 20 years old.
I thought a Lich would have a skull like face.
Wiz wore a black robe in the style of a evil witch. No, since she is a Lich, she was an evil witch right?
"Eh… Wiz? What are you doing in this cemetery? You said you wanted to send the spirits to heaven, I don't want to agree with Terly, but that shouldn't be what a Lich like you should be doing right?"
"What are you doing Kanike! Be careful you get contaminated and become an undead if you talk to this bad apple! Let me cast 'Turn Undead' on her!"
Terly became agitated after hearing what I said, and wanted to cast a spell on Wiz. Wiz hid behind me with a troubled and terrified expression:
"Be, because… As you can see, I am a Lich, the overlord of the undying. As the overlord, I could hear the voice of the spirits wandering in the world. Most of the spirits in this public cemetery don't have money and didn't have a proper burial, so they couldn't move on to the afterlife and loiter the cemetery every night. Since I am an overlord, I will visit periodically and send the children on their way."
… My eyes were tearing up. What a good person. Apart from the counter lady, she was probably the first normal person I met since coming to this world. Ah, although she was technically not a human.
"I think that is a wonderful thing, but… Although I am not Terly, wouldn't it be better to leave this to the priest in this town?"
In response to my query, Wiz was hesitant to speak as she peeked at the unhappy Terly, and finally said:
"Be, because… the priest in this town are materialistic… Eh, no, I mean… the rites for those without money would be pushed down their waiting list… something like that…"
It was probably hard to say it in the presence of the Arch priest Terly.
"You mean the priests in this town are people who worship money. The public cemetery which is full of poor people are basically ignored by them right?"
"We… Well, that's how it is…"
Everyone gazed at Terly silently, while she averted her eyes from everyone.
"Since that is the case, it couldn't be helped. But could you stop animating the zombies? We are here because of a quest to defeat the zombie maker."
Wiz was troubled by what I said.
"Ah… I see… But I didn't animate them, the corpses that are intact would rise automatically due to my magic every time I come… Erm, I won't have any reason to visit if the spirits in the cemetery won't wander anymore and return to heaven… So… How should we resolve this?"