"You see that guy over there… no, I'm talking about the one clad in armor." Ivan peered around the corner of a building, pointing his finger toward what he believed to be a knight with the condition Hajime had told them about. And classically, the rest of the group peered around the edge with him.
They ignored the stares of the locals who thought they were suspicious.
"Are you sure? He could just be having a rough day…" To Claire, the knight seemed as though he was likely having relationship troubles or some other matter. That was the problem with Hajime's letter, all Ivan had as an indicator of who may be brainwashed was how expressive they were.
Hell, the knight in front of them could just be depressed because he's standing in the scorching sun in a full set of metal armor. Ivan would be pissed if he were in the same situation. He brought out a coin from his pocket before flicking it in the direction of the knight, it skidded across the floor before going circles around the knight. Never did the knight peer down to look at the coin, even when it came to a complete stop.
"Um… did that mean anything?" Either the guard was so lifeless he didn't bother moving his head or he was exactly what they were looking for. The problem was how they were going to lure him into a secluded area.
Ivan wanted to find a solution for the condition before showing himself to Hajime. To do so he'd need to get up close and personal with the subject. But on a crowded street during a busy day, there wasn't much he could do to lure the guard without forcefully dragging him down a dark alley.
Even his famous coin distraction didn't work.
"Alright, I'm going in!" Without a word to the group, Ivan moved forward. The simplest way to do this was to just walk up to the guy and tell him to accompany him. The worst thing the guard could say was no. Not that Ivan was expecting rejection, he held confidence in his acting skill. Though the disguise may lessen the validity of his acting…
"Sir knight, sir knight! O' please you must accompany me! It's my sister, some evildoers had ambushed us in the dark. Cloaks adorning their bodies, but their evil smiles visible nonetheless! They have taken her and asked that I pay a ransom, but o' please you must save her! Please come with me!"
The knight only stared at the cloaked figure in front of him. Particularly the mask. For a second Ivan believed his cover was blown. The confidence he held in his acting diminished as he molded his gauntlet to have a dagger attachment using alchemy. Beneath his cloak, his armor nor tools could be seen.
Before allowing the guy to scream he was going to silence him. However, that seemed unnecessary. The man in armor only hummed before taking a step forward, seemingly urging Ivan to take him to the scene of the crime.
Though Ivan found the behavior suspicious. Unless he found one of the strongest knights in the kingdom, the one in front of him shouldn't have been so confident as to take on multiple criminals alone. His reaction to his plea was delayed as well, and yet he never made a single notion to any of his fellow knights to back him up.
Ivan led the knight with faux swift. Any slower and the knight might've been suspicious as to why he was going so slow when his sister was in danger. Ivan could only hope the girls were following him through the crown and knew his intentions.
'Or well, I suppose that'll work.' Immediately he transmitted a message using telepathy to all of them at the same time. Telling them his current location and suspicious regarding the knight behind him. Each of them sent him their affirmation as he asked them to surround the area where he was going to bring the knight.
The last thing Ivan needed was a civilian to wander onto the scene and cause havoc.
"It's over here, sir!" Ivan exclaimed with anxiety. Though the knight seemed unresponsive to his acting there was no reason not to keep trying. On the off chance the knight was naturally unresponsive it'd be good to keep up appearances. His plan wasn't to kill the man, after all, just a little mind wipe after he was done conducting tests and that'd be it.
Maybe he would even slide a bag of Luta into his pocket for his troubles. The operation commenced once they stepped into the alley. The girls jumped down from their positions on the roof and stood at both entrances to the alley. They had already searched the alley beforehand to make sure there wasn't anyone already residing in it.
"Sir, my sister! She was up—!" Ivan's words were cut off as he lunged low to the ground to dodge a horizontal slash toward his head. For a second surprise shone in Ivan's eyes, had his cover been blown since the beginning? Was this knight just playing along?
That didn't make sense either. It would've been sensible for the knight to call for aid the moment they met. Hell, it would've been better to directly cause a scuffle on the street in hopes of nearby guards to run toward the action.
Rather than apprehend the knight in front of him sought to kill him. Ivan shunted the sword away from his direction while observing the manners of the knight. His stance was irregular, in fact, it was more accurate to say it was nonexistent. Even the most basic of knights were taught the proper stances to use their swords when they first began training.
Secondly, the knight's expression. Or rather the lack of one. No surprise that Ivan managed to defend himself from the sudden strike, no anger or frustration when he easily shunted the blows. Never in the run to the alley or in the alley itself did the knight ever show an expression. That seemed to match Hajime's description.
And lastly, the knight's strength. It was irregular. Why would a knight of this stature just be standing in the middle of the streets? Especially when his strength bested the guards that defended the palace according to Ivan's own experiences. He was no Captain Meld, but his strength was undeniable.
"You're more suspicious than me!" With that Ivan had enough of this farce. The moment the knight's sword approached his face he grabbed it with his left hand without hesitation. The blade melted down the body of the sword and melded the knight's hand with the hilt. Not allowing the knight to progress to violence using his fists, Ivan moved his left hand from what was the knight's sword to his chest.
Sparks erupted as bulges protruded from the man's skin. Ivan was unable to observe the changes done underneath the armor but the knight's face was for all to see. And a few seconds later, the knight began spewing metal from his mouth—
"GUUUAHHH!"
KIN KIN KIN
Ivan smiled as he listened to the staples pour out from the man's mouth. Metal pieces clink on the floor at the moment of impact. Soon the knight was incapable of moving. As he was now it was likely if Ivan didn't do anything he would die in a matter of minutes.
While he was a bit unsettled by the copious amounts of blood that flowed along with them, Ivan trusted in his process. He moved to the knight before laying him down on the ground. His left arm melded the armor and left an opening in his chest for Ivan to observe. Without hesitation, Ivan moved the man's shirt up.
"Hmm– No wounds." Ivan looked at every inch of the man's body with scrutiny, aside from the damages accrued during this battle, the man was completely unharmed. However, there was something very shocking that Ivan had taken note of. The man's body was cold. So very cold. From top to bottom Ivan felt as though he was touching a frozen blood pack. And when he touched his heart—
"No pulse…" The man had been dead during their whole encounter. Ivan was one hundred percent sure he wasn't the one to kill him. He made precautions just to assure that fact. Looking more into the man's body it didn't seem like there was anything internal that may have been affecting his personality, like a drug or artifact.
Which led him to believe that the feat was done using magic. Now that he thought about it… magic that controls the dead. If most of the knights and the king himself truly did act as Hajime described then that means they were all already dead. No amount of restoration magic was going to bring them back.
"The kingdom is already lost…" As for the one who may have been acting behind the scenes to do all this. He had a very likely culprit. "A magic that controls the dead… necromancy." If he remembered correctly that was the official name.
Magic typically used by necromancers, at least that's what he inferred from numerous RPG games. In this world it was a magic despised for obvious reasons, that being the fact that raising the dead seemed unholy. It went against the Holy Church's teachings. Now to Ivan… his culprit had to possess both the Necromancer class and be strong enough to conduct everything in the shadows without alerting anyone.
The only person that he could think of was—
"...Nakamura Eri…" She had the otherworldly talent and class to make it possible. But would the class's resident book reader be so despicable as to kill and control an entire kingdom behind her friends' backs…
"Probably~!" Ivan had no preconceptions about her character. His encounters with the girl numbered less than five. It'd be frivolous to even say they were friends. He did know of her status as the class's meekest girl but she was friends with the class's most friendly girl. Was that pure coincidence or a cover to blend in?
Marking her as a suspect didn't make any difference to him. In fact, he'd be a fool not to. Did this mean the case was solved? Maybe. While she matched the descriptions to do this sort of thing it was unlikely she was capable of doing it all on her own. She had to have an accomplice. Whether it was another classmate or not Ivan didn't know.
"I guess the first thing to do would call the girls and discuss my findings with them." Ivan retired the man's body back to normal. The metal in his body reverted from sharp objects and his armor was reverted to its former condition. To top it all off Ivan even imbued the man with restoration magic.
This wasn't a way to respect the dead or anything, he just wasn't sure that if he killed a 'minion' it would alert the necromancer.
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A necromancer! I honestly haven't seen one in an RPG for a long time... They're pretty cool I guess. Aside from that there isn't much to say about this chapter. It was more so made as a basis to future chapters. Now that Ivan knows ahead of time what'll happen? I don't even know! I mean... I haven't wrote it yet...
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