Vetis was watching in silence how everything unfolded.
Arnold von Berkley had killed an innocent child for the sake of keeping his secret "for now".
The boy posed no threat to Arnold at all yet he met his end. Well, he didn't pose an immediate threat at least.
Vetis knew that it was the right thing to do... No, it was the most logical thing to do.
Of course, wiping the boy's memory was the first thought he had.
However, memory wiping itself wasn't an easy thing to do. The lowest rank spell that could do that was in the 4th rank while the highest was 7th rank. The minority of mages that were capable of anything above 3rd rank magic were either taken by magic guilds or by the magic towers. Not only are these spells inconvenient in terms of mana usage, they don't work the same for everyone. For example, a mentally weak person's mind could break from being targeted by this spell. They would become vegetables. Spells that target the human mind were one of the most complex spells in this world.
Another thing to consider was that these spells were only efficient in the hands of a skilled mage, something that neither Vetis nor Arnold were. If they had gone with memory wiping then they'd have to hire an elite mage from a magic tower. However, that elite mage would be able to read the person's mind since they have to decide what the target should forget.
Also, it was illegal to wipe someone's memory without legal permission from a court. They would be violating someone's human rights. They would be no better than rapists and murderers. And who's to say the elite mage on their payroll would keep quiet? It was easy to find a dirty elite mage but it was difficult to make them obedient and keep silent.
If others found out then Vetis would also eliminate them. Arnold's quick thinking saved him being branded a treasonous criminal and getting his head sliced off.
If it was discovered that a noble's son was the cause of this then not only will the nature of this monster wave subjugation change but his entire family would be disgraced. His father would be forced to forfeit his status as a Great Noble and the Berkley House would be ostracised by the aristocracy. The amount of power and wealth they will lose will be astronomical. The fact that Arnold was disowned wouldn't matter since they were still his biological family.
Also, all Arnold's assets will be taken by the Imperial Court. This included his city and its resources.
The Undead Nation would lose its benefactor and will collapse as a nation.
Brynhildr would then be forced to invade another nation to take its resources for themselves, causing countless wars. They will have no choice since their people will starve.
'The domino effect is giving me a headache.' All the possibilities flashed in Vetis' mind, 'Would Brynhildr have done the same?'
All this would've resulted from the loud mouth of a single boy. Or a elite mage on their payroll.
Whether people believed them or not didn't matter since they could use magic to find out the truth.
"Can you resurrect him, Vetis?"
Arnold spoke as he looked at the boy's face.
"In theory, yes. I'll have to use an SS-class [Summon Undead] scroll but the boy will turn into a walking corpse. Although I can use a [Touch of Life] wand to give him back his human qualities, there is only a 10% chance that the person brought back to life will ever regain their previous selves. The remaining 90% individuals will become lifeless slaves only capable of listening to orders of the first being they see."
Touch of Life was an artifact that only worked for people who lost a majority of their lifeforce. The boy had lost all of his so there was no way it would work alone.
"That's not an issue. Use the wand 3 seconds after you tear the scroll. This ensures the person's soul doesn't leave their body completely during the reanimation. There is only a 5 second window so use the 3 seconds wisely. It will be even better if you do it in 2 seconds if you can manage it. The efficiency of these artifacts will depend on the timing in most cases."
Arnold seemed to know about necromancy more than Vetis. Well, Vetis was a summoning-type demon so he wasn't knowledgeable about Dark Magic.
'Hmm... I wonder how he knows that. Not even Brynhildr knows how to successfully bring someone back to life.'
Brynhildr was a warrior-type, after all. However, given her knowledge from the "game" he assumed she had some other method of reviving someone.
"I understand, milord. However, what if he gets his memory back after some miracle happens?"
They could never be sure what kind of things might happen if they aren't careful.
"Miracles aren't real," Arnold simply replied, "There is no way this kid will get his memory back since his brain shut down completely. His soul is leaking out right at this moment even if we can't see it. Think of it like a glass losing the water inside of it. Each second that goes by is a second he loses a fragment of his memories. This is because all human souls are tied to our memories. There is an even lower possibility that he would be able to remember everything that we said to each other."
"I see. I never considered that."
"I'll get going. Finish up here and make sure the boy is safe."
Having finished what he wanted to say, Arnold began walking away.
Vetis walked towards the boy as he took out the items needed for the resurrection. He glanced at the boy's face.
His expression was peaceful as if he was sleeping.
As a Greater Demon, Vetis was able to perceive the emotions of other beings. It wasn't a skill that he could turn off so he was constantly chased by feelings of others that he didn't want to know about.
Many of his people had gone mad from this skill but others managed to adept and use it to their advantage. However, they can't perceive the emotions of their own kin, like other demons.
Arnold's emotions were as unreadable as the first day they met. That was why Vetis was so interested in Arnold and his future plans.
Besides Arnold's emotions, Vetis found the boy's emotions to be the most bizarre.
The boy was so trusting of this Nova character that his emotions changed from fear to love real quick. What did Arnold do to get such admiration and trust just by spouting a few words?
Another bizarre thing was how this boy was able to spy on them before revealing himself.
"I was spreading my killing intent throughout this entire district so every monster not summoned by me shouldn't have approached. Not even regular humans would've had the will to come closer. Could this boy be immune to my skills?"
Vetis had another skill called [Deathly Fear-level 10]. It was convenient whenever he didn't want to deal with cannon-fodder. Few could resist his skill since he was so high-levelled.
Vetis could let his guard down since this was the case.
But why didn't this boy get affected by this skill of his?
'Usually only people with extremely high karma can resist the skill. But there's no way this boy can have such high karma.'
High karma was only something people looked upon favourably by gods received. These are usually people who go on to become very special people in the future. They receive godly skills and talent that no other person could receive.
Heroes weren't the only special existences on this continent. Gods could choose who they want to support since they were the creators of this world.
An Oracle was one of these individuals.
There was no way this boy had a talent similar in rank to that of an Oracle, thought Vetis as he threw away his ridiculous suspicions.
He'll just assume that it was a fluke.
Vetis finished using the magic items he had on hand. The boy's body was still warm so his complexion remained the same throughout the process.
Vetis called one of his shadow demons.
"…"
"Take this boy outside the city. It doesn't matter where you dump him so long as it isn't somewhere where he'll be in danger after waking up. Just make sure he can be seen by others."
Vetis wasn't saying so out of kindness.
He was only following orders. Special or not this boy wasn't important to him. He met thousands of special people in his hundreds of years of life but none of them were extraordinary in his eyes. The boy was no exception.
"I wasted resurrection artifacts but I was able to see something interesting." Vetis muttered as the shadow demon vanished with Nait's body.
A black ball floated down towards Vetis. It landed in his hands.
"Now then, let us see the souls we managed to collect."
The demon core glowed an ominous purple as if to respond to his words.
◇◇
Imperial Capital, Toril.
27th of Moonthrone month.
Six hours after the destruction of Nuaria City concluded.
Elora and Galadriel split up once the battle was over. Galadriel said that she wanted to join Misteltein which Elora happily accepted.
She was apparently going to escort Bethany and Sylar somewhere else.
Elora gave the address of their guildhouse before they said farewell to each other. Galadriel didn't say when she would be back or where she was going so Elora had no idea where to look for her or when to expect her to come back.
For the time being Elora had to get Galadriel's room ready. She wanted to hold a small welcome party too but wanted to hear Nova's opinion first.
Speaking of Nova, he didn't return to the border wall after slaying two of the three S-rank monsters.
The adventurers killed the other one that rampaged in the city after seeing the other monsters being killed so easily. It was dealt with momentarily but the destruction of the city was so much that they were unable to calculate the damages.
Elora was worried at first but there was no way a monster managed to defeat him in battle.
Not even the S-class monsters could beat him in battle.
Misteltein was now feared as one of the strongest parties in the capital with exception to the S and SS-rankers.
Elora was now walking alone on the street, with no one else beside her.
She passed by many adventurers who were looking at her.
Some were fearful while others looked at her with admiration and envy.
She remembered the two spells she cast on her own. It brought a smile to her face.
Before joining Misteltein and going on solo quests, Elora had never received these kinds of gazes before. She was never even given recommendations or invites by parties either.
So far there were several parties that invited her; three of which were S-class.
But Elora denied them all. Where were they when she needed companions the most? She had many near-death experiences due to the fact that she was always hunting solo.
She had long since accepted that no one wanted a mage who could barely cast 2nd rank spells. 3rd rank mages were the most sought after in this field.
Lucia was a 3rd rank magician so she was always invited to other parties. She even did an internship at the Magic Guild but decided it wasn't for her so she stayed in Clint's party.
S-rankers always scouted her whenever she was alone at the Guild. Lucia might've been the worst person to be in a romantic relationship but she was loyal to her friends.
Elora thought Lucia was crazy to throw away such opportunities to stay in an A rank party.
Elora had been a magician for six years now ever since she was 10 years old. She had to learn magic since she had to protect her siblings at the time.
Although magic saved her many times before, it also brought trouble to herself sometimes. There was a time when she was almost caught by slave traders.
Children with magic potential were apparently easy money for traders.
Although Elora was able to survive, she ended up coming to the empire alone after her last sister died.
Remembering those days would always bring tears to her eyes but she was now accepting what happened. If she didn't go to Lockinge city then she never would've met Nova, joined a party and discovered her talent.
"...?"
Elora arrived at their new guildhouse which was previously owned by another party before they moved to another nation.
"I'm sure they said Miltog street in the Placab district."
Luckily their guildhouse was on the street next to street where the Adventurer Guild HQ was.
This way they didn't have to travel far. How convenient.
Elora noticed that the front door of the Guild was open.
'Did sir Nova come back?'
She thought at first that he was busy looking for any stragglers since some monsters survived even after they slaughtered so many.
Elora took out the dagger that she was concealing in her sleeve. She warily approached.
There weren't a lot of people on the streets since the danger hadn't ceased. People were told to remain indoors or to head to the nearest Level 5 bunker.
"Eh?" Elora was able to see that someone familiar was inside.
"Sir Nova?"
Nova was sitting on one of the chairs by the bar. He seemed to be looking at a tiny box. Elora couldn't quite see what was in the small box.
"...Good work out there."
"T-Thanks..." Elora came inside and put her robe and magic bag on one of the tables.
The guildhouse was fairly spacious. It had three bedrooms and a large training yard at the back. The Guild Master chose something too fancy for an A-rank party.
Elora sat down next to Nova.
"...What's wrong? You look pale." Elora put her hand against his forehead, "Huh? You're sweating a lot and burning up."
"I'm fine." He said in a small voice.
Elora noticed that there was blood on his right hand that was holding onto the tiny box.
That was definitely human blood.
"Is this your blood? What happened?"
"Huh?" he looked at where she pointed, "...No, some of the people who were killed by the destruction turned into zombies so I had to take care of that so that they don't become a big problem for us."
"Ah! I didn't think about that!"
Elora forgot that whenever there was a battlefield of over 100 deceased then reanimation took place naturally. It was a fairly quick process after death so it made sense that the blood that Nova had on his hand was still fresh.
"Are we going back to the wall after resting for a few hours?"
"...."
Nova didn't answer her question.
Noticing this, she frowned.
"Sir Nova? The quest isn't over yet since a second wave is likely to happen so we should—"
"I'm not going."
"Hah?"
Nova glanced at Elora, "I have somewhere I have to be."
A silent curse escaped Elora's mouth when she heard that.
"...Again?"
"Lucri—" Nova tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off.
Elora stood up.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"I'm going back to Lockinge city."
"What!? Why!?" Nova shouted which startled her.
"I-If you're going to leave whenever it's convenient for you then don't make a party with others!" she glared at him, "Don't you realize that your actions impact our party!?"
This was the first time she had ever done this. Oftentimes she was only playfully pouting at him but now she was furious.
This is the third time he tried to ditch her.
And it will be the last.
"I'm quitting Misteltein."
She headed towards the door.
"Eh!?"
Nova was suddenly in front of her when she blinked. She walked into his chest and was knocked back.
"Eek..." she shrieked when she looked into his eyes.
Why did his eyes look so... dead? His expression wasn't any different either. His face was pale and the hand holding onto her shoulder was trembling.
Was he scared to let her go or was he worried that others might take her?
Elora was more confused than concerned.
"Don't leave. Please."
Nova suddenly bowed.
"U-Uhm..."
"I'm always thinking about what's best for the party, for us. Although the first two times was me being selfish, I promise you that it'll change. Although I won't be able to come as frequently due to my personal life, I still want this party to work. I want us to become S-rankers together. So please," Nova grabbed her hands, "Stay."
Elora's heart was thumping so hard that she was getting dizzy.
Her eyes were subconsciously drawn to his lips that were mere inches away from hers.
She spoke softly as she got her urges under control.
"...Fine, but on one condition."
"Yes." Nova sighed in relief.
"You'll listen to whatever request I have when you come back, Nova."
"....That's all?"
'That's all!? What were you expecting!?'
He didn't even question what she wanted.
Wait, didn't she just say whatever request she wanted? And didn't he just agree!?
Noticing the weight of her words, Elora blushed heavily.
She then pointed at Nova and declared, "That's right! The Guild Master of Misteltein should listen to whatever I say when he comes back!"
Or that was what she wanted to say.
"Y-Y-Yeah, that's all. Y-You better not break the promise, okay?"
She walked back towards her seat with shaking legs. If she didn't hold it in then she would've bolted out of this room to dig herself a giant hole to crawl into.
"...When are you leaving?"
Nova also came back to the bar and sat down, "I actually wanted to say goodbye to you first before leaving."
Elora didn't feel happy even when he said that.
He was leaving after a big battle. Again.
She wanted to spend time with him. They had to do a lot of things to make this guildhouse operational again.
First was getting a receptionist who could assign quests.
"Will we make Galadriel an official third member of the party?"
"Why are you asking me that..." Elora pouted as she looked away.
She suddenly felt his hand on her shoulder.
"You're an important member of Misteltein. Your opinion counts just as much as the leader." Having said that, Nova stood up and grabbed his things.
"I need to leave before the sun sets. It'll be troublesome if I can't get a horse."
"Mm..."
Elora decided to just accept that he was leaving. He did say that it would benefit their party, after all.
Elora fidgeted with her hands since she couldn't look up at him as he left.
"N-Nova!" Elora squeezed out his name without adding "sir" to address him formally.
"?" Nova turned around when she called out to him.
"Please be safe on your journey."
Nova smiled. Unlike the dead expression he had on his face when she came in the guildhouse, this smile seemed more natural.
It made her heart flutter seeing such a handsome smile.
"I'll definitely come back."
The two smiled at each other as they locked eyes with Nova breaking away first.
Elora clasped her hands in front of her heart.
"...I feel like a wife seeing her husband off to war."