The Necromancer Who Was Despised

‘I can also use them as a buffer.’

I had no intention of expanding my territory anyway.

But the Horned Orcs are different. If they expand their territory, our range of activity will expand as well.

It means there will be less bothersome work.

He was overjoyed at my permission.

“Thank you! “I will never forget this favor.”

Rithild looked truly happy, as if she hadn’t expected me to accept so easily.

“We will attack their main base tomorrow. “Let’s rest for today.”

“I appreciate the offer!”

Rithild’s voice filled with joy as she shouted that she could finally rebuild the tribe.

‘… Being a chieftain must be pretty tough.’

Having lost the treasure, he must have been mentally distressed.

Once we officially became allies, Athena and Kayla’s momentum lessened a bit.

“Whew… I was worried, but thankfully.”

“They’re wiser than I thought. To know the value of the master…”

It seemed that Rithild’s words had reduced Kayla’s suspicion a bit.

Still, it seemed like she didn’t fully trust us yet.

Even so, she seemed to be subtly trying to protect me.

“But are you really a descendant of a dragon or something? You’re clearly not an ordinary black magician from the way you act…”

“No, I’m not. You know that. I acquired this, too.”

“That may be true, but…”

Athena looked at me with somewhat suspicious eyes.

‘It’s a bit annoying because of groundless speculation.’

It seems that horned orcs bring both annoying and good things at the same time.

“So, does this become mine now?”

“Aren’t you going to use it? If you have this, it seems like you’ll be able to escape when it’s dangerous.”

It’s true that I can definitely experience the effect of my body becoming lighter.

However, I shook my head.

“I won’t let that happen.”

That’s for sure.

“…Okay, I understand. Thank you.”

There’s no one who would use it other than Athena anyway.

It’s not a suitable weapon for Kayla to use.

If she were to become an assassin, I don’t know, but Kayla seemed to prefer herself as a knight rather than that.

I’ve never seen her work as an assassin, but I had no intention of dissuading her since she herself saw her aptitude as being a knight.

In the first place, she needed to become stronger in order to get revenge. If she needed herself as an assassin more for revenge, she would have changed direction on her own.

The fact that she didn’t mean that she judged herself to be stronger by working as a knight.

‘Or maybe she thought that side could be more helpful to me.’

Either way, it’s her choice.

She’s doing well enough right now, so unnecessary interference would be poison.

“Ah, that’s right.”

Athena said, looking at me.

“Come to think of it, there might still be humans alive.”

“…Humans?”

I made a slightly surprised expression.

“Yeah. Humans. I saw them when I was lulling the orcs.”

“That’s right. I confirmed it as well.”

‘Humans are still alive now?’

“From the looks of it, it didn’t seem like they came from outside. They ended up getting killed, and since it was a busy situation, I wasn’t able to look into it in detail…”

Listening to the story, it was definitely not a situation where you could look into something like that.

In the midst of being chased, we had to break through, so I understood it well enough.

“Humans…”

‘Is it worth looking for them?’

Honestly, we don’t have a shortage of manpower.

Since we’ve also formed an alliance, it’s not like we need any more recruits…

“It would be great, but there’s also the chance that only one person survived. It’s not like we need more people anyway.”

Athena and Kyla agreed with me.

“True. Um… Should we just ignore it for now?”

“Let’s do that. Well, if something happens to be rescued, it wouldn’t be a problem to take them in.”

It wouldn’t hurt to have more people.

It means more people to work.

‘Anyway, there’s no one in this area who would dare to mess with us…’

“Got it. I just mentioned it in case.”

I nodded slightly at her words.

After a full day of rest, the next day, we raided the main camp of the Great Tribe.

Since their chieftain was taken prisoner and dragged around like a dog, and magic was being cast, the Great Tribe couldn’t resist for long and began to scatter.

As is the nature of orcs, there were some who resisted until the end, but as expected, many also fled because we seemed like a disaster.

So, with the Great Tribe completely collapsing, I moved a lot of resources to my underground dungeon with the help of the Horned Orcs.

“I’ll leave enough to build a small village.”

It was more than enough for them to use, and since it also meant protecting their young Horned Orcs, Lithild nodded readily.

For the time being, we were entrusted with the young Horned Orcs.

However, there wasn’t much trouble.

Perhaps because they had gone through such dangerous and difficult experiences, they didn’t cause any trouble, so other than what was visible, there weren’t any other problems.

Food wasn’t a problem.

Orcs are edible monsters.

It probably wasn’t very pleasant for the Horned Orcs, since it would be like eating monkeys from their perspective, but there wasn’t really any way to feed this many in the current situation, so they couldn’t stop it.

Lithild, who had figured out the situation, periodically brought prey so that the young Horned Orcs would eat less orcs.

I supported Mutr so that Lithild could build the village a little more.

“Supporting a dwarf…”

“I’ll provide an escort.”

I gave Mutr Skeletons 1 and 2 and a Specter, and just in case, I also sent Kyla.

Thanks to that, the construction of the village was able to speed up, and Lithild once again expressed her gratitude to me.

After the village was completed, I sent the young Horned Orcs to them, and as a sign of alliance or something, Lithild periodically supplied food to the underground dungeon.

“We can get food on our own even without that?”

“Think of it as a token of gratitude. It’s not a burden to do this much.”

There was no need to refuse the gesture, so I accepted it, but in order not to get used to just receiving, the periodic food supply didn’t stop.

In the underground dungeon, which had regained stability, I soaked the horns of the Horned Orcs in magic and used them to strengthen the Skeletons, and thanks to the combat experience and additional strengthening, Skeleton No. 1 finally became a Skeleton Warrior.

Even after that, I asked the Horned Orcs to use the remaining horns to build Mutr’s forge.

There were many uses, such as handling smoke and adding air to the fire.

Mutr was very pleased and expressed his gratitude when I kept my promise.

“If you need anything, just say the word!”

As promised, I returned the horns to the Horn Orcs, and although some of the horns showed signs of magic penetration, Litheild expressed his gratitude once the horns were returned.

“Thank you for keeping your promise.”

He must have guessed the extent of the magic penetration when I first gave him the horns.

Of course, he would have. I was a dark wizard, after all.

‘Whew… . One by one… .’

Specter had also grown.

After feeding it the captured Orc Chieftain, Specter also grew and was able to exercise some physical strength.

I had expected it, but I was very satisfied when the results actually came.

The Death Grounds on the surface had also replenished the magic I had consumed, and over time the hundreds of undead had dwindled to a hundred or so.

It was a pity, but I was not too disappointed as I had known this would happen.

Thanks to the stability of the area, we were able to enjoy a peaceful time like when we first created the underground dungeon.

There have been no rescue requests from the Stonegale Tribe since the village was completed.

Fortunately, it seemed that they had succeeded in establishing their territory among the many rivals in the area.

About a month after they had settled down, Litheild came to see me.

“That’s… “I found some humans.”

“Humans?”

Suddenly, I recalled what Athena and Kayla had reported.

‘They said that the humans were alive… .’

“Where?”

“They’ve settled down in the lair of the Giant Ents. They were aiming for the Giant Ents’ lair to secure a large amount of food, but they found humans living there, funnily enough.”

“In the lair of the Giant Ents, humans were living there?”

“Yes. It seems that they occupied an empty space. I was surprised that there were more people alive than I thought.”

“How many were there?”

“There were over 50.”

“That many were alive?”

“I was surprised too. “I would have ignored them if it were normal, but I thought you might need them.”

‘I should go and see.’

It didn’t matter if there were, but… I thought I should go and see for myself.

I had a guess when he said the lair of the Giant Ents.

I immediately summoned Athena and Kayla.

“Did you call?”

“What is it?”

“Litheild just came to see me. He said he found some humans.”

“… It seems that some of them are really alive.”

“He said they were hiding in an empty lair of the Giant Ents.”

“The lair of the Giant Ents… “Are you talking about?”

Kayla asked with a doubtful expression.

“… Inha, surely that… .”

“Yes. There’s a possibility that they are the survivors of the Green Forest Village.”

If it was a place that had been subjugated just before the monster wave, that would be about right.

“… If they’re the ones… will you accept them?”

“It wouldn’t be bad. If it’s them, they will listen to my words well.”

They are those who I have been favored by. Moreover, if they survived the Giant Ent’s lair, it wasn’t any different from receiving their help indirectly, once again.

I think they will absolutely never betray me if I save them from such a situation and even protect them.

‘Even if one or two betray me, it will be handled internally.

The village chief isn’t that foolish of a person.

Of course, there’s a chance that the village chief has already died… .

‘Then I just have to establish another person as the representative.’

I just have to choose someone who is aware of my favor and listens to me well and establish them as the representative.

And anyway, they will end up going under Tia.

There are the existing slaves, as well as Baldur and the three fighters who received his teachings, so they must have received something from me during that time, so it’s not like they won’t listen to me just because there isn’t a village. Chief.

‘Well, if they don’t respond, I can just abandon them.’

“Even if I become a 4th class and leave, I will maintain this place, so if there is a certain level of population, it will be helpful.”

It won’t be a problem even if there isn’t, but it wouldn’t be bad if there was.

It’s a hiding place for emergencies and a place to use as my safe house.

In the first place, this place is also where Tia will reside during the period of securing a foothold on the outside.

Assuming that they won’t betray me, it wouldn’t be bad if the population increased.

‘It can’t be helped. I can’t take the powerless Tia with me as a companion of the black magician.’

This is something I told Athena as well.

Athena was afraid of leaving her sister, but when I explained once again how poorly black magicians are perceived, and with Kayla’s persuasion added on, she understood soon enough.

‘Instead, I decided that I would secure a foothold as quickly as possible.’

I had a plan. Athena had said that she would believe me when I said that I could secure a foothold in 2 years at the most, 1 year at the least.

‘I wondered how I was going to persuade her when she said that she was going to stay with me… .’

After deliberating, it seemed like she judged that she wouldn’t be able to leave me.

Her sister is important, but when she thinks about the future, she also can’t leave me.

My growth in the long term has a great influence on their stability as well.

‘It’s not like we can live here forever.’

It seemed like Athena didn’t think that was bad either.