Chapter 556

"It's all empty. Second floor of the Hall of Heroes. Olivia and I checked the other sarcophagi and confirmed that the remains were missing. We couldn't open all of them because there were too many, but it was clear that they were all empty even without checking. Even Harry and Kono Lindt were surprised. The idea Olivia came up with, using the undead remains of past heroes as a power source, was unusual and wicked, but ultimately it was just a thought that came from a human mind. Where is the law that says that our thoughts cannot be thought by others? Kono Lindt's words were true that even if we could avoid being caught, there should have been traces left behind if it was someone else who came in here, resurrected the remains, and escaped. We will do everything we can to survive and win in the war, and we will use all the means at our disposal, so Berthus can make that choice too. It's just an estimate because the remains are missing. Olivia said with a firm expression that we should go to the National Cemetery. We don't know what happened at the Royal Tomb, but we have no more business here. This may not be the end of it. All the sarcophagi in the Hall of Heroes were empty. To be precise, we stumbled upon a strange incident while planning a major crime. We have no obligation to investigate this incident, but we need to find out what happened. The most likely possibility is the Empire. But Olivia thinks that this may not be the end of it and Kono Lindt followed us to the National Cemetery to find out the truth about this strange incident." Translation:

Because it was night, the cemetery was naturally dark, and there was no reason for mourners to be there at this late hour. Therefore, although the vast tombs were empty, the temple was lit up. The resident priests, administrators, and guards must still be there. They couldn't enter the Hall of Heroes, but they arrived at the outskirts of the cemetery where the temple's light and gaze couldn't reach. "What else could be happening...?" Kono Lindt looked at Olivia, who had frozen with a cold expression, as if she were afraid. "I don't know until I see it with my own eyes." Olivia began to scan each tombstone in the darkness. The tombs of the fallen heroes. She didn't know any of the names, but Olivia looked through each one, staring at the tombstones. "What are you looking for?" "The date." Olivia replied calmly to Harry's question. As Olivia silently searched through the tombstones, she soon stood in front of a tomb. Perhaps she was looking for the most recently buried tomb. "We're going to start the operation. Cover us." "Are you sure?" "It's not going to be a large-scale operation. Even if we want to be caught, it's hard to do so." Since we're going to do something different from the originally planned large-scale undead resurrection, it's easy to conceal it. There are no people around, but there's no harm in being careful. Harry cast concealment spells, and Olivia began to pour out the power of corruption while placing her hand on the tombstone. Kono Lindt looked at me with a frightened expression. "Could it be... that everything here is empty too...?" If not only the tombs of the heroes, but also the tombs of the fallen warriors in the National Cemetery were all empty. What would happen then, and how should we accept this? His lips were trembling. "I don't know. I'm not sure of anything until I see it for myself." "..." Kono Lindt nodded his head. How much time has passed? -Uduk! The flat blue grass behind the tombstone began to shake. This means that something is trying to come out of the ground. Is everything okay here? It must mean that something that will be resurrected is there. "Uh, uh...!" Kono Lindt's face turned blue and he began to tremble. -Ulk! Ulk! -Swoosh! Soon, the grass shook and a hand with only bones left emerged from the ground. The resurrection of the dead. To be precise, it is to be resurrected while still dead. Kono Lindt turned his gaze away from the sight, and I watched the half-resurrected figure crawling out of the ground with my arm stretched out from the ground. -Gruuu The cold tremor could be seen clearly as it crawled out of the ground with the black energy of corruption surrounding the decaying corpse buried in the ground. The decaying corpse that had only partially rotted still had some flesh attached, making it even more gruesome to look at. Kono Lindt couldn't even bring himself to look, and Harry covered his mouth as if he was going to be sick. Olivia stared at the resurrected corpse with empty eye sockets. It was a body that had been resurrected without a soul. "Let's try a few more," Olivia said shortly after staring at the resurrected skeleton for a long time. She resurrected a total of five corpses, not through a large-scale ritual, but one by one, like a thief in the middle of the night. "Tell me something. If you know something, tell me. If you don't, just say you don't know..." Harry muttered anxiously as he watched Olivia resurrect the corpses without saying a word. The resurrected remains just followed them blankly. "Let's go back," Olivia said shortly without answering Harry's question. And the remains began to dig back into the ground from where they had emerged. "Put everything back the way it was. So that no one knows that it was disturbed," Olivia instructed. "Why couldn't I make a single Death Knight even after digging up five graves of warriors? What's going on?" Olivia said she had failed to make a Death Knight five times. This was the tomb of the warriors, not the tomb of mages or other people. They should have been able to make at least one Death Knight, but they all failed. "It seems like all the corpses have been switched out. It's different from the royal tombs. The bodies are there, but they may not be the original owners of the tombs." Olivia resurrected the undead, but they all returned to their graves. She had only resurrected graves that had been created after the Gate incident and the Allied Forces' deployment. Olivia was resurrecting the corpses by looking at the dates, not the names. "Recently buried beggars. Most of the corpses are cremated by the Allied Forces, but the fact that the corpses buried in this national cemetery after the Allied Forces' withdrawal are those of very important people. They are so important that they have to be transported to the royal tombs instead of being cremated. Do you know what that means?"

"...Yes, I do."

"Among those corpses, it doesn't make sense that we couldn't make Death Knights out of the five corpses buried in the tombs of warriors."

The corpse of someone who had established a significant military career, important enough to be transported to the royal tombs instead of being cremated by the Allied Forces. Their military power in life was not insignificant.

Since the corpse had not been buried for long, it would have been the optimal condition to make Death Knights.

However, according to Olivia, the level was below average.

Of course, one or two could be like that.

But it happened five times in a row.

"The conclusion is simple. We can't make Death Knights out of any corpse in the national cemetery."

Olivia concludes coldly.

"Is the Empire really making Death Knights? Are there people in the Empire who can use the power of the Ma-Shin like my sister...?"

Olivia nods at Kono Lindt's words.

"We don't have to assume that they are making Death Knights, but we can assume that they are making something similar or experimenting with the corpses of those who had significant power in life. And even if it's not the power of Kier, they could make undead with power similar to Death Knights, right? That's what black magic is for."

"Ah...."

The process may be different, but the result may be similar.

Even if they don't know about the power of Ma-Shin, it is possible to make undead. Black magic and the power of Kier have similarities.

If we make Death Knights with the power of corruption, the Empire can make Death Knights with black magic.

"As I said, it may not necessarily be Death Knights. There is a possibility that they are doing something else to make undead. But the Empire cannot be ignored. This is also a place where all the royal tombs are under the management of the Empire, and it is too optimistic to hope that it is the work of a third party. It's a very shocking prediction."

Olivia's conclusion is that the Empire is not unrelated to this situation, and I think so too.

The Empire may be making undead or doing something more than making undead from the corpses of those who died for humanity.

What we are trying to do may have already been done by the Empire, and saying that it is evil is just spitting while lying down.

It's just shocking.

"That means that the movement to transport corpses to the royal tombs is likely to be a disguised act of stealing those corpses and using them for something else."

"...That's right."

The procedure of establishing a significant military career and burying dead warriors in the national cemetery was disguised.

They bury someone else's corpse and use the real corpse somewhere else.

Transporting corpses to the royal tombs is already an excuse in itself.

"But we've never seen the Empire operate an army of undead, have we?" "Yes... I've never seen or heard of such an army."

It was Kono Lindt and Herriot's words.

"They're probably keeping them for later, just in case."

Just as fighting with the Allied Forces would reveal their hand, if the Allied Forces began to operate a Death Knight unit, it would naturally be revealed. There would certainly be great confusion.

It's an army that can't be used unless they're really backed into a corner. Olivia looks at me.

"If something like that happens, there's a plausible excuse. Just say it's the Demon King's army. There are too many things the Empire can get away with by saying it's your doing."

"...That's true."

Suppose the Empire really needs to operate a Death Knight unit.

Then all they have to do is say it's the Demon King's army, which has nothing to do with us. The Allied Forces would panic, but it's better to admit that they're operating a Death Knight unit with their own hands than to deny it.

Olivia believes that everything bad that happens in the world is her fault, and most people on the continent believe it too.

The Empire is hoarding power.

They will have to use the power they have hoarded, even if it is to revive the corpses of fallen warriors.

Berthus chose to revive the corpses of dead heroes because he had the excuse of being a Demon King.

Of course, this did not happen in the original story. There was no universal excuse of a new Demon King. Even if there was, it would not have been used to the end.

There is no reason or qualification to blame him. If Berthus hadn't done it, we would have.

But Kono Lindt couldn't believe that the Empire was doing such a thing with their own hands.

If we do something wicked, it's just as wicked if the Empire does it.

"I can't believe it...."

He muttered for a while, unable to close his mouth.

Well, at least if a designated Demon King did something like this, it would be somewhat understandable.

In this case, it's betrayal.

They call the dead heroes heroes for the sake of humanity, but they're making an army of the dead for the sake of preparing for a pseudo-war.

It doesn't matter if my case is known.

I'm a Demon King, and if it's known that a Demon King is making an army of the dead, it's just a bad guy doing a bad thing.

In fact, I also tried to do such a thing regardless of Berthus's intentions.

If a bad guy does a bad thing, ironically, people tend to just let it go.

I'm that kind of person, but the Empire is not at all.

But if it is known that they are doing such a thing, the Empire will be torn apart.

"Berthus seems to be taking too much of a risk."

I had no choice but to say that.

It's a gamble that's too dangerous even if it's risky.

But it's a gamble that can't be avoided.

"By the way, we can't replenish the Death Knights...."

Herriot sighed with a complicated expression.

Reviving dead heroes as an army, it's not a proper thing to do.

It's fortunate that we're not doing it ourselves, but it's clear that such a thing is already happening in the hands of others. "So fortunately or unfortunately, we failed to replenish the Death Knights and were left with a very suspicious feeling," said Herriot. Olivia shrugged at Herriot's words. "What's left to do?" "There was one more place I wanted to go," she said. Olivia placed her hand on Kono Lindt's shoulder. "Lindt, will you help me just one more time?" "Uh, sure?" "You'll help me?" "Yes, of course!" Unfortunately, our Lindt army was not the type to refuse such a request. "Where are we going?" I asked. Olivia narrowed her eyes. "If this is the Empire's doing, then places unrelated to the Empire's influence should still be intact, right?" "Yes?" "Oh...could it be..." I didn't understand, but Herriot seemed to have an idea and was stunned. "The tombs of the saints." The tombs of the saints. The tombs of the saints, managed by the Holy Order of Knights and the Five Great Divine Sects, were naturally beyond the Empire's influence. In Charlotte's case, we thought we would raid the Hall of Heroes, and even if Berthus was making Death Knights, he wouldn't touch the bones of the nobles. But the tombs of the saints. We can't mention it directly, but isn't it obvious what's there? "No, but, can we really do that?" Olivia's adoptive father. The former commander of the Holy Order of Knights and the person I killed. From my perspective, he died as a villain, but he was known to have died honorably fighting against the Demon King. And what about the tomb of Luberia Lanche? "We should do what we couldn't do while he was alive, at least this time," Olivia smiled, and we were dizzy in front of her smile.