Chapter 70

Drunk on sake and the hot springs, it's not wise to make judgments.

Zōto stood up with a splash, of course, with a cloth wrapped around his waist.

"Shall we talk inside?"

Saying this, he picked up Azurona, who was dozing on the white snow, and headed for the room.

On the other side of where the snow lay, enjoying being brushed, Zibā, wrapped in many cloths and wearing a robe, sat cross-legged, looking around the room with a curious expression.

Although Azurona had already seemed sleepy in the hot springs, she was still trying hard to keep her one big eye open and closed, while her fluffy white tail gently swayed on the bed.

Zōto listened to the conversation without stopping his brushing.

"Why do you need a house?"

"…It seems you are indeed ignorant of the world."

The skeleton seemed somewhat exasperated.

"I often hear that."

"…Though I asked you, first, answer me one thing. What do you think of the Northern Three Kingdoms, Albaum, Elrodiana, and Yurifranz?"

Zōto looked puzzled at the sudden question.

"Is there any relation?"

"It might come to the point where I have to withdraw my request, though it's a bit arbitrary."

"How can I prove I'm not lying?"

"Living in this mountain of dragons with Ilneuk and the mutated dragon hatchlings, it's not hard to imagine that you are somewhat distant from the general society. It's not as if you are a complete recluse, but still, it's just a matter of judging your words."

Zōto decided that it wasn't a difficult question to answer.

"I don't like Albaum, and I don't want to get involved with heroes, except for a few exceptions. I don't have particularly good or bad feelings about Elrodiana or Yurifranz, but I don't like their self-righteous and discriminatory attitudes towards white-skinned people.

Well, the closest feeling is that I am using a society that is not hostile to me."

Recalling the branch manager of Salehad, Zaur, Rattana, and the shadow of Albaum, as well as Joseph and Agatha, he couldn't say he had good feelings.

However, it was only at the level of being annoying if they were in front of him, and not to the point where he wanted to kill or destroy them.

Zibā stared at Zōto intently and then began to speak as if making a decision.

"I see. Then, I must first tell you about us, the bone people. -- Do you want to smoke?"

Zōto answered by making an ashtray on the spot.

Zibā lit the smoking wood from the fire spirit in the hearth and began to smoke it as if it tasted good. Although the skeleton's face was very hard to read, the subtle nuances were somehow discernible.

≪Everything I am about to say is true. To the best of my knowledge, it is all true.≫

Zibā spoke with solemn words.

Zōto felt a sacred silence that should not be violated from those words.

"…You used the same words the other day. What are they?"

Zibā looked a little surprised.

"…These words are called 'mantras,' and they are the source of our power as bone people. Once you swear by these words, you can never break them."

"Is there such a thing?"

In this world, there is no magical binding contract. The closest thing to it is the hero's blessing, but otherwise, it doesn't exist.

"We bone people have two powers instead of being able to use spirit magic. One of them is 'necromancy.' We can negotiate with spirits and have them possess bones to lend us their power. Gajazi was originally the master of a long-lived dragon in Sauran."

"Do you control corpses?"

"No. We negotiate with spirits and borrow their power. The words used for this negotiation are the 'mantras' I used earlier. From a young age, even in daily life, we use these words for any trivial promise, and those who use these words must never break their promise. By doing so, we can use these words to negotiate with spirits and gain their trust.

If you break a promise once using a mantra, spirits will never trust you again. The words to gain the trust of spirits are 'mantras.' If bone people lose the power of mantras and can no longer perform necromancy, they become nothing more than hard bones that can use life spirit magic."

"…Is it possible to negotiate with the spirits of humans?"

"Strictly speaking, it is possible, but we do not do it.

It is possible in terms of ability. However, bone people are disliked by other races except those who lived in Kegbard. Even if they die and become corpses, they will not cooperate.

Moreover, in a sense, it means becoming undead, so the power from their lifetime cannot be used as is. Spirit magic, for example, cannot be used. We bone people cannot make an infinite number of contracts with spirits, so there is no point in negotiating with the weak spirits of other races.

If we could force spirits to serve us and overwhelm them with numbers, we could easily drive them out of Kegbard, but unfortunately, that is not possible."

Zōto added, "…So, you can lie once, and if you lose the ability to negotiate with spirits, you can lie, right?"

Zibā smiled faintly at the blunt words and began to rummage through the layers of geometric-patterned cloths he wore with his white bony fingers.

Shururi, something white slipped out from the sleeve of Zibā.

It was a bone snake.

Its full length was unknown as its body was still under the cloths Zibā wore.

Reacting to the appearance of the bone snake, the small ears of the snow-white creature perked up, but it did not go so far as to warn or prepare, and continued to let Zōto brush it with its ears perked up.

As for Azurona, who was wrapped in the snow-white creature's tail, she finally succumbed to sleep, hugging the soft white fur and looking comfortable.

Zibā played with the bone snake in one hand.

"Originally, it was a magic beast called a spear lightning snake, and its current name is Ilru. Indeed, if I were to lose my power, I could lie, but if I lied using a mantra, Ilru would immediately abandon me and I would become just a bone."

All of Zibā's words could be lies.

However, there was no need to lie to such an extent just to build a house.

Sensing that Zōto was convinced, Zibā began to speak matter-of-factly.

Occasionally puffing out purple smoke, dropping ash into the ashtray, and then speaking matter-of-factly about the plight of the bone people, Zōto's frown deepened as he listened.

Zibā and the bone people lived on a large peninsula that jutted out to the west of the Sauran continent. Kegbard, as the place was known, was said to be the only land where all races could live in the desert-covered Sauran continent.

In addition to the bone people, beast people, earth people, and a few brown-skinned people lived there, and all races respected each other, sometimes fighting, but somehow managed to survive.

However, during the late period of turmoil after the magic revolution and the independence of colonies, the Northern Three Kingdoms, Albaum, Elrodiana, and Yurifranz, who followed the spirit religion, invaded Kegbard, claiming to fulfill the "Ancient Covenant" and to establish the spirit religion nation of Rechaim by indiscriminately attacking and seizing major cities on the grounds that military bases were not clearly identified.

Later, countries that did not participate in the invasion of Kegbard and the attendants of the moon goddess placed a small autonomous region in Kegbard, and a ceasefire was established.

However, the situation has continued to be far from a ceasefire, with Rechaim's economic blockade, espionage activities, and sudden attacks, as well as attacks from the autonomous region.

"The hero Mido's defeat of the demon king is said to have been over ten thousand years ago, but there is no evidence that it was a historical fact.

The Northern Three Kingdoms invaded Kegbard based on the mutual cooperation agreement between the hero Mido and the sage Rechaim, who is said to have established a country that did not exist in form or shape, claiming to reclaim it. According to the "Record of the Demon King's Defeat" written by the saint Wendy, who is said to have been a member of the hero Mido's party, the hero Mido's party defeated the demon king in Kegbard, where the demon king had sealed the sun god Sandra, and liberated her. The "Spirit Scripture" of the spirit religion, which is said to have been left by the sage Rechaim, also states that when they defeated the demon king, the sealed spirit god was liberated.

Under the pretext of mutual holy sites and the ancient covenant, the northern countries and some of the spirit people invaded Kegbard.

"Even some of the long-lived high dragons do not know