The Necromancer Who Was Despised

Since the adult male orc that was caught in the trap earlier was dead, the orc that was currently blocking Kayla’s attack could be considered the last remaining adult male orc.

Despite his abnormal condition, the orc’s strength was not inferior, and he was even pushing Kayla back.

‘Huh…’

Judging from the blood seeing from the soles of his feet, it seemed like he had stepped on a caltrop, but a monster is certainly a monster.

In the meantime, another female orc tried to attack Kayla, and I threw a dagger at the orc.

Ting!

However, the orc barely blocked my attack and glared at me with furious eyes.

The other female orc who was trying to support from the other side stepped back after stepping on a caltrop, and in that gap, Athena finished loading her crossbow and took care of another orc.

Thud! Bang! Bang!

The fierce battle between Kayla and the male orc continued.

Kayla was the one who seized the opportunity.

The other female orcs who tried to interfere with their power were unable to interfere in their battle due to the caltrops and the continuous power from me and Athena.

As a result, the male orc was continuously pushed back and eventually fell to his knees with his neck blown off.

The death of the only remaining adult male orc in the group.

It didn’t end there.

[Animate Dead.]

Along with the short incantation, the first orc to die began to stand up unsteadily.

Animate Dead.

A simple undead summoning spell.

Basically, it is different from the spell that turned Nelson, whom I had used for the first time, into a skeleton.

Rather than being sophisticated, this is a crude method of creating undead for temporary use, so the summoned undead soon perishes if time passes or if it is destroyed beyond a certain point.

‘It’s a different story once you reach around Class 7 though.’

That’s too far in the future.

“Th, that’s ridicu…”

The first orc to die raises its body.

An arrow was embedded in its body.

The potion smeared on the arrow took effect, allowing me to turn it into an undead with my insufficient magical power.

It’s a zombie, not a skeleton, and it’s a good undead to use for a short while.

Since my level is low, it won’t be able to exert even half of its strength when it was alive, but that was enough.

The orcs are bewildered by the sight of their undead comrade.

Swish!

The risen zombie swung its arm at the orc next to it.

However, the difference in physical ability was clear.

The attacked orc instinctively counterattacked, and the zombie was knocked back after taking a single hit.

Of course, the zombie didn’t feel pain and raised its arms as if to attack again.

“Kuagh!”

Another orc swung its weapon at the zombie to save its comrade, and the other orcs followed suit.

Their faces were filled with both anger and fear.

“Heup!”

However, they were so bewildered by the sight of the zombie that they momentarily forgot about Kayla’s presence.

Swish.

An orc with its back turns gets cut down and falls.

They succeeded in taking down the zombie orcs, but their numbers dwindled once more.

In addition to that, I used up all my remaining magic to raise another orc that Athena had killed.

‘So, two is my limit.’

At my current level, it couldn’t be helped.

No, rather, for a class 1, I’d say I fought very well. After all, I made two zombies from orc corpses.

Even so, the effect was clear.

Fear appeared in the eyes of the surviving orcs.

Kaila and Athena didn’t miss that gap.

Swish!

Ping! Thud!

Finally, the orcs started to scream and run away.

‘I’m seeing something rare.’

Normally, orcs never run away.

They fight until the end, even if they die, but it seemed that they couldn’t endure the constant attacks and mental pressure.

‘Their leader died too.’

I got to see a rare scene due to several factors.

Despite the excruciating pain they must have felt because of the iron, they ignored it and ran away bleeding.

Usually, that kind of behavior leads to serious aftereffects, but they didn’t seem to have the mental capacity to think about that.

Kaila, who was about to chase after them, clicked her tongue when she realized that she was slower than them.

“Please clean up.”

“Yes, Master.”

Instead of chasing after them, I asked Kaila to clean up the battlefield.

Athena and I immediately chased after the fleeing orcs.

I might be able to move faster than Kaila for a while, but wounds are wounds. We could escape from Kaila, but we couldn’t get away from us.

From the middle, they couldn’t even walk, so we were able to deal with them easily.

Since they could barely resist, we captured some of them, and we just dealt with the ones that we judged we couldn’t take with us.

When we returned to Kaila, she shook her head while looking at us.

“They’re all in bad shape. They’re either already dead or will die soon.”

“Really? It can’t be helped. “You worked hard.”

“No. I just swung my sword on the stage you set for me.”

Kaila looked more satisfied than I thought.

“I’d welcome this kind of real-world experience anytime.”

As soon as Kaila finished speaking, Athena spoke in surprise.

“Even so, how did the three of you manage to wipe out an entire orc tribe? “I thought it would be impossible.”

She looked at me and said,

“You’re definitely not an ordinary person.”

I smiled wryly at her words.

Of course, it wasn’t easy. I was also lucky. After all, the initial plan was just to capture a few hunting dogs and hand them over.

The high praise was a little burdensome, but I didn’t say anything else.

“Let’s head back for now.”

When I first started hunting, I had to check the ones that got caught in the net.

Even if their condition wasn’t good, it was enough time to get out.

“Ugh… This will be hard to move. On top of that, it bled too much.”

“I’ll try to spray as much wound care and deodorizing medicine as possible, but I’ll throw it away if it looks like the monster is wriggling.”

This can’t be helped.

I’ll recover all the magic, erase the traces of black magic, and bury the orcs that have been zombified deep down.

On the way back, we captured the ones that escaped from the net, and including the ones we had already caught, the total number of captured orcs was thirty-one.

This was inevitable because the number of those captured this time was significantly less.

However, this is still a lot. More than ten of them are cubs, but I’ll still be able to receive around 40 gold.

‘Even excluding the house price… ‘

I’ll have 20 gold left.

Of course, if I exclude the cost of traps, potions, herbs, equipment, etc. that were used here, the net profit will decrease, but the fact that it’s still a huge profit doesn’t change.

I sent Athena back home and headed straight to the pioneer town with Kyla.

‘It’ll be noisy if I keep it near the house.’

There was no sleeping pill that could put more than thirty orcs to sleep.

Even if there was, it would be a huge waste. It’s also annoying to manage.

That’s why we immediately handed over the captured orcs to Albert, and the residents of the pioneer town came out to watch in surprise at the rare sight of more than thirty orcs being captured.

Albert also looked quite surprised when he received the orcs.

As Kuman had said, I was able to receive my ID and a building right away.

Of course, I also received the title deed, so now I could fully consider it my building.

I could receive the remaining balance later when Kuman returned, so I immediately headed to the building I had been given.

“Is this the owner’s house? It’s quite large.”

It’s on the first floor, and compared to Nelson’s house, which was outside, it’s small.

However, this is a house inside the pioneer town, and it’s located closer to the center than the outskirts.

The difference in value was incomparable.

Kyla was saying that because she knew that fact.

‘In the first place, Nelson’s house was something I could receive with just a few words.’

The value of a house where safety is not guaranteed could be considered infinitely low.

I looked around the inside of the house.

There wasn’t any furniture, but it was quite clean.

‘There’s also a basement.’

The problem is that it’s too small.

‘I’ll have to expand this a little… .’

It’s for later, though.

In fact, the place I will value the most in the house is this basement.

After checking the basement, I locked the door and left the pioneer town.

I could rest here for a day or so, but there was no furniture inside, and I didn’t plan on filling it today, so I just went back to where my sisters were waiting.

“Welcome back.”

Athena was already in her nightgown, resting after taking a bath.

Kayla and I also washed up and checked our equipment.

As we ate the food Tia had prepared, Athena spoke.

“How was it?”

Even though she knew that neither she nor Tia could go to my house inside the pioneer settlement, she couldn’t hide her curiosity.

“It was fine. It was smaller than this place, but it wasn’t a building on the outskirts.”

“Really? Ugh. I’m so envious.”

“Even if we can’t right now, we’ll be able to go someday.”

“Right? Ah, of course, this place is fine too….”

“I know. Even so, it’s not as safe as inside the castle.”

“I’m fine, Unni. You don’t have to worry about me, Inha-nim. I like it here better than the pioneer settlement.”

She seemed to be more afraid of people than of monsters or beasts.

Athena gave an awkward laugh at Tia’s attitude.

After we finished eating and Tia was cleaning up, I called Athena and Kayla over.

“I’m thinking of taking a whole day off tomorrow.”

“Rest is important. You’re absolutely right.”

“Focus on training after that. I’m thinking of visiting the pioneer settlement regularly. I need to collect the payment, as well as reagents, herbs, and equipment.”

“Is it okay if we don’t go with you?”

“Ah. That’s fine. I gave the horses and wagon back, but I still have the packhorse. That’ll be enough.”

I don’t need to carry the iron capture cages like before, so the packhorse will be enough.

Kayla’s body is still not in good condition.

‘But it seems like she likes fighting….’

Well, otherwise she wouldn’t have said she’d do anything if I just healed her leg.

“Don’t worry about going outside for a while and focus on training.”

“That suits me just fine. Okay.”

“Call me anytime if you need me.”

After the short briefing, we each got some rest.

Like the other two, I took a whole day of rest, and from the next day, I started moving diligently.

I had enough money, so I stopped hunting and started visiting the pioneer settlement often to get to know people.

It wasn’t hard to get close to people since I’d become famous after delivering a large number of orcs.

“Hahaha. You lack confidence!”

“I was just really lucky. Kayla is strong, but even so, it’s not like we could take on an entire orc tribe.”

“I know that! But even luck can’t be seized without skill.”

The guy talking to me was named Danian, a member of the Pipis mercenary group contracted by Kuman.

He was a low-ranker.

Meeting Danian was completely by chance.

I went to the tavern in the pioneer settlement today as well to expand my network, and the guy drinking there recognized me first.

‘I was planning on getting close to the locals first and then getting to know them.’

My reasons for building a network were simple.