The Undead

Since Frieren had agreed, they naturally had to do it.

So the next afternoon, the four of them boarded a small boat and headed to the island in the middle of the lake.

The reason we didn't set off until the afternoon was mainly because the celebrations the night before lasted too long.

Frieren already had trouble getting up in the morning, and having stayed up all night, she slept until almost noon before Fern managed to drag her out of bed. After she finished washing up and eating what could be considered breakfast or lunch, the investigation, which was originally scheduled to begin in the morning, was naturally postponed to the afternoon.

Fortunately, the autumn weather was very clear, and there was still a long time before dark. The azure lake surface shimmered in the sunlight, and occasionally groups of lake fish swam past the boat. Since losing its Lake Lord, the entire lake seemed to have become even calmer than usual.

Now that the threat of the Lake Lord is gone, who knows if some guys will appear in the future who specialize in rowing famous boats and running rampant on the lake.

Whenever they encounter a lone traveler, they moor their boat in the middle of the lake and ask with a smile, "Would you like some 'broad-cut noodles' or 'wontons'?"

Let's trust in the wisdom of future generations regarding these things.

"Do you think those sounds might just be made by animals on the island?"

Stark sat at the bow of the boat, rowing as he asked.

"Anyone capable of making such a sound must already be considered a demon."

Fern clearly didn't have much hope for this.

With the sound of oars cutting through the lake, the small boat drew closer and closer to the island.

The forest, which was originally only a blurry outline, gradually became clearer, with large swathes of trees already tinged with autumn colors, their golden and deep red branches overlapping to almost obscure the interior.

"There's an aura of Demons."

As soon as they entered the waters near the island, Frieren immediately sensed something was amiss.

"Lady Frieren is right."

Fern also closed his eyes, extending his Mana perception inwards into the island.

"Besides that, there seems to be a large amount of Undead aura."

Undead?

In this world, the Undead are defined as corpses manipulated by True Magic, lacking self-awareness and merely tools controlled by the caster. The most representative example is the "Headless Knights" manipulated by Aura.

But why would Undead and Demons appear on such a small island?

Could it be related to Aura?

Lorenzo asked.

They had only recently learned from Eisen that the Aura the Guillotine had been dormant for many years, had resumed its activities.

Now, a large number of Undead controlled by Demons have been discovered in the Northern Countries. It's hard not to connect the two no matter how you look at it.

"Aura herself shouldn't be here; the Mana reaction on the island isn't that strong."

Frieren replied, after all, judging from its appearance, it was clearly not the kind of creature that could hide its Mana.

"So the digging sounds the townspeople heard were made by those Undead, right?"

Stark realized that the Demons must have brought a large number of corpses to the island for some unknown purpose, and then used them as tireless laborers to dig for something for several months.

It's truly pitiful. This world clearly hasn't abolished debt slavery yet, meaning that some of these people might have been enslaved in life because of debts, and then turned into immortals by Demons after death to continue working.

But what exactly are they digging for?

"First, land on the side of the island without disturbing them, and see what they're up to."

Lorenzo said.

So the small boat changed direction and slowly moved along the woods surrounding the island.

The interior of the island was much darker than it appeared from the surface of the lake, with damp fallen leaves covering the ground. They hadn't gone far when they discovered traces of Undead activity.

The ground was covered with a lot of messy footprints, and there were piles of gravel and soil that had just been dug out of the ground on both sides of the road. Some of the mounds had even grown to be as tall as a person.

"It seems to be just ahead."

Fern said in a low voice.

Indeed, the sounds of digging and the clanging of steel were getting closer and closer.

Lorenzo pushed aside the branches blocking their way, and a huge clearing that had been deliberately cleared appeared before them.

Dozens of helmetless armored figures were mechanically working in the open space. Most of them were badly damaged, their surfaces covered with marks left by swords and True Magic.

That appearance was undeniable—

"It's Aura's undead army."

Why don't they have heads?

"Stark asked."

"Because the corpses sometimes defy Aura's orders due to their memories of their past lives, she cut off all their heads."

It's a really simple and crude approach; without heads, they certainly won't be swayed by any lingering emotions.

A deep pit has been dug in the center of the open space, and a Demons is sitting on a makeshift wooden platform next to the pit.

Apart from having two horns, it looked much like an ordinary human youth, wearing a large black robe and with several old parchment sheets beside it.

Speaking of which, do all these Demons have horns? Why not just rename them the "Horned Clan"? But their appearance is quite suitable for impersonating some "ghosts."

Holding a measuring cup in the left hand and beans in the right, throwing them while shouting things like "Ghosts out, blessings in!"—but doing this seems a bit too hellish.

The Demons occasionally raised his head, gave a few simple commands to the Undead below, and then continued to study the blueprints in his hands.

Is this it?

"Fern asked."

"Yes, it's the only Demons on the island."

Frieren observed the other person carefully.

"His Mana isn't particularly strong; he's probably just one of Aura's subordinates."

Since Aura herself is not here, this Demons is most likely acting on her orders, leading a portion of the undead army to the island to excavate something.

"Even though we don't know its purpose, let's kill it first."

Fern took out his staff and aimed it at the Demons sitting beside the pit.

Whether it's an advantage or a disadvantage, anyone who understands the true nature of Demons will choose to kill them all, rather than deliberately leaving them alive in the hopes of extracting information from them.

After all, the language used by Demons was evolved as a tool to deceive humans, so there's no need to waste words with them; just "listen and pretend" is enough.

Fern suppressed his aura to an extremely low level, and the Demons sitting on the wooden platform remained unaware until the attack True Magic was completed.

Immediately afterwards, a white beam of light pierced through the forest.

The branches and leaves along the way were instantly torn apart by Mana, and the Demons sitting on the wooden platform suddenly raised his head.

It didn't even have time to see the attacker's location, and could only instinctively and hastily deploy a defensive barrier in front of it, but it only lasted for a moment.

With a crisp cracking sound, the beam of light pierced through the barrier and the Demons's chest, blasting a deep trench into the piled-up earth behind it.

Without a doubt, the Demons died instantly, turning into specks of black particles.

The battle ended rather suddenly, Headless Knights who were busy in the open space also seemed to have suddenly lost their commands, and their movements all stopped.

"Leave these manipulated Undead to me."

Frieren also drew her staff to stop Stark from attacking.