Chapter 21

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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At last, the bright day of decisive battle.

With the round sun risen into the sky, Tie strapped on her kindergarten bag tightly.

From between the railings on the second floor, Veil stuck his head out.

“Brat! Are you sure you packed all your things?”

Tie nodded solemnly and checked once more for the last time.

Inside the large bag Mister Basto would carry for her.

She could see all her things packed neatly inside.

“Tie extra uniform, Tie hat bought at the market, Tie pajamas, Tie toilet paper and Tie water for when I need to poop in the forest, Tie snacks……”

Sure enough, everything was inside without anything missing!

“Ah!”

But at that moment she remembered the one thing she had forgotten and quickly turned her head to check behind her back.

“Kkamangi!”

Fortunately, Lucarion was obediently in his place.

Inside the Hanbit Kindergarten bag, with only his head sticking out and a lukewarm expression on his face.

Only then did Tie smile and raise her hand high at Veil.

“Tie packed everything!”

Veil nodded.

Then he brought his own things and came down to the first floor of the inn.

Basto, who had been sitting in a chair by the window, stood up.

“The weapon you said you left for repairs?”

“I picked it up ages ago. You’re late with that question.”

Though his tone was sharp, Basto let it pass.

Because even though they hadn’t been together long, he had already finished understanding Veil’s personality.

“Sir, are you finished too?”

Nordix, who had been talking with the elderly inn couple in the kitchen, turned around.

He did not have much luggage.

One old backpack, one staff, and a celestial telescope hanging at his waist, that was all.

“I finished long ago. We can set off whenever you wish.”

Basto got up from his place.

She slung the giant bag containing Tie’s things and her own over one shoulder.

“Then shall we go.”

Tie quickly nodded.

Her face was lit up half with tension, half with excitement.

The inn grandmother who had come out of the kitchen hugged Tie tightly.

“Let’s see each other again, child. If you ever have business at the gate, you must come see granny, understood?”

“Yees, thank you for everything until now……”

Tie hugged the grandmother tightly and took in a deep breath.

After that, she bent deeply at the waist and greeted the inn grandfather too.

Before long, when Basto opened the door, a cool breeze blew under the pouring sunlight.

‘Stern and solemn!’

Repeating that to herself, Tie stepped out bravely.

From the moment she left the inn, Tie had to become the “Necromancer King” again.

‘I can do it. I prepared my heart for this a lot, a lot.’

……However, once again, Tie had no choice but to realize it quickly.

That life was not easy.

“Huh? The Necromancer King is dozing.”

Several hours later.

Tie suddenly opened the eyes that had been slowly drooping shut.

The same landscape still stretched around them.

Beside her, Veil sneered mockingly.

“The Necromancer King dozes off? Even though you’re the Necromancer King? Sleeping in the middle of the day?”

“Tie isn’t sleepy!”

“Isn’t sleepy, huh. Then what is that on Basto’s shoulder~”

Tie was startled.

Basto’s shoulder, the one he had been leaning against, was drenched with drool.

“Th-this is……!”

“It’s alright, Tie. Sleep more. It’s still another half day to Pearl City.”

Tie closed her mouth hesitantly.

And after wiping the drool soaking Basto’s shoulder with her sleeve, he thought about it for a bit, then shot up her hand.

“Mister, now Tie will walk!”

Everyone was working hard and walking, so Tie couldn’t be the only one dozing.

She was the Necromancer King, after all.

When he got down from Basto’s back, he felt the rough texture of sand under her feet.

‘I thought once we passed through the imperial capital gate, giant buildings would come out right away like Jongno District.’

Even after they passed the gate, the surroundings were barren.

The buildings that appeared here and there looked doubtful even as to whether people lived in them, and the sand-laden wind that kept blowing stung her eyes.

If it hadn’t been for the cloth Veil had wrapped around her nose, he definitely would’ve started coughing.

“Mister, does Pearl City look like this too?”

Unable to suppress her curiosity, Tie asked.

Basto shook his head.

“It’s not this barren. Pearl City is a harbor town.”

A harbor town……?

The TV program that she had often watched with Auntie in 203 flashed through Tie’s mind.

Tiny pretty houses, a blue sea.

The fish that shimmered silver when the nets were hauled up, and even the sailor uncles pulling ropes while wearing shining aprons……

Tie’s eyes sparkled.

‘That sounds really cool.’

The seaside village Tie had seen had been fantasy itself.

“Mister, how many nights are we sleeping in Pearl City?”

“Well. Since it’s just a place we’ll stop by briefly before going to the Populosa Weapons District, I don’t plan on staying longer than two days.”

Until this morning, the place Tie and the Agabert members had been was Gate 1 of the imperial capital.

When they first passed through the gate and entered inside the imperial capital, it had been fun.

Because there had been a bustling district inside the gate that only people permitted entry into the imperial capital and holy knights could use.

But Tie and her group didn’t have the time to look around the bustling district.

‘We need to get to Pearl City today. After staying about two days in Pearl City, we’ll go straight to the Populosa Weapons District.’

The imperial capital was much bigger than she had expected.

That meant that just because they passed through the gate, they couldn’t immediately reach the center, where the imperial palace and the headquarters of the Imperial Holy Knights were.

‘Ha, that’s why I told you just to leave it with the gate blacksmith. When are we supposed to go all the way to the Populosa Weapons District and then head to the center of the imperial capital? All because of one stupid hammer, seriously……’

‘This war hammer is a specially made weapon, Veil. If it doesn’t go through the hands of a proper weaponsmith, its durability can’t be restored. Haven’t you forgotten? If this hadn’t been there during the last conquest, you’d have died already.’

While Basto and Veil bickered, Tie drew a map in her head.

‘First to Pearl City harbor town, then back to the Populooosa Weapons District!’

And after that, to the center of the imperial capital where Daddy was.

The problem was that the road from the gate to Pearl City harbor town was quite rough for the moment.

Tie only learned the reason after they passed the bustling district inside Gate 1.

Inside the bustling district stretched a huge wasteland.

According to what he heard from Basto, Veil, and Nordix, that wasteland had only appeared a few years ago.

‘They said it was because there were several large magic stones.’

She felt it was odd, because she had heard that large magic stones appearing inside the imperial capital were usually gotten rid of right away, so why had they left this wasteland alone?

In any case, Tie and the others decided to go around the wasteland.

‘Hey, Basto. Why are you acting like you don’t know? Ever since the wasteland appeared, even the fastest route from here to Pearl City takes a day and a half. How about just renting a carriage?’

In front of the wasteland, there was a place that sold or rented carriages to people in a hurry.

But.

‘Th-there’s no way……! Tie doesn’t have any money anymore! I gave way too much bribery to the bad holy knight, mmph.’

He didn’t get to finish speaking because Veil covered her mouth, but Tie and her group really did have no money left anymore.

Because Tie had used up all the jewels to restore Basto’s identification number.

The money the other three had also been carrying had all been spent on making uniforms and buying this and that.

Basto seemed to feel a great deal of guilt over that, but Tie didn’t mind.

‘We can just gather more jewels later, though?’

The Bone Friends had said so.

They said there were lots and lots of things like jewels in graves.

‘Graves?’

‘Yeees! There aren’t any graves here so we can’t give them to you, but if we go somewhere with lots of graves, they said they’ll find more for you!’

Even so, there was exactly one thing that made Tie uncomfortable.

‘If you pick something up on the street, you’re supposed to take it to the police station so they can find the owner.’

She worried whether it was alright to use jewels from someone else’s grave however she wanted.

But then.

Something Grandma in 107 had said long ago suddenly flashed into her mind.

‘Why bury gold in the dirt? In Africa, no, you don’t even need to go to another country. Even in this neighborhood alone, there are so many children wandering around suffering without parents. They should donate it so kids like that can use it……’

Tie tilted her head.

Come to think of it……

‘Wandering around and suffering without parents…… that’s Tie, though?’

Right now, Tie was exactly one of those “pitiful children” Grandma in 107 had talked about.