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Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 8

Their black blood flows throughout their bodies even when their hearts are not beating, apparently maintaining their physical functions. Even if their bodies were to be damaged, the wounds that they sustained would always regenerate, and they are completely resistant to poison and disease. Instead of stopping their growth, they also gained eternal youth and longevity. Another thing worthy of mention is that if any of them give their black blood to other people, who do not already have it coursing through their veins, those people will be transformed into their servant and dominated.

And the ultimate Undead is, of course, the Vampire King Dimitri himself.

He is a superhuman who has lived since the age of Extreme Chaos, so among the town’s residents, there must be quite a few Dimitri’s servants, which was evident by the fact that even when Theo, the current Lord of this territory, was walking through town, none of the residents greeted him. In fact, many of them were not even looking in his direction.

Theo has a particular talent for blending in anywhere he goes, but it seems that even with that talent of his, the residents of The Forest of Eternal Darkness still do not like him, or maybe that is simply because that this place is just special because it remained under the influence of the Vampire King for so long, which made it exceptionally difficult to govern, since the residents themselves have never asked Theo to do anything for them. They lived on meager food and supplies, all of which was provided to them by The Forest of Eternal Darkness itself, and that was enough for them since the Undead cannot freeze or starve to death.

However, life in this forest would not be easy for ordinary people who are not Artists. Sanitary conditions are poor and there are many dangers to be on the lookout for at every turn. Naturally, there must have also been many who lost their lives due to illness or injury.

Now that Priscilla is here, the residents of this city can finally receive medical care. She traveled to other settlements as well in order to continue her work as a missionary of the Order of the Crest, but just as anyone could have expected, it was not going all that well, for a very obvious reason.

Even though the doctrine of the Order of the Crest accepts Artists, it still treats Chaos itself as something irredeemably evil, and it demands that all Artists should surrender their Arts to the Order of the Crest after they die. Seeing how the main goal of an Undead is to not die, there is no way that these two groups could ever be compatible.

Had she served another Lord instead of Theo, she might have converted many of that Lord’s people along with the Lord himself to the Order of the Crest’s faith by now. In that sense, she was the most unlucky girl in the world.

Siluca still thinks that the Order of the Crest is an organization around which you cannot let your guard down no matter what, even though her vigilance against Priscilla has mostly disappeared by now.

The Order of the Crest steadily increased its followers throughout the continent and strengthened its power. The Mages Association denounced the The Order as a cult of heretics that worships false gods, but has taken no effective countermeasures against it besides that. Siluca, who is only a lowly Mage, does not know whether the Sage Committee, the decision-making body of the Association, is underestimating the Order of the Crest, or if they have some kind of plans for them that they have not set into motion just yet.

Siluca intends to serve Theo as a contracted Mage for the rest of his life, so she does not have much to do with the Association. Even so, she still had to fulfill her minimum obligations to it, and so she continued to pay the Association fee out of her own tight pocket earnings.

Aishera also pays most of the salary paid by Siluca to the Association.

The Forest of Eternal Darkness was wide, the distance between the settlements was far, and there were many single houses. It was impossible to go around everything in one patrol, and this time Theo was apparently planning to go to the border with Veltava on the west side of the forest. But once the villagers living in the settlements that were most likely to be turned into battlefields have been informed that a battle with the Factory Alliance might break out in the near future, their reactions were pretty much the same as the reactions of the people who lived in the castle town: Even though they clearly saw Theo and Siluca, most of them simply ignored them. There were rare people who greeted them properly, but aside from that they did not even try to engage in any kind of meaningful conversation with them, so after a while Theo stopped trying to actively talk to the residents as well, and focused his energy purely on observing the state of the villages and settlements they passed through.

When the sun went down, they spend the night in empty houses scattered about here and there, since walking around The Forest of Eternal Darkness at night was extremely dangerous regardless of the concentration of Chaos in the air.

While nibbling on the rations they brought with them and drinking magically purified water, the two of them talked about various things until it was time for them to go to sleep. Then they wrapped themselves in blankets and were dozing off until enough time has passed for them to welcome the morning. That exact scenario has been repeated for a number of days now.

(What should I do? I am actually having so much fun now… )

It was actually the first time when Siluca could travel alone with Theo. From the time they first met one another, her Chamberlain Irvin was always with them, and from then onwards the number of their companion was only increasing, starting with Aishela, and then adding Priscilla of the Order of the Crest and Emma & Luna, the two werewolf girls.

Even now, His Highness Balgary was still in Siluca’s shadow, but he did not emerge out of it even when it was the time for meals, most probably because rations would not be enough to satisfy his delicate palate. For that end, he probably moved to Irvin’s shadow and was enjoying a feast made out of finest birds right now.

even appear during meals. It’s probably because you can’t be satisfied with portable food. They should be moving into Arvin’s shadow and eating a feast.

It was just after noon on the fifth day after they left for patrol when they were walking in the forest when it suddenly started raining. Theo and Siluca hurriedly put on their rain coats and began to look for a place where they could hide.

「If we go a little further, there should be a small village. Let us wait for the rain to stop there. 」

At Theo’s suggestion, they hurried along the path along the creek. Then they saw a big willow tree while they were on their way. It was not that tall, but the trunk was so thick that even five or six adults holding hands together would not be enough to completely wrap themselves around it. But more importantly, there was a big crack in the tree that lead inside of it through its gaping, black mouth.

「Would you like to take a break over there? 」

Theo asked as he relaxed the tempo of his march.

「Well, I do not really mind it… 」
Siluca took out her magic wand while staring at the big tree.

「What’s wrong? 」

「This rain seems to be a phenomenon caused by Chaos. That willow is not a normal one either. 」

She could not tell because the sky was red, but when she took it in her hand, the water was slightly red. It felt sticky and had a strange smell to it as well. And the big willow tree drew in chaos as if it were breathing, so it was probably the nucleus and the center of this Chaos phenomenon.

「Is it going to turn into a Chaos Disaster? 」

「I do not know. Sometimes it diverges naturally, and sometimes it converges into a larger Chaotic Phenomenon. 」

While Siluca looked at the Chaos Globe attached to her magic wand, she checked the Chaos density and fluctuations.

Chaos density here was higher than elsewhere in the forest and fluctuated more slowly. With that much dense Chaos in here, a Mage skilled in divination, like Elder Witch Zelma, could easily read future events from the Chaos Globe if she were here now. Unfortunately, Siluca can only see three-dimensional patterns created when ink is poured onto water and stirred.