Karnak, Monarch of Death

The victorious forces of Diogres left the Pellantia Mountains and returned to the Tower of Dawn. The Kretas Knights and the mages of the imperial magic tower quietly followed in their wake after losing their leaders, along with the clergy of the church.

After ensuring everything had been taken care of at the Tower of Dawn, Diogres set out for the imperial capital, Thea Krahan. His objective wasn't to rebel, but to prove his innocence.

In the past, he could not risk acting against Elezar and Dreltein, knowing full well that they were plotting something. But that was no longer an issue. He let himself be thoroughly examined by the priests of the seven goddesses at the church. Thereafter, the church made a public declaration.

—The notion that Master Diogres is a heretic was a baseless misunderstanding.

Having completely cleared his name, Diogres extended a hand of reconciliation to the forces of Elezar, the Relphrantz Duchy, and the forces of Dreltein, the Kazemil Marquisate.

Of course, he did not reveal that those two had in fact been Saints of the Black God. Officially, it was concluded as an unfortunate incident for the empire, born solely out of mutual misunderstandings. He had no choice. If the truth came out now, it could plunge the empire into civil war. After all, the crime of treason implicated entire families.

"That is why, on the surface, it is best to soothe them while quietly dealing with matters beneath," explained Diogres.

The old man sitting across from him, emperor Gottfried II of the Lacania Empire, frowned and asked, "Would it not be better to simply root them out completely?"

"Most of the people in those families are likely not heretics. We will need to conduct a thorough weeding-out," responded Diogres.

"It will be a tedious task," said the emperor.

"It will. But it is a task that must be done," said Diogres.

They were currently in the emperor's private office. The audience hall, where one would usually meet the emperor, was far too public. It was no place for discussing matters of such gravity.

Gottfried II suddenly let out a long sigh. "Haha, it truly is a story I would rather not believe. The empire's martial king and archmage were heretics."

Diogres bowed his head respectfully. "I believed that Your Wise Majesty would see through to the truth."

"I am not such a wise man..." The emperor gave a bitter smile before continuing. "But I am not so blind as to miss a shallow truth like this."

It had indeed been Elezar and Dreltein who first accused Diogres of heresy, and they had brought ample evidence to prove it. Thus, even Gottfried II had believed without doubt that Diogres Kolon was a traitor. However, how the accusers acted afterwards had been suspicious.

As the emperor, he was accustomed to the plots and schemes of the palace. As such, he knew well how people moved when they were falsely accused. Elezar and Dreltein had acted like they were responsible for falsely accusing someone.

"In contrast, Master Diogres, your actions afterward were too awkward to be those of a heretic," said the emperor.

Inwardly, the emperor had already suspected a deeper truth behind the incident. He was only grateful that the matter had resolved itself before he had to act.

The emperor's following words were filled with trust. "It is a blessing that the empire's only remaining archmage had no ties to heresy."

Diogres felt a tremor in his chest, not out of gratitude, but out of a pang of guilt. Well... it's not like I have absolutely no ties...

***

When he was first falsely accused and on the run, he truly had nothing to do with heretics. However, that was no longer the case. He had ties to the Twilight Cult. To make matters worse, that damned Desteran kept showing up unannounced, persistently pestering him.

—I have come to deliver good news!

The headquarters of Search Black was located in Thea Krahan. Desteran seemed delighted to see Diogres after he arrived in the city. The only saving grace was that Desteran's frequent visits did not arouse suspicion among those around him.

After all, it had been publicly announced that Diogres had regained his strength thanks to the help of Search Black during his time in hiding. The only detail omitted was that Search Black had connections to the Twilight Cult. Diogres returned to his residence after the audience with the emperor.

He fell into deep thought. Now what should I do?

Now that he had regained his archmage's power, there was no longer any real need to be wary of Search Black. If he truly wished, he could easily put a stop to Desteran's annoyances at any time. The only reason he continued to allow Desteran's visits was because he owed his life to them.

Moreover, Desteran himself truly meant no harm. He truly believed, with those bright, earnest eyes of his, that everything he did was for Diogres. It made it difficult to say anything back.

But the Twilight Cult...

Diogres had grown considerably numb to many things, but even so, necromancy was something he could never condone. Necromancy was undoubtedly an evil art, a wicked craft that no human should ever wield. It needed to be eradicated from the world.

That said, he had no intention of turning against the Twilight Cult itself just yet. As long as the Cult of the Black God remained, the Twilight Cult still had its uses as a hunting dog. It was more than sufficient as a poison to counter poison.

As he mulled over these reasons, Diogres let out a quiet chuckle. No, these are all just excuses, aren't they?

To be honest, he simply could not feel threatened by the Twilight Cult. More precisely, he didn't feel threatened by Karnak, its leader. Having spent time with him, Diogres had gotten a general grasp of the man's nature.

He could not be called a good person by any means. It was true that there was something seriously twisted about him. From his methods, it was clear he treated human decency as something to toss aside at will. He was undeniably dangerous. And yet, when it came to whether this man would truly bring harm to the world...

There isn't even a trace of greed in him. How can someone like that even exist?

***

Compared to Diogres, Karnak moved with far more freedom. Diogres had to manage not only the forces of the Tower of Dawn but also the surrendered forces of the subjugation army. Meanwhile, Karnak didn't even have an army to speak of.

All he had was the undead army provided by the archliches. And so, all he had to do was to order them back to their original tasks. That was all he had to do to complete the postwar clean-up.

"Then, we will take our leave, Lord Karnak."

"Yeah, good work," he responded.

Since the archliches could not show themselves before others, they quietly disappeared one by one. Now, they would return to their respective territories to raise the banner of twilight and prepare to fight against the Cult of the Black God.

Meanwhile, Serati brought up a suggestion. "Since we've come all this way, can't we send Floke back to his homeland?"

The protagonist of this tragic tale was once a massive, adolescent white dragon. It had subsequently transformed into a baby dragon, and now existed in the form of a small cat. Floke let out a cute cry in Serati's arms.

Since she couldn't leave this cat-dragon behind in her domain, Serati had brought him all the way to the Pellantia Mountains. And according to the map, if they went just a bit further east from here, they would reach Dragon Land.

Serati muttered, "At this distance, I think we can take him there and come back without much trouble..."

Karnak looked troubled. "Do we really have to let him go?"

Serati was puzzled. "What? Didn't you say it was too far to take him back to Dragon Land?"

"That's what I said, but..." The truth was, his desire to study the phenomenon far outweighed any inconvenience.

A perfectly healthy adolescent dragon had turned into a baby due to some bizarre disaster. What mage could simply let that pass without investigation?

Serati reminded him. "You're not a mage, remember? You're a necromancer."

"It's still a research job, you know." Scratching the back of his head, Karnak continued, "This isn't a normal situation, so wouldn't you want to find out why? If I'm lucky, I might be able to develop a useful spell out of this."

"What's the use in a dragon getting smaller, anyway?"

Karnak gave her a meaningful look. "It might sound odd, but think of it this way."

What if the dragon hadn't merely shrunk in size, but had actually grown younger?

Serati was surprised. "Oh my!"

Exactly. It could become a terrifying spell of rejuvenation that defied the natural order.

Flames sparked in Serati's eyes. "You're saying we could become young again?"

"And without any significant side effects, too," added Karnak.

Of course, it wasn't without any side effects. The adolescent dragon had lost all the draconic powers he had accumulated as the price of becoming small again.

Karnak didn't bother bringing that up. "Still, it's true he reversed in age. If you think about the future, wouldn't it be best to start researching this now?"

No matter how great the power one possessed, even a martial king or archmage, they could never remain eternal in the face of time. No aura, mana, or divine power could withstand the passage of years forever. Ah, well, there were forces like necromancy that grew even stronger as the years passed, but that was a different story altogether.

Serati quickly came to a decision while hugging Flocke tightly in her arms. "Now that I think about it, letting a child like this loose in that harsh place would be cruel."

"Right?"

They looked at each other and shared a sly grin.

Passing by, Varos tilted his head in confusion at the sight. Sir Serati is starting to match the young master's pace, isn't she?

***

After settling the matter of Flocke, Karnak's party left the Pellantia Mountains and headed for the Zestrad Territory. It was a small group consisting only of Karnak and Varos, Serati and Leven, Lapicel and Milia.

Desteran had kicked up a fuss, insisting on following the saintess, but Karnak had Serati handle it quietly.

—Please take up your sacred duty for the future of twilight.

—Of course! Give me your command!

Thus, Desteran received a new mission. He was to return to the imperial capital, Thea Krahan, to monitor the empire's movements and keep an eye on Diogres. It was prudent since Diogres already knew most of the reality behind the Twilight Cult. He knew the identity of its leader, Karnak, as well as its saintess, Serati, and the archliches who served as the elders.

And he was none other than an archmage, one of the continent's mightiest figures. There was no way to feel at ease regarding the truths he had in his grasp. For now, they were allies and even on fairly good terms, but since the Twilight Cult was rooted in necromancy, it was impossible to know when they might become enemies.

—Therefore, Sir Desteran, for the future of the church, I ask you to bear this risk.

—Understood! For Lady Serakal!

Desteran immediately led Search Black back to the capital. However, he did not act exactly as Karnak had intended. Karnak's original intent was for Diogres to be monitored, but Desteran had interpreted the command differently.

—When Master Diogres realizes the truth of twilight, all will be fulfilled!

With that, Desteran threw himself wholeheartedly into proselytizing. It was the kind of thing Karnak found too exhausting to even bother stopping, so he simply let it go.

Karnak shrugged. "Well, it's still monitoring, isn't it?"

Serati expressed her empathy. "I do feel a bit sorry for Master Diogres."

"We saved his life and restored his position. This much he can endure. Besides, that man is too kind-hearted to turn against us after owing us this much," continued Karnak.

She reminded him. "So you took this good man, killed him, and turned him into your undead subordinate?"

Karnak begged to differ. "That's not it! We made him a subordinate while he was still alive, then he died. The order matters."

Serati questioned, "And what difference does that make?"

"It makes a huge difference from a necromancer's perspective, but there's no point explaining it, is there?" In any case, with the Desteran issue settled, there were no further obstacles for Karnak. "Come on, let's hurry back to the territory. We need to check on our dear Tein."

Leven frowned and asked, "Who is Tein?"

"Who do you think?" Karnak playfully mimed tearing something apart with his hands. "Drel's gone, but Tein's still left, isn't he?"

Leven muttered, "Even if he was an enemy, isn't that a bit much, really?"