The Necromancers
Ch. 45.5:Betting In (5)

Friya POVs

"Can you wait outside for a while? I want to hand these things over to Nek Ryadu to find out what he wants to use these materials for."

"Yes, I'm counting on you, Friya."

"I am too."

"I hope he'll do it to do whatever it takes so we can get to where Regard is."

"Yes, you're right, Sasaki. But don't worry, I'm sure he's fine in that place."

"You're right."

Thanks, Guys.

I smiled at them, they smiled at me in return for the smile I gave them.

I am grateful to have friends like them, friends who are able to understand what I have, what I want, and the determination I dreamed of for so long, I am happy for this life.

"Nek Ryadu, I brought this to..."

My words came to a halt as Nek Ryadu, the elder elf whom you respect standing by the sofa and walking up to me, held and pulled my clothes, he displayed a smile that had meaning in it.

"Welcome, Big One! Come here, there's something I want to discuss with you."

"Good."

Directed to the sofa for us to sit down and talk first, Nek Ryadu who sat down then I followed him, he hit his cane to the floor twice.

I know for what Nek Ryadu did, he was doing nothing but a special banquet for me who wanted to talk at length about what we had been through all this time.

Well, I understand the worry and unease he has, because after all he is an elven elder who is proficient in all fields; Magic, Alchemy, Offering, and so on, as well as other things that other elves could not do could be done by him.

That is its greatness and advantage.

Since then I became an elf who was taken care of and cared for by him since childhood, trained using mana when I was 20 years old, I was also required to practice match magic against him at the age of 80 years, when I look grown up.

Come to think of it, maybe my age at 80 seemed like the girl in the magic academy who turned 18, I guess that's the difference between us elves and humans.

"Did he really help her?"

"Yes, he's helping her."

As my gaze was distracted by the two elven troops assigned to take care of Nek Ryadu's condition carrying two cups of tea on the table, they left without saying anything.

I'm sure they didn't forget to interrupt this conversation from us either because they understood how hard and decisive he was in training our troops, the elves before.

"How's the condition?"

"I don't know for sure, but I don't think it's all a coincidence."

"Yes, you're right."

Nek Ryadu who came down from the sofa, he approached the evaporating cup of tea, blew it a few times and sipped it, I followed what he did to look polite and appreciate their hard work.

"That guy... Necromancer boy, he won't stay silent if his friends are killed by monsters or other demons."

If Nek Ryadu finds out about this, I want to know more about what happened between Fuuya and Regard who met suddenly.

Whether it was as important as keeping it a secret from us or not, I was curious about his arrival in the conversation that Fuuya had said before.

"By the way Nek Ryadu, do you know about–"

"[Soul Contract], that is the power that is able to make the form that restrain one's soul in it become the form of the owner of his ability."

"....."

Soul Contracts? Whatisit? I don't know about that at all.

"He who revives lost souls, binds his soul by contract, and at will treats them as puppets in his hands, that is the dark side of the Necromancer class."

"Impossible..."

I... Am I really on the right path?

Following Regard, helping him to help anyone who needs our help, are our actions truly commendable to my liking?

Could it be that I was being used, lied to, and everything was fake? No, that's impossible isn't it!?

L'm...

"Pease yourself, Big One!"

"....."

In front of me, Nek Ryadu who looked at me with a face full of confidence and seriousness, calmed me from the despair I felt before.

Anxiety, I think that's what's enveloping my heart.

"Indeed, Necromancer is a cursed class that can cause the user of the ability to turn into a monster or demon, but on the other hand, it can serve as a light of hope for anyone who can control it."

Hope and emptiness? Both are in the Necromancer class.

I-i understand. In other words, Regard who has two sides that we do not have, I think that he has fully felt the darkness from within his body that makes him able to see the light of hope from his own class.

If Regard had been completely swallowed into the darkness, he might have killed us a long time ago, no, rather he would have been possessed by the darkness that made him turn into a demon or a monster, or even destroyed overtime like Nek Ryadu told me since I was a kid.

Ever since I was a child, he told me about the story where there were some elves blessed with the Necromancer class, some elves who experienced unexpected things when receiving the class.

Blasting his body into nothing, becoming a demon, turning into a monster, it was a scary story that I often heard from Nek Ryadu's stories.

I asked him once in a while, and he answered him frankly like this to me.

"It was neither a fairy tale nor a mere story, it was the reality of the Necromancer class, a cursed class that no one race, except high-level demons, ever had."

That's all she said to me when I was 100 years old, which can be considered if I'm an adult like a woman in general in the human race.

"But, the Necromancer boy you know has a difference that is far from the written history so far. His existence in helping people, helping anyone who needs help, his humility, his kindness, his concern for the around, his, I'm sure he'll grow up to be a reliable man capable of bringing the dark history of the Necromancer class to new heights."

"Is that really sure?"

"Yes. Didn't you know him long ago, the Great One? You who have always wandered with her all this time, I'm sure you understand her nature which made you decide to leave the elf race to get the new life you want."

"That's..."

I can't avoid her words because they're all true.

The reason I left the elf race, my own race, I planned to start a new life as Friya Furuhiora who had given up my status as an elf to be able to wander to every place around the world, he said, I just wanted to do that.

The other reason why I wanted to leave was that I regretted accusing the man who I thought was a threat to the Elf Village, he said, it turned out that he was the man who saved my life and the lives of the other elves in the Elf Village with all his strength.

That's what keeps me following him.

But ever since I started to understand and know him, he was completely different from the people around him. Usually most of those who cared about his strength and excess were oppressing the weak helpless as they pleased, that was what I saw in Farihiora City before, he did nothing to achieve his own strength and ability.

Even when Reita explained this to me, she said that there was one adventurer who intended to look for trouble against her, that man, that man, Regard did not retaliate for being mistreated in public which made him humiliated by the other adventurers.

If it was me, I might have slashed it or eliminated it easily, without the slightest mercy.

But what I heard from Reita was that Regard was just smiling normally, behaving normally without any anger bubbling up on him, even as Reita was about to give him a warning and a lesson, Regard prevented him because he didn't want to look for trouble against anyone.

Really deh. He was an interesting guy to follow.

"Yes right? You understand it more than me."

"Yes, you're right. I'm really sorry and apologise to her later for doubting what I've decided in the first place."

"Yes, I hope that you can be frank with him and release all the self-esteem that you have from now on. Do you understand, Big One?"

"Yes, I get it. Thank you for your input on me, Nek Ryadu!"

"It's okay. Think of it as the advice of an old elf like me."

If only I had not had him, what would my fate be, I do not know.

Taken care of and taken care of by him, trained constantly from the young in the use of magic, controlling the mana in the body, he did it for me, as well as the determination I had to follow a man completely different from history, all of that slowly filled my constantly replayed mind.

If I had thought from the beginning that I had not been taken care of by Nek Ryadu, what would be my future like now.

Will I be able to live life like myself in the present or not, I doubt it. Because overall, the elves are a race that humans are after to become slaves, I might end up as a slave if I don't have the fate of meeting Nek Ryadu.

"By the way, Nek Ryadu, what will you use on those ingredients?"

"This? I'll use it for my daily needs."

"Everyday needs? Could it be you..."

"Yes, I want this to make it easier for me to do everyday activities in this house."

As expected, he couldn't possibly use the materials we've earned so much just to get us moved to the Regard's place.

Haha...it seems like I was expecting more from him so I knew that he would consider rare essential ingredients that are hard to come by just for his personal benefit.

Though all this time I knew for his nature like this, but I did not expect that he really bullied all of us.

"Well, I know you might be upset with me. But know something, Big One, I want you and your friends to come together the next morning so I can open the portal to where it belongs."

"really?"

"Yes. In exchange for my apology to your friends, I would like to invite you to stay at the Slum Camp for an entire night so that we can provide a festive party to welcome new guests to our place."

"Is it okay?"

"Yes, I hope you enjoy our welcome later."

"Joe Ryadu..."

Even though he has such a shitty nature towards us elves before, I really appreciate his decision in acting in the future to be able to keep their feelings in check.

Well, I couldn't possibly tell them about this because they would be hurt by his attitude, I would keep it a secret for my sake and Nek Ryadu, as well as the Slum Camp that the elves had, he said, I want to avoid chaos by keeping everything a secret from them.