Before the regression, a strange mental illness swept through the Raynus territory.
It was later revealed not to be a mental illness at all, but a form of necromancy.
In any case, by the time we arrived at the Raynus territory, it had already spread far and wide.
Like right now, for instance.
“Hmm?”
An old man walking a few steps ahead of us suddenly stared blankly up at the sky.
He looked utterly dazed, prompting Xenia to cautiously speak up.
“Sir, are you all right?”
The old man’s eyes were empty as he slowly turned his head.
“Where am I?”“Pardon?”
“Who… who am I? Ugh, my head… My head hurts so much!”
“P-please get a hold of yourself.”
“Hehehe… Kekekeke!”
The shift was so bizarre it almost seemed like a joke—only for a moment.
But Xenia quickly grasped the situation.
“That body… it’s not yours, is it?”
“Ahahaha! Die!”
“Return it to its rightful owner. The only place the souls of the dead are permitted is within the embrace of the Heavenly One.”
With lightning speed, Xenia drew her holy sword, Caesar, and struck.
Her blade carved a perfect diagonal line across the old man’s body.
He collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Even Neril, who was rarely shaken by anything, stood with her mouth agape.
“Hey. Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“What do you mean no? I just saw it happen.”
“Caesar is a holy sword that can directly strike the soul. This old man was possessed by what you’d call a ghost. I merely severed the lost soul.”
Neril clicked her tongue.
“Live long enough, you’ll see it all.”
“Coming from you, that sounds oddly convincing.”
“I’ll let that comment slide. But more importantly…”
She glanced around.
Someone who had seemed fine moments ago suddenly acting insane in the middle of the street.
Then charging with murderous intent.
And Xenia subduing the man with her holy sword.
Despite the sequence of events unfolding plainly before their eyes, none of the territory’s residents seemed shocked or stirred.
On the contrary, they clicked their tongues and whispered among themselves.
“Another one possessed.”
“Old man Dran… Such a kind soul. And now he’s gone mad like that.”
“What’s to become of our territory? Who’s behind this?”
“Who else could it be? How many necromancers do we even have around here?”
“Lady Mariana would never…”
That was the general gist of the murmurs.
Some were curious about who Xenia was to be able to dispatch a possessed person so effortlessly, but most were leaning toward pointing fingers at Mariana.
At that moment, the old man regained his senses.
“Ugh… What just happened to me?”
“Are you feeling all right?”
“…So it was me this time.”
His tone was filled more with bitterness than shock, as though he’d been through this before.
“You saved me, didn’t you, miss? You must be a Holy Knight—are you with the Order of Light?”
“Yes.”
“Ohhh! Then perhaps this territory can finally shed its reputation as a ghost town!”
His eyes lit up with energy.
He tried to jump to his feet but staggered, his body not fully obeying him.
Xenia quickly intervened.
“You can’t move right away after your body’s been inhabited by the dead. Please rest for a while.”
“I will. Truly… thank you. Please, save this territory.”
Tears welled in the old man’s eyes.
After soothing him a bit more, Xenia returned to us.
“No doubt about it. That was necromancy.”
Necromancers aren’t limited to summoning ancient spirits into their own bodies.
They can do just about anything involving ‘souls’.
Including calling forth roaming spirits across the continent and scattering them into a territory.
Neril chimed in.
“I agree. The real question is, who’s behind it?”
“Judging from what the townsfolk were saying, they already have a suspect.”
“You mean that Mariana woman?”
“Yes. Even just summoning the dead is a violation of divine order. But she didn’t even contain them in her own body—she just released them irresponsibly into the world. This is exactly why I hate necromancers!”
It was the first time I’d seen Xenia drop honorifics.
They say clerics and paladins are sworn enemies of necromancers, after all.
Though, before the regression, Xenia and Adwin got along surprisingly well for supposed enemies.
Neril continued.
“Anyway, Mide, is this the mess you’re going to clean up now—this disease… or what should we call it?”
“Ghost disturbance?”
“Yeah. You’re solving the ghost disturbance?”
“Yeah. And we’d better hurry.”
I turned at the commotion coming from behind us.
The townsfolk were hastily stepping aside.
Neril asked,
“Who is it?”
“Who else? With a phenomenon like this in the Empire, who do you think would come?”
“Oh.”
We both looked at Xenia.
She sighed and muttered,
“The Order of Light.”
The person dispatched by the Order of Light to Raynus territory was a man named Tivre Vane, a mid-ranking officer in the Order.
He spotted us—more accurately, he recognized Xenia instantly, even from across the street.
He had been riding along with an air of arrogance, but upon seeing her, he hurriedly dismounted.
“Lady Xenia? Is that really you?”
“Yes. It’s been a while, Sir Tivre.”
“To think I’d meet the Vice Captain here! I heard you were traveling the continent on some mission.”
“Did my father not tell you the details?”
“No. The Captain said it was classified.”
Typical Dame. Everything related to the Witch of Carnage is top secret.
Xenia only offered a awkward smile.
Tivre, perhaps sensing her reluctance, didn’t press further and changed the subject.
“Regardless, it’s an honor to see you again.”
“Likewise. Where were you headed?”
“To see the lord of this territory, of course. There’s been an incident involving necromancy.”
“Hmm.”
Xenia glanced at me with a knowing look.
I nodded in confirmation.
Seeing that, Xenia said,
“Then I’ll accompany you.”
“What? But you’re on a separate mission…”
“That may be so, but I’m not so shameless as to ignore something this serious. With you and me together, we’ll resolve it in no time.”
“Haha… Yes, of course.”
Tivre didn’t look pleased.
He was probably unhappy about having to share the credit with Xenia.
I smoothly inserted myself between the two of them.
“Shall we go, then?”
“And who are you? This isn’t a place for the likes of you to butt in.”
Ah. Knew he’d say something like that.
But before I could reply, Xenia’s displeasure flared visibly as she cut in.
I was the one being insulted, but it was Xenia who was furious.
“Mind your words, Sir Tivre. These people are my companions.”
“C-Companions?”
“Yes. This is Lord Mide, the Sword master of No Killing. And next to him is… a girl person.”
Neril looked dumbfounded.
“That’s the best you could come up with for an introduction?”
I quickly stopped her and whispered,
“Come on. You really gonna reveal yourself as the Witch of Carnage in front of the Order of Light?”
“No, but still. ‘Girl person’?”
“Would you rather I called you ‘boy person’?”
“Is that even a serious question?”
“So what should I call you then?”
Neril pondered deeply and replied with surprising seriousness.
“How about… young lady?”
Nope. Absolutely not.
Neril decided to use the alias “Celia” for the time being.
I wondered if it might be a name with some significance to her, so I skimmed through the list of names she’d written in blood.
But it wasn’t there.
In the end, I asked her directly.
“Why Celia?”
“It just came to mind.”
“……”
Overthinking everything isn’t always a good thing.
In any case, whether it had been arranged in advance or not, we were soon able to stand before the lord alongside Tivre.
And we weren’t the only guests.
“And this person is?”
Sitting across from the lord was a rather refined-looking noblewoman.
Count Cobalt, the lord of Raynus, spoke up.
“Allow me to introduce her. I believe you may already be familiar with her. This is Lady Mariana Ayn.”
At his words, everyone—including myself—widened their eyes slightly.
Being seventh in the imperial hierarchy, I’d expected someone overwhelming, but the woman before us looked to be merely in her late thirties.
Mariana bowed her head gracefully.
“I’m Mariana. Pleased to meet you.”
“I am Tivre, of the Holy Order of Light.”
“Likewise, I am Xenia of the Holy Order of Light.”
“Mide Mohan. Mercenary.”
“Celia.”
Compared to the others, Neril’s introduction was incredibly curt, but Mariana didn’t seem to mind.
She greeted each of us with a smile.
However, that smile soon faded, replaced by a serious air.
Mariana spoke.
“I’m not good at beating around the bush, so I’ll be direct.”
“……”
“You say you’re here from the Holy Order of Light. Does that mean you suspect me?”
She had warned us in advance, but this was still quite direct.
The count lightly dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief.
Mariana might not hold a title, but with her deep ties to the emperor, she wasn’t someone he could treat lightly.
“How could we possibly suspect someone ranked seventh in the Empire? It is a noble’s duty to report any abnormal occurrences to the Holy Order.”
“I told you—I would take care of this matter. Besides…”
She glanced at Xenia and continued.
“Holy knights often aren’t fond of necromancers like us.”
Xenia quickly tried to say something, but Tivre spoke first.
“We’re simply following proper procedure. If Lady Mariana is innocent, there’s nothing to fear.”
“I never said I was afraid.”
“……Regardless, this ghost incident in the territory can only be explained by necromancy. Could you please elaborate?”
Mariana let out a small sigh and began to explain.
But since I already knew what this was about, I didn’t listen too closely. Instead, I recalled memories from before the regression.
To get straight to the point, yes—Mariana had caused this incident.
And the one who uncovered the truth and resolved it was none other than the famous Kaeld.
A few months from now, Kaeld would welcome Neril as a companion and arrive in the Raynus territory.
There, he would meet Mariana’s son, Adwin Ayn.
By that time, the number of spirits Mariana had summoned had grown, and nearly thirty percent of the territory’s population was possessed.
And those spirits had gone completely mad, forcing even military intervention.
Most of the possessed couldn’t be captured and had to be killed… The territory couldn’t keep up with the number of burials, so the bodies were gathered and burned in mass.
Mariana had already been identified as the culprit and imprisoned. She was being tortured relentlessly, told to send the spirits back to their rightful place.
I only heard about this after I joined the party, but apparently Kaeld had said this to a sobbing Adwin:
“Adwin. Talk to your mother. Ask her to send the spirits back to where they belong.”
“I’ve told you over and over! This isn’t her fault!”
“The Holy Order’s preliminary investigation and all circumstantial evidence point to Mariana as the cause.”
Adwin reportedly cried like a child with snot and tears, and remembering how sensitive he was, I could easily picture the scene.
Then, that night—
Perhaps feeling threatened by the hero’s presence, Mariana blew everything up from within her cell.
She flung open the gates to the underworld and forcefully possessed every single person in the territory with spirits.
At the time, the incident was resolved through a grand divine ritual called “Purification,” jointly cast by Serein and Xenia.
It’s a spell that forcibly returns all curses and abnormalities to their proper state. I’m not well-versed in that field, so I don’t know the details.
But I remember Xenia once saying this in a bitter tone:
“Purification is a spell even Serein and I can barely cast. We got lucky, but there must’ve been a price.”
“A price?”
“I’m not sure what the Celestial God took… but considering I and those around me are unharmed…”
Her expression grew very dark.
“I imagine we lost some of our lifespans.”
After the purification was complete, Kaeld’s party searched day and night for Mariana, but she had vanished without leaving a trace.
It must’ve been a bitter quest in many ways.
The only real outcome was Kaeld’s soaring reputation.
Despite it being a grand spell cast at the cost of Xenia and Serein’s lifespans, the glory went solely to Kaeld—
Just because he was called a hero.
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