The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 165 – Chelnobok’s Request

The priest of the death lord’s cult began to speak,

「The previous lord was a scholarly magician type…even so, he was willing to sacrifice anything for his research.」

「I see.」

A magician like a mad scientist.

There are magicians like that though, sometimes.

「So what kind of research?」

「Immortality.」

「…how ironic.」

I have no idea why a death god would make someone like that a follower.

The death god does not allow anyone to become immortal.

「It’s impossible to know what a god is thinking…」

Timisoara had said that before.

The gods traverse the land, and maybe they’re just playing with us.

No, maybe, maybe they see the effects of everything thousands, maybe millions of years into the future.

They might have intentions that transcend this continent, maybe even this planet.

Either way, a human can;t understand their thoughts or intentions.

So I asked,

「I thought that the reaper didn’t allow anyone to pursue immortality, so after you became lord, did he give up on the previous lord’s research?」

「He hasn’t changed his intentions at all. In fact, his desire for it has only multiplied.」

The priest said slowly, shaking his head.

「This religion has always been about the simple worship of the death god. The previous lord changed this far too much.」

Vi-Vi looked at him, confused,

「The death god it also called the evil god. I can’t believe the worship is simple.」

「I understand your thoughts, as all humans must die. So death always seems terrifying.」

「That’s true.」

「That’s why we try to live without regret so that we can die at any time. We believe that that is the teaching of the reaper.」

「Hmmm.」

Vi-Vi folded her arms and thought it over.

It was quite simpler than I had imagined. A statement that summed up a philosophy quite simply.

Because the death god worship was so old, this must have made it quite stable in doctrine.

「In order to achieve immortality, the previous lord was willing to do anything. He ran out of money, and so took the previous Demon Lord under his wing, and when he ran out of materials, he taught secrets to the Great Demon.」

「No honor at all.」

「Not just that, he spread zombification, and began creating his own zombie army.」

「That’s why it’s completely evil…we have to put an end to it.」

Cruz scowled.

She was the ruler of this domain. If there was someone churning out zombies here, she had the duty to stop it.

「But since I don’t think he’s doing this any longer…」

「You had that zombie dragon behind your building.」

「That was his doing. It was so strong that we were unable to destroy it.」

「A dragon zombie, not just that, a zombified high great dragon. It is hard to kill.」

『Thank you, Alfredora. Cruz. Vi-Vi. Fuzzies.』

「You’ve helped us much.」

Chelnobok and his underling both said their thanks. The priest bowed again.

Chelnobok’s upper half flattened, which I assume is a bow in the slime world.

Cruz walked over and petted Chelnobok. Chelnobok seemed to shake, pleased.

Then the “fuzzies” Femm and Moofy went over and sniffed Chelnobok.

「PIGIGI」

「So, Chelnobok, when did you become the lord?」

『Just a bit ago.』

「The master became a lord last month. Before, he was a research experiment, in other words, a research animal. I was the one in charge of caring for him.」

『Yuuuuup.』

The priest continued.

Then one day, the old lord disappeared.

After that, the lord status moved to Chelnobok.

From then, the slime decided that everyone should go back to simply worshiping the reaper.

「Did you quickly notice that you had become the lord? Al and I didn’t notice at all.」

「There was a message.」

「From the death lord?」

「Yes. To the master, and to all of the followers as well.」

「Wow, so what did it say?」

The priest looked over at Chelnobok.

He was probably worried that one can’t just say what a god proclaims to outsiders that easily.

Chelnobok bounced a bit.

『Go ahead.』

「Sire.」

The priest stood straight and closed his eyes. These were the god’s words, after all.

No need to be lacking in respect.

「My new lord and follower Chelnobok, take the old teachings of death among my followers.」

He then breathed deeply, and opened his eyes.

「Those were the words of our God.」

「That was quite the direct command. My God says absolutely nothing to me.」

「Nothing from mine either.」

「Right?」

「The reaper is much more…aggressive with his followers than the magic or holy gods…even so..」

It would have been better that Chelnobok was the lord in the first place.

Not some immortality seeking mad scientist. You could understand that easily.

What did 「take the old teachings」mean, though.

I thought about it.

But you couldn’t just say something like that in front of a pious priest like him.

「But, why not first…」

「So you mean, since you got that message, it also meant someone had to defeat the previous guy as well.」

Cruz was about to say something rude, so I covered her with my own loud voice.

As I looked over, Moofy and Femm were both poking the slim with their front paws and hooves.

Shiggy might have wanted to play as well, as she was trying to get out of my pouch.

Shiggy definitely wanted to feel what that death lord felt like. She was a baby, after all.

「Yes, that is true.」

『Please!』

「The previous lord has transformed himself into a powerful immortal. It is not easy for adventurers to defeat him.」

Cruz patted Chelnobok as she said,

「Can’t you beat him yourself?」

『It’s tough.』

「The master can take weak undead and quickly send their souls to paradise. The master can also do so with strong undead by touching them. That is his right as death lord.」

「So you can’t beat him?」

The priest shook his head.

「The previous lord is not only undead, but has his own undead army.」

『We can’t get close.』

「Even if we do send the souls of his undead to the skies, he’ll attack us while we do it.」

『And he’s strong.』

「The fighting power of the master is not so strong. He tried many times to kill that zombie dragon, but failed and was driven away.」

『Scary breath.』

Chelnobok did something like a shiver. You could at least see it blubber.

The dragon zombie WAS very strong.

If you had low attack ability, it would be hard to touch it.

The priest bowed again. As did Chelnobok.

「Please aid us. All you need to do is bring the master to him.」

『Please.』

I decided to help as they were in such a fix.

Having a zombie army meant a lot of trouble.

「Let’s do it.」

「And the arrow is of the previo…what? You’ll do it?」

The priest looked up at us in surprise.

「Sure. Right, Cruz and Vi-Vi?」

「Leave it to us.」

「No problem.」

「And you Femm and Moofy?」

「Wuff!」

「Moo moo!」

「Ryaa! Ryaa!」

Shiggy loudly agreed with the rest of us.