Chapter 102
Betrayal.
The weight of that single word was enormous. A heavy silence fell, so deep that even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard.
“…Betrayal, you say.”
Finch didn’t show any particularly strong reaction. Instead, he shook his head slowly as if in pity, then let out a long sigh.
“I’ve been loyal to the Oldwen family for twenty years now. That’s longer than you’ve been alive.”
He looked down at Simon with cold eyes.
“And yet, you, who’ve only been a hired hand for three days, dare question my loyalty?”
“The issue of betrayal,”
Simon shot back without backing down,
“Isn’t something that can be glossed over with sentimental talk about age and time. Only the clear facts matter.”
“So then, what are the clear facts that make you bold enough to call me a traitor?”
“The pirates you colluded with confessed.”
Murmur, murmur, murmur.
The retainers began murmuring with shocked expressions.
“The navy soldiers at Blue Harbor heard the pirates admit it as well.”
“A confession, huh. If you’re a necromancer worth your name, getting the answer you want from a prisoner’s tongue is easier than yawning.”
“Then let’s go to the beach together.”
Simon said mockingly.
“There are plenty of captured pirates. In that short time, would it even be possible for me to tamper with every single one? Let’s go sort out the truth there.”
“This is wartime. With pirates running rampant all across the territory, we don’t have the luxury for that.”
It’s over.
Simon thought so as he slowly lowered his stance.
“Then let’s set the Count down first, and talk. You’re a suspect of betrayal.”
“I thought I made it clear, when it comes to the Count’s security, I won’t compromise.”
“Uncle Finch.”
Held by Finch’s liquefied arm, Shun spoke with a grim face.
“Put me down.”
“……”
A direct order from the Count himself.
Whether he’s a temporary hire or not, as long as he’s suspected of betrayal, Finch had no grounds to refuse. The atmosphere among the onlookers had already shifted.
Finch let out another long sigh.
“…Alright.”
As if resigned, Finch lowered one knee, then shot into the sky.
At the same time, green orbs fell from subspace and sssshhhhh! released clouds of poisonous mist and paralysis gas.
“Ugh!”
“Watch out! Cover your nose!”
Everyone covered their mouths and noses with their clothes. In that moment, Finch’s lower body turned to smoke and leapt over the mansion’s roof.
“H-He really… Finch…”
The butler’s pupils trembled as if unable to accept the reality.
Simon, covering his nose, shouted loudly.
“I’ll pursue Finch! Everyone else, inform the navy and others about his betrayal!”
“……”
The butler bowed deeply with a stiff face.
“Please… Please protect the Count…”
“Yes. Leave it to me.”
Simon immediately stepped onto Darkness and dashed off in the direction Finch had vanished.
* * *
Finch flew a long distance with Shun in tow.
Past the mansion, past the burning city, past the deserted sandy beach, and finally, to the sea.
The sea was still shrouded in thick sea fog. As he flew through the mist, a pirate ship floating silently on the water came into view.
Clunk.
Finch landed on the pirate ship. There were no signs of life aboard, only a thick silence.
Finch roughly tied Shun’s wrists with rope and tossed him onto the deck.
“Ugh!”
“Stay still.”
Shun groaned in pain and propped himself up. As he looked around, he saw that the empty pirate ship was littered with the corpses of dead pirates.
Beneath the corpses, magic circles were drawn. Finch began chanting and activated black magic.
Clack. Clack.
Shun flinched in horror, scooting backward until his back hit a post.
From the corpses, flesh began to separate, leaving behind only bones, undead began to rise in a limp, eerie fashion.
‘S-Skeletons…!’
“Get to work, you garbage.”
Finch ordered. The skeletons responded with clicking sounds as they scattered busily.
They raised the anchor and took the ship’s wheel, dividing tasks in preparation to set sail. It was possible thanks to a trait of skeletons that retained strong memories and habits from life.
“…Whew.”
Finch sat down on a deck chair, his face weary. Watching the skeletons work, Shun turned and spoke.
“Uncle Finch.”
Finch gave a short laugh.
“You still have the nerve to call me uncle?”
“Why are you doing this to me? If I did something to offend you—”
“It’s not about you.”
Finch took a cigar from his pocket and placed it in his mouth.
“The root of all evil is your father.”
“…What?”
“The death of my sister, your mother.”
Finch’s lips twisted in a strange way.
“Do you even know the truth behind that?”
Finch Nikiman.
He was born into a fallen, insignificant noble house, but his talent was nothing short of genius. From a young age, he achieved overwhelming accomplishments, and rumors about him spread throughout the entire Federation—there was even talk that he was the strongest candidate for Keyzen’s “Special Admission Number 1”.
Among the families scrambling to recruit such a genius, the most proactive was the wealthy Oldwen family, based in Blue Harbor.
Finch’s sister married the eldest son of the Oldwen family, and Finch himself signed an exclusive necromancer contract with them early on.
It seemed like a perfect start, a golden path ahead—but where did it all start to go wrong?
One year later, during Keyzen’s admission season, Finch didn’t receive a special admission offer. Not only that, even when he humbled himself to take the regular entrance exam, he failed—as if it were a lie.
Because of that incident, the Oldwen family became a laughingstock in society. They had spent a massive fortune to recruit Finch and even arranged a marriage between their eldest son and a woman from a fallen, nobility-less house, only to end up with a loser who couldn’t even pass through Keyzen’s gates.
In the end, Finch enrolled in Aland, one of the three major necromancer schools ranked below Keyzen.
There, he maintained top-five grades and rose as an elite student, but the disgraceful perception of Finch as a Keyzen dropout, and of the Oldwen family for backing him, never faded.
Still, Finch worked desperately hard. What he held onto was the school transfer system, which allowed students from the three major schools to ascend to Keyzen. He firmly believed that Keyzen would eventually call for him.
And then, one day, as he studied fervently in hopes of transferring to Keyzen, a letter arrived from his sister who had married into Blue Harbor.
[I’m so, so miserable, Finch. Please take me back to our hometown. I want to leave this place.]
Finch could imagine all too well how his sister was being treated in the Oldwen family. He also knew her suffering was because of him. But that only made his anger burn stronger.
[Just hold on a little longer, sis. I’m sure Keyzen will call for me soon. Once I get into Keyzen, both the family and the world will see us differently.]
But no matter how high Finch ranked in Aland, Keyzen never sent for him.
Day after day passed in vain. And just as he was nearing graduation from Aland...
Finch received news of his sister’s death.
The family’s official cause of death was illness. But when Finch attended her funeral held in Blue Harbor, he waited until everyone was asleep, opened the casket, and examined her condition thoroughly.
Bruises from beatings all over her body, likely caused by her husband. And most of all, though hidden beneath thick clothing, a clear ligature mark around her neck.
It was true.
She had taken her own life.
Finch sobbed silently. In front of the casket, he wept without a sound, choking back sobs and begging his dead sister for forgiveness again and again. But once a person dies, they don’t come back.
All necromancers can do is desecrate the breathless corpse, turning it into a skeleton or a zombie. The knowledge he had studied so desperately for three years was useless, this truth plunged Finch into despair once again.
Exhausted from crying, Finch returned to the estate at dawn. And from the head lord’s room, he heard the panting of a man and woman in the throes of passion.
It was horrific.
His sister’s body hadn’t even gone cold. And yet the very man who had driven her to death was now fooling around with a young lady from another noble family, one who had attended the funeral.
Blood trickled down Finch’s chin.
Standing in front of the door, eyes bloodshot, hearing the lewd sounds within, Finch made a vow.
He would ruin this family.
He would take everything from them.
Time passed. The head of the family eventually died of a mysterious illness, and his son Shun inherited the title of Count at a young age.
“Huuhuhu! Hahaha!”
Finch burst into manic laughter.
Watching Shun’s face shift expressions wildly as the story unfolded was immensely entertaining. Seeing Shun’s blank stare made him laugh and laugh.
“Oh, my dear nephew! Do you understand now?!”
Finch shouted.
“I poisoned your father! I am the mortal enemy of your father! And the man who avenged your mother!”
“……”
“And I’ve been waiting for a time like this, when all the Oldwen family’s people would be gathered in one place! There is no escape. Everyone on this island will be eliminated by the pirates, and the Oldwen family will vanish from history! Then the dominion of Blue Harbor and all of the Oldwen estate will belong to me—”
Finch’s face twisted like a demon.
“—Finch Nikiman.”
“……”
“What do you think of my plan, dear nephew?”
Shun closed his eyes tightly. Then he took a deep breath and glared at Finch.
“Your plan… won’t go the way you want.”
“Hm? And why not?”
“Because Simon will come to stop you.”
Pfft!
Finch burst out laughing.
“Right, I suppose calling Keyzen’s Special Admission Number One was the only wildcard in your little plan. But after seeing that guy myself… Hah! Unbelievable. That kind of average guy, with no presence whatsoever, is the Special Admission Number One?”
His eyes filled with fury.
“And I failed the entrance exam?! And that bland little worm is Number One?! Neftis must be old and blind! Damn it! Keyzen! Keyzen! Keyzen! What’s so great about that place?! What’s so great about that guy?!”
Finch ran a hand roughly through his hair and bit his cigar again. A long puff of smoke escaped his mouth, and his expression slowly calmed.
“Fine. It’s all in the past anyway. I’ll take you to the Oldwen ruins, grab the estate’s treasures, and then I’ll kill that Special Admission Number One with my own hands. I’ll kill the pirates too.”
“Simon won’t die!”
Just then, the ship suddenly jolted with a violent thud. Finch looked at the skeleton manning the helm with an annoyed expression.
“Watch where you’re—! Hmm?”
From the dense fog, a massive pirate ship burst out, cutting through the waves.
BOOOOOM!
“Uwaaaah!”
The two ships collided. The deck tilted violently, the hull rocked with a furious quake.
Shun rolled across the deck, while Finch anchored himself using Darkness and rose to his feet.
Taking one last drag from his cigar, Finch flicked the butt into the sea.
Step. Step.
As the shaking from the impact subsided, someone walked forward from the opposite ship’s deck. Finch summoned Darkness and opened his mouth.
“Who goes there?”
Shun stared ahead with both worry and hope.
Whoever it was, the situation couldn’t get worse than this. Maybe it was Simon, here to save him?
‘It’s not Simon.’
Finch thought otherwise.
They had only just parted ways at the mansion. Logically speaking, it was impossible for Simon to hijack a pirate ship and ram it into them in such a short time.
And Finch was right.
The figure who appeared wore a wide-brimmed hat symbolizing a captain, with a thick black beard—
It was none other than Gael, the pirate captain. His gaze turned to Shun, whose hands were tied.
“There you are, Count.”
“Why are you here?”
Finch asked with a scowl.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Gael grinned and raised an arm.
“Bring the Count back without a scratch! Kill anyone who gets in the way!”
“Ooooooh!”
Pirates began rushing over from the opposite ship’s deck. Finch chuckled coldly and summoned Darkness.
‘So they’re betraying me first, huh.’
Finch and Gael had used each other based on mutual interest, but betrayal between them was inevitable in the end.
Gael hated necromancers. And Finch wanted to monopolize the Oldwen estate’s riches.
‘They’re just small fry. Might as well settle this here and now.’
Watching the charging pirates, Finch grinned.
Meanwhile, Gael swallowed nervously and rolled his eyes in anxiety.
‘Phew… good thing I wasn’t found out. Now what do I do next?’
Superb.