It was like the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls, waiting there day after day, her entire existence seemingly dedicated to the moment of kindling the flame.
“Don’t you feel scared, staying in the graveyard every night until sunrise?”
“Not scared! Because everyone buried here is my family. The one I knocked out with a shovel earlier was my uncle.”
“He loved patting my head when he was alive. Over there is sister Belle, and over there is auntie Clark…” Because it’s a continuation of family, so even corpses aren’t scary?
Yet, even for someone as cheerful as Vivian, an unshakeable gloom lingered on her face.
After all, most members of the Draco Family were already resting underground.
In this vast, even excessively large mansion, only the Draco sisters remained now.
“More than fear, the most painful thing is boredom. Time passes too slowly… But today, having you, Erika, to play with me, it’s finally not so boring!”
“Being with Miss Vivian, I’m not scared either. That’s nice.”
“Really? Well, since we’re idle anyway, how about a game of chess? Wait a moment—”
Watching Vivian’s innocent, romantic retreating figure, the girl had to revise her expectations and thoughts.
The one who would become the mad Necromancer should be the older sister, Miona… probably… No.
The story had already taken a major turn. Something like that wouldn’t happen.
It wouldn’t…
Rustle, rustle. Scrape, scrape.
Her sensitive pointed ears twitched. Erika heard the sound of something moving across the soil somewhere in the cemetery, like digging into the ground, or like nails scratching sand.
Vivian? She had already gone inside.
Then there was only one possibility left—a grave robber.
Her thoughts spun. The chill seeping from the graveyard seemed to slip into her collar, running down her spine and spreading through her body.
But thinking about it the other way, if she caught the culprit grave-robbing here, wouldn’t Vivian be spared the daily toil of guarding the cemetery?
That would surely improve her mental state, further preventing her mental deterioration and descent into a major boss… Thus, the Draco Family wouldn’t decline, and the harmony between the Noel Kingdom and The Holy See might also be maintained longer.
[Calmly assessing the situation! Gained experience for the talent ‘Calm Thinking’. All Job Experience Points +5]
Her thoughts concluded there. Erika, already gripping Cielciel’s Tail Wand in one hand and holding a lantern aloft in the other, slowly advanced, illuminating the darkness.
“Who’s there? I advise you not to move.”
As soon as the words fell, a blurred, shadowy mass-like object in the distance trembled violently, then hurriedly hid its form behind a tombstone.
This didn’t seem like the behavior of a bloodthirsty beast or a mindless undead… Her crimson eyes narrowed, gripping the wand in her hand tighter, ready to chant an attack spell at any moment.
But before that—”Miss Vivian! Something’s wrong here! Come quick!”
Rustle, rustle!
The shadow seemed startled by this plain and simple Vivian Summoning Technique, scrambling on hands and feet to flee.
But Erika certainly couldn’t let the only current lead vanish. The girl aimed the wand’s end at the panicked fleeing back and chanted loudly:
“Ember—!”
Grave robber? I’ll make sure you don’t return alive!
Whoosh—! Once again, immense wind pressure enveloped the surroundings. A fist-sized air bullet shot from the heart-shaped end of the wand.
Although the power of this casting was lower, its stability was greater, and the recoil correspondingly reduced!
Perhaps because it was the second time with wand assistance, the air bullet tore through the air along her aimed trajectory, accurately hitting the grave robber’s back.
Thump! “Ah!”
Not only was there the short, sharp crack of Ember, but also an extremely shrill, pig-slaughtering-like scream that echoed throughout the cemetery.
“Erika! What happened? Someone screamed really terribly!” Vivian, clutching a chessboard, ran out from some direction.
“No time to explain! It seems a grave robber appeared!” “What!? Where?”
“Over there, I already knocked him down!” “Let’s go!”
Erika and Vivian ran one after the other towards the collapsed shadow. Sure enough, there was a humanoid figure draped in a black cloak.
When Vivian lifted the outer cloak, the horrifically decayed corpse revealed underneath made Erika frown.
“This… did I kill it?”
“No, it’s been dead for a long time. There were no signs of life from the start. This is a zombie. It seems yesterday’s grave robber intended to use a zombie to steal corpses from our mansion this time.”
As if it were routine, Vivian, without a trace of fear or discomfort, reached out towards the corpse. “There should be clues about the grave robber on it.”
Then, under Erika’s admiring gaze, she rummaged through the corpse and actually pried open the rotten mouth with her bare hands, yanking out a bluish tongue.
“It’s here!”
There was something that could be called a mark branded on it. The edge of a circular pattern was surrounded by some text, but… this shape… it seemed she’d seen it many times somewhere.
The Noel Remnant Magic Circle?
A cross shape with something like a door frame drawn below it, with text beside it… It seemed hard to make out?
Before Erika could observe closely, the corpse suddenly and eerily self-ignited, quickly turning into a pile of ashes. The clue ended there once again, with no further trace to be found.
Though her Mage level secretly rose to level five, which was an unexpected gain.
“Wah! No evidence! You thief who digs up other people’s family corpses! If I catch you, you’re finished!”
Vivian, furious at this high-speed severance method, let out a low growl. But the girl beside her had already roughly guessed something from that brief glimpse.
Since the rune was now imprinted in her mind, she might as well ask someone knowledgeable. She should be able to get an answer.
Coincidentally, the academy she attended had many experts in this field who could probably answer her question.
“Phew, anyway, thanks to you, Erika! Thank you for protecting my family!”
With a “Wah!” Vivian suddenly hugged Erika tightly. “I didn’t expect you to be much stronger than you look?”
But the silver-haired girl’s breath puffing against Erika’s neck made her shrink her neck, feeling ticklish. Their two pairs of buns, one large and one small, deformed under the squeeze and Vivian’s bouncing. Seemingly to express gratitude and joy, Vivian even absentmindedly gave two “mwah, mwah” kisses on Erika’s neck.
Erika thought gloomily: ‘She looks about the same size as me… Is she the type who looks smaller in clothes?’
“Ah! S-sorry!”
Suddenly realizing she might have gotten a bit too excited, Vivian released the girl in her arms, her face slightly flushed. “I’m sorry for suddenly hugging you. And, the neck thing was because…”
“It’s fine, no need to be so concerned.”
“People always feel uneasy and uncomfortable around members of the Draco Family. Everyone says it’s because we’re cursed, hehe… Oh, and I just touched dirt and a corpse…”
Vivian awkwardly stuck out her little tongue. Her smiling face was cuteness overload, and with the bonuses of kindness and innocence, she was undoubtedly a little angel.
“Actually, I just wiped my hands on your clothes, hehe…”
If she saw a girl like this in the future being killed by the so-called Irreversible Fate, she would feel despair too…
“Well then, before big sister wakes up, let’s play chess!” “Okay.”
The night in the graveyard was long. Unnamed small beasts and birds chirped and called. Occasionally, scraping sounds could be heard from coffins buried underground. But the girl wasn’t as scared as she was at first.
Playing chess with Vivian was more novel and fun than imagined.
“I sacrifice three Auzo Pawns to summon the Heavenly Descending Soldier! With this, Erika, your Green Rose Pawns are completely wiped out!”
Except the rules were a bit strange.