Suspected Necromancer

Chapter 3 – Cleaning Up

After my master bought me, we traveled quite a long distance in a carriage and arrived at the royal city.
We didn’t speak at all during the journey. I tried my best to be friendly, but my master responded curtly only when he had to, and ignored me otherwise.
When I asked why he bought me, all he said was:

“To be my disciple.”

A mage’s disciple?
Well, since he might have thought I had Asura blood, it was probably not a bad idea. But I had never even thought about studying magic, and Molly never taught me anything about it, so I felt uneasy.
But since he paid such a high price to buy me, I felt I had to live up to his expectations.

You might be thinking, why would you want to live up to the expectations of someone who owns slaves?

Isn’t it obvious? He paid money for me. A lot of money. Do you know how hard it is to earn that much money? It would take ten years of a knight’s salary to pay for it!
My master saw that value in me.
It was important to me to meet his expectations.

Can a human’s worth really be measured in money?

For us slaves, our value was indeed measured by money.
Of course, that might be the wrong way of looking at people.
But you see, I took pride in passing Molly’s strict education.
I will show you I’m worth even more than what you paid.
So, when I learned I would become a mage’s disciple, I decided to start with appearances and call him “Master.”
He reacted a little strangely the first time I called him that. Only at first. He quickly got used to it.

So, my master took me to his house, a splendid mansion right next to a large graveyard.
It was magnificent, in size at least.
It looked gloomy and ominous, giving off an unwelcoming atmosphere. Most people wouldn’t want to go near such a foreboding place.
You guys are investigating my master, so you already know that, right?
Well, actually, that’s the point.
Such an atmosphere acts as a natural barrier and repels unwanted intruders.
So, it’s normal to feel repulsed by the mansion.
It worked even better because a graveyard was nearby, doubling the ominous feeling. It was also convenient for my master, who specialized in necromancy.

When I went inside, I was shocked.
It was filthy!
Cobwebs were everywhere, human bones were scattered around, and various unidentifiable objects were strewn about. It was the worst.
Even if the outside didn’t look horrifying, nobody would want to enter this house. I’d say even thieves would avoid it.
It was completely different from the mansion Molly always kept clean.
I felt a chill down my spine. I can’t live in a house like this!
So, I immediately told my master.

“I have a favor to ask!”

“What is it?”

“Please let me clean up!”

“If you want to go back… wait, clean?”

My master had a hard-to-read expression.
After glancing around, he muttered.

“…Could this place be dirty?”

“Yes, it is very dirty.”

“…I see. Fine. Go ahead and clean.”

“Do you have any cleaning tools?”

“I do, but I haven’t used them in a long time. They should be somewhere around here.”

And so, I started exploring the mansion.
It was a terrible mess, typical of a gloomy-looking house. On top of that, actual undead creatures, like ghouls and skeletons, were roaming around.
My heart nearly stopped when I saw them for the first time.
And they even attacked me, mistaking me for an intruder!
My master quickly stopped them and made them recognize me as their superior.
So, the undead began to obey my commands.
I thought they could be useful.

Wasn’t I afraid of the undead?

I was scared at first.
But you get used to it after a while. And… the living are the scariest, you know.
I managed to find some cleaning tools and started tidying things up.
But there’s only so much I could do alone. At the time, I was still a young child.
I wanted to borrow the help of the undead.
I tried to command them to do various things, but they couldn’t understand detailed instructions.
Well, they are skeletons, after all, so it can’t be helped. Their heads are literally empty.
But they could grasp general instructions, so I made them carry heavy objects and such.
My master watched this with interest.

“Learning to control undead is the basics for a necromancer.”

He said.
Anyway, it seemed like a good idea for me, a mage’s disciple, to use skeletons.
So, I made use of them.
I gave a big sickle to one of the skeletons, and ordered it to cut the grass.
The garden became tidy in no time. With such a large sickle, the skeleton could easily cut through the vines that covered the mansion.

Oh? You want to know about the sickle?

Well, it’s more accurate to call it a scythe than a sickle, considering the size.
It was a large scythe that you’d hold with both hands. Yes, the handle was about as long as a spear.
It was quite handy; you could use it for various things. It even worked for cutting down tree branches.

You want to know how many skeletons have a scythe like that?

Three. So, be careful if you enter the mansion silently; you might get sliced in two by that scythe.
…Did your face turn blue? Can I continue?

It took a whole month to clean up the mansion.
The place was filthy to the bone. But when all was said and done, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment. It was one of the most satisfying moments of my life.
The hallways were sparkling clean, all the random junk was organized, and the garden was beautiful, with the ghouls buried in the ground.

Why did I bury the ghouls?

They smelled really bad! They’re corpses, you know? Their bodies were rotting, of course they smelled horrible.
I had the skeletons dig holes, had the ghouls get into the holes, and then had the skeletons bury them.
Oh, it’s not like they died… Well, they’re already dead, but they’re still usable, you know?
The holes were shallow, so they could crawl out on their own anytime.
I think they’d come out if someone intruded into the garden. The ghouls were designed to ward off intruders in the first place.
Would you like to see it? It’s quite a spectacle to watch ghouls emerge from the ground.
I think if a knight stepped into our garden, the ghouls would immediately grab their legs from beneath.

Oh, you absolutely won’t enter the garden?

That’s a shame. No one ever comes to our house, so I wanted to check if the ghouls still worked properly.
By the way, I got my master’s permission before burying the ghouls.
I told him I wanted to do it because they smell.
And isn’t it normal for corpses to be buried?
My master said:

“I suppose it’s reasonable for corpses to be buried, but the ghouls still…”

It was clear he was reluctant to bury them, but I pushed through and got his permission anyways.
Plus, having rotten flesh inside the house would attract a lot of flies.
Wouldn’t that be awful?
And the finishing touch was my master’s beard.
You see, I know how to shave a man’s beard.
This is an advanced technique that the best children learned from Molly.
Molly only taught it to children she saw potential in.
Unfortunately for him, Mason was the guinea pig to test on. That’s why he ended up with so many scars on his chin.
I was particularly talented, so I only gave Mason three more scars.
It’s nerve-wracking to use a blade on someone’s skin. But Mason was the most nervous out of everyone.
Well, who wouldn’t be nervous when a child is holding a razor near your throat? It’s only natural.
That’s how I learned to shave someone. It’s a good skill to have, right?
I got the razor I used as a farewell gift from Molly when I was bought.

When I told my master that I wanted to shave his beard, he was surprised.

“Why?”

He asked.

“Because it’s dirty.”

His face seemed like he had just seen the end of the world.
But he didn’t say anything else and let me shave him anyways.
Seeing how well I did cleaning the mansion, he must have trusted me. That made me happy.
So, I cleaned up his beard, and while I was at it, styled his hair as well. He looked much younger than before.
I had thought he was around 60 years old, but he was actually only around 40.
Indeed, men should take care of their appearances too.