Chapter 8: The Templar's Saint

Few months have passed since Viscount Grease died. His territory is now managed by a Steward who is an agent of the Cult under my command. Although he died before we could fulfill each of our part of the bargain, I still could make use of his assets that I've now seized. I'm going to build a dungeon in his territory later. Also, I wonder if I should save his daughter's life as gratitude for him generously leaving his land to me. If she could be of use to me then why not.

I've attended classes at the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy for few months now. School has been quite tedious and boring but as a prodigy I can't slack off. I need to maintain perfect score in all subjects. As a handsome young man from a Ducal family, not to mention being a prodigy who once defeated Iris in a spar, I was already famous and popular in school, though most people I was forced to interact with are sycophants.

I don't see many people of note in the school, besides one girl, Claire Kagenou. At first glance she is your typical black haired girl with quite the talent in swordsmanship. That alone wouldn't interest me. What interests me is her surname, Kagenou… the same surname as Minoru-kun. What manner of coincidence is this? Is she Minoru-kun reincarnated? I observed her secretly and noted her behaviour to be quite the opposite of Minoru-kun. She is a showoff, unlike Minoru-kun who hides his strength. Not to mention she is a brocon with how much she talks about her younger brother who will attend the school in 2 years.

When her brother comes, I'll have to observe him too… no. That would be unnecessary. Minoru-kun died before me so if he was reincarnated into this world alongside me, he should be older than me, not younger.

"Hey, you! Quit stalking me! It's creepy!" Claire said, completely uncaring of our status. She is probably the only person in school who doesn't behave like a bootlicking sycophant to me.

"Now now, Miss Kagenou. That's rude. I wasn't stalking you. I was merely observing your skills. Can't I be interested in a fellow prodigy?"

"Save it! I'm not interested in you!" With that she left. I find her attitude to be so refreshing.

"Such a rude girl! Why are you so interested in her, Mr. Normann?" Said Background Character A whose name I never bothered learning.

"Even if she's talented, she shouldn't be that rude to Lord Normann! After all, she's just a Baron's daughter from the boonies!" Said Background Character B.

I left the scene while they continue gossiping about her.

For once I could go out to secure Possessed victims. I was accompanied by Gilfried and a few other knights. All of us wearing black hooded robes and they wore jawless skull masks while I wore full skull mask, the same mask I've been wearing for years now. My robe has been upgraded to be more stylish and was enchanted to aid my spellcasting and provide me with magical defense and resistance. Behind me floats 4 enchanted mythril swords that I control with magic. They are now known as the Reaper Squad, a branch of the Cult that answers to me.

Our current mission led us to the Great Road leading to the City State Alliance. We are to secure a Possessed from our bandit contacts before anyone else can steal it from us, be they the "Shadow Garden" or the Templars.

Once we arrived at the rendezvous point, we meet the bandits guarding a huge carriage containing our desired cargo.

"G-Good evening, Lord Necromancer. Y-You arrived early!" Said the bandit leader nervously.

"The cargo."

"Y-Yes…. The cargo…. We went through a lot of trouble procuring this Possessed for you. Surely we deserve-"

I threw him a bag of gold to shut him up.

"The cargo."

"W-Wait! We need to count the money first!"

"Do not waste my time any further. Gil. Seize the cargo."

"By your command."

My team moved quickly to seize the carriage and found the cage inside empty.

"It's empty, Lord Necromancer!"

Empty!? How unexpected! But I have to act cool! "I knew it."

"Tch! The cover's blown! Everyone! Attack!"

The bandits brandished their swords and their guns and attacked us clumsily but my Reaper Squad were trained and armed personally by me. In just few minutes, all but the leader of the bandits were slain.

"As expected of you, Lord Necromancer. So you told us to meet them early because you foresaw this betrayal." Said Gilfried. I actually didn't predict this betrayal. I just wanna finish this quickly so I can return to my dorm in the Capital before morning but I'll roll with it if it makes me look cool.

Gilfried brought the leader of the bandits before me so we can interrogate him.

"Now speak. Who paid you to betray us?" Asked Gilfried.

"Ugh…. Heh… It's too late for you… They're here!"

"The Templar is it?" I can sense a group of armed men approaching and from their white and red plague doctor uniforms I deduced their identities.

"T-Templar!? So they intend to kill us!?" Shouted Gilfried.

"So the Templar has marked me as heretic due to my magic. They feared me. Heh heh heh."

The Templars emerged from the darkness, surrounding us.

"Halt! You are completely surrounded! Surrender and you will be allowed to die without further suffering, heretics!" Shouted one of the Templars.

"Heh heh heh. See? You're finished, Necromancer!" Shouted the bandit leader who I then proceeded to behead with my floating sword.

"How generous of the Templars to provide me with fresh meat." Using my necromancy, I reanimated the corpses of the bandits that my squad just killed, even the bandit leader whom I just beheaded. The Templars were surprised even though they should've known of this particular skill of mine if they chose to target me. Perhaps they are surprised by the result? My necromancy tends to cause even fresh corpses to rot rapidly due to it consuming some leftover life force that the corpse has in order to reanimate them, which makes my zombies look more decayed than they would otherwise.

"S-So it's true! He can really reanimate the dead! No wonder the Bishop declared him a heretic and wants to eliminate him!" The Bishop, eh?

"Attack!" Shouted a Templar. His comrades then charged in to engage my squad and my zombies in combat. As expected of special unit owned by the Church, they fought the zombies until they discovered that the zombies can't die when their vitals are damaged. Stabbing and slashing won't work. Their brains are their only weakness and currently nobody knows it. They also struggle against my men.

"Ugh! They are stronger than I thought!"

"Uagghh!"

One by one my squad cut the Templars down, though they suffered casualties as well. Those who are killed, both Reapers and Templars, immediately joined the ranks of my undead soldiers and began attacking the still living Templars.

"Uaaagh! What are you doing!? I'm on your side!"

"Graahhhh…!"

"Uwaaaahhhh!"

It looks like my men are winning… until a powerful presence emerged from the dark.

"I see. They are stronger than I thought." Said the figure of a platinum blonde haired elf girl wearing white decorated dress and a black mask covering her eyes. An entourage of Templar reinforcements followed behind her.

"Lady Saint! You have arrived!"

"Please regroup. We need to renew our assault as one!"

"Yes!" The scattered Templars obeyed and retreated to her side.

So this is the Saint of the Holy City of Orum that I've heard so much about. So she's part of the Templars. This development is not bad. I wonder if she'll be able to quench my thirst for combat.

"Behold, the mercy of the Goddess Beatrix, heretics! Behold and repent! So that your souls may yet receive salvation!" Shouted the Saint.

"Repent? You're overstepping your boundaries, Saint."

"Lay down your weapons, heretic! Let the goddess show you the path to redemption!"

"Heh heh heh. Make me."

"I see. Then I'm afraid death is your only salvation. Attack!"

The Templars charged again, this time attacking as one. I had the Templar zombies intercept them before my own squad began their attack. I faced the Saint alone and she brandished her blade.

"You're trembling, Saint."

"A-Am I? Your aura is indeed terrifying. But I have the Goddess on my side!"

"Really? Heh heh heh. Your goddess will not save you. For I am the Necromancer, Ruler of Death and Master of your fates!"

I sent my four flying swords to attack her. Despite how talented she is with the blade and how formidable her magic power, that gave her superhuman strength despite her small frame, is, she still struggles against four flying enchanted swords at once. Despite her best efforts of parrying the blades, my flying swords sliced through any opening she makes, making her suffer several slash wounds in our brief exchange.

"What's wrong, Saint? Where is your goddess?"

"Ugh! She is… with me…!" The Saint raised her blade to the sky and generates red lightning from it which struck me. As the dust from the impact was cleared, I emerged unharmed.

"I-Impossible!"

"Hmph. Is that all? You bore me."

I stabbed her stomach with one of my enchanted sword, purposely avoiding any vital areas.

"Hyaaaghh…!"

"We come for a Possessed. But since there are none, you will do."

"S-Stop! I am the goddess' agent!"

"From now on you'll be my experimental subject. Welcome aboard No. 046."

I activated a lightning spell on the sword to electrocute her.

"HYAAAAAHHHH!" After that last scream, she eventually lost consciousness.

"My lord. Report! All hostiles have been eliminated!" Reported Gilfried.

"Good. Let us go back."

"Umm… Is it okay to take the Saint with us? It will cause a great uproar if the Saint of Orum suddenly disappears from public eyes!"

"And that will be their fault for messing with us. Of course if they want her back, they need to prepare appropriate tribute to me."

"To think you didn't even fear the Church. As expected of you, my lord!"

With that out of the way, I immediately reanimated the fallen, both Templar and Reapers, and we all went back to our secret base in Everick, taking the unconscious Saint with us.

Author's Note:

Now you see why I had written Claude to be older than Cid. It's to make him dismiss the fact that Cid is Minoru as impossible because he thought Minoru should be older than him in the TEiS world. Gotta protect Cid's mobness after all. How is he older than Cid? Time flows differently between Earth and TEiS world and Claude was reincarnated through mysterious means that I won't reveal just yet.

Can't have the Necromancer face Shadow Garden yet so I had him fight Victoria when she was still in the Templar. Her appearance and skill, along with the Templar's design and lore are based off the Master of Garden game.

J-More: Wow, you are fast.

I'm looking forward to the Zenon arc, in another note, did you make Claude older than Cid so whe can have a good bromance?

Answer: Well, I currently have lots of free time so I write as much as I can before I don't have time or mood to write anymore.

Zenon Arc will come, though I intended to fill in some chapters before we have another time skip, hence I'm including some Master of Garden content into my story.

The reason Claude being older than Cid is revealed in this chapter.