Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

To start with the conclusion: what I did can’t even be called reckless.
First off, I used way too much gunpowder.
I didn’t want to risk underdoing it and failing, so I just used the whole stockpile… but yeah, definitely overdid it.

“—Huh!?”

Looks like I blacked out for a second. When I came to, I was lying right in front of the castle gate.
The iron grate was completely blown away—nothing left of it. I guess it had rusted in spots and was weaker than expected.
Unfortunately, all the skeleton soldiers nearby were wiped out. Scattered in pieces.
If I had been human, I definitely wouldn’t have survived either.

The original plan was to break the gate and flood in with skeleton soldiers, but that’s obviously shot to hell.
We can’t launch an assault without taking the gate first, or our side’s gonna suffer.
Right now, I’m the only one who can charge in. So I’ve got no choice.
I leapt into the gate without hesitation.

The centaur cavalry will probably follow soon. All I need to do is buy some time.
So I shouted at the enemy soldiers who were still on the ground from the shockwave:

“Let those far away hear it in sound! Let those nearby behold it with their own eyes! I am Veit! A general of the Demon Lord’s Army! If you do not fear death, come and claim my head for glory!”

I’d always wanted to try announcing myself in enemy territory, and the line I practiced in my past life finally came in handy.

But then things started getting weird.
Their troops, clearly civilian militia, screamed when they heard my name.

“Veit!?”
“It’s Veit the Massacrer!”
“The Slayer of Four Hundred is here!”
“We’re done for!!”

They threw down their weapons and ran away screaming.
What the hell is “Veit the Massacrer”?

And that’s how the battle for Tübahn ended.
Civilians and volunteers, upon hearing that “Veit the Slayer of Four Hundred” had broken the gate, fled out the north gate—only to be surrounded and captured by waiting skeleton soldiers.
Even the elite mounted archers fighting outside were devastated by the rampaging centaurs and surrendered almost immediately.
I… haven’t even fought anyone yet…

And so, the centaur cavalry under Firniel took control of the industrial city Tübahn with barely any losses.

“Well, that ended kinda anticlimactically,” Firniel muttered as we walked through the city. She’d just finished getting dressed.

“Next time, just don’t take your clothes off. It freaks out other races.”
“Wait, really!? I’m the one who should be freaked out!”

Since we’d just taken over the city, centaur soldiers were patrolling tightly around us.

Still, all the whispers I heard were about me—and all filled with fear.

“That’s the werewolf general who killed four hundred alone…”
“They say he blew the gate apart in one hit…”
“They say a full volley from the crossbow squad couldn’t even scratch him…”

I can hear all of it, you know. Werewolf ears are good.
But seriously, aren’t these rumors getting a little too wild?

“By the way, Senior, what was that earlier?”

Firniel was obviously referring to the “Dragon’s Breath” I used.
But that’s top military secret. No way I can tell her. Kurtze, walking beside me, was even giving me a silent “keep your mouth shut” look.
So I had no choice but to say:

“That was a secret werewolf technique.”
“That was awesome!”
“…Yeah, sure.”

Good thing she’s kind of an idiot.

Still, what’s that rotten stench I’ve been smelling for a while now?
As we approached the governor’s manor, we entered the city square—and there, I saw something disturbing.

In the corner of the square, surrounded by an iron fence, was a raised scaffold for executions.
A corpse hung dried and rotting on a crucifix. Probably a major criminal.
That alone wasn’t surprising—Lüenheit still conducts executions for murder every few years.

But what really caught my eye was below the scaffold.
A man, shackled by chains and manacles, lay barely breathing.
The stench came from the slop and filth thrown around him, making the area reek even worse.

As I stopped walking, the centaur guards immediately surrounded me tightly.
Firniel also stopped and looked up at me.

“What’s wrong, Senior?”
“…Just something I need to check.”

I walked closer to the scaffold.

The shackled old man was clothed in filthy rags. Judging from the bruises and wounds all over his body, he’d been stoned and beaten. With the unsanitary conditions, many of his injuries were infected.
He was lying motionless, his strength almost completely gone. But he was still, barely, breathing.

“Senior, do you… know him?”
“No… I mean, it couldn’t be.”

Just in case, I called out the name I was thinking of.

“Priest Jucht?”

The moment I said it, the old man slowly opened his eyes.
He was unrecognizable at first, but those eyes—there was no mistaking them.
It was Priest Jucht, the high priest of the Sonnenlicht Faith in Lüenheit.

“Ve…i…”

His lips cracked and trembled. He didn’t even have the strength to speak anymore.
Without thinking, I grabbed the iron fence and ripped it out.

“Priest Jucht!”

Using my werewolf strength, I tore the crude iron fence apart and tossed it aside.
Holding my breath against the stench, I pulled Priest Jucht up and snapped the chains and manacles with brute force.

“Hang in there! What the hell is this!?”

Kurtze, reading a nearby signpost, answered me calmly.

“It says, ‘Berith the Rebel is executed and stripped of his captaincy. Jucht the Traitor shall be displayed as a warning until death.’”
“A betrayer!?”

Jucht, a traitor? No way. If anyone turned a dagger towards, it was us—the Demon Lord’s Army.

Looks like the people of Tübahn pinned the blame for the failed Lüenheit liberation on the city guard captain and Jucht.
To be fair, they were responsible. And I can understand the rage of Tübahn’s citizens, whose friends and family were killed. What they did was illegal, after all.
But still, did they have to go this far with an old man?

“Hear me, humans!”

I howled. People who had been watching from the shadows flinched and ducked out of sight. But I knew they were still listening.

“Is this your justice!? Capture an unarmed old man, chain him up, and leave him to rot! That’s what satisfies you!?”
“Senior, wait—”

Firniel tried to stop me, but I shrugged her off.

“If he must pay for his crime, then kill him! That would be enough! But this disgusting mockery—what purpose does it serve!?”

As I shouted, I calmed down slightly—enough to remember my position and adjust my tone.
I had to speak as a general of the Demon Lord’s Army.
Time to reframe this a bit.

I continued in a sneering voice.

“What a joke! While demons invade your lands, you waste your time tormenting a pitiful old man! Thanks to you executing your own captain, our conquest was even easier!”

I snapped the crucifix in half and let the other corpse tumble to the stone pavement.
Looking down at the toppled scaffold, I laughed.

“No wonder you were beaten twice by demons! Tremble in fear! You’ll get no mercy from us!”

And one more thing, as the acting governor of Lüenheit—

“This Priest Jucht is a recognized envoy of the Demon Lord’s Army, and an official diplomat of Lüenheit’s Governor Aylia! This act is an insult to both Lüenheit and the Demon Lord!”

We’d gone out of our way to grant Jucht diplomatic status, and now it meant nothing.
This failure was mine.

After my tirade, I glanced at Firniel.

“I’ve played the villain, so now you can act as their kind savior. They’re terrified of me—they’ll cling to you.”
“Ah, got it… got it!”

She nodded, then raised her voice cheerfully.

“Uhhh, it’s okay, it’s all okay! Us centaurs will be running things here from now on! We won’t let this scary werewolf hurt anyone!”

But she didn’t forget to add—

“…As long as you don’t defy me, that is.”

That’s the spirit.

Afterward, the rumors spread like wildfire across Tübahn in under half a day:

“That Veit, the Slayer of Four Hundred, had destroyed the castle gate in one blow, and was now so enraged at the insult to his envoy that he was going to massacre the entire city.”

A total misunderstanding, of course.
But, well, I think I’ll let this one ride.