Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

With a soft, rhythmic thud, the owner of the voice descended, his footsteps echoing with a sense of leisure.
It was a man dressed in wizard-like attire. His robe was adorned with gold embroidery here and there, and it looked more expensive than the one I was wearing.
The man had dark hair—a shade somewhere between blue and black. Judging by his face, he appeared to be in his mid-twenties.
His robe was thick, so I couldn’t clearly make out his build, but his facial features were rather delicate. His eyes were purple.

“Welcome to myhinbufu!”

The man was about to say something when, for some reason, he burst out laughing.
He looked away from me, covering his mouth with his hand as he shook in laughter. Did something happen?

“Is something wrong?”
“W-Why is there a nymphomaniac in my basement…!?”
“That’s rude. It’s not like I’m choosing to go without clothes, you know?”

It’s just that my clothes were burned by Kuzuha-chan, so I don’t have any left—it’s not like I’m naked on purpose.
Besides, the reason it came to this is entirely the fault of whoever deceived Kuzuha-chan in the first place—so really, it’s all his doing. How cruel of him to laugh.

“I-I don’t quite understand… but that woman you’re holding is my property. Would you mind returning her to me right now?”
“I think it’s a bit rich to claim her as your property after foully killing her.”
“That’s exactly why. Whatever a hunter hunts belongs to him, doesn’t it? In the same way, that vixen belongs to me… to Roots Shivas.”

The man who called himself Roots pulled a staff from his coat.
It was a familiar color. It was almost entirely gold, but the tip of the staff was brown.
A short staff with the color of a fox. The design was simple; it looked like nothing more than a stick with a swollen tip, but that color was the same brown as Kuzuha-chan and her mother.
The scent and magic emanating from the staff were undoubtedly the same as those of the mother and daughter foxes.

“That staff is…”
“You see, I’ve been researching how to imbue weapons with the magical power that overflows from the corpses of monsters and demi-beings—especially the powerful ones—to create magical tools.”
“And that’s why you killed this person?”
“It was easy to trick that stupid fox. All I had to do was ask her to lend me her strength for the sake of peace. She let her guard down completely and drank the poison right down. Well, she hung on tenaciously for a while, but once I focused on draining her magic, she breathed her last within a few days.”
“…………”
“As a bonus, she had a daughter, too. She’s still young… but I’m sure she’ll grow into fine research material in time. She takes after her mother—she’s incredibly easy to control.”
“Since you’re telling me all this, I guess there’s no way you’ll let me off the hook even if I return the body, huh?”
“Ah. Of course not. I was just looking to test out a prototype anyway… And now, everything’s ready!”

It seems he’d been talking at such length just to prepare for something.
I wasn’t really interested in what he was saying, but he seemed so delighted to talk about it that I just let him be. He was blocking the stairs, so I couldn’t just ignore him and walk past.

Golden beams of light shot out from the fox staff held high above him.
I braced myself, thinking it was an attack, but it wasn’t. The beams didn’t hit me; they struck the suits of armor surrounding the formation.

“Prototype Artifact, Ninefold Theater. Now, dance!”

A voice, sounding almost intoxicated, echoed through the basement. The change happened instantly.
The suits of armor that had been slumped around the circle as if exhausted suddenly stood up. And not just one—every single suit of armor in the vicinity began to move, accompanied by the sound of metal scraping against metal. There were nine in total.

“Isn’t it wonderful? It takes a little time to power up, but they’re undead soldiers with no life of their own—even if destroyed, there’s absolutely no human casualty. Once we start mass-producing these, we’ll crush the Empire in the blink of an eye!!”
“Oh, really?”
“I sense a high level of mana from you… So what if you’re a vampire or a demon, either way, I’ll add you to my list of new test subjects!”

I couldn’t care less about his motives, but I have no interest in being used as a test subject. If he’s willing to support me, though, I’d gladly accept.
Fighting while carrying a corpse seems a bit impractical, so I gently lower Kuzuha-chan’s mother’s body to the floor.
I do it gently, not roughly. Taking care not to damage her, I lay her down on the floor.
As for my position relative to the group of suits of armor, I’m completely surrounded. Their movements are as smooth as if people were inside them; each one draws its sword and begins to take a fighting stance.

……If there’s no one inside, you don’t have to hold back, right?

“Mr. Wind, please.”

Moving forward slightly so as not to drag Kuzuha-chan’s mother into the fray, I raised my hand toward the suit of armor on her right—the closest one from my perspective—and cast the spell. A small gust of wind blew, sending the full plate armor flying.
The armor, slammed against the wall, collapsed as if it had lost its strength for just a moment—then immediately got back up.
The helmet was dented, and the back of the armor was likely damaged as well. Yet it showed no sign of being intimidated, nor had it dropped its sword.
It wasn’t threatening whatsoever, but I hadn’t managed to defeat it either. It was truly worthy of being called an undead soldier.

“This is a hassle.”

The moment I let my honest thoughts slip, the remaining eight suits of armor rushed toward me.
A barrage of attacks so intense they wouldn’t even hesitate to turn on each other. Stabs and slashes came my way in equal measure.
Since I have no interest in getting hurt, I chose to dodge rather than block.
Relying on my maxed-out speed, I slipped past the armor coming from the left. Having lost sight of their target, the armored figures collided with one another, sending a shrill clang echoing through the air.
If there were people inside, it would be a major accident, but there’s no one inside these suits of armor. They immediately regained their composure and turned toward me once more.
And the enemies weren’t just the armored figures. Over by the stairs, Roots-san was raising his staff.
A sensation like needles pricking my skin. It’s coming.

“Thunder, strike down!!”

It’s here. Light shot out from the tip of the staff once more.
It was clearly different from the band of light that had struck the armor earlier. It was much more violent—something you could call a bolt of lightning.
A lightning strike. As expected, it wasn’t moving at a speed I could dodge after seeing it. It hit me directly.

“It tingles a little.”
“What…!?”

……Even if it hits me, that’s about all it does.

If this were physical, real lightning, I might not have gotten off so lightly, but fortunately, the opponent’s attack is magical.
If it’s magic, my resistance can mitigate it sufficiently.

“Um, so this Nine-Plate Eater…”
“It’s the Ninefold Theater!”
“Either one is fine. This is getting troublesome, so I’m ending it.”
“Eh…”

The opponent controls nine soldiers and launches attacks at a speed that’s impossible to dodge once you see them.
In that case, the solution is simple. Rather than trying to aim, I just need to take them down faster than they can aim at me.
I charged in at full speed from the very first step. It was the first time I’d gone all out since being reborn.

……Huh, I’m fast.

Moving at a speed that seemed to leave even sound behind, I acted to end this.
First, I gathered the armor and silenced them. As I passed by, I waved my hand and whispered, “Please,” and the wind carried my words.
An updraft rising from below. I combined the armor that had joined me and blasted all nine of them up toward the ceiling. Without waiting to see them slam into the ceiling, I quickly made my way to my opponent.

“Wh…!?”
“You’re in my way.”

I stopped right in front of him. Grabbing his arm while he was caught off guard, I swept his legs out from under him and slammed him into the ground.
As he hit his back and let out a cry of agony, I shoved my hand into his mouth.
It wasn’t to silence him. Besides, loud noises had been echoing since earlier—armor slamming into walls, suits of armor colliding with each other. I didn’t need to worry about the noise at this point. If guards showed up, I’d just blow them all away too.
I just wanted to return what he’d given.

“Thanks for the meal. Here, I’m giving it back..”

What I pulled out of the Blood Box was something even worse than the food Kuzuha-chan had given me.
After all, he was the one who prepared it in the first place. I’ll return the sentiment of him going out of his way to get it to Kuzuha-chan, but I’ll return the actual item to him.

“Moghblublubgloglog!?”
“What’s wrong? It’s food, right?”

Giving someone else something you can’t eat yourself—that’s not something people usually do. He can go ahead and eat this weird stuff. I can’t, though.
I pry open his struggling mouth and shove it in. There’s no point in me keeping it, so I’ll return it all properly.
Behind me, there’s a continuous series of sounds. It’s the sound of armor being slammed against the ceiling and falling to the ground. I ignored it and kept feeding him.
Roots-san was thrashing around violently at first, but eventually his reactions grew weaker, and finally he went limp. The staff fell from his powerless hand with a dry thud.

“…Hmm. There’s still some left, but I suppose it can’t be helped.”

He wasn’t dead. He’d just fainted. I’ll put the rest in the pocket of his robe for him.
When I turned to look behind me, none of the suits of armor were moving.
It’s common for this kind of remote-controlled system to stop moving once the operator’s consciousness fades, so it’s nothing to be particularly surprised about. It’s basically the same as a remote-controlled car that’s had its remote taken away.

Stepping over the scattered armor parts, I made my way back to Kuzuha-chan’s mother.

“Kuzuha-chan is waiting. Let’s go.”

There was no reply. Even though I knew she wouldn’t answer, I called out to her and picked her up.
Carrying the woman whose soul had left her, I left the mansion. I’d been worried about what to do with the pantry door on the way out, but it seemed Roots-san had opened it, so we were able to leave without any trouble.
I wonder if Kuzuha-chan is still awake.