Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

I turned back to gaze at the distant gates of Lüenheit and stood there in silence for a while.
I would likely never pass through those gates again.

When I learned that the Demon Lord’s Army was made up of nothing more than a few werewolves and powerless dogfolk, I believed that Tübahn’s elite mounted archers could defeat them.
The captain of Tübahn’s guard was once my devoted disciple, to whom I had taught the tenets of the Sonnenlicht Faith. When I sent a pigeon to inform him of the situation, he quietly began to gather volunteers.
However, not even the governor has the authority to mobilize troops without the Senate’s approval. If a mere captain did so, he’d be charged with treason.

And yet, over fifty archers from the mounted unit responded.It seems more than three hundred civilians volunteered as well.
With a force of about four hundred, and armed with silver weapons, they should have been able to drive out the werewolves and dogfolk.
All that remained was for my disciples to secretly open the gates and let them into the city.
Some citizens would surely rise up in support too.
It was a dangerous gamble, but I believed the odds were in our favor.
Or so I thought.

The werewolves crushed my foolish plot with little effort.
According to my disciples, the werewolves exited the city walls with only a dozen or so fighters.
And yet, the werewolf commander claimed that all 400 of Tübahn’s volunteers were slaughtered.
By only a dozen werewolves.

Worse still, they captured my disciples and uncovered the truth that I had been the one to orchestrate the entire massacre.
I resigned myself to being killed on the spot. From the moment I chose to oppose the demons, I had accepted that fate.
Even if it meant betraying the governor who sought peaceful coexistence, I had wanted to liberate Lüenheit from the demons.
If my life was the price for that, so be it.

But the werewolf commander did not kill me.
He listened to my story calmly, even showed some measure of understanding.
It’s almost unbelievable. He is a demon, supposedly the enemy of all humans. How could he possibly understand us?
Yet I am certain he felt some kind of sympathy for what I said.
Of course, he never put it into words.

When the questioning ended, the werewolf commander gave me a look of deep disappointment.
Then, his expression shifted to one of cold irony.
The words he spoke after that still echo in my mind:

“Very well. Then let’s have humans handle things their way.”

After that, he handed me a sealed letter.

“This is an official document addressed to the Governor of Tübahn. It outlines the circumstances of the battle and explains that the fallen were given honorable burials. As a priest respected by the people of Tübahn, I’m appointing you as the messenger.”

My life and status were spared. But this was, in effect, exile. He didn’t need to say it. I understood.
But why didn’t the werewolf commander kill me?
As I began my journey home, I pondered his intentions.

As hard as it is to imagine, could it be that he felt pity for me? He had been oddly sympathetic.
But sparing me was meaningless.
Once I arrive in Tübahn, I will surely be executed. I incited part of the city guard and its citizens and got them all killed.
I cannot forgive myself.
Still, if I must die, I would rather it be by the hands of my fellow humans in Tübahn as I apologize to them, than be slain by the enemy in battle.

No… perhaps that was his plan all along.
Let a human be killed by humans. Keep his own hands clean. Make it happen far from the eyes of Lüenheit’s citizens.
Without me, there will be no one left in the Sonnenlicht Temple to openly oppose the demons.
Everything will be neatly resolved.
What a terrifying strategist.

But now, none of that matters.
I wagered everything in a foolish war against the demons and lost. All I have left is a sliver of time to make amends.
I shall return to Tübahn.
And there, I will die.