Chapter 70: Nazrea, City of the Dead (1)

༺ Nazrea, City of the Dead (1) ༻

Hotel Mamilla.

The safeness from demonic beasts achieved thanks to the existence of the guardian academy gathered people, and all that money brought prosperity to the city.

At the center of that city was the finest and best hotel. Hotel Mamilla had both a high status and an exceptional customer service that befitted its title as the best hotel in the city, and their suite room cost hundreds of coins for a single night.

Even though Bishop Renault Lusignan was sitting on a top-quality leather couch with a high-class wine that was over 80 years old in that room, his voice was filled with fury.

“Do you even hear yourself!!”

Thud! He smashed on the side table, which made the wine fall to its side. It was a premium wine that cost several gold coins but that meant nothing to him right now.

“My apologies. We weren’t expecting mounted bandits to come to the platform...”

– Kaang!

The bishop unhesitatingly threw his wine glass which shattered on the forehead of the man giving his report.

The scarlet wine dripped from the man’s forehead but he remained still without moving a single inch.

“Useless. Aren’t you the captain of the honorable Chargers of the Cross that follows the will of god? How could you not even deal with something so simple?

Chargers of the Cross.

They were religiously fanatical secret troops that destroyed the Old Faith’s enemies while hiding in the darkness. Each of their skills was well below those of the Templar Knights, but these guys had no name or identity and were thus incredibly good ‘consumables’

“Those things belong to the pagans from the east. Find them at any cost. If you can’t, then find replacements at the very least!”

Renault gave the most natural order but also added another sentence in case it didn’t work out.

“Tell those black-haired guys and Kang Ryun, to tell us about the path and schedule of their carriages from their Academy!”

“...What do you...?”

“You fool! We have to buy time! Disguise your men as mounted bandits and steal the items from Purple Hawk, and we will have more justification even if we have to delay the plan!”

“I, I understand.”

As soon as the captain disappeared, Bishop Renault turned to the scenery of the city that he could see through the large window.

There was nothing he liked about it; both the current situation as well as the prosperity of this city that turned away from the will of the god were detestable.

However, what Renault Lusignan knew was that gods did exist in this land. The time was nigh for them to at last show themselves and display their might.

“Everything for the Advent of Paradise.”

After all, he had personally seen ‘god’.

****

Details about the group event were announced.

16 people from Purple Hawk Academy were divided into Teams 1, 2, 3, and 4.

And 16 from Merkarva Academy were divided into Teams A, B, C, and D.

The following 32 students of the two academies were announced, along with the location of the event.

“Nazrea... City?”

Alicia, who seemingly woke up too early in preparation for the group event schedule, asked with a yawn.

“Where is Nazrea City?”

Near the center of the El Rath Kingdom was a dead city called Nazrea. It was such a big thing that it always had several guardians in it.

Marie, who appeared to know about the background history of that city, opened her mouth.

“Wow. Isn’t this the one that’s well-known for being a city of undeads?”

“A, a city of undeads?”

“Nn.”

Marie took out a pamphlet from her protective robe which she prepared for the group event.

“Nazrea was a big city that used to prosper 300 years ago. But it fell from its former grace.”

“Uh... that’s tragic. Why did that happen?”

“A black mage summoned undead into the city, by using a large-scale black magic called Immortal Legion.”

“A b, black mage?”

Immortal Legion. It was a grand spell that raised as many undeads as possible inside the magic circle as long as there was enough mana to support it.

“W, well that’s an ominous event.”

“The problem is that the spell still exists 300 years later in the form of a special barrier,” I added.

“Yes. Nazrea is still called the City of Undeads because there is an unending number of undeads roaming around the city.”

“How is that possible when it’s from 300 years ago?”

“If it’s done at a miraculous timing in alignment with a special astrological shift, it is.”

Being a mage, Marie seemed knowledgeable about the undead-phenomenon of Nazrea, and continued on with her explanation.

“300 years, 3 months, and 24 days ago, there was a super-blue-blood-moon. It was an extremely unique lunar eclipse where a super moon, a blue moon, and a blood moon all happened at the same time.”

Super moon, a phenomenon that made the moon appear bigger than usual;

Blue moon, which came every 2~3 years like a leap year;

And blood moon which made the moon appear crimson due to the instability of the atmosphere.

All of that happened on that rare day, which was a rare occurrence that might not even come once every few centuries, and caused a supernatural phenomenon.

“When that happens, a unique wave of mana comes down to the earth. Any grand spells that are formed using this mana can forever be under the protection of the moon.”

“Umm... so that means?”

“It means the city called Nazrea now has an everlasting spell that infinitely revives those undeads.”

“...”

Alicia had a questioning look on her face, as if she couldn’t understand why we would leave such a dangerous place alone.

“It’s impossible to cleanse Nazrea. Their numbers are already a problem, but cleansing the city in one day... or rather half a day is impossible even if the kingdom sent all their soldiers for it.”

“What do you mean, Senior Marie?”

“Nnn... You’ll see once you get there! I’ve been there once last year as well, you see!”

In any case, after realizing that it was a dangerous place, Alicia raised a different question.

“...So why would we have the group event at such a dangerous location?”

“It’s not that dangerous as long as you stay away from the center of the city. We’ll probably stick to the outer areas of the city that have low-grade undeads.”

But no one could say for sure whether this trip would be safe or not.

These days, even though the city was often used as training sites for priests and a venue for the group event of students, Nazrea was still a demonic field.

After all, in that place was a Grim Reaper.

****

– Kieeeee...!

The houses started a smooth flight and before long, I could see white clouds outside the window.

Four monster carriers including a Hresvelgr were carrying the students and professors while flying across the sky.

“Huaahm~”

Alicia was dozing off to sleep while going through a pamphlet about Nazrea but Marie was nowhere to be seen. She was probably steaming potatoes in the kitchen or something.

The individual and doubles events were probably still taking place at the Academy right now. People like Marie and I, who were also participating in the group event, had our turns before others.

“Come on... if you run seriously, you’re faster than a horse, you know that right?”

“I, I can’t walk.”

“Ehew... get on my back then.”

In the end, I had to carry Alicia on my back before heading to the Nazrea encampment.

A sister with the sign of a different-patterned cross welcomed us when we arrived at the entrance of the city. She was from the New Faith just like Hua Ran.

“Welcome. You are the first to arrive from Merkarva.”

Because of our full-speed dash, we were the only students from Merkarva that arrived at the encampment so far. Marie was the type to ride her horse leisurely so she would probably arrive at the same time as the carriage.

“Do we get our explanation straight away?”

“No. I believe you’d be tired from the flight, so please rest at the accommodation first. Please follow me.”

“Alright.”

There were several priests and clerics waiting at the entrance that seemed to be the guides of the city. Out of them, we followed the sister called Lina.

“Huhh?”

Alicia widened her eyes immediately after entering the city.

Nazrea, the City of Undeads.

For it to be considered a city full of the undying, it looked way too ‘normal’.

“L, looks quite normal to me?”

From the old gates heading into the city to the fruit stands, bakeries, and sprinting children... The city had an old yet normal look to it.

“Hello there! Would you like some hot, steaming bread? It’s straight out of the oven!”

Alicia was tempted by the baker who seemed way too normal to be considered a denizen of a dead city.

“Sniff... It smells delicious. Mr. Korin, should we get one?”

“You cannot.”

Sister Lina stopped Alicia from taking out her coin purse.

“Uhh... yes. Umm... you’re short on time right? I’m sorry.”

“That’s not it. You cannot have any food in this place. Did you not check the things you need to be careful of before coming inside?”

“H, huh? S, sorry.”

“Listen to the sister. We’re heading to the hotel first.”

Since I knew about the reason why we shouldn’t have any food in this place, I persuaded Alicia and continued heading to the hotel. The one we arrived at was a 3-story building that was quite close to the entrance of the city, Hotel Kanna.

“Welcome! We’re getting a lot of guests today!”

The hotel owner welcomed us in. Clerics and professors were sitting on the first floor but the students were nowhere to be seen.

“Please head up to the 2nd floor. You must come down by 6:40 pm.”

Without giving us any explanation, they moved us to the 3rd floor of the hotel. On the wooden key that we received, which was too ancient to even be used outside, was our designated room number.

“Please stay quiet. It would be even better if you take some sleep.”

‘It’s the middle of the day though?’ Alicia asked but the sister simply shushed her by placing her finger on her lips.’

“Ugh... I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Be quiet. We’ll explain later. You should get some sleep for now.”

“Sorry?”

“Now’s not the time to stand out just yet. You have to take into account that ‘we’ are not the only ones in this place.”

“...”

After seemingly realizing that I wasn’t going to answer any of her questions, she quietly laid herself on the bed after unpacking her belongings.

****

6:40 pm.

We, who had been awake from 20 minutes ago, headed down to the lobby of Hotel Kanna just in time.

I could see other students that were also leaving their rooms at the same time as us. Among them was the student council president of Purple Hawk Academy, Kang Yuhua.

“Huaaahmm~”

Everyone quickly walked down the stairs as if they were itching to begin. Professor Haman gestured to us once we arrived at the lobby.

“Come here and sit.”

“Yes sir.”

Alicia and I sat down at the same table as Professor Haman. Around us, the guests of the hotel were bustling with noise while enjoying their meals and booze.

“Umm... Mr. Korin? This is a lot different from what I was expecting.”

“It’s because you fell asleep while reading your pamphlet.”

“Ugh...”

The Merkarva students arrived one by one. Soon, we had all our 16 students including Marie, Isabelle, Jaeger, and Lark.

Senior Professor Kang Ryun, the one who came up with the details of this group event, gazed around to confirm our numbers.

“Everyone’s here, it seems.”

32 participants of the group event, along with 8 professors and 20 clerics.

Even though quite a large number of us were inside the lobby, this place was still bustling with noise from a bunch of other guests.

“6:58.”

Professor Kang Ryun said as most of the students started to turn tense. There were a few students like Alicia and Jaeger who weren’t aware of what was going on, but everyone was ‘prohibited’ from asking questions so none of them were opening their mouths.

“6:59.”

The hotel was still noisy. Guests were indulging in their meals and booze while the workers were hurriedly serving their food. On the side, the owner of the hotel was picking out his best wines.

“6:59 and 30 seconds.”

It was such a normal scenery that might happen anywhere else on the continent – so peaceful that it was even fascinating.

“6:59 and 50 seconds.”

Along with a rustle, several people took out their maces. They were the clerics.

“5... 4... 3... 2...”

“What is going...”

“...1. Begin.”

As soon as he said that, all the students including myself and the clerics took out our weapons.

“Kill everyone you see!”

My silver spear immediately pierced through the temple of the guest that was indulging in his meat on the next table, and an ice lance shot by Marie blew away the head of the hotel owner.

“H, huh?”

“W, what are you guys doing...!”

While the ignorant students were lost as to what was going on, more than 50 of our armed forces started massacring everyone inside the hotel.

The massacre at Hotel Kanna ended in less than a minute.

Footnotes:

1TLN: Chi Tu (Red Hare): A famous horse from three kingdoms rode by Lu Bu and Guan Yu. Known to travel 1,000 li a day without getting exhausted.2The original saying is ‘Lu Bu among men, and Chi Tu among steeds’: Lu Bu was known to be the strongest man during that time, whereas Chi Tu was the best horse.