The ground, in this ruined and decaying stone village, was littered with corpses.
Burning, twisted bodies writhed and contracted amidst the wailing and chanting, their charred wounds unable to bleed. Instead, crimson snakes of fire, born from trembling souls, coalesced and slithered forth.
The blood snakes wound their way forward, chasing after the figure ahead.
"Thwack!"
A heavy iron boot slammed down, sparks erupting from the point of contact. The blood snakes vanished instantly, leaving a clear patch of ground.
Undaunted, the blood snakes blindly followed the guidance of life, drawing closer to the "giant," only to be extinguished each time his boot came down, unleashing a burst of flame.
Linde strode forward, carrying the Queen Devourer's broken sword, leaving behind two rows of burning, bloody footprints.
He had been careful enough, having absolute control over the power within him. Relying on the Queen Devourer's broken sword, and on his composure as a Grand Knight, he had done the best he could. But when the blood-fire rained down like a storm, Linde couldn't avoid being touched completely.
Some of the power within him had waned. Not much, but the discovery was enough to make Linde uneasy.
Fortunately, the number of enemies wasn't large. They could do nothing but desperately lunge forward, shouting "The First Flame's Blessing" while throwing whatever burning objects they held at Linde.
The villagers had failed to gain more power from the god they worshipped. If the blood-red fire wasn't so troublesome, they probably wouldn't have even given Linde a chance to swing his broken sword.
The broken sword extinguished the frenzied bonfire. In the village of Mad Sages, only a few crippled villagers remained, eking out a miserable existence. They trembled whenever Linde approached.
Not every Mad Sage had lost their mind, thankfully. At least some of them knew what it meant to be afraid.
But it couldn't be ruled out that some of the villagers were more cunning. Linde didn't care.
"Lord," S&M said, drawing close to Linde. Only through personal experience could one feel the surging power of the battlefield. The heat of battle stirred him.
If a bard were here, they could surely turn it into a song.
But in the special language of the Undead, this feeling could only be summed up in two words: "Holy shit."
"They worship some kind of dark god, perhaps from before the Circle of Magic was created, or perhaps after it was broken." Linde immediately gave S&M a task: "Search the village for their place of worship – a church, shrine, whatever – and any priests or similar figures. Then destroy it all."
Linde scanned the small, hunched figure in front of him. The person was completely hidden beneath black robes and seemed to be secretly watching him.
When they noticed Linde's gaze fixed on them, the small figure immediately flinched, lowered their head, and continued to tremble.
Oh well, Linde thought. Just an ant. I'll deal with them later.
He absolutely wouldn't let these Mad Sages get anywhere near Star Dragon Outpost. Madness was an incurable disease; the only way to deal with it was prevention, not a cure.
S&M went off to search with glee.
Every room held treasures. Even if those treasures had to be handed over to the Lord, the joy of exploration was his alone.
Linde, meanwhile, looked down at his armor.
The armor of the First Legion of Land, prioritizing both defense and aesthetics. But when he enveloped it in burning Wrath, the scorching flames had effectively "reforged" it.
Now that the Wrath had dissipated, the armor's temperature still hadn't cooled. As the cold wind blew, hot, turbulent air rose from it.
If this continued, the flames would destroy the armor before the enemies could.
Linde pulled his gaze away from the "magenta"-colored armor. The ornamental lion heads showed faint signs of warping and melting.
"Jackpot! Jackpot!"
S&M's hollering drew Linde's attention.
"Oh man, my carrying capacity just isn't enough."
Aside from the fact that the loot needed to be handed in, S&M couldn't even carry much of it anyway.
Thinking about that, he wanted to complain about the game developers for a moment. Why did they have to make it so realistic? No inventory space at all.
S&M reluctantly decided to drop everything on the ground, slowly building up a small mountain.
Linde: "..."
He had underestimated the Undead's hoarder tendencies. He's even picking up people's tattered clothes? And wooden cups, toilet brushes, scythes... you're not leaving the villagers with so much as a needle and thread.
Whatever, he thought. I'm used to it.
That's just how players are.
Among the junk, Linde noticed something: whether it was cups, bowls, plates, or the corners of clothing, they all bore a peculiar symbol.
A cross – or more accurately, a "—†—" cross.
The horizontal bar in the middle was exceptionally long.
Was this the symbol of the god worshipped by the Mad Sages' village?
Linde quickly averted his gaze. He knew that many religious symbols stemmed from divine knowledge. Glimpsing even a fraction of it could lead fanatical believers to latch onto the image as a focus for their faith. Gazing at it too intently could either turn you into a believer or drive you mad.
Clearly, if he wanted to make good use of this village, he had to carefully manage the situation, eliminating any potential problems. The most straightforward, permanent solution was to bulldoze the place and rebuild.
Linde left S&M to his scavenging and turned toward the fields.
Even Mad Sages needed food. Sparse crops grew wildly in the fields, a testament to the fact that the mentally impaired villagers were struggling to perform even basic farming tasks. However, the "fertile" Blight Shadow area allowed mutated plants to grow rampant without any tending.
He bent down and cleared away some soil, finding small tubers the size of fingertips. He pulled out a string of "baby potatoes" clinging to thorns.
Mutated crops.
This was the biggest find so far.
There was a surprising variety of food. Linde even spotted fields of growing fire-tongue grass. The concentration of the Blight Shadow here was probably even higher than in the Carrion Eaters' Nest.
What a great place to farm.
"Maybe the Undead could try farming here," Linde said as he walked back to S&M, who was still scavenging.
You're supposed to be a farming player; why are you so into scavenging? Is it really that much fun?
"Yes!" S&M replied, nodding.
He had already changed into a full Mad Sage "outfit": tattered black robes, cloth shoes, a scythe and torch hanging from his waist. If it weren't for his handsome face, even Linde would have mistaken him for a Mad Sage.
Cosplay really is where the fun's at for players.
In reality, there wasn't much of anything useful in the junk pile. Linde planned to arrange for some Undead to come and farm the land, so he had to head back and issue the orders.
He'd only taken a few steps when he stopped and turned back.
S&M was still having a blast, but when he sensed "plot development," he stopped as well.
"Whoa!" He caught sight of the small villager and jumped in surprise, instinctively reaching for his weapon. Linde stopped him.
The Queen Devourer's broken sword hit the ground, and the desolate earth trembled.
"You are...?" Linde asked, sensing that the other wanted to follow him.
The small figure removed their black robe, revealing a gaunt face – a boy who looked to be about eleven or twelve years old.
"I... I'm Renzo," he said, his voice hoarse. "Excuse me, are you a noble, sir?"
He performed a kneeling curtsy, a formal gesture dating back to the height of civilization, used when commoners were officially received by nobles. Ordinary people couldn't imitate it; before this gesture could be performed, court ladies would provide special, closed-door training.
The positioning of the fingers, the degree of the bow, and even where the eyes should look – all had to be perfect.
Before the official event, they would even hold dozens of "rehearsals."
Even the previous Linde, before being transported here, had rarely seen this gesture.
The use of this kneeling curtsy placed extremely high demands on the commoner making it. The commoner had to have made an outstanding contribution, like a prime minister or president meeting with an ordinary citizen in modern times.
The political significance was immense, and to a certain extent, it represented the noble's own absolute political leanings within their territory.
The only times Linde had seen it were back when he was associated with the Prince, when the Prince would receive a few commoner representatives in order to gain more power.
So when the boy suddenly performed the kneeling curtsy, Linde immediately straightened his posture and adjusted his attitude. Fortunately, the reception ceremony didn't place any obligations on the noble; after all, the noble was the rule-maker.
All he had to do was declare his identity.
"I am Linde Arman, of Goliath in the Royal City, son of Baron Arman, Lord of Star Dragon Outpost..." Linde replied with noble arrogance.
A noble's response had to be arrogant; that was what the boy performing the kneeling curtsy was expecting.
Too bad there wasn't a herald present; someone should be announcing his titles.
Linde paused slightly, then continued, "...a true noble with noble blood flowing in his veins!"
"Thump!" The boy slammed his forehead against the ground. "I... I... please, let me pledge my fealty!"
"Why should I accept your fealty?" Linde asked, shaking his head.
He might be a down-at-heel aristocrat, and his family name might have lost the power it once held from the Circle of Magic, but that didn't mean he was going to accept just anyone from a Mad Sage village.
Just because the kid knew the "kneeling curtsy"? Granted, in the far reaches of the frontier, even Ronning of Puley probably wouldn't know what a kneeling curtsy was.
Red tape wasn't as important as a loaf of bran bread.
"I have completed the noble lord's order," Renzo said, raising his head with a pleading and expectant look. "Since you are a noble from Goliath, you surely know... I have completed it... completed it... so I may pledge my fealty to you, to a noble!"
Silly kid, Linde thought. The old nobility is practically extinct. It's the age of the new nobility now.
"What have you completed?" Linde asked casually.
Renzo remained kneeling, his hands upturned, palms facing upward, in a "presenting" gesture, as he slowly moved them forward.
Then...
"Boom—!" A red flame coalesced above his open hands.
This flame was stronger than anything Linde had seen the villagers produce, or rather, it was on a completely different level.
The person in front of him looked weak, but as he held the blood-red flame, Linde felt a faint pressure building within him.
To put pressure on a Grand Knight, the other person must also be at the "Grand Knight" level.
From a player's perspective, Renzo was probably level ten or higher, and a boss-level character to boot.
Renzo: "I have completed my service to the Mad Overlord, my mastery of the Fire of Madness!"