Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 25: Gentleman of Death, Tony Lair①

Tony Lair, the vice-leader of 『Angel of Death』, walked along the passageway in Tetomburgh’s underground research institute.

A handsome youth in noble attire was walking by his side.

There was no usual carefree smile on Tony Lair’s face.

His eyebrows were raised, and the vein on his temple kept twitching as if he was annoyed by something.

Blood was dripping from his lips since he chewed his lips a bit too much.

「…Tony Lair-sama, entering underground means that there’s a change of plans, right?」

The handsome youth in butler attire, Robic, was asking such a question to Tony Lair.

The plan was supposed to be them coming out of Tetomburgh and committing mass slaughter before proceeding with their escape plan and leaving Viscount Le Gael’s territory before the kingdom’s army came to the territory.

Tony Lair himself gathered the sorcerers in Tetomburgh when he explained this plan.

At that moment, Tony Lair’s shoulder twitched. He stopped his gait, grabbed Robic’s face, and brought it closer to him.

「Shut up, Robic. What do you know about it anyway?」

「…M-my apologies, Tony Lair-sama.」

Robic was apologizing without even batting his eyelids nor changing the tone of his voice.

Tony Lair’s gaze dropped a little bit, and his expression broke into a grin as he saw Robic’s trembling shoulders.

Just like that, he brought Robic’s face closer and licked the latter’s face.

「Yes, that’s a good expression, Robic. Your emotions have come to the surface. You know that I hate noisy brat the most, right?」

He maintained the grin on his face as he pulled his face away from Robic.

And then, he pondered about the future situation.

‘I almost couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that Habane’s berserker was annihilated, but then… We lost several first-class sorcerers of 『Angel of Death』 in succession , each of whom could rival an entire group of elite sorcerers. Something strange definitely is happening in Tetomburgh right now. It seems to be related to the inspection squad that came to this city, but… there must be something more. Properly speaking, I shouldn’t confront it directly, but one of the Eight Wisemen, 『Laughing Clown』 Le Look-sama, also said that she met a monster. It seems I really have to take this matter seriously.’

Tony Lair guessed that foreign factor had already entered Tetomburgh.

‘I did say in my speech that we’d have to commit mass slaughter in Viscount Le Gael’s territory, but… I guess I’ll have to change my plans since I have a really bad feeling about the entire situation. And one of the Eight Wisemen, 『Spinner of the Truth』-sama—who is also the leader of 『Angel of Death』—has a bad habit of never coming out at times like this when they feel that it can be resolved by someone else.’

The leader of Tetomburgh, one of the Eight Wisemen, 『Spinner of the Truth』, was a failure of a human—even from Tony Lair’s perspective.

Selfish, uncontrollable, and elusive—as if that wasn’t bad enough, their mood, speech, and conduct were also inconsistent.

Rather than a human, calling them a disaster-like phenomenon would be more appropriate.

Tony Lair shook his shoulder as he heaved a sigh.

Right now, he was too depressed upon recalling that he had to convince that moody 『Spinner of the Truth』 to make their move.

The previous vice-leader before Tony Lair mysteriously vanished from Tetomburgh the day after he accidentally angered their leader.

‘Let those low-rank sorcerers wreak havoc outside. This underground research facility is only for strong sorcerers. Let the foreign factors enter this place and have everyone attack him together. We should be able to use as many experimental bodies as we want in this kind of place. Moreover, there’s only a single long and narrow passage here. Use a pincer attack from the outside to confuse the other party. I don’t know why he came this way, but let’s go all out… Although it might sound like overkill… We have to lay waste to this Tetomburgh. Let everyone die a miserable death.’

◆

Flander, who got bisected just like his human furniture, fell down, scattering blood, gore, and entrails on the ground.

Lambert walked toward Flander and swung his greatsword again, smashing the other’s head to bits.

「U-Uh, thank you very much for saving our li— Hiiii!」

Having been saved by Lambert, Alante carried Elise, who slumped back into her wheelchair.

They approached their benefactor from behind, but they were scared sh*tless upon seeing the violence that Lambert committed.

Elise also screamed, her eyes wide open upon seeing the cruel spectacle before her.

「I am just being extra careful. Those so-called sorcerers are tough nuts. Once upon a time, I bisected their bodies and saw them buried inside the rubble, and yet, we ended up meeting each other again as I saw them laughing with their limbs intact.」

「Eh? A… Ahahahahaha… that sounds like… a horror story…」

At that moment, Alante—who thought that Lambert might be trying to crack a joke—forced a smile on his face.

After all, he knew that even with the most meticulous preparations, surviving from being bisected in two was impossible.

…Not to mention being buried under the rubble on top of that. The other party’s body might have already been crushed under the weight of the rubble before the rescue came.

Unless there was a miracle, surviving was next to impossible.

At most, the only option was being resurrected as a stupid undead.

「Naturally, I learned my lesson and smashed that b*stard’s skull right there to prevent another mishap.」

Lambert continued with his “horrific” tale.

Eventually, Alante stopped his forced laugh.

「And you aren’t a child. Nor do you seem like you’ve been experimented on. The robe you’re wearing is similar to what those fellas have on, but…」

「N-no, I-I, I…!」

Color drained from Alante’s face. His hands trembled uncontrollably.

At this rate, he would die—just like Flander.

Seeing Alante’s panic, Elise chuckled lightly.

She was still extremely tense from when they fought for their lives against Flander, but now that Flander was dead, the tension loosened a little bit.

Her laugh calmed down, but it still couldn’t escape from Lambert’s hearing.

Elise’s face was flushed red as both Lambert and Alanter looked at her.

「M-my apologies… I, uh… I rarely smile, but somehow, when my mind is at ease… U-Uh, big brother is a really kind person. He was actually forced to join those people against his will…」

Elise was trying to vouch for Alante while covering her flushed red face.

「There you are, Lambert-sama!」

「Finally, Lambert-sama is here!」

Upon turning around, Lambert saw the two soldiers from 『Phoenix’s Eyes』 coming toward them.

Lambert came along with them as he mowed down 『Devil’s Piper』’s sorcerers, but since he was an undead, Lambert’s perception of mana was many times higher than that of living person. Thus, he went first to save Alante and Elise, leaving the soldiers behind.

「Please stop moving so suddenly like that, armored swordsman! It’ll affect the morale of the soldiers.」

Completely infected by Lambert’s stoic act, Kreuz rebuked the latter, half teasingly since he really couldn’t blame the latter for prioritizing the emergency situation.

「…That should be your duty, Kreuz-sama.」

Kreuz’s subordinate, Frey, rebuked her superior as she heaved a sigh.