“Sigh...”

Ahh, another sigh escaped my lips for the nth time this month. Thinking back on it, maybe I shouldn’t have left this affair alone thinking that with time, it would resolve itself. I thought this disciple would be better than the previous ones. Leaving behind a sigh yet again, I used a basic earth spell to bury the corpse of my 315th-ish (? Maybe 321st?) disciple. After I was done I slightly bowed my head and clapped my hands toward her tomb and gravestone. Let’s be positive and believe that next year’s apprentice will not end up the same as its predecessors!

I waved my hand in the air, activating my custom-made teleport spell. Well, it actually only transfers me to places I already visited; moving to still unexplored areas is something that escapes my grasps, let alone the temporary removal of the existence of living beings and their subsequent reappearance in a different place. I still have problems with inanimate objects after all these years... Sigh...

“... Ahem…”

Hearing that old man intentionally clearing his throat to get my attention, I snapped out of my depressing train of thoughts (I gotta think positively!) and looked toward him. As always, he’s old, even older than the last time we met. Well~, speaking truthfully, I am older than him, but my body has long since stopped aging and now I’m an eternal 28 years old man, yay~! ...Anyway, let’s get to the point:

“I dealt with her, Marx.”

Marx’s left eyebrow twitched, but he didn’t say anything, no one in the room said anything. Even if they wanted to, they didn’t have the power to make me address this old man as “Emperor Lujios the Second.” Ahah, with a quick glance I could see the most stubborn and loyal mages and knights go red from anger, which made me chuckle a bit. Then I refocused my attention on Marx as he began speaking again.

“We thank you, esteemed Arch Magus Dreiser, without your assistance Our empire would have suffered a great loss. As promised, We prepared your desired reward; Knight Captain Simisis will lead you to them.”

The old man, from up on his extravagantly furnished chair, waved his hand toward a slightly younger, compared to him, man dressed in full-body, shining mithril armor up to his neck; he held his helmet with his left hand, between his side and his arm. 

I had noticed Marx’s subtle accusation in his thanks, but I let it slide, I’m a magnanimous man. 

I acknowledged his words with a simple nod and then looked toward Simisis, urging him to move with my eyes. As expected of the Knight Captain, he wasn’t disturbed by my “insolence” and just briefly turned his head toward the old man to get his approval, which he got. He was a man who knew his place well.

I let Simisis walk ahead of me, I didn’t want to engage in any kind of chit chat while I immersed myself in my own thoughts. Ahh~, new workers and new test subjects at this time of the decade is sure a blessing. Maybe the fact that all of my disciples become power-hungry is actually a good thing? Yeah, let’s think like that. Positive thinking, positive thinking! And so we entered a spacious room outside the compounds of the castle. In the room there were many people of various races, gender and age. Equality for everyone~!

After I gave them all a cursory look, I turned to the Knight Captain and with a short “Thanks.” I sent him away. He closed the double doors after exiting the room, leaving me to do my own things, which were inspecting the workers and slaves and then taking them away, to my laboratory. I cleared my throat, attracting the attention of the thousand or so people in front of me. Some were happy, some were not. I’m happy you are happy, let’s hope together that you’ll remain as such. As I thought that, I gave out a warm smile to all of them. Strangely, I could now sense some fear coming from them, oh well.

“Well then, let us begin the inspection.”

Concentrating for a bit, I start moving the outer mana through my body, fusing it with my own aura (and soul), and then expelling it and commanding it to enter the bodies of everyone in the room, me excluded. Wide-area analysis magic; an original of a mage from the neighbouring Kingdom, who lived some centuries ago. Detailed information about each and every living being present in the room flowed into my head; since it hurt a lot, after the fifth time I had used it I decided to enhance my mind, so there’s no more pain now, yay~

I looked to the left, there were some infected with different illnesses. Sigh... I guess I’ll have to give Marx a scolding later on. I concentrated again, this time extending my aura outwards and using it to mold the outer mana near the sick people, slowly enveloping them in a translucent cocoon made out of the ethereal mana. Those with keen senses and those able to see mana began making a commotion, so I used a tiny bit of my already largely occupied concentration to cast a silencing spell. An hour had passed before the cocoons had healed the people up to a passable degree. Every life is valuable so let’s not allow silly illnesses to waste them!

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“Fuu...”

I took out a bottle of water to drink before once again using wide-area magic. This time I would transfer together with more than one thousand people, a minor, simple thing, really! 

I once again waved my hand in the air after a few seconds of concentration. While I could not transfer in places I hadn’t been to, I could transfer others to places I had been even if they hadn’t. While it was simple to understand why, I had a hunch that by deepening my understanding on this “simple” fact would lead me to discover the answer to the first problem about teleport spells. It’s a side project I am currently working on. ...Another sigh escaped my lips thinking about the many deaths this project has caused, but I am positive I will reach a conclusion in half a millennium or so, that is why I won’t give up!

Space distorts slightly all around us for an instant and then the scenery changes, successfully arriving in the prairie before my laboratory. As always, the new workers and test subjects are impressed by the obsidian, seven-story tall building, wide and long at least three thousand kilometers on each side. 

Truly spectacular, if I can say so myself. It also took a long time to build, like, really really long. And let’s not talk about how much stuff is inside. Fortunately, I don’t have a problem with thieves or people trying to conquer this land! Multiple barriers make locating this place impossible, then there are various barriers to prevent people from getting near, barriers to disorient those who do get near, barriers to make the groups of people who get near fight amongst themselves and such, barriers that kill intruders and finally barriers to prevent other people from teleporting anywhere near my laboratory. People told me I was being paranoid, before I showed them scenes of entire armies trying to enter my domain, in case they weren’t currently trying to do as such.

Though no one has ever been able to break through said barriers, in the case they ever managed to, I have prepared countless other measures, like my guards: elemental beings turned into loyal golems. 

Going to their respective planes and subjugating their leaders had been no easy task at the time. Now I am confident I could redo everything in less than a week, without taking a single break. Thinking about this made my chest well up, inflating my ego and pride even more. Then, I noticed the anxious and confused gazes directed at me. Sigh... my thoughts got side-tracked again...

“Follow me.”

Using sound magic to amplify my voice, I directed everyone through the ground floor of the laboratory. The first stop was at the baths, I had them all clean themselves and then change in a set of clothes I conjured from one of the many facilities of the tower. Then, I led them to their quarters on the first underground floor, where they would be now living and eating. 

All the previous residents died of old age two decades (probably more) ago, so there was enough space for everyone who would become a worker, which would essentially mean my future butlers and maids. 

Now I still had around three hundred people following me, my test subjects. I took them up to the first floor, where more luxurious rooms were available. After seeing the rooms, maybe, most of those three hundred or so people understood my intention and what their future would entail, but as they could do nothing about it, they just hung their heads low.

Having finished all my business for the day, I transferred myself back home, more precisely in the bathroom. I took a long, relaxing shower, then I observed myself in the mirror. Yep, after all this time I still look like a 28 years old man. My short, black hair didn’t have a single gray hair in it, no signs of a beard was visible but I could see bags under my black eyes, I hadn’t had the chance to sleep much lately as I had to deal with my now-dead disciple. 

I gotta say I’m as handsome as ever though, ahahah~

Confirmed that, I went downstairs and prepared dinner for me, my wife and my daughter. I liked making sumptuous, foreign food for them, but they rarely appreciated it, ahahah! Still, I’m positive that one day they will happily eat it! After dinner, I brought my sleepy daughter to her room. I gently laid her atop her bed and then I lovingly tucked her under the bed sheet. I put my hands on her cheeks and gave her a good night kiss on the forehead as I whispered to her...

“Eli, daddy can’t wait for you to wake up...”

Then I once again made my way downstairs, where my sweet wife was waiting for me. Seeing this made me smile from the bottom of my heart. We spent some time together in the living room before deciding to retire for the night in our room, which was upstairs, near our daughter’s.

Inside the bed, I, without hesitation, hugged my wife from behind, candidly embracing her. She was slightly cold, thus I decided to replace the magic crystals in our house tomorrow. I felt the claws of sleep tearing away at my consciousness, thus I quickly said to my dear love...

“I love you so much, Mary... I hope tomorrow I’ll be able to see your smile again...”

I always said those phrases to both my daughter and wife before going to sleep, it was like a ritual to maintain my sanity through the passage of countless years and it served me to keep thinking positively. 

Then I dreamed about a long forgotten past. It was rare for me to dream, much less for me to keep lucidity through it. This only meant one thing. I dreamed about a long forgotten Kingdom and a likewise forgotten King. I dreamed about the small village in which I, my Mary and our little Elizabeth lived in so many years ago. Then I dreamed about the time in which the King went mad and ordered his army of knights to attack our village. 

Later on, I discovered he had done such a thing because he received an oracle from a magician which stated that someone from that village would later kill him. Well, in the end it came true because of his own actions. 

Then, just before waking up, I thought about myself, about my identity; maybe to reassure myself I was still me even after all this time had passed.

I am the Arch Magus Dreiser, this world’s first ever Necromancer, and one day... I will successfully revive my wife and daughter.