The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 163: The Sage has a Hallucination
I proceeded with the office work as soon as I arrived in the audience hall.
I was unusually busy at the time, but things had calmed down recently.
Even if I say it was work, it was mainly about giving approval for territory management.
Other than the important cases, all were mostly handled by our clerks.
Therefore, a situation where my personal judgment was necessary became fewer.
This was also the result of the efforts all my subordinates put in.
In order to allow the Demon Lord’s territory to operate smoothly, they were always making detailed changes regarding the office work.
Thanks to that, my burden was dramatically reduced.
I wouldn’t have been able to optimize things as much had I done it on my own.
And for that, I had to be grateful.
Even so, who was responsible for the corpses?
As I began to work on a pile of documents, my mind suddenly wandered over to that peculiar situation.
Regarding those spies who died so suddenly, we already had several ideas for which nations they were dispatched from.
Luciana’s investigation had given us a rough estimate.
They were dispatched from various nations.
But it wasn’t coordinated on purpose, they had just happened to enter the capital around the same period of time.
The only thing they had in common was that they all were affected mentally by a spell.
It was unlikely that those nations colluded with each other for this reconnaissance mission.
Plus, I had never heard of such an unknown spell being developed.
It might have been developed in secret, but the timing was too abrupt.
Our spies were carefully investigating the possible circumstances for such a spell to be made in each nation.
At present, we had never heard of anything related to this matter.
If multiple nations were working together, there would be more information available.
It was so peculiar that we were unable to glean any information at all.
Therefore, I doubted it was an internationally-driven project like before.
With that in mind, it was also possible that the one responsible was of a greater power that wasn’t a nation.
I was strongly inclined to this possibility.
I had no solid proof, it was just based on my intuition.
Perhaps there was an unrelated third party placing spells into the eyes of those spies?
The people targeted for the spell would have been chosen randomly among the spies.
That was why there was no common denominator among the spies selected.
I could roughly guess why the mastermind used those spies.
They likely wanted to keep an eye on me through them.
But I didn’t know what the mastermind’s purpose was.
Since they couldn’t make direct contact, they chose to do it through a safer method.
It seems I was blatantly ensnared by their tactic.
Anyway, I only wanted to know where the mastermind was.
Once I did, direct assault would be possible.
Although it wasn’t a desirable method, I would choose to annihilate them by force if necessary.
I really didn’t want to let any unknown power go unchecked.
As I pondered upon the manner of things, someone knocked on the door.
Henry then entered the room as he raised his hand in greeting.
“Hey, Commander. I wanted to consult you regarding the army’s composition and armament…”
“Okay.”
I moved towards the large table in the room and shuffled away the irrelevant documents, then sat face to face with Henry.
Then we began having a light discussion.
In addition to the topic Henry initially brought up, we also discussed future aggression plans.
It was an important project, but we could just go along with the predetermined routes.
There were no disagreements and the talk went smoothly.
During that time, I noticed a black stain at the corner of my vision.
I ceased my thoughts and watched it carefully.
The black stain was writhing eerily.
At the same time, it produced a sound that mixed with the tinnitus in our ears.
…What?
I tilted my head while keeping my eyes on it.
The black stain expanded like a living creature and tried to wrap around Henry.
Even as it gradually approached, Henry kept talking without noticing it at all.
“…”
I unleashed my killing intent and was about to activate my magic.
But immediately after that, the black stain disappeared.
It vanished along with the extra buzzing in my ears.
Was it just an illusion…?
I made the motion of rubbing my eyes.
Right after that, I remembered that I have no eyeballs.
“Commander? What’s wrong?”
Henry asked me.
He was looking at me suspiciously.
“No… there’s nothing wrong.”
I shook my head lightly.
I had an unpleasant chill on my spine and was hit by indescribable discomfort.
As I got up from my chair, I went towards the room’s entrance.
When I reached the door, I told Henry.
“I’m sorry but it seems I’m a bit tired. I’ll go rest.”
“Aah, it’s better to rest. Even an undead needs breaks.”
Henry said to me kindly.
He called out to me as I stepped out the door.
“Commander.”
“What?”
“Tell me what it is once the situation is right. Please don’t keep things hidden from me.”
I looked back involuntarily.
Henry had a serious expression and gave me a straight gaze.
“—Okay.”
I acquiesced and nodded.
It seemed he had seen through my act.
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