Necromancer 1.1

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1. The Being I Met in the Ruins

I was wandering through the ruins.

None of the companions I came with were still around.

They saw me as a burden and left me behind in these ruins.

I have little combat ability, and if a strong monster appeared, I’d surely be killed.

No, even if I didn’t encounter any monsters, if I couldn’t find a way out, starvation or exhaustion would eventually take me.

"Am I really going to die in another world like this... without ever returning to Japan...?"

Yet, something felt strange.

At first, I was filled with nothing but anxiety and fear, but as I wandered alone like this, those feelings began to dull.

In their place, a strong determination began to grow: 'I will make it out of here alive.'

I had never excelled in either studies or sports, and in class, I was an outcast, leading a life that felt like a constant loss...

But here I was, for the first time in my life, embracing such a strong and clear resolve.

"That's right... I will definitely escape from here...!"

――I, Yatengu Shigure, was summoned to this other world about half a year ago.

It happened during class as usual, when suddenly the whole classroom was shaken by a violent tremor.

At first, we thought it was an earthquake, but we were wrong.

The shaking stopped after a few minutes, and then suddenly... the scenery had changed.

We, who were supposed to be in the classroom, had been transported to a massive hall.

Later, I heard it was part of a castle.

Before us stood a middle-aged man, a few women in white robes, and several dozen noble-looking men.

"Wh-Who are you people...?"

I asked in a daze.

"I am the king of this country! And this is 'another world,' different from the one you live in!"

The middle-aged man—the king—proclaimed loudly.

"You were summoned to this world by our magic. There is something we wish to ask of you."

"Ask... something?"

"This world is currently threatened by the [Demon Lord]. The only ones who can stand against him are [Heroes]."

The king explained.

"And only people from another world can become those [Heroes]."

"Wait, does that mean... us?"

Summoning the whole class as heroes...

Was that what this was?

We were told that as heroes, we each possessed a special power—a skill—as proof of our summoning.

In fact, all my classmates had acquired extraordinary powers.

One could summon invisible swords that could cut through anything.

Another could transform into a beastman, gaining overwhelming combat abilities.

Or even... the power to make undead monsters their servants.

Become a hero and defeat the Demon Lord—.

If this were an anime or game, maybe we'd have accepted it without a second thought.

But we were real people.

We had no obligation to risk our lives to fight the Demon Lord’s army for a world that had nothing to do with us.

We weren’t that righteous.

But then the king said this:

[Unless you defeat the Demon Lord's army, you won't be able to return to your original world.]

[If you refuse the hero's mission, we will kill you all here and summon new heroes.]

—he said.

Even though we had these abilities, we hadn’t yet trained.

We couldn’t stand against the warriors and mages of this world.

We discussed it as a class.

The conclusion was—to fulfill the hero's mission.

Well, if we didn't, we'd be killed, so we had no choice.

So, we began training to improve our hero skills.

At first, my [Necromancer] skill could only command the lowest-level ghosts, and it was useless in battle.

Because of that, my classmates looked at me with disdain and treated me as a burden.

[You're way too weak! Stop dragging us down!]

[You're a loser in Japan and in this world too!]

[Why is this weakling even in our class? Just die already!]

[How about you just leave the class during the next ruin exploration?]

[Yeah, that's a good idea. We'll tell the king, "Shigure got separated from us and went missing"!]

And so, six months after being summoned, I was finally abandoned during a ruin exploration exercise—.

"Some of them must have been planning this for a while..."

I muttered with a sigh.

They probably intended to explain to the others that I had gotten separated and left behind.

"Sure, I'm weak... but do I really deserve to be killed for that...?!"

My body burned with frustration and humiliation.

Come to think of it, I had never truly gotten angry at anyone before.

I was bad at asserting my opinions and expressing strong emotions in the first place.

I had always let things slide, convincing myself that 'I'm inferior to others', 'so it's only natural to be mistreated’.

But no, this was wrong.

Just because I’m weak, does that mean my right to live should be taken away?

Just because I’m inferior, does that mean I should die?

"I refuse to be killed by such unfairness!"

Even so, no matter how much I walked, I couldn’t find an exit.

I was just getting more lost.

I was mapping my path as I went, but the ruins were far too vast.

"Hah, hah, hah..."

My strength was running out, and I collapsed to the ground.

"Am I really not going to make it out...?"

Fear welled up inside me.

My skill wasn’t useful for escaping dungeons.

It wasn’t useful for fighting monsters either.

In the end, I was powerless.

Was I really going to die here, helpless?

Oh, how I wished for power—.

It was then that it happened.

[Finally... you've come... the one with the [Necromancer] skill—]