Chapter 8
UNSATISFIED BY the temporary copy he’d just summoned, Soul Howl called up the Martyr’s Coffin and spoke to the true Irina lying inside. To him, it was a joyful reunion, although it wouldn’t look like it to anyone else.
“Your complexion is lovely today,” he told Irina’s corpse.
Inside the coffin, which was much larger than average, her body was clad in thin white clothes. Her grave goods were next to her. She was still beautiful, and her possessions were all brilliant items worthy of being called legendary.
The only grave good that wasn’t beside Irina was the simple hair ornament tying her beautiful, fragile blonde hair to the side.
Soul Howl touched the hair ornament and looked lovingly at Irina, an odd smile on his face. That was enough to make even friends who knew of his odd fetish cringe.
The effect of the ornament—a memento from when Irina still lived—was a percent-based attack-stat increase. It truly was a powerful item, a perfect fit for someone wielding such an enormous axe. Thanks to Soul Howl’s efforts and his own growth over time, Irina’s power now far outstripped her living strength. She was even tougher than when Mira had encountered her.
Here we go again…
One could generally relate to the pain of being away from a lover, but given who Soul Howl’s lover was, the only sympathizers would be equally perverted. And while Mira didn’t understand Soul Howl entirely, she knew him well enough to give up any hope of redemption.
As Mira watched and wondered when this would end, Martel’s voice turned up in her mind. “Mira…Mira! Who is that woman?” Since Martel believed that romance had blossomed between Soul Howl and the stigmatic woman he’d gone through so much to save, she perhaps had trouble shrugging this scene off.
“Ah, well… I’m not sure how to explain.” Sensing how touchy Martel was, Mira carefully recounted the story of how Soul Howl had met his wife—the story of the end of the Black Lion Mercenaries—as she’d heard it straight from the horse’s mouth. “You see… He really loves the undead. Undead women, anyway.” She concluded by saying that ever since she’d met Soul Howl, he’d called Irina his first wife and doted on her as he now did.
“Oh, so she wasn’t a real wife or lover who left him for the afterlife… You’re telling me he’s in love with a corpse?” That must have been a shocking revelation for Martel. It would be for anyone, really. Soul Howl was clearly special from the way he so lovingly doted on the corpse.
“Um… Yeah, I think you have the long and short of it,” Mira affirmed.
“Loving a woman who will never die…” Martel murmured sadly. Mira knew that even the spirit would have a breaking point, but her lovesick brain wasn’t defeated yet. “The pain of losing someone close to him traumatized him, so he’s drawn to a woman death can’t take away… Oh, he’s had such a difficult journey. But it’s going to be all right. Soul Howl’s efforts will be repaid. I just know it. The instant that stigmatic girl gets her life back, they’ll awaken to true love!”
Mira just chuckled to herself. She couldn’t understand people like Martel who prattled on endlessly about love. The Spirit King had to agree.
***
Perhaps because he’d been separated from his strange love for so long, Soul Howl doted on her to an unsettling extent. Realizing they were spinning their wheels, Mira called out to him, “Well? How is it? Do you think this will work?”
Soul Howl bid his love adieu, returned her to the Martyr’s Coffin, and turned around. “It’s perfect. Nothing feels wrong. I’ll be able to fight just fine tomorrow.”
His batteries recharged thanks to his beloved, Soul Howl’s expression was full of confidence—perhaps too full.
“Happy to hear it. Shall we devise a strategy to fight the Machina Guardian?” Mira proposed, opening the spirit mansion’s door.
The necromancer’s new ability to use advanced magic had expanded their range of strategies. He’d gotten stronger during Mira’s absence too; the strategy meeting would be necessary for her to get a sense of that.
“Good suggestion. We don’t need to grind that creep down over time. Let’s destroy it in one fell swoop.”
“Oh ho! Someone’s bullish.”
“Obviously. If I can use advanced magic, the battle’s virtually a done deal. Besides, I’m sure you’ve got new tricks of your own, Elder.” Their foe was a top-class raid boss, but Soul Howl smirked as if it would be no problem at all. The Soul Howl Mira had known wouldn’t have been quite strong enough for the Machina Guardian…but this new Soul Howl seemed confident that he’d grown much stronger.
Mira likewise had her own means to turn the tides of battle hidden within. “You’re not wrong. Shall we plan for tomorrow?”
She sat on her sleeping bag, Soul Howl found a random place to sit, and they began their strategy meeting in earnest. If even high-ranked adventurers had heard that meeting, they’d think the pair were discussing wild, fantastical dreams.
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