Chapter 187: The Great Tomb's New Arrangement
Sebas stepped closer to the bed and spoke quietly. "Don't be afraid. You're safe now."
Pestonya's gaze lingered on Leno for a moment, confirming that the girl had fully returned to life. The relief on her face needed no translation.
Then her eyes moved to the warehouse corner, where a few shapes lay under white cloth. The outlines were larger than Leno's. The cloth didn't fully cover the edges, and along the exposed margins, dried dark stains were visible.
These were the severely damaged Aindra domain soldiers that Lucian had "happened" to leave behind.
Pestonya looked at the covered forms. "Sebas-sama, these are..."
"Soldiers from the Aindra domain who fell in battle." Sebas followed her gaze. "Their bodies were too badly damaged when they died. Tier 5 [Resurrection] couldn't bring them back."
Pestonya's dog ears gave two small twitches.
"Which means... they need the same high-tier resurrection magic as the girl?"
Sebas hesitated.
This hadn't been part of Pestonya's assignment. He hadn't wanted to ask more of her. And consecutive castings of high-tier resurrection magic took a real toll on the caster.
But then he thought of the soldiers' faces. The sound of their voices in camp, easy and laughing. The silence in which they had carried their fallen comrades' bodies.
Touch Me-sama would have counted these people as important.
"If you're able to," Sebas said, his voice a degree quieter than before, "I'd ask you to."
Pestonya's mouth curved slightly.
"Sebas-sama hasn't changed," she said, with a trace of gentle amusement. "Always thinking of everyone else."
Sebas didn't respond to that. He turned to the fallen soldiers and placed the blindfolds over them, one by one.
Pestonya walked to the warehouse corner and stopped before the white-cloth-covered forms. Soft light gathered in her palms, drawing itself into a circle — a magic formation rendered in radiance. Then it poured outward, slowly, and sank into the bodies that had been silent for so long.
The dark warehouse lit up again. And again. Like a lamp being relit over and over.
Through all of it, Sebas stood and watched in quiet. He knew the drain on Pestonya was real. He didn't stop her.
Because he knew that she, like him, was doing this out of something genuine — not just obligation.
The last light dissolved into the final body.
A moment later, the warehouse filled with coughing and the sharp sound of breath being drawn in hard. The forms that had been cold and still began to move.
"All successfully resurrected, Sebas-sama." Pestonya lowered her hands. "They've just woken — they'll need some time to fully recover."
"...Thank you." Sebas inclined his head and offered the words plainly, without ceremony.
Pestonya waved a hand and gave him a small smile. "Think nothing of it."
The coughing settled. The ragged breathing evened out. The newly revived soldiers began slowly adjusting — calibrating themselves back into the world.
Pestonya looked once more at the soldiers beginning to sit up, confirmed their awareness had returned, and turned to Sebas.
"The assignment is complete, Sebas-sama. Unless there's anything else, I'll return and report to Ainz-sama."
"You've worked hard, Pestonya. Please give my regards to Ainz-sama."
She nodded. Teleportation light rose around her, and her form dissolved into it like watercolor bleeding at the edges, leaving only a faint trace of magical residue in the air behind her.
The warehouse went quiet.
Sebas's gaze settled on the soldiers. They were clumsily working at their blindfolds, fingers finding the ties.
He watched those bodies — cold such a short time ago, now breathing again — and felt the crease between his brows slowly release.
He knew this wasn't some simple stroke of fortune.
These soldiers had died because of the beastman attack. But Sebas also knew, and kept knowing with the kind of clarity that doesn't fade, that before any of that — it had been him who talked Lord Lucian out of harsher measures with the beastman prisoners. He had asked for gentleness. And those prisoners had become the burden that slowed the convoy and gave the enemy the opening it needed.
Without the prisoners, maybe these soldiers would still be alive.
Lord Lucian had done everything he could. He had sacrificed more than anyone should have been asked to. The one whose choices had set all of it in motion — that was Sebas himself. If only he hadn't said what he'd said...
But today he could carry a little less of that.
These people were alive again.
He let out a long slow breath. It condensed in the cold air into a thin white mist, then dissolved without a sound.
He pushed the warehouse door open from the inside.
Sunlight forced itself through the gap and cut a bright line through the dusty interior. Sebas stood in that band of light, his silver hair catching a faint gleam. Across his face was the ease of someone who has finally set down a weight they'd been carrying for a long time.
"Touch Me-sama. Lord Lucian." There was a lightness in his voice that hadn't been there before. "I'm pleased to report — the mission was a success. All resurrected."
The moment the words landed, something in Touch Me ignited.
Those deep blue eyes went slightly red — but not with grief, not this time.
"Thank you, Sebas-sama!"
He couldn't keep the emotion contained. His voice came out louder than usual. He took a step forward, then another, and the steps turned into something close to a run as he headed for the warehouse.
The corner of Sebas's mouth curved. That lined face filled with a quiet, warm light. He saw Touch Me's arms beginning to open as the boy approached — saw the urgency of someone moving toward something they'd gotten back — and without quite deciding to, he let his own arms open slightly in answer.
Touch Me went past him.
The boy moved like a gust of wind, grazing past Sebas's side, the displaced air making the old butler's tailcoat hem shift once. He practically flung himself through the warehouse entrance and dropped to his knees beside Leno, reaching out with hands that were still faintly trembling to touch her shoulder.
"Leno..." Touch Me said her name deliberately, carefully, the way you say something you want to make sure someone hears properly. "Leno. You really came back."
Leno was sitting on the plank bed, eyes still hidden by the black blindfold, gold hair falling loose around her. She turned her face toward the sound, orienting herself, then reached out and found Touch Me's arm with unerring precision.
"Tachi-mi?" Her voice was still rough at the edges — from just having revived, maybe, or maybe simply because she had never been easy with words. "Tachi-mi... here?"
"Yes. I'm here."
Touch Me hesitated. He didn't know what the blindfold was for and didn't dare remove it on his own. So instead he took her hand gently and held it between both of his, letting her feel the warmth.
At the doorway, Sebas stood.
His arms were still held in the slight open position from a moment ago.
That posture held for a few breaths. His pale grey eyes rested on Touch Me and Leno's joined hands. Something complicated moved through them.
Then he raised the arm — and lightly scratched the back of his silver-streaked hair, twice. The gesture looked natural enough to have been entirely intentional.
Lucian was standing a few steps away, and he had caught the entire sequence.
Sebas opened his arms. Touch Me rushed past him. Sebas recovered by pivoting to scratching his own head.
The corner of Lucian's mouth made a small, involuntary movement. He pressed his lips together immediately and pushed the almost-curve back down.
He turned and looked at Lakyus.
Lakyus had turned toward him at almost the same moment — but her pale green eyes still held the light of what she'd just seen at the warehouse entrance. Her expression was perfectly composed, completely serious, as though nothing unusual had happened at all.
But Lucian noticed her lashes flutter twice.
She was suppressing something too.
Their eyes met for one instant.
"Brother," Lakyus said, keeping her voice even. "Nice weather today."
"Very sunny," Lucian agreed at the same register. Then: "...Speaking of which, where's Evileye? Why isn't she with you?"
Lakyus blinked, the question pulling her back to the subject. "She went back early. She was worried Demon Lord Sagara might make a move on the capital."
"Demon Lord Sagara?" Lucian's brow drew in slightly.
"Mm." Lakyus nodded, her attention returning from the warehouse direction, her manner going more serious. "It was not long after you left the capital. A demon calling himself Demon Lord Rashaelle appeared in the capital out of nowhere..."
Lakyus walked him through the full account of the capital incident.
"...Eventually, Demon Lord Rashaelle was defeated by the adventurer Momon. Before he self-destructed, he said he was a subordinate of something called Jaldabaoth, and that the Demon Emperor would avenge him and another called 'Henyuu Penyugo.'"
Lucian listened with a convincingly surprised expression, while internally he was already moving through it.
Demon Lord Rashaelle. He'd picked up word of this while stationed in the beastman nation, through Theocracy channels. The demon had appeared suddenly, self-destructed cleanly — like a performer stepping onto a stage to hit one mark and then exiting. He was nearly certain this was Nazarick's work. And based on the descriptions of the demon's appearance, that had to be the Wrath Demon General in disguise.
Demiurge himself had never shown his face throughout — probably still cautious about the imaginary enemy Lucian had set up.
But what he couldn't account for was the new demon lord.
"What happened after that?" Lucian asked. "Demon Lord Rashaelle self-destructed — then what?"
"Another demon lord appeared. Sagara." Lakyus answered. "He calls himself one of the Three Great Demon Lords under Jaldabaoth. He keeps getting driven back by Momon every time he appears, but no one's managed to finish him off. The capital is still on high alert — Evileye wasn't comfortable leaving and went back to keep watch."
Lucian nodded slightly.
But the weight in his chest dropped a little further.
The situation had completely diverged from what the original work had established. Nazarick's movements had long since left their original trajectory. He'd lost his ability to predict. He was starting to worry about Lakyus being in the middle of it.
"Lakyus." He spoke with a faint, measuring quality in his voice. "Didn't you tell me recently that things were quiet?"
Lakyus paused. She blinked those pale green eyes. Her gaze drifted slightly sideways, but the corner of her mouth was already slowly curving — the look of someone caught who isn't particularly repentant about it. She raised a hand and tapped her own forehead. The tip of her tongue appeared briefly. "Mm... I may have said something like that."
"And what is this, then?"
"Mm, well." Her voice went soft and drawn-out, buying time. "I didn't want you worrying too much at the time..." She trailed off, eyes drifting toward a bird that had just landed on a nearby rooftop and found it very interesting.
Lucian looked at that "I know I was wrong and I'm not going to do anything about it" expression and let it go.
"How high is the alert in the capital right now?"
"High. Quite a few adventurer teams have pulled back their range. For Blue Roses, I've already told Tina and the others to avoid splitting up for now. Looking at it as things stand, it shouldn't become a serious problem."
Lucian was quiet for a moment.
"Lakyus."
"Yes?"
"Were you planning to head back to the capital on your own first, or..." He left the implication there — the opening for her to go.
"Is Brother trying to keep me here?"
Lakyus tilted her head slightly. Something playful caught in those pale green eyes. She was going deliberately against the grain of his hint.
"When did I say that." Lucian denied it immediately.
"Brother's expression said it." Lakyus, with complete confidence. "I know you."
Lucian didn't argue. Something yielded in his expression.
"...Then stay a few more days. The beastman situation just wrapped up and there are still follow-up details to confirm. Stay and help."
"You need my help?" Lakyus arranged her face into one of polite puzzlement.
"Yes. I do." Lucian arranged his into something appropriately reluctant.
The curve at the corner of Lakyus's mouth went up another degree — the look of someone who has just won a small but decisive victory. She gave a small nod.
"Well. Since you're asking."
Lucian let out a quiet internal sigh.
Lakyus thought she'd successfully dug in and held out. What she didn't know was that the person who actually wanted her to stay was him.
Nazarick's movements were getting larger. He couldn't judge whether their probing was going to reach Blue Roses. Keeping Lakyus close for now was simply the highest-safety option available.
At the warehouse entrance, Touch Me had finally gotten back on his feet. He turned, his face still carrying some of the flush that hadn't quite faded yet.
He walked to Sebas and bowed — a proper, deliberate bow.
"Sebas-sama. Really. Thank you."
Sebas reached out quickly and caught the boy before he could finish lowering himself.
"There's no need for that, Touch Me-sama." His voice carried a warmth that settled. "That this child woke up — that's worth more than anything else."
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