The misadventures of the necromancer

The darkness surrounding her vanished the moment she once again heard the familiar command:

"Silencio."

With her eyes wide open, she saw the necromancer standing before her, one hand raised toward her. He studied her for a moment before stepping aside and raising his hand toward Gurt, who was beside her.

Seeing this, Enola tried to move, only to realize that her hands were bound behind her back.

Trying to make sense of the situation, she looked around.

She was seated between her master, Eran, who appeared to have awakened only moments earlier, and Gurt, her fellow apprentice, who was already awake. All three of them were lined up and tied just as securely as she was.

Behind them she heard movement. Turning slightly, she confirmed it was the remaining guards.

Thankfully, they all appeared to be alive and well.

Among them stood Nero's companion, whom she assumed was checking that everyone was securely tied. Immediately behind the five guards stood the four skeletons the necromancer had summoned.

Off to one side, the two girls and the child who had been traveling with Nero watched the entire scene from a distance without taking part.

By now, Gurt had apparently just had 'Silencio' reapplied to him.

The necromancer observed them carefully before preparing to turn away.

A movement from her master caught his attention.

Beside her, she saw Eran silently shape a single question with his lips.

"How?"

Nero turned back toward him.

"How what?"

Eran tried to speak again, but his lips moved too quickly for Enola to understand.

But, apparently, Nero had figured it out.

"How did I use Silencio?" he repeated thoughtfully.

"Well..." he began, scratching his head. "I'm not really sure. I know I didn't buy the spell... but I don't remember..."

The entire answer was confusing.

He seemed to be explaining how he had acquired the spell, while simultaneously admitting that he didn't actually know.

An absurd statement!

Who wouldn't know how they had obtained a spell like Silencio?

"Wait..." he suddenly said, as though something had just come back to him.

"It was in a library! I remember the bookshelves..."

His face brightened.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it!"

"I don't remember whether it was in Inverten or Great Harbour, but it was definitely one of the big ones..."

Enola didn't recognize the name Inverten, but Great Harbour was impossible not to know.

And if he was referring to the library, he could mean one.

The implication was both believable and astonishing.

A necromancer having access to the Great Harbour Library was almost unimaginable.

Yet it also made sense. It was the greatest repository of magical knowledge in the world. Someone capable of demonstrating such an incredible variety of spells...

A connection to that library was entirely plausible.

Even her master visibly tensed at the mention of it.

"Yeah... one of them, I think," the necromancer continued uncertainly.

"It was on the third floor... I was looking for something when I found the magic book..."

Once again, Eran reacted, studying the thoughtful mage.

Enola remembered that her master had never revealed, even to his own apprentices, where he had discovered Silencio.

What struck her as odd, however, was Nero's casual description of wandering through the library.

Even with Eran's sponsorship, she herself had never been free to simply explore it.

She had never even been allowed onto the third floor.

Which raised a far more important question.

Who exactly is this Nero?

"The book was one of those test books... the kind with all kinds of questions."

He looked at the group of bound prisoners as though expecting confirmation.

Then, apparently remembering that, and why, they couldn't answer, he continued.

"Well, after looking up some of the answers online, I passed the test and got the spell."

Enola could only stare at him in confusion.

The sentence explained almost nothing, despite sounding as though he genuinely believed it did.

A small smile spread across his face.

"You've no idea how annoyed I was when I found out all I'd won was Silencio. But for such a simple quest, I guess that's all I should've expected, right?"

Her master managed to mouth a single shocked word.

"Simple?!"

"I only tried using it two or three times before giving up," the necromancer continued.

To Enola, the explanation only became more ridiculous.

Not only did he sound disappointed with the spell, but he was claiming he had barely ever used it.

"Which is one of the reasons it was so hard to use earlier."

Enola's jaw dropped.

She didn't even need to look around to know she wasn't the only one.

The necromancer was claiming he had managed to silence all of them after having cast the spell only a handful of times.

"That reminds me..."

He pointed directly at her master.

"...that was impressive."

The pointing hand curled into a fist before he raised a thumbs-up.

"The fact that you managed to hit me with Silencio, considering the difference between us... That's impressive."

"You must've completely mastered the spell. I've never even heard of anyone trying something like that before."

"After all... it's Silencio."

Once again, Enola had no idea what to make of it.

Part of him sounded genuinely impressed, but in the most mocking way possible.

Even her master sat there with his mouth open, visibly unsure how to respond.

Eventually Nero shrugged and began walking away.

Eran shifted, trying to catch his attention again, silently forming another question.

Enola once more couldn't understand it.

"Ohhh..."

Nero stopped.

"You mean how I used the spell after you'd already hit me with it."

At last, Eran had asked what truly mattered.

This necromancer was the first person in history, as far as they knew, to have ever done such a thing.

Nero genuinely seemed puzzled by the question.

Shrugging once more, he answered simply,

"Silent Cast."

Once again, the answer explained absolutely nothing.

It only made Enola want to shout,

"And what in the world is that?"

The necromancer himself looked confused by their confusion.

"You know... the skill that lets you cast magic without speaking. I think the name kinda tells it."

"That's why nobody uses Silencio."

He gestured with both hands as though expecting them to sign their understanding.

"You know, pretty much every mage over thirty or thirty-five usually has the skill by then. So the spell stops being all that useful."

Once again, Enola had no idea what to make of what she was hearing.

She had never heard of such a thing.

Much less that mages over thirty commonly possessed it.

Besides...

Nero himself looked no older than twenty.

How could someone his age possibly possess such an ability?

"And someone, like me, who uses invisibility this much naturally tries to get it as early as possible," he explained casually, answering at least one of her questions...

She thought.

More importantly, he had just revealed that he was capable of casting spells while maintaining an invisibility spell.

Something generally considered impossible.

"It would've been useful if I'd remembered that against that group of soldiers," he muttered bitterly.

Once again, she was left completely bewildered.

How does someone forget one of their own abilities?

"Nero!"

A voice called out.

Looking toward the sound, she saw it was the necromancer's companion.

"They're all tied up properly," the newcomer reported as he approached. "So... what do we do now?"

The necromancer answered with a heavy sigh as he looked around before finally settling his gaze on the two girls.

"Hmm... what do we do now with this mess..."

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, his expression turning serious.

"We're going to have to leave."

His companion listened attentively but remained silent.

"Our connection to the girls doesn't make much sense anymore, does it?"

The weight of Nero's gaze made the robed young man nod.

"Yeah... I understand. There's no way to hide it now."

The young man looked toward the group of bound prisoners before commenting,

"There's no point using the girls to hide us anymore."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!