"..."
"..."
"..."
Unknowingly, silence once again spread over the three people inside the tomb.
Lizbeth, now fully awake, sat together with Riezel, both staring at Euryale, who tilted her head slightly while sitting before them.
Neither of them could utter a word for a long time.
"So... what do we do now, Master?" Lizbeth asked, her troubled face turned toward Riezel.
"...I can’t decide either." Riezel frowned deeply, wearing a rare expression of distress.
At this point, he truly did not know how to handle the situation before him.
Originally, he had resurrected Euryale to obtain the information both he and Lizbeth desired.
Whether it concerned the Dimensional Magic Cube or the Hidden Land, others might not know, but as the last queen of the ancient magic civilization, Euryale surely held some knowledge, so she ought to have been able to resolve many of Riezel’s doubts.
With this intention, Riezel attempted to resurrect Euryale, thinking it would be best to simply ask the person herself rather than waste time searching, but now things had gone awry.
Euryale had indeed been successfully resurrected, yet not as a normal human being, but as an undead—or more specifically, a vampire.
Her memory also seemed entirely lost, and she only reacted to the name ’Euryale Reinnail,’ while in every other respect, she was like a newborn child who could not even speak.
What made this problematic was that this reborn vampire was an undeniable monster, one even her own creator, Riezel, could not fully control.
If such a powerful yet ignorant vampire were left unchecked, what kind of consequences would arise?
Even Riezel did not dare imagine it.
Of all outcomes, the worst one would be for this vampire to completely lose control, just as she had earlier, attacking those before her merely to drink blood.
If that were to happen, how many innocent people would lose their lives?
Even Riezel had been injured in a single exchange with the vampire.
Given that, if she went outside, how many could possibly defend themselves?
At that point, he feared he might end up creating a demon king for this world.
He had no idea what to do, but he understood that he absolutely could not leave this vampire alone, or disaster would be inevitable.
"Maybe... we could take her with us?" Lizbeth cautiously suggested.
"Are you sure?" Riezel shot back, making Lizbeth shrink back.
Even now, Lizbeth did not fully understand what had happened.
In fact, she did not know exactly what had befallen her ancestor—she merely assumed, as her master had said before, that her ancestor had been successfully resurrected, yet something had clearly gone wrong, leaving her ancestor apparently impaired.
One thing she could understand was that her ancestor had become a very dangerous being.
She had not forgotten that when her ancestor awoke, the ancestor had fallen into an uncontrollable state. If not for her practice of the War King Sword Style, which had strengthened her spiritual power, she might not have recovered so easily.
Her ancestor had even attacked her master, proving she had become dangerously aggressive.
Bringing such a perilous being along was obviously problematic—even she could understand that.
"Then... Master should decide for himself..." Lizbeth could only reply timidly.
Hearing this, Riezel gave a bitter smile, though he did not dwell on it for long.
"In this situation, there were only a few ways to deal with her..." Riezel sighed helplessly. "Either let her return to dust and ashes, as if she had never been revived; seal her away, preventing her from ever leaving; or, as you suggested, take her along."
All these were, without doubt, the three strategies—upper, middle, and lower.
The upper strategy was certainly to execute Euryale outright and end things cleanly.
The middle strategy was to seal her, which would only treat the symptoms without addressing the root cause.
The lower strategy was to take her along under strict watch, which was dangerous, but it was not without its benefits.
First, Euryale currently lacked any awareness of rebelling against her creator.
If Riezel carefully controlled and trained her, he might gain complete command, adding a powerful combat power to his group.
Second, while she now seemed devoid of memory, who could say what the future would hold?
Perhaps her memories had not been lost but merely lay dormant.
If she regained them, Riezel and Lizbeth could learn from the queen herself about the Dimensional Magic Cube, the Hidden Land, and even the secrets behind the downfall of the ancient magic civilization.
All these matters were closely tied to Riezel and Lizbeth, and the two had left the royal capital precisely to uncover such mysteries.
Since that was the case, how could they abandon a person who might provide the very answers they sought?
Of course, there was risk, which only depended on whether Riezel was willing to take it.
"If it were up to you, which would you choose?" Riezel, lost in thought, posed the question to Lizbeth.
"M-Me?" Lizbeth immediately fell into hesitation.
On a personal level, she certainly could not choose the upper strategy.
Not only because of her deep ties to Euryale—she simply could not bring herself to obliterate her ancestor. It seemed cruel to execute someone who had just been resurrected, who had done nothing yet, merely because she was deemed dangerous.
For this reason, she instinctively rejected the upper strategy.
The middle strategy was just as unthinkable—at least for her, she could not coldly seal away someone who had done nothing wrong.
However, this left only the lower strategy, but that only brought them back to the original problem.
Unable to decide, the little princess turned pitiful eyes toward Riezel, making him chuckle.
"Alright, leaving such a choice to you would be far too cruel."
In truth, Riezel, knowing Lizbeth’s personality, had never intended to let her make the final decision, so after a moment’s thought, he turned his gaze back to Euryale.
"..."
Euryale still sat there, blinking her eyes silently, but now, she no longer looked at Riezel and Lizbeth and instead stared intently at the bloodstains on Riezel’s hand, wanting to lean in, yet held back by some instinct.
Seeing this, Riezel finally made up his mind.
"Let’s take her with us."
In the end, he could not bring himself to abandon such a powerful combat power.
In terms of raw strength, Euryale was likely a being stronger than himself.
Needless to say, to have created such an undead—anyone else would have been overjoyed.
Take Ainz, for example.
If he had managed to create such a powerful undead through his magic, he would never abandon Euryale and would go to any lengths to dominate her.
Euryale could be said to be the pinnacle of necromancy, a supreme masterpiece—even a World Item might not be enough to exchange for her.
At the very least, even the mightiest NPC of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Rubedo—rumored to have been created with a World Item—would likely not be a match for this newly born vampire.
Given all this, Riezel had no reason to abandon Euryale.
Her creation was likely possible only because the corpse used as a medium had been extraordinarily special, which meant he would never be able to produce another vampire like her again.
Such an opportunity would never return.
If he abandoned such an opportunity, then all those long years of training would have been for nothing.
In the next moment, Riezel crouched before Euryale.
"?" Euryale tilted her head, looking at him with confusion.
"Give me your hand." Riezel extended his own hand while giving a command.
"..."
Euryale sensed this command was different from before, as if something was about to happen, but she did not refuse—or rather, she lacked even the concept of refusal.
Riezel still held some measure of control over her, so under that influence, she instinctively extended her hand, placing it in his.
In the next moment, Riezel began chanting magic.
"Summon Undead 10th."
Riezel’s purpose in chanting this magic was simple—to establish a connection with Euryale as a summoned undead, binding her as one would bind a summoned creature.
Since he intended to take her along, he naturally sought to strengthen his control over her.
For this, he prepared to employ multiple forms of undead-controlling magic, pushing the fragile spiritual link between them to its utmost and granting him maximum authority over this powerful vampire.
Not only magic spells from YGGDRASIL—Riezel also planned to use other systems of magic to keep reinforcing his dominance over Euryale.
As he unleashed several such magic spells, he suddenly produced a parchment scroll, which made Lizbeth react at once.
"Is that... an attendant contract document?"
Indeed, it was a document used to form an attendant contract—Riezel intended to bind Euryale with such a contract.
Its terms were simple: Euryale would become his attendant, and in exchange, he would provide her with enough blood.
"Contract."
As this short chant resounded, the document burned in Riezel’s hand, and a magic circle appeared beneath both him and Euryale.
Before long, a unique bond of an attendant contract formed between the two of them.
Sensing this connection, Riezel finally smiled.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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