Published: August 15, 2025
Today, three chapters are posted simultaneously.
This is the second chapter.
Evening.
The outside is still bright, but the edges of the sky are gradually darkening. Looking toward the depths of the town, you can already see some overly eager undead coming out, so it’s about the right time. All preparations were completed after lunch, and with mana and stamina fully restored by potions and a nap, we’re ready.
“As planned, leave the defense to the slimes and us.”
“Ryoma-chan, just focus on that magic we talked about, so take it easy.”
With the reassuring words from Mr. Seaver and Miss Remily, the operation began.
Looking down from the sky at the base we set up inside the ghost town, the central staircase and the road in front of the holding facility form the kanji character “王” (meaning “king”). This is the route the zombies and skeletons will likely take. First, we sealed eight locations around this area — front, back, left, and right — with grave slimes that we increased since morning.
Currently, there are 1,745 grave slimes in total. When merged into big ones, that makes 17 slimes. We placed two evenly at each spot, and kept one extra as a substitute waiting nearby me, ready to reinforce wherever needed.
Tonight’s defense consists only of grave slimes and holy space. Goblins are resting because the plan is to retreat immediately to last night’s base if the operation fails or an emergency occurs. Fewer people make it easier to escape.
...Really, grave slimes are incredibly reliable against the undead. If the magic experiments and memorial rites weren’t the goal, and the purpose was simply to wipe out the undead, wouldn’t it be enough just to breed grave slimes and let them loose?
“Next, this.”
At the center of the base, a stone pedestal placed right in the middle of the stairs — though it’s no grand monument, just a large table — I laid out the food prepared earlier. This serves as the spirit shelf, a substitute for the traditional offering tray used to present offerings to the undead.
The offerings include potatoes and dried meat like last night, plus a German potato-style dish stir-fried with salt and pepper. There are simple sandwiches with ham and vegetables, retort soup, and salad. For drinks, water and goblin-made homemade distilled liquor. There are also small amounts of sweets and fruits.
If they’re starving, maybe anything edible would do. But offering proper dishes might better satisfy them.
Regarding this magic, my understanding and concepts from religious ceremonies in my previous life form its core, so even Miss Remily, a former court mage, can’t really advise. We have to try it, observe reactions, and improve repeatedly. I plan to proceed like an “agile development” method, building each element step by step and combining them.
“Let’s begin.”
In front of the spirit shelf, I lit a fire like last night. This time, the vessels used weren’t makeshift but modeled after the “Grand Sake Cup” used when a sumo wrestler wins a championship — five of these lined up.
The food on the shelf is like restaurant food samples; the ritual is cooking. Visualizing as concretely as possible, I added prayers and mana while putting the ingredients into the fire, hoping above all that it would ease the undead’s hunger and help them sleep in satisfaction.
We started with potatoes and dried meat, same as yesterday.
“They’re already coming.”
“Understood, I’ll hurry.”
Side-eyeing the smoking vessels, today I added a new twist. When I brought out the spirit shelf earlier, I also took out some bamboo tubes. I brought them near the smoke and called to the smoke slimes inside.
“Can you carry the smoke?”
Smoke rose from holes in the bamboo tubes. Smoke slimes, as their name suggests, are slimes made of smoke particles drifting in the air. Their nature lets them be used as freely controlled smoke screens in battle.
This time, we applied that to send the smoke of the cooking food on the smoke slimes’ smoke out beyond the base, carrying smoke, scent, and magic to even more distant undead. If the offerings are like food samples, the smoke slimes are like waiters.