The Invaders of the Large Tomb

The vast territory was surrounded by thick, high walls with several watchtowers overlooking it, guarding against dangers coming from both outside and inside. Multiple chosen knights —from the elite 1st Knight Order that was the best out of the eight Knight Orders of the Empire— formed teams with magic casters and made regular patrols.

Up in the sky were the personal guards under the direct jurisdiction of the Emperor, imperial air guards mounted on flying beasts, and even high-level magic casters using flight magic.

This was the symbol of the Empire’s might, and the place where past emperors had invested the most efforts in, the Magic Ministry.

Production of magic equipment for the knights, development of new spells, raising the standard of living through magic experiments, the essence of the Empire’s magic knowledge was all here. And the man who was overall in charge—although someone else was the minister of magic—was Fluder.

The carriage moved through the territory, and finally stopped before the innermost tower.

One common thing about the various buildings they passed by was the large number of people entering and exiting. However, there was hardly anyone going in and out of this tower. In contrast, the security at the entrance was beyond that of the other buildings.

First was how the security knights looked. They were not from the 1st Knight Order that could be seen everywhere in the vicinity.

They wore full plate armor imbued with magic, holding magic shields and had magic weapons hanging at their waist. Their crimson capes, sewn with the emblem of the Empire, were magical as well.

The imbued magic might not be that powerful, but such equipment was not something normal knights were outfitted with, even in the Empire.

These elite knights were the Imperial Earth Guards under the direct command of the Emperor.

The magic casters beside them were equally formidable. They were veterans and proficient in battles, emitting an aura that could rival veteran warriors.

And there was more. Four 2.5m tall stone golems guarded the entrance. With no need for food nor rest and never lazing off, they were most suited for security.

This place, which had a security system that was on par with the one protecting the emperor, only allowed entry to magic casters who had reached the latter half of their 3rd tier magic studies, those with special circumstances and magic casters proficient in research.

After responding to the most respectful salutes of the knights and magic casters with a gentle wave, he entered the tower. He reached the top of a bowl shaped space after going through a straight passage. Many magic casters were working hastily. The highest ranking magic caster rushed hurriedly to Fluder.

“Did something happen?”

“Nothing to report, Master.”

After gulping, the disciple squeezed out an answer that bore both good and bad tidings.

Fluder nodded with a complicated expression as he looked at the thirty disciples he had personally trained— known as the chosen thirty disciples. The most renowned one was his deputy in charge of this place.

“Is that so, we couldn’t link it to natural occurrence?”

“Yes master. We couldn’t link it to the existence of the lowest tier of undead, the skeleton. Right now we are conducting experiments by placing it next to corpses to see if zombies will be raised naturally.”

“Hmmm...”

Fluder stroked his long beard as he watched the scene developing before him.

There were dozens of skeletons performing farm work.

Raising hoes and swinging it down. The movements of all the skeletons were perfectly in sync. If one were to look from the side, they would only see one skeleton moving.

The movement was synchronized so perfectly that it looked just like a tactical RPG. This was the true nature of the grand project the Empire was conducting in secret. ‘Using undead as labourers'.

The undead had no need for nourishment or rest, and would not become tired. Low tier undead weren’t sentient, so they could only perform tasks as ordered and couldn’t do anything complicated.

However, if there was someone giving instructions from the side, the problem would be solved.

Deploying the undead to the farms would yield great benefits, such as reducing the manpower required and a price drop for farm produce.. Farmlands could be expanded, and injuries and death to humans could be prevented. It wasn’t too much to say this was a grandiose project.

There were similar proposals that used summoned monsters or created Golems as manpower, but after considering the cost, efficiency and optimization, the use of undead was considered to be the best choice.

But those who opposed it —especially the group led by priests— were of the opinion that using the undead which were the manifestation of the hatred of life, was corrupting the souls of the dead.

It was different when you looked at it from the viewpoint of the religious.