"As far as I've heard, Professor Aaron uses this place for evaluations every year, but apparently, there's quite a lot of internal opposition within Kizen."
Knox lowered his voice slightly as he spoke, causing the three girls to naturally lean their attention toward him.
"And the reason is because of this place?" Claudia asked. Being the smartest among the three when it came to matters like this, she immediately caught what Knox was implying.
"Indeed. It's not just because Death Land is dangerous. The bigger reason is that this place is something like a hidden scar in Kizen's history, because this city once belonged to the former Talhern Empire."
At those words, the atmosphere around the four became slightly more serious again.
The Talhern Empire.
It was the empire that had once dared to defy Kizen, only to be brought to ruin during the event known as the Rebellion Rose, carried out by the Ten Necromancers. During the height of the Talhern Empire, the city that would later become known as Death Land had been its second most prosperous city, surpassed only by the imperial capital itself.
"According to the history books, the emperor was captured in the capital after the fifty thousand soldiers sent to attack Kizen returned as undead during the Rebellion Rose." Knox paused briefly before shaking his head. "But that's actually not what happened."
Before they realized it, Cindy, Claudia, and even the usually indifferent Merida had stopped doing anything else and were listening intently to Knox.
"The emperor managed to escape from the chaos in the capital and tried to establish a new base from which he could continue resisting Kizen. And that base was this place, Death Land. Back then, the city was ruled by one of the empire's strongest Swordmasters, and a large garrison was stationed here. The emperor intended to gather his remaining forces and launch a massive counterattack from this location."
Knox glanced toward the abandoned city stretching out around them. It was difficult to imagine now, but Death Land had once been a formidable fortress city, protected by towering walls and inhabited by a large population.
With enough soldiers and supplies to sustain a prolonged war, along with a Swordmaster powerful enough to contend with high-level necromancers, it had been an ideal location for the remnants of the empire to make their final stand.
"Kizen naturally couldn't allow the empire to regroup and fight back. They decided that an overwhelming display of fear was necessary, so they dropped an enormous black magic spell on this city, something that could basically be considered a strategic weapon."
Knox spread his arms toward the gloomy ruins surrounding them, allowing the sight before their eyes to complete the rest of his explanation.
"And that's how it ended up like this."
As Cindy, Claudia, and Merida looked around at the enormous dead city once again, a rather inappropriate comparison surfaced in Knox's mind.
It really feels like someone dropped a nuclear bomb on a city that was still stuck in the age of knights and iron.
Cindy's eyes widened as the true scale of what had happened here finally sank in.
"When the empire's second city was wiped out with a single black magic attack, the emperor completely lost his will to continue resisting and eventually surrendered to Kizen." Knox gave a small shrug as he finished the story. "That's roughly how it went down."
For a moment after Knox finished speaking, an unusual silence settled over Group 8. The three girls looked around at the ruined city differently now, no longer seeing only a zombie-infested wasteland, but the remains of a place where countless ordinary people had once lived.
Cindy was the first to break the silence.
"Still... what else could Kizen have done?" she said, unusually serious. "That emperor was already willing to keep the whole empire fighting just because he refused to give up. If he really gathered his forces here and started another huge war, wouldn't even more people have died? I don't like what happened here, but... I can understand why Kizen chose to end it before things got even worse."
"...Indeed. From Kizen's perspective, what they did could be considered reasonable. But on the other hand..." Merida quietly trailed off, her gaze drifting toward the abandoned buildings around them.
"I still feel bad for the people who lived in this city," Claudia finished softly.
Neither Cindy nor Merida argued with her.
Claudia let out a quiet sigh as the four continued looking over the lifeless city. Destroying Death Land might have been a strategically sound decision that prevented an even greater war, but knowing the reasoning behind it didn't make what happened to the people who had once lived here feel right.
Sensing the atmosphere around them becoming heavier, Knox clapped his hands together, deliberately breaking the gloomy mood before it could linger for too long.
"Alright, everyone. That's enough history for now. No objections to heading deeper into the city, right?"
The sudden shift in tone pulled Cindy, Claudia, and Merida away from their thoughts. After exchanging brief glances with one another, all three nodded in agreement.
"I'm in!" Cindy was the first to answer, her earlier seriousness quickly giving way to her usual enthusiasm. "If we're going all the way there, we better find something really good!"
"Agreed. If we can find the corpse of a knight, especially one that was strong while alive, we might even be able to aim for first place," Claudia added.
"Mm. If we're going to do it, we should do it properly," Merida said with a small nod.
"Haha, that's more like it."
Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Knox smiled before moving on to the next part of their strategy.
"Alright, then our general direction is decided. We'll head deeper into Death Land and search for the best corpse we can find." He briefly glanced between the three girls before continuing, "Next is actually turning that corpse into our summon. I was thinking of taking charge of that part. Is everyone okay with that?"
"Of course," Claudia answered without hesitation. "You're the most knowledgeable about Summonology among us, so it makes sense for you to handle the main creation process."
Cindy and Merida nodded along, showing no objection to the arrangement.
***
As they made their way deeper into the city, Group 8 maintained the level of caution expected in a place as dangerous as Death Land. Their eyes constantly swept across the abandoned buildings and narrow streets around them, while their formation naturally shifted whenever they passed through areas where zombies might be hiding.
Thanks to Knox's training, combined with the understanding they had developed from working together for so long, Group 8's coordination could easily be considered among the very best of Kizen's first years. With Knox himself included in the equation, even going toe-to-toe with some second-year groups wasn't completely out of the question.
Of course, staying alert didn't stop them from discussing what kind of zombie they wanted to create for the evaluation.
"If my guess is correct, stability and uniqueness should be two of the most important factors in this evaluation," Knox said as they continued walking. "Combat ability matters too, but even a powerful zombie won't score well if the summon itself is unstable or there's nothing particularly special about it."
"Then we really need to find a good corpse!" Cindy replied enthusiastically, already looking around as though a high-quality body might suddenly appear around the next corner.
"Right. No matter how well we construct the magic circle, the final result will still depend heavily on the quality of the corpse we find," Claudia added.
Merida, meanwhile, glanced toward the dark windows of the abandoned buildings surrounding them before quietly commenting, "Still... this place really is eerie. Even my sleepiness has been reduced significantly."
The other three immediately turned toward her with incredulous expressions.
"Doesn't that mean you're still sleepy even in a place like this?!"
Knox, Cindy, and Claudia shouted at exactly the same time.
As Group 8 continued toward the center of Death Land, the ruins around them gradually became denser. Larger buildings appeared one after another along the streets, their collapsed walls and shattered remains giving a faint glimpse of just how prosperous this part of the city must have been before its destruction.
Knox looked around at the surrounding ruins before turning toward the others.
"Alright, this should be far enough. Since this used to be near the center of the city, there should still be quite a few corpses left around here."
"Then let's start searching!" Cindy said eagerly.
With their destination reached, Group 8 began searching through the abandoned buildings one by one. They carefully checked beneath collapsed walls, inside ruined houses, and anywhere else an undamaged corpse might have remained after all these years.
However, after thoroughly searching several buildings, they hadn't found a single suitable corpse.
More strangely, they hadn't encountered even one zombie.
"...That's strange," Claudia muttered as they stepped out of yet another empty building. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked down the deserted street. "Forget about finding corpses. There aren't even any zombies around here."
"Could another group have gotten here before us and cleared them out?" Cindy asked.
"Unlikely." Merida shook her head. "We came quite far into the city. Even if another group arrived before us, there should at least be traces of battle."
Claudia nodded at that reasoning. If a group of first-year students had fought enough zombies to leave an entire section of Death Land this empty, the commotion alone should have left obvious signs behind.
"Then maybe someone accidentally attracted a whole bunch of them and got chased away?" Cindy suggested, although even she sounded uncertain this time.
"Normally, I'd call that nonsense, but..." Knox's expression gradually became more serious as he looked toward the silent streets ahead. "Professor Aaron already warned us that Kizen students aren't necessarily the only necromancers in Death Land. It's possible someone else is active around here."
The others immediately remembered Aaron's earlier warning about corpse scavengers and wandering necromancers. With that possibility in mind, the complete absence of zombies no longer felt merely strange.
"Or someone might have fallen into a trap and accidentally provoked an entire horde," Knox continued. "Either way, this isn't something we should ignore."
His words wiped away the last traces of their earlier carefree mood. Cindy, Claudia, and Merida exchanged serious looks before turning their attention back toward the unnaturally quiet city around them.
Something had clearly happened in this part of Death Land, and of course, Knox already knew what was happening here. However, despite knowing what awaited them, he had no intention of simply handling everything himself.
Knox genuinely cared about his group members, but that didn't mean he would keep acting as their babysitter forever. There would be times when Cindy, Claudia, and Merida needed to face danger, make their own decisions, and deal with unexpected situations without relying on him to solve everything for them.