I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 96

The Immortal King.

The entity who had plunged the world into terror by transforming all the citizens of the Balkan Kingdom into undead—that is, an immortal legion.

Since the undead fundamentally did not require ’supplies’, they boasted formidable military strength as an army.

Furthermore, because they could resurrect enemy corpses into undead, they could force their opponents to acutely feel the true weight of being hopelessly outnumbered.

Was necromancy, the foundation of the undead, an inherently evil magic then? Not at all.

It was simply strictly forbidden by the Holy Kingdom because of the Immortal King incident; before that, it was a magic anyone could use.

Necromancy is such a shame

If you used necromancy well, it was actually really good.

You didn’t even need to use human corpses—you could just use monster or animal corpses. You could replace labor with them.

I think necromancy itself isn’t bad; it’s the bastards who abuse it that are bad.

ㄴ Allow necromancy again just to create another Immortal King? Absolutely not.

ㄴ Then what about other magic? Honestly, isn’t abuse the real problem? Other lethal magic is bad if abused, too.

ㄴ That’s true, but the Central Plains never viewed necromancy favorably to begin with. If the Holy Kingdom were the only one banning it, maybe, but the Central Plains joining in was huge.

ㄴ Still, banning it completely is a bit much;;

ㄴ Exactly my point. There were people who couldn’t even leave behind a final will.

ㄴ An entire promising profession basically vanished into thin air. A lot of things got way more complicated because of this.

If only the Immortal King hadn’t existed

My father wouldn’t have been executed either.

ㄴ That’s sad. A lot of people hold a grudge against the Holy Kingdom because of that.

ㄴ My father was the greatest merchant, too.

ㄴ ?? He was a merchant, so why was he ruined?

ㄴ Fuck, was this bastard a grave robber??

ㄴ Sounds less like a grave robber and more like a human trafficker;;

ㄴ Look at this crazy lunatic bastard;;

ㄴ His head should’ve been chopped off way sooner lolllll

ㄴ lolllll

ㄴ Did the perception of necromancy get worse because of guys like that?

ㄴㄴㄴ That’s an extreme case; normally people used nameless corpses.

ㄴ It’s basically the same logic as throwing a fit because a pharmacist made illegal drugs.

ㄴ And human trafficking isn’t exclusively tied to necromancy either. People just forcefully dragged it in.

Necromancy was an eerie magic, not an evil magic. On the contrary, it was a magic that offered various benefits, big and small, to the world.

The most prominent among them was replacing simple physical labor.

It contributed significantly to agriculture, the dawn and core of human civilization.

An ox died? You could just reanimate it with necromancy.

Lacking laborers? Just ask a necromancer for workforce assistance, and you were all set.

Human corpses could be used as well, though only through somewhat strict procedures.

In particular, using necromancy in war was loathed by everyone, so it was banned by tacit agreement.

If a nation used necromancy in warfare, it would have no right to complain even if it became an international pariah.

It’s true that necromancy is creepy

Honestly, raising a dead body is ominous in itself.

It exudes an evil vibe, and there’s an unsettling aura coming off corpses.

ㄴ (Picture of a mounted Death Knight) Skeleton horses look fucking badass though.

ㄴ Whoa. Seeing that made me decide to resurrect a horse with necromancy.

ㄴ You’re gonna get captured by the Holy Kingdom doing that;;

ㄴ Then I’ll just hop on the horse and bolt lol

ㄴ lol

Just layin’ down the facts.

Was the Immortal King a bad guy? Yes.

Did the Holy Kingdom overreact? Yes.

Is necromancy an eerie magic? Yes.

If they had only banned using it on humans, it’d be one thing, but banning necromancy itself altogether is what pisses people off.

Besides, people say it summons the souls of the dead, but even that isn’t certain.

Have you ever seen a skeleton doing manual labor possess self-awareness? I haven’t.

Instead of having a sense of self, I think a spirit-like entity inhabits it, similar to a Guardian.

And the corpses simply follow whatever orders they receive.

ㄴ Then what about the guys who said they summoned their ancestors with necromancy?

ㄴ That’s only when there’s a clear medium or keepsake involved.New chapters come out on novelping(.)com first.

ㄴ Then what about Liches or Death Knights?

ㄴ Both are closer to monsters, so it doesn’t mean much. Just think of them like Goblin Shamans, Orc Shamans, or Gnoll Magicians.

ㄴ Bro, what’s your job? Are you a professor?

ㄴ Basement-dwelling forum nerd.

ㄴ Get outta here lol

ㄴ It all sounded plausible until I read that, now credibility plummeted lol

ㄴ As if a forum nerd could analyze anything lol

After the Immortal King incident—which nearly covered the world in corpses—erupted, necromancy was transformed into an evil magic.

Several high-authority mages and scholars raised their voices, arguing that abandoning necromancy like this was wrong, but it was useless.

For quite a few people had suffered harm or lost loved ones because of what the Immortal King did.

At least in this generation, no one would ever see necromancy again. That was what everyone believed.

Deciphered what Grylls posted

The language of the Balkan Kingdom was mostly lost, and since it was used by the high-ranking nobility, it was hard to translate.

But these contents are all so shocking my head is spinning;; If this is real, the Holy Kingdom is gonna lose its mind.

ㄴ What is it about? Earlier someone said the Holy Kingdom committed a massacre, too.

ㄴ Originally, the Immortal King appeared first and the Holy Kingdom stepped in, right? But the cause and effect are reversed. The Holy Kingdom massacred the people of the Balkan Kingdom first, which led to the birth of the Immortal King;;

ㄴ Does that even make sense? That should be impossible to begin with;;

ㄴ Probably because the population of the Balkan Kingdom was small, and the Holy Kingdom was ridiculously strong.

ㄴ No, I mean why would the Holy Kingdom massacre the people of the Balkan Kingdom? There must be a reason, right?

ㄴ It says they asked them to lend their power to slay the Demon King? But when they refused, they destroyed them all to set an example;;

ㄴ Crazy;;

ㄴ If that’s true, "losing their mind" doesn’t even cover it?

Honestly, there were a lot of suspicious points

According to people who were close to the Balkan Kingdom, the Immortal King was closer to a wise and benevolent ruler.

It was true that the Immortal King had deep knowledge of necromancy, but he strictly prohibited using necromancy on the dead.

Instead, if there was a special reason, he permitted it through proper procedures.

Even though the Balkan Kingdom’s territory was small, they had no trouble feeding themselves.

Their national power was weak compared to other countries, but considering their land size, they lived quite well.

Why would a man who knew contentment become the Immortal King and try to swallow the world? And to the point of turning all his subjects into undead?

They say it was to conquer the world, but nobody does that unless they’re utterly insane. Being alive is what gives meaning to anything, so why commit such an atrocity?

ㄴ So are you saying the Holy Kingdom’s hands are dirty, too?

ㄴ Yeah. Strictly within the Gallery though lol

ㄴ True, if they get swayed by rumors from the Gallery, it means their conscience is truly guilty lol

ㄴ I also don’t get why such records would be in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

ㄴ Just making a big fuss over nothing lol

When this shocking truth first spread across the Gallery, the users did not believe it.

The content was hard to believe on its own, and above all, it was discovered in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

The truth popping out from a book found while exploring the deepest of remote lands, the Forest of the Four Seasons?

It’s precisely because it’s the Forest of the Four Seasons that it’s more believable

If the Holy Kingdom tried to kill all the people of the Balkan Kingdom, escaping to the Forest of the Four Seasons makes sense.

The Immortal King sent the scribe to the Forest of the Four Seasons as a last resort, too. Since dying was guaranteed either way.

ㄴ Sounds plausible?

ㄴ Besides, even if a record was left behind, it’s not like anyone would read it.

ㄴ But the guy who found it was Wild Grylls lmfao. The only bastard capable of browsing the Gallery in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

ㄴ What kind of crazy coincidence is this lol

No matter how I think about it, it came completely out of nowhere

(Image of an elf tilting her head)

A record related to the Immortal King popped up right while Grylls was exploring? Don’t you think it’s too fast?

ㄴ So are you saying Grylls searched for it intentionally? In the Forest of the Four Seasons?

ㄴ That doesn’t make sense either. Gotta just put it down to pure luck.

ㄴ lmfao

ㄴ Look at him convincing himself immediately lol

Paradoxically, that was precisely why its credibility was high.

Furthermore, Grylls had uploaded the relevant book ’in its entirety’ to the Gallery.

Had he posted only a portion of it, he might have been denounced for trying to stir up public opinion.

However, because he painstakingly posted every single detail, such accusations could not arise.

And as mentioned repeatedly, the Gallery was an artifact accessible to anyone regardless of age or gender, provided they met the conditions.

It was more than enough for scholars scattered across the world to gather around Grylls’s post and debate.

"..."Read the latest chapters at nove⁠lping.com.

And Asella—the Orange Badge of the Gallery and user ’Don’t Abandon the Hero’—was also able to monitor the current state of the Gallery.

She stared at the Gallery with eyes full of confusion.

As a devout believer and the current Hero, an unbelievable truth had been posted on the Gallery.

’W-What is this...?’

The truth concerning the worst necromancer and tyrant in history, the Immortal King.

In history, it was recorded that the Immortal King, consumed by excessive greed, turned all the citizens of his nation into the undead.

To stop him, the Previous Hero and his partner mage, Kadir, personally stepped forward to thwart his wild ambition.

In the process, the Hero sacrificed himself heroically, and Kadir vanquished the Immortal King.

...Or so goes the ’history’ known to the world.

’I-Impossible! The Holy Kingdom could never...!’

The post Grylls made contained content so ugly that one would wonder if it were a conspiracy theory.

Grylls himself had merely posted it to decipher the records of his grand senior, but its repercussion was horrifying beyond imagination.

A truth that should never have been revealed to the world. The dark underbelly of the Holy Kingdom that worshiped the gods.

Though only the beginning had been deciphered so far, the summary was as follows:

An incident where the organization formed to slay the Demon King ended up giving birth to a Demon King instead.

A truth with not a single trace of justice to be found, dealing a massive shock to Asella.

’Y-Yes. It must be a lie. If it were really like this, the Goddess would never have forgiven it.’

The Holy Kingdom was a nation that worshiped the gods. There was no way such a nation would give birth to a Demon King.

Asella tried to calm her pounding heart through self-rationalization.

First, the priority was to calm the Gallery, which was on the verge of overflowing past simple chaos.

’Should I delete... Grylls-ssi’s post?’

Gallery Rule Number Three:

Posting content that incites tension between nations is prohibited.

The post Grylls uploaded was in total violation of the above rule.

The rule against cliquish behavior applied only to real-life social networking, so that was not an issue.

’And Grylls-ssi posted it without any ulterior motive in the first place...’

She had no choice but to agonize over it. Above all, there was a bigger problem.

If she deleted Grylls’s post, people would become even more convinced.

It might actually be more beneficial to leave it alone as it was.

Though she had a foolish side, Asella was by no means stupid.

’For now, it would be best not to delete these posts.’

It was highly likely that the news had already spread as far as it could.

She hadn’t had the leeway to check the Gallery until now because she was busy moving about.

’If the Holy Kingdom really did that...’

Hwik! Hwik!

Asella shook her head vigorously to shake off the dark thoughts creeping in.

Reality was still quiet.

Even if it became controversial, it would be over as long as the Holy Kingdom denied it.

’This chaos might stay confined to the Gallery.’

It was rare for an issue that erupted in the Gallery to spill over into reality.

It was merely a tempest in a teapot. Of course, if there was definitive proof, that would be a different story.

For example, the book Grylls claimed to have found. If that book fell into someone else’s hands...

’Though even that would be difficult unless one possessed a fairly high reputation.’

There was plenty of time. Asella decided to wait for the Holy Kingdom’s response.

She prayed that this wasn’t the truth, but...

’Since the Goddess hasn’t said anything, it must be false information.’

Given her current precarious situation, dark emotions crept into her mind.

’It has to be.’

Around the time the Gallery was in full turmoil.

"Ah. That was a great nap."

Grylls woke up after taking a sweet, refreshing nap.

The first thing he did upon waking was browse the Gallery to check if anything had been translated yet.

Seeing the chaotic state of the Gallery, he felt only one thing.

"Looks like the part I want hasn’t been translated yet."

It was disappointing.