The Undead Human stood there for a minute, momentarily unsure of himself. After some initial hesitation, he began to walk toward the camp. As he did, Emil sent a mental command to Theo. He instructed that it fully circle the area around the camp as a final once-over, and then return to him.

When Emil reached the base, he first looked at the dead bandits around the campfire. The flickering light of the flames danced on their faces, and cast eerie shadows around their still-open eyes. In the time that had passed since they were killed, the dark, miasmic byproduct of their deaths was already starting to form over the cluster of corpses.

He walked over to one of the bodies, and crouched down to place a hand on it. The Necromancer concentrated for several moments, before he pulled away and stood back up. This person’s soul was still firmly inside their corpse. Though he would have been able to see it move on, Emil had wanted to check for himself.

He wasn’t quite sure why it was, but souls seemed to take a little while before departing their old bodies. Emil didn’t yet know if the length of time was something that could be generally applied to all, or if it varied with each individual. But it was an aspect of death that he was curious about. After glancing around, he decided to take a look around the camp.

He walked over to the nearest tent, and held the flap open so that he could peek through it. Inside, there was a pair of dead bandits. The grey tunics the two of them wore were dyed red around their chests. They had been sleeping on individual mats of straw, with a layer of linen on top. Pallets, he believed they were called.

But beyond that thin divide between their bodies and the straw, they didn’t have any blankets or a pillow. Aside from where they slept, there was only enough room in the tent for their armor. However, there was something of interest that Emil did note. Or rather, it was the lack of that something. From where he stood, he didn’t see any weapons. Curious, he fully pulled away the flap and went inside to take a closer look.

Emil checked the bodies and the pallets they were on. But even after he searched around, not even a simple knife was found. His interest now peaked, the Necromancer left the tent and went into a different one. He did the same for another right after, and the same result repeated itself.

Emil rubbed his chin as he thought to himself. Bits of dead skin fell off his chin as his fingers moved against it. However, he didn’t even notice as he continued to think. He was no expert on bandits and how they operated. But surely even with some members appointed to stay on guard at night, they would always keep their weapons nearby? After all, it could have been a group of soldiers, magical beasts, or monsters that had attacked tonight instead of him.

At this point, he had only checked a few of the normal tents. However, there was still the larger one that stood out from the others. Perhaps it was in there that he would discover some answers. And while the other tents had been rather barren of equipment, maybe it would also have some potentially useful items. Decidedly investigative, Emil made for the large tent next.

When he was up close and right in front of it, Emil realized that it was even bigger than previously believed. Rather than double the size of the rest, triple would probably have been the fairer estimate. The Undead Human pulled open its entrance, and peered in. A lit fire adjacent to the left wall. It had a fireplace to separate it from the fabric structure, with a chimney built up to the ceiling to let the smoke out. And unlike the minimalism of the other tents, this one had plenty of other decorations to take up the extra space.

Rather than the muddy ground from melted snow, the floor was covered with carpet. A wood table was placed in the center. Rolls of parchment, books, ink wells, and feather pens were messily scattered across its surface. Just a few feet beyond it, there was a bookcase whose shelves were equally cluttered.

On the floor between the table and bookcase, however, there was a body. Another one of the dead bandits, one that looked like an older male. As the last tent that was attacked, the cloud of death had only just begun to form from the corpse. There was no chair behind the table, so this person had likely been wide awake when the undead attacked.

However, Emil did quickly note the difference in attire between him and the rest. For one thing, he didn’t recall seeing any jewelry worn by the other ones. However, this man wore multiple gold rings as well as an amulet. But instead of plain clothing, he wore a lavish purple tunic with fancy embroidery. Between the special tent and elegant apparel, it was safe to say that this was the leader of the now-deceased bandits.

But as for the question of the bandits’ weapons, that answer was certainly apparent. There was a weapon rack filled with swords, maces, and axes. As well as a separate unit for bows and closeby storage for numerous arrows. If the bandits had time to react and mount a defense, they would have needed to swarm in here to gather their arms. There was more further in, but all this stuff blocked his view from the entry.

Emil stepped into the tent. As he walked in and around the furniture, his arm accidentally bumped into the weapon rack. The force of the impact noisily shook the metal weaponry. It was unexpected, but something the Necromancer was quickly ready to dismiss. That was, however, before he heard another sound in response.

From the righthand corner of the tent, muffled cries could easily be perceived over the crackles of the fireplace. Emil rushed around the cluttered furnishings to the other end of the space. When he did get past, his gaze almost immediately fell on the source of the noise. Sitting in the shadows cast by the fire, there was a man.

His clothes were dirty and ragged, covered in tears and holes. They made the simple garments of the bandits look almost luxurious in comparison. But at the very least, the bandits each had shoes to wear. However, he did not even have that much to keep his feet from being exposed to the winter climate. His toes were vibrantly red and looked unconformably swollen.

The man sat in front of a wooden post. A rope was tied around the post on one end, and around his waist on the other. There were also rope bindings around the man’s wrists and ankles. His mouth was gagged with a cloth. It was obvious enough that the bandits had been keeping him as their prisoner.

But while his ability to move or speak was constrained, his captors hadn’t covered his vision with a blindfold. So as Emil stood there and looked down at him, the prisoner stared right back. The man’s muffled cries had initially increased with intensity upon seeing him. However, they soon stopped, as his eyes then began wide.

Having taken more time to gaze upon the Undead Human’s face, Emil could take a guess at what was going through his mind. His eyes alone were likely enough to betray the fact that he was a walking corpse. Or rather just eye, singular.

Since while one was milky and dead, the other was still just an empty socket. At any second now, he expected that the man’s frozen shock would turn into wild fear. But during this period of silence, Emil’s thoughts were already rapidly shooting across his mind.

Oh crap, oh crap! What am I supposed to do now!? It’s already too late for me to take back what he saw. And if I let him go, it’s not like he won’t be able to see the pile of bodies outside. But I can’t just leave him here all tied up like this. Who knows when someone else will come along and free him if I did. But still, if he gets back to civilization, then authorities will be altered. I’m definitely sure they’d consider a bandit-killing undead as a new type of monster. And if this nation is half as vigorous about exterminating monsters as Mendac, I’ll be hunted down. Emil thought to himself.

But during the chaotic scramble in his mind, a small part of him realized that there actually was a third option. One that would allow him to free this prisoner, while at the same time safely keeping his true identity a secret. So for him, it was a solution that would be a win-win scenario. Through the power of Soul Manipulation, he could attempt to alter the man’s most recent memories.

It’d be easy enough to cast the spell at least. While the guy was still tied up, all the Necromancer would need is physical contact and enough time to focus. He would just need to initially prioritize on suppressing the soul by forcefully reaching out with his own. Similar in concept to how he performed possession as a ghost, it would render the man unconscious for a while. But once that was complete, he’d be free to do the rest without any interruption to his concentration.

He had been able to split and sort the memories of the ghosts down to individual days, so he should be able to apply the same thing to a living soul. Emil wasn’t quite sure if he’d be able to do anything finer than that, however. When he had been working with the ghosts, a single day felt like the smallest increment of memory he could control. And that had simply been moving them around, he actually had yet to try changing a person’s existing memories. But even if that kind of fine-tuned manipulation was beyond his current level of ability, the idea could still work.

If need be, Emil could still just completely remove the small slice of soul that contained knowledge of the last full day. It wasn’t as though there’d actually be anything important enough for the man to actually miss, right? Even if it did mean that he’d be lacking a sliver of his soul, Emil was certain he would be fine without it. Well, Emil was almost completely sure that he’d be fine. Mostly sure at the very least, definitely no lower than mostly.

That entire back-and-forth of internal speculation had transpired in less than a minute. In its own way, it was almost scary just how quickly his mind could explore such an idea. The part of Emil that had thought of it was just as ready to accept it as the logically correct plan to execute. But even despite how rapidly it had been explored, or what one part of him felt urged to do, he fully and completely rejected the idea.

His reasoning for that dismissal was quite simple. At the end of the day, even if it would be to his benefit, it went against his moral ideals. As far as Emil could immediately tell, this man hadn’t done anything to deserve his soul being manipulated against his will. It was one thing to do against those who were deserving or willing. But to permanently alter the will of an innocent person was neither, he just couldn’t let himself do it.

If he could self-justify it today as not doing any real damage, then it would only become easier to do it again tomorrow. There was a line in the sand between taking justice into one’s own hands for the greater good, and being the one who needlessly commits evil. For Emil, this was one scenario where that line had to be drawn and not crossed.

Which meant that by that same token, the idea of leaving this man here was equally non-negotiable. So at the end of the day, there was really only one option for him to act on. He would set the prisoner free, and deal with any subsequent consequences as they come.