"...Haa, beastman fur, you say, Lich-sama?"
"Yes. Preferably black."
The Lich had summoned the translucent, blue-skinned voluptuous beauty ghost to his lab.
She must have been busy, yet she still came. He wanted to at least remember her name, but the Lich was bad at remembering names.
Thinking calmly, he had fought her a few times back when he was in the Hero's Party, but the name just wouldn't come to mind.
"However, beastmen are a Human-side race. None live here under the Demon King-sama's rule. First of all, fur... what do you even need it for?"
"Catalyst."
"...For sorcery?"
"Yes."
"Must it be beastman fur?"
"It must. The reason beings of the continent are divided into 'Human' and 'Demon' comes from the legend that the land was once split between the God of Day and the God of Night and their kin. To speak of the difference in sorcery terms: their life-lineage trees are separate. This is an extremely important difference for catalysts. Humans, belonging to the God of Day's tree, carry strong yang energy. Demonkin, of the God of Night, carry strong yin energy. Since it's a tree, it subdivides further. Beastmen are said to be strong in fire because their root is light. These attribute balances are critical in necromancy, which 'reverses the laws of the world.' Therefore beastmen—"
"Ah, yes. I understand. I understand! It must be beastmen!"
"'Understand'? If you truly did, you'd also see the relation between color and attribute balance—"
"I get it! I don't understand! Sorry!"
He had been speaking super fast.
The blue-skinned woman shrank back.
"So, basically, I just need to bring you black beastman fur?"
"I'd rather have a beastman itself. Fur runs out when used, but a beastman will grow more."
"Haa... well, kidnapping a few might be possible... but it would take deadly resolve."
"Why?"
"To reach their lands, we must push the southern frontline forward. To kidnap them means sneaking into Human defenses... they won't let us slip through so easily."
"The south—ah. That was the Hero's Party's... warrior... re, re, re, re..."
"Warrior Leila?"
"Yes. Around Warrior Leila's homeland, right?"
He was the Hero's Party's former Necromancer, but he couldn't recall his comrade's name properly.
That must have been memory fog from becoming a Lich.
After all, he did die once. Oxygen stopped flowing to the brain.
Obviously.
Surely he hadn't just forgotten for real. Surely.
"Well, it is the south, but far from the front. More importantly, Lich-sama, how did you know the warrior's name? Even just the initial..."
"Because I'm a Lich."
"I see."
"Eh?"
"...Eh?"
"Nothing."
The Lich hadn't expected "Because I'm a Lich" to work.
The Lich was amazing.
"Ah, right. Lich has knowledge, but is bad at remembering living beings' names. I mean proper names, not species names."
"I see."
"So I must apologize, but could you tell me your name?"
"...You've forgotten?"
"Because I'm a Lich."
"Now that you mention it, yes, you were like that."
"So that's the kind of person I was..."
"Research only, uninterested in anything else. Yet you were kind. Back when I was a low-rank ghost, you helped me so much."
"Lich will continue to be a Lich who is kind to low-rank ghosts."
"Splendid. Then... my name. I'm Alice."
She didn't really feel like an "Alice."
More like a "Vanessa" or "Claris."
It was a Lich-only sense, one others wouldn't get.
"Vanessa..."
"Eh?"
"...Alice. Alice. Yes, Alice. I'll remember."
"I'm honored."
"So, back to the topic: I want beastman fur."
"I'll kidnap some with deadly resolve."
"No, don't. Without Alice, I'd be inconvenienced. Let's push the frontline instead."
"How?"
"Lich will fight. Necromancy is stronger when Humans oppose it."
He didn't want to be forced to fight—
But for research, going himself was fine.
In fact, if moving the frontline gave him stable beastman supply, he wanted to be on the battlefield.
Research meant many failures. More resources was always better.
"...Weren't you going to hide your revival?"
"That's why I'll pretend not to be the Lich. Let's see... if I strip down to just a helmet and underwear, I can pass as a skeleton, right? Both are bones."
"Uuuh..."
Alice groaned long.
Maybe she was picturing the Lich in just underwear.
"Well, within skeleton ranks, you'd be treated as a weird skeleton, but it's doable."
"Let's go with that."
"I command Undead troops, so sneaking you in won't be hard. But if Lich-sama gets hurt at the frontline..."
"Lich is theoretically immune to physical attacks, with high resistance to magic. So no problem."
"'Theoretically'? Theory without practice is hard to trust..."
"That's why I want to deploy for practice. Lich hasn't tested what he can do yet."
"But..."
"Alice, the theory's done. Let me practice. A theory without practice is just words on paper."
"What if it doesn't go as theory says?"
"Revise the factors and try again."
"What if you die first?"
"If you fear death, you can't be Undead!"
"...You're absolutely right."
"Lich will go. Push the frontline, take beastman villages, and get many beastmen!"
"Yes! I'll help with all my heart!"
"Defeat humanity!"
"Yes!"
Now he was Undead in both body and soul.