The Queen of the Night, Valencia Roseshar. Not only was she the Succubus Queen, but she was also a renowned master of puppetry.
The puppets she crafted, resembling living beings, would become her minions.
Though called "puppets," they acted as if they had their own consciousness, their words and actions precise, and their strength formidable.

Roseshar could use these puppets as minions, or if she wished, she could possess their bodies—just like now.
The succubus standing before me was a puppet on the outside, but its essence was undoubtedly Roseshar herself.

“Hmm. You’ve got a sharp eye, haven’t you?”

Her voice was soft and sultry, teasing my ears. Since earlier, her gestures kept grazing along my neckline.
If I had any blood left, I might have reacted without realizing it.

“Tell me, how did you figure it out?”
“...”
“This trick even fools the elder bosses, you know? Are you not going to tell me?”

When Roseshar mentioned "elder bosses," she was referring to the second-ranked boss of the Ten Abyssal Overlords.
In other words, I had seen through an illusion that even the second-ranked boss couldn’t discern.
A seventh-ranked boss with insight surpassing the second-ranked? That was bound to pique Roseshar’s curiosity and interest. Judging by her reaction now, my hunch was spot on.

...Maybe I should’ve just played dumb.
Pretending not to notice would’ve saved me this headache.

“What’s your business here?”

I spoke dryly, trying to steer the conversation.
Roseshar looked at me silently before smiling with her eyes.

“How about you tell me first?”

This was going nowhere.
I just stared at her in silence, and she met my gaze with her unchanging smile.
With no other choice, I decided to speak first.

“I doubt it’s anything grand. You must’ve heard about a new Seventh Abyssal Palace boss, breaking your boredom-filled days. That alone would’ve sparked your interest.”
“Hmm.”
“And then, that new seventh-ranked boss requested support. You’re intrigued and want to maintain good relations, so providing aid is only natural. While you’re personally curious about me, showing up in person under the pretext of support would risk undermining your authority as the sixth-ranked boss in front of a junior.”

I noticed the level indicator hovering over her changed to a faint green.

“You want to maintain the dignity of a sixth-ranked boss while satisfying your curiosity. By only observing without fully revealing yourself, you achieve everything without issue.”
“You’ve nailed it.”

Roseshar clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward, her body curving provocatively.
Her playful, grinning face came so close I almost turned my head away. If this kept up, I might really fall for it.

“Unlike certain skeletons, I don’t have any sleazy motives. I just came here because I wanted to see you. Call it curiosity, or interest—I wanted to know what kind of man you are.”
“Just as I suspected.”
“Oh, I had expectations, too. I worried, ‘What if this seventh-ranked boss doesn’t live up to the hype?’”

For a moment, her level indicator returned to normal, without the question mark.
I glanced around, searching for the question mark, and found it hovering far away—over a vampire standing at a distance.

“And now that you’ve seen me, what do you think?”
“…You have a way of making a woman’s heart race, don’t you?”

I already knew she was a provocateur, but hearing her blatant flirtation in person left me feeling oddly conflicted.

“You exceeded my expectations. Next time, when I come back, you’ll have to set aside some time for me. Just the two of us.”
“A meeting between Abyssal Palace bosses? Sounds like you want some discreet negotiations.”
“Negotiations? Hmm, close enough. But I’d prefer… intimacy.”

...Did she really just say that?

“If it were up to me, I’d have you rolling around with me right now. But, well, this isn’t my real body, you see? Don’t you think our first time should be… real?”
“I’m undead.”
“Oh my, how ungentlemanly for a first meeting. I’m the Queen of Succubi. Don’t you think I’d have my ways?”

I didn’t even have the necessary parts or the ability to sleep, so what method could she possibly use?
Even the official lore didn’t mention any such ability.
I stopped myself from pondering further. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was falling into her pace.

“I’m busy right now. I’ll formally request an audience later. Let’s meet again then.”
“Fine. I’ll be looking forward to it. Until then.”

With those words, the question mark indicator vanished.
No matter where I looked, I couldn’t see it anymore—she must have returned to her original body.
I’d faced many opponents who drained my energy just through conversation, but this was my first time feeling like my vitality itself had been sucked away.

Letting out a frosty sigh, I turned around.

“Charlotte. Is everything ready?”
“...”

For some reason, Charlotte was glaring at the vampire puppet Roseshar had just been inhabiting.

“Charlotte.”
“…Yes?”
“Is everything ready?”
“Oh, right away.”

Her unusually flustered demeanor made me uneasy.
If I left and she didn’t get her act together, what was I supposed to do?

‘Though I’m not in the best state myself.’

After such a chaotic first meeting, I couldn’t help feeling off-balance.
It was a different kind of intensity compared to Calandas.

***

"There have been actual cases where knights removed their helmets only to reveal they were Death Knights. It means that unless you look closely at their essence, they can pass as human. Especially a Death Knight with a command of language like a boss—you wouldn’t even suspect it."
"And if we’re caught?"
"We annihilate everyone."
"..."
"Don’t worry. I won’t let you dirty your hands, boss. I’ll take care of it myself."

This journey was shaping up to be an ominous one.

I ran my hand over my bare skull, feeling its emptiness.
Where my antlers once were, there was now only lifeless white hair.
I had to wear a helmet, but the antlers got in the way, so I had broken them off, trusting my natural regeneration to restore them.

Though I hadn’t used them much, I possessed passive abilities like Advanced Swordsmanship and Natural Healing.
The antlers would grow back eventually, and as an undead, I felt no pain, but… somehow, it felt like I had lost something precious.

"Did you cast the protection spell properly?"
"Yes."

Thanks to Charlotte’s magic, I could move around even during the day.
Necromancers use undead as weapons, so it’s only natural for them to have magic to allow undead to operate in sunlight.

As for supplies, food and bedding were only needed for Charlotte.
Other than that, there was nothing to pack for me. I neither ate nor slept, after all.

I did a final check on my condition.
I was fully armored, disguising myself to look like a knight.
The protection spell worked perfectly, as sunlight didn’t bother me at all.

"Just to be sure, did you bring the dungeon core?"
"It’s safely hidden in my eleventh rib."

For the record, I claimed to have the dungeon core in my possession.
In truth, there was no such thing, and I couldn’t show it to anyone. Still, many dungeon bosses hid their cores within their bodies. Pretending to be one of them had fooled everyone so far.

If the dungeon core is destroyed, the boss perishes, and the dungeon collapses.
The lore stated that revealing the location or even the existence of the core was a difficult decision for any boss.
Charlotte seemed to understand this and didn’t ask further.

Our destination was the rainforest inhabited by the Insectfolk.
Charlotte said it would take about three days by carriage.

"We could just use the merchant portal."
"Only merchants registered with the guild can use those. It’s an unbroken rule, and not even the Abyssal Palaces can negotiate around it."
"Didn’t the fifth and sixth bosses use them freely?"
"Those are their own dungeon portals."

As it turned out, those portals belonged to them.
No wonder each portal looked slightly different in color and shape.

When I asked how to create a portal, Charlotte explained that it required extensive knowledge of spatial magic.
I glanced at her with faint hope.

"Apologies."

So she couldn’t do it. That explained why we had to take a carriage.
It wasn’t a big deal, though. Even a witch like Charlotte couldn’t be expected to match the capabilities of other Abyssal Palace bosses.

"As I mentioned, boss, your cover story is that you’re a wandering knight searching for a lord to serve. I’ll be your squire."

Charlotte had swapped her mage robes for a squire’s outfit: a linen tunic, a wool coat, and a travel cloak.
If she played her part well, we could convincingly pass as a knight and squire.

"As you know, as an undead, you can’t ride a horse. We’ll need to secure a carriage from a nearby village or hitch a ride with a caravan heading in the same direction."

I wasn’t keen on going to a village. Too many bad memories.

"One concern is that it’s early winter, so southbound caravans may be rare. Those that do exist will likely be transporting cotton or animal pelts, heading north instead."

Unfortunately, our direction was the exact opposite.
Only after leaving did I realize how many minor inconveniences we’d face just to get started.

"There is one option, though."
"What is it?"
"A skeletal horse. I can summon one right now, and it’s easy to control. However, the problem is the attention it would draw. Riding an obvious undead mount could invite pursuit from a hunting party."
"Couldn’t we just take unpopulated paths?"
"I humbly inform you that the main road is a single route. The forests on either side may lack humans, but they’re teeming with wild monsters. While neither hunting parties nor monsters pose any real threat to you, boss, they would still waste unnecessary time."

It was hard to ignore such risks.

"Let’s start by following the main road."
"A wise choice."

Given my past encounter with Valmonk, villages made me uneasy.
If we couldn’t find a ride on the way, we’d resort to the skeletal horse and cut through the forest. Charlotte could handle any wild monsters we encountered.

***

"Are you both heading south? In that case, wouldn’t it be better to travel with us?"

Not even an hour after setting out, we had the luck to encounter a caravan traveling in the same direction.
It was surprisingly large.
At the front, mules were pulling wagons loaded with expensive furs, iron farming tools, and glass crafts.
Following that were carriages drawn by high-quality horses, and they were escorted by what appeared to be a mercenary group of at least a few dozen.

"Please, think of it as a comfortable ride. With a knight like yourself accompanying us, we’d feel much safer against bandits or monsters in the woods."

The mustached, portly man in charge of the caravan was practically begging us to join them.
He added that having a knight along would provide peace of mind, no matter what might jump out of the woods. So that was his angle.

Before climbing aboard, I glanced at Charlotte.
I expected her to nod in agreement, but instead, she shook her head with an unusually uneasy look in her eyes.

Is there something I don’t know about?

It could be. Charlotte might be aware of something I wasn’t.
I tilted my head slightly, signaling her to speak on my behalf.

"Thank you for the offer, but we must decline. My lord is undertaking a month-long pilgrimage on foot as a form of training."
"Oh, but surely—"
"We must decline."

Charlotte firmly rejected the offer, her tone leaving no room for argument.
The merchant sighed regretfully before signaling the caravan to move on.

"Why did you turn them down?"

I asked once the caravan had disappeared into the distance.
Charlotte hesitated, lowering her head, and after a long pause, she finally answered.

"The emblem engraved on those carriages belonged to the Berks Trading Company."
"And what’s the problem with that?"
"..."

For some reason, she hesitated again.
It wasn’t until I shot her a sharp look that she reluctantly opened her mouth.

"About three years ago, the daughter of the Berks Company’s head went missing. The head was desperate, so he hired mercenaries and problem-solvers, offering a fortune to anyone who could find her. I was among those hired."

Her sudden dive into a past story left me tilting my head.

"The company head promised 20 gold for finding her body, and 200 gold for returning her alive. Fortunately—or unfortunately—I was the first to find her."
"You mean the daughter?"
"I mean what was left of her. Her corpse, to be precise."

Well, that escalated quickly.

"If I brought back the body as it was, I’d receive 20 gold. But the thought of 200 gold was too tempting. In the end, I revived her as an undead and applied makeup to make her look as alive as possible."

You didn’t…

"I presented her to the company head, received 200 gold, and ran for it. Not long after, a bounty was placed on my head, and I became a fugitive."
"..."
"As a necromancer, I felt no guilt. In fact, deceiving humans left me with a sense of accomplishment. If given the chance, I wouldn’t mind doing it again."

I was speechless.
Even Satan might have been impressed by this level of audacity.

"The pursuit has died down this year, but if I were to board that caravan, it could cause serious trouble. I apologize for dragging you into this, boss."
"...It’s fine."

Thanks to Charlotte’s personal history, we missed the caravan.
There were no other groups heading in the same direction, so we turned toward the forest.

We ventured deeper and deeper into the woods to avoid human eyes.
Eventually, amidst the dense trees, Charlotte prepared to summon a skeletal horse.

Or at least, she tried to.

"...What’s this?"
"..."

A faint scent of blood lingered in the air. We pushed through the undergrowth toward its source, and there, we found a heap of corpses.
Twenty-three goblins lay dead, along with a human knight and his warhorse.
Judging by the scene, the knight had fought the goblins alone and perished alongside them.

For someone to achieve this alone, the knight must have been quite strong.
His level was likely at least 40, maybe higher.
Charlotte seemed to think the same, her gaze lingering on the knight’s body.

"...Strange."

Charlotte inspected the knight closely.

"Not a single drop of blood on his blade."

As she said, the knight’s sword was spotless.

"His skull is drenched in blood, but there are no other wounds on his body, nor any damage to his armor. It looks like the goblins ambushed him with stones from the bushes and killed him instantly."

Charlotte walked around, examining the goblins and the warhorse.

"The goblins all died from blunt force trauma or bite wounds. As for the warhorse..."

Its body was shredded and battered, showing clear signs of a desperate struggle.

"It looks like it fought to protect its master."
"That seems to be the case."

It was odd, though.
Usually, when a master dies, their horse flees.
But this warhorse had fought off dozens of goblins to protect its fallen master.
Its determination alone was impressive, but the fact that it had actually killed them all was astounding.

"A horse like this is beyond exceptional. As a skeletal horse, it would be perfect for you, boss."

Charlotte released an ominous surge of magic.
The warhorse’s body shuddered, its flesh and skin dissolving away until only bones remained.
Finally, the skeletal horse rose to its feet.

Neigh!

[Lv. 51]

The level made me flinch.
This wasn’t even a combat unit, and it was Level 51. No wonder it had managed to kill so many goblins.

"I apologize. My abilities are limited, so this is the best I can do..."

Charlotte bowed deeply, unable to meet my eyes.
If this was “limited,” how strong would it have been at her full potential?

Wait. This horse sacrificed itself for its master.

The conditions for my evolution skill came to mind: potential, the threat of death, and sacrifice in the face of that threat.
All conditions were met.

I reached out to the skeletal horse.

[You will evolve the Skeletal Horse.]
[All conditions have been met. The evolution will succeed with a 100% probability.]
[Evolution complete! The Skeletal Horse has successfully evolved!]

The skeletal horse grew larger, and antlers—similar to my own—sprouted from its head.
They were identical to mine, almost like a limited-edition model.

[Lv. 63]

Satisfied, I nodded.
Charlotte stared at the horse in astonishment, her expression stunned.

"You always make everything perfect, boss."

Why did she have to make it sound so sentimental? It put me in an oddly good mood.

"I’ll give you the honor of naming it."
"The skeletal horse?"
"Yes."

Charlotte rubbed her chin thoughtfully, taking three whole minutes to decide.
What kind of grand naming sense did she think she had?

"How about ‘Bone-Bone’? It’s skeletal and kind of rattles, you know?"
"I’ll name it myself."
"Understood."

I hopped onto the horse’s back and patted the seat behind me.

"Get on."
"...Yes."

Even though I had learned horseback riding in my past life, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.
Still, this was an exceptional horse. It would handle well... right?
From behind, I could hear Charlotte murmuring “Bone-Bone…” as she climbed on, but I ignored her.
Did she think I’d actually name my limited-edition skeletal horse something so ridiculous?

"What about the knight? Are we leaving him behind?"
"An undead that couldn’t even kill a single goblin? We don’t need him."

Fair enough.