Chapter 1
When he discovered the brutalized corpse of the young adventurer girl, Kamiya Yuurai regained the memories of his previous life.
(I really didn't need to remember it like this... What a worthless memory...)
Yuurai was once born, raised, and died in Japan.
He died at fifteen, still a first-year high school student. During summer break, he visited a haunted location for fun, ran into a suspicious man by sheer bad luck, and was killed by him.
Yuurai doesn't know who that man was. He just remembers that a girl was lying collapsed beside him.
The image of that girl overlapped with the young adventurer-looking girl collapsed before him. That must have been the trigger that brought his memories back.
"...Reincarnation, huh. I never thought I'd go through something like this. Still... I'm a monster now."
If he were going to be reborn, he would have preferred to be human. As a human, he could redo the things he couldn't in his past life.
"So I'm... Little Lich now? I guess it's better than being just bones. I've got actual flesh, and I even look pretty human. Though my skin is light purple."
While reexamining his body, Yuurai turned his awareness inward. Then, he was able to check his status.
Name: Kamiya Yuurai
Race: Little Lich
Gender: Female
Age: 2 months
Level: 1
Combat Power: 8,500
Magical Energy: 13,800
Skills: Dark Magic Lv.1, Darkness Resistance, Wisdom
Title: Dark Witch
Apparently, she was two months old, but her body looked at least like that of a ten-year-old. Yuurai was relieved that she didn't have to start over from infancy.
"Wait, I'm a girl? Huh...? Come to think of it, my hair is long. Still black, though."
She only vaguely remembered the time before regaining her memories. There had been no clear sense of self, and she had wandered aimlessly.
She had no particular awareness of being male or female, hadn't even relieved herself, and had never checked her own gender.
Yuurai checked her lower body over the pitch-black robe. She felt a sense of discomfort at the absence of something that had always been there.
"Man, just my luck... So that means I'll never get to lose my virginity? Ah... that part might be a bit of a regret..."
Yuurai let out a deep sigh.
"...Well, whatever. No point thinking about it. I don't even know the baseline for combat power. Anyway... is this a dungeon or something?"
Yuurai appeared to be inside a cave. It might just be an ordinary cave, but considering all the monsters roaming around, it also seemed like a dungeon.
"So, I died in Japan and was reborn inside a dungeon in another world as a Little Lich. That's how it is, right? Got it. So, what should I do?"
She hadn't met any god or anything, nor had she been given a mission.
"If I just happened to be born in another world, I might as well do things my way. I'll figure out what to do once I understand the situation a bit more. As long as I can live a fun life, that's fine... Anyway, what is this Dark Magic?"
As she focused her awareness, she learned the details of Dark Magic.
Dark Magic: Spirit Sight, Soul Extraction, Soul Devour, Marionette, Magical Remodeling, Pain Infliction (Pain), Mental Corruption
"...This is way too ominous. This is definitely dark side magic. I mean, I am the Dark Witch, after all..."
As she focused on each detail, she got a general understanding of what they were.
As expected, no matter how you looked at it, they were dark side spells.
As for the other skills, Darkness Resistance was just as the name implied, and Wisdom seemed to enhance cognitive abilities.
"...So that means I'm basically humanity's enemy now. Well, I don't know how monsters are positioned in this world. I'll have to look into that..."
Yuurai approached the girl's corpse. Half of her head had caved in, but judging from the remaining half, she looked like a cute girl of about fifteen. She had a longsword in a sheath at her waist, so she was probably some kind of swordswoman. It looked oddly luxurious, like a high-end item.
If she weren't a corpse, her long golden hair and sapphire-like eyes would have seemed beautiful. Now, everything that made up this girl just felt eerie.
"...If I use Spirit Sight, can I see anything? Spirit Sight, activate."
Spirit Sight was a power that allowed one to glimpse souls or information about the dead.
Name: Eleanore Rivalt
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Time Since Death: 5 hours
Soul: None
If it had been right after death, she might have been able to see the soul with Spirit Sight. But after five hours, the soul had already gone somewhere.
"...If the soul had still been there, could I have done something? Maybe I'll be able to use Undead Creation someday, but not yet..."
Yuurai thought about what to do with Eleanore's corpse. If left alone, corpses in the dungeon would be absorbed and disappear.
"...Guess I'll deliver her to a place where people live. What magic could I use... Marionette, maybe."
She activated Marionette.
It was a power that let her control a target at will, and with a corpse, it was easy to turn them into a puppet.
Eleanore's body twitched and began to move according to Yuurai's will.
As she tried to stand up with blood dripping from her half-crushed head and stiff movements, she looked like something straight out of a horror movie.
"...Stop. I messed up the order. Magical Remodeling comes first."
She activated Magical Remodeling.
This was a power that allowed her to freely reshape or modify a target.
It was apparently difficult to tamper with the living, but doing so with a corpse was easy.
Yuurai restored the missing half of her head and reconstructed her beautiful face from when she was alive.
"...Yeah. She looks pretty now. Maybe she can face her family like this."
Yuurai nodded once and activated Marionette again. Though the movements were still horror-like, they were much better than before.
"...Using magic is pretty hard. I mean, I don't even have memories of properly using magic in the two months since I was born... I guess it's good enough that I can use it at all."
Yuurai spent some time practicing how to control Eleanore. Even making her walk normally caused her body to shake wildly, like a broken robot at best.
"...Sorry to the Eleanore from when she was alive. Well, it's better than being absorbed into the dungeon, right? Just bear with it a little."
After about twenty minutes, she finally got used to controlling her.
"...Magical energy's gone down by about two hundred. Should still be enough to get outside."
Yuurai did a rough calculation and began walking with Eleanore.
(Dark Magic, huh... If I can use something like this, then I'm sure a lot of terrible things will happen from now on. Well, I'll deal with that when it comes.)