Chapter 175: Back to Necromancy
As he passed the castle front where the archers were now taking the meat away to wherever they planned to store or divide it, they stared at Darion in surprise. He was riding out of the castle alone. Carrying no escort, knights weren’t flanking him and no guards following behind.
It was just him on a horse, heading out like any ordinary citizen might do.
It probably looked strange to them. Barons didn’t travel alone. Everyone knew that. Nobility traveled with an entourage: guards, servants, someone to guard him, someone to look important. That was how it worked.
But Darion didn’t look at their direction as he rode. He kept his eyes on the road ahead, passing through the gate without slowing down. The guards at the castle gate bowed slightly in greeting as he passed, and Darion nodded without looking at them, his focus already on the path ahead.
His knights must have gotten used to it by now. They must have gotten used to him casually riding out without any escorts. The first few times, some of them had probably been concerned.
Maybe even offended slightly, was the Baron saying he didn’t trust them to protect him? But after watching him do it again and again, after seeing him return safely every time, the concern had faded into acceptance. This was just how their Baron did things.
They knew he was Necromancer, he could protect himself. They had saw the wolf and his undeads.
Darion knew it was unusual. Back on his Earth, rich and influential people didn’t just walk around without security. Famous people had bodyguards. Politicians had entourages. Even minor celebrities had people managing their public appearances. It was standard and expected. Anyone who mattered had someone watching their back.
But here he was, taking a horse from the stable without asking anyone to do it for him, riding out of his castle with not a single escort. He didn’t even give an announcement.
Well... why not?
He had undead to summon immediately if he encountered danger. Undead that were even better at reacting than regular humans. They didn’t hesitate, didn’t panic and didn’t need a second to process what they were seeing. They just moved.
Especially the first undead wolf, the one that held the title of "the original." That one was super fast. Darion remembered the infiltration of Valdenmoor, when a knight had nearly killed him with a thrown spear. The wolf had materialized in time to take the hit, appearing out of nowhere with a summon from him and intercepting the attack before it could reach him. He doubted any of his living knights could react that fast. Not even Garren.
So no, he didn’t need escorts. The wolf alone was worth more than ten bodyguards.
And that aside, the current situation made escorts impractical anyway. He was going to a graveyard to unearth corpses, around 130 of them. He was going to revive dead knights and add them to his inventory. That was not a spectator-friendly activity.
He was certain it would be uncomfortable for his living knights to follow him and witness that. The smell alone would be bad enough: old graves, decaying bodies, earth that had been undisturbed for years.
Watching their Baron raise the dead on this scale?
They had seen him revive corpses in front of them but those were fresh corpses. They definitely hadn’t seen him revive corpses from a graveyard.
That was the kind of thing that gave people nightmares.
Even knights who had fought alongside his undead might find the actual process disturbing. Better to do it alone.
So solo was good. Solo was smart. Solo meant no awkward conversations, no uncomfortable glances, no one asking questions he didn’t want to answer.
He passed many citizens on the road. Some recognized him and greeted him, a wave here, a respectful nod there. Darion didn’t slow down. He just responded with quick nods and occasional waves, keeping his horse at a steady pace. There was no time to stop and chat. The graveyard was waiting.
Soon he could see it in the distance. The graveyard.
The knights would be easier to unearth, certainly. He wouldn’t have to dig them up himself, he would just command the undead already in his inventory to do the digging. As he had mentioned countless times in his mind before: they didn’t tire, didn’t complain, and didn’t need breaks. They would unearth their former comrades while Darion stood back and watched.
But after that, finding animals would be the hard part. Knights were buried in designated places. Their graves were marked, organized, easy to find.
Animals were different. They didn’t have graveyards.
And finding for them, then killing them, was work.
If he used another method, which was looking for their already dead corspe.
Well...
They died in the forest, in the fields, in places no one bothered to remember. He would have to go into the wilderness, track them down, and find remains that hadn’t completely decayed.
That meant hours of searching. Days, maybe. Riding through the forest, scanning the ground, looking for bones that had been scattered by other creatures.
And even when he found something, there was no guarantee it would be usable. The animals needed to have died recently enough that their skeletons were still intact.
It would be hard work. Tedious work. The kind of work that couldn’t be rushed.
So he might just use the first method of killing them.
His animal inventory was nearly empty, and if another conflict came, when another conflict came, he would need every advantage he could get. The bats had proven useful against Valdenmoor. The wolves had saved his life. More animals meant more options, more strategies, more ways to fight without putting his living soldiers at risk.
So yes, hard work. But necessary work.
He arrived at the graveyard, dismounted, tied his horse to the gate, and came down.
The graveyard stretched out before him, silent and still. Graves lined the ground in uneven rows.
Darion stood at the gate and looked at it all, then he took a step forward.
The work was about to begin.
