Necromancer: Kingdom Building with My Legion of Undead Knights

Chapter 211: Exhausted

Seren looked at him for quite some time, not moving from her spot before she finally said: "I don’t know, to be honest. I think we should head back already. I’m exhausted."

Darion looked at her for ten whole seconds, not saying anything too. He studied her face, the tiredness in her eyes, the way her shoulders sagged slightly. She had pushed herself hard today. They both had.

He thought about how he had wanted to come on this hunt alone. He had planned it that way, just him, his undeads, and the forest.

No distractions and no one to worry about. Just the work. But she had so insisted that she wanted to follow him that he had eventually agreed.

She had made valid points, she was bored, she wanted to help, she didn’t want to sit around watching construction all day. And he had seen the logic in it. But now, standing here in the middle of the forest with her telling him she wanted to go back, he wondered if he had made the right decision.

He wondered if he had made the right decision bringing her along.

Because whenever Darion did something alone, he just did it. Through the pain it caused, through the exhaustion, through the discomfort. That was his way.

When he had first unearthed his first grave at the graveyard, he had endured the foul smell that made his stomach turn.

When he had to train the venomous undeads, he had done it repeatedly, all through the day and all through the night, until he got their loyalty up. He didn’t stop. He didn’t rest either. He just kept going, pushing through whatever was in his way.

That was just him. That was how he operated. And he had to take those unconventional decisions to get the best results.

If he had given up the first time something got difficult, he would still be a Novice Necromancer with an empty inventory and a barony that was falling apart.

Seren, on the other hand, had come here for fun. Her main reason for following him wasn’t really to help, at least not in the same way he needed help.

She had wanted to get out of Percvale, to do something different, to not stay back in the Barony and have to do nothing but stare at the reconstruction going on for so long. It was understandable. Darion understood it completely. But it also meant that her tolerance for the kind of work he did was different from his.

And now she was exhausted and wanted to go back home. To Percvale. The thing was, they were too far from home. Home was so far away, and so many dangerous animals were on the road leading back. She couldn’t go alone. He wouldn’t let her. He wouldn’t risk her life like that.

But she didn’t have to go back alone, right? All Darion had to do was follow her back. That was the simplest solution.

He could stop his hunt, pack up his undeads, and escort her home. Then, once she was safe, he could come back and continue? Or he could just call the whole thing off and try again another day.

The question was: did Darion want to go back already? The answer was a big no. Darion was tired, yes, even more exhausted than Seren, if he was being honest.

His legs ached. His eyes were heavy. He hadn’t slept properly in what felt like days. But he wasn’t leaving. Not until he filled his inventory. He just needed twenty-two more animals. That was it. Twenty-two more creatures, and he would have reached his goal.

Killing twenty-two wild animals was now easy compared to when they had first entered here.

The animals in his inventory had changed everything. With fifteen Yuimons, a pack of Horned Olfs, and all the other creatures he had gathered, he could slaughter twenty-two animals in minutes.

The wolves, the Rops, the Yuimons: they would make quick work of anything they encountered. They couldn’t leave just yet. Not when he was so close.

And if Darion was to just say, oh, he should send some of his undeads to follow and protect her as she headed back to Percvale, he wasn’t sure that was possible.

Or possible yet...

He thought about it, turned it over in his mind, tried to see if there was a way to make it work. But the undeads were bound to him. They responded to his commands, but only when he was nearby.

He wasn’t sure he could give them a command like "escort Seren home and then come back." It was too complex. Too far and too vague.

Possible yet?

Did that mean there was a chance it would be possible later on?

Yes, Darion was sure it would be possible later on. When he was shown the ranks of Necromancy, the levels he still had to reach, complex commands would definitely be attainable by then.

But for his current rank, he wasn’t sure he could give a command like that. He was currently at Acolyte, just above Novice. It was still low. There was so much he couldn’t do, so much he hadn’t unlocked yet.

So yes, sending undead escorts to accompany Seren back to Percvale certainly wasn’t in the picture. It was too complex for his current abilities. He couldn’t trust that the undeads would follow through, that they would protect her properly, that they wouldn’t wander off or get confused? (Were undeads supposed to get confused?) or do something that put her in danger.

He didn’t know for sure.

So what would he do now? How would he handle this situation? Call it a day and head back to Percvale, or convince her that she should still follow him?

He looked at Seren, standing there with her arms crossed, waiting for his answer. She looked tired, but she also looked determined. Darion couldn’t just determine what she felt from her expression but it looked like she wasn’t going to budge on this. She had made up her mind.

Darion sighed. He had a decision to make.