The guards were wary of me, but when they heard the word "friendly" they eased up a little. But I"m sure they didn"t understand the pun, and they don"t understand what "neighborhood" means."If your purpose was to help us, we are thankful… Do you require any rewards? We can provide you with some gold coins for the aid." Said the martial artist guard.
Hearing that, I started stroking my chin, as if in deep thought.
"Well… My primary intention was to kill bandits to get their corpses and money, I just helped you because I wouldn"t have to go out of my way to do so… Well, but if you insist, I shall accept."I said.
After saying so, I waved my hand and the undead behind me disappeared into my hands after going back to their core-form.
Seeing the undead disappear, only leaving Albert behind, the guards visibly showed relief and kept their weapons as well.
"Please wait a moment. I will ask for Sir Artmer to give you some gold coins as a reward."Said the martial artist, also sheathing his sword.
He then went back to the main carriage of the caravan and came out with a young man soon after.
The man was tall and had blonde hair and blue eyes, he wore fine clothes adorned with jewelry and possessed a n.o.ble bearing. He seemed to be a n.o.ble, as well as a merchant, but being so young he was surely not a Magus.
"Thank you for your help Sir Vrygewig. Were it not for you, we would have lost all our merchandise."He said with a bow.
Seeing the young man, I remembered a portrait I saw in one of the books that I copied for Lord Angus. Fortunately, drawing a portrait is much easier than a Magic Circle, otherwise, I would have been fired if I drew it as I did on earth.
"It was just proper for me to do so. Building a good relationship with the Black Gold family is helping myself."I said, bowing back respectfully.
Hearing that, an astonished look appeared on the young man"s face.
"You know who I am?"He asked.
"Of course I do."I nodded. "You are Sir Artmer of Black Gold Barony, whose Black Gold Family owns the Bosta Merchant Guild. I would be hard pressed not to know the heir to such honorable family."
Yes, I knew who that man was. In Golden State Duchy, one of the Four biggest merchant guilds was the Bosta Merchant Guild, that was responsible for Large-scale trading across the duchy and possessed many mines, they also dealt with black market trading, but weren"t specialized on that. Even though the Black Gold Family was a family of Barons, they were as powerful and influential as the Duke because of the huge amount of money they possess.
Seeing that I knew him, a strange glint shone on his eyes, that was the same weird glare of the guy that sold me my computer for three times its worth gave me when I told him I didn"t know anything about computers. It was the glare of someone seeing a huge profit.
"Sir Vrygewig is indeed an uncommon Dread Lord to be able to recognize someone like me, you aren"t an uncouth ign.o.ble peasant like most. It seems that you can truly be reasoned with." He said, obviously inferring that I was of n.o.ble origins.
"You are too kind in your a.s.sessment sir Artmer. If I were of high status, I wouldn"t have to resort to becoming a Dread Lord. My background is just slightly better than most peasants, and I don"t even have two pennies to my name."I said, feeding him information. With that, he would surely understand I am a b.a.s.t.a.r.d son that needs money.
Hearing what I said, a big smile appeared on Artmer"s face.
"Even still, someone such as you is definitely exalted now, with your current power."He said before pausing. "I think we could form a profitable relationship indeed if Sir knows what I mean."
When he said so, he took out a pouch from his waist and threw it at Albert.
After opening, he counted and verified that there were fifty gold coins inside, which along with the money I have, was enough for me to buy the Crystal Fiber Flower instead of hunting for one.
Looking at the money, I smiled underneath my mask.
"You really are something boy! You actually managed to get some big fish to be interested in you? You seem to be better than expected indeed." Said Sixth, patting my shoulder with a smile on his face.
Ignoring Sixth, for now, I continued listening to Artmer.
"Sir Vrygewig, we are currently in need of an escort to get to Golden State City. But for some reasons, we need to do It covertly, so we couldn"t get our best experts to come along or have more people to guard the caravan, which is why we were disadvantaged against those lowly bandits. But with you Sir Vrygewig, we can surely go unnoticed and arrive at the city without any problems. I wonder if Sir would accept to come along for another hundred gold coins?"
Hearing that, I made a series of gestures and the four corpses of the bandit leaders stood up as ghouls. And with another series of gestures, eighty-two of the bandits were raised as zombies and another fifty-one were raised as skeletons, becoming clouds of mist and going to the cores in my body.
"If Sir Artmer insists, I will be happy to oblige, as long as sir keeps my ident.i.ty as a Dread Lord a secret during the trip… I would also like to buy a Heart Fiber Flower in Argent city if you would be so kind as to stop there for me to buy it."
Hearing that, Artmer smiled and brought me to his carriage where we chatted.
We traveled for two more days before arriving at Argent city, we were attacked by another two bandit groups on the way, however, they were instantly slain by the five ghouls, adding another forty-two skeletons to my horde.
The ghouls" abilities were much better than a Martial Artist"s since Ghouls never tired and could regenerate by eating flesh, their necrotic energy was also pa.s.sively regenerated while fighting and hardly ran out of energy like Martial Artists.
We arrived at Argent city without any major happenings. I had removed my Dread Mantle but still kept a hood over my face to hide my facial features, there were many people with deformed features, so that wasn"t too conspicuous.
Artmer noticed I was probably young because of my voice but was still surprised when he saw I looked about the same age as he did, after all, most Dread Lords are at least middle-aged and many of them are old men. But the younger the Dread Lord, the bigger the possibility of them getting to higher ranks. It is rumored that the Dread King of the western continent was twelve when he became a Dread Lord, and now he became a Fourth level existence, which is the highest a necromancer ever reached since the Dread Emperor that ravaged the world on the Dark Ages. Though no one knows what relation age has with necromancy since that"s something only a necromancer would know.
After arriving at Argent city we checked in a big Inn where I got my own private room that was by the side of Artmer"s room.
I bathed and then slept, still with my mask on while letting two ghouls stand watch outside my room and another two by Artmer"s room, while Albert stayed with me inside my room.
Closing my eyes, tiredness embraced me before I fell asleep.