After killing Albert"s group, I was able to find six other groups on my fourth day on the road to Argent City.From the six groups, I was able to get a total of two gold coins and twenty-eight silvers, I left all the coppers behind since they are only worth one silver for every hundred coins.
Aside from that, I was also able to raise another twenty-three zombies and fifty-five skeletons, to a total of twenty-nine zombies and seventy skeletons.
It was already dark and I sat by the fire, Albert was stoking it so it would burn brighter, putting some more dry wood branches every now and then.
Instead of my usual poor-scholar clothing, I wore my Dread Mantle, which was a black robe with a hood that cast a shadow over my face. By my side was a cheap mask I bought in Red Stone Town, which was white with a smiling expression on it.
I had a sword on my waist, which I didn"t use even once, not only because it is unnecessary but also because I have no idea how to use it.
Albert was still the same, but I covered his face with a hood and a piece of brown cloth I found earlier. He looked like a ferocious warrior, sworn to die on the battlefield… Even though he"s already dead.
Sixth was by my side, ceaselessly typing on his phone, talking to his brothers I guess.
"Hey Sixth. Who are your other brothers? Are they known G.o.ds on earth or here?"I asked, curious about Sixth and his deity brothers.
"My brothers are ascended mortals, each became omnipotent through different ways and circ.u.mstances. None of them, besides my second brother, is worshiped anywhere… But three of them came from planets that resembled earth in many ways."He said, putting his phone on his pocket. For some reason, he looked sad when he talked about his brothers.
"So… You are the younger one? Wait… Do you guys even perceive time as important?"I asked, getting more curious.
"In a way, I am indeed the younger one. And we don"t perceive time as you do, actually, we weren"t even supposed to be affected by any type of chronology. But my first brother decided to make a unified timeline throughout different realities, so we really ascended in a chronological order, making me the youngest."He said, with a look of admiration when he spoke of his first brother.
I was going to ask whether his first brother was the most powerful among them, but Albert interrupted me before I was able to do so.
"Lord Knight. I am sorry to interrupt the Lord"s conversation, but it seems a large group of enemies is fighting northwards."He said, looking towards the north, where I could now see a bright horizon in the middle of the night.
"Yes, there does seem to be people there… Wait, you can see Sixth?"I asked, surprised that he noticed I was having a conversation.
Albert nodded, seeming to find the question weird.
"I think I said before that I am invisible only if I want to be. Your minions can see me like you, so there"s no need to be surprised."He said with his usual mocking smile.
When we had just met, I was always angry at his antics, especially at his smile. But now I notice that"s just the way he is, and since he"s a companion that"s with me 24/7, I grew used to it.
"Albert, we are going to see what is happening... Covertly."I said with a serious expression while putting my mask.
"Yes, my liege."He said, getting up and standing ready, his right hand ready to unsheathe his sword at any time.
Both of us started walking towards the lights, Albert stood in front of me for protection.
The further we walked, the brighter the lights became, and after a little while we started hearing screaming noises.
When we reached a distance where the screams and metal-clashing sounds were extremely clear, I gestured for Albert to scout ahead.
He walked towards the source of the noises, and after ten minutes he came back.
"There are two parties, one has fifty-odd people and the other has more than a hundred. The former has two apprentice martial artists, the other has one apprentice and three martial artists-in-training. The first party is losing and one of its experts is heavily injured. The losing party is a merchant caravan, probably from a medium sized guild, while the other is composed by more than one bandit group."He said, explaining the situation in a single breath.
"Okay. We are helping them."I said matter-of-factly.
When I declared my intention of helping them, Sixth looked at me as if I was some kind of mentally challenged person.
"Why the f.u.c.k are you helping them?! You are a necromancer, so you shouldn"t be exposing yourself easily!"He said, scolding me for my idiotic idea.
"You are wrong."I sad shaking my head. "My reputation is already bad for the simple fact that I am a necromancer, so everyone will try to kill me when they discover me anyway, and it"s just a matter of time before they do. But if I build my personal reputation to be good, I will definitely have fewer enemies, and maybe I even acquire allies."
When Sixth heard my line of thought, he acknowledged that while risky, it really had its own advantages. Fighting the world is a difficult thing, after all, so he ended up agreeing with me.
Making twelve short gestures and two longer gestures, the two cores flew out of my hand.
When the cores came out, they floated in front of me and started dissipating into black mist, becoming my undead minions.
"Charge at the Bandits! Protect the Merchants!"I said with a scream.
Like the starting shot from a race, my scream started the charge of the undead, the seventy skeletons charging in front, followed by the slow zombies.
The bandits were caught by surprise and were flanked from both sides by the undead and the guards, the skeletons stabbed many bandits and killed them instantly before retreating and letting the zombies attack, the zombies took damage before letting the skeletons behind attack, the zombies that retreated were healed by me before going back to the fight. That was the battle strategy I thought of after seeing the undead perform in the other battles.
Albert didn"t attack the bandits, instead, he charged towards two of the bandit leaders that were attacking one of the Merchant"s experts.
The man that was being attacked by three Bandits had much more leeway after two of them were attacked by Albert, and they were able to defeat their opponents in little less than ten other moves before moving to help the other one that was battling the bandit martial artist, killing him instantly.
After that, the experts joined the guards to kill the remaining bandits before emerging victorious.
But even still, none of them celebrated.
The guards looked attentively at the undead with their swords in hand, while the experts were ready to attack Albert.
"Stay your weapons! We mean no harm!"I said, going through the undead and walking through the guards that opened a way for me to pa.s.s. They didn"t dare to attack me, out of fear of the t.i.tle of Dread Lord.
I reached the wagons of the caravans and stood by the side of Albert, looking at the experts.
"Who… Who are you? Why did you help us?"Asked the martial artist with light injuries, obviously suspicious and afraid of me.
Looking at him, I made a light bow according to n.o.ble curtsies.
"My name is Vrygewig, I am just a friendly neighborhood necromancer."I said, smiling under my mask.
I hope master Lee doesn"t get angry at this pun in heaven...