The Necromancer Commands Slaves, Not Undeads

10 – Anemone of the Merchant Guild(3)

The carriage stopped as night fell. Nocturnal bugs started to chirp, and the plains quickly darkened.

The merchant and the mercenaries started preparing for the night. Dorothy and I approached them to help with the preparation. The merchant Gilbert tried to flatter me who am a magician and asked me to rest.

But Ulfric stopped him.

“We have a good force here that doesn’t get tired easily. So, can you help us set up the tent and make a fire?”

“I will do the share of the Black Wolf too.”

“What? I’m thankful for that but…”

“I have a condition though.”

“I knew it. What is it?”

I take out 5 golds from my pocket and handed it to him. His eyes light up. Five golds was not a small amount of money. It would be equivalent to or higher than the money he gets from this operation.

“Could you teach this child swordsmanship every night?”

Next to me, Dorothy was looking at the Black Wolf with trembling eyes. The Black Wolf was about to grab the 5 golds joyfully, but he suddenly hardened his expression.”Swordsmanship training?”

“Yes.”

He scratched his head with a hesitant expression. He stared at Dorothy while scratching his scruffy beard.

“Women have physical limits. Even if you learn swordsmanship diligently, you ultimately fall behind men. Perhaps it would be more beneficial for you to learn something else…”

“I want to learn… I’ll work hard! Please teach me!”

Dorothy looked at the black wolf with determined eyes.

Yet, the black wolf tried to push her away, saying that he does not teach swordsmanship to someone hopeless like Dorothy.

However, seeing Dorothy becoming stubborn and willing to do anything, the black wolf sighed and agreed.

“Just because you are a woman, don’t expect me to go easy on you or anything like that. Be prepared.”

“Okay.”

“Good, follow me.”

The black wolf rummaged through his armory in the wagon. The sounds of clanging metal echoed loudly. He then handed an unused sword to Dorothy.

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Dorothy accepted it. The sword she received from the black wolf was incredibly long and thin. It was a rapier.

Then, he took Dorothy to a place far away from their campsite.

I watched them disappear then opened my mouth to summon a skull.

“Awaken from the eternal sleep…”

And then, I stopped moving my lips. Considering it, it was a good opportunity to try using multiple command spells.

‘Calling a multiple of spirits is simple. If you whispered earlier, this time, call out loudly enough to awaken all the spirits around.’

‘They will awake as if called by the soul call. Multiple spirits will be your loyal servants and wait.’

“Good.”

I remembered everything in the book. Maybe the way to call multiples was to shout out loud.

I concentrated. Closing my left eye, I looked at the world with a soul’s eye.

The world reflected through the soul’s eye was still black and white. Blue flames floated around in the black and white world like clouds.

These flames showed interest in me and were within the distance my voice could reach.

One, two, three, four… Altogether, ten spirits showed interest in me.

The volume described in the book does not mean the volume of my voice but my potential to communicate with them.

“Awaken from the eternal sleep!”

As I shouted, skeletons began to rise from the cracks in the ground again.

But the number of skeletons was not just one like before. Ten skeletons crawled up from the ground at once.

At that moment, my body started to sway. All my energy drained from my body. I got hit with a wave of sleep that felt like I was up for two days.

I barely sat down on the ground using my staff. I realized this is what the book meant by rebound.

I yawned with sleepiness. Next time, I should never summon ten at once.

I ordered the skeletons to set up the camp just before I collapsed.

Then propped my back against the ground and closed my eyes.

***

I slowly came back to my senses. Through the blurry vision, I saw a bonfire outside the tent.

“Are you awake?”

In a tent in front of a campfire where I was sleeping, I felt another warmth enveloping my body.

It was Dorothy. She was sound asleep, clinging tightly to me.

I stroked Dorothy’s beautiful hair and spoke to the voice I heard.

“Now…”

“It’s dawn. Seems like you were very tired.”

“Has it been that long already?”

“If you’re tired, sleep some more.”

“Haam… What are you doing without sleeping, Mr. Black Wolf?”

“Today is my turn to watch.”

The black wolf was sitting by the bonfire, honing his sword blade.

“I’ve been curious about something. Considering the value of the goods in the wagon, it feels a little excessive to have a guard… is there a special reason for this?”

I had one question from the moment I got on the empty space of the wagon. It was not an expensive item being escorted so much…

The escort attached to the carriage was a staggering seven people.

It felt like the organization was bigger than the main task.

“Lately the surroundings of Freut have been ominous.”

“Ominous?”

“According to rumors, there was a large-scale slave transport, and it seems an accident occurred during the transit. As a result, all the slaves escaped, and they hid in the mountains around the Freut region, becoming bandits.”

“Slaves…”

I looked at Dorothy, who I was stroking. She too was of slave status. It wasn’t comfortable to think that children with sad stories like Dorothy might be among the bandits.

“They say a squadron will be assembled soon to surpress them… I don’t know if it will go well since there’s no one skilled around here. Well, we are simply mercenaries who just need to make good on the situation.”

“I hope it gets resolved. By the way, where did you learn to handle a sword, Mr. Black Wolf?”

“I learned from the Gladius Clan, now extinct.”

“Clan… What is a Clan?”

Morus also introduced himself as part of the Excidium Clan. I was curious what kind of group a Clan was. He spoke as he wiped his sharpened blade with a towel.

“Aren’t you a fine wizard who knows everything?”

“Certainly not.”

“I’ll explain once, so listen carefully.”

He slowly began to explain about clans.

“A clan is an old group that existed before the empire was founded. They’re a fully independent force that don’t adhere to the emperor’s or lord’s orders.”

“From childhood, they gather orphans, subject them to harsh training and education, and select the surviving orphans as clan members.”

“The thoroughly selected personnel as clan members fulfill their duties to achieve the clan’s goals. You got it?”

He calmly explained about clans. A question arose, so I asked him.

“Why did you leave the clan?”

“My Gladius Clan was destroyed by another clan.”

“I see…”

“I’m not particularly sad. I hated my clan, where I belonged. They treated people like parts, not even knowing why they were moving. There was no attachment.”

I asked him one more question.

“Do you know the Excidium Clan?”

Then, his hand that was sharpening the blade stopped. He warned me with a serious expression.

“Avoid getting involved with them as much as possible.”

“Why?”

“They are professional killers who don’t hesitate to kill people.”

I explained everything about Morus and Excidium Clan to him, who was talking with serious eyes. Then, he exhaled a sigh.

“He tried to kill you with your caring wizard’s belongings… And Morus tried to kill you?”

“Yes.”

“The situation has become quite complicated.”

For a moment he pondered and gave me some advice.

“Your life is definitely in danger. Morus will probably chase you to the end.”

He took out a token from his possession with his name on it and handed it to me.

“There’s another guy from my Gladius clan in the capital city of the empire. His name is Leoric. He’s the only one who had good relations with the Excidium Clan. As a mercenary, he should be easy to meet if he isn’t dead, as he’s quite famous, known as the Golden Lion.”

And I stared at him in doubt. I didn’t know why he was helping me like this, but I deeply appreciated Black Wolf who knew and helped more than he thought.

“You didn’t have to help me to this extent…”

“Consider it an apology for being cold at first.”

“Thank you. I will definitely repay this favor in the future.”

When I tried to hand him a gold coin from my pocket, he declined.

“No need. If I had a son, I guess he would’ve been your age…”

“If Mr. Black Wolf had a son, I doubt he would have been as handsome as me.”

“Hey.”

“Just kidding.”

I chuckled and joked with him. Then, dawn gradually deepened.