Death Has Come (4/7)

It was a peaceful night.

I woke up, rays of light shining on my eyes as I woke up and felt the heaviest thing laid on top of me.

"Uhh... Sanguis since when were you so heavy?"

I complained as I shifted her carefully out of my chest, it appeared she had fallen out of bed and right on top of me.

"*Yawn* Owww my head hurts!" She complained while grasping her head and rolling on the floor.

"This is why you shouldn't have drunk so much beer. You're still a kid."

"Yeah yeaaah." She replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Come on, let's wash up and change out of our clothes." I said as I entered the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water, waking me right up.

Unfortunately Sanguis wasn't that willing so I had to 'kindly' drag her and splash her with cold water.

"GAH, that's cold!" she yelled as her eyes opened wide.

"Now go change." I said. I had already switched from my previous black outfit with snake pattern shoes to my other outfit with navy blue pants and smokey grey shoes as well as my green and black hat.

"Okay, I'm done." Meanwhile Sanguis decided to wear a fancy short dress with golden and white colours with gems embedded at the end, along with her gold and white variant of her previous black hat.

"Alright, let's go, you two stay inside and guard the room." I said to the undead inside while taking the other three with me.

We got breakfast and ate. I also requested for a map which surprisingly cost 50 copper. Pricey for a simple map with no real details. I couldn't read but Sanguis did it for me. And it was actually pretty easy, as the sound and pronunciation of the words in Plantorian was nearly identical to the written language.

Obviously, North-East was Ranizgard, and it wasn't that large of a city compared to some of the other places around. That meant I could move freely with my undead.

Ranizgard belonged to the Vettin Empire, which was in the corner of the map, mainly taking the areas of North-East and East. The western side of the Vettin Empire was faced with oceans, however the Southern, South-West and South-East sides were faced with the borders of other governments. The one taking the South-West and South Areas was the Klasse Union, made up of numerous large kingdoms, it also had no real absolute power but it was governed by 9 Union Chancellors, each the leaders of the 9 Great Kingdoms. On the South-East side was the Saint Gates. A religious country with an authoritarian and absolute rule by their religious leader, the Pope. To say that they were discriminatory was kind. Not only did they detest undead they also considered half-humans or otherwise called demi humans as spawns of Evil and pretended to 'exorcise' them by raping the women or burning and murdering entire families.

One of the places I didn't want to visit. And across the west side, where oceans served as a divider was another continent under a group rule, the Tribal Confederation. They were a mixture of over 300 tribes to form one big, and very powerful union. The continent was led by a Chief and under the chief were 100 or so Council members from the strongest tribes.

Despite being called tribes, each and every tribe could rival a city of the governments surrounding us. Thus they were very powerful and dangerous, but they mostly kept to their own as not much was known about them, nor did they know much about us.

However, apperantly the Far North were uncharted lands due to the otherworldly cold which could freze a normal person in place in mere seconds, thus it was off limits to most countries or governments.

Despite being so majestic, Ranizgard was in fact not the capital, instead another city, south of here was the capital at a grand number of 80 million citizens.

Well, that was enough important information about the world. Now, the real problem was power and making money.

I walked over to the receptionist after my lesson with Sanguis was over.

"Excuse me, do you have any idea where I can accept jobs of some sort related to combat?"

"Oh, you mean Slayer jobs? Of course, you can find the Slayer Headquarters on the main road, just a bit farther from here."

"Ah yes, that is it. Thank you."

"Have a pleasent day."

I got my information, so now it was time to see what kind of jobs I could do.

"Let's go, Sanguis."

I exited the inn and sent a mental command to all my undead except the bodyguards to gather around me.

Everyone soon gathered, no signs of fatigue at all, it really was fascinatingly odd how they could work endlessly. I hopped inside the carriage together with Sanguis and told the horses to move to my directions, down the main road.

"Assume Iron Spear formation." The undead moved swiftly. And after a few minutes of riding we got to the Slayer HQ.

"Halt, remain here and make way for other people to pass the road." I told the undead as I headed inside with Sanguis.

"Welcome, Slayers, how may I help you?"

"We're not slayers yet, we wish to register."

"Oh, newbies, I see... and seeing those undead it seems you're both high level necromancers."

"Yes." It was too bothersome to explain how I was the only necromancer and that absurd amount of undead belonged to me, so I just left it at his imagination.

"Well, despite being strong all Slayers must start off at the lowest rank, so unfortunately you'll need to work your way up, the ranks work as so:

Grunt, Warrior, Knight, Advanced Knight, Magical Knight, Wizard, Archwizard, Emperor. With Grunt being the lowest and Emperor being the highest. Grunts may only take Grunt and Warrior level quests. To become a Warrior you must complete at least 3 Warrior level quests. This applies for all ranks, however to become an Emperor you must successfully complete 10 Emperor quests without losses to your party."

"We are also not responsible for any deaths or serious injuries, and if you plan on taking early awakened children along you will be the only person responsible, understood?"

"Yes."

"Also keep in mind Grunt quests get paid 50 copper per quest while Warriors get paid 1 Silver per quest."

"Now, I've stamped your Slayer cards with your ranks, there is no need for any personal information, the registry fee will be 1 Silver for both of you, or rather 50 Copper per person."

I handed the man the a Silver coin, retrieved the cards and then asked,

"Can you please show me 3 Warrior level quest?"

"Sure, it doesn't seem like it'll be a problem with your strength." The man walked over to another desk, he bent down and retrieved 3 scrolls.

"Here are your 3 scrolls, rip the scrolls to add the quest to your Personal Information." The man explained.

I ripped the scrolls and 3 windows appeared in front of me.

[Goblin Genocide

Rank: Warrior Level Quest

Summary: You have been contracted to exterminate a nest of Red Jacks, a variation of the Green Goblin which is slightly stronger and possesses red skin. The quest will guide you to the location.

Time Limit: Complete the Quest within 3 days.]

[Explore the Forest of Gubita

Rank: Warrior Level Quest

Summary: Explore the Gubita Forest and search for the Orange Lily, a rare medicinal flower that grows during this season.

Time Limit: Complete the Quest within 3 days]

[Hunt 3 Wood Wolves

Rank: Warrior Level Quest

Summary: The Wood Wolves population have gotten out of control lately, hunt 3 Wood Wolves and retrieve their fangs.

Time Limit: 3 days]

"Hm, seems manageable, thank you for your help, we'll be leaving."

"May the Gods be with you, Slayers."

-------

We are now travelling towards the specified location of the quests, which is mainly the area of the Gubita Forest. Of course, we had to Teleport down and travel outside of the borders.

As the roads of gravel and stone eventually ran out the forest began taking its place.

"Halt! We'll be travelling on foot from here on!" I spoke as the undead halted and I got out of the carriage with Sanguis.

"30 of you stay behind and guard the carriage, meanwhile the rest of you will travel with us."

While speaking, I picked out 15 heavily armored undead.

"You all, you will be personal guards to Sanguis." The 15 undead quickly moved and formed a circle around Sanguis and me.

'Now that I have some time, let me test out something.'

"You 15 will listen to Sanguis' orders like they are my orders, follow them word for word, understood? Well then, Sanguis, try commanding them.

"Hmmmm, 2 of you come and hold me up comfortably in a seating position. I don't like walking."

Immediately 2 undead came and held her up like she was a queen and moved according to her orders.

"Wow.. they really do listen to me."

"Of course they do, they're completely bound to me. And speaking of bound... Everyone listen up, every undead servant from now on will listen to Sanguis' orders like it is law, sacrifice yourself to protect her if it is needed." Immediately all the indead turned and listened.

From atop her now dead human moving throne, Sanguis said,

"Kneel." At her words every undead kneeled as if they found an additional master.

"Hm, I think I like this... power." Sanguis said while smiling darkly. I really was a bad influence.

"Don't become too spoiled now. Power can only come from your own efforts."

"Of course, I'm not planning on slacking off, Luciel, I'm going to be strong, just like you."

"Good girl."

As I was about to march forwards-

{Skill acquired, Undead Commander. Do you wish to accept?}

The familiar yet creepy silver and black window appeared in front of me, with a new skill at that. It seemed to be related to the Undead so I accepted.

'I accept.'

{Skill stored.}

[Undead Commander Lv.1

Summary: Your excellent commandind skills have gained you a new ability, allows you to share your command of Undead Subordinates with one other person.

<Sub-Ability>

-- Dominion Authority: If the undead recognize the new sub-Commander as worthy, Dominion Authority applies and gives a 5% Stat boost to all Undead. Dominion Authority gives absolute control of Undead Subordinates and only you can relinquish it.

-- Sacrifical Law: For every Undead that sacrifices itself to protect the Sub-Commander all the other undead gain a 0.02% Stat boost. Effect stacks up until 300%.]

'Useful ability, very useful. And from how these guys are acting, they're going even beyond recognizing her as worthy and pledging their loyalty. Are these guys really Undead...? They make me doubt my powers sometimes, aren't they supposed to be more like mindless beasts?'

"It seems like they recognize you as a Young Mistress. You little rascal, how did you become worthy?"

"Worthy? I just thought about how nice it would be if they all just served me to their deaths, again."

"What an odd bunch they are... masochists maybe.." I said the last part under my breath.

"Well, either way, rise up, we're going to advance, you two keep being a throne or something." I said to the two undead holding Sanguis up.

As we walked through the forest, not much was seen, but a lot was heard, howling, roars, branches breaking. I decided to get the exploration quest done first.

"All of you spread apart in groups of 5 and explore the area, look for an orange flower, make sure not to damage it when you retrieve it!"

The undead dashed out like mad beasts again, they were finally getting some action.

I also sent out a mental command as I forgot to tell them something.

'If you see any monsters, kill them and bring their bodies back to me, don't eat it.'

After a good 30 minutes, 2 groups of undead carrying 2 orange Lilies. This was excellent.

'Everyone come back along with any monsters or animals you have killed.'

As I picked up the flower in my hands, the quest clear notification rang.

[You have completed a quest. Experience awarded. +300 Experience.]

[You have completed a quest. Experience awarded. +600 Experience.]

'Oh? It seems like the Wood Wolves quest was completed.'

Not long after all groups of Undead came, 4 groups carried 4 Wood Wolves. I retrieved the fangs from their mouths and told the 4 groups to carry the corpses. It seemed like the Wood Wolves were stronger than the average Slayer, as my Undead suffered some injuries which were healed through Mana Heritage. The wood wolves had branches of wood sprouting from their heads and running down their shoulders and stomach. The corpses weren't in the best state, they were bitten, mauled, stabbed and slashed.

"Hm, Luciel, I got experience from a completed quest?"

"Oh, I thought that wouldn't happen, that might be possibly because we recognize each other as allies or a party. We share the Exp too. That's perfect, we'll be able to both grow at a steady pace."

"Now then, let's search for that Goblin Nest. Did any of you Undead notice a cave of some sort or a gathering of monsters?"

And immediately a group of undead raised their hands and stepped forward.

"In what direction is it?"

They all pointed to the righ of us near the foot of a mountain.

"Let's move."

And at my command the hundreds of Undead began to move to our direction.

------

"Ugh, it smells a lot Luciel." complained Sanguis, still on top of the undead, she really didn't like walking.

"I know, but we still have to clear this place."

Inside movement could be clearly heard, there would possibly be tens if not hundreds of Red Jack goblins.

"Sanguis, you stay out here, I'll go inside with these guys and quickly exterminate them."

"Be careful, okay? Don't get hurt."

"I won't."

"You 15 stay with Sanguis to protect her, half of you will come with me and the other half with stay near the entrance to prevent any stray goblins from leaving."

Soon I and 300 Undead entered the spacious cave, as we arrived at the end of the tunnel, a massive spacious area with campfires, huts and Red Jack goblins running around could be seen.

"Massacre them." I told the Undead while I grabbed a sword from one of the undead to protect myself just in case, I would be advancing with them.

The undead rushes like hungry beasts, surprising the goblins as they lacked time to prepare. Although the goblins lacked individual strength because of their small body similar to a child's, they had numbers. But so did I.