Chapter 385

We stayed for another week at Helena's home but her father and brother were busy dealing with the crawler situation. Cassie's mother and Skadi's parents had already left to take care of their own business and it was time for us to get on the road again. Our next stop would be Valeria's home to negotiate a deal with her mother. Hopefully I could get high quality wood for spears and shields to arm my goblins.

It was the 49th of Umes when we left. Rose drove the wagon with the goblin zombies and Thorn was drawing it. She was still delighted with her horse, even when she wasn't riding it. Kaito drove the carriage and Chariot was on top, together with the new crawler. Garm decided to walk since the roof of the carriage was a bit crowded now. Hatsumi joined us inside the cabin with the cats.

"How long until we reach Redonia?" I asked my friends, as our carriage left Rovik.

"Four days, it's just north of the Korrah Forest." Helena replied.

"Are there any actual cities inside the forest?" I wondered.

"There is a lake inside the forest with a small city next to it but I forgot the name." Skadi said. "It's a rather dangerous place if you go too deep, even the army does not push that far usually. However, that means they have the best wood since there is some earth mana or so in the soil."

"There are some stories about ancient elves living in the forest a long time ago!" Cassie added.

"Really? I thought most of the elves lived west of Ilestria." I said.

Helena nodded. "The elven kingdoms are in the west of Ilestria but there are some elves in the Barkworth Duchy, more than in other parts of Nethena."

"Doesn't that simply mean that most elves prefer to live near a big forest?" Hatsumi asked.

"You could see it that way." Helena replied. "But it does sound less exciting."

"I could lend you a book about an elven princess…" Skadi offered.

"Oh, that sounds fun, I really enjoyed the book with the vampire!" Hatsumi replied.

"Have you been to Redonia before?" I asked my friends.

"No." Helena replied.

Skadi shook her head.

"Me neither." Cassie said. "My mother is a countess but she is not important enough to get invites from a Duchess who isn't her liege lord."

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"We could do some sightseeing, maybe we can ask Valeria to show us around?" I wondered.

"I hope it isn't too cold. I like your family, Helena, but we should stop going north during winter." Cassie said.

"Maybe we can visit your home next year?" I suggested.

"Eh, I am on better terms with my mother now but I am not sure if we should go for a longer period…" Cassie replied.

We kept chatting as our carriage rolled on. Our path took us straight through the Winston Duchy but we deliberately avoided the capital. I was not sure how I stood with the Duke because of Archibald's behaviour. Avoiding a potential encounter seemed like the best choice, for now.

Our plan seemed to work as we crossed into the Barkworth Duchy two and a half days later without an incident.

It was late afternoon and I was practising my water magic when I felt our carriage slowing down. I stuck my head out of the window and saw a patrol on the road in front of us.

"What is it?" Helena asked.

"Looks like a patrol, maybe they want to see my licence? The skeletal horses do look a bit sinister, especially with Kaito as the driver." I admitted. Whenever we stopped at an inn for the night I made sure to quickly explain things. Being a student at the Royal Military Academy and having an official licence was usually enough to calm people down.

"Greetings, what is this about?" Kaito asked as he slowed the wagon.

The patrol consisted of ten people and while their uniforms and armour looked legitimate I was a bit paranoid, so I made sure to prepare a shield in case of an ambush. We were surrounded by smaller hills, grass and some farmland. At least there was no good place to hide an ambushing force.

"Greetings. Your caravan is a bit unusual, who are you and who is your master, undead?" The soldier asked.

"I am Kaito and I serve Koyuki, a student at the Royal Military Academy. She can provide you with her licence. Our small caravan has a few undead but we also have Lady Helena Frost and Lady Cassie Ashburn with us." Kaito stated.

"Is that orthos wearing a bowtie?" I heard someone ask.

"Indeed! Neckwear is truly important, even in death." Garm stated.

"Your orthos talks?" The lead soldier asked.

At that point I decided to stick my head out of the window. It seemed safe enough and I held my shield ready with the runes already formed in my mind.

"Greetings, I am Koyuki. The orthos is Garm, one of my tier three undead. Kaito, the dullahan, is also a tier three undead. I have a few more and here is my licence." I said and waved my licence around.

The soldier made no threatening move but he did not approach either. "I see, and what is your destination, if I might ask?"

"We are going to Redonia to visit Lady Valeria Barkworth, she is in our class." I replied.

Finally the man relaxed a bit. "Oh, you are studying with Lady Valeria? I see, welcome to the Barkworth Duchy." Then he slowly approached without dismounting. He steered his horse carefully next to the carriage while eyeing my undead. Then he took my licence and studied it.

"Seems to be in order, thank you. I apologise for the scrutiny but a new drug has been spreading recently. We had enough problems with the nightshades and one can't be too careful." He said, then his eyes widened. "Is.. is your horse bleeding from the mouth?"

I turned my head to look in the same direction he was looking. Behind our carriage was our wagon. Thorn was chewing something while blood dripped from his mouth.

"Oh, he just spotted a small animal trying to cross the road and had a snack!" Rose shouted.

"He is a vampiric undead." I added, helpfully.

"A horse can be a vampire?" The man asked.

"A vampiric undead is not a full vampire. Vampires have some very specific traits and have to be tier three. Being a vampiric undead simply means they have some power over blood. You could see it like a draugr vs a zombie with a water affinity. Draugrs are a very specific type of a zombie but you could just take a normal corpse, raise it as a zombie and add some minor water affinity. That would not make it into a draugr. Draugrs are especially known for their ice powers." I explained.

He chuckled. "I see. I guess there are no vampires here."

"Um, Rose, the woman driving the wagon, is a full vampire. Hatsumi is one as well, she is in the carriage with us." I said.

The soldier paled and looked at my licence again, which I still had in my hand. "I see, I will have to write a report about this."

"Sure." I replied.

While the soldiers seemed a bit uncomfortable they let us pass. I wondered if undead were rarer here than in the north? At least I spotted one of them briefly petting Garm as we passed.