CHAPTER 387: Chatting

We spent the remaining evening catching up with Valeria and told her about our recent adventures while enjoying some food.

"Don't you have enough fighting at the academy? Do you really enjoy fighting so much that you want to hunt during your break?" Valeria asked.

The question caught me off-guard. Did I enjoy battle? I did not feel a particular thrill or desire to throw myself into combat. "Its the cheapest way to get corpses and I love necromancy." I answered honestly.

"I have always liked hunts, battles can be really exciting." Helena stated. "Dad took me hunting when I was a child and I have some good memories of our trips."

"I just like explosions, I guess." Cassie mused.

Skadi snorted. "I think you also like to tinker and see your potions and bombs succeed."

"True." Cassie agreed.

"What about you, Skadi?" Valeria asked.

"I do enjoy the spellblade aspect and trying to get the most of my runes. I am not going to pick fights just for fun but I don't mind our hunts. I joined the academy to help my parents because we had no connections to the nobility. Honestly, I did not think that I would make friends, or find love, I just hoped that being an officer would help my family. The fighting was something I did not mind but it was not what drew me to the academy." Skadi explained.

"I think Helena is the only one who joined because she was into fighting." I said.

Helena nodded. "Although there were political considerations too. The idea has always been that I will lead my brother's troops. Since I have never shown too much interest in a political marriage, and daddy didn't want to force me, becoming an officer seemed like a decent future."

"I guess you know why I joined." Valeria said, while looking embarrassed.

"Koyuki, your mother wanted you to befriend her." Helena stated.

"That was the main reason but with the incident during your first field trip my mother had additional concerns. It happened in our territory and our forces failed to properly secure the camp site. Archibald's betrothal was also a concern, since we sit between the Winstons and the Ashfields. Our duchy has to deal with a large part of the Ilestrian border and we are not part of a political faction. Most of our own troops have to deal with the dangers of the forest and the vampiric nightshades have been especially problematic inside our territory." Valeria sighed. "My goal at the academy was to secure alliances and make friends with the children of the other dukes."

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"You are surprisingly open about this." I said.

Valeria smiled. "Well, we are friends now and it's not like you did not know my motivations. Further, you managed to expose Archibald and break his betrothal to Florence. That was good news for us since it weakened their faction and it is unclear if the dukes will continue to work together, their relationship has certainly taken a hit. Then there is you, Koyuki. I mentioned earlier that my mother is hoping for a demonstration. I will be honest with you, we want closer ties to the future archmage necromancer and we want you to show off a bit. It will bolster our position. Further, it might help to unmask any Ilestrian sympathisers."

"You want me as bait?" I asked.

"Oh, no no! Of course not!" Valeria replied quickly. "But we will see who argues against undead, or tries to work against us forming any closer relations with you. I have to admit that not everyone who is against necromancy loves Ilestria, some are just more into plant or life magic and dislike death magic. However, we should be able to convince them with the practical advantages of your undead. Garm might help too, he is such a good boy!"

Garm nodded with both of his heads, while looking proud. Meanwhile I saw a small piece of sausage rising from the table and floating underneath it. When I looked down I saw glowing eyes and Nyx licking her bony lips. The other cats sat next to her.

"You know, coming back to my earlier questions about battle: What about undead? Do they enjoy fighting?" Valeria asked.

We were inside what Valeria had called a family dining room. It held a nice oak table big enough for ten people and there was a fireplace in the corner. While the walls, the floor and the ceiling were made from wood the fireplace was made from granite.

Rose had joined us at the table while Hatsumi and Kaito stood behind us. Garm was sitting near the fireplace on a comfy rug.

"It does depend on the purpose." Kaito answered. "I do enjoy taking down my Mistresses' foes."

"I think my vampiric instincts encourage fights with other creatures who have blood. The anticipated feeding can cause a certain thrill." Hatsumi said.

"Crushing the enemies of the pack can be quite pleasurable." Garm's left head stated. "And feeding their bones to the cats." The right head added.

"Meow."

"I think I prefer tinkering with magic but I kind of want to see the crawler in action." Rose mused. "The idea of watching our undead creations in battle is appealing."

"Your undead creations? But you are an undead." Valeria stated.

Rose nodded. "That does not stop me from raising other undead though! Koyuki is teaching me. Have you seen my horse? He drew the wagon with the goblin zombies. Thorn is amazing! You also have to check out Koyuki's new crawler, it can spit spells!"

"How does that work?" Valeria asked.

"I am working on putting spells into water and having them trigger on impact. But I can also just infuse the water and make it necrotic. It is rather effective against flesh." I explained.

"That sounds a bit terrifying." Valeria replied.

"Normally they spit acid, that can be terrifying as well." I pointed out.

"Hey, we haven't named the crawler yet." Cassie said.

"True but it is just an experiment. Hopefully we can have more in the future." I replied.

"It still deserves a name, like Spitter of Doom!" Cassie suggested.

"That sounds more like a title." Valeria observed.

"How about Andy?" Rose suggested.

"Works for me." I agreed.

Cassie pouted.