Rise of the Supreme Necromancer-Chapter 45: Till Death Do Us Part

The army of the dead marched inside the castle, led by Aleric, Danit, Samuel, and the most elite of Aleric’s undead soldiers. They walked in even rows and had their weapons raised. Behind them went the skeletons and lesser zombies, ready to drown the living in their bodies.

Aleric still expected resistance. There really were people in the courtyard, but they had already lost the will to fight. Now they just watched Aleric, waiting for him to go through with the deal or abandon it entirely.

A moment stretched as everybody awaited Aleric’s next words.

"Danit, command these people to surrender. As I promised the countess, they would live."

"Lay down your weapons!" Danit ordered his soldiers. "Kneel, and peacefully await Master Fenn’s judgment!"

At first, people exhaled with relief that they weren’t going to be slaughtered. Then, they looked at their lord more closely.

Now, Danit was finally close enough that the soldiers could see his ghastly looks. His eyes were glassy, his skin pale, and his clothing was torn and bloodied. Although these things could be overlooked in the dark, now the soldiers could also feel the Dark magic powering the man.

It made their skin crawl!

Although they didn’t know the meaning of this sensation, the soldiers could still tell that there was something terribly wrong with their lord.

They gasped. Some even realized exactly what was going on...

It crushed their spirits even more.

The skeletons and the zombies began to take the weapons and the torches away from the soldiers in the courtyard. A few tried to resist, but they were quickly overpowered and subdued by the ever-growing number of undead.

"Samuel, put all the weapons in a pile somewhere," Aleric ordered. "Then, send the prisoners to the castle’s dungeon, and ensure that they have food, water, and whatever else. Danit, show Samuel where the dungeons are."

"Yes, master. What about the civilians?" Samuel asked.

At this moment, Salia had run down the wall. Upon seeing her undead husband, she paused for a moment, then turned away and glared at Aleric.

His corpse-like appearance didn’t make Salia hate Aleric any more or less.

"Necromancer! Remember what you promised!"

"I do," Aleric said, meeting her eyes. "So, tell your servants and family members to stay inside your rooms for now. Samuel, Danit, make sure they comply, but don’t harm anyone. I don’t want people underfoot."

"Yes, master!" Danit nodded. "Wife! Next time, address Master Fenn with more respect—you aren’t some village hag, you represent me!"

"You—You aren’t my husband anymore, foul creature! You make me sick with your very existence!" Salia shouted. "Don’t approach the kids, you hear me?!"

Danit winced; next to him, Samuel winced in sympathy.

This was exactly why Samuel wasn’t so eager to see his family again...

Aleric watched the unfolding drama with curiosity and amusement. After time spent so alone, seeing the personalities of his present and future servants was an incredible source of entertainment to him. It made him try harder to preserve all captured souls to the best of his ability.

And, he noticed that this shouting match calmed down the living people in the courtyard.

This marital argument wasn’t the first heard by these soldiers; it was so refreshingly mundane that they could only stare at it, utterly befuddled.

Seeing this, Aleric realized what these people craved almost as much as life. And that if he gave it to them, taking over Oakdale and the rest of the kingdom in the long term would be much easier.

"Danit isn’t a foul abomination, countess. Almost nothing has changed since he was alive. You should speak about that at some point. I think Danit would still like to spend time with his family," Aleric said in a cool voice. "And if he was a poor husband to you... Well. Danit, don’t be."

Danit jolted.

"A poor husband? Master, I would never! Salia had only the best—don’t you, Salia?"

Salia scowled at him.

"You think—" She suddenly closed her mouth. "You won’t trick me, necromancer! I can see what you are doing."

Aleric just smiled.

Despite Salia’s words, she almost began complaining about her husband... Near dozens of skeletons and zombies, while her own soldiers were kneeling and waiting for Aleric to decide their fate.

Now she huffed instead and marched inside the castle, calling for other civilians to follow her as she did. Danit watched her with slumped shoulders, then turned to Aleric.

"Thank you for keeping your word to these people, Master Fenn. I know death is nothing to be afraid of, but I didn’t want my family to be stabbed or anything. I still remember that this hurts a lot!"

"Indeed," Samuel said. "And admittedly, I would want my own children to have an opportunity to grow. If this fits your designs, Master Fenn."

Aleric glanced at his best warrior.

"Right, you have family in Oakdale, too. If you want, you can visit them later. At least to make sure they won’t be harmed by accident and that they don’t suffer from the fires." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

By this point, several columns of smoke began rising over the city, but Aleric hoped that the squads sent there by Samuel would be enough to contain the fire. Surely, the inhabitants of the houses would try to help, too.

Or they would just panic at the sight of the undead and do something stupid.

"Thank you, master." Samuel bowed his head.

Soon, the living people were led out of the outer parts of the castle. At this time, Aleric sent a call to camp followers waiting outside the city to join him.

Half an hour later, carts carried by zombie horses entered the gates.

The undead camp followers counted the looted weapons, extinguished unwanted torches, and ventured into the outer city to help firefighters and to gather corpses for their master.

Wasting no time, Aleric raised a couple of bodies as new undead servants. By that time, Samuel came to him with a report.