The misadventures of the necromancer

Adar still finds it hard to believe that Jerome and Sab didn't reveal anything about Nero being a necromancer. Especially considering that Nero had left them locked inside the mines, with an undead guarding them. Allowing Nero and Seres to leave the mines and tell whatever story they wanted without anyone contradicting Nero.

Granted, no real harm was done to them—they just had to spend a few more minutes underground so that Nero, having regrouped with the rest of the team, could disappear without much fuss. But surely, they wouldn't have been pleased about it and should have clarified what really happened inside the mine!

This strange situation was what had led Adar to keep probing for more and more details from the two men in front of him. But all their answers just kept confirming the silence of the witnesses, to the confusion of Adar, Nero, and Seres.

“Grumpy, I’m sorry, but we really don’t know that much about what happened. We’ll only be able to properly answer your questions once we get there,” Kael finally declared, much to Adar’s surprise, since only Nero ever called him Grumpy. But after reflecting a bit, he realized that he’d never actually introduced himself, and the men in front of him must’ve only heard Nero calling him that.

“Adar!!” he said flatly, unsure how to react to the fact that more people were now calling him that.

“Sorry!?” asked a confused Kael.

This prompted Adar to point to himself while saying, “My name. My name is Adar.” Then, deciding to clear things up once and for all, he pointed to Seres and continued, “And his name is Seres.”

“Nero just prefers not to call us by our names. But our names are Adar and Seres,” Adar explained, and they seemed to understand, glancing toward Nero. Adar had no doubt they were evaluating the situation, taking into consideration the difficult personality the necromancer had already shown to have.

This slightly frustrated Adar. Even if it turned this small misunderstanding into a positive, once again reinforcing the idea that Nero was simply a difficult person—which wasn’t strange or unusual. It’s just that Adar didn’t like more people calling him Grumpy, it was just…

“Yes, we understand… Adar,” Delric interjected. “It’s just that like we said, we don’t really know much about the details of this vampire attack,” the monk continued, steering the conversation back and smoothing over Kael’s small slip, diverting from this unpleasant topic for Adar. Which made Adar give the man a slight nod—both in understanding his intentions and in gratitude for his tact.

“Yes, exactly like Delric said. We don’t know many details. But, about your curiosity about the undead and vampires, those are probably just stories—they generally don’t get along, as Delric already said,” the knight added, supporting the monk's comment.

“But why?” asked Whit, intrigued.

“Well, it’s one of those things everyone knows, but no one really knows exactly why,” Delric calmly replied.

“They’re just the rules of the game,” declared Nero’s uninterested voice, drawing everyone’s attention—to Adar’s frustration, who would have loved to just tell him to shut up. But fortunately, his love for life stopped him from doing something that foolish.

With everyone now turned to Nero, Seres and the other knights began settling around the campfire.

“Yes, that’s one way to look at it,” said Delric.

“It doesn’t make Whit’s question any less valid. There must be some logical reasons behind it,” Mira said, seemingly supporting her friend.

Looking at the pot over the fire, which should be taken off now before dinner burns, Seres said, “Oh, sorry. But we don’t have enough food for everyone.”

“Don’t worry, we have travel provisions. Right, Kael?” one of the other knights kindly declared, drawing Kael’s attention to the situation and prompting him to nod in agreement.

The knight who had spoken then moved off toward their horses—probably to fetch the mentioned provisions. The poor animals are all packed in a single space looking in a single direction, as if sensing something.

Meanwhile, Nero’s voice chimed in again. “Right! If you want logical reasons, it’s simple. Vampires like their food still alive, and the undead are usually too dead for that! On the other hand, vampires had to die to be turned, but they still think and eat—so they’re a bit too alive for the undead’s approval.”

For a moment, everyone stared at the mage, trying to make sense of what he’d just said. And to general surprise—excluding Adar and Seres—what he had just said actually made a strange kind of sense.

“That’s a really interesting point of view!” declared a thoughtful Delric, prompting a series of agreeing nods from those who’d heard what Nero said.

Seres was in front of Adar checking the pot and its contents, not showing much concern about what Nero was saying. As if Nero’s manner of talking didn’t pose the danger of allowing people to harbor suspicions about him. But maybe they’d be lucky and those around them would just assume the necromancer was simply clever.

“Well, if we’re being honest, the only ones who like undead are necromancers—and even they…” said Kael, letting out a short laugh.

The word “necromancer” left Adar breathless. The only thing that kept him and Seres from raising suspicion with their reactions was that, just as Seres was stirring the pot, someone knocked over one of the supports holding it, causing it to fall into the fire.

“Oh, no!!” cried an alarmed Seres, disguising any other concern.

Several people stood up in concern over the small accident.

“Sorry!” declared the startled knight who had knocked the support. While Seres looked around, trying to find something to help him remove the pot from the flames.

“Wait!!” Whit’s voice rang out, as he brought his hands together, as if in prayer. He murmured something that made his hands glow. At that moment, he extended a hand toward the pot, which began to float in the air.

While everyone watched the priest intently, he lifted the pot from the fire.

When the pot landed on the ground beside the fire, Nero’s surprised voice was heard. “Dude, you know telekinesis!”

Before anyone else could react to his statement, he kept talking. “That could be really useful… do you need to see your target?”

Whit looked a bit flustered by all the attention and hesitated before answering, “Well, I guess not. But I’m not really sure.”

Nero nodded in agreement, wearing a thoughtful expression and a smile, saying, “That could be very good. Solving the problem.”

“What problem?” asked Kael, intrigued.

Which made Nero look at Kael, his smile vanishing instantly. “Nothing important. Just something I’d been thinking about.”

This prompted several intrigued looks toward the necromancer. That must have been from wondering what problem he was referring to.

“Yes!! As you were saying before the clumsy accident...” Nero began, gesturing toward Seres, who was currently checking whether their dinner had burned. “Only crazy necromancers like undead.”

Adar nearly dropped his jaw, hearing the necromancer divert the conversation to something Adar considered an even worse point. But then again, who would ever suspect that someone who talks about necromancy the way Nero does could actually practice the magic himself?

And while Nero began chatting with the monk and the knight, mocking all necromancers, Adar became increasingly relaxed. After all, it only took listening for a little to realize that he was being honest.

Nero didn’t sound like someone deflecting suspicion of necromancy. If anything, he sounded like someone intentionally distracting everyone from a different issue.

Someone who says, “I’m not saying all necromancers are evil, that would be an exaggeration. But most of them definitely are,” is clearly not covering for himself. Especially considering that Adar already knew that, ridiculously. Nero was being completely honest in his low opinion of necromancers—especially those who weren’t him.

Beyond that, Adar could start to enjoy himself while everyone had fun bashing necromancy. Because he could see Seres’ face while the person he admired most—exactly because he was probably the most powerful necromancer alive—spoke ill of the school of magic Seres loved most.

Moments like this were one of the few pleasures Adar could enjoy while traveling with Nero.

Morning had arrived, and with it, the two groups had parted ways, each following their own path.

“Well, I’m glad we took a detour to meet this group. It’s always interesting to meet new people. That’s what makes these journeys a little less boring,” announced Kael, in a sentiment that seemed to be shared by his fellow knights—at least, that’s what Delric could gather from the other men’s comments.

“Yes, indeed. This encounter turned out to be quite interesting,” he agreed with the knights.

“I just feel a little uneasy leaving two young priests of Medishe in the middle of nowhere. With only three young ones to protect them. They didn’t even seem to be armed!” he heard a voice say behind him.

“Victor has a point. Maybe we should leave someone with them. There’s still time. And it’s not like one more or less man will make a big difference—the vampires are already destroyed,” another voice responded.

“No!” said Kael’s voice with a rare intensity and seriousness. “Our mission takes precedence. What if things turn out to be more serious than we think and we need the man we left behind? This team was chosen for a reason!”

Several of the knights voiced their support for their leader’s decision, and he concluded with, “I’d like to help them too. But they will have to trust in the grace of Medishe.”

“Don’t worry so much. Didn’t you see the little miracle that boy performed? If he’s capable of that, you can be sure their temple wouldn’t let them wander around like that if they were completely defenseless. Surely, they can use Medishe’s power to protect themselves,” he explained, trying to calm what he saw as unnecessary concerns.

“You really think so, Delric?” Kael asked him.

“Of course I do. Besides, you’re underestimating their companions. At the very least, that Nero has more to him than meets the eye,” he replied, leaving Kael thoughtful.

“Why do you think that? The boys didn’t seem like anything special,” said a voice behind him—probably Victor.

“You think so? Then tell me—how many people, besides Kael here, who loves the history of your order, actually know about your connection to the Hundred? These days, almost no one knows that. I’d even guess some of you don’t know it,” he said, turning to look behind him—and the embarrassed expressions he saw confirmed his hunch.

“Even so, that doesn’t mean that if trouble arises...” Kael began to argue.

“Kael… we’re talking about a young man who knows about the Hundred. Who claims to have had contact with my order. And that’s just what he chose to share. At that age? I assure you… he’s not an ordinary boy. Not even close,” he declared to the knight, who simply nodded.

“At this point, I only regret that we couldn’t continue talking with him. I’m sure we would have discovered more. But as you yourself said, our current mission is more important,” Delric concluded, deciding to focus on the task ahead.

But certainly not forgetting this interesting encounter.

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