Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 370: A Conversation

After we returned to Helena's home Hans stopped me. "Koyuki, do you have a moment?"

I nodded. "Sure, what's this about?"

"I would like to talk to you about your plans for the future." He replied.

I wanted to talk to him about my necromancy and possible funding for it anyway, so this might be a good opportunity. He led me to a private study with two comfortable leather chairs facing each other. A small table was between them. The room itself was cosy and the walls were filled with books.

"Can I offer you something to drink?" He asked.

"Yes, please." I replied. I was still recovering from raising Goro and something refreshing sounded nice.

He went to a cabinet and withdrew two small bottles, then he opened them and filled two mugs. "A local brew." He stated, as he placed one of the mugs in front of me. "I always keep a few bottles in my cabinet; being an ice mage allows me to cool them quickly. Bottles are such a great invention for beer."

I just nodded and said: "Thanks." My first sip felt rather refreshing but I did start to wonder what sort of conversation he had planned.

"I will be direct: What are your plans with Helena?" He asked.

I scratched my head. "Plans? It depends where the military sends us after graduation. I hope that we can be deployed together. As long as we keep Princess Olivia on our side it should work. Graduation is still two years away and a lot can happen until then."

He looked at me curiously.

"Or did you mean afterwards? Helena said she is going to serve as her brother's general. So I would probably just help out with my undead. I might have a small army at that point but I think that is too far away to make real plans." I said.

"So you plan to stay with her?" He asked.

"Of course." I replied.

Hans smiled. "Good! I was hoping you would say that! Helena seems quite happy and I approve of your relationship but I wanted to hear it from you directly. Normally we would now discuss a betrothal…"

My eyes widened and I started blushing. That wasn't something I had expected! I liked, no, I loved Helena but I never saw the need for an official document.

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Hans chuckled. "Since you aren't a noble this isn't really necessary. However, you will have my blessing if you decide to make it official."

I just nodded while I still processed his words. He had certainly caught me off-guard with the topic. I took another sip of my beer.

"So, are there any questions you have for me?" Hans asked.

"Oh, I do actually." I replied, feeling grateful for a change of topic. "My necromancy needs corpses and the adventurers guild is charging a lot for them. We can't go out and hunt because we have classes so my options are limited. I was hoping you could help me."

He nodded. "Understandable. I can try to help, what sort of corpses are you looking for?"

"I do have a platoon of goblin zombies and they could use mounts. More goblins would allow me to expand my existing troops but any corpse could work. Affinities are interesting as well. I am hoping to get a few corpses with a light affinity to combat Ilestria's assassins." I explained.

"You can have light affinity undead?" He asked.

"I can have some with resistance. Hatsumi used to be a light foxkin." I replied.

"Right, I have never thought about that. Unfortunately we don't have many light aligned monsters in the mountains. Death, ice and earth are the most common affinities here. Actually, what about natural undead? There are some of those around. I can track down the recent rumour, it might lead you to a few." He offered.

"Natural undead are rather inefficient mana wise. I could feed them to my undead, they might get some benefits from devouring them." I replied.

"Really? I see. Well, if you need the corpses of living creatures I can tell my men to collect the bodies of any monsters they slay. I can also offer the local adventurers some rewards for corpses. Since you are part of the family, or are going to be, I would not mind investing in this. However, I can not provide you with all possible corpses since the necromancers in the army need some as well." He said.

"I would be grateful for any help. I would also take dead horses, or perhaps other animals." I added.

Hans nodded. "I can see the benefits of an undead mount. Could anyone use them? Would it be difficult to learn how to command them?"

I shook my head. "No, we even have one with us, as a gift for Derrick."

"Oh? He will enjoy that." Hans replied.

"I could create one for you as well, if you have a corpse." I offered.

Hans pondered that. "Koyuki, you have quite a few tier three undead and you mentioned your zombie platoon."

"Yes." I confirmed. "I also have some skeletons guarding Cassie's new brewery and a few other tier two. Like the Frank, Chariot and the horses drawing our carriage."

"And you can control all of them? You still have enough mana left for other spells?" He asked.

"I am practising my shields and I have started to expand my offensive spells too. My core is still growing and I have mana left for more undead." I said.

"That is quite impressive, maybe I should have insisted on the betrothal." Hans joked.

I took a sip of my beer to hide my reddening cheeks.

After that our topic shifted and Hans asked some more questions about necromancy in general. While he did have a magic education he had mostly focused on ice magic. He knew quite a bit about fighting undead from the mountains but not much about the art of creating them.

Overall it had been a pleasant conversation. Hans was already treating me like family and we finished a few more beers before we left his study. We both got hungry and decided to raid the kitchen.

The maids prepared a nice platter with bread, cheese and sausage for us and we began snacking.

"There you are!"

I turned around with a piece of sausage in my hand and saw Helena. "Are you hungry as well?" I asked.

"I could go for a snack, sure. So what were you two up to?" She asked.

"I traded you to Koyuki for an undead army." Hans replied.

I nodded, while trying to look serious. I was a bit intoxicated after the beers we had, which helped.

"Really? We need to go dress shopping then!" Helena replied.

My eyes widened. "Oh no, it was just a joke!"

Hans laughed.