The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 534: Side Quests

Chapter 534: Side Quests

A Lich Lord stepped through the open portal and laughed. It was a hollow noise that seemed to come from somewhere other than his throat, and it made most of those who heard it shiver in fear.

Dominic, however, recognized it as a trick of magic caused by his transformation into a Lich Lord.

“Oh, I don’t think that is going to work. After all the mess that you caused, you’re not running away without doing the paperwork.”

“Mess? I don’t remember a mess.”

“You don’t remember sprouting wings and throwing mortars into a Dagos Army camp? Or piling the corpses into a giant pyramid with a rifle on top, inserted into the backside of their General?”

“So that’s where my rifle went.”

Amie turned her head into her arm to laugh. There was no way that she was going to tell the Lich Lord that Dominic was almost definitely feral at the time, and remembered nothing.

Letting them misunderstand each other was much better.

“How about chasing the survivors through their portal, and Sacking a Barony Fort outside Hester?”

Flashes of blood and flying limbs came unbidden into Dominic’s memory.

“I might remember that part.”

“Or when you chased the mages from Hester into the Mayor’s house at Westleby? They still haven’t found the Mayor’s wife, by the way.”

“Truly tragic.”

“That’s three massacres in under twelve hours. And that’s not counting whatever happened between there and Lytesin that ended with you bringing an entire Manor house to the Axbridge border.”

“About the same thing, actually. But the Manor relocation was not my fault. The storm that came with the tornados had a lot of magic in it, and it activated the damaged portal ritual in the basement.”

“Somehow, that does not surprise me. But we would also like to know how exactly you manage to pull off three, possibly four massacres in twelve hours.

There isn’t anyone alive in the Manor, is there?”

“Hey, I’m not that bad of a person. The staff are still alive, and a boatload of refugees. They’re out of Nobles, though. I’m sure that you understand.”

The Necromancer nodded. “Indeed, I do understand that sentiment. Thought, I suspect that you feel much more intensely about it than I do.

Was that part of your plan? To simply run Dagos out of Nobles so that the rebellion against the new King ended? Because if it was, then it worked brilliantly.”

“I wish that I could claim that it was part of a cohesive plan, but it was more the result of direct provocation and a series of unfortunate events.

If they hadn’t attacked again, I would have let them be.

They’re just lucky that they didn’t manage to kill the second Prince of Cygnia, or Crown Prince Fahad, both of whom were within range of the blast they set off in Wistover.

If they had managed that, there wouldn’t be a Dagos left to have Nobles.”

The Necromancer shook his head. “I understand now why our King sent us to stabilize things and do the rebuilding here. If you were left to go wild until the Dagos Nobles started to behave themselves, there would be so many undead wandering the continent that he wouldn’t be able to keep them all under control.”

Amie frowned. “Wait, we thought that you were the ones who were here to gather corpses to build up an undead army.”

“Why would we do that? We’ve got a million of them already. Do you know how much mana it would cost to keep another million or more undead active and under control, not rampaging through the countryside?

Even if we’re under the Necromancer King, we still have millions of living humans to consider. We can’t have zombies attacking their farms and villages.”

Dominic raised his hand. “Wait, why are you thinking there will be millions of undead?”

“Because when so many die in a major curse event, which we suspect this is, they are imbued with a bit of the blood debt that created the curse in the first place, and if the level of magic and curse are too high, it turns them into feral undead.

With so many dying in northern Dagos, there will be a huge number of them no matter what.

But with you deliberately killing so many who will bear a lingering hatred and grudge, it will only increase the odds that they are going to come back as undead.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“The look on your face says that you’re actually thinking about killing them twice, and not refraining from killing them the first time.”

Dominic shrugged. “They owe me.”

The Lich frowned. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? This situation can’t be resolved while the old hatreds linger, and nobody is willing to just let it go and move forward.”

Dominic nodded. “You are right. However, I have seen what has happened to Dagos, to the common people, who had no part in the war, and no voice in the decision-making.

You aren’t wrong about the fact that this grudge needs to end.

I don’t expect to make a lot of friends within Dagos, but I don’t count the new King as an enemy, so when the rebellion ends, and Prince Kaizon is dead, I will consider the blood feud over if they do.”

The Undead Commander smiled. “That is most wonderful news. I believe that the Necromancer King might have a few things to say to the King of Cygnia about that particular matter.

If you would like to wait here for additional news, I will have rooms prepared.”

Dominic shook his head. “I really should return to Wistover. I will get the news there in my daily updates, or you can send one of your people with me, on the condition that they don’t get into fights with the trolls or make undead goats.”

“Mountain Trolls and their goats.

I’ve heard about your arrangement in Wistover, and I must say, it is a truly impressive defensive military force, despite its limited size.

There is already an Ambassador from Shersdonia in Wistover, we will allow her to relay all of the messages and updates on our behalf. She is in regular contact with our central command, and I suspect that she knows much more than anyone tells her.

Techno Witches are like that.”

It was good to know that even the Necromancers found them a bit odd.