The Ruined Death Knight

Alas, Danzel wasn't stupid enough to test those great runes on his very own body.

He was very interested in trying out the [Great Rune of Ruined Vessel], but only after he can carve the rune into a suitable grade.

Preferably into the [Beyond Perfection], but he would also be fine with the [Perfect] grade.

After all, he never made a single rune out of the former.

He theorized that he had to improve the original rune knowledge somehow and increase the effect of the rune.

While he could increase the effect of the simpler runes, that wouldn't come without a cost, such as making the shape bigger, putting more stress on an idea, and so on.

And as of now, he was very limited in doing any runesmithing with being the babysitter of a noble.

If he didn't have to hide his skills and pay attention to what he considered useless tasks, he could probably finish another page or two of his project list.

"Sigh~at the very least I will be done looking after him." He shook his head, as he looked around the room.

"So that's what humans consider to be fancy, huh?"

Standing up from his seat and commanding his Draugrs to follow behind him, he opened the door and left the room with the last thought in his mind.

`Maybe after finishing "that" mission I will have to consider making a base for me and only me alone...´

***

Several days after the castle siege.

Armed forces of the Dynasty came to take over the duty of holding the keep from them were another group traveled together with them as an "escort" of the young hero noble to travel back to the capital.

"Laughable." A cold voice said out loud while ignoring the aggressive glance of the nearby soldiers.

Seeing the enormous gates slowly open of walls triple the size of the castle he took over, Wilhelm who had an exhausted look with black bags under his eyes looked over the owner of the cold voice.

"Are you unsatisfied with anything, sir Abdiel?"

Abdiel, who was actually Danzel gave him a brief look before glancing at the soldiers "escorting" them.

"My undead would have been enough to guide us back. There was no need to use this sort of "waste manpower"."

"Hah! He ain't wrong." Vanessa gave a big laugh on top of Skull Claw.

The latter is dressed so that none of the bones show from the outside.

Wilhelm sighed both internally and out loud at the same time.

Those "escorts" were specifically chosen by his father and sent to protect his son after experiencing an assassination attempt that he was partly at the fault.

They were fairly strong 2nd-tier soldiers and some magic casters who were nurtured by their families from the academy. Though they weren't elite forces, for humans they were quite strong.

But that doesn't change the fact that they had to eliminate the hundred or so undead that could have been used for this escort mission.

Though individuals were weaker than the soldiers, the Draugr were of the 2nd-tier and their numbers were enough to annihilate those soldiers.

"Sigh~Please understand that your undead is forbidden in the capital and that this was necessary. I even put myself at risk in bringing that one inside..." Wilhelm glanced at Skull Claw.

The dark knight linger his gaze a bit longer on Wilhelm, making the latter extremely uncomfortable before returning to his quiet demeanor.

What the dark knight was thinking, Wilhelm didn't know.

With the two mercenaries achieved being his own, he could use this fact to stabilize his position and slowly, with the help of his majesty, secure the position of the head of the family.

Walking through the gates, people of common blood awaited their return and celebrated his name. Though it wasn't at the level of a whole festival, it brought some warmth into his previous innocent heart, making him show a small smile on his tired face.

After contributing to the war and filling his hands full of blood while watching the dead returning back to life as part of the undead.

He returned home.

***

In the Ionarres mansion.

A place filled with hundreds of defensive enchantments that would make any intruder pale in fright.

Each of the enchantments was second to only the king's palace, costing more than several generations' worth of wealth that a single noble bloodline could gather. Moreover, those enchantments were filled with the quality of mana crystals.

Making the mansion a hundred times more difficult to take over that the castle that Danzel took over.

And now the gates of this place opened to greet the second son of the duke.

Once the gates were opened, a row of maids and knights releasing the aura of a 3rd-tier were to be seen.

"We greet young master." They said in unison while bowing slightly.

In the middle of this crowd, awaiting in the stairs leading to the front door stood a man near his 30's with fancy clothes worth of a noble with a big warm smile on his face.

"Welcome back home, my brother." His words contained a certain warmth and gentleness into them.

But those words were nothing more than a facade of a poisonous sneak to Wilhelm.

"You didn't have to go out of your way to come out...brother." Wilhelm said with a similar tone, but by his forced smile, it was quite obvious that he wasn't happy with his brother.

You dare to come out and act as if you are my loving brother after sending others in my bed?

You are just a snake!

Of course, he couldn't say such things out loud and was forced to play out that they had a good relationship.

The last thing he wanted was a rumor going around in the circle of nobles.

Walking into the mansion, Danzel and the cloaked Vanessa followed behind his steps. Releasing a pressure that made the knights warry of them, especially to Danzel as they felt something similar to a killing intent.

The two brothers who fought over the position of the heir hugged each other to show their "good" relationship.

"Mother, Father, and I have been worried about you joining the war. I am glad you returned safely.

"...Sorry for worrying you all." He said, rolling his eyes internally.

"Mhm, let's not idly stand here! Father has been waiting to eat with you and you...companions." He said, with a slight frown appearing on his face for a split second after seeing the dark knight.

Only Vanessa and Danzel himself noticed this, but they weren't in a position to point it out. Even if they were, they didn't care enough to do as such.

Being guided inside the mansion, revealing various paintings and magic items that proven their wealth. They soon arrived at a half leading to a door at the size that could fit Sartan the high troll sizes.

Opening the door, there was a table similar to the one that Danzel saw back in the castle.

In the place where he was seated though was a man looking around in his mid 50 wearing a long blue coat with a white shirt. On each hand he had 4 rings of different colored mana crystals, making it a total of 8.

He had a beard together with a horseshoe mustache, his eyes were of common brown while his hair was pushed back. His slightly aged look together with the mix of gray and dark hair showed that he didn't particularly take much care of himself.

"Wilhelm, my child, I am so glad that you are safe."

The man stood from his seat and directly went to his son and gave him a hug strong enough to be mistaken that it was done by a bear.

The man was none other than the duke of Ionarres and one of the few Archmages of the Dynasty, Archmage Maximilien Ionarres.

His love for his children was genuine and he would rather not allow Wilhelm to join the war. But because he understood that both brothers fought for the heir position, as a noble, he couldn't interfere. He also promised the two not to show any favor to him and only the most worthy among those two will claim his seat.

Making part of the reason why Wilhelm endangered his life in the war.

By giving his son hope, he did something that no father was supposed to do. Put his own son in danger.

Wilhelm in comparison was arrested by his father action as he wasn't a kid anymore. But he was still glad that his father cared so much for him.

"Cough~cough, dear, if you keep the guest waiting the food will grow cold." A beautiful woman wearing a dame outlander said while pretending to be coughing.

She shook her head at her husband's action but didn't openly disapprove. She was simply seated beside where the middle seat, the nearest spot of the family head.

"Right, I showed you all a shameful side of me, Wilhelm, Weston, go take a seat, as for the members of the Deathfull Skulls...you might take part in our dinner, as a show of gratitude in keeping my boy alive."

Vanessa was the one who nodded and Danzel simply stayed silent.

"It would be an honor to eat with the duke..." Vanessa said with a tone that made it obvious that it was forced.

"I thank the duke for his consideration, alas my duty is to stay by the side of lady Vanessa..." Danzel said with an ice-cold tone.

Making the others frown slightly.

Wilhelm included.

The way Danzel acted, was a first for him.

He acted as if he was the noble guardian knight of a beautiful dame. But considering that the beautiful dame, albeit beautiful indeed, from the inside was a killing machine that used her very own fist to obliterate her enemies.

And the guardian knight? He was a necromancer who turned his enemies into his undead servants who obeyed his call.

He also spend months of time with those two, and he understood that the dark knight and the dark elf didn't act superior to each other.

'Why act all righteous now when you bunch are just some killers!?'

He couldn't understand why he went out of the way to act this way. After all, refusing the request of a duke in his own house was seen as quite rude.

"If that's what you want, I won't stop you." The duke said to the dark knight.

He didn't want the savior of his son and a potentially strong ally to feel wronged because he acted according to his duty.

He did a background check on both of them and he didn't find much other than Vanessa being a veteran member of the mercenary group whereas the dark knight known as Abdiel was someone new to the group who also was accepted as the pupil of the "Great Necromancer".

The true reason why Danzel acted as such was obvious he was undead. Vanessa was actually the one who suggested he play her guarding knight to avoid this exact situation.

He found that reasonable and accepted, but seeing the smile that she was showing him, he didn't know if she suggest it out of concern or because she wanted to make fun of him...

Soon everyone began seating in their place, including Vanessa.

The only ones who didn't were the servants and Danzel, who stood behind Vanessa's shield.

"...Sir, please allow us to safe keep your weapon while you enjoy your meal." A maid at the height of 1.62 came beside him said while raising both her hands as if she were waiting to take a candy or something.

"..."

Danzel silently glanced down at the maid confused at the request she was making.

But before he was about to reject her request, Vanessa beat him to it.

"You may give you weapon Abdiel, but the maid over here, can you keep his sword where my knight can see it?" She said while giving Danzel and the made a serious look.

"Yes...will it be fine if I hold the sword behind sir Abdiel?" She said while looking at Vanessa. She couldn't help but shiver at the dark armored giant looking at her.

Danzel exchanged a few looks with the made and the dark elf before drawing his sword and placing it in the hands of the maid.

By such sight, Vanessa almost burst into laughter while the others were shocked at the action of drawing a blade in front of the duke.

Because it happend so quickly, no one pointed it out and considered it a lack of knowledge of the noble's etiquette. Usually, when asked to give his weapon, one would also consider the scabbard if it was in the case of a sword.

As Danzel didn't know that and simply took it literally.

The maid in comparison froze for a moment seeing the blade drawn and put in her hands.

"T-Then I will safe keep it for you, sir..." She said with trembling hands and a voice as she walked a few meters behind Danzel.