Necromancer: Kingdom Building with My Legion of Undead Knights

Darion stared at her for a second. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

’...What?’

’I’m not leaving.’

Seren looked away almost immediately after saying it, as if she had only realized after speaking aloud how strange it sounded.

Darion genuinely did not know what expression was currently on his face, but judging from the way Seren suddenly avoided eye contact harder than before, it was probably obvious he was shocked.

Because he was.

Deep down, he had hoped she wouldn’t leave. Of course he had. Anyone with common sense would want someone like Seren to stay in Percvale after everything she had done.

But hoping for something and expecting it were different things entirely.

He had never actually expected her to remain here voluntarily.

Especially after receiving two hundred gold coins.

That amount of money could completely change someone’s life. Seren could leave Percvale tomorrow morning and comfortably settle somewhere safer, richer, cleaner and significantly less likely to get invaded by angry neighboring territories.

She could live peacefully.

Instead she was standing here saying she wanted to stay in this half-rebuilt border Barony that still looked one bad month away from collapse.

A Barony that if Darion didn’t handle rebuilding probably, still had a high chance of collapsing regardless of the twenty thousand gold coins he had.

Darion tried very hard to make sure his voice sounded normal when he finally spoke.

”...Why?”

Seren stayed quiet for a moment.

The wind moved softly across the fields behind them while the evening light stretched across the restored farmland.

Then finally she spoke.

”When I first left my mother’s place to live on my own, I had a lot of expectations,” she said quietly. ”I thought things would go well for me.”

”Instead it feels like I just keep finding trouble.”

Darion listened quietly.

”I feel like I’ve told you this before I don’t know,” Seren continued. ”I moved around a lot after leaving home. Different places, trying to make use of my soil singing ability. Sometimes things went well for a while, then something happened again.”

Her fingers tightened lightly around her sleeves.

”Then my incident with Gonbb happened.”

She had been captured by them and he had ’saved’ her.

”They brought me there because of my magic,” she said. ”To make me work for them for free and you know the story.”

”I thought it would keep getting worse,” Seren admitted. ”And then you arrived.”

She glanced at him briefly before quickly looking away again.

”At first I thought you would be the same.”

Darion blinked once. That was to be expected, he did seem villain kind of ’tuff’ when they met.

”You showed up with undead knights,” she said flatly. ”You can’t really blame me for assuming the worst.”

Darion almost laughed.

”I thought maybe you’d force me to work too,” she continued. ”Or treat me worse after taking me away from Gonbb.”

She paused briefly.

”But you didn’t.”

The evening wind moved through the farmland again.

”You promised to pay. You gave me somewhere to stay, unlike a prison like Gonbb, then food and... space... eventually.” Her voice softened slightly. ”And despite everything happening around Percvale... you were never cruel.”

Darion looked away awkwardly for a second after hearing that.

Being complimented directly still felt weird. And by Seren.

”You just kept trying to rebuild this place,” Seren said. ”Even after Valdenmoor attacked. Even when things looked hopeless.”

Her eyes drifted across the farmland stretching behind them.

”You found ways forward every time.”

Darion stayed silent.

”Even the battle against Valdenmoor,” she continued. ”I suggested my mother and you immediately made that work.”

”I think... somewhere along the way, Percvale stopped feeling temporary to me.”

That made Darion look at her again.

”I don’t really have anywhere else I’m trying to go,” she admitted softly. ”If I leave here, then what? I just start over somewhere else again?”

She laughed weakly.

”Find another room somewhere. Another small job? Another place where nobody knows me.”

There was something painfully honest about the way she said it. Lonely too.

”But here...” she continued slowly, ”I’ve made friends.”

Darion listened quietly.

”The archers actually listen to me now,” she said with the faintest smile. ”I helped train them. I know most them by name.”

”And for the first time in a while...” she hesitated briefly, ”...I feel useful here.”

That sentence seemed to linger in the air longer than the others.

Darion suddenly understood something important.

Seren wasn’t staying because of the money.

The money mattered, obviously.

But that wasn’t the real reason.

She was staying because Percvale had become somewhere she belonged.

And maybe she hadn’t had that for a very long time.

Darion looked back across the fields.

This conversation had become far more emotional than he expected when he asked why she was staying.

Honestly, he didn’t even fully know how to respond properly.

After a while he finally spoke.

”Well...”

He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck once.

”That’s... uh...”

He paused.

Seren waited quietly.

Darion exhaled softly before finally managing:

”I’m glad you’re staying.”

”Yes,” she said quietly. ”Me... too.”

The two of them stood there looking across the restored farmland again.

Dark healthy soil stretched endlessly beneath the fading evening light. Farmers would return tomorrow morning. Seeds would be planted. Livestock pens would eventually be built nearby.

Darion could actually picture what this place might look like in the future.

He just hoped it doesn’t get attacked and ruined again, because that would really hurt him. Imagine spending this much for farmers, seeds, carpentersa and then getting it all destroyed.

Starting from Zero again!

No!

After a moment, Darion suddenly stretched his hand out toward her.

Seren looked down at it in confusion.

Then back at him.

Darion smiled faintly.

”Guess that makes you officially part of Percvale now.”

Seren stared at his hand for another second before slowly reaching forward and taking it.

Her grip was smaller than he expected.

Then, unexpectedly, she smiled too.