Chương 33: This really is very soft

"Wipe that look off your face! It's never going to be that." Barked Mia.

She sat back down to calm herself and pointed to the book with her slim fingers.

"This is something we need to discuss in private. This book is the necromancer's journal, in it, he describes everything he had experienced since the fall of the kingdom, two years ago." She pushed out a thicker black book with runes on the cover and said in a lower voice. "This is a book teaching the necromancer art, in it are described all the rituals needed to make a pact with Nethys, to improve one's power and how to revive and bind the dead."

Chris still had that disappointed look on his face.

"Please concentrate my Lord. This is important." Said Mia as she showed the quality of her character by staying calm.

"R-right, I'm listening." As he said that he got out of bed still wearing his glorious full body onesie[1] and sat at the table.

Mia started recounting what was written in the journal. "The necromancer used to be a royal mage, just as Berg guessed. He was in the capital when it fell. When the battle was lost, he planned on taking his family and flee together. But before that, he succumbed to greed and made a stop by the royal treasury. He looted as many precious things as he could, he justified it by saying it was more useful in his hands than in the Kunalls. But when he finally reached his home, it was too late, and they were all dead.

He almost went crazy but still managed to flee the capital. After a few days, he ended up in this valley. That's when he took inventory of what he stole from the treasury. To his surprise, he found the belongings of a necromancer that was defeated centuries ago by our armies." Mia pointed to the other book and to the grey crystal on the magic staff. "His hope of reviving his family and hate of the Kunalls was all he needed to walk on the path of necromancy."

Mia opened the necromancy book to a page she bookmarked and showed it to Chris "What we witnessed in the cave was one of the rituals necromancers use to power up. The necromancers can only do three of such rituals in their lifetime. So each is very important. The necromancer will first summon a river of blood. This is the trial area. Once inside he can use his pact with Nethys to summon as many undead as he wishes. The number is very important as it will outline his limits in summoning... until his next trial. If he summons too little, it is a wasted opportunity, and if he summons too many, he might succumb to their numbers.

After that, the skeletons will enter the circle one by one until they are all defeated or the necromancer is dead."

Chris was dumbfounded: "But there were hundreds of skeletons in the cave... Not to mention that huge pile of bones!"

Mia sighed "That's right, he completely overestimated his capabilities. The skeletons we fought in the cave were those he did not manage to defeat. It seems the legends were correct, most necromancers succumb to their greed."

Chris agreed. Those trials could be considered traps set by Nethys. Particularly if the necromancer was too arrogant or too greedy...

But Chris still did not understand why Mia was telling him all this, it was interesting of course... But it could wait for tomorrow.

Mia hesitated and then said "This book contains all the steps needed to become a necromancer, all the rituals and spells. What we do with it must be decided before the details are made public."

Seeing her worried face Chris finally understood. [She wants to know what I plan to do with that book.]

"Hahaha." Chris laughed. "Is that why you came when I am all alone? And I finally thought you fell for me..."

"My Lord-" She wanted to remind him that this was a very serious topic.

"What, you think I will be greedy for the powers inside that little book?" Said Chris with an amused expression. Sure he was interested, after all this was a book about magic! But was he interested in turning into a necromancer? Heck no.

"We are currently in a bad spot, but don't forget what I promised you the second time we met. I have a lot of much better things in store."

"Undead, Kunall,s or even dragons will not matter!"

Mia was relieved. "Look at you boasting. If I didn't know how shameless you were I'd almost be impressed right now."

"Hehe." Chris brushed his nose with his finger, a little embarrassed.

"It's true that an army of undead would help us out tremendously in the short term. But have you ever heard of a Faustian bargain?" Asked Chris.

Mia's look told him she was not familiar with it. This was no surprise to him as Faust, the originator of the tale was from his world.

"It is a legend from my world. Faust was dissatisfied with his life which led him to summon the Devil. He struck a deal with him in which he exchanged his soul for everything else he wanted: pleasure and knowledge.

A Faustian bargain is a deal where you essentially exchange your integrity to achieve a short-term goal."

"Losing our useless Goddess' protection, switching over to Nethys who seems to want the end of his followers, becoming the targets of all the other races, losing your respect... Is it really worth it? That's a deal that doesn't interest me."

The discussion was over, but Chris wanted to keep chatting as he didn't want her to leave. The mood was getting quite good after all. Just then his eyes fell on his brand-new pillow.

"Oh right! Did you hear about my latest product? The feather pillow, it's so soft, it feels just like a cloud! Want to try it out?" He said with a huge grin. He knew she would refuse, after all, he was inviting her to lie on his bed.

But to his surprise, she walked to the bed and touched the pillow. "You are right, this is incredibly soft. I'll take you up on your offer."

Just as he thought he had misheard her, she took the pillow and started leaving. "Then I'll borrow it. Thank you, my Lord. Good night."

"W-wait, I didn't mean-" Chris was panicking. [Nooo! Not my pillow!]

But just then as she was about to exit, she turned toward Chris and said with a mischievous smile: "My Lord. Today you were not that lame."

Chris was stunned by her smile, when he finally reacted she had already left, he hurried out of his tent and shouted "And you are cute! So damn cuuute!"

Mia was entering her tent when she heard his shouts. [Huhu... Little fool]

She had a little smile on her face and felt lighter now. She was no longer worried about Chris' answer. As she lay down on her bed, she looked at the fire in front of her tent. It was burning intensely. If one looked close enough, they would see two books fueling the fire. Reassured she finally went to sleep.

[Hm, this really is very soft.]