Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 294: Setting Up

"She is a spellblade!" Helena said.

Derrick shook his head. "Undead can't be spellblades."

"And yet here I am." Hatsumi stated.

Derrick stared at her arms.

"Hehehehe." Helena laughed.

"Is this a prank?" He asked.

"No. Koyuki simply discovered the fundamental truth about undead and put it to good use." Kaito replied.

"You can come to our presentation! Or visit the booth tomorrow, if you want. It was a group effort. Gronir, my necromancy teacher, and Mary, our inscriber, will arrive later today. Cassie and Skadi are here as well." I said.

Derrick rubbed his forehead. "I am not sure what to make of this. I think I need a drink."

"Do not worry, young Frost, the situation is well in hand. I am sure you will realise that our position is far stronger than you thought. Just wait until this conference starts." Kaito said with a reassuring smile.

"You do look quite sinister with all those flames coming from your neck. The fact that you are a goblin is not helping." Derrick commented.

"Wait till you see him in a fight!" Helena said.

"I do hope I will never need to see that. Fighting is your thing, Sis." Derrick replied. "Anyway, I have a lot to think about. I will drop by your booth tomorrow."

After Derrick left we continued to set up our tent. I noticed a few stares and people pointing at us while we worked. A few tried to approach us but Kaito turned them away, politely. He pointed out that the conference would start tomorrow and they could ask questions at our booth, or wait for our presentation.

"I don't think storing anything at the convention will be safe for us." Hatsumi mused, looking at the crowd. "It's best if we keep everything at the hotel. We might even have to check our booth tomorrow for illusions."

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"I expected a commotion tomorrow, not while we set things up." I muttered.

Just as we were ready to leave I saw a new group arriving. Gronir and Mary were accompanied by four skeletons carrying boxes.

"Gronir is here!" I stated the obvious, then I waved at him.

He spotted us, gave us a nod and walked toward our group.

"Koyuki, it's nice to see you and your group. It seems you have already set up your stall." Gronir said.

"Yes sir!" I replied.

Gronir chuckled. "I don't think we require a 'sir' here."

"Hatsumi, how are you doing, my dear? How are the runes?" I heard Mary ask. She had immediately approached the vampire. I tuned out their conversation and focused on Gronir.

"We borrowed a tent. Should I have prepared something more? I am not sure…" I said.

Gronir shook his head. "We are going to set up right next to you. People will want to see Hatsumi, then question Mary. Just keep telling people about the possibility of modifying undead but don't go too much into the specifics. We tease them tomorrow so they all want to see our presentation on Venday. Then we will get mobbed on Friday and tell everyone they can find details in the book we are going to release."

"We will release a book?" That was the first time I had heard about that.

Gronir nodded. "Not about the details for creating a spellblade, obviously. The crown would like to keep that murky, as you know. But I think we should go into more detail about our discovery and include a few spells that can be modified for undead. I think we can include some other things about vampires and dullahan. Your discoveries and my research will easily fill a book. It will take a few months to write that but we can advertise it here."

I suppose it would allow us to make some profits while also sharing our discovery. The idea sounded interesting.

"Oh, how was your trip? Any ambushes?" Gronir asked, suddenly.

"There were a few goblins attacking our inn. I am not sure if they were there for us." I replied.

"You know, I heard something interesting today when we docked at Neth, apparently a carriage has been attacked. A necromancer had rented it to travel to the conference. If you had not bought your own transportation you might have been in a similar carriage." Gronir stated.

"You think somebody was incompetent enough to ambush the wrong carriage?" I wondered.

Gronir shrugged. "Messages take time to travel. Your transportation had already been planned when you cancelled it in favour of your own carriage. If someone had hired someone to take out a travelling necromancer…"

"Did they capture the attackers?" I asked.

"No. The necromancer is dead, as is the driver. Their bodies were found by another traveller. There is no guarantee that this is related to you but keep your guard up. It might also be an attack on necromancy in general." Gronir replied.

"Killed?" I asked, feeling shocked. "Illestria?"

"Perhaps. Necromancy has its enemies." Gronir said. "Make sure to keep an eye on your things and keep your undead close."

I nodded, then I told Gronir about Christa and my plans to free her. He looked thoughtful.

"I can understand your motivation, just make sure it does not become a weakness. Rossalyn has more students and someone could try to go after some of them and use them against you. Consider how you frame it." He advised me.

Sadly he had a point. It would not stop me from helping Christa though. I looked at Kaito, who was still keeping nosy necromancers at bay. They were also interested in him, which probably helped to keep them away from me. My undead seemed to have a good grasp of politics, hopefully they would help me to find a solution.