Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 315: Garm

As I stared at my new undead his tail started wagging and Nyx petted his head. What was I watching here? And why had I fallen for Nyx shenanigans again? How did she make them all meow anyway?

"He is such a good boy!" Helena said, while starting to pet the orthos.

The orthos' tail started wagging harder. "Of course." It replied, sounding proud.

I stepped closer to my newest undead and touched his fur. It was still soft, despite the changes it had gone through.

"He needs a name!" Cassie announced.

As usual, I had been so focused on creating a new undead that I had forgotten to come up with a name.

"What sort of name would you like?" Hatsumi asked.

"Hm…" The orthos pondered the question.

"Meow." Nyx suggested.

I shook my head. "Meow is not a name!" Of course, Nyx might have actually tried to suggest a reasonable name and I simply failed to understand it. However, Nyx being Nyx, it was likely a prank.

"He is an impressive beast, he should have an impressive name." Helena said.

"Devourer of Souls!" Skadi said.

"How about something simple and short?" Hatsumi suggested with a pained smile.

"Can you eat souls? What do souls taste like?" The orthos asked.

"I do not think you can eat souls, no." I clarified.

"Hey, why can you talk and the cats can't?" Helena wondered.

"But the cats can talk." The orthos replied.

"Really? What do they say?" I asked.

"Meow."

I sighed. Why did I get my hopes up? Speaking of the cats, all of them were now on the orthos' back enjoying his fluffiness. The new undead did not seem to mind.

"How about Ripper?" Cassie suggested.

"Ripper? It does sound a bit mean." The left head mused. "I suppose I would rip enemies apart." The right head added. "But I do consider myself a bit more civilised." The left head finished.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"What do you know about this world?" Kaito asked, suddenly.

"Oh, I know that I am an undead and you are my pack. I know all of your names." The left head answered, then frowned. "I do not know much about where we are." Both heads looked around.

"We are at the Royal Military Academy. We are learning magic here, it's a great place." I told him.

"Oh? I think I would enjoy learning magic." The orthos said.

I looked at him, then at the lazy cats on his back. I was not sure what I had expected from a two-headed wolf. Kaito and Hatsumi seemed well educated, interested and rather willing to learn. I had expected the wolf to be more like the cats.

"You don't want to rip your enemies apart and devour them?" Cassie asked.

"I have no problem with ripping enemies apart, however I feel no specific desire to do so, unless they threaten the pack." The left head said. "No one threatens the pack.

" The right head added, in a deeper, more menacing voice."Oh, that sounded cool." Helena said.

Kaito nodded. "You are a defender with strong protective instincts. Perhaps we can find a strong, honourable name for you."

"I think I would be fine with any normal name." The left head said. "What is a normal name?" The right head wondered.

"Garm." Hatsumi suggested.

"Garm?" The left head wondered. "Garm." The right head acknowledged.

"Welcome to the team, Garm!" I said, while hugging my new fluffy friend. He was quite big so I simply hugged the left head.

"We should inform Gronir of our success and ensure that the teachers are aware of your newest undead." Kaito said.

While I had told Gronir about my plans to raise the orthos, informing him of our success was probably a good idea.

We cleaned the lab first, then we made our way to Gronir's office. Garm was quite big but he still fit through doors, thankfully. His body was the size of a horse but his necks were shorter, so he did not need to worry about hitting his head. However he would take quite a bit of space on the floor, if he slept in our room.

My musings were interrupted as we arrived at Gronir's office. He did not look very surprised, for once.

"Sir, my newest tier three undead, Garm." I introduced the orthos.

Gronir stood up from his chair and inspected the undead with his magic.

"Impressive, as usual." He said.

"Thank you." Garm replied.

Gronir chuckled. "So, you are a draugr? Do you have any special powers that you are aware of?"

Garm pondered that. "Mostly I feel like ice." The left head replied. "And death." The right head added.

"Breath attacks?" Gronir asked.

Both heads nodded.

"What about enhancements and defences?" Gronir inquired.

The orthos' body was slowly covered in a thin sheet of ice while his claws glowed faintly. "I can enhance and protect my body with magic. But I do wonder what more is possible. My mistress…"

"Call me Koyuki, please." I interrupted.

"...Koyuki told me this is an academy. I wish to enroll and learn magic."

"Oh?" Gronir sounded surprised. "This is great news! You cannot enroll like a normal student but as Koyuki's undead you can visit her classes. And perhaps you can even sit in on some other ones."

"I would like that." Garm replied.

Gronir turned towards me again. "Koyuki, you know the rules by now. You are responsible for his actions. I will inform the city guard and the adventurers guild about his presence, hopefully it will prevent misunderstandings. His ability to talk should help but a collar might be a nice touch. Tamers often use them for their companions."

My immediate thought went towards slave collars and I frowned. It was not like all collars were bad but I saw them as a sign of ownership.

"A collar could look good." The left head mused. "I think I would need two collars, though." The right head added.

"If you are sure…" I said, looking at Garm.

"I think they can be quite fashionable." The left head said. "Perhaps even a tie? Do you think I would look good with a tie?" The right head wondered.

"We can go shopping next Solday." Hatsumi suggested.

"Sounds like fun!" Garm agreed.

Gronir watched our conversation with amusement, then he addressed me again: "Koyuki, do you feel any strain with all those tier three?"

The question surprised me and I took a moment to check my links. "I am a bit tired from the raising but otherwise I feel good. I do notice that some of my mana is being used but I have quite a bit left. I suspect the bigger problem would be raising more because the initial cost is rather high, the upkeep is manageable afterwards."

"No mental strain?" Gronir asked, while stroking his beard.

"Not really." I replied.

Gronir nodded. "I think your core has grown enough for a grand mage. You just need to work more on your magical knowledge and you really should slow down with the tier threes. However, I can understand why you raised this one. No necromancer would have willingly given up on such a powerful corpse, which is why I did not object."

"Yes, sir!" I assured him, then we left. It was time to show Garm his new home.