Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 338: Date

The next Solday I was excited and slightly nervous. Not that there was any reason to be nervous, I was simply spending a lovely day with my girlfriend. The sky was cloudy and snow was falling but it made the streets rather pretty.

I wore a heavy coat over my uniform and briefly debated bringing an arming sword. It was not uncommon for adventurers, officers, soldiers or nobles to be armed but my main weapon was magic anyway. Perhaps I would simply bring a dagger. Our main defence were my undead.

"Hatsumi and myself shall be close, in case you need anything. Nyx and Yoru will patrol the area and Garm will be there to offer rapid transport if needed. We will also have Frank and Bob with us." Kaito stated.

Garm was certainly big enough to ride but we did not have a saddle for him. However, his fur was rather comfy and you could hold on to it. Still, a saddle was something to look into in the future.

"Would you like to use the carriage, or do you prefer to walk, my ladies?" Kaito asked as we finished dressing.

"Let's take the carriage to the city centre, we can walk around there." Helena suggested.

"Actually, I thought we could go to a lovely cafe near the river. It's in the merchant district." I proposed.

"Sure." Helena agreed.

"Very good, the carriage will be ready shortly." Kaito said and bowed.

I was mildly irritated by his formal behaviour but I guess he was my butler. As an undead he did not care about the cold so he wore his usual suit. Hatsumi was in her short-sleeved maid uniform, showing off some of the runes on her arms.

We arrived at our destination mid-morning and took and found a lovely spot inside the cafe. It had big glass windows allowing us to watch the river. The Jinso did not freeze completely but you could see some ice forming near the shore.

"Have you ever gone ice skating?" Helena asked, while looking at the river.

"No, there were no frozen lakes in the south." I replied.

"We should do it during the break! It can be quite fun." Helena said.

"We could even create the skates with our magic." I mused.

Helena nodded. "That is possible but you want to make sure that you are not using an ongoing spell. If you are skating for the first time you don't want to split your concentration between maintaining skates and not falling on your face."

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"It should be easy to just cast it once with a fixed amount of mana. You just have to use enough that it can endure the constant pressure." I mused. "Are you good at skating?"

"I am alright, I guess. I can't do any fancy tricks but I can do a twirl. You know, you can even dance on the ice." Helena said.

"I am willing to dance anywhere with you. And I have a fluffy tail to help break the fall if I trip!" I replied.

Helena giggled. "I guess I will have to make sure that I am landing on top then."

Our conversation was briefly interrupted as the waitress brought our food. We were already enjoying some coffee but we had decided to get something sweet as well. I had ordered a dish that was like a fluffy torn pancake roasted in butter and served with a plum compote. Helena enjoyed a chocolate cheesecake. We shared some of our desserts and decided that both were great.

As we sat inside the cafe it stopped snowing and a bit of sun shone through the clouds. It made the white streets even prettier. Once we finished our meals we left and went for a walk along the river.

The merchants district was close to the docks but it was a lot nicer. A cobblestone road was next to the river bank with some trees planted on either side of it. Of course, there were no leaves in winter but it meant that nothing obstructed the view either. I held Helena's hand as we walked in comfortable silence.

I saw a few other people walking around but it was rather quiet. The cold weather kept many inside and a lot of people did not work on Solday, so they had no reason to be outside. One man was walking his dog and coming towards us. The dog was medium-sized, had hanging ears and his brown fur seemed rather fluffy. His tail was wagging as he was sniffing the side of the road. Then he stopped at a small pile of snow. Suddenly he jumped back as a skeletal paw hit his nose.

The man looked alarmed while his dog looked curious. The dog approached the snow again with the same result. He was now excitedly trying to play with whatever was hiding inside the snow.

"Come here, Fido!" The man shouted as his dog kept playing with the pile of snow. Fido seemed torn between fun and obeying the command as two purple orbs started glowing underneath the snow.

I let go of Helena's hand and hurried forward. "It's ok! The skeleton is harmless."

Ok, maybe Nyx was not harmless in general but she was just having fun right now.

"Meow." The pile of snow agreed.

"Harmless? A skeleton?" The man asked.

"We are from the academy. Nyx is my undead, she is intelligent and just playing." I clarified.

A skeletal head popped out from the snow.

"I see…" The man said, sounding unconvinced. Then his eyes widened as he looked behind us. I turned around and saw Hatsumi and Kaito approaching. They had walked a certain distance behind us to give us privacy. Garm was following them and the three undead looked rather impressive.

"Um, they are my undead as well." I clarified.

Fido spotted Garm and abandoned Nyx to sniff the undead orthos.

"Greetings, fellow canine." Garm said.

"It talks…" The man muttered. "Ahem, nice meeting you but I should get going. Come, Fido!" He shouted and hurried away from us. The dog reluctantly followed his master.

"What a shame." Garm left head said, as he watched them go. "People seem to be intimidated by us." Garm's right head added.

Helena looked at my undead. "Well, Kaito has a floating head illuminated by the frostfire coming from his neck. The butler uniform helps in some ways but it gives him a bit of a sinister feeling too with the black. Hatsumi is clearly not dressed for the weather, her eyes are special and the runes make it clear she is no normal maid. And a large two headed wolf is seen as dangerous by most."

Garm's heads looked at each other's necks. "Clearly the bowties show that I am a creature of culture."

"I think they make it clear that you are not a wild animal but even a tamed orthos would be considered scary by most." Helena stated. "Honestly, Yoru is the only one who looks truly harmless. While Nyx is small and cute she is a skeleton and necromancy does not have the best reputation."

"Where is Yoru anyway?" I wondered.

"Scouting." Kaito replied.

While we were talking Hatsumi grabbed a stick from the ground, then she waved the stick in front of the pile of snow. Skeletal paws appeared trying to catch the stick. It made me smile.

Soon we continued our walk until we decided we had enough fresh air. Around midday we visited a nice restaurant and then we returned to the academy. We spent the remaining afternoon practicing a bit of magic together. It had been a lovely day.