Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 342: At the Docks

Cassie finished her shopping and we left towards the docks with our carriage. The Jinso saw quite a bit of traffic, since it was a large river and ran from Neth all the way to the ocean. But it was still only a river and I did wonder how large an ocean port would be.

The docks were mostly a working area. Cargo came in and cargo went out, leading to an abundance of warehouses. There were also places for carriages as goods were transferred from wagons to ships, or the other way around.

"I still remember when we were ambushed at the docks. It was also the first time we had contact with the Brotherhood." Helena mused. "Do you think this is a coincidence? Could the Bartles Trading House be connected to them?"

"It would be rather dumb to contact us near their own warehouse." Skadi pointed out.

"So you are saying it would be in line with their behaviour so far." Cassie added.

"You may have a point." Skadi admitted.

"Not every necromancer is a part of this cult." I reminded them, while looking out of the window of our carriage. Then I spotted a skeleton. "Look, undead!"

The skeleton was carrying a wooden box from a barge and loading it onto a cart. As I kept watching I could see more skeletons doing the same. There were two humans on board watching the process.

"They look pretty ordinary." Helena commented.

I nodded. "Yeah, but they could be modified somehow. You would not be able to see if they had an affinity. Not that they need one to carry boxes. Now I do wonder how you would improve a skeleton for manual labour? Maybe you could strengthen them with earth? Hm. But they use boats, could you get something out of a water affinity?"

"For a boat you would want wind for your sails but that requires them to do magic. Could you make a tier two skeleton that casts a wind spell to help a boat?" Skadi asked.

"Sure, but its mana capacity would be limited and it would recharge slowly over your link. A tier three with their own core would be better. Alternatively you could let the skeleton devour something or try to actively push mana into it, but that would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place. If you do the work you don't need a minion." I stated.

"So what could water do? Push it forward with a wave?" Cassie asked.

"I guess. But active spells have the same mana problem. A water affinity skeleton would have an easier time fighting underwater. Actually… How deep is the Jinso?" I wondered.

"No idea, why?" Helena asked.

"You could use skeletons to pull a boat! They don't need to breathe and can walk on the riverbed. They don't even need any affinity for that, although water might help them move a bit faster." I mused.

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"Interesting idea." Helena said.

"It would probably be too slow. I don't think skeletons can walk that fast underwater." Cassie said.

"Yeah, a big undead fish would be better. You could pull a boat like a carriage." Helena said. "Actually, if that works you could start a shipping company. You would just need to get the corpses of large fish monsters."

"Why isn't anyone doing that?" I wondered.

"Probably cost and redundancy. If you have a sail it works when there is natural wind, or you can hire a mage to create wind. If you hire a necromancer you are dependent on their minions. If something happens to the necromancer you are stranded. If you build a large sail anyway then you can just hire an air mage. They are more common than necromancers as well." Skadi reasoned.

"You would need a tier three undead captain with direct control of their tier two undead crew." Helena suggested.

"But a necromancer would not want their entire force to be too far away from them. So this only works if you are on the boat, or if you have enough mana for multiple tier threes." Cassie reasoned.

"So you need a Koyuki." Helena concluded.

"I admit that I would be curious about sailing one day. But for now I have neither the money nor the need for a ship." I said.

We parked at the docks and got out of the carriage. We did not have a clear goal other than to satisfy my curiosity, so we started with a walk. We could see a few more skeletons around one warehouse. It seemed that skeletons were the only undead they employed, or the only ones I could see. Zombies did have a bad reputation I guess, I did not like them myself at first. But despite the looks of some of them they were not actually rotting, if properly animated. They had undead flesh, sure, but if you zombie kept decomposing you did something wrong. Their undead flesh could even regenerate if damaged.

Maybe a lot of the tier one and natural zombies gave them a bad reputation. It was easier to polish some bones and animate a shiny skeleton. We were standing near a warehouse and observing them when a young man in a black uniform approached us. I almost thought he was from the academy at a distance but as he came closer I could see that it lacked the wolf on the sleeve. Also the buttons were different. But the most curious thing was the skeletal cat on his head.

"Hello, ladies!" The man said. "Did you come to watch the future of manual labour? Undeath is the solution, the way forward!"

"I believe my Mistress is quite aware of the power of undeath." Kaito stated.

"Huh. A goblin dullahan butler? I admit you do have some taste." The man said.

"Why do you have a skeletal cat on your head?" Helena asked.

"It is a new style, haven't you heard about it? You are from the academy, surely you have seen it." The man said.

"Do undead cats count as headwear?" Garm asked.

My cats had been chilling on Garm's back, enjoying his fluffy fur. The conversation got Nyx's attention and she jumped on Garm's left head.

"Meow."

Yoru jumped on Garm's right head and used his magic to form an ice top hat.

"What's with all the animals? And you skeletal cat should be on your head." The man pointed out.

"They are all undead, as am I." Hatsumi stated.

He leered at Hatsumi. "Yeah, right."

"Wait, you are a necromancer and you can't even spot a vampire right in front of you?" Helena asked.

"Girl, do you even know how hard it is to create a vampire? Who do you think you are, Koyuki?"

I stared at him with an open mouth while Cassie giggled.

"That is Koyuki, yes." Helena confirmed, and pointed at me.

"Yeah, right. Look, I get it. Vampire, dullahan, cats,... You are a fan of Koyuki and saw her at the academy. The leader of our group, Felix Wren, is from the academy as well. He has talked to her multiple times and keeps us up to date. He is a fourth year and you can talk to him if you want to join. We are trying to promote necromancy and show people that is the best form of magic! Soon we will have the respect we deserve, and the pay to go with it!"

"I am not interested…" I said, and turned around.

"Felix can introduce you to Koyuki properly!" The man shouted as we left.

"Who is Felix?" Helena asked.

"A weirdo who invited me to join his group, or club, or whatever, last year. I haven't talked to him since. Is he even still at the academy?" I wondered.

"That guy seemed to be really incompetent. How little does he know about necromancy?" Cassie wondered.

I sighed. "I am afraid we won't find any innovation or interesting undead here. Just a few skeletons carrying boxes. Skeletons that have been polished to look good and not for any real purpose."

Helena patted me on the back. "You might not have found interesting undead but you seem to have a fan!"

I sighed, again.