Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 357: Meeting the Caravan

On the day of our trip I got up early. The sun had barely risen when we loaded our carriage and prepared to leave. Kaito had selected two hobgoblins and 8 goblins to join our force. He led them on foot to the meeting point with the caravan, since we did not have our wagon yet. That left Rose as our driver to the meeting point.

The caravan was meeting near the docks, most likely because the area could accommodate a lot of wagons. We arrived at a dirt square in between two large warehouses and I could see Kaito and my zombie goblins. They were facing a group of mercenaries.

"This looks like trouble. Maybe I should have sent a more normal looking undead to accompany Kaito." I muttered. In hindsight, a goblin dullahan with a bunch of zombie goblins looked like a threat.

Skadi shrugged. "I told them about your undead."

As we came closer I studied the scene. There were six mercenaries facing Kaito. They wore a mix of chainmail and leather, with no coherent style. Two of them had a spear and a shield, with an arming sword at their belt. One was holding a large axe, another one had a mace and the last two carried longswords.

Behind the mercenaries I could see ten wagons and a number of people standing near them. One hurried towards the confrontation. He was a middle aged man with some muscle but he looked like he enjoyed his food as well. His face was clean shaven and his black hair was kept short. He wore a leather armour which looked to be of decent quality and had an arming sword at his belt.

As our carriage stopped I got out and hurried towards my undead.

"There is no reason for any violence, they are a part of our escort! Look, the master of those undead has arrived!" The man who had just joined the group pointed at me.

"Greetings! What is the problem?" I asked.

"The problem? A bunch of armed monsters." The man with the axe said and spit on the ground.

"They are armed monsters under the control of a mage! But first, introductions: I am Egon Saltin and you must be the necromancer Koyuki." The man said.

"Greetings. I am Koyuki and this dullahan is Kaito, one of my undead. I also have Hatsumi and Rose, both are vampires. Then we have Garm, an undead orthos and a few undead cats. Nyx, Ivy, Yoru and Kasai. My other undead are only tier two. As for the living, over there we have Helena, Cassie and Skadi." I pointed at them, as they walked towards us.

"Greetings." Kaito tipped his head.

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"Two vampires? You gotta be shitting me." The man with the axe said.

"You have been made aware of those circumstances, have you not?" Kaito inquired.

Egon grimaced. "I have told them that we would get an undead escort. My apologies, our caravan was ambushed not too far from Lupos. The soldiers are busy combing the area to stop the spread of vampiric nightshades and it leaves gaps in the patrols. Sadly some bandits exploit that. I lost my usual commander and his second…"

"Good men…" Axe guy muttered.

"Good men indeed, may they rest in peace." Egon said. "I have lost five in total and two were wounded and are unable to fight. With the roads being more dangerous these days I needed more guards quickly."

"Our group is quite strong. Normal bandits won't stand a chance." I told him.

"You are a student." Axe guy said.

"I am a senior mage and student at the Royal Military Academy. I control numerous tier three undead and even brought some tier two as well." I stated, then I studied the guy with the axe some more. He seemed uneasy.

"It's ok, Josh." the man with the mace said and laid his hand on the axe guy's shoulder.

"Nothing is ok!" Josh said. "Our men are dead and now we are supposed to fight besides monsters! What if they kill us in our sleep? How did she get so many undead anyway? Look at that woman!" He pointed at Rose. "She was a person!"

"She still is." I replied.

"She is an abomination!" Josh insisted.

"That is enough!" Egon said.

"Is it? Yes, it is. I quit." Josh walked away.

"We are still with you, boss." The man with the mace stated.

"Good. Jasper, take charge and make sure we are ready." Egon said.

The man with the mace nodded and led the other guards away.

Egon sighed. "Apologies. Losing people is never easy, losing your chain of command is even worse."

"What happened?" Skadi said, as she arrived with my other friends.

"One of the mercenaries had a breakdown and quit his job. He seemed dissatisfied with the presence of undead." Kaito stated.

"That is one way to put it." Egon muttered. "Anyway, hello Skadi, I am looking forward to working with your group. As part of our deal you get a wagon, it is right over there."

Skadi frowned. "It does not have a horse."

"We agreed on a wagon, not an animal to draw it." Egon stated.

"So you want us to pay for a horse?" Skadi inquired.

"Actually, we don't have one. The animal was wounded in the fight and is in no condition to travel any further." Egon said.

Skadi crossed her arms. "You showed me the wagon with a horse. We will not accept this unless you either provide a horse, or provide us with further payment."

"I do not have any horse and your payment is already quite generous…" Egon tried.

"Well, I guess we will just leave then." Skadi stated.

The man looked at me. I shrugged. "She is our negotiator."

"Now, please do not be hasty. I am sure we can discuss this during our trip."

"No." Skadi replied.

"I might be able to pay a little bit…" Egon suggested.

Skadi nodded. "I will handle this, you can claim our wagon and get ready to leave."

"How are we going to draw the wagon?" Helena asked.

"We have Coffee, or Derrick's gift." I mused. "Technically Garm could draw something but I am unsure if he would want to."

"Technically Nyx could too, if she grows to her full size." Cassie pointed out.

"I do not think there are enough treats in this world to make her do that." I muttered.