By the time that the brilliant light of the moon hit the royal palace’s steeple that night, the Dragonaut estate was still in the throes of merriment. The duke’s daughter Claudia, who’d suffered from her curse for so long, had been miraculously cured and made a shockingly quick recovery. It went without saying that the duke, his eldest daughter, and his attendants were all beside themselves with joy. They were still a little worried about Claudia’s savior, who’d collapsed shortly after performing the miracle, but the estate’s physicians and the elf sage Lunamaria had both assured them that he was just fatigued from the procedure and would recover with enough rest. Upon hearing that, the duke, Astrid, and Claudia had all been extremely relieved.
Afterward, there was a modest banquet. However, it was only a banquet in the sense that the dinner menu was a little more extravagant than normal. No alcohol was served out of consideration for the resting Sora, but it was nonetheless clear from the scale of the festivities just how beloved Claudia was by everyone on the estate.
Her father and older sister were, of course, the most thrilled of all. Over the past year, their anxiety regarding the curse plaguing Claudia had eaten away at their minds and bodies, so for those two, today was literally a dream come true. And the attendants and knights in the duke’s service all felt much the same way. Though the banquet itself was humble, their joy and elation was so abundant that the party lasted well into the night. If the day had ended like that, without incident, then it certainly would have been immortalized as an auspicious date in the Dragonauts’ history.
However, that same night, calamity befell the royal capital.
“Excuse me for interrupting, but we have an emergency!”
The moment Astrid heard that voice, she snapped back into her knight persona. It was already in the wee hours of the morning, and Claudia had retired to her room. Astrid had just been starting to think about heading to bed herself, but when she saw the soldier’s expression, she immediately abandoned the idea of sleep entirely. Judging from his face and the panic in his voice, one would think he’d just been ambushed.
“What happened?” she asked, staying calm as she rose from her chair. He was one of the soldiers who had unfortunately been tasked with guarding the gate for the night and had thus been unable to join in the merriment. She knew that because she’d personally gone and delivered food to those soldiers earlier that night. The man, whose cheeks had flushed pink as he’d graciously accepted the food, now looked grave. His face was deathly pale, resembling a corpse.
“We’re under attack! Undead monsters are rising up from the public cemetery and going on a rampage, attacking the residences in the capital! And they’re heading this way! It won’t be long before they’re here!”
“Undead monsters?” Astrid repeated, frowning. She’d already guessed his report would be something serious, but she hadn’t expected this. In Horus and any other town in the kingdom large enough to have a public cemetery, temples always deployed barriers around the grave site to prevent necromancers from causing turmoil. The Temple of Law and Order had used over a hundred of their most devout priests to create these barriers over every kingdom cemetery.
For someone to break them, they’d need over a hundred necromancers, Astrid thought, just as another voice spoke up from beside her.
“What was that? Undead sighted in the capital?”
It was Pascal, her father. Just a short while ago, he’d had tears in his eyes from happiness, but he now wore the visage of an experienced knight commander.
“Yes, sir! An old man who came running here from the cemetery told me, plus I saw them with my own eyes! A great number of them are already swarming the main road!”
“How many, exactly?”
“Definitely not just a hundred or two hundred. By my guess, there are probably over a thousand! And if they’re not just on the road but all over the capital, we could be dealing with many more than that!”
“Thank you for your report. Return to your station immediately and tell the others to defend the gate. We’ll be there shortly to back you up.”
“Understood, sir!” The soldier ran back to the gate.
By now, everyone else on the estate had put the festive mood on hold and was awaiting the duke’s orders. Thinking his first priority ought to be to check the situation outside, the duke left the mansion, accompanied by his attendants and daughter. The moment he stepped outside, he realized the situation was even graver than he’d thought. His skin prickled. There was a strong chill in the air, as well as a rotten smell. Even though it was supposed to be summer, a cold wave was coming up from the ground as though the season had reverted to winter.
Astrid scowled. “Father, that’s—”
“Yes. Magic that generates a penetrating cold, almost like a miasma. And this rotten smell... No doubt about it. Our enemy’s a necromancer.” He looked grim. They were bastards who toyed around with the deceased, and for one’s presence to be this strong, it couldn’t be just any necromancer. It was precisely because the duke was certain of this that he looked so worried.
At that moment, a voice called out to the two of them, coming from the direction of the mansion. “Father, sister!”
“Clau?!” Astrid cried, sounding shocked. Indeed, Claudia was in front of the mansion’s entrance when she should have been in her room resting.
Why did she come out here? was Astrid’s first thought, but then she shook her head. Knowing Claudia’s personality, the answer was obvious.
“Clau, you need to stay in—”
“Don’t you dare tell me I need to go back to my room! Father’s got to head to the royal palace from here, and you’ve got to leave too so you can protect the town with the other knights! That means it’s my job to defend our home!” She must have heard about the situation from one of the maids inside, because she already knew what was going on. And looking closer, Astrid saw that she even had her sword at her hip.
What was more, Claudia was right. The duke had a duty to help defend the royal family, and Astrid had her duty as vice captain of the dragon knights. She and her father exchanged glances. They must have reached the same conclusion, because they both sighed in unison.