11 - Chapter 11

Today the Mountains of No Return were darker than usual. It seemed that there was a layer of cold shadow covering the whole forest. The birds were silent, and the wild animals were careful not to make any noise in their nests.

A slender shadow sneaked among the dense forest, getting closer and closer to the distant tower. Not only did the shadow walk silently, but also cleverly avoided the magical detection stones on the grass and tree trunks. When it was about to enter a circular forest clearing, the shadow stopped. This place was like a fire barrier. From here, the magic detection stones were hidden under the open space and on every tree across it, the number of arrangements suddenly increased, and the density of detection was like a fine net. Ordinary humans and animals could walk freely, but weird creatures or people carrying magic items on their bodies would definitely trigger the alarm, unless their visit had been approved by the owner of the tower.

The shadow sighed and took off her black hood, revealing her short silvery hair. Although her hair was as white as snow, the face under the hood was not old, it was even a bit childish –she looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, with fair skin, delicate features, and her thin figure seemed like it was going to blend with the dim shadows of the trees at any time.

The owner of the tower should have not noticed her yet. Even if the person observed the magic fluctuations nearby, he would not notice her at the moment. There were traces of spellcasting everywhere in the forest, and her behavior was completely covered up. In the outer forest, she cleverly avoided all the detection stones, but if she wanted to go through the clearing and go deeper, she would definitely trigger an alarm. She couldn’t go any further.

“What are you doing?”

Suddenly hearing this sentence, the girl was startled. She fell on a dead branch and the sound started a few chickadees not far away.

“Master!” After seeing the visitor, the girl immediately adjusted her posture and knelt on one knee.

In the shadow of the trees behind her stood the Skeleton King. He changed his human form to the skeleton one, covered in black scales, with black horns bent over his head, red flames in his eye sockets flickering slowly, and black mist coiled around him like a shield…The only thing that was somewhat inconsistent was that changing his form didn’t change his clothes. In this shape, he was taller and stronger than in his human form, so now his ankles and wrists were exposed, his new clothes were wrapped around his skin, turning into tight clothing, and his trousers were even slightly unthreaded in some places.

“Master! Are you hurt?” The girl raised her head and asked anxiously. “It looks like…You are standing a little bit…”

“I’m not hurt. It’s just that the boots I’m wearing don’t fit very well, it’s uncomfortable.” The Skeleton King moved his fingers to indicate that she could get up.

The girl stared at his boots, frowned, and slowly stood up. The boots were made of soft sheepskin. They were inlaid with emeralds wrapped with gold rims, and gold thread was hung on the buckle. The tips of the boots were also covered with thin metal sheets. Even they had scuff marks, they were still bright.

“Does it look good?” The Skeleton King asked.

The girl realized that her gaze was too rude, and hurriedly lowered her head to apologize, but the King did not want her to apologize. “I am asking you something. Does it look good?”

“Uh, very good…”

The flames in the eyes of the king flashed brightly, and the girl knew that this meant that he was satisfied with the answer. He stretched out his hand to the girl, and she approached, got down on one knee again, and kissed the back of his hand.

“Odile, when did you wake up?” Asked the Skeleton King.

The girl named Odile replied: “Just a few days ago. I know, this means you are free again!”

“Are Siegfried and Odette with you?”

“No, I haven’t seen them yet.” Odile said. “During the time you were trapped in the other world, our souls were sleeping in the mortal world… Before waking up, we didn’t know who we were, what kind of power we had, and even after waking up, I couldn’t recall everything immediately… I think that Siegfried and Odette are still confused and have not fully awakened.”

The Skeleton King nodded. “Mhm, you keep an eye on their news. I think you should know what I want to do next…”

“You want to return to the divine realm…”

“Yes, I want to find the Black Lake.” The Skeleton King slowly floated into the air, and he looked beyond the tree canopy, towards the sunset light at the end of the forest. “My father’s domain, my mother’s grave… and everything that should belong to me.”

Odile lowered her head, her eyes burning with excitement. “I’ve been waiting for you to find all that… Master, then what is your plan?”

“I haven’t taken the first step, so don’t worry about ‘afterwards’ for now.” The Skeleton King floated down and leaned back on the tree. After returning to his original form, his feet also became bigger, and his boots were so tight that he could only curl up his toes. “I have many plans for this world… many, many. I want to make up for the lost time and enjoy the happiness that I should have… In the process, I don’t want to be out of line, let alone be disturbed by your recklessness.”

Odile raised her head, and the Skeleton King raised his finger to the tower. “You should know what that is.”

“Yes, Master. That is the tower of the necromancer Burris. After sensing your location, I collected various information about this mage.”

“Odile, remember, you must never approach that tower, you must not hurt Burris and his guests, let alone show up in front of them. In short, do your best to conceal yourself from him. This is my order to you.”

The Skeleton King’s tone was not fierce, but each word revealed indisputable majesty. For a living entity like Odile, the king’s solemn command was like an imperative incantation, it had an absolute binding force on them.

“I have taken it to heart.” The girl answered with her head down.

After waiting for two or three seconds, the Skeleton King tilted his head: “Aren’t you wondering why?”

“…I’m not curious.”

The Skeleton King answered himself: “Burris is an important ally of mine, and I respect him very much. There is no need to let him know about things that have nothing to do with him, it will only make him worry. More importantly, that tower is my biggest source of pleasure and income at the moment, and I want to ensure that this stable and comfortable mutually beneficial relationship doesn’t break.”

“I understand.” Odile nodded again.

“So, if you encounter strange elves or humans next time, you should not attack them, unless you want to make me angry.”

Odile frowned aggrievedly. “I bear your order in mind. But master, please allow me to explain myself, I didn’t take the initiative to attack the elf, it was he who attacked me first.”

“How did you meet him?”

“I met him on the road. He thought I was a traveling mage and that I was going to the tower of Burris. He stopped me from leaving. He also used spells to scare me and forced me to answer questions about the mage Burris…But I don’t know Burris, and I didn’t quite understand what he wanted to ask me. I wanted to leave, and he actually was going to cast a spell to hold me down, so I just casted a spell to fight back… But you can rest assured, I was covered with a veil, he didn’t saw how I looked.”

“I see, I really don’t blame you for this.” The Skeleton King chuckled. He had sent Heisong to Holly Village just now. He quietly climbed to the second floor of a tavern and threw him into a guest room. Heisong groaned dazedly, as if he was about to wake up, so the Skeleton King found a bottle of absinthe and using a dispenser, he filled half an ale glass and gave it to Heisong. He immediately fell back on the bed, sleeping soundly. Before he went into deep sleep, he said “His son’s name is Kreve”, “The Ghost King appeared five hundred years ago”, “The Death Knight was riding a black behemoth”, that kind of nonsense.

“Next time you encounter a similar situation, you have to escape in time and don’t fight back in anger.” The Skeleton King added: “In short, don’t let Burris notice your presence, let alone hurt anyone related to him. If you see Siegfried and Odette, also convey my order to them.”

“I bear it in mind. But… what if the opponent is strong and I really have to fight?”

“Even if you have to do it, you should aim to get away and don’t beat your opponent to death.”

After hearing this, the girl’s face showed a trace of fear: “What…did I kill that elf?”

“He was almost dying, but he was saved.” The Skeleton King stroked the girl’s hair as if she was a child. “Odile, now the lives you can come into contact are nothing more than humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs…At most, there are rock giants and the like. These things are very fragile; don’t use the power of the demon slayer army on them. Well, you can go first. Leave the Mountains of No Return, look for Siegfried and Odette, and help me find the entrance to the Black Lake.”

“Yes, master. Please feel free to call us anytime if necessary.”

From this day on, the Mountains of No Return seemed to have regained peace for a while.

After waking up, Burris recovered as usual. The mage tower and the nearby magic protection were intact. The Skeleton King played with a ball with three dogs in the clearing in front of the tower and Heisong didn’t return from Holly Village.

Burris checked the detection stones in various areas of the forest. The detection stones in the core area were all normal, while some stones in the outer forest recorded abnormal fluctuations. Even so, he couldn’t judge what attacked Heisong. In fact, it was fastest to ask Heisong himself, but Burris didn’t want to contact him, and he was really in a dilemma.

He had inquired with the people in Holly Village. It was said that Heisong drank a large glass absinthe in the Willow Tavern and talked nonsense after sleeping for an entire day and night. He claimed to have been attacked, but he was completely intact and ate a lot in the morning. He also said that he saw a black knight riding a behemoth skeleton, a forest giant with three heads and six eyes, a white haired banshee who killed all the creatures of the mountain, a seven-colored dragon that turned into fireworks in the sky…Even he was not sure if these were hallucinations seen by drunkenness. After he left in dismay, the owner of the Willow Tavern thought that the elf was a poet who played the necromancer in a drama.

Burris felt a bit sorry for Heisong. He silently decided that he would compensate his hapless apprentice when he had the opportunity in the future. In short, Burris didn’t mention the attack anymore, because he already had a preliminary answer in his mind –no matter who the enemy was or what kind of creature it was, it was mostly related to the Skeleton King.

Because…Roth was too calm. Whenever Burris pondered about it, Roth would either divert the subject or use some untenable inferences to comfort him. His conclusion was: this matter is not important, so don’t spend the whole day thinking about it. Don’t you still want to study my magic immunity? Let us start.

But Roth was not the kind of person who looks from the sidelines and calm things down. Imagine how a person who even watches dogs fighting happily, can be not interested in the attack on an elf?

Once he thought of this, Burris stopped investigating. Judging from Roth’s behavior, he took the initiative to go out on patrol to deal with the hidden attacker. Regardless of the current situation of the attacker, it was clear that this attack was not instigated by Roth, otherwise, why should help to save Heisong?

Perhaps the attack on Heisong was merely an accident. This incident was causing troubles to the Skeleton King, and perhaps he didn’t want similar things to happen again.

As for who the attacker was and what the Skeleton King wanted to hide, Burris had no way of knowing, and he didn’t want to ask for the time being. Since Roth didn’t want him to know, he wouldn’t get the right answer anyway.

When I want to say it, I will tell you everything. When I don’t want to say it, you won’t hear any serious words…This was the character of the Skeleton King now, but maybe it was also like this sixty years ago. It was just that Burris was young and in a desperate situation, so he didn’t notice the character of the Skeleton King.

Back then, when the Skeleton King first appeared, he did not state his identity, but called himself the ‘God of Death’. At that time, although Burris was young, he was also a qualified mage apprentice. He knew that this man was not telling the truth, the ‘God of Death’ was just a character in fairy tales. No matter how he questioned, the man who claimed to be the ‘God of Death’ would not reveal any truth…Until their last day together, when the Skeleton King suddenly revealed his identity, and he even provided Burris with clues to find relevant documents…

Whenever he remembered this, Burris couldn’t help sighing. If they had not met in those seven days, then… maybe he would have died when he was twenty.

Burris could not forget those seven days when he was young. The tower burning in the snowstorm, the cold wind that almost cuts the skin, the hoarfrost forest with the smell of blood, and there was also a frozen lake that seems to be invisible…

If he hadn’t met the man who claimed to be the ‘God of Death’, he never would have gotten his current achievements. Maybe he would have become a ghost in the ice and snow, lingering in pain and cold forever.

This was a very long chapter for me, but finally it’s finished! 😀

As always, tell me if there is any mistake 🙂

Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying the novel 🙂