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As I saw the glow of undeath fade from the Death Knight’s eyes, I realized that the pressure on my mind was still there, which means that whoever was casting the mind attack and most likely the fog spell is still alive, and by process of elimination, that could only be the teen mage turned undead.

I stepped up to the altar where the teen undead was sitting and staring into nothing, but even as I stood next to it, within arm's reach, there was no reaction.

This leaves me with some theoretical questions on the nature of undeath. Why did the Death Knight have what I could only call an ego or sense of self, while the undead above ground were no better than beasts acting on instinct, and here this teen undead lordling, who I can only assume is an undead mage, is not reacting to my presence at all.

But as much as I wanted to stick around and study this phenomenon, I had better things to do than hang around here poking at undead and seeing what made them tick.

I raised my sword, ready to split his skull in half and return the boy to eternal slumber. “Sorry, kid. You had a short life, but that's no reason to come back to the land of the living and cause trouble.”

But before I brought my sword down, the undead turned to me, “Kan’dar?”

Fearing that he was casting some kind of verbal spell, I brought down my sword, splitting his skull in two. It was only after the glow of undeath left his eyes that I took the time to translate what he said.

“Blade-Oath?” The only thing that brought things into context was the Death Knight I had just slain. Maybe that is what they called knights back in his day, Kan’dar. All things considered, it makes sense in a sad way. In all the murals, the knight was always there.

Soon, I felt the pressure on my mind fade, and as I blinked my eyes, it was like a filter was removed from my vision. The whole place looked less gloomy. Did that mean I was partially under the mind-altering effect enough to change my perception?

All I could do was sigh… more things to add to the list of self-improvement.

***

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After making sure that there were no threats left inside the catacomb, I did a bit of tombrading.

Besides some old trinkets and pottery, there was nothing of interest or value to take, so I made my way back to the hole I fell in from.

At the hole, when I looked up, there was only clear sky. No more fog or undead standing around the hole.

With an aura-powered jump, I got out of the hole to see the undead still lingering around, and with my vision unimpeded, it was child’s play to dispatch the remaining undead.

On my way out after dispatching the undead, I started bringing down the wall that I raised to surround the graveyard in case the undead stray away from the graveyard, but I was stopped by the villagers who originally watched me erect the walls.

They felt it was safer to leave the walls where they were and only asked me to bring down a small section, enough for them to install a gate in the future.

Doing so, the village elder thanked me and treated me to a meal before I left.

I headed to the closest town with a Steward’s Guild outlet to turn in my job, and pinged my handler with my member card to let him know I was done so he could expedite getting a trainer for the hypogriff chicks.

“Thank you for completing this job. It has been sitting in our job log for a long time. You will receive payment after our agent goes on-site to confirm completion.” the guild receptionist said as she stamped a job receipt and handed it to me.

I thanked her and went around town to buy some souvenirs before hopping on a free guild-affiliated carriage back home. Even though I could afford it, I gotta say that the Steward’s Guild perks are very good.

***

After almost a week, I reached home to much excitement, especially from Dad. It seems like my haul from the harpy job headache home, and both Mum and Dad did not delay getting to work, capitalising on the opportunity.

They divided the heirlooms between themselves depending on the routes they were taking to return them to their respective families in exchange for gifts, favors, or business opportunities for our territory.

The rest of the valuables went into building up the new territory and the operational costs for the personal army.

***

A few days passed after I came home, and I took the opportunity to rest and do some smithing. In those few days, there has been a noticeable increase in activity in my hometown.

Turns out that those favors and business opportunities were coming our way. Merchants, artisans, and even farming families came to greet the local lord, my Dad, before setting up shop in town or moving to the new territory to do so.

Along with the influx of people, there was my Steward’s Guild handler, Santon, accompanied by a man in his sixties or seventies, covered head to toe in beast pelts.