Chapter 303: Unexpected Meeting

The first man didn't appear convinced. "And how exactly do you propose doing that?"

The other warrior shrugged. "He's still a Necromancer, isn't he? He might have an army of undead, but he can't fight an entire army by himself."

Darion listened carefully. His expression became increasingly serious. A Necromancer Lord? They weren't discussing necromancers in general. They were talking about someone specific. Someone they were expecting to fight.

The second warrior continued explaining his position. "Think about it. We have thousands of warriors, proper weapons, armor, supplies, and commanders who know what they're doing." He tapped the map. "What does he have? An army of undead?"

The first warrior frowned. "Undead aren't exactly harmless."

"Neither are our soldiers." The second warrior smiled. "Besides, we don't need to fight every single one of his undead." He pointed toward a location on the map. "We just need to target the Necromancer himself."

Darion's fingers tightened slightly.

The warrior continued. "Once he's dead, the rest becomes much easier."

Another officer nearby seemed to agree. "That's assuming we can get close enough to him."

The second warrior laughed. "We have numbers. We have the advantage. We have everything we need." He leaned over the table. "One Necromancer can't take on something this large and well-equipped."

Darion felt his stomach tighten. The conversation was becoming uncomfortably familiar. They weren't merely discussing the possibility of fighting a necromancer. They were discussing how to defeat one. And the way they were speaking made it clear that they had already considered the problem.

The first warrior remained unconvinced. "You make it sound easy."

The second man shrugged. "Because it is. We have the numbers. We have the equipment. And we know what we're dealing with." He tapped the map again. "We don't need to waste our strength trying to destroy every undead he commands." He looked around at the others. "We target the Necromancer directly."

Another warrior gave a short laugh. "That's the whole point of this war, isn't it?"

Darion froze.

The man continued casually. "We're not going there to fight his undead forever. We're going there to kill him."

For a moment, Darion forgot to breathe. The sounds around him seemed to fade. The movement of the soldiers in the street. The footsteps behind him. The distant sounds of training. None of it mattered anymore. He stared through the window.

Kill... me?

His mind raced. There was no ambiguity in their conversation. They knew they were going to face a Necromancer Lord. They knew he commanded undead. And they intended to target him specifically.

Darion slowly realized what that meant. Vrethka wasn't simply planning to attack Percvale. They were planning to kill its Necromancer.

Darion forced himself to remain still. He couldn't afford to react. He was standing outside a building full of enemy officers. If he suddenly turned around or started acting strangely, someone might notice. So he continued pretending to be a guard.

But inside the mask, his thoughts were spiraling. Why me?

Percvale wasn't a powerful kingdom. It didn't possess thousands of knights. It didn't have a massive army. Compared to Vrethka, Percvale was small and underdeveloped. Darion had been working to rebuild it, but the territory was still far from what he wanted it to become.

So why would Vrethka devote so much attention to him? Why not simply conquer Percvale and deal with its soldiers along the way? Why make the Necromancer himself the primary target?

How did they even know he was a Necromancer? Something he surely haven't told anyone.

Darion remembered the scouts he had encountered near his castle. Their words returned to him. The Baron won't know what hit him. At the time, he assumed they were simply planning to invade Percvale.

Now he understood something far more troubling. They didn't necessarily need to defeat his entire force first. If their plan was to kill him directly, they might try to bypass his defenses and strike at him.

His knights could be fighting elsewhere when the attack came. His undead could be occupied defending the walls. And if Vrethka managed to reach him... Darion didn't want to finish that thought.

Darion carefully looked around the street. Soldiers were everywhere. Some were carrying weapons. Others were moving supplies. Several groups were heading toward the training grounds. The settlement was filled with warriors. Thousands of them, potentially.

Darion thought about his own forces. His knight undead inventory was powerful, but the number of knights available to him was limited. He had roughly fifty-something knights at his disposal. He also had undead animals and other abilities. Under ordinary circumstances, he would consider himself a dangerous opponent.

But now?

'How am I supposed to fight thousands of warriors?'

Even if he summoned every available undead, he couldn't simply assume victory. He didn't know what other abilities Vrethka possessed.

He didn't know how strong their commanders were. He didn't know whether they had magic specifically suited to fighting necromancers. And he certainly didn't know how much information they had gathered about him. If their entire strategy revolved around killing him, then they may already have a plan designed to counter his abilities.

Darion felt sweat gathering beneath his mask. Fuck! He forced himself to remain calm. He couldn't afford to panic here. Not inside the enemy's territory. Not when he still had no idea how far their plans had progressed.

Darion slowly stepped away from the window. He didn't want to remain in the same position for too long. The officers continued discussing their plans inside. He caught a few more words, but his attention was divided now.

His mind kept returning to the same realization. Vrethka knew about him. They knew he was a Necromancer. And they were planning to kill him.

He started wondering whether the attack on Percvale was even about territory. Perhaps they didn't care about his farmland. Perhaps they didn't care about his castle. Perhaps they didn't even consider his knights the most important obstacle. Perhaps the only thing they truly wanted was his death.

Darion's jaw tightened beneath the mask. If they only need to kill me, they could attack from multiple directions. His undead might be powerful enough to defeat large groups of ordinary soldiers. But he couldn't be everywhere at once. If Vrethka sent enough warriors to occupy his forces while another group targeted him directly... things could become dangerous very quickly.

Darion took another slow breath. He still needed to understand one thing. Why was Vrethka so determined to kill him?

He moved farther away from the officers' building.

Darion continued walking through the settlement, his face hidden behind the heavy mask he had taken from the dead guard. Although he kept his posture steady and his movements natural, his mind was racing.

'I need to learn more. I need to find out exactly what these people are planning.'

What he had overheard inside the building earlier had changed everything. Vrethka wasn't merely preparing for a war against Percvale. Their leaders knew about him specifically, knew he was a Necromancer, and intended to target him. Darion had initially thought he was dealing with a powerful settlement that wanted to expand its territory. Now, he wasn't so sure.

'This is much more serious than I thought.'

His thoughts drifted toward Percvale. The farms they had worked so hard to establish. The castle that had slowly begun to feel like a home again. The livestock pens, the supplies, the defenses, and all the other physical things he had helped build. He had spent so much time trying to improve the territory that the thought of losing it all made his chest tighten.

'All that work, gone in a single war.'

And then, suddenly, another thought came to him. He slowed his steps slightly.

'What about the people?'

He had spent so much time thinking about the physical things he had built that he had almost forgotten something far more important.

The hope. Before his arrival, Percvale had been a struggling territory. Its people had suffered through hardship, insecurity, and the constant fear that things would only get worse.

But things had started changing. The people had begun to believe that their lives could improve. They had farms to work on, a place to sleep, food to look forward to, and a lord who was actually trying to make their lives better.

They had started looking toward the future instead of merely worrying about surviving the present.

Darion's expression beneath the mask darkened.

'What happens to all that if Vrethka destroys Percvale?'

It wouldn't just be the loss of a castle or a few farms. It would be the destruction of everything his citizens had begun to believe in.

The peace of mind he had given them. The feeling that they might finally be safe. The belief that their lives could become something more than endless suffering. Vrethka was threatening to take all of that away.

And Darion wasn't going to let it happen.

'No. There's no fucking way I'm letting that happen.'

His steps became more purposeful. He needed more information. Knowing that Vrethka planned to attack Percvale wasn't enough.

He needed to understand their numbers, their strategy, their leadership, and the reason they were so determined to target him. Most importantly, he needed to get closer to the chief. If he could learn what the chief was planning, he might discover a way to stop the attack before it began.