Chapter 330: Flaws

Darion remained in the war room, the blue light of the system screen reflecting in his dark eyes.

[Escort]

The word hovered there, glowing softly in the dim room. It was a good ability. A great ability, even. But as he stared at it, he knew he couldn’t just treat it like a magic wand that solved all his problems. He had to think like a tactician.

He had to think deeply to make this work.

He needed Garren here. That was the bottom line. Vrethka was a conquered territory with a broken army, terrified civilians, and no leadership. Garren was the only man Darion trusted enough to put in charge of organizing this mess while Darion figured out the bigger picture.

But Darion couldn’t simply abandon Vrethka and ride back to Percvale himself. He looked down at the maps spread across the table, his mind cataloging the endless list of tasks that still needed to be done.

The surviving warriors needed to be organized into ranks. The gates needed to be secured and reinforced. The wounded needed treatment. Dross’s remaining officers needed to be vetted to see who could be trusted and who needed to be locked up.

The civilians needed to be reassured that they weren’t going to be slaughtered in their sleep. The supplies, the weapons, the food, it all needed to be counted and secured.

Most importantly, someone needed to make sure the newly conquered territory didn’t fall apart the moment Darion stepped out of the gates. If he left now, Vrethka would be a powder keg with a lit fuse.

So, he considered the obvious solution. His eyes returned to the Escort ability.

Maybe he didn’t actually need to go back himself.

His first thought was almost laughably simple. Send an undead. Tell it to go to Percvale. Find Garren. Bring Garren back.

For a glorious, brief moment, Darion thought he had solved the problem. But then, his mind caught up with his excitement, and he started picking the plan apart.

He realized the ability didn’t magically solve the logistical nightmare. The undead could travel autonomously, but it wasn’t a human. It didn’t have a brain for complex social situations.

Darion started listing everything that could go wrong, pacing slowly beside the war table.

Problem One... Percvale itself.

Garren wasn’t just some random person Darion needed to fetch. He was the backbone of Percvale. He handled the administration, the soldiers, the construction, the supplies, the defenses, and the day-to-day running of the entire barony.

If an undead simply walked up to the castle gates and delivered a message: "Darion needs you in Vrethka", Garren would probably leave immediately.

But then who takes care of Percvale? Garren could technically appoint a senior knight to handle things temporarily, but Darion wasn’t comfortable leaving his home territory without its most trusted administrator.

If Valdenmoor had taught him anything, it was that leaving your home unguarded was a recipe for disaster. Darion realized he needed both territories functioning. He couldn’t solve one problem by creating a massive vulnerability in another.

Problem Two... The journey.

Darion thought about the road between Vrethka and Percvale. It was a long, winding stretch of wilderness. The undead didn’t know the route like a living person did.

It might recognize basic commands, but traveling across unfamiliar territory was different from following a direct battlefield order. It could take a wrong road, wander into a hostile settlement, get stuck in a ravine, or accidentally draw attention.

Worse, it couldn’t simply walk up to a town guard and explain itself. Darion imagined the scene. A terrified town guard sees a rotting, green-eyed warrior shambling down the road alone.

What happens?

The guards draw weapons. People panic. Someone raises an alarm. The undead gets attacked from all sides. It couldn’t explain who sent it, where it was going, or that it was carrying an important message. It would just have to fight, and that would cause a political incident. The undead could fight, but it had absolutely no ability to deal with the social side of traveling.

Problem Three... The wilderness.

Then Darion remembered the hybrid hunters. Those creatures had nearly overwhelmed him when he deliberately fought without summoning his full army.

They were fast, strong, and coordinated. If a single, lone undead encountered something similar in the wilderness, it could be destroyed before it ever reached Percvale. And even if it survived one encounter, there were monsters, bandits, hostile warriors, and dangerous terrain to worry about.

Darion didn’t want to gamble Garren’s arrival on one undead walking hundreds of miles alone.

He slowly exhaled, rubbing his temples. He had been thinking about the ability incorrectly.

He didn’t need an undead to replace a messenger. He needed an undead to escort someone who could actually navigate the world. Someone who could speak, someone who knew the roads, someone who could deal with guards and towns, someone who could make decisions when something unexpected happened.

Darion slowly turned his head toward Seren.

The Solution!

Seren was standing near the edge of the table, her bow resting against her shoulder. She had been quietly studying the maps, tracing the routes with her finger. She noticed Darion staring at her and looked up, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked. "You look like you just figured out a puzzle."

Darion nodded slowly. "I think I found a way to bring Garren here without leaving Vrethka myself."

He didn’t mention the system. He just told her that his powers had developed again, a new ability had manifested. He explained that he could designate a specific undead to accompany a specific person to a specific destination.

Once assigned, the undead could travel autonomously, protect the person along the way, and act as a tracker. It could function as a bodyguard, a pack carrier, and an escort.

Seren listened, her expression shifting from curiosity to confusion. Then Darion told her the rest.

"I need you to go back to Percvale."

Seren’s eyes widened. She looked at him, deadpan. "You’re seriously suggesting I travel all the way back alone?"

"You wouldn’t be alone," Darion said quickly.