Rise of the Supreme Necromancer-Chapter 52: Death and Taxes

"No one. But it’s the Church’s duty to protect them from desecration," Samuel said.

"Great. Then we can take them, at least." Aleric paused. "People will be against that too, am I right?"

"Yes. Bodies of sons of Light shouldn’t be touched by Dark. This is why those who can afford the price of firewood often prefer cremation to ordinary burials. Although sometimes families give bodies of their kin for safekeeping to the Church as a show of trust and good faith to the templars," Samuel explained.

"All my ancestors were cremated," Danit added. "And they were right, it turns out!"

Samuel gave him a sour look.

"Even among those who can afford it, a lot of people prefer burials. To prefer a pyre suggests a distrust in the Church."

"I see," Aleric said, rubbing his chin. "Then, I have an idea."

The entire room went deathly quiet. Except for Aleric, nobody was even breathing.

"From now on, I take ownership of every corpse in my lands. However, anyone who wants can buy the corpses of their relatives from me. Ditrich, make the price of a body too much for an average tradesman’s family to afford more than one."

Danit gasped.

"That’s..."

"Brilliant, Master Fenn!" Ditrich exclaimed, clapping his hands and even making a little dance on the spot with excitement. "So shrewd—are you sure you aren’t a dwarf?"

"Master, but how would that even work?" Danit added quietly.

"Isn’t that obvious? Oh, I see why your wife is a better accountant than you! First, Master Fenn takes what nobody owns. Second, he offends many people by doing this. Third, Master Fenn lets these people take some of their dead back, which makes them satisfied again. Fourth, he makes people pay him to solve the problem he had created himself!"

Danit blinked.

"Ah, I know that one! Like a bandit gang that comes to a village and tells the locals that for a fee they will protect them from bandits."

"Don’t compare Master Fenn to a bandit," Samuel said.

Aleric waved his hand, making all three zombies fall quiet.

"Samuel, I’m much worse than a bandit. All in all, Ditrich put my idea even clearer than I could. He can make sure it’s organized well. But what is that about Danit’s wife being better at counting?"

"By our count’s words, she is the steward of his lands. And the last time I heard, she locked herself in her room! And other servants would have too, if Count Arstain didn’t tell them that they still worked for him, and he was still paying their wages and doling out punishments for idleness. We couldn’t have you wake up without breakfast, Master Fenn."

"Some of them have still left the castle," Danit said, huffing. "The ingrates! If only Salia came out, she’d put them all in their place and start the castle running as it should again!"

Aleric raised his eyebrows.

"Amazing. Count, what can you even do by yourself, except running away?" He shook his head. "Deal with the accounting, all of you. Either Salia returns to her duties, or you find another steward. Otherwise, I will have to solve this problem personally, and I already know what the solution will look like."

***

"Mom... Mom, when can we go out?" Felix Arstain, Salia’s eldest son, asked.

"I’m boooored," his younger brother, William, said. "Where’s dad?"

Felix and William were only eleven and ten years old—too young to understand what was going on in Oakdale.

"Soon, my sweeties, soon," Salia promised, just like a dozen times before. "Dad is busy, let me read you a storybook instead."

However, before she could open an old storybook and start reading, there was a knock on the door.

"Salia! Salia, dear, it’s me! Let me in!"

"Dad!" William exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Salia caught him by the collar of his shirt before he could run and open the door.

"You aren’t him! Go away!" Salia shouted, then pulled her kids closer. "Don’t listen to this... person. It’s evil sorcery..."

"Huh? But... It’s dad’s voice!"

"Salia, this is important! This—look, leave the kids be. I will call the nanny, but we should talk. You can’t sit in this room forever, after all!"

Salia’s shoulders slumped.

"So Teresa is fine? She’s not... one of you?"

"No, no. Some servants have run away, but she refused to leave the kids, either. Just like the maids that brought you breakfast this morning."

"Fine, then. Let’s talk..."

While old nanny Teresa read a story about the forces of Light defeating the kingdom of evil necromancers, Salia and Danit gathered in an antechamber of the master suite.

For this, Danit took a bath, wore clean clothing, and ordered servants to stitch all his wounds. Besides his paleness, glassy eyes, a couple of small stitches on his face, the unsettling aura of unlife, and lack of breathing, Danit looked and smelled almost alive.

Which somehow made him only creepier.

And the things he was saying...

"Master Fenn needs your stewardship skills, Salia! Please, for me, work for him. The life, it goes on. Soon, Aleric Fenn will rule all of Aleshat... And it will still go on! I just want what’s best for all of us. Believe me, I still love you, even though I can’t give you any more children!"

With each word, Salia believed more and more that her husband was still in that body. It was both painful and relieving.

But to work for a necromancer?

Aleric Fenn looked more death-like than his own undead!

And he was crueler than any of them. Just thinking about it... made Salia feel like a bucket of cold water fell on her.

’If Aleric needs my skills, he will surely kill whoever he needs to get them! Even if he operates by law now, it’s unlawful to directly oppose a ruling lord, just like for a woman to go against her husband. Not that I can trust him to follow the law, anyway!’ Sofia thought. ’And what if... What if he takes my children?’

If only Salia could escape. But to run through an entire city of undead?