I met with my friends afterwards and told them about the conversation. It was a nice morning, so we were sitting in the park. I even got myself some additional coffee from the mess hall.

“I knew it! My mother is only coming to meet the princess!” Cassie said.

“I haven’t received anything from my father. He has never been that interested in politics. He could also be busy at the border. Although, there are usually less monsters in the summer.” Helena said.

“How did your mother even know about it?” Skadi wondered.

“There is a lot of gossip. Nobles like to talk.” Cassie shrugged.

“And they like to spy on each other.” Helena added.

“I have never met royalty before…” I said.

“None of us have. Not personally.” Helena said.

Cassie nodded. “We might be nobles, but we are not important enough to actually meet the royals.”

“You have never seen them?” I wondered.

“We have seen them.” Helena clarified. “But not talked to them. This is a great opportunity for you, Koyuki! It will increase your status. It might even get Archibald to shut up. Ok, probably not.”

“Or you could end up with more enemies. It will certainly put you in the spotlight. So far, a lot of students did not pay you too much attention. It’s mostly Archibald’s group, and Leo.” Cassie said. “If the princess is coming just to talk to you, it will certainly create a lot of rumours. Keep in mind, almost no one knows about your archmage potential. They simply know that you are a talented necromancer.”

“And yet, someone has tried to kill me. Even on my way here, before I knew about my potential.” I wondered.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Might have been the Ilestrians. Just being a potentially powerful necromancer could get them to act.” Skadi theorised.

“Your circumstances were a bit special. That you got a private escort might have been enough for them to see you as a threat.” Helena said.

“Not that we know if it was them anyway.” Cassie pointed out. “We haven’t heard anything from the royal investigator. I wonder if he has made any progress. Do you think he caught a spy after the interrogation?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. I think the teachers will tell me if there are any discoveries about the attacks.” So far they had been really helpful.

“So, what about this guardian business? Do you think Nyx is something special?” After a pause Skadi added: “I mean, more special.”

I grabbed my undead companion from my head and sat her in my lap. She yawned and curled up.

“No idea. But I am wondering about her diet. She has consumed a lot of bones. Maybe she will be able to grow bigger? I haven’t noticed any change in the amount of mana the link consumes. I am not even sure if that can change. What happens if an undead evolves that is bound to a necromancer?” Another question I should ask Gronir at some point.

“Hm, evolve…” Helena mused. “Have you considered that Nyx might need something else? She is feasting on bones. Maybe she needs magic? Or something connected to her water affinity?”

I scratched my head. “Gronir taught us that an undead can grow in strength by absorbing the mana from the bond. But it should take a long time. I have never heard about an undead consuming special things to evolve.”

“So, in some of the stories I have read people get power by consuming beasts. Like a dragon’s heart…” Skadi said.

“Is that real?” I asked.

“Um. Not that I know.” Skadi admitted. “But there are always rumours about such rituals…”

“I am afraid we don’t have a dragon we could feed to Nyx.” I said.

“An undead dragon would be cool! We need to slay one, one day!” Helena proposed.

“What if we head to the adventures guild and see what monster parts they sell? We bring Nyx, show them to her and see if she wants to devour them.” Skadi suggested.

“But what if Nyx is just a glutton and wants to devour everything? I don’t really have much money. I probably could not afford anything there.” I pointed out.

“Well, we don’t have to buy everything, or anything. But it would be interesting to see if something interests Nyx, right? Also, maybe you could get Irene to pay for it. You know, as an experiment. She seemed interested in Nyx.” Skadi suggested.

“I think I would need more to convince her than: My undead cat really wanted to eat this monster part…” I paused, thinking. “Maybe if we had some actual results. But we would need to buy something first. And then hope Nyx is not just fooling us.”

“It is worth a visit at least. Why don’t we go now? I am going to the city anyway to collect this week's supply of bones. We could swing by the adventurers guild.” Skadi suggested.

“We could visit the beer garden again, afterwards!” Helena suggested.

It was a nice place. While I did not have the money for monster parts there was enough for a beer, or two.

“Sounds like a plan. We have been working hard recently. Maybe today we can visit the guild, then relax a bit.” I suggested.

We all agreed. I decided to bring the draugr as well. He was wearing simple black clothes, an arming sword and chain mail. I still remembered our last visit to the guild. We carried arming swords ourselves and wore the school uniform. We also brought my horse.