The people waiting were split into two groups. There were a number of people in uniform standing at the side as if waiting for instructions, while all were humanoid there was a large variety of different races. There were humans, drows and demons dressed in a black and purple uniform. They seemed to the servant staff of the castle and the manner in which they held themselves spoke volumes of their professionalism.
In the middle of the courtyard sitting around a glass table were 5 people enjoying some tea. One of them was dressed in black garments looking like an assassin, with a white tiger mask covering their face. They weren’t eating or drinking anything in front of them.
Not having any issue consuming the food in front of them were two children looking like they had no care in the world. They were a boy and a girl of around 13 years old and considering their similarities it was clear to see that they were siblings. When Renard and the rest arrived, they waved at them and were about to get from their seats when the assassin dragged them down. They pointed at the messy hands and faces, and the children quickly began to clean themselves.
Next to them was a large man dressed in plate armour. He had his helmet off, showing his rugged face and silver hair. He was currently drinking from a cup that was too small for his large hand. But not far from him was a large halberd brimmed with malevolent energy. He nodded at Renard in greeting.
While those 4 four seemed to be human or at least human-like, when people glanced at the last person that assumption didn’t happen. Sitting with perfect poise and dressed in exquisite robes was a skeleton. The skeleton was in pristine condition and in place of its eyes were black flames with white centres. What was odd was how unnatural the skeleton’s movements seemed to be, instead of the rigid movements of the face that one would expect of a skeleton. This skeleton’s face morphed as if it had skin, making it more reminiscent of a cartoon skeleton than a physical one. The flames in its eyes went out in an irregular tempo, mimicking blinking.
Renard brought the group to the table and chairs were quickly brought for them by the waiting servants. Renard thanked the servants and took a seat, he then invited the rest to sit down. A demon servant arrived to pour tea for them.
While Renard took his time sipping the tea an awkward silence spread out as the people at the table were waiting for him to speak. Seeing that he wasn’t in a rush, the skeleton said and put down their cup.
“Renard, would you be so kind as to introduce our new guests to us?”
Renard finished off his cup and gestured towards Mia, “Of course, Your Grace. Lord Sanzinel, Lady Lizenna, Lady Seline, Lord Toma and Sir Galorin it is my honour to introduce to you Knight Mia Dawnbreak. She will be a liaison knight between Lord Emile and the Queen’s Council, she will be residing in the castle for the foreseeable future.”
The armoured man, interrupted him, “Don’t we already have official channels of communication, why do we need a new one? And why did they send a knight to the castle?”
Renard then explained to them the problems that Emile’s predecessor left for him and the current arrangement that Emile accepted. As he mentioned the horrors that Emile's predecessor had to deal with, both the armoured and the skeleton, looked at each other. The assassin didn’t react, but the kids seemed shocked as they listened to the story.
The skeleton sighed and said “I knew that those deals would come back to haunt us. I told Imogen that she should have proactively dealt with it but as time passed we forgot about it as none of them called those favours in.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Poor Emile, his master is now in seclusion and unless a calamity arrives on the island we cannot interrupt her. Well, Ms Mia is a pleasure to meet you. I hope we will have a great time working together. My name is Sanzinel and I’m the advisor to Lord Emile.”
Mia stood up and bowed to the skeleton, “Thank you and I’ll work hard and do my best.” Mia began to sweat profusely, as she couldn’t believe she was in front of an archlich. During her time at the university, she took a module on significant figures of the modern age. There she learned about some of the most powerful and influential beings alive, and in the section about the undead rulers her teacher emphasised that dangerous undead were archliches.
In one of the most harrowing lessons, her teacher explained that there were only 9 archliches currently alive and recounted some of their most awful feats. The problem with an archlich is that an unkillable archmage with an army of loyal followers. Unless you take the fight to an achlich’s territory, then victory is short-lived as the defeated foes can be replenished quickly.
The other problem with an archlich is that unlike a normal or grandlich they can split their souls into parts. These parts are then stored in different phylactery and if the archlich isn’t stupid then these phylacteries are stored in different locations. This creates an absurdly powerful foe that has an unknown number of backup plans.
It’s a blessing that archliches prefer environments with dark or corrupted affinities, so they usually don’t leave the Lost Continent or the Monster-allied continent. When Mia’s teacher said this, the whole class sighed in relief. That was until he said that there was one archlich that didn’t live on those continents. As the anxiety of class began to build up again, he introduced Archlich Sanzinel, who was active during the founding of Avalyn and currently resided in Erebus.
Her teacher spent a long time assuring the class that Sanzinel hadn’t been seen in more than 5 thousand years, so imagine Mia’s shock when that legend appeared in front of her within an hour of her arrival at Stygian Castle.
Unaware that Mia was stuck in a mild panic, Sanzinel began to introduce the rest of the people at the table. He first introduced the armoured man, “This gentleman is Sir Galorin, he is the leader of guards and is in charge of the castle’s protection.”
He gestured to the assassin, “This is Lady Lizenna, she is the junior disciple sister of Emile and second disciple of the previous Lord. Don’t mind her silent demeanour, she doesn’t trust strangers easily.”
Finally, he pointed to the two kids “And these are the second and third disciples of Lord Emile, Lady Seline and Lord Toma respectively. Beware, though they seemed harmless they are as mischievous as those goblins you have already seen.”
At the mention of disciples, Amaya jerked up and dropped the cake she was enjoying. This action didn’t escape the notice of the table. Seeing everyone looking at her, Amaya was overwhelmed and looked down to avoid their gaze.
Fortunately, Renard came to her rescue, “My apologies, I should have finished the introductions first. This person before is Amaya Duncan and she is Lord Emile’s newest disciple.”
At the mention of this, a silence spread out before an excited squeal ran out as Seline ran around towards Amaya. “Oh my word, we got a new sister. How old are you? What are your powers? What’s your favourite colour?”
Amaya was struck by a sense of déjà vu as Toma joined Seline in asking questions. This time however Renard didn’t interrupt as the rest of the table seemed to enjoy Amaya’s discomfort.
Seeing that no one would come to rescue her, she began to answer some of the questions. “Erm, nice to meet you. I’ll be turning 16 this fall, I don’t know much of my power other than its affinity. My favourite colour is deep ocean blue. Wait, what did you mean by sister, did Lord Emile adopt me?”
Amaya wasn’t how she felt about being Lord Emile’s daughter, especially since her parents were still alive. Noticing that Amaya was about to spiral again, Renard interjected. “They mean sister as in sister disciple. For some reason, the first lord of the castle adopted the martial sects’ naming convention. In terms of the law, you are still your parents’ daughter.”
Amaya sighed in relief and calmed down. She then began to converse with the two kids and the rest of the table began to converse with Mia. After a while, the door opened up and Emile walked in.
“I see that you’ve become acquaintances.” Emile said as the staff haled a massive to the head of the table. He took a seat and put his feet up. “That’s good because we need to get to business now”