“Please join Cahalot! I beg of you! We need you!” Yomi cried as she held onto my legs. As soon as she saw Kendra’s magic potency had tremendously improved over a short period of time, Yomi kept begging me to ‘join the fight against the brawns’.

“I refuse. I am a free man. I don’t want to be stuck in a bunch of boring houses filled with dust-collecting scholars that looked like they belong in a museum!” I replied vehemently.

Being tied to a nation was a bad thing for my goal of ‘touring the whole world’ and the last time I was associated with a nation, it nearly got erased because of a monster portal. Not only that, I would be inspected thoroughly by the nation’s authorities and they would find out that I’m undead.

The Cahalotians may be progressives, but they still followed the Path of Light to some extent thus they do not practice necromancy openly. Besides, if they did practice necromancy, the other sorcerer states would gang up on Cahalot.

“You really won’t join us?” Yomi asked with a teary face.

I nodded firmly and tried to pry her off my leg. As much as I didn’t mind being groveled at, we were currently outside, on the streets. I was looking for my companions to begin my next plan against the pathetic fools that style themselves as a knight order.

“Then…Then…How about just teaching at Cahalot?” Yomi negotiated.

“Teaching? What kind?” I asked back.

“Although sharing knowledge among the masters would be good, it would be better if you could teach young mages at a magic academy,” Yomi answered.

I was already teaching some dumb kids, so adding a few more headaches wouldn’t change a thing. “What do I get out of it?”

“I’ll share you the secrets of…” Yomi leaned in closer and whispered,”…necromancy.”

I thought about it for a minute then agreed. I wasn’t exactly interested in her teachings. I was more interested in how far necromancy had advanced (or not at all). After a thousand years, surely there would be new advances in the field of death magic.

“Really?! Are you sure?! No…I mean…thank you!” Yomi got up and bowed. She turned and did a small cheer to herself. Once she calmed down, she turned back and asked “When can you go to Cahalot?”

“I suppose soon. I’ve already seen quite enough in this city.”

Seen too much, I think.

I had also completed quite a lot of research on muscle magic, but came to a stump on how to proceed any further. Magic always needed something. Traditional magic don’t make things out of nothing. It actually uses things from other dimensions or timelines. On the other hand, other forms of magic always needed something like vampire magic, which needed blood.

I wasn’t able to replicate muscle magic because it was impossible for me to do so. It would be better to produce results in a real laboratory which the Cahalotians might have.

“Ah! I’ll…I’ll inform the Cahalotian government and pack my things soon! I’ll be back!” Yomi’s figure disappeared in the distance as soon as she said that.

“Are we really going back to Cahalot?” Kendra asked me, who was accompanying us the entire time.

“You don’t like Cahalot?”

“No, it’s not that…You, as a teacher in a Cahalotian academy, would be…”

“Would be what? Finish your sentence.”

Kendra rubbed her chin for a minute while looking off to the side. She chuckled then waved her hand. “Never mind. I’ll go get the heroes so you can tell them your plans. I’ll meet you at the tavern.”

With those two gone, I turned to my companions, the quadruple idiots and Beor.

“Thyros and Gardener, you two will be searching around for more information on the order knights. If you can, don’t bring me portals to The Abyss. All information must be processed by Beor,” I ordered.

“It’s a hunt, then?” Thyros asked.

“Indeed.”

“Thyros and I are both of the same rank. Who is leading this time?” Beor asked.

At first, I shrugged. Normally they would play a round of rock-paper-scissors, however I had different plans. I turned to the newest member of my companionship.

“Eh..? Why are you looking at me?” Satel asked.

“Don’t be dumb. You’ll be leading the hunt.” I waved dismissively.

“But…but I don’t know the others well…” Satel muttered.

“Well then, this would be a good opportunity to bond with your new family, right?”

“What if I lose control and…”

“And…what? You think these boneheads would lose to you? You’re already in a weakened state and you wouldn’t be able to handle a horde of my companions. One of them? Sure. But a group of them? Good luck.”

Thyros, Gardener, the two death knights and Beor all saluted to Satel. “We’re all yours, Boss Satel!”

The companions left to start the hunt for the returned knights and I was left on my own. I looked around the street, observing the musclemen. With nothing to do, I started strolling around the magical city.

The musclemen’s mundane life was much different than the ordinary person. Magic had pretty much made their life easier and technology was made redundant. Water pumps were a rare sight since musclemen could just conjure a ball of water out of nowhere and use that water for washing or drinking.

There were even some short-ranged float platforms where it would lift passengers from one platform to the other, creating a form of public transport. Floating buildings also made use of these platforms so buildings didn’t really need to be stacked upon each other, though they weren’t that common as the platforms were complicated to make.

Artisans such as smiths didn’t even need to bother wasting their time adjusting the flames or creating good conditions for smelting as they could just use magic to make specific flames.

Truly, the only thing that kept the musclemen from conquering the world would be their small numbers and the fact that these people were constantly fighting each other.

I crossed my arms in admiration at the city. I was looking at the future. Should magic and technology be merged, there would be a new world awaiting us…

“Teacher!” A familiar boy’s voice reached my earhole from the distance. Blackhair was jogging towards me with some sort of…thing…in his hand.

“Teacher, look! I bought a staff from the sorcerers!”

“THAT’S A BARBELL.”

*

*

*

“Ah!” Yomi screamed as the platform we were on titled to the side. This was her first time riding on a giant demon tortoise so it was taking some time for her to get used to it. “I’ve read about demon tortoises but I didn’t really think you could ride one…”

It took Yomi a few days to get a reply from her city, but as soon as she got it, my group left Rallas. The only companions with me were Maven, Rookie, Cass and the heroes. The rest were on a hunt because they heard that we were heading to a dull place full of nerds.

After that, we spent a few days travelling on the road. According to Yomi, it would take less than a week to reach Cahalot at our pace. Alph wasn’t the fastest transport and Cahalot was pretty far from the rest of the sorcerer cities for good reasons.

Other than Lard sulking in the corner, clutching a photo of his girlfriend…or I think it is his girlfriend and not a house…the ride had been peaceful.

“You spent a lot of time travelling on…Alph, was it? Where did you get him?” Yomi asked me.

“I…found him….by the road.” I coughed.

“You can’t just ‘find’ a giant siege turtle lying by the road!” Kendra retorted.

“Well, I did! So…HA!”

Yomi giggled at the side and said, “You two are very close, I see.”

“Haaaa? Me? Close to THIS guy? That’s a funny joke, Master Yomi.” Kendra rolled her eyes as she went at the back of the platform to read the necromancy tome that I gave her.

“How’d you find this brat anyway?” I asked as I pointed at Kendra with my thumb.

“I believe that I found her in an orphanage in one of the city states.”

“Not in Cahalot?”

“Yes, but I took her to Cahalot after I took her in.”

“Isn’t that technically adoption?”

“In the Sorcerer City States, orphanages are commonly seen as a potential apprentice recruitment centers.”

That’s…very efficient, I guess. Teach them at a young age and they’ll be loyal…I think…

“You were studying muscle magic in Rallas, what for?” I asked Yomi.

“Well, you see,” Yomi leaned in closer and continued in a hushed tone, “I’m hoping muscle magic would provide some insights in my current research.”

“Which is?”

“Subordinating vampires to me.”

“Pardon this one, would you like some tea?” Lucia, my vampire dwarf maid, interjected as she held a teapot and two cups.

“Eep!” Yomi got startled at the sudden appearance of the dwarf. “Who…who are you?”

“This one is his lordship’s maid. It is a pleasure to be your acquaintance.” Lucia bowed while still holding the teapot. Normally Lucia stayed within my shadows, but I summoned her to prod Yomi’s senses. I wanted to see if Yomi was capable of detecting a vampire. Lucia and Horatio didn’t go out much during my tour of Rallas as I feared that the musclemen would detect them.

Luckily, Yomi didn’t seem to treat her too suspiciously, which meant that I could use my vampires freely within Cahalot.

“Amazing! You even have a young maid!” Yomi awed.

“This one is a dwarf, so looks could be deceiving.”

“Like the royal dwarven maids?! No way! You must truly be an amazing mage to have a dwarven maid.”

Yomi looked at me with much admiration as if she just had stumbled upon a sorcerer king or something. A shadow blotted out my sun and someone walked in front of Yomi.

“Ahem, Boss. You’ll have to come with me. I think I found something interesting,” Maven interjected. She was acting as forward scout, using Cass as a ride. For her to come here meant that something was up ahead.

“Do I have to? It’s quite nice just sitting here,” I protested.

“Come on, you damned lazy bones. Now’s not the time to be flirting.”

“I didn’t even say anything to her!”

“Save it for later. We’ve got work to do.”

“Why are you so grumpy to me?!” I wanted to cry as Maven grabbed me by my skull and tossed me off Alph.

Maven and I rode off on Cass to see the disturbance ahead. After spotting a group of people on the horizon, we jumped into the forest at the side of the road. Sneaking through the foliage, we observed the group.

It was a bunch of bandits mugging a carriage. The bandits looked slightly bulky, but they weren’t using spells so they were not musclemen. On the other hand, the carriage was run by a merchant and his bodyguards, probably from another country.

“Boss, about those bandits…”

“Hey, wait a minute! They can’t do that!” I exclaimed as I took my sword off its sheathe and ran towards the group of people.

“Wait!”

I couldn’t hear Maven properly as I was busy concentrating on what the bandits and merchants were saying.

“Tough luck, boys. You know the drill, hand over your cash and valuables,” The head leader demanded.

“Damn you, bastards! When I get out of here, I’ll make sure the Vallen Empire hears of this!” The merchant threatened.

“Oh, is that so? Then how about I kill you all then take your things?”

“Hey! Stop this, right now! You can’t do this…” I raised my sword and shouted as I approached them.

“Oh thank the 1328 gods…”

“…without me!” I finished my sentences as I ran next to the bandit leader and brandished my sword at the merchant.

“Eh?!” The merchant stared at me in confusion.

“Where did you come from? Eh, doesn’t matter. If you help us, I might as well give you some share. The bodyguards look like trouble…” The bandit leader scratched his beard as he pointed at the caravan with his mace.

“So how are we going to share the loot? Fifty-fifty?” I asked as I inched closer to the carriage.

“Ho ho ho. Hold on here. We get first call on the loot, and then you get the rest,” The bandit leader replied.

“What? That’s…What if there’s nothing for me left?”

“Well, you see, my group is a close-knit group. How much you get depends on our mood.” The thug shrugged.

“Then I have no choice…”

“You’ll join us?” The merchant asked.

“No…Both of you have to hand your valuables now! I’m robbing both of you! I’ve lost quite a bit of coins to my subordinates, so you’ll both have to cough up some money.” I conjured a fireball and aimed it at the bandit leader. The thugs made some distance between us and the caravan guards picked whether to attack me or the bandits first.

“A sorcerer?” The bandit leader switched target to me.

“EVERYONE, WAIT!” Maven shouted as she came rushing.

“There’s another one?!” The merchant exclaimed.

“Another one? Wait…Aren’t you…” The bandit leader gasped when he noticed Maven. “Boss Maven?!”

“Boss Maven?” I muttered as I scratched my skull with my sword.

“Yes, it’s me, Maven. Everyone disperse for now. I’ll give you guys some gold coins if you do so,” Maven ordered.

“If the boss says so, then I guess we have no choice. Come on, boys. Let’s move.”

Maven handed a bag of coins to the bandit leader and the bandits scattered into the forest. As soon as they were gone, the carriage sped off into the distance.

“What was that? We could’ve gotten a few goodies.” I sighed disappointedly.

“They were part of the Skeleton Crew, Boss. Don’t worry about it, eventually the coins would go back to Beor anyway,” Maven said after she whistled for Cass to come out.

“The Skeleton Crew had expanded this far already?”

“Now that we have an enemy to destroy, it was necessary to expand it further. I think Beor’s using the Skeleton Crew to track down the knights, too,” Maven explained as she got up on Cass.

“Well…as long as you guys aren’t going overboard…”

I just hope Cahalot isn't as crazy as Rallas...