The Ruined Death Knight

Danzel stared in front of him in silence.

Contemplating what Shiro told me about one of his Anabast.

'Though I expected some trouble to brew with those people. To think that something like this will happen so soon. We haven't even been here for a day.' Danzel grumbled internally.

He thought that the presence of his undead and his own would delay if not prevent such issues from happening in the first place.

'Is it because I myself wasn't present? The people that followed me were obedient enough. Are the guys of Vashara at fault for this trouble?' Danzel thought, annoyed by the turn of events.

He had already troubled himself and wasted days of time in making this place a temporary base of operation. And had several parts prepared for his projects, while not dismissing the main "mission".

Which was scouting the frozen lands to find their way back to the "Main Lands".

Problems to occur were but natural, but for them to happen so soon, someone had to be at fault. Or rather, was at fault.

He then looked at Talon with his ethereal eyes.

Getting hold of his connection with him to see even his most inner desires and feelings.

He felt many things, be it the hatred of the undead, his interest in magic, to prove himself, disappointment, contemplations, or confusion.

But none of those feelings held any shred of betrayal or anything of the sort.

In fact, it was the total opposite.

Talon despite standing in front of him in silence, felt confused and worried wherever his actions went against his will.

Making Danzel smile bitterly, knowing full well what the cause of the situation was all about.

"Overwriting orders with orders, huh?" Danzel mumbled to himself as he stared at Baron.

"Unfortunately Baron, this has to be the end of our session. Go with Talon down the village and tell a few Draugrs to specifically patrol the village. It doesn't need to be many...10 or 20 should be enough to make this for happening again in the meantime."

"I shall impose your will as thee commanded." Baron said, but the hid of disappointment he felt from losing the time to learn from his creator couldn't be hidden from Danzel.

"O thee creator, I-" Talon tried to explain himself, but Danzel looked at him with his flaring ethereal eyes.

"You got your order Talon, fulfill them." Danzel said out loud, but at the same time, he internally spoke to Talon.

'Talon, I can imagine your course of action. And I ain't blaming you for acting upon them. But it seems like you have lost Shiro's trust, the one who teaches you and the others magic. For now, go and do as I ordered.'

Hearing his creator's words from his connection with him, Talon clenched his hand and bowed his back.

"-I will do as you command, thee creator."

As he watched the two leaving, he put his focus on the small girl with long white hair and pale white skin.

"There you have it, Shiro. Would that be all?" Danzel said.

Hearing his answer, Shiro frowned and yelled back.

"What do you mean "Would that be all"!? Aren't you going to punish Talon!? You told me that an undead that you created couldn't define his creator's order. And you told them that as long as they don't breach your will, they will hear me out!" Shiro yelled back at Danzel, making him frown (can't show it as his face is a skull).

"Careful with your words, Shiro. You are getting ahead of yourself, blinding yourself in the process." Danzel said with a chilling voice, making Shiro freeze in the spot.

"The actions of my undead are my own, a simple extension of my will bestowed upon them. Punishing Talon for simply following my will makes me no less responsible for killing that man that makes you responsible, Shiro." Danzel said, shocking Shiro from the last bit he said.

"W-What? How am I responsible!? I told Talon to stop and let go of the man! Not to kill him! I-"

"Did you know? Did you truly tell Talon to not kill that man?"

"Yes! That's the first thing that I told him! I already told you so!" Shiro replied, seeing no point in the whole conversation.

Though Danzel shook his head.

"Indeed, this order made Talon stop the two from fighting and not kill them in the process. He also made sure to incapacitate the two men. The important part was when you ordered Talon to dismiss your order. Leaving for my own orders to take place.

"W-What do you mean?" Shiro said while taking a step back.

Danzel shook his head and sighed out loud.

"Sigh, you been there when I have placed my orders with all my undead. And among them was to eliminate the ones who disturbed and misbehaved. Your "that's enough command" was understood as removing your previous order by Talon. That resulted in my order to take place and, well, kill the man."

Shiro eyes shook upon the revelation while shaking her head in denial.

"No, t-this isn't what I meant! I didn't want I wanted-"

"And I believe you, Shiro." Danzel raised his hand to stop her from continuing.

"But as you I told you before, depending on the quality of the spell that made the undead, they will be able to understand the will of their creator and move according to the intended will or orders of their creator. We've gone through this before, Shiro. And Talon has the same connection with me, but what does that mean for you?"

Danzel looked at her in silence, letting her come up with the answer.

It took her only a few seconds to gather herself and think of what Rue was telling her. And once she figure it out, she lowered her head.

"T-That I don't have this connection, as I wasn't the creator." Shiro said, with tears building up in her eyes.

"Correct." Said as he stared at her with his flaring eyes.

"If anything Talon could be blamed for, that would be his decision as to why he killed the one man instead of the other. If you want to blame anyone, blame me for imposing the orders on my undead." Danzel said as he walked one step closer to her.

"But even if you did, my orders will still hold and people will continue to die from their stupidity. I only need a few of all of those people alive. I know that you are smart Shiro. And because you are smart, you should know what the fasted way to return to the "Main Lands" is and to meet Agares, your grandfather, and Velkir, who can treat your body."

Albeit Danzel wasn't yelling and he was simply stating the reality of the situation, to Shiro it felt like Danzel was yelling at her.

Shiro tried her best to hold her tears while thinking about what to say to prove Danzel's words wrong. Alas, inside her, she knew that what he said was right. Making the tears that build up fall to the ground.

Making Danzel feel extremely awkward about the whole situation. Unsure of what to say.

The two stood there, with Shiro crying from guilt and Danzel standing there.

It was only after a while when Danzel noticed that their clothes of Shiro have been damaged that he decided to speak up.

"Even if it doesn't mean anything to you, know that you aren't at fault Shiro. In life, there is bound to be a situation like this that you will have to face, regardless of wherever you like it or not. How about we go to the house and see how to fix your clothes? We can forget about all the lessons today if want..." Danzel patted her head like pressing a big button with his hand before removing it, knowing that his gauntlet was chilling cold and the dead mana surrounding him was anything but pleasant for the living.

Shiro sniffed and used her free hand to clean her tears.

"Can an undead talk about how life is supposed to be?" Shiro tried to say while hiding her face by putting her bone fox mask on.

Danzel shrugged his shoulders, releasing how ironic his words truly were.

"For a midget to holding such a big staff with one hand, I find rather more amusing than my words." Danzel countered back.

Shiro face's pouted a bit, despite still feeling conflicted and sad about what he told her minutes ago. Holding her staff though, she was reminded that despite being far away from her grandpa, she still had something that he gave her with him.

Staring, at Rue, she remembered that despite the situation, she wasn't alone in this cold place, even if the one being with her wasn't of the best character.

"I am not a midget." Shiro retorts back.

"If you aren't a midget, then I am one of the living. I would be more eager to believe you if you told me that you were a dwarf."