Chapter 277: Boredom
Darion explained the plan. "We’re going to the market to buy new beds. I’m replacing all the old ones. Garren knows where they’re sold."
Seren’s eyes lit up. "New beds? Finally. The ones we have now are terrible. I’ve been sleeping on lumps for long."
Darion laughed. "I know. That’s why I’m replacing them."
"I’ll come with you," Seren said, already reaching for her bow. "I need to pick out my own."
Exactly!
Exactly why Darion had asked Garren to ask Seren if she would be coming along.
She was always eager to... go to places.
Darion nodded. "I thought you might. I’ll stay back and hold down the fort."
Garren and Seren walked toward the stables, their footsteps light and easy. The journey wouldn’t be far, just a quick ride to the market near Percvale. They took two horses, one for Garren and one for Seren, and rode out of the gate.
Darion stood at the entrance, watching them go. "Safe travels," he called out.
Garren waved. "We’ll be back soon."
Seren grinned. "Don’t worry, we’ll bring you back something good."
Darion laughed, shaking his head. He watched until they disappeared from sight, then turned and walked back toward the castle.
The quiet settled over him again.
With Garren and Seren off to buy the beds, the castle surely should be boring for Darion. The silence that had once been a relief was now beginning to feel oppressive, a weight that pressed down on him from all sides.
The halls were empty, the rooms were quiet, and there was no one to talk to, no one to share the day with.
He walked through the corridors, his footsteps echoing on the newly laid stone. The castle, which had been so alive with activity just days ago, now felt like a tomb.
The walls were solid, the floors were level, and the roofs were sealed, but there was no life in them... at least not at the moment. No voices, no laughter... only silence.
It was boring. Deeply, profoundly boring.
He thought about why it was so boring. It was just him in the house, no one else. Apart from Maret and Aldra, that was.
But they weren’t his buddies like Garren and Seren, the kind of people he could go and talk to, the kind of people who would understand his thoughts and share his concerns.
They were servants, good people, hardworking people, but not people he could sit down with and have a real conversation.
He could have gone to the knights barracks to watch them ’fight train’. Their fights were entertaining, the clash of swords and the shouts of exertion filling the air.
But eh, let him go to his room. He wasn’t in the mood for watching others fight. He wanted to rest, to think, to be alone with his thoughts.
He decided to go to his room to get some rest and probably think. The walk up the stairs was slow, his footsteps heavy on the stone. The corridor was quiet, the doors closed, the rooms empty. He reached his door, pushed it open, and stepped inside.
The room was transformed. The walls were smooth and clean, the floor was level, and the roof was solid. But the bed was still the same old bed, lumpy and uncomfortable, a reminder of the old days. He lay down on it, his body sinking into the familiar lumpiness, and stared at the ceiling.
Before, when he stared at the roof, it was just leaking and not nice at all. Sometimes it even made his body shiver, the cold water dripping down on him in the middle of the night.
He had ignored looking at it until eventually he got used to it, learned to sleep through the discomfort. But now, in front of his eyes was a new roof! A good new roof that was even decorated.
The ceiling was smooth and clean, the plaster fresh and white. There were no cracks, no stains, no signs of decay. It was a thing of beauty, a testament to the skill of Ghan and his crew. Man! Ghan knew his work. He didn’t have to look at something soggy again.
Ahhh.. this is the life. This is what ’TAKING’ twenty thousand, two hundred and twenty-one gold coins from a kingdom can do to you.
Without the money, even with all his undead power, he couldn’t have gotten it anywhere else to be able to afford all the projects he had been undergoing since.
He thought about it, the twenty thousand gold coins he had taken from Valdenmoor. It had been a bold move, a risky move, but it had paid off.
The gold had funded the farmlands, the livestock, the construction of the pens, and now the renovation of the castle. It had given him the means to rebuild Percvale, to turn it from a dying barony into a thriving territory.
Without that money, he would still be sleeping under a leaking roof, his knights still starving, his barony still dying. The undead were powerful, yes, but they couldn’t build. They couldn’t plant crops, raise livestock, or repair buildings, at least not at the current rank he was. Only gold could do that. And he had plenty of it.
Then, as he stared at the roof, he suddenly remembered something. When he first became Baron of Percvale, when he first awakened this Necromancy power of his, he had summoned a Territory status.
A system screen that showed the state of his barony, its strengths and weaknesses. Since then, he hadn’t thought he should do it again because the situation of Percvale was so dire, he avoided keeping track of the direness.
And not keeping track of the direness made him forget the status even existed. He had buried it deep in his mind, a memory he didn’t want to confront. It had been too painful, too overwhelming, too much to bear.
But now, it just came to him. Lying on this bed and staring at the ceiling. It came to him like a whisper from the past, a reminder of how far he had come.
He decided to check it now. Why? Well, Percvale was no longer dire. So much had happened since then. The farmlands were restored, the livestock was healthy, and the castle was renovated. The barony was no longer dying. It was thriving.
And... and...
Darion suddenly stood up and rushed to the mirror at the wall...