Necromancer: Kingdom Building with My Legion of Undead Knights

Chapter 170: A Successful Hunt

Literally everyone was carrying meat by the time they reached Percvale. The sight was ridiculous: one Bogart, five rabbits, seven Cteedles.

The hunting party looked less like a group returning from training and more like merchants transporting an entire caravan’s worth of food.

The moment they passed through the outer sections of the barony, people began noticing. Farmers working nearby were the first. One man straightened from his work and blinked, then blinked again.

"...By the gods."

His voice immediately drew the attention of others. Heads turned, people stopped what they were doing, and then the reactions began.

"Look at that!"

"How much meat is that?"

"Is that a Bogart?!"

"It is!"

"Seven Cteedles?!"

The excitement spread quickly. Citizens left workshops and homes to stare as the hunting party passed. Children pointed, adults laughed in disbelief, and even elderly men standing outside their homes looked impressed.

The amount of meat was simply absurd. This wasn’t the first time Percvale had seen successful hunts, Darion himself had returned from the forests with large amounts of meat before. The citizens remembered those days well. Back then, seeing wagons loaded with fresh meat had felt almost miraculous after years of scarcity.

But there was a difference. Darion had usually gone with a large force of knights, nearly all of them, and even then, the results hadn’t looked quite like this. Not because Darion wasn’t effective, but because many of those earlier hunts had served another purpose: morale.

The knights had been broken back then, poorly fed, poorly motivated, unsure whether Percvale even had a future. Darion’s hunts had helped restore confidence. He had shown them they could still accomplish things, that they weren’t useless, that Percvale wasn’t finished. Those hunts had been important, very important.

The hunts had helped restore morale into the knights, made them believe that they could hunt again, be brave, and not fear the Bogoarts anymore.

Before Darion’s arrival, the Bogoarts had been described as terrifying, almost unbeatable creatures, the kind that haunted travelers’ nightmares and made even experienced hunters think twice before entering the forest.

The knights had spoken about them in hushed tones, as if the mere mention of the creatures might summon one from the trees. They had avoided the deep woods entirely, sticking to the safer paths near the farmlands, content to let the Bogoarts have the rest.

They had made the creature so overpowered in their minds. Like the mere breathing of it could kill a lot of knights at once.

When Darion first went into the forest and killed a Bogart by himself, that changed everything. Not because the knights hadn’t believed it was possible, but because seeing their Baron do it alone, with his own hands and his own weapons, made the creature seem less like an invincible monster and more like something that could be beaten.

He had shown them that the Bogart wasn’t some demon from a story. It bled. It died. And if their Baron could kill one alone, then surely they could face one together.

Now, the knights even went on hunts without him. They didn’t need him there to hold their hands or prove that it could be done. The motivation had worked, maybe too well.

Some of the younger knights had started volunteering for forest patrols, eager to test themselves against the creatures that had once terrified them. That was the difference between a broken force and a confident one. Not just skill or numbers, but belief. And Darion had given them that.

But this was different. This was simply an outrageous amount of meat, and nobody could deny it. Seven Cteedles alone would feed a huge number of people, and adding a Bogart on top of that made it even crazier.

The citizens loved it. Cheers followed the group as they moved through the settlement.

"Well done!"

"Excellent hunting!"

"Bring us some of that meat!"

That last one earned laughter. Seren couldn’t help smiling, she raised a hand and waved toward some of the cheering citizens. Several archers did the same. Their faces were bright with pride, and honestly, they deserved it. The hunt had gone exceptionally well.

Of course, a large portion of that success had come from stumbling across an unsuspecting herd of grazing Cteedles.

Did that happen on every hunting trip? Absolutely not. But the citizens didn’t need to know that. As far as everyone else was concerned, the archers had marched into the forest and returned carrying enough meat to seemingly feed half the barony. That version of events sounded much better anyway.

The group continued toward the castle. The closer they got, the more absurd the sight became. Everywhere Seren looked, someone was carrying something, an archer with a rabbit hanging from his shoulder, another dragging a Cteedle with a partner, knights carrying enormous portions of meat that looked heavy enough to break lesser men’s backs.

The Bogart itself drew the most attention. People stared openly as it passed. The creature had terrified plenty of travelers in the past, and seeing it dead was strangely satisfying.

Eventually they reached the castle gates. The guards stationed there immediately noticed them, and their eyes widened. One guard actually stepped forward.

"What in the Baron’s name happened out there?"

The other guard looked past him, his gaze landing on the Cteedles, then the Bogart, then the rabbits, then the Cteedles again, because apparently seeing them once wasn’t enough.

"The mountain gods preserve us..." he muttered.

The first guard barked out a laugh. "You lot hunted half the forest!"

That immediately earned several grins from the archers. One of them puffed out his chest. "Only half?"

Another archer snorted. "We left enough for next time."

The guards laughed. A few of the archers started boasting openly now that they were safely home.

"You should’ve seen the Bogart."

"It almost got one of the knights."

"Panett killed it with one shot."

"A clean shot. Right through the neck."

That immediately drew more impressed looks. The knight who had nearly died shook his head. "Still can’t believe that shot."

Neither could several others. Even now, remembering it made them glance toward Panett. The woman merely rolled her eyes and continued walking, the praise clearly embarrassed her more than pleased her.

The castle guards helped open the gates wider, and soon the hunting party entered the courtyard. The meat was finally unloaded. Large chunks were placed together, the rabbits were set aside, and the Bogart received its own space entirely. Several servants and guards quickly gathered around, staring at the growing pile. The amount of food was becoming more ridiculous by the minute.

Seren looked over the scene with satisfaction. Successful hunt. No casualties. Enough food to make the kitchens happy for quite a while. A good day overall.

After ensuring everything was being handled properly, she dusted off her hands. There was one more thing to do: Darion would definitely want to hear about this. Especially the part about the Bogart, and especially the part about seven Cteedles.

His reaction would probably be worth seeing.

Leaving the others to sort the meat, Seren turned and headed toward the castle interior. It was time to tell the Baron exactly how successful the hunt had been.