Because of the fright given to the villagers of Broomwood by Aleric's "bait" zombie, a lot of them were awake. Two dozen tense men and frightened women gathered near a few lanterns and torches, waiting for the templars to return and say that nothing was threatening them anymore.
And when they came, the villagers let out a sigh of relief at first. But then the templars stepped into the light, and the relief changed with horror.
Those people carried wounds too gruesome to live with and moved like puppets on strings! And behind them, the villagers saw a rotting horse carrying a white-haired rider with a staff made out of spines.
"What… is that?" someone whispered.
"Oh heavens… Light protect us!"
Aleric raised his staff, interrupting the terrified voices.
"People of Broomwood! I am Aleric Fenn, and from now on, you serve me. Kneel, and you will serve alive. Disobey me, and you will serve me dead, just like these templars!"
A few women fell on their knees immediately, sobbing in fear. Most people were too shocked and scared to move at all.
"A necromancer?!"
"We are doomed…"
"What do we do?!"
Half a minute later, an elderly man—the village's head—slowly made a step forward.
"M-master F-f-fenn," he stuttered. "P-please, sp-spare us… W-we are ju-just simple fo-folk…"
Suddenly, another man ran out of the crowd, holding a torch.
"This is him! This is the thing that stole my boots! I can recognize them even in the dark!"
The man pointed at Aleric's new shoes and shook his torch.
"Just recently, this monster was running away from the Light's servants! He's not so strong, we can kill him together! Don't let him take our souls!"
The speech filled many men with new courage. They raised their own torches or picked up tools lying nearby. The village's head looked at the rebellious farmer with fright.
"Michel, he ki-killed the te-templars!…"
Aleric raised his staff and pointed it at the rebellious farmer.
"That's right, and I can kill all of you even easier."
A bolt of green energy flew from the staff, hitting the farmer and making him howl in agony. To terrified gasps of other villagers, he fell to the ground, convulsing, then went still.
A second later, to their growing terror, the farmer stood up again with jerking movements of a zombie.
"Michel!" a woman cried out from the crowd. "Monster, what have you done with Michel?!"
"I will do it with everybody else who goes against me," Aleric said coldly. "Kneel if you want to live!"
Terrified, the woman fell to her knees. So did the village head. After them, the rest of the villagers followed one by one.
Aleric looked at them and smiled in satisfaction. These people who always looked at him with hatred now couldn't even raise their eyes at him. He knew they would hate him even more now, but as long as he was stronger, it didn't matter.
Aleric pointed at the village head.
"You, old man! Get me your best bedroom and food. I will stay in your house. Oh, and add a change of clothing—boots weren't enough. I need a new cloak."
Nobody dared to disobey.
Soon Aleric was given a large room with a twin bed (which previously belonged to the village's head and his wife) and a warm meal to eat inside.
Despite the obedience of the villagers, Aleric still surrounded the room with his zombies. He also leaned the Spine Staff on a wall in a way that let it see the room's entrance.
"If someone tries to kill me in my sleep, shout."
"Of course, master," it said, flashing its eyes. "Although a shout from me might just kill these dumb peasants with fright!"
Aleric chuckled. This was true. Unlike Aleric, they had their lives, homes, and families to cling to, which made them easy to scare even by something like Spine Staff.
The meal given to Aleric was a simple vegetable mash with eggs, but it felt like a royal feast to him. It was warm! Cooked! On a stove, not a bonfire! Even templars only had field rations on them.
And then Aleric could lie in a bed. An actual bed! It was pure bliss. For the first time in years, Aleric felt like an actual human. This was something worth fighting and killing for.
There were a lot of enemies outside waiting for him, but Aleric slept like a babe this night.
When he woke up, he left the head's house to examine the local graveyard. The believers of Light buried their dead without too much reverence, believing that only the soul mattered in the afterlife. But the graves were usually blessed by priests, and Aleric worried it might prevent him from raising the bodies.
However, he couldn't feel any Light energy in the graveyard. Only death was here, and a lot of weathered wooden grave markers.
"It will take a while to dig up all these bodies, even with human helpers," Spine Staff noted. "I will probably have time to teach you a more advanced spell that raises dead—it will make your undead more robust and will prevent them from rotting further."
At this moment, a gust of wind brought the stench of Aleric zombies to his nose. He grimaced.
"Can this spell reverse rotting, Staff?"
"No, master… Such necromancy is much more advanced for your current level."
Aleric sighed. At least he was getting used to the smell.
After this, he returned to the village's head and gave him his next demand.
"Village head, I want every man of this village to take a shovel and start digging bodies from your graveyard," Aleric ordered. "I need all of them."
"B-bodies? Bu-but…" A threatening look from Aleric made the village head wither. "Of course. I will call everybody at once!"
"My zombies will help, too," Aleric added. "So bring extra shovels."