"Are you sure?" Asked the puzzled Baron sitting comfortably on his huge throne, he could barely fit on it but that didn't stop him from rolling from side to side.

"Yes... my lord."

"I will ask again to make sure you are certain of what you said. Think carefully about your words for they will have serious consequences for you?" Asked the Baron calmly of his very loyal knight.

"Yes, I am sure... My lord," replied Derek Astranion as he knelt with one foot in the 'throne room' of his long-time employer.

So you are telling me that ... one of my villages was attacked by an army from another country.... on top of that they kidnapped or killed all the villagers and onto all this they took all the valuables and didn't even spare the priest?"

"Yes... my lord."

"And this country you're talking about is the one we have a non-aggression pact with, right. Have I misheard?" Asked the baron sitting on an elaborately decorated chair with the signs of the family carved on it. "You're lying... you are lying, you must be lying."

'You lie ... you dog... Sturia would never attack us.... they have too many internal problems for such a military action, after all. Liar..." Shouted Baron Isembert and every word he spoke took the air out of his lungs, causing him to have to interrupt his travesty of a speech every few short moments, just to keep himself from suffocating.

"It's impossible, what other kingdoms or the empire would say. The empire will stop them..."

"That's why, that's why you have to lie, admit it already. Admit..."

"No... Lord. I didn't exactly say it was a Sturi army that invaded the village right away, maybe some Sturian noble was hyperactive and couldn't help himself. You know very well what nobles are like." Derek told him slowly without letting on. All the while not lifting his gaze from above the floor as if the mere sight of the baron made the knight feel disgusted.

"Because we both know that war is coming, well, unless you are so inept that you don't even know it. In which case the next baron..." Thought the knight when not even a shadow of sympathy emerged in him.

"You're lying again.... nobility is above something like invasions, who do you think you are.... one more lie and I orders you to be flogged, you understand dog. Do you understand?" Shouted the Baron angrily squinting his eyes and with every word he spit saliva in front of him, but unfortunately for him the object of his anger was far enough away that the fluids flowing out of the Baron's mouth could not reach him. Throughout his entire tirade, the Baron tried to get up to his feet, but it looked like he was slightly wedged in his seat.

"..."

After a few moments though, Isembert finally managed to get up from his 'throne' and with a slow, 'dignified' step worthy of an obese nobleman approached the knight he hated.

"Damn peasant, I'm about to show him how he should address a superior species. Dog thinks he can bark." Thought the pig in human skin as he tried to descend the stairs. Every downward step taken by the baron only made his belly shake even more, which, combined with his appearance resembling a giant ball, only added comic effect to the whole situation.

"Come on, slip fatty.... just one wrong step and I'll have one problem out of the way. I won't even have to get my hands dirty." Thought Derek as he listened in boredom to the Baron's slow steps coming towards him.

When Baron Isember overcame the great obstacle in life called the stairs and miraculously avoided committing suicide by slipping on them he stood directly in front of the giant knight. The baron, seeing that he surpassed Derek by a head when the latter was kneeling and had his head turned down, he became bold and with falsely confident in his actions, he decided to make his servant aware of place in the world.

"Didn't your mother teach you how you should kneel before those better than yourself?" Said the baron as he kicked his knight in the leg with all his might, thus trying to throw him off balance. His stunt, however, ended with poor results as Derek, unmoved and hard as a wall, did not even feel the impact of the human ball.

"Auuuu..." Hissed the baron in pain after delivering the blow.

"It's like I kicked the damn armor." Thought the Baron as he tried to massage his suffering left limb.

Sadly, despite the pain, this situation taught Baron Isembert nothing, as he decided to continue pushing his luck further. It is unclear whether at this point the baron was so stupid or perhaps completely unaware of the situation he was in as he continued to poke the sleeping monster in front of him with his stick.

"You didn't hear me.... are you stupid or deaf.... kneel dog, kneel like I your mother before every highborn when she sucks their dicks for money." Said the Baron provocatively to his 'faithful' and 'devoted' knight. The smile did not leave his face.

"..."

At first Derek didn't react to his insults, wanting to give his employer, as usual, a moment to calm his sultry temper, but as soon as he heard the words he said about his mother, he decided to act. The big knight raised his head so that he was looking directly into the eyes of the living pile of shit he was calling his master, right in the eyes. And then, without breaking eye contact, got up from his knees.

Baron Isembert was never a tall man even compared to easterners who were not famous in the kingdom for their height, while Derek having northern genes in him that probably contained parts of the old warrior barbarians was sometimes considered half a giant, so as soon as the knight stood up he immediately surpassed the fat man by almost a meter in height.

'Say that again,' The giant spoke loudly in his authoritarian voice that knew no objection, constantly ready at any moment to tear off his 'master's' head, just in case he further challenged his family."

Intimidated by the knight's appearance, the Baron momentarily forgot the words he wanted to say to further humiliate his knight. Isembert fell silent reflexively and, out of fear, took a few steps back from the human beast he had awakened, almost falling over the stairs behind him.

"Relax Derek it only takes a second to deprive him of his life, don't squander what you have achieved so far." The knight pondered as he tried with all his might to hold back. Yet his hands were itching incredibly hard.

"..."

"..."

Neither of them said anything for many minutes to break the silence that fell between them, a silence so deep it could be cut with a blade.

Derek remained silent to see if the Baron was stupider than he had previously assumed, and Isembert remained silent because he was afraid to say anything that might offend the knight standing before him with his unscorched epilepsy. Completely forgetting his theory of blue blood supremacy.

"..."

"..."

"So the Sturians even took valuables from the temple?" Asked the baron after a long moment, wanting to quickly change the topic of conversation and distract Derek from the previously unflattering situation for him.

"Yes," replied the knight emotionlessly, now not even pretending to have any respect for his master.

"What barbarians.... they don't even care about the gods. Where is their declaration of war."

Derek, however, added nothing and silence took over the room once again.

"..."

"..."

"But you know I can't trust the words of just one man, right?"

"..."

"That's why someone else needs to confirm your version of events, I'll have another knight investigate the place while you defend the castle from threats in the meantime."

"Okay?" Asked the Baron in a servile tone once again forgetting that he was in charge.

"..."

"Only when he comes back from the expedition will I be able to calmly write a letter to the king on what happened there...."

"..."

"As you wish... My lord." Said Derek dismissively as he started to leave the throne room without listening to any more orders from the fat pig. He got the answer he wanted and didn't care any more about pretending to be humble.

"..."

"..."

It was only when the knight walked out the door that the baron was able to breathe easy, though at that moment he hadn't yet noticed that he was covered all over in sweat and maybe even something more.

---

(At the same time)

"Gawain do you think I have changed?" I asked my faithful knight for advice.

"Master..."

"What do you mean you didn't know me before?"

"Now... I ask if I haven't changed now, recently. You understand... after all, we've known each other for a few days so you must have noticed something, right?"

"Master..."

"So you're saying you don't see a difference."

" Weird... cause you know I thought I was a lot more violent than usual."

"Master..."

"No, being a sadist has nothing to do with it. I mean I think I feel a greater urge to kill something, do you have that too?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm undead, Gawain what do you think?"

"Master..."

"What do you mean you have no experience , after all you were alive before then you must know something".

"Master..."

"You don't remember because you have been dead too long and there are only skeletons in the land of the dead so you have no experience? "

"I understand, maybe it will get me too as I don't know how much longer I will walk in this sad world."

"Damned dementia..."

"Wait... the land of the dead you say.... that's interesting."

"But we'll come back to that."

"Master..."

"As you wish."

"..."

"And you Randaloph what do you think about my theory that being undead makes more aggressive towards the living. Have you felt that?"

"After all, you have only been dead for a few days then you must feel some difference?"

"--'\__/'--"

"Okay, okey."

"But we'll come back to it in the future, okay?"

"--'__'--"

"Ok... I'll take that as a yes"

"--''__--"

"So Gawain as for the land of the dead..." I said after a moment of awkward silence in an attempt to change the course of the conversation.

However, before the knight could even had chance what to convey....

"Hrrrr... "Randaloph growled.

"What now?" I asked as I turned my head toward my animal companion.

"--'\__/'-- !!!!"

"What... did you finally catch a trace of your former pack?"

"Hrrrr..." This time the wolf growled gleefully in confirmation, or at least that's how I took it.

"I see you're already looking forward to it. In that case, lead the way, just don't run too fast after all the skeletons can't keep up with you."

"--,__,--"

The wolf left with smile and immediately launched into an excited run quickly through the forest, just periodically looking back to see if the rest of us could keep up.

"You heard him team, get ready for battle, we have wolves to slaughter".

"..."

I was answered only by the clatter of weapons and the baptism of bones, but unconcerned by the lack of response from my servants and the encompassing silence throughout the forest I still maintained a good mood.

"I just hope this is enough, I have a reputation to preserve. I don't see myself starting to gather an army from scratch. But the word is out... let's hope that if I lose, pretending to be dead will do something for me. I forgot to ask my dog if he could sense the dead."