ADAD Chapter 27: Bringing in the bounty
"Did you collect all the remains?" Anastasios asked, as he tied up his boots. He was wearing necromancer robes, with a shirt and pants underneath. He and Kilkreath were about of the same size and build. Plus, it was not like the necromancer needed any of his things now, anyway.
"I also gathered all the valuables," Darius said with a smirk.
"Dari, that is stealing," Anastasios said, and then his eyes widened. "You finished with the treasure hunter rune?"
"I did! I have to say that I got so many things in here," he patted his bottomless bag then. "That we won't need to work for a whole century."
"I still think we should have left the valuables to the keepers," Anastasios protested. He looked Darius up and down. "Why are you wearing leather? Doesn't it constrict your breathing?"
"It is quite comfortable. I found this in one of the rooms," Darius pointed at his leather pants and white shirt combo, and to his leather shoes. "Do you think that Kilkreath had a demon lover?"
"If he had, he must not be here," Anastasios said, more to reassure himself, than Darius. "Besides, he wouldn't have been so keen on capturing me, if he already had a lover."
"I don't know. The geezer was sleazy," Darius said, and his nose scrunched up. "Remind me to wash my mouth with soap. I can't believe he kissed me."
Anastasios's expression turned sour at the memory. He needed to do the same as Darius, as the necromancer had kissed him, as well.
"Come on, call the keepers," Anastasios urged, and Darius pulled out a necklace, one that all bounty hunters had and one that he had had since he had been a child, and poured some mana into it. Anastasios had expected many things, but the faceless shadow creatures that came to be was not one of them.
"Kilkreath is dead," Darius said, and then handed the nearest keeper the bloody bag. "Sorry."
"You will get paid only 1,000,000 gold coins," the sound that the keeper gave out was like the cracking of a fireplace, yet, both soulmates understood him.
"Only? You say it as if it is a small amount," Darius said with a smile. The shadow creature took out a pouch, and handed it to Darius.
"You took all the treasure?" Another keeper asked.
"I had the right to," Darius insisted, and the three creatures exchanged looks.
"You will be problematic," the creature that had taken the bloody bag said. "But a good hunter, if you manage to get the jobs done."
"And if you can't," the third and final keeper made a cutting motion with a clawed finger over where his neck should be. The three smiled.
"Yeah, yeah. Threaten someone else," Darius said with a chuckle, and the three disappeared.
"What are we going to do with this place?" the question was so sudden, that the vampire prince had to blink.
"What do you mean? It is not ours?" Anastasios asked, bewildered. He had never heard of bounty hunters taking over the lairs of their victims.
"You are a prince, Nastia. You have the right of conquest," Darius said, and then pulled out a thick tome from his bottomless bag. He had found his things in a warehouse type of room. It was more of a junk room, since no one had bothered to sort the things there. Darius was lucky that his things had been thrown right next to the door.
"Wait, I do?" Anastasios peered into the tome, and began to read the paragraph that Darius pointed at.
Bounty hunter codex, rule number 399:
If a member of a royal family becomes a bounty hunter, then he or she has the right of conquest. If the only inhabitant of the realm was the target, and there are no other claimants, then the property goes to the royal family member, after the turn-over of the bounty. Should there be people living in the realm, the royalty is supposed to just walk away, and leave them to their self-rule.
"Huh, I now have a small pocket realm," Anastasios said, and looked around. "We will need to clear out the zombies."
"Nebula is only big enough to house the fields outside the castle, and the castle itself. Do you want to make this one of our hideouts? We don't need to take down the castle," Darius suggested.
"I don't know. I am thinking of selling it," Anastasios said.
"If you sell it, then some other criminal will buy it off you. We will be back here on a job before we know it," Darius said with a smirk. Anastasios bit his lower lip.
"After getting captured in here, you want to make this place what? Our family home?" Anastasios asked, knowing that the thought sounded absurd.
"We have to conquer our fears, or they will conquer us," Darius told him, and then took a hold of the vampire's hand. "Come now, Nastia. Look at it from the bright side. The castle is already furnished."
Darius winked at that, and Anastasios allowed himself a small chuckle.
"Fine, I suppose. But I want for us to clear the zombies. Now that Kilkreath is dead, they shouldn't be shambling outside anymore," Anastasios said.
"We can get a pixie crew from Orestria to deal with that. Now that we bagged such a bounty," Darius threw the pouch with the money in the air, and then caught it again. "We can afford it."
"Seeing as you were the one to kill the necromancer, you should put the money in your bank account," Anastasios suggested. He didn't want to take any of the money, knowing that the only thing he had done, was to get captured.
"We will split them in half. Think, we can get a small population here in Nebula. Maybe around twenty, or possibly, thirty, thousand people?" Darius said, and then tied the pouch to his belt. He gave his soulmate a bright smile, and then took out the teleportation device that was supposed to take them back to Orestria.
"We can go back, and you can get your private tutor. When we clear the realm of all of Kilkreath's leftover magic, we can invite people to settle," Anastasios agreed, and the teleportation array appeared under their feet.
