The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10 – A New Home

It was three months after her return. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Lilah and the Wolfram & Hart lawyers, the courts had ruled her as being the person she said she was, and the money from the Sleepers Fund had been released to her. And, now, she was about to set foot in her new home.

Lilah was with her as they drove along the highway. It was a little over an hour from Haneda Airport to the property she’d purchased near the Shirayama Shrine in the Kamitakida area of Minamiboso, in the Chiba Prefecture, but there was plenty of space, and, other than some farms, her two closest ‘neighbors were the shrine, and the ruins of Takida Castle, to the south. With her new home only being accessible by a simple dirt road that was barely large enough for single vehicles to pass between the trees, she was, effectively alone out in nature.

As their car turned onto the dirt road, Lilah began talking about the place. “I know you wanted something closer to Tokyo but, given the regulations on undead, and your desire for privacy, the relators that the firm hired thought this was a good compromise. Because you are far from any major civilian populations, you have a much greater latitude in your security setup, as well.”

“And the utilities?”

“Electrical and plumbing have been run out to the estate, and the aethernet is connected by a fiber line to a main trunk running along some nearby power lines. There’s also a backup generator that runs off ambient magicules, but you’ll have limited power under those circumstances. We also put in a satellite dish for better communications. Oh, and a well on site, in case there’s a disruption.”

“That’s fine, then. And the rules on undead?”

“Yes, bound or created mindless undead, whether spiritual or physical in nature, are allowed on private property, though they may be exorcised if they leave the property line unattended, and their owner is potentially liable for whatever they do. They can be taken off the property so long as they are under the command or control of the necromancer or binder. In those circumstances, the controller assumes all responsibility for the undead’s actions.

“As for intelligent undead, if they are free-willed, then they are treated, legally speaking, like any other being. So, you wouldn’t be under any restrictions that a normal person wouldn’t also be subject to. Also, it is only legal to have intelligent undead bound to serve against their will if you have some kind of court order, or it is a part of their creation, such as with vampires being subject to control from their sires.”

Kaori nodded, “Perfect.” And it was. After all, every undead she had brought back with her had been created by her own magic, so there would be no complaints, legally.

Lilah continued. “Now, getting the construction done so quickly was difficult, but magic helped with the construction process greatly. As you requested, the main house sits in the center of the square kilometer plot of land, and was made with the traditional style in mind, though some modern materials and techniques were used, obviously, and magic, of course. No lingering spellwork, but magic was used to quickly prepare the ground, among other things.”

They broke through the trees, and into a perfectly square clearing, one kilometer on a side, arrayed around a small hill. In the middle of the clearing, there was a castle. Nothing to match the likes of Himeji, of course, but the tenshukaku was a respectable three stories (though being at the top of the hill, it looked like four), with three other buildings of two stories each standing at the corners of the honmaru. Around the base of the hill, the walls of the ninomaru formed a defensive line, four hundred meters from the edge of the clearing.

The materials, as Lilah had said, were common enough. The castle had been built quickly, to get the form there. Any of the builders would have likely thought that it was pure vanity. But Kaori didn’t care. She had plans for this place.

As she stepped forward, towards the outer wall, and its single gate, Kaori allowed the human guise to fall away in flames, revealing her true form. A touch of her ankh, and her business clothes became the regal robes and armor she had been wearing upon her return. Then, she slipped off the ring that was suppressing her aura, and a portion of her power with it. She would need all her power for what was to come. With a wave of her hand, she opened her pocket dimension, and pulled out her staff.

But the portal to her pocket dimension did not close. Instead, out walked seven skeletons, each holding a mage’s staff and wearing robes that clearly had at one time been great, but had clearly witnessed battles that would have been the death of mortal men. Each bore the mark of Risen Athelia upon their brow, engraved by magic. One bore a silver crown upon her head.

These were her Magelords of Athelia. One was the mage who crafted the Slave Collars that had bound her and her friends to the King’s will. The other six were the mages who had conducted the summoning itself, with the crowned mage being the Princess who had led the ritual. All seven were enslaved to her will, trapped in their own minds, unable to resist, just as she had been unable to resist.

Getting the Princess’s soul back from whatever happens after death (there was some question about that, even in the other world, whether there was an afterlife, or whether reincarnation awaited the fallen) had not been easy. But she had been willing to pay the price, and so had grabbed her soul, along with twenty others. Nineteen of those souls had been those of her classmates, and she had released them when she deanimated their corpses, so that, whatever happened after death, they would see it in this world, not the other one.

The last soul? That belonged to the Princess’s father, who had ordered the summoning. She had taken great delight, once she had turned him into the first of her death knights, in having him lead her swelling armies against Athelia as she conquered the country, and united its people in death. It was a petty torture, perhaps, but it was the best she could do at the time.

Lilah’s gasp of surprise brought her back to reality. With a thought, she commanded her Magelords. They ran, quickly taking up positions all around the castle. Together with her, they formed the eight points of the compass, both Cardinal and Ordinal.

As one, they began a ritual Magick. This was different from a normal spell. Normal magic influenced the world around you, using magic to change things. Magick, especially ritual Magick, changed things from within. In this case, it was reminding the materials within the castle what they could be.

Together, they formed the circle, and invoked the power of the realm of the Ideal. Her magic stretched out, and reminded the wood of the castle of when it was Wood, the primal, unknown thing, full of Magick and possibility. The stone remembered when it was Stone, and so on. Every inch of the castle was upgraded and enhanced, simply by making it more Real than reality. Even the castle itself was forced to know what it was to be a Castle.

She had actually gone through a process similar to this, when she had gone to the Hie shrine to be purified. She had theorized that Purification was useful against negative energy and the undead because it reminded mortal beings of what it was like to be Real. The negative energy shed when they were Purified? That was the baggage they carried from living in a world where the Real was corrupted by reality.

With that in mind, she theorized that an undead like herself was cleansed and pushed out of reality by Purification because of the Belief, both that of the priest and the undead, that they were unnatural, unreal. That their Real state was death. So, when they were Purified, and the real became Real, that belief helped push them into Death, and whatever came beyond it.

That is where she differed from most undead. She viewed herself as being as close to Real, the way she should be, as it was possible for a living (or unliving) creature of reality to be. If she wasn’t as she was intended to be by reality, then why were the powers given to her by Magick itself when she was summoned to that other world ones that directly led her to this path?

So, purifying herself had not banished her, or sent her to the afterlife, or anything like that. Instead, it had made her more Real, just as it would with anyone. Now, any creature in reality would lose that Real-ness over time, but, while it lasted, they would be more in touch with their power.

Living creatures quickly lost the Real-ness. The very act of living and acting in the world eroded it, as your perceptions of reality changed the Real to fit what they perceived. Because of that, a living person who made themselves more Real would only experience that clarity for a few hours or a few days, a week at most. Their perceptions alter their belief too quickly, which makes them less Real, and more real.

Objects, on the other hand, were different. Depending on the power behind the Purification or Realization, an object could be more Real for years, decades even. Some became so Real that, even when the effect wore off, they kept some of that Realness. That is where the legends of swords which were preternaturally sharp, and yet untouched by any enchantment would come from, for instance. It also made it possible for objects to gain a will of their own, altering the item in interesting ways.

Undead, it seemed, were somewhere in the middle of things. An Undead that survived Purification, due to their Belief forming the core the core of their being as something of the world, despite their being dead, would be moved closer to the Real. Neither living nor objects, that Realness lasted longer. How much longer, she didn’t yet know, but it had been just over two months since she’d been Purified, and she was still feeling the Realness. It had dimmed somewhat, but only to perhaps seventy percent of what it had been before.

That Realness came in handy for her now, as it allowed her to channel power more efficiently, taking in mana from the world more easily, and allowing it to flow through her with less resistance. This gave her only a small boost to her raw power in absolute terms, but it gave her more ‘bang for her buck’, allowing her to get good results with less effort, and not draining her as badly as they would otherwise.

By the time they finished the ritual, night was falling, despite it being midday when they had arrived. The castle looked much the same, except the walls, while made of wood, were now harder than steel, and would take heat greater than it would take to melt steel to catch aflame. The rest of the castle was similarly enhanced, and, with the power she had used, in a ritual designed for this, it would remain so, for at least a hundred years, maybe more.

The Realness of the castle was not the only thing that had changed. The castle’s colors had changed to a rose brown color, with ebony trim. Upon each gate, and the main doors of the tenshukaku itself, the symbol of Risen Athelia was emblazoned in silver.

As the Magelords came back to her side at her mental command, she opened her pocket dimension once again, and ushered them in. Once the last one left, however, a knight upon an undead steed, with horse and rider clad in black armor, rode out of the portal, and infantrymen and archers were at his back, walking in perfect formations.

The undead general, the pointedly crownless former King of Athelia, stopped before the Archlich who commanded his soul. Raising her scepter, she said, “Secure the citadel, and man the walls. Capture those who seek to enter unbidden, so that I might judge them.” She then pointed to Lilah, and said, “This one is to be allowed access to the outer and inner courtyards whenever she comes, until I say differently. Do you understand?”

The undead knight bowed in the saddle. “As you will, your Majesty.” She dismissed him with a wave, and the knight began ordering the troops, setting up for a defense.

Turning to look at Lilah, who was watching in equal parts wonder and shock from the hood of the car, where she had been relaxing while the ritual continued, Kaori slipped her ring back on her finger, dampening her aura once more, before restoring her human guise. “Well, Morgan-san, I am afraid I have kept you overlong. Will you accept my hospitality this evening? I will have food prepared for you, the likes of which you have never eaten, in celebration of this day.”

Lilah nodded dumbly, suddenly very glad she had decided not to bring a driver with her on this trip. Keeping them silent would have been impossible, and she tried to avoid killing people if it could be helped. Too many deaths raised questions, after all.

“I would be honored, Akagawa-san.”

Kaori smiled as she turned back to the castle. It was nothing compared to the palace she had ruled out of in the other world, but that didn’t matter. This was hers. Her new home.

It felt good to be home.