It took a few moments for my thoughts to catch up to me. The duke, dead? Now, of all times? How?

The sound of a nervous voice shook me out of my thoughts. “My lord? Could I be excused now?” I hadn’t realized I was still holding onto the man. Oops.

I released the guardsman’s shoulder and watched him as he jogged to join the stream of people presumably headed to the crime scene. They hadn’t immediately come for me, so it was likely I was not under suspicion, at least yet. I ducked back into my sitting room and nearly crashed into Sarah, who was waiting in front of the door. She wasted no time to badger me for information.

“What’s going on? I heard something about someone being dead?”

“The duke.” Sarah gaped and moved to speak, but I continued before she had the chance. “No, it wasn’t me,” I interjected rather bitingly, “I have nothing but vague suspicions over who it could have been.”

At least, she had enough shame to look chagrined. “Hey, if you didn’t want me jumping to conclusions, you should have told me about the mind-wiped minion,” she retorted while tilting her head in Vinara’s direction, who had remained unmoving in front of the futon.

“Well, that’s fair, I guess,” I accepted with a grumble. “In any case, it’s time to go join the commotion.”

“And her?”

I sent a few threads of Mind towards Vinara, shaping them into a spell that would purge my other Mind constructs, then set the spell to activate after ten minutes. “Go back to your room, Vinara.”

She left with the same golem-like movements, and I hoped her presence would be masked by the panicking people.

A minute later, with Sarah at my side, I left the apartment for what was likely the final time and went off in search of the late duke.

***

It took us a good fifteen minutes of confusedly pacing the hallways and unclear directions to get to the scene of the murder. Or, at least, what I believed to be the scene of the murder. There was a small crowd blocking the access to a set of gilded double doors, and by the way people were furiously whispering to each other there was little chance of it being a social call.

I forced my way through the crowd, and people began to make way for me when they realized the big evil villain they’d been warned about was in their midst. At least one woman made a warding gesture as I passed her, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Making it to the front of the crowd, I finally caught a glimpse of the trio who had greeted me earlier that day — Varath, Leonine, and Kirin-something? — who seemed to be engaged in a heated discussion. I coughed politely to grab their attention, which finally got them to notice me. They seemed to be at a loss on how to proceed until finally Leonine took a step forward.

“Your Lordship. You have arrived during a most inauspicious time.”

“You don’t say,” I murmured, drawing a surprised look from her face. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

“Please rest assured that we do not suspect you of committing this foul murder,” she asserted, but there was a slight questioning tone to her voice that suggested the very opposite. Was she asking me if I was responsible?

Snorting, I denied the veiled accusation. “I was in my rooms until barely a quarter hour ago. I heard the commotion wanted to take a look.”

“Has your curiosity been sated, then Your Lordship?” Her tone was clipped, which was no surprise given how on edge she must have been given the whole fiasco. Her liege lord was dead, which made her future uncertain.

“It doesn’t look like you have the situation handled. I have more than a passing familiarity with death. I can help you find the culprit, should you wish.”

Leonine’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, before narrowing into a more cautious gaze. “And what do you wish for in exchange for such a service? I have no doubt one such as you does not come cheap.”

My lips quirked into a wry smile. She really did think I had done it, didn’t she? “No charge,” I said as she raised an eyebrow. “Call it a professional curiosity. I’m just as curious as you are as to why someone would murder the good duke, on the day of my visit nonetheless. “

The Kirin fellow did not seem to follow along his companion’s line of thought and interjected with his approval.

“We would be most grateful for any assistance, lord.” Giving Leonine a long side-eyed glance, he continued, “I apologize for Viscountess Leonine’s rudeness, she is most upset over our liege’s passing.”

She seemed unsatisfied, but did not object. I gave them a nod and finally focused my attention on the room itself. It was a sitting room much like the one I had briefly inhabited, except much more lavishly decorated. As I took in the sights, Varath finally spoke up.

“The… cadaver is in the bedroom, to the left, Your Lordship.”

I ignored him. I’d already surmised as much, but I wanted to make sure there were no undue surprises before I approached the body. Activating Soul Vision, I once again took in the sitting room, scanning for any out of place magic.

I found none at all, which was surprising. I had expected entry wards around the windows and doors, or some trapped hidden safes, but nothing stood out. Given that he had a mage on retainer, it was fairly odd.

Still, I couldn’t complain about the lack of traps, so I moved on to the bedroom. Giving it a quick scan and once again finding nothing, I approached the bed, upon which lay the unmoving body of the former duke, his throat slashed open by a dagger that was still embedded in the soft flesh.

And still, no magic. A completely mundane murder by all evidence, and no hint as to the culprit.

“Back on E—where I’m from, they could just read the fingerprints off the dagger and find the killer that way,” Sarah murmured softly from behind me. It was a good call. A skilled Fate practitioner would likely be able to do the same. I couldn’t, but I had another trick up my sleeve.

I was going to ask the Duke himself.

***

The reason why I didn’t have a whole army of Revenants was that, unless they had a powerful mana source like Sarah, I had to continuously provide them with the mana they needed to live — and they simply weren’t worth the upkeep.

That said, temporarily bringing someone back to question them was a perfectly valid option. For anyone else, I would have felt guilty to give them another taste of life and then cruelly wrest it back, but I held no such compunctions for the duke.

Guiding back a soul and reattaching it to the body was one of the most complex spells I knew, and it was likely I was the only one alive who knew how to cast it.

This particular case was pretty straightforward — he hadn’t been dead for longer than thirty minutes, which meant the soul had barely begun its departure. While I was nursing it back to full health and stitching it back to the body, I had Sarah call over the three hangers on. There was little point to interrogating the man if no one was here to see it. They shuffled into the room with no small amount of nervousness, and neither of them had the courage to ask what was going on — that suited me just fine, as I wouldn’t have to entertain any objections from them.

A mere half an hour later I had an unconscious but living (or unliving, I supposed) duke laying on the bed.

“Very well, now, lady and gentlemen,” I addressed the trio as I rose from the bedside, “you must be wondering what I’m doing here, and why I asked you to join me.” I paused for dramatic effect and to give them the chance to interject, but they didn’t take me up on the offer. “Since there aren’t any clues as to who killed Duke Illvere, I decided the straightforward solution was to just ask the man himself.” Their faces turned to a mix of shock and revulsion, but I continued without giving them the chance to argue. “He’s already mostly back among the living, so save your objections; I’ll wake him up shortly, so if you have any questions for the man you have about a minute to prepare.”

I turned around so I could begin waking the duke up, but a voice interrupted me from behind.

“What about after... after all this? Are we going to have a zombie as a ruler?” It was Varath who asked, his voice a tremble. It seemed he was not endeared to the idea of living dead.

I waved away his concern. “I’m only bringing him back for the interrogation. He’s going back to sleep the final sleep straight after.”

“That’s repulsive! To have him suffer through death again, just for your curiosity? Leonine sputtered indignantly.

“You’re not wrong, but frankly, I don’t care.” My tone was forceful, not liking having been called out. She was silent afterwards.

I wove a thread of Mind and connected it to Illvere, willing him to wake up. It was not gradual or gentle — he immediately opened his eyes and rose to a sitting position.

“What… what is the meaning of this?!” The duke thundered, his face the picture of confusion. He lifted a hand to his neck, searching for a wound that wasn’t there anymore.

“What… you!” he exclaimed as his eyes fell on me. “You—you stabbed me! But I… I’m alive? Guards! Guards!”

Sarah moved to stand in the doorframe, ready to block the path of any guard who might answer his call. Meanwhile, I quickly wove Force to create a dome around the room that would block the sound from going out.

“Calm yourself, Illvere,” I ordered as I was finishing casting the sound ward. “I’m not the one who killed you, I only brought you back. They can attest,” I explained, tilting my head towards the trio.

Kirin and Varath each nodded, though Leonine remained a statue. The duke remained distressed, however.

“No. I don’t know what your play is, monster, but I know what I saw.” He faced the courtiers and began, “He did it—he came through the window, with the dagger in his hand, and rushed me before—”

Before things could get further out of control, I dismantled the spell that kept him alive, causing his body to collapse on the floor. At the same time, three guardsmen who had been with the crowd earlier had finally managed to break through, and were now trying to get past Sarah — to no avail, as she held the line like an immovable bulwark.

The nobles were in shock, but to her credit, Leonine recovered quickly. “You had better explain yourself, Dark Lord,” she began, her voice smoldering. If she was afraid, she didn’t show it. “You might be strong, but the staff will have heard the commotion. Even if you kill us here, you won’t be able to leave the palace, let alone the city alive.”

“I was not responsible for the duke’s death,” I stated evenly, glaring at her. “Would I have brought him back to question him if I was guilty? That makes no sense.”

Sarah had managed to beat two of the guards into submission, though one of them had a nasty gash on the side of his head that would need treatment. The final one was proving more of a handful than the other two, though.

Leonine was, however, adamant. “You could have tried to spell him to say something else, but failed. I don’t know anything about magic, but his accusation was clear—and plausible.”

Trying to convince her seemed hopeless, and having to fight the entire guard — and likely also the army reserve, which was stationed inside the city walls — was very, very risky. I had one last contingency left, but I was hesitant to use it, as it would put me on a warpath with Canneria, and I did not have the manpower to wage that kind of war, at least not yet.

My choice was taken out of my hands when Kirin unsheathed his sword — I had thought it was decorative — and raised it in my direction.

“I am sorry, but the evidence is clear,” he murmured softly. “I must avenge my liege.”

Before he could charge me, I unleashed a quick and dirty working of Force — pure kinetic force in Kirin’s direction — slamming him into the wall.

It seemed I had no other option but to use my trump card.

“My Dead Legion has infiltrated the city sewers and is poised to destroy key structures at my command. You will all stand down, or else everyone in this city will die.”