Exarchi watched the construction drones as they placed the remaining unused stone slabs into the castle’s storage room. The thanes were busy coordinating the drones as well, though combat-oriented thanes like Thane Alpha-Alpha-One followed Exarchi around like a puppy.

“At least the undead tends to keep things pragmatic… mostly,” Exarchi remarked while staring at the half-deconstructed shrine at the center of the castle. “With this, we should be able to start our operations.”

“Location of next target?” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One asked.

“Not so fast. We’ve been cut off from reinforcements for a while now, which means we can’t replenish our numbers. Other than that, the fight with the flying undead knocked out some of my aerial drones, and I wouldn’t want to do anything rash without proper scouting. I will need them repaired before I could make my move.”

There was a gap between Custodian’s sphere of influence and Exarchi’s reach which disallowed communicate with either sides, so getting any more drones from the homeland was impossible without leaving the Kojan Forest region.

“This unit suggests using the organics for our gains,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One suggested.

“What? Using the humans? I’d rather not.” Exarchi waved his hand.

“Reason?”

“They’re chaotic and unreliable. You can’t trust anything you can’t control directly.”

“Affirmative, but the organics could serve well as auxiliaries,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One pointed out.

“We don’t have anything to entice them with. No, wait...” Exarchi stopped to think for a second then nodded to himself. “We do have the capability to produce goods the humans would want.”

“Additionally, there are hostile forces that can be raided for additional material,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One noted.

“I don’t like using organics but I suppose we can bait them into attacking the undead. Whether they win or lose, we can gain a lot.” Exarchi nodded.

A group of pale-skinned men followed a stranger they had never met before. From head to toe, the stranger was clad in equipment they could only hope to get in their dreams. At first, they were wary of him, but after a quick back and forth, they realized this stranger was a fellow warrior of Humanos.

“Will the stranger really show us where he got his armor?” one of the pale-skinned warriors asked.

“We can only believe in Humanos,” a man replied.

After a small trek across the deadlands, they stumbled upon a small camp. It was unlit, had little defenses, and was guarded by a small number of undead zombies. The leader of the group and the stranger talked for a moment before they reached an agreement.

“The stranger will help us in this fight and asks for nothing more than the destruction of the undead,” the leader said.

“A faithful. I can respect that,” a warrior praised.

“This should be an easy fight. Those dark creatures do look like they’re wearing some fine armor,” a young man noted.

The group encircled the camp then attacked the camp in full force. The undead were slow to react, but they still managed to hold their ground. Spears clashed with axes, and the humans were slowly thinning the undead’s ranks.

The human leader scanned the battlefield and found something odd. “Where’s the stranger?!”

“He’s over here!” someone shouted, garnering the attention of the leader. On the floor was the body of the armored warrior with an old sword pierced through his heart.

Though it was a shame, the stranger wasn’t even someone they knew very well, so the leader wasn’t too concerned about that. However, there was something else he had to be concerned about.

“I… I see another warband approaching! Who are they?! What are those banners?!”

“It’s- It’s the flag of the Church! Enemy reinforcements! We’re about to be cut off!” the leader exclaimed. “Rally on me! We must break out!”

The appearance of the tattered gray flag of the newly-arrived undead army caused many of the humans to panic. Zombies armed with rusted swords charged against their foes while skeletons with fleshy arms let loose a hail of arrows against the back of the escaping human warriors.

Amidst the chaos of the battle, the stranger got up from the ground. It pulled out the sword from its chest then stared off into the distance, its eye blinking with a deathly red glow.

From atop a hill, a new army appeared. They had no banners, no discernable colors, and no signs of life. In front of them was none other than Exarchi.

“Look at these mindless fools,” Exarchi mocked. “They don’t even realize they were doomed from the start.”

“Please assign targets, commanding unit,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One reminded.

“Both the undead and the humans. Leave none alive. Leave no witnesses. I’ve checked the surroundings already. We are clear.”

With that, the massacre started. No human was spared, and the undead didn’t realize they were being attacked from the back until it was too late. The once noisy battlefield became quiet, not even crows were present to announce the end.

‘All clear,’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One concluded in hivespeak. ‘Beginning salvage operations.’

The warrior drones didn’t waste any second organizing the dead and the loot. Spider drones appeared and started tying the bodies together to form a corpse train. Within minutes, the entire area was picked clean.

‘Good. With this, we have materials for extra repairs, and the mana matter from the undead should help us make anti-mana. As for the weapons, we can smelt them into equipment to requisition the services of the humans,’ Exarchi calculated. ‘Is the path back to our forward operating base clear?’

‘Affirmative,’ a thane reported back.

‘Then move quickly! It’s been a busy week, and both sides should start becoming suspicious!’ Exarchi ordered.

Within a week after capturing the undead fort, the drones had already raided most of the larger surrounding undead bases. At the same time, Exarchi had been testing the waters when it came to handling the humans.

While the humans were easily enticed by the promises of loot and facing weaker opponents, they would usually prefer the safety of their walls over proactively attacking the undead. The only armies willing to attack were either the foolish ones or the ones with a large proportion of mages in their ranks.

As he travelled back to his castle with his army, Exarchi started to plan his next move. He was correct to the core about the humans; they were unreliable, but he could always turn that to his advantage.

“Question,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One said.

“What?” Exarchi asked.

“What is the purpose of trying to stockpile a lot of materials if there are no available ways to construct more units?”

“There is a purpose. Within a few days, the next Forward Outpost drone would be up and running. By the time it arrives, I want everything to be prepared when we link up with the main force.”

“Interesting. This unit has learned ‘long-term planning’.”

“You can’t just learn it like that!” Exarchi retorted. “Anyway, I find it annoying that the undead which follow the liches have no monster core. Is there some sort of correlation?”

“This unit suggests that the ones with a core are independent units,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One replied.

“The possibility is there, but we can leave the worrying to Master Custodian. Right now we have a bigger concern—the unknown human army approaching my castle.”

By the time Exarchi arrived at his castle, there was a small warband parked outside of his castle gates. The human army mostly consisted of heavily armored warriors, and sensors indicated that their bodies possessed higher concentration of mana than most humans.

Exarchi went up the castle ramparts and examined the humans from the walls. He shouted in Vyssian, “What language do you speak?!”

The humans looked at each other with confusion then started answering back in another language which the drones were familiar with, “We don’t know what you said, but we need to talk to your leader!”

“You’re Rhankish?” Exarchi shouted back.

“You can speak Rhankish? Good! We’re from Aviogna!”

“I do not know what Aviogna is,” Exarchi replied loudly.

“What do you mean-... Can we talk inside?!”

“You wait there!” Exarchi answered and disappeared from the castle ramparts.

Moments later, the castle gate opened, and a squad of huskarls marched out in an orderly fashion. Exarchi, flanked by his bodyguards, said, “I am Exarchi. A Varangian warlord.”

A bearded man with a scar on his left eye approached the drone and nodded his head. “I am Rems. An Aviognese war captain in charge of these serjent searists. You say you’re from Varangia?”

“Yes, I am.”

“That’s very strange. I’ve never heard of anyone that lives in that region since it’s filled with monsters.”

“I’ve never heard of Aviogna either.”

Rems folded his hands as if he was holding a ball and said, “It’s a small province close to the capital. It’s a serjent-controlled area too.”

“I’m not well-versed in knowing what a serjent is.”

“Even though you speak fluent Rhankish?” Rems asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes. Before we talk about that, state your reason for coming here. It is suspicious to find a wandering warband so far from the allied lines,” Exarchi pointed out before crossing his arms.

Rems scratched his forehead with his thumb. He quickly took a look at his men then turned back to Exarchi. “This castle was previously captured by the undead, so when we heard rumors that it was taken back, we had to check it for ourselves.”

“The rumors are true. This castle is now allied-controlled. Do you need anything else?”

“How did you take this place? The closest forts are The Martyr’s Rest and Triumphant Shield, and there were no reports that the searists moved out in large numbers,” Rems asked curiously.

“But not in small numbers?”

“Warbands move in and out of the castles for various reasons, but not large enough that would be able to take on a castle held by the undead. So, how did you take this fort?”

Exarchi turned his head upwards, instilling a sense of silence in the air. “The undead… left.”

“What? They left?” Rems asked with a befuddled face. “So they just got up and left the castle just like that?”

“Yes.”

“Did you even attack the castle?”

“We are here, aren’t we?” Exarchi shrugged.

“Do you know where the undead went?”

“No. Now do you have a reason to stay here any further?”

“I…” Rems tried to find the right words but gave up. He turned back to his men and started talking to them in a language similar to Rhankish. After a few minutes, Rems approached Exarchi. “Sorry for the wait, we’d like to know if we can stay here for a while and help you defend this castle.”

“No,” Exarchi answered nonchalantly.

“What? Why not? You need all the hands you could get to defend this place and we are mostly mages!”

“Could you not just find a castle yourself and take it over?”

“You speak as if taking anything held by the undead is an easy task!” Rems retorted loudly.

Exarchi shook his head and scratched his chin. “Partially true, but I would disagree.”

Rems snapped his fingers then said, “What about the undead the left? Surely they would return with greater numbers.”

“I highly doubt it. My scouts reports that they won’t be coming back.”

“But you just said you don’t know where they went!”

Exarchi mechanically turned his head to Rems and offered, “How about this? Why not just set up camp here? We don’t have food inside the castle anyway, so there’s no point in going inside.”

“But at least we would have the safety of the walls!” Rems explained. After a sigh of frustration, the Aviognese captain groaned and asked, “What do you want in return for the safety of your stronghold?”

“You are…Ah, you’re offering your services, then?” Exarchi mused.

“If you need a hand against the undead, we’d be more than willing. We just need a place to rest, rearm, and regroup.”

“I see. So you won’t try to occupy the castle for yourself?”

“No, no! If this was about that, no! By Humanos, we shan’t interfere with your ownership or your management of your castle which you have rightfully conquered. If you don’t want us garrisoning this place, at least let us use this as a temporary forward base to attack from.”

Exarchi nodded satisfyingly. “That is acceptable. In fact, I have the locations of many minor nuisances. Take care of them, and I’ll let you stay… with additional pay added on top of that.”

Rems smiled and lowered his chain coif. He held his hand out and said, “We have a deal, Varangian.”

“Good,” Exarchi replied as he shook Rems’ hand. A slight tingle of pride lingered within Exarchi’s mind as he thought to himself, ‘Looks like my plan worked.’