Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 99

Waiting a few weeks for the medicine to take effect was a lot worse in real life than in the virtual reality. After all, virtual reality could shorten the process to a matter of minutes. Real life didn’t have that luxury, so Mortimer would have to wait. He wouldn’t have actually minded just waiting, spending time at Solara’s side. He could be the first person she saw when she woke up. Unfortunately, he had other things he had to do. Like his job. Unfortunately, effectively taking a few weeks off for no reason wasn’t a good way to maintain a career.

Mortimer’s job now heavily leaned towards research. He wasn’t involved in inpatient care, which was probably the best result for everyone. Not that he wasn’t qualified, but he wouldn’t have been the most sympathetic doctor. In fact, having experienced death many times, his empathy for other’s pain was lower, instead of becoming better for the understanding.

However, eventually, the call came to Mortimer. Solara had awoken. As soon as he could, Mortimer rushed over to her room. Seeing her awake sparked an emotional reaction from Mortimer, but not one that was particularly visible. Their reunion… couldn’t be considered particularly emotionally touching. Solara smiled weakly, which was probably about all she was up to at this point.

At first, Mortimer had wanted to ask the question he had intended to ask her before she collapsed. However, he soon realized that was a terrible idea. Solara was, quite reasonably, still somewhat confused about her circumstances. So, Mortimer explained her condition, as well as the time that had passed. He wanted to say “I’ve been searching for a cure… for you!” However, it was an extremely corny thing to say, however true. More importantly, although he was capable of quite clearly speaking out the technical details of her condition as well as other things, anytime he tried to say anything other than that to her, his throat seized up, and he couldn’t speak. “I missed you” “I want to hear you sing again” “I want to see you laugh and smile”, none of those could be said.

Besides Mortimer, others also came to see her again. Her parents, of course, as well as some other relatives that Mortimer only vaguely knew of. A few friends from school, including Angela and Alex, the pairing of which surprised her. Everyone talked about many things, and through them Solara learned many of the things Mortimer hadn’t, wouldn’t, and couldn’t say. It was probably better that was, since if Mortimer had told his tale himself, he quite likely would have come off as arrogant. In truth, he was a bit arrogant, but he also wasn’t the type who bragged much.

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Mortimer wasn’t completely sure if he even wanted to ask the same question he had been intending to ask before. It wasn’t something that had to be asked quickly, in any event. As Solara took her time to recover, he thought about it. Finally, she was ready to be up and about. She wasn’t full of energy, but that was to be expected even if she was completely cured. It would take some time for her body to get used to moving again.

Finally, on the day she was due to be released, Mortimer asked her a question. It wasn’t the same question. After 10 years, people could change. He didn’t want to ask “will you go out with me?” right now. Instead, he thought of something he definitely wanted to ask. “Solara… do you want to play Royal Road with me?” Mortimer could feel himself become very nervous, moreso than when fighting a dragon.

Over time, people could change. Mortimer was older, and even Solara looked older. Mortimer had actually become a doctor, which was something that couldn’t have been expected even slightly before he started playing Royal Road. Certainly, Solara hadn’t been conscious for most of the time, but traumatic events could change people. Thus, Mortimer was worried what she was going to say. His heart almost stopped when she said, “okay,” and smiled at him.

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It was weird to go back into Royal Road after so many years of not playing. Quietus couldn’t say he was anywhere near the top of the game anymore, but then again he’d never really been “at the top”, just “higher than average”. Plus, he didn’t really care about that. The game had changed quite a bit, after all decades had passed in the world since he first started. His undead army… Quietus felt it was all dead. Only a handful of minions were left alive. Well, that was to be expected, since they were just sitting in the game the whole time. People hunted undead. Frankly, he was surprised that any were alive. They weren’t just hiding in the ground, either. That meant something interesting must have happened… unless they just ended up in obscure places that nobody went to. It could possibly have happened, in a world of this size. However, Quietus was pretty sure that was not the case, based on the levels he was seeing.

The first thing Quietus did was meet up with Ruby. Seeing her standing there, pretty and confident, was a very nice feeling. Out of the game, he still found Solara attractive, but she wasn’t particularly healthy looking, which made him feel somewhat sad. Here, though, she was vibrant and active. Quietus realized she should probably stop watching her and actually go meet her.

There was a rather large level disparity between the two of them now, since Quietus had at least somewhat played for a few more years, but that wasn’t a big problem. Certainly, it reduced their effectiveness as a party, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun. They didn’t have a particular goal to head towards, since any quests they had had were long since worthless. However, Quietus did come up with an idea of where to go. He wanted to see what his remaining minions were up to. Obviously, they would have to be Destroyers, since those were more intelligent than the rest. He could just call them to him, but that wouldn’t be as fun.

His undead seemed to be set up in a remote, poisonous swamp. The poison obviously wasn’t a problem for Quietus, and he could create various types of potions to protect Solara as well. Fighting monsters on the way let Quietus build up a nice little army, which was excellent for Solara to buff, though probably somewhat unnecessary.

Along the way, they actually saw a surprisingly large number of people, since it was such a remote location. After some spying observation… no, it was spying, Quietus found out something. The groups were looking for a raid boss rumored to appear in the area. It was said there was a giant, undead dragon that appeared. The players had also heard the rumors of a goblin riding on his back, but that was pretty ridiculous so nobody believed it.

Obviously, though, the dragon was Sir Draco. As for how he had survived this long, Quietus wasn’t exactly sure. However, Ruby came up with a perfectly good explanation. “The stronger, high level players probably all know he’s not actually a raid boss. After all, there isn’t really a quest or dungeon involved with him. Some of them probably even know he’s someone’s undead minion, and thus not particularly worth killing. After all, he won’t drop any loot, with the exception of armor sized for a dragon.” It was a good analysis, and turned out to be quite accurate to the actual truth.

However, this didn’t mean there weren’t still players trying to kill Sir Draco. They just weren’t very organized. Since he had survived this long, Quietus saw no point in killing the players in the area. After all, it wasn’t like they would suddenly become a threat after 6 years. After not too much longer, Quietus and Ruby came to the site of a battle.

There were probably about a hundred players, though they seemed to be several different groups instead of one unit. In addition to the players, there were even more bodies. Quietus heard the roar of a dragon, as Sir Draco swooped over the players. Quietus was quite glad he had enchanted the armor to repair itself. It was looking somewhat dull, but still quite functional. Probably about a dozen players fell to teeth and claws, as well as a few being swept over by wings hitting them.

On Sir Draco’s back… was indeed a tiny goblin. Though, one wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell, with everything covering him. Somehow, Lucky had managed to find a full set of gear. Though, set wasn’t really the right term. Set would imply that it matched. Instead, every single piece varied in type, size, and color. Quietus wasn’t even sure if any of it counted as being equipped, except maybe the hat. The second hat probably didn’t count though.

From atop Sir Draco’s back, Lucky threw a rock. It hit a wizard right on the head. A critical hit! Well, probably. Quietus observed the wizard’s reaction, which was to flinch for a second. Well, it wasn’t a particularly big rock. It seemed Lucky’s contribution to battle was approximately the same as it had always been.

The battle was rather fun to watch. After reuniting with Sir Draco and Lucky, though, Quietus wasn’t sure what to do next. He asked Solara who responded, “Well, maybe for our next date, we can go see a movie. I wonder if they’ve gotten any better.” She grinned at him.

Quietus was briefly stunned. She said the word. Well, there wasn’t much else to call an activity where you spent time exclusively with someone you liked. “Yeah. Maybe we can go see Iron Man IX or something.”

//End Chapter 99

Author Note: Well, the series is pretty much finished. Next will be an epilogue chapter, though I might just call it chapter 100.