Karnak, Monarch of Death

It was late at night. But lying in bed, Karnak couldn’t sleep.

”Sigh...” He exhaled, staring at the ornate wallpaper on the ceiling of his bedroom.

”How much did that cost? And why on earth is it on my ceiling?”

It wasn’t just the wallpaper. The furniture, the bed, even the candles—everything was luxurious. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle such extravagance. He had been surrounded by far more opulent items as the Monarch of Death. But the stark contrast to the bedroom he remembered was jarring.

”This wasn’t how I planned things to be...”

He no longer had any attachment to the powers of the Monarch of Death, but that didn’t mean he intended to live as a powerless nobody. He’d theorized ways to retain his strength while avoiding the side effects of necromancy, and he’d even prepared backup plans in case things didn’t go as expected.

Unlike his younger, more reckless self, he intended to keep things civil with his family, balancing things with tact. Surely even family members who had despised him would warm up if he showered them with wealth.

And where would he get that wealth? He had that covered too. He’d gathered extensive historical records detailing where and when wars broke out, where droughts and famines hit, and where hidden treasures were discovered. He’d planned out investments and ways to accumulate wealth using that future knowledge.

His goal was to live a life that was comfortable yet inconspicuous, one that wouldn’t draw too much attention or contempt—a life with just enough prestige to avoid being ignored, with enough wealth to live warmly and contentedly.

”Just like this house... and just this level of status.”

But Karnak felt a strange emptiness as he surveyed the mansion that was already his.

”And yet, I’m already living that life.”

He had somehow managed to achieve his goal without having done anything, just by returning to the past. But he wasn’t naïve enough to relax and believe that everything had been handed to him on a silver platter.

”No, I need to get a handle on this situation...” Karnak muttered, rolling over in bed. ”Where on earth is that rascal Varos? Don’t tell me he fell asleep?”

It was a while before the expected knock finally sounded at the door.

”Young master, it’s me.”

Karnak immediately softened his voice and called out, ”Come in.”

The door opened quietly, and Varos slipped inside while glancing around. Karnak rose from the bed and asked, ”Is everyone asleep?”

”Yes.”

”Good. Now we can move.”

”You’re going to cast a mind probe on old man Tafel, right?”

”I sure will. But in my current state, it’s going to be difficult to cast the spell directly.”

He needed a catalyst, along with sedatives, to weaken the target’s mental defenses. Then, he’d have to ensure Tafel was deeply asleep before attempting to probe his mind.

”There are some things we need to prepare first: delas petals, jess weed, palel extract, and rapat herb. They’re all common garden weeds, so they should be easy to—”

Before he could finish, Varos held out a pouch.

”Here you go.”

Inside were all the weeds he’d requested.

”What? You prepared these already?”

”Come on, young master. I’ve been at your side for over a hundred years. I figured as much.” Varos shrugged. ”It took a while to gather them. They’ve kept the garden so pristine that they were hard to find.”

”Right. But in the past, the garden was left to grow wild, so it was full of weeds.” Karnak chuckled, shaking his head. Now, it was so carefully tended that finding the wild plants had probably been difficult.

”If we’d had to look for them now, we’d have wasted the entire night. Good job.” Karnak gestured as he moved toward the door. ”Let’s get moving.”

”What if the servants catch us?”

”We’ll just say I’m taking a walk because I couldn’t sleep. Judging by the atmosphere here, I don’t think anyone’s going to question me doing as I please.”

”Well, you are the lord now.”

”Right.”

With a scoff, Karnak laughed under his breath.

”Me, the lord? The unwanted, illegitimate child?”

***

Placing the petals of delas, the jess weed, palel extract, and rapat herb into a bowl, Karnak crushed and mixed them together. Using necromancy, he ignited the mixture.

Whoosh!

The flames flared briefly, then died out, leaving only a lingering column of black smoke. The smoke moved through the air as if it were alive, drifting slowly towards the sleeping old man. Karnak controlled it with his magic, guiding it as it slithered into the butler’s nostrils. The old man’s body trembled slightly before his eyes rolled back, revealing only the whites.

”Good, he’s completely under,” Karnak confirmed, observing the butler’s condition. He issued his command. ”Arise, my servant.”

The enchantment in his voice took hold, and the old man immediately sat up in bed. ”Yes, my lord,” he responded, now in a state where he would answer any question truthfully.

But where do I even start? Karnak hesitated. There’s so much to ask that I can’t even organize my thoughts.

He decided to begin with what he was most curious about. ”How did my father die?”

The response came at once. ”Three years ago, he was slain by the treacherous blade of Sir Randolph.”

Karnak and Varos exchanged a look.

”Randolph? Who is that?”

”Isn’t he a knight from Devantor? You know, the neighboring estate...”

Hearing only the conclusion without any context left them baffled.

”Then what happened to Lady Isabella?”

”She fell ill with grief after losing the baron and her eldest son. She eventually passed away without ever recovering...”

”So that’s the order in which they died?” Karnak continued questioning. ”And what happened to my eldest brother, Tesil?”

”The eldest young master...”

***

Karnak fired off question after question. Each time, Tafel answered honestly, giving Karnak and Varos a clearer picture of the situation.

”It seems that up until I turned sixteen, things remained as they were,” Karnak muttered. The estate was on the verge of ruin, Karnak was scorned by his family as an illegitimate child, and people treated him with disdain due to his past behavior—all as he remembered.

The changes began in the year 683 of the Eustil Kingdom’s calendar, four years prior. While hiking in the mountains for training, Karnak’s second brother, Paralt, stumbled upon a massive copper vein in a northern cave.

”A copper vein?” Karnak frowned. ”I don’t remember ever hearing about a copper mine on our land.”

Varos shrugged.

”Maybe no one knew about it back then. It sounds like it was discovered by accident.”

”Still, it sounds a bit... too convenient.”

The discovery of a mine was a dream of every rural noble, but one that almost never came true. If veins were so common, they wouldn’t be such a big deal. When a noble family announced they’d found a mine, people generally assumed it was just a cover for money earned by dubious means.

”But this time, it was real?”

The Zestrad family had wasted no time to seize upon this extraordinary stroke of luck. They had rushed to develop the mine.

The copper vein they discovered was of exceptionally high quality, allowing them to see substantial results within just a year. Of course, it wasn’t developed independently. Mining required advanced excavation and engineering skills, as well as technology to separate and refine copper from the ore. It wasn’t as though copper simply appeared when a hole was made in the ground.

The Zestrad Barony was a family accustomed to farming. It would have been impossible for them to develop a proper copper mine in only a year without external help.

So, they managed the mine by partnering with the Tecas merchant guild, the largest trade guild in Eustil Kingdom, which supplied the technology and manpower. The profits were shared between them. But then came the real problem. The neighboring Devantor Viscounty, which had always sought to undermine the Zestrad family, raised a dispute. The gist of their argument went like this:

”The copper vein was initially discovered by the Devantor Viscounty.

The location of the copper mine is in a neutral area between our territories. Yet, the generous Viscount of Devantor proposed a cooperative ownership with the Zestrad Barony, offering to develop the mine jointly.

However, after understanding the scale of the vein, Zestrad deceitfully broke the agreement and twisted the truth as if they had discovered it first. How can we forgive such treachery? We will reclaim our rights, even if we must shed blood!”

Varos scoffed. ”Wow, they’re shameless. Then again, they’ve always been like that.”

”Still...” Karnak shook his head. ”It’s not entirely baseless.”

The copper mine was located to the north of their territory, in a branch of the Zeden Mountains. Based on its location, it was clearly within Zestrad land. However, boundaries weren’t always drawn precisely when an estate bordered mountainous regions. After all, it wasn’t as simple as dividing farmland.

Cultivated fields had clear, defined ownership, while forests and mountains were often ambiguously marked on maps—if they were marked at all. Land with little value wasn’t worth surveying, hence its ownership remained undefined.

”It’s certainly near our estate, but it’s true that we hadn’t actively claimed or utilized that land,” Karnak said.

If the Devantor family had been the first to discover the mine, they would have a valid basis to demand at least joint management rights.

”That’s assuming they actually found it first,” he added.

”Do you think there’s a chance they did?” Varos asked.

”I wouldn’t rule it out entirely...” Karnak scratched his head, searching his memories. ”Though I’d say it’s unlikely.”

”Why?”

”The Devantor family is far stronger than us.”

Unlike the declining Zestrad Barony, the Devantor Viscounty had steadily built up power over generations. They surpassed the Zestrad Barony in both military strength and wealth.

”If we’d agreed to a joint venture from the start, there’d be no reason for Devantor to cross such a dangerous bridge.”

As a result of the claim, relations between the two families had soured to the extreme. When words failed, fists were raised. When fists failed, swords clashed. Naturally, the two families ended up in a territorial war.

Blood was spilled in multiple battles, with the Zestrad family losing most of them. The Devantor family, whose strength had been carefully built over generations, was no ordinary adversary. A year into the conflict, the Zestrad family suffered a terrible blow when Baron Kraput was killed by Devantor’s strongest knight, Sir Randolph.

During the retreat, even the heir, Tesil, was struck down by an arrow fired by Randolph, leaving the Zestrad family bereft of both their head and heir in one stroke. Overcome with grief over the loss of her husband and son, Lady Isabella fell ill and was bedridden, while Paralt, the second son, became the new head of the family.

Paralt tried desperately to rally the remaining forces to resist the viscounty, but the tide had already turned. The following year, he, too, fell victim to Devantor’s assault. In another fierce battle, Randolph shattered both his legs. Although Paralt’s training allowed him to cling to life, his injuries left him permanently disabled, forcing him to abandon his role as a knight.

Devastated, he turned to alcohol and drugs, and his health deteriorated rapidly. Eventually, Paralt succumbed to illness brought on by his vices, and around the same time, Lady Isabella, who had been wasting away in her grief, passed away as well.

”Wow, so this single knight, Randolph, practically wiped out our entire family? Did our neighbor have such a powerful knight?” Karnak remarked dryly.

”I don’t think it was that Randolph was so powerful but that our family was simply too weak,” Varos replied.

”Still, who is this Randolph, anyway?” Karnak asked, frustrated.

”I only barely recognize the name...” Varos said. ”Of course. Even if he was famous around here, what does it matter?”

After all, Karnak and Varos had fought the Four Great Martial Kings, the Three Archmages, and even the legendary Dragon Emperor. It wasn’t likely that they would remember the name of some backwoods knight from a rural estate.

Skimming past the details, Karnak continued to interrogate the old butler. ”So, what happened after that?”

With the bloodline of the barony reduced to just Karnak, the illegitimate son, the title of heir was handed to him. The decision was made for him to officially assume the role of head of the family upon turning twenty.

At that point, the Devantor family announced they would temporarily halt the conflict and wait for Karnak to become lord. It was a show of noble restraint and courtesy.

”Of course, that was just for appearances. In reality, they were probably waiting until there was someone to negotiate with.”

The Devantor family’s aim wasn’t to wipe out the Zestrad Barony and seize the entire estate—they just wanted control over the copper mine and a hefty war indemnity. And for that, they needed someone to sign the contract formally.

Initially, there was plenty of opposition to the idea of making Karnak, the former troublemaker, the new lord. But after two years passed, when he finally assumed the title, everyone supposedly recognized and respected him.

”They respected me? Why?” Karnak asked, surprised.

At his question, the butler’s eyes filled with tears. ”Who could fail to respect a lord willing to risk his life to defend the estate?”

Seriously? He’s tearing up under a mind control spell? How sincere is he? Karnak thought.

He was dumbfounded. As he prepared to move on to the next question, something clicked.

”Wait, risk my life?” Karnak’s face grew serious. ”What do you mean, I risked my life? Why would I do that?”