This is the undead. As if they were mechanical, meticulous and rigidly dogmatic puppets. However, thanks to this, Varede was able to freely enter and exit the Dekenhoff Castle at this time of the year. Not only that, having cracked the family's undead manipulation magic password, he was even able to mobilize the entire legion of tomb guards within this ancient castle. Of course, this was practically unnecessary.

　　“It's just an ordinary expedition. A squad of guards will be enough to use.” While muttering this, Varede tried, controlling the ones in his pathway, one by one, the undead guards. The invisible threads formed by the winds of magic that gathered around him connected Varede to these horrifying-looking undead soldiers, mentally.

　　The manipulated undead soldiers changed their direction of travel. Breaking away from the patrolling troops, they followed Varede in front and behind him, escorting him in the center.

　　In this way, when it came to the gate, sixteen tomb guards had already gathered around Varede, and at the innermost side, four guards with Iris-shaped shields and long swords gathered around him, surrounding him in the center. Ready at all times, to put up their shields in case of danger, in order to block attacks aimed at Varede.

　　And in a circle further out were also four undead soldiers, two undead archers with heavy crossbows and scimitars hanging from their waists were in the front, and behind them were two necromancers dressed in black robes, holding the Book of the Dead in their right hands and oak staffs in their left. Six ancient tomb halberd guards with two-handed halberds and even taller figures walked on the outermost side. In front of this squad, there were two more Wrecking Wolves to open the way, which acted as scouts, utilizing their sense of smell left over from their birth to spot the enemy in advance.

　　This, was Varede's makeshift, escort squad cobbled together by utilizing the tomb guard troops within the ancient fortress. It was capable of attacking and defending both near and far. This made Varede feel a little smug, it looked like the military knowledge he had learned in his last life was still quite useful.

　　Just like that, under the dark red moonlight, a small slit opened in the main gate of Dekenhof Old Castle. This small, elite force followed one after the other and came out in a line. After arriving at the open space in front of the gate, it then shielded Varede in the center again and continued towards the wilderness at the southern end of the old castle.

　　Seeing all this, another guard of the ancient castle came out, it was as swift as a sharp arrow, as light as a butterfly, and in one go, it jumped down from the top of the ancient castle, a height of dozens of meters, and landed in front of Varede.

　　Unlike those simple-minded undead, this was a highly intelligent creature. A dark-skinned cat with red eyes. The cat snorted, after which it opened its mouth at Varede, its throat twitching as it let out a gurgle, signaling a warning sound. It meant for Varede to hurry back and not cause it any trouble.

　　But it wasn't the first time Varede had dealt with it. He spread out his hands, indicating that he had no hostile intentions. After that, he threw out a small fragment of magic crystal that he had already prepared and held in the palm of his hand, with just the right amount of force, just in front of that strange black cat.

　　The black cat's head poked over and sniffed the magic crystal fragment. After confirming that there was no problem, it opened its mouth, crunched, as if eating a candy bean, chewed this extremely hard piece of magic crystal, and then swallowed it. After that, it nodded to Varede again and walked to the side to crawl.

　　Seeing that it accepted his bribe, Varede breathed a sigh of relief. But was also a little curious.

　　“Are you always this negligent in your duties? Ms. Cecil?”

　　“Meow?”

　　“Meow your ass! Speak human! I know you can talk!”

　　But the cat didn't pay any more attention to Varede, but continued to play dumb. Just like a normal cat would do, he licked his paws and then started to wash his face.

　　“...... Never mind.” Varede shrugged his shoulders, feeling that there was no need to get on the wrong side of a kitten. Then he stood up and returned to the protection of the ancient tomb guards. Immediately afterward a wind of magic gathered around him and lifted him up a little. Varede floated in mid-air like this, saving himself from the fatigue of walking and gaining a better view - after all, he was only six years old in his current body.

　　After this incident, Varede continued to command the group of undead troops and continued onward towards the wasteland south of the ancient castle. That black cat kept looking at Varede's back and watched him leave. Until the distance was too far to see. Only then did it withdraw its sight and snorted again to continue washing its face.

　　It was an ally of the vampire nobles of this ancient castle, doubling as a guard. It had remained at the old castle of Dekenhof for centuries after accepting the solicitation of the Karstein family. One of the very few, non-human, non-undead, and non-vampire intelligent beings in the kingdom. The vampires of the Ancient Castle, refer to her as Ms. Cecil. Despite looking no different than a normal black cat. But Varede had once heard it said that her strength could even rival that of a dragon. It was one of the extremely powerful magical creatures.

　　“It won't cause any trouble after all... ...... It's still a child.” While thinking so, the black cat found an excuse for itself, while leisurely stepping with cat steps, it walked inside the grass next to the ancient castle. It seems to want to catch a few field mice for a tooth sacrifice.

　　The vampire kingdom of Sylvania, in this land, there was once a huge, strong, and rich empire. What the aristocracy of the empire liked to show off the most was their tombs after they died. They used it as capital to compare themselves with each other. They built bigger and bigger tombs. More and more slaves and warriors were buried with them. The empire was at its peak. From a distance, the huge tombs were an architectural marvel that was absolutely no less impressive than any other country.

　　The times have changed. The great empire fell, a large number of people were lost, and the originally fertile arable land was deserted. The original fortresses used to defend against foreign enemies became ancient castles inhabited by vampires. The original spectacular burial complexes also became one of the vampires' important soldiering grounds.

　　Perhaps from the beginning, the reason why the vampires used this place as a base. It was because they saw the huge burial complex here. This was a fortune buried deep in the ground for ordinary grave robbers. And for the vampire clan, which is proficient in necromancy, it is a potential reserve force.

　　Initially, the vampire hordes could get tens of thousands of hordes by casually excavating in this wilderness. Mountains of money piled up. And even martyrs, precious magical weapons and even magic guide books. As well as other exotic treasures. With these resources, the vampires have armed themselves time and time again to attack the so-called “kingdom of the living”. In order to establish the eternal rule of their beliefs.

　　Of course, the efforts of these predecessors invariably failed. It is like what was said before. No living being is willing to be ruled by the dead. The efforts of the vampire nobles only ended up costing them heavy losses and aggravating the burden of Sylvania. Losing soldiers for nothing. And it made the originally powerful undead empire end up being reduced to a second-rate power in the old world. And the vast majority of the huge tomb complex that stretched for thousands of miles was also emptied. No longer able to provide enough soldiers for Sylvania.

　　In order to ensure the number of soldiers, the vampire nobles had no choice. Started digging up dead bones from other regions, or forcibly ordered the people within the kingdom to hand over the bones of their dead relatives. Or they went to other neighboring countries to rob graves. And then there was the trade, where merchants from other countries were asked to help smuggle the bones of the dead as a way to sustain the kingdom's armies in their conquests.

　　Despite this, Sylvania's soldiers were still in short supply. Especially the corpses obtained through smuggling - transporting a few dead people's bones could be a good thing, but there were still people who dared to bargain for such a good thing. Trade monopolization was really scary. Countless vampires, while hating those treacherous smugglers half to death in their hearts, had to welcome them with a smile. The bitterness of it could be imagined.

　　The utilization value of this piece of burial complex was greatly reduced. It was even called by the locals as a barren mound and mass grave. But this is still a good place for taobao. The vampire nobles who adhered to pragmatism put their heads down. Can still find a lot of useful things in the burial complex of nine empty rooms. If anyone is not careful. Digging up the undiscovered tomb of an ancient great noble. It would be a fortune. Thousands of skeletons of martyrs, large quantities of burial goods, and precious magic props would turn a penniless fellow into a rich man.

　　And the Citizens' Assembly encourages this kind of private exploration behavior, and stipulates that the proceeds of the expedition belong entirely to the individual. This was also because it seemed like Sylvania, with its loosely governed government, didn't have much energy and capital to continue opening up these tombs. Of course, then, each vampire family immediately announced that the tombs on their own territory belonged to their own families. Thankfully, private individuals were no longer allowed to open them. This also made the policy of the Citizens' Assembly a dead letter.

　　The Karstein family today, because of its location, controls the largest piece of the burial complex - which might have been good news a few hundred years ago. The massive tombs have brought the family great wealth and a massive army. It made the family's voice in the Citizens' Assembly much more weighty. There were even quite a few virtuous and talented Counts of Karstein who eventually managed to be crowned Dukes of Sylvania.

　　Of course, again, these were yesterday's events. As the value of the tomb's exploitation continues to diminish. The Karstein family's splendor is no more. The huge burial complexes were not easy to manage, nor were they productive. This made the economic situation of the Karstein family terrible. After all, vampire nobles are good at fighting and management. But not familiar with productive labor. Cultivation, smelting, commerce. All of these needed to be performed by other races, especially humans, in order to work.