The Ruined Death Knight

The avalanche came eventually to a stop, leaving the nearby covered in snow.

But though one certain area of the snow fields, a dark green light lightens up.

Where the light was, came out 2 dark green wind blades that pushed the nearby snow away, revealing a small pocket space with no snow and 2 figures.

One undead and a small girl.

"To think such a large amount of snow will fall from the mountains." Danzel mumbled to himself.

While he doubted that such a wave of snow would be of any danger to him, that was only because he was of the 4th-tier.

'Right, how about her?' Danzel thought as he turned around to see how Shiro was doing.

"Mmm~Hiiik!" And Shiro was crying while holding her right leg.

"So fragile..." Danzel mumbled as he shook his head.

He activated [Eyes of the Damned] to see at her leg.

As the skill allowed him to see the vitality of the living. It wasn't optimal as they would only light up his vision, but it was enough to see if someone was hurt or not.

And as he suspected the obvious, Shiro harmed her leg, possible fracture the bone. But he also saw that the vitality, while slow, was healing unnaturally quickly.

"Do you know of healing magic?" Danzel asked as he went to one of his knees.

Shiro's eyes lighten up in realization while still crying.

"T-Tent my wounds. S-Spirit of home. [Tendering Warm Healing]" Shiro's hand that held her broken leg lightened up in golden light, increasing the vitality of her injured leg and healing completely and her tears stopped flowing.

She stood on both of her two legs, but then she started crying before seating down and hugging her knees.

"Waaah! I don't want to be in this place anymore! It's cold! Monsters are trying to eat me and now this pain! Waaah! Grandpa~! Where are you!?"

Seeing her full of tears, Danzel was unsure of what to do.

He simply shook his head and turned to see the snow field around him.

'If you survived, come out.' Danzel sends an internal command though out the surroundings.

And his command was soon met with a reaction.

2 hands reached out through the snow before their owner dragged each other out of the snow. Them being the living armors named by Shiro and created by Danzel, Koji, and Niyuki.

"They really survived..." Danzel mumbled surprised.

Albeit survived, they were of no good shape.

Each of them was missing a hand and their helmet. Koji had his right arm missing and Niyuki his left.

'Come...' Danzel commanded and living armors applied.

He still was somewhat surprised that those guys could still see, without their helmets.

'I guess their helmets isn't their head?'

He wanted to test to see what would kill that undead, but he decided that it wasn't the time.

'One of you, pick her up and follow him.'

The first to follow his instructions was Koji, his first created living armor.

Koji picked Shiro up on her shoulders and did as ordered by his liege.

They both followed.

With Shiro slowly falling asleep from exhaustion.

****

It was a good 2 hours later before Shiro woke up.

The winter storm has calmed down and was no more and instead of holding up inside a tunnel, she was resting her back in one of the rare trees on those frozen lands, sitting on top of the fur of the haired buffalo with a fireplace being in front of her, warming the area.

"You even woke up." A cold voice said to her.

Turning her head to see the owner of the voice, she saw how Danzel was sitting opposite the fireplace while carving runes in a spear. But what really caught her attention was the staff that was beside him.

"Isn't this staff..."

"The one that your grandfather wanted to give you? Yes, it is." Danzel interrupted her.

"I am currently working on the runes that I will carve to your staff in that spear. Though finished...they aren't perfect." Shiro opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something before giving up.

"Can I...hold till you you ready to carve the runes."

Danzel hand stopped carving and she looked at Shiro in the eyes for a moment.

"It's your staff...but if you damage it, the quality of the runes might suffer." Danzel said while picking up the staff with his hand and laying it on top of her knees.

Shiro tried to pick up the staff, but once she touched it, she dropped it almost instantly.

"It's cold..." Shiro crumbled to herself.

As the staff was made out of some kind of metal, it was obvious that it would be cold.

That was when the two living armors arrived with each carrying one of the trees on their shoulders.

"W-What happend to Koji and Niyuki?" Shiro asked, somewhat shocked at their state.

"They were lucky to survive, but at that state..." Danzel shook his head.

"Can't you fix them?" Shiro asked while staring at their missing "heads".

"Hmm?" Danzel once again stopped carving before staring at the two living armors.

"Probably? Not too sure, will have to carve new runes and connect them with the old ones. Might be faster to make new ones." Danzel said.

"Y-You can't leave them like this, you were the one who created them..."

Danzel eyes flared up and he stared at Shiro intensely.

'Did she get attachest those two?' Danzel questioned himself.

Sure, he didn't like destroying his own undead, but he wasn't going out of his way to support them. He wasn't the patron of that undead, he was their master.

Though he didn't reject the idea of Shiro's as the action of reconnecting missing runes was worth trying out.

As he was aiming to create undead using runes, he might as well start now, he thought.

But he realized that Shiro's request, while it would be reasonable to fix them in the end, how she said it made him feel that she warmed up with those living armors.

Despite the fact that they were created not too long ago.

'Maybe it's because she named them?' Danzel thought internally, as an idea crossed his mind.

"Alright." Danzel said while making Shiro flinch.

His staring at her with those flaring ethereal eyes of undead was still quite scary for her.

"I will try to fix them, in fact, I will give those two to you." Danzel said.

'You two...Koji and Niyuki. Will now recognize her, Shiro, as your master while continuing to protect her. Though my orders hold priority.' Danzel gave those two an internal command.

Though giving away beings of the 3rd-tier could have been seen as overkill. Danzel was a Death Knight.

A 4th-tier being with skills that bring death to both the mortal body and the soul.

"Huh? Why?" Shiro was only confused by that arrangement.

"Consider it in the case I won't be there. As I said, don't rely on my strength. Rely on yourself. Those two are just precautions to delay the day when you will have to rely on you strength alone."

Upon saying that, Danzel continued finishing the rune of the spear and Shiro stayed silent staring at the flames, digesting what Danzel just said to her.

It was only after Danzel finished with the spear and put it in his storage ring that Shiro finally spoke again.

"Rue...will it be alright to burrow your...magic book? And maybe teach me some magic...?" Shiro asked while looking at him with expectation.

"So you weren't asleep..." Danzel said with his cold voice while staring at her, Shiro in turn dodged his gaze as if she was guilty.

He sighed internally for the fact that he didn't realize.

'I was too excited with the new talents...' He lamented before taking [Elemental magic of Spell studies], one of the books that Velkir has given him.

"That is one of the books that Velkir has given to me. And you are only borrowing it, I will take it back wherever I want." Danzel explained while giving the book to Shiro, who looked at the book happily and yet puzzled.

"You weren't readying this yesterday though..."

"That one was a book containing the ways of necromancy. I doubt that your grandfather would like you to learn death magic. And most of my spells are of death magic."

"Nonetheless, what do you have to offer me to teach you magic? I am fine with you borrowing my book, but teaching you will take part of my own time. That I could improve in some other fields." Danzel with his cold voice.

Shiro's face was one of frustration and of helplessness. She only opened her mouth and closed it like a fish.

"I...I..." Shiro had lots of thoughts in her mind.

Her grandpa clearly told her that she should never tap into the ways of necromancy, but her teacher was such a create magic caster in other elements of magic even though he was supposed to be a master of necromancy.

She loved magic and all of its impossible complex nature.

She knew why necromancy was bad, using the bodies of the dead to make them your slave was cruel after all.

And yet her curiosity was still perceived.

"I-I can teach you magic too! I am way better at other types of magic than you! We can exchange knowledge! You teach me, and I teach you!" Shiro said full of confidence.

Knowing how to be evil and actually doing evil stuff.

Shiro was confident that she wouldn't become some kind of evil necromancer just for knowing magic. After all, her master, though scary, did help them.

And Rue, an undead who is known to hate the living was also helping her.

Both of them might not be the best of people around everyone, but they weren't terrible.

Is what Shiro thought, ignorant of how naive she was.

As for how Danzel took Shiro's offer, he accepted, but at the same time, he felt extremely bitter.

As Shiro threw the truth of her being better in magic right in front of his face.