Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

“Are those ahead friends of Dark City!? Do you know the Dark Knight Emperor Piero?” Negris called out.

The figure in shadow had sheathed his blade, moving back a bit, a vacant figure in the air: “Are you the God of Knowledge?”

“Yes, yes, that’s me, but how do you know I’m the God of Knowledge?” Negris was surprised. Lisa and Ferlin hadn’t revealed his identity as the God of Knowledge to those of Dark City.

The figure in shadow spoke with resentment: “That traitorous Piero mentioned you in secret code. Upon seeing you, I remembered. I am Rogge of the Steadfast Bone, one of the twelve Black Knights. I have met the God of Knowledge before.”

Upon hearing this name, Negris seemed to remember something: “Are you Rogge, one of the twelve Black Knights? Have you been promoted to Dark Knight Emperor?”

“Yes, Lord of Knowledge, you… you’ve lost weight.” Rogge responded sorrowfully.

“Why do you call Piero a traitor? What’s with the secret code? And why are you in Dark City? And what’s with the whole retinue you have?” Negris asked a slew of questions, surprised to encounter an old acquaintance.

“It’s inconvenient to talk in the air. Shall we, the Lord of Knowledge, descend and talk on the grounds?” Rogge proposed.

The group descended to the ground, followed by the hovering Bone Dragon. As they drew closer, many could see the status of the Bone Dragon, causing an uproar: “A Bone Dragon! A Bone Dragon can fly? How is that possible?”

At Rogge’s command, hordes of individuals emerged from the sandy soil, forming the long queue they had seen in the air. Some hurried over to set up tables and chairs, soon creating a makeshift outdoor meeting place.

Negris noticed that these people were all undead witches. They looked ragged and withered but were otherwise clean. The rotting parts of their bodies were skillfully replaced with different metallic substances and plates that resembled decorations.

Both host and guest seated themselves, but Negris noticed that there was only Rogge as the host. He couldn’t help but ask, “Where are the rest of the Black Knights?”

Rogge replied, “They’re dead. Of the twelve Black Knights, only I remain.”

“What happened?” Negris inquired.

Perhaps he had bottled up for too long. Upon meeting a familiar face, Rogge couldn’t help but vent his feelings and started to narrate the series of past events enthusiastically.

After the king disappeared, Pierro and the twelve Black Knights came to the Prime Material Plane. They hid quietly for a while until disagreements arose between Pierro and the Black Knights.

The twelve Black Knights intended to conquer a large territory and reestablish the Undead Empire in the Prime Material Plane.

However, Piero thought they were delusional. The Undead in the Prime Material Plane were like rootless water, incapable of flourishing. He claimed they would do better to reincarnate as humans and integrate into human society.

Neither party could persuade the other, and a fight broke out. Piero took on the twelve Black Knights on his own.

Back then, Piero was a Knight of the Imperial level, while the twelve Black Knights were at the Duke level. Even though they outnumbered Piero, the battle was evenly matched. Granted, Piero was holding back, or else a few of the Black Knights would have been killed.

They parted ways after the duel, and the Black Knights grouped together and invaded the Prime Material Plane. Not long after, they drew the attention of the Church of Light, the Human Empire, and the Elves, forcing them to go into hiding.

About two or three decades later, after the heat died down, they reemerged and caused another coalition between the Church of Light and the humans, forcing them to hide again. This time, only ten of them remained.

Then one day, they discovered a note while hiding. It said one word: “Run.” The note, bearing Piero’s insignia, burned itself to ashes five seconds after they read it.

Better safe than sorry, the Black Knights hurriedly fled. They had just escaped when they found out that the Church of Light had a tightly-knit web laid around their hiding spot, the ancient castle. Even in the sky, there were over ten spirits hovering about.

After that, every time they encountered danger, a secret letter or message would be delivered to them. The method was different each time, but all the messages were designed to burn after reading. Once, a Black Knight came to deliver a message, claiming to be under Piero.

It was evident that Piero had reincarnated as a Black Knight again. This wasn’t surprising since Piero himself invented the method to reincarnate into a Black Knight.

Despite Piero’s intel, the ranks of the Black Knights, including Rogge, continued to decrease. The humans were well-resourced and relentless, allowing them to fail hundreds of times. As long as they succeeded once, they could deal a grave blow to Rogge and his team.

They realized that establishing the Undead Empire in the conquered territory was impossible. Chased and blocked by human forces, they were gradually pushed to the location of Dark City in the desert. There, they found a safe haven and made it their home three hundred years ago.

During their exile, they collected and saved many undead beings, including undead witches. Many of them were utterly clueless, lonely shadows. They didn’t even know why they had changed, and they didn’t understand what Undead meant.