Our lives got really busy with the approach of the mid-year exams and our preparations for the conference. Thankfully my undead were really helpful. Hatsumi and Kaito organised the upgrades for our carriage and managed to secure two sets of horse bones. Also, all of my necromancy work counted for my death magic class. So there was that.

Cassie prepared some bone enhancement and we soaked the skeletons for a day before I prepared to raise them. We only had a week left at this point.

Since horses were rather large I did not raise them inside the lab, although they would have fit through the door if they ducked. Instead I decided to simply do it outside, where our carriage was parked.

It looked a lot better now. Hatsumi had hired someone to paint it black and there were some silver trims along the edges. Both doors had a cat skull painted on them, with bright purple eyes. Nyx seemed very pleased with it, although it did look more cute than intimidating…

Sadly I did not have any skulls to decorate the carriage. Corpses were not that easy to come by. Maybe we would have to do our own hunting.

Besides the new paint we had four small boxes attached to the bottom of the carriage. Each housed one Iron Beak and the top of the box was reinforced with a steel plate. It was a reasonable compromise. It did not take up too much space and even a single Iron Beak could ruin someone's day.

"Looks good." Skadi observed.

"Needs more skulls." Helena mused.

"Sadly those are hard to come by, unless we desecrate a cemetery. I do not think we should fall to such lows." Kaito commented.

"Yeah, that would be wrong." Helena agreed. "We just have to wait for the next ambush, I guess."

"We could have put more Iron Beaks in there…" Cassie grumbled.

"The current solution allows us to transport them rather safely. We can reinforce four small boxes without adding too much weight. It ensures your safety while still giving you some Iron Beaks if needed." Hatsumi replied.

"You assume Cassie's luggage is not just a giant bomb anyway." Skadi said.

Cassie sighed. "I wish I could bring that many explosives… I only have half a trunk, at best. I am just too busy."

"We are not going to war, you don't need that many explosives." I said.

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Cassie raised an eyebrow. "You remember all of our previous trips? We are so getting ambushed! At this point we should just bet on what attacks us."

"True. But think about all the money you will make at the convention." Skadi told her girlfriend, while patting her on the back.

"Money?" I asked.

Cassie nodded. "I have been busy making some potions for necromancers, like bone enhancements. And Skadi will handle the sales."

"I don't have anything to sell. Should I have worked on something?" I wondered.

"You have knowledge, the most valuable thing there is." Helena replied.

"People will pay money for your advice." Hatsumi added.

"Which is why you need to present yourself properly. You are powerful and important. If you look weak, people will try to take advantage." Kaito said.

"Speaking of making an impression, can you make the horses look more intimidating? If you add water, maybe they can do a frost breath?" Skadi mused.

"Hm. We did not spend that much time on the bones and they were normal horses. I am not sure how much mana they can handle. I don't want to destroy them." I replied.

"You have studied Gronir's suggestions, what are you going to enhance?" Helena asked.

"I want to strengthen the hooves and the joints. Skeletons are held together by magic, I want to put a bit more mana into the part of the spell that keeps the bones connected. It's a small modification to the spell but Gronir said it should work." I replied.

"Perhaps adding a bit to the head might be useful as well." Kaito suggested.

"Your necromancy has come a long way and horses are quite a bit larger than the chickens you have experimented with in the past. Trust your powers." Hatsumi encouraged me.

"I will happily lend you some mana." Helena offered.

"A joint casting? Sure." Mana was likely not the issue but I enjoyed a joint casting with Helena, so I agreed. And she could focus on the water enhancements.

We started with the first corpse. There was nothing too exciting this time, it was just an enhanced tier two skeleton. I carefully cast the spell, making sure not to overdo an enhancement. The horse bones could hold more mana than a chicken but I had to make sure that the spell settled properly and did not destroy the bones.

The spell finished and the bones stirred. The skeletal horse stood up. The bones were a dark grey now but the hooves were black. A small turquoise glow emerged from the eye-holes in the skull.

"Nice. Just the tail is a bit sad." Cassie mused.

"They are not the mightiest beasts but they will do nicely." Kaito mused.

"With proper skeletal horses Nyx's head on the door looks a bit more sinister as well." Hatsumi said, although I still felt they looked mostly cute.

We took a small break after the first corpse, then we raised the second the same way. After that Kaito attached them to the carriage. We had a special harness, since our horses were just bones. Essentially we had leather straps that went around the bones of the skeletons. The straps had metal rings where we could attach lines to draw the carriage.

"Don't you need reins?" Skadi wondered. There was nothing for a driver to hold and guide the horses.

"Why would we use reins? They are Koyuki's undead. I can command them quite easily. It will be far more efficient than reins." Kaito replied.

"That means we can't have a normal driver." Helena said.

"A minor downside, considering that Koyuki does not employ mortal servants. I should also add that you would be able to drive with verbal commands, assuming Koyuki ordered the horses to obey you." Kaito dismissed the concern.

"Makes it definitely harder to steal the carriage." Cassie added.

I observed our work. It was certainly a good looking carriage. If only we could get a few skulls as decoration, they would go really well with the undead horses.

"How fast is it going to be with only two horses?" Skadi asked.

"Two skeletal horses should be comparable to four alive ones. They do not tire like normal horses. They could even go through the night, if we wanted to." Kaito said.

I stretched and yawned. Helena put her arm around me and I leaned into her. It had been a long day. But our preparations looked good. Soon we would be on our way to the conference.

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