by Virlyce
“N-no, this isn’t a hallucination,” the man who had led Mr. Skelly there said as he grabbed the receptionist’s shoulder before he could escape. “This is Richard of the Happy Frogs.”
The receptionist paused and glanced at Mr. Skelly’s gear. “Richard…? In front of me is a skeleton, right? I’m not seeing things?”
“Correct,” the man said with a nod. “You see….” He explained the situation along with Mr. Skelly’s experience of meeting the messenger of God. “And we need to know his address so he can meet his wife and kids before being buried in the cemetery.”
“That’s….” The receptionist frowned as he recalled the adventurers who had set off to investigate the undead on the beach. “Were the Happy Frogs part of the group that went to the beach a few weeks ago? And even if they weren’t, undead are actually showing up on the continent?” The receptionist’s eye twitched. “O guild master, why have thou forsaken me? This problem is way beyond my payroll. I’ll have to send a report to the mayor.”
“Can I please have the addresses to our homes?” Mr. Skelly asked. “I’ll have my wife take me to the cemetery to be purified and buried after we finish talking.”
“I don’t know…,” the receptionist said and scratched his head. He exhaled and stared at the ceiling. “I should quit my job. The pay isn’t worth the stress.”
“What harm could it do?” the man asked and removed his hand from the receptionist’s shoulder. “It wouldn’t be right to purify the Happy Frogs before they could say their goodbyes to their families. Wouldn’t that be unusually cruel and immoral?”
The receptionist sighed. “Adventurers’ information are kept confidential. But I think I can make an exception in this case.” He pursed his lips. “I’ll send some guild sweepers to follow the three of you just in case something happens. If you don’t agree to that, I won’t give you the addresses.”
“We agree,” Mr. Skelly said. “I don’t want to cause any harm. If there are people to prevent any conflicts, it would be for the best.”
“Huh. I didn’t expect undead to be so peaceful,” the receptionist said and scratched his head. “I’ve read up a lot on undead since we received that report, but you’re nothing like what the books say. Maybe it was just the holy dragons’ propaganda….”
“Perhaps,” Mr. Skelly said and sighed. “I don’t feel like a monster. There’s no urge for me to attack anyone. I just want to see my wife and kids before I depart for the next world.”
“I understand,” the receptionist said. He turned around and shouted into the back room, “Polly, call in three available guild sweepers for a quick mission.”
“Sure thing,” a woman’s voice said from the room. Moments later, a group of three women stepped into the lobby from upstairs. They had dark circles underneath their eyes as well, and their skin was pale as if they hadn’t seen the light of day for several weeks.
“We’re very busy,” one of the women said and frowned at the receptionist. “What do you want?”
The receptionist pointed at Mr. Skelly. The undead leader waved at them and smiled before ducking a spear thrust.
The guild sweeper frowned as she withdrew her spear. It disappeared into thin air a moment later. “A skeleton? An undead is in Anfang?”
“There were special circumstances,” the receptionist said with a dry laugh. He stepped in front of the sweeper, blocking Mr. Skelly from her view. She frowned and pushed his head aside before leaning over the counter.
“Undead aren’t allowed. Not here, not there, not anywhere. All undead are to be exterminated as per town, city, guild, nation, and holy dragon rules.” Her spear materialized in her hand again, but a group of adventurers stepped forward and shielded Mr. Skelly. “Step aside. As a guild sweeper, I have duties to perform. My responsibilities are even greater now that the guild master is on vacation. If she finds out a skeleton managed to enter Anfang, she’d burn the guild to the ground. And if that happens, I’ll be out of a job, so move!”
“Wait!”
The sweeper ignored the man who shouted and thrust her spear at Mr. Skelly. An adventurer stepped forward and blocked her strike with his shield. “You can’t do this! He’s Richard, leader of the Happy Frogs!”
“He’s an undead.” The sweeper twirled her spear as she stepped on top of the receptionist’s counter. Her spear stopped twirling, its tip pointing at Mr. Skelly, who was crouched on the ground, skeletal hands covering his skull. “Undead are irrational, mindless monsters bent on fulfilling their basic needs despite the fact they’re dead. They can’t speak or—”
“Richard can speak!”
The sweeper’s brow furrowed, and she stabbed her spear into the counter. “Really? Then why don’t you say something, Richard? If you can’t—”
Mr. Skelly raised his head, meeting the sweeper’s gaze. “Please, I just want to see my wife and kids before I resign myself to the cemetery.”
The sweeper froze. The other two guild sweepers behind her murmured to each other. “…What the heck?” the sweeper asked. “What’s going on?”
“After I died, I saw a messenger of God who granted me a final wish. I asked to see my loved ones one more time before I passed on,” Mr. Skelly said. “When I woke up from what I thought was a dream, I was like this. I didn’t know what else to do other than head home. I was given a chance to tell my wife goodbye. I have to take it.”
The guild sweeper sighed and lowered her hand, the spear disappearing from her grasp. “If only the guild master were here, she’d know what to do.” She turned towards the receptionist. “Have you sent word to the mayor?”
“I was about to,” the receptionist said. “But I wanted you three to escort them to their families first, then make sure they go to the cemetery to be purified and buried.”
“I understand.” The sweeper frowned at Mr. Skelly and his two companions. “It really wouldn’t feel right to kill them again. If he couldn’t speak or showed any signs of being a monster, I wouldn’t hesitate…, but as he is now, I can’t do it. It’s a shame, really. The Happy Frogs were a role model for aspiring adventurer groups.”
***
“I’ll wait outside.” The sweeper stood beside Mr. Skelly, facing a gray building marked with black etchings on the corners.
Mr. Skelly nodded at the guild sweeper who had guided him to Richard’s home. Richard’s wife had cried her eyes out, and their two children were devastated. If Mr. Skelly had a heart, he might’ve broke down and told the woman her husband was still alive albeit a prisoner on a beach. He did tell her to pray to the Corrupted One for a miracle, but he didn’t know if she’d listen.
Mr. Skelly entered the funeral home and walked up to the counter. A man wearing a black suit and a veil that covered his face was reading a book. He looked up when he heard Mr. Skelly’s clacking footsteps approach. The man’s book slid out of his hands as he froze. A second passed as Mr. Skelly scratched his skull. “Well, this is a first,” the man said and picked up his book before sitting up straight. “None of my clients have ever spoken to me before. Because they’re dead.”
Mr. Skelly laughed. “So you’re the mortician.”
“That’s right,” the man said with a nod. “And you’re a skeleton. Is this a fairy’s prank?”
“No,” Mr. Skelly said and shook his head. “It seems like you haven’t heard the news.”
“The news?” the mortician asked. “What—”
A skeletal hand wrapped around his mouth and waist as a skeleton appeared behind him, cutting off the mortician’s words. Strangled cries escaped from the mortician’s mouth as he bit down on the skeleton’s fingers, hurting his own teeth in the process. Mr. Skelly grinned as Rella flitted to his side. She held up her fingers in a ‘V’ for victory. “Easy as pie.”
Mr. Skelly nodded. “Excellent work. Now turn me into him.”
“Okay,” Rella said and twirled her arm before pointing at the skeleton. Mr. Skelly’s image distorted as a black covering enveloped him, slowl
y turning into the image of the mortician. “I’ll do your voice too.”
Mr. Skelly nodded as he turned around and left the building. “I’ve received the client,” he said to the guild sweeper.
The guild sweeper pursed her lips and took a step back as if she’d turn ill from touching him. “You don’t need my help?”
Mr. Skelly chuckled. “Maybe it’s because I have an affinity with the dead. He’s very compliant.”
The guild sweeper nodded once before turning to leave, practically running away. Mr. Skelly scratched his head as she vanished from his sight. “It seems like people don’t take too kindly to morticians here,” he said before reentering the building. Rella had cast an illusion to turn the mortician and the skeleton into Mr. Skelly. Mr. Skelly took a seat and picked up the mortician’s book. “I didn’t think you’d be interested in romance novels.”
The mortician, who was invisible, grunted in reply. He couldn’t speak with the bony fingers in his mouth.
“Relax, I’m not here to kill you. Or anyone for that matter.” Mr. Skelly tossed the book aside as he leaned forward, propping his elbows up on the desk. “Why don’t we have a chat while we wait for my companions to arrive?”
The mortician gasped as the bony fingers left his mouth. “W-what do you want?”
Mr. Skelly shrugged. “Have you ever lost anyone? Is there someone you’d like to bring back from the dead? Not as a brainless corpse or skeleton but as someone like me: conscious, whole. I can do that, you know? My lord and resurrector, Lindyss the Corrupted One, invented a spell to do just that.”
The mortician fell silent. Mr. Skelly waited, his body completely motionless. “The dead are meant to stay dead,” the mortician said after a while.
“Says who?” Mr. Skelly asked. “If they were meant to stay dead, then I wouldn’t be here, would I?”
The mortician fell silent again. He sighed before shaking his head. “Every magic has a price. Something like bringing back the dead…, I can’t pay the price for that.”
“Three fat mana crystals.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s the price,” Mr. Skelly said. “Three fat mana crystals to reanimate one person, and one small mana crystal per day to maintain the spell.”
“You’re joking,” the mortician said.
“Though it’s true I joke a lot, I’m being completely honest here.”
“That’s—”
“Shh.” Mr. Skelly raised a finger and the mortician’s voice was cut off. Mr. Skelly cleared his throat. “So you two are the other clients?”
Two skeletons wearing the Happy Frogs’ symbol walked into the building. They exchanged glances. “Boss?”
“Already done,” Mr. Skelly said and stood up. He left the building and greeted the two guild sweepers. Like the first one, they shied away from him and immediately left once he told them he received the skeletons. He closed the door behind him as he entered the building. “Now then, shall we start?”
“What are you going to do?” the mortician asked as his mouth was once again relinquished.
“Reanimate everyone inside of the cemetery,” Mr. Skelly said. He exhaled. “This investment better pay off.” He turned his head towards the mortician. “Have you thought about it? Would you like to join our religion?”
“My wife…,” the mortician said. “You can bring her back? Will she remember me?”
“She’ll remember everything that’s ever happened to her,” Mr. Skelly said with a nod. “As long as my lich friend over here can touch her body, there will be no issue with her resurrection. But if she’s a skeleton, there’s no way for her to regrow her flesh.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Take us to the cemetery. Occasionally be our spokesperson. Nothing that will bring harm to your life. Probably.” Mr. Skelly nodded.
The mortician clenched his fists. “I’ll do it.”
“Excellent,” Mr. Skelly said and clapped his hands. The illusions surrounding his and the mortician’s bodies dispersed. A grin appeared on the skeleton’s face. “If you try to betray us…, well, use your imagination.”
13
“So all this stuff is mine?” Vur pointed at the massive pile of gold and items in the cave ahead of him. He stood at the entrance with Stella on his head and a humanoid being made of earth beside him.
The earthen being, Diamant, cleared his throat. “N-no, first of all, this isn’t stuff. Second of all, these items belong to the clan.”
Vur frowned at Diamant, who had taken the shape of a human instead of the round boulder with limbs. “But you’re the clan master, right?”
Diamant nodded.
Vur blinked. “And you’re my subordinate elemental?”
Diamant scratched his head and let out a hollow laugh. “When an elementalist creates a contract with an elemental, neither of them are above the other. We’re in a contract of equals, you see. As long as you supply me with mana, I’ll be able to use my spells.”
“…So you’re my subordinate elemental, right?” Vur asked again. “You can’t do anything without me.”
Diamant pursed his lips. “You could say that….”
“Right. A subordinate’s stuff is also his leader’s stuff. The clan’s stuff is your stuff because you’re the master, and your stuff is my stuff because I’m your leader. So the clan’s stuff is my stuff too.” Vur nodded.
“Please stop referring to our hard-earned treasury as stuff,” Diamant said with tears pouring from his diamond eyes. “I swear, there’s no one else in this world who’d treat a mountain elemental this badly. Do you know how rare mountain elementals are? We’re the strongest ones amongst the earth elementals.”
Vur shrugged. “But you’re still weaker than me,” he said. “That’s why I’m your boss.”
Stella patted Vur’s head. “You should be nicer to him.”
Diamant stared at Stella with conflicted feelings in his heart. If it weren’t for the fairy, maybe, Vur would never have noticed his existence. But she was being nice now. Was this the mythical carrot and stick used to train donkeys?
“Mountain elementals like to hoard things. He won’t show you his other treasures if you bully him now.”
Diamant winced. Apparently, it was just the stick. He sighed. “Some of this gold can be used for your personal use, but we need most of it for the prosperity of the clan. As long as the clan prospers, you’ll prosper as well since you’re sort of the clan master now.”
Vur stared at the mountain of treasures while rubbing his chin. “Clan master….”
Stella giggled. “I knew you were a natural born leader.”
“And a leader needs a good weapon.” Vur nodded before climbing on top of the pile of treasures within the cave. He rummaged around, knocking over gold ingots and golden coins, picking up weapons and tossing them over his shoulder. “I don’t think she’d like this one either….”
Diamant’s earthen body turned pale like marble as he rushed forward. “P-please, our goods are delicate. Handle them with care! If anything’s broken, we won’t be able to offer them as tribute to the dwarves.”
Vur froze with a massive hammer in his hand. His brow furrowed as he turned his head towards Diamant. “What did you say?”
“H-handle the goods with care…?” Diamant asked as his body compressed and shrank.
“After that.”
“I-if anything’s broken, we won’t be able to offer them as tribute to the dwarves…?”
“What’s this about paying tribute to the dwarves?” Vur asked with a frown.
Diamant let out a hollow laugh as he scratched his head. “It’s a protection fee of sorts. The clans who pay tribute to the dwarves aren’t assaulted by…, well, the dwarves. Clans that don’t pay tribute get an unwanted visit from Benny.”
Vur narrowed his eyes. “Someone will take my stuff if I don’t offer my stuff to them?”
“Pretty much,” Diamant said with a nod. “That’s the way things have been sinc
e the dwarves landed on this continent. Everyone just accepts it now. There used to be a time where people fought back, but the losses weren’t worth it. It’s better to lose some treasure than to lose your whole clan.”
“When does the clan usually offer tribute?” Vur asked as he took a seat on top of the pile. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Diamant.
“The next collection time is four days from now.”
“I want to meet the dwarves,” Vur said and nodded. “Dragons don’t pay tribute. I’ll do them a favor and educate them.”
“W-wait,” Diamant said and stuck his hands out in front of his chest. “You can’t do that. I know you’re strong enough to destroy one of our harvester golems, but the dwarves can do that easily as well. Even a party of SSS-ranked adventurers won’t have a good time dealing with dwarves. Individually, dwarves aren’t scary, but they’re like insects. Provoke one dwarf and you provoke them all.”
“Then I’ll educate all of them,” Vur said and nodded again. “No problem. Trust in your leader. That’s an order.”
Diamant’s eye twitched. “Trust is earned, not demanded. You shouldn’t fight the dwarves when we can easily pay them off. Violence isn’t the answer.”
“My stuff is mine,” Vur said and shook his head. “If the mini-people try to take it, I’ll beat them up and steal their stuff in return.” He glanced at Stella. “Didn’t you say he’d listen to me if he became my elemental? Why isn’t he? He’s too noisy.”
Stella tilted her head. “Put him inside your runes,” she said while patting Vur’s arm. It glowed with a brown light as the runes spiraling up his forearm brightened. “And only let him out when he behaves.” Stella nodded and smiled at Diamant.
“Aren’t fairies and elementals supposed to be allies?” Diamant muttered as he turned translucent. Brown orbs of light winked into existence, filling his disappearing frame before floating towards Vur’s arm. A sigh resounded through the cave as Diamant vanished, leaving Vur and Stella with the mound of treasure.
