by J. J. Pavlov
"Uurhhh..." The sound of air escaping uncontrollably through ruined vocal cords comes from ahead. Yep, that's the sound of a zombie alright. I also hear clattering bones, so there are skeletons among them, too. A year is more than enough to reduce a human corpse to that.
Rolan signals for us to stop and points his torch in the direction of the sound. Just barely illuminated by the light is a half-decomposed zombie.
"Alright, leave this one to-" Just when the leader steps forward and the circle of light moves with him, more zombies come into view. There's a pretty huge number just standing still and doing nothing.
But it seems that the light triggered something in them, as they slowly turn around towards us. Their dead eyes are unfocused and most likely blind, but it's clear they're aware of us. Some begin to scuffle forward, but they're as cumbersome as one would expect of human bodies with barely any muscles left. Still no idea how they actually move, but at least I'm grateful that they're not runners.
"There are skeletons coming from behind." Gram suddenly exclaims, and Luna spins around to point her staff into the darkness.
It seems we've been surrounded by the undead, exactly what Rolan warned us about. But I think skeletons aren't that scary and should be easily smashed into pieces by the big man's shield.
Luna begins to chant, while the bard shoots his crossbow at the slowly approaching zombies. Considering how long it takes him to reload, I think it's an exercise in futility. At least that first bolt punches straight through a zombie's head and cracks its skull.
Only that it doesn't stop moving. That means their weakness in this world really isn't a headshot.
I guess this is the perfect opportunity to try out the spell that 'frees their souls and destroys their bodies'. Since I have the book with me, I take it out and act like I'm using it as a crutch; I should at least make it look like it takes some effort, even if it really doesn't.
"Libera Animar!" I lift the hand with the book into the air and speak the incantation out loud.
Wait a second, isn't Senka, who I'm carrying around in my other arm, also an undead in some way? Oh shi-
My chant echoes through the cave systems and a ring of white and holy-looking light gathers around me, illuminating the surroundings and showing us that a really large number of undead have encircled us. Then it spreads out in all directions in a milky white nova.
The moment the nova touches any undead, their eyes begin to glow, and their bodies burn away in a white blaze. The smoke each one of them leaves behind is glowing in the dark, and I feel like I can make out faces in them. They disappear in an immaterial breeze that only seems to affect them. Whispers of gratitude enter my ear before the lights fade and only silence surrounds us.
That was super effective!
Rolan swings his torch through the darkness and finds that not a single undead is left as far as he can see. He turns around to me with a dumbfounded expression, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Gram and the bard do the same after verifying that no undead are around them, either.
"Umm, Runa. You can stop chanting." The leader mutters in a flat voice.
"Huh?" Completely shaken out of her incantation trance, Luna stops and opens her eyes to look around, before her expression turns into the same as her sweetheart's, upon realizing that all the undead have disappeared without a trace. Apparently, she didn't hear my incantation. "What happened?"
"The missy's magic happened." Shrugging with a resigning smile, the big man gives up trying to explain my incredible magic output and simply rolls with it.
I look down at the doll girl in my arms and find her giving me a stealthy thumbs up in the darkness. She read my mind and knew my worries, huh?
Phew...
We exit the dungeon soon after. I'm feeling really unsatisfied, and it shows on my face. That one Libera Animar spell was enough to clear not only the enemies surrounding us but also swept through the entire cave system. After my initial cast, we searched for a while but found that not a single undead was left. Even the ones trying to burrow out of the ceiling were burned away by holy fire.
What's with the output of my magic, oi?
The other members of the party keep glancing at me in wonder as if I'm a prodigy or something. Kamii doesn't really understand how amazing it was, so she just walks with me as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. I don't think she even understood that we would have been in a pretty bad spot, if not for my light magic.
On our way back, the high morale soon crumbles when we draw closer to the reality that, to cash in the reward, we need to return to the guild. And since only so little time has passed, Ingrid is most likely still furious. So, instead of making a grand return like a group of heroes, we all hesitate to even open the door.
I shouldn't be afraid of a human, but it's like when a certain rubber-man impervious to bludgeoning attacks gets beaten to a pulp by a woman without any special powers as punishment for doing something stupid. I'm in a similar position, and for some reason, I feel like it could happen to me, too.
"You go first, leader." I move all the way to the back of our party and hide behind Gram.
"Guess I'll have to..." Resigning into his fate, Rolan pushes open the front door and steps inside. The interior is quite empty, with very few adventurers sitting around the tables and talking to each other. "Hm? Why are there so few people here?"
"Did they all run away?" Luna asks with a frown as she follows her sweetheart inside.
The imminent attack from Maou-mama is still an urgent quest. There's actually a prominent notice posted on the quest board, from which most others have been removed.
The leader quickly goes over to the receptionist and places the quest notice of the Annual Cemetery Clearing on the counter. Maybe we can get this over with quickly and leave without meeting Ingrid. I just hope that she has calmed down by tomorrow so that I can go and apologize.
"Huh, you finished it?" Looking skeptical, the receptionist raises an eyebrow and lets her gaze shift among our members, before returning it to the quest notice before her.
"Yeah, Miss Chloe has light magic after all." Rolan doesn't say how powerful it was. Still, he seems to have settled into some sort of pride for his party member's abilities. Of course, he would be, we just finished a quest that normally requires several parties, who would have to share the rewards.
"Oh." With that sound, the girl tilts her head to get a better look at me, as I'm still hiding behind Gram. "Miss Norling has told me not to hand out any rewards to Miss Marcott until she goes to visit her office."
Eek!
"Come with me, Rolan!" I dance around the big man and quickly grab onto the leader's arm to pull him down to hell with me. That swift movement seems to have taken Kamii by surprise, as she hastily follows me and holds onto my sleeve. That's so cute!
"Umm, you should take responsibility for your actions, Miss Chloe." He doesn't outright shake off my grasp, but he also makes it clear that I'm going to be alone on this one. "It's not good to run away."
Oi, you were the one who told us to run earlier!
Well, there are no two ways around this. The receptionist girl doesn't let herself get sweet-talked into stamping the request and handing us the reward - not even by the bard, who seems to be quite skilled at persuasion. Or at flirting, as I would call what he's doing.
Thus, I walk up the stairs with only Kamii by my side, to face Ingrid's wrath over having destroyed her property. It's her own fault for leaving an important item out like that, especially when it's a target board! Yes, I'll just tell her that she can't blame me for using it for its intended purpose!
"Come in." All rebellious thoughts are blown away when I knock on the door, and the guild master's stern voice responds. I feel like running away, but I've already come this far...
"It's me, Chloe." I open the door and step inside. As always, the office is filled to the brim with memorabilia, and every horizontal surface is stacked full of documents. I would normally be feeling cozy in thi
s a room, but now these items just remind me of the fact that she seems to be a hoarder who values her belongings highly. And I destroyed one of them carelessly.
Then I very nearly do a spit-take, when I find who is sitting on the couch between stacks of files and folders.
"H-hello, Miss Marcott." Daica greets me with a shy smile, her expression suggesting something along the lines of 'I was caught, sorry'.
"Please, have a seat. Anywhere." Waving into the room, Ingrid turns around from the window and stares me down. She has a little height advantage over me, but not big enough to make the difference I'm feeling right now; she seems to be towering right now.
"Umm..." I start, but she cuts me off with a simple gesture.
"So, you destroyed the target board down in the hall." She points at a few charred pieces of wood piled up on a sheet of paper atop her desk. Showing the remains to me is a very deafening silent reproach, but her piercing green eyes stare daggers into me.
"I'll pay you back." Bowing at a beautiful forty-five-degree angle, I immediately say. That's basically what it comes down to here. I made some money on the cemetery quest, though I don't know how much it is. I just hope it's going to be enough.
"You youngsters think that things are just worth the price you paid for them, huh?" She looks like she's suppressing her anger, and I decide not to say anything anymore. I'll just wait and see what solution she proposes for how I can make amends. "When you get to my age-"
"You aren't old at all." Those words burst out from me to my own surprise. She looks really young, maybe just a few years older than me, so where's she coming from, speaking as if I'm just a child in comparison.
"Thank you, but flattery won't get you far." She replies drily, not letting herself get thrown off. That wasn't my intention, but I wouldn't have minded if it had worked that way. "That target board was a present from the previous guild master when he retired."
Basically, it has emotional value attached, which money can't buy. I can fully understand that, but I have no idea what I can do to make her forgive me for destroying it. As far as I can tell, there isn't any magic that can repair inanimate objects on the spot, or she wouldn't be making such a big deal out of it.
"My number of wins against him was marked on its back, with his signature underneath it." Ingrid relates with a distant expression, in which I can perceive a hint of pride. In other words, she beat the previous guild master in darts, and the proof of it was on the back of that target.
I stop myself from saying something dumb that would provoke punishment. Even though I think it's quite a petty thing to be so hung up about, the fact that I destroyed her property remains.
"What can I do?" I try to sound apologetic, but her attachment to that target has already lost me.
"... nothing, really." The guild master shrugs and sits down on her chair again. All the tension leaves her body as she closes her eyes in resignation. "It's not like there's a way to bring it back, and you couldn't have known about its importance, since you haven't experienced the Midsummer Festival at the guild, yet."
Huh? Does that mean she's letting me off the hook?
"I'll have you work off that debt." Her eyelids snap open, and she stares into my eyes with a determined gaze, as if she just read my mind.
"How much?" Obviously, I can't bargain with her, but I'd still like her to set down the exact amount, so she doesn't make me her gofer for an arbitrary length of time.
"I want you to take something to the capital for me, after the demon queen's attack is over." Ingrid stands up from her chair once more and picks up a sealed letter from her desk demonstratively. "It's for the guild master there."
"Wait, are you saying I should get out of this city?" I don't know whether we even have enough money for the journey or not. If it was just me, I know for a fact I don't. And I don't want to rely on Rolan and the others any more than I already have.
"Normally, messengers working for the guild are paid the expenses for the journey, as well as a wage. Even if the nation is at peace, it can still be quite dangerous." She begins to explain and hope lights up inside me. "Your punishment is that you don't get the expenses or the wage. I heard you wanted to go there anyway, and with the Annual Cemetery Clearing, you have more than enough funds to pay for the journey."
"Huh?" Well, I should have expected that she knows who takes what request from the notice board, but it seems she believes that we cleared it simply by virtue of us returning to the guild hall.
"I'll be making an announcement after this has blown over. Just hope we'll still be here at that time." With these words, she places the letter back on her desk and waves me out. "That's all. Take Lady Nightwane with you."
She returns to looking through files and documents and doesn't seem like she's open to discussing this any further. I doubt she would accept any objections anyway since she knows that I know I was in the wrong.
Well, that doesn't seem like too bad of a punishment now, or does it?
"What did she say?" Rolan and the others are sitting at a table in the mostly empty hall.
"She told me to get out of this city." I act downcast and avoid eye contact with him, to give him the impression that I'm serious. From the corner of my eyes, I can see that he looks shocked.
"Really? Over that thing?" Unbelieving, the leader exchanges a glance with Gram, who blinks in surprise, and scratches the back of his head. "Let me go talk to her."
"Ahhh, I was just kidding." I look up to the leader and stick out my tongue mischievously. "Fooled you?"
"Huh?" He blushes at my expression and looks perplexed. Luna glares at his reaction from the side, and I have to suppress my laughter. "Then what...?"
"Well, it's true she told me to get out of this city. Along with all of you." I start and then pause for dramatic effect. Before anyone can get a word in, I continue. "We have to deliver a letter to the guild master in the capital after the demon queen's attack has passed."
"Is that all-" Sounding relieved, Rolan starts, but I interrupt him.
"At our own expenses." I quickly add, so that he doesn't get the wrong idea. His joy immediately plummets, and he slumps his shoulders. "It's supposed to be punishment, after all."
He opens his mouth and then closes it again without making a sound. I'm fairly sure he was about to say something like 'but you destroyed the target, why punish all of us?' and realized that it would be too insensitive under the circumstances.
"Well, according to Ingrid, we have enough travel expenses with the Annual Cemetery Clearing request." I walk to the receptionist desk while explaining. Time to cash in our reward, now that we fulfilled all the conditions.
"You don't know how cheap she can be!" The leader follows after me. "What she perceives as enough is most likely not going to last us for even half the journey unless we want to camp out every night and survive on tight rations. I doubt you would want to do that, would you now, Miss Chloe?"
Is that so? Well, I don't want to be hungry while walking all day long, but we could just hunt wild animals, dig for roots and pick berries if we run out of supplies. Isn't that the adventurer's life?
I look up and suppress a flinch. The devil Rolan is speaking of is watching and listening to our conversation from the gallery above us. Unfortunately for the leader, he doesn't see her, as he continues with his rant.
"Whenever I went on a request with her back when I first started, she would be really stingy with food and tools, repurposing things not intended for-"
"Come up here, Rolan boy." Ingrid interrupts his rambling by calling out to him in an intimidating tone and with a deadly smile. He goes completely pale and cold sweat forms on his face. That's the first time I've seen such an expression on him, and it's glorious.
Nice knowing you, Rolan boy~
While our leader goes up into the lion's den, I turn to the receptionist, who has brought over the reward money on a tray. The gold coins are laid out nicely, and there's another tray with silver coins piled on top being ca
rried over by another guild worker. My eyes go round at the amount.
"Through how many people are you splitting?" The girl asks me and prepares something like an abacus to count the coins. I think for a moment and count the people in the party. Overall, there are seven members, but I was the one who single-handedly completed the quest with my magic.
"Seven." I respond truthfully. It's bad to be greedy, so I'm properly splitting between every member of the party - including Daica and Kamii. Well, I'll be taking at least the latter's part, since she hasn't shown any interest in money; the first time I gave her a little pocket money for buying sweets, she returned it in the evening the same day, saying that I should use it for myself. She's such a good girl. I pet her, and she looks up at me with a questioning gaze.
"Are you sure about this? We didn't really do anything." Gram asks while scratching the back of his head, embarrassed. It's precisely what I just thought, but I would never act on it. In fact, this is the perfect opportunity for me to gather some good-girl points.
"Without any of you, I would still be wandering the countryside alone and half-naked." While the receptionist begins to count the coins and splits them onto their own neat little piles, I turn around to the others with a warm smile.
As expected, they each react with bashfulness in their individual ways; Gram rubs his nose and suddenly finds the ceiling very interesting, the bard closes his eyes and smiles to himself, and Luna puckers up her lips, blushes, and glances sideways.
"Then let's have a feast for ourselves. Tonight's on me!" The big man announces with a wide grin.
"Oh? I'll take you up on that then." I give him determined smile. With the money he gets from this, he'll be able to buy me a lot of food, and I'm feeling quite hungry right now. "Don't regret it, alright?"
Chapter 20 - Floating On A Feeling
I drop onto our bed lazily and touch my round belly. Gram was staring at me like I was some kind of strange creature after I downed my fourth jug of ale and ate my sixth plate of the roast lamb with grilled potatoes. In the end, I had to let it go to my actual stomach so that it wouldn't appear too suspicious, even if it didn't really explain how my body could store so much food.