[47] A Living Dead

Chapter 47: A Living Dead

"For an experienced and seasoned adventurer? And preferably someone quite reclusive, with a quirky personality?"

In response to Durin's question, Alyssa carefully pondered.

Finding a seasoned adventurer in the North wasn't difficult, considering Alyssa's own past teammates as adventurers were highly qualified. But unfortunately, adding the requirement of reclusiveness drastically reduced the pool. Most adventurers operated in groups, making it rare to find someone with a solitary disposition. In this environment, developing a reclusive personality was unusual.

Therefore, Alyssa, even as the head of the Northern Adventurers Guild, fell into contemplation before finally saying, "I have someone in mind who meets your criteria, but... to be honest, his personality is quite unique."

"Unique?" Durin hadn't expected even Alyssa to use that term, sparking his interest in her suggestion. Realizing she couldn't stop him, Alyssa straightforwardly provided the contact information and location of the chosen individual, saying, "Anyway, I'll give you the contact details and location of the person. Once you meet him, you'll understand."

.....

Around noon, after traversing through a field on the outskirts of Winterfell, a small wooden house stood in the center of the plain, appearing before Durin's eyes. According to Alyssa's instructions, the adventurer who met the requirements resided here.

To be honest, living outside the city in the North was uncommon due to the high number of monsters in the area. Even in villages with large populations, there was a risk of monster attacks. Thus, dwelling in a solitary wooden house in the wilderness could be considered reckless.

However, upon seeing the design around the wooden house, Durin immediately abandoned such thoughts. It was evident that the owner of this house must be someone very familiar with monsters. The traps and alarms were designed to almost immediately sound an alarm when monsters attacked. There were also some traps around the wooden house that were not easily noticeable but could ensnare creatures as small as goblins and as large as trolls.

With a slight smirk, Durin, confident he had found the right place, used his mage's intuition to navigate through the traps and knocked on the door. In the next moment, accompanied by a series of orderly footsteps, the door gradually opened...

"Don't do that. I was introduced here by Guildmaster Alyssa. By the way, I'm Durin Edward, a mage interested in you."

Facing the dagger that emerged from the door crack, Durin, although not afraid, was somewhat surprised by the vigilance of the other party. The figure behind the door also froze upon hearing Alyssa mentioned by Durin, but after a moment, silently opened the door.

It was a rather spacious wooden house with minimal furnishings inside. The large empty spaces seemed almost deliberately designed for easy departure, and there was a faint scent, giving the impression of being a girl's room.

Besides these, the most prominent feature in the room was the figure before Durin. Due to certain reasons, the person always wore a cloak and mask, preventing Durin from seeing their true face. However, based on their physique, Durin could roughly judge that they were a young man of under thirty.

"Do you have any business, esteemed mage?"

Finally, the young man sitting in the center of the living room spoke, his slightly hoarse voice confirming Durin's suspicion, while Durin also noticed that the room wasn't occupied by just the young man.

Indeed, besides the young man, there were four or five children of varying ages in the room, ranging from as young as five or six to as old as fifteen or sixteen. Some of these boys and girls hid behind the young man, wary of the stranger, while others cautiously watched Durin, as if questioning his identity.

Regarding this, recalling Alyssa's reminder, Durin quickly said, "Saiki, Silver-ranked adventurer, that's you, right?"

"Yes, what do you want?"

As he spoke, the slight color peeking through the cloak's seam surprised Durin, who then asked, "Are you an undead?"

Yes, through the cloak, Durin saw not human skin and pores but clear veins and flesh. It seemed that the adventurer recommended by Alyssa was not a human in terms of race.

Upon Durin's surprise, the man responded in silence but with caution, "What? You were called here by Alyssa, and you don't know my situation?"

"No, she did mention that you're quite special, but..."

Durin, who was momentarily stunned, eventually took out the token Alyssa had given him. He had initially wanted to probe the other party himself, but now it seemed that he would have to let the other explain the current situation.

Quickly, after taking the token and inspecting it, Saiki nodded and said, "Alright, I believe you. Since you were introduced by Guildmaster Alyssa, I'll tell you about my situation."

With that, the man slowly removed his mask, revealing a face that was far from human, and began speaking, "I am not human, or rather, I was human before. But due to a curse from a lich during a past maze exploration, my body perished on the spot, and by sheer luck, my soul, which should have dissipated, possessed a nearby zombie. Although I survived, I ended up in this state, neither fully alive nor fully dead. I can only survive as a monster in the wilderness. Eventually, Guildmaster Alyssa, whom I encountered in the maze, trusted me and brought me back to the human world."

"But even so, I can't return to my original home and live in the town. So, after adopting the children of the adventurers who explored the maze with me, I came to live alone in this remote place, hardly participating in adventurer activities."

After listening to Saiki's words, Durin showed a look of awe because the other's situation was completely different from what he had guessed. This was not an undead, but a living dead!

Although the soul still shone brightly, the body had lost its warmth, resembling a zombie. However, unlike mindless zombies, the other still retained self-awareness and did not seem to be influenced by the bloodthirsty instincts of monsters.

"I see. But it seems that despite your condition, Saiki, your strength has not only not declined but has also increased. Why don't you continue as an adventurer?"

Unexpectedly, Durin saw through his situation. After a moment of surprise, Saiki said helplessly, "Yes, it's because of this zombie body that I was able to break through the limitations of my original talent and reach the fourth-order Sword Soul level. However, even with this appearance, I can't find trustworthy teammates, and taking care of these children is more important to me than embarking on another adventure."

As Saiki spoke, he gently touched the heads of the children behind him. Clearly, his current behavior resembled that of an ordinary person who had grown tired of the adventurer's life.

But in Durin's eyes, whether it was the long sword at Saiki's waist, polished countless times and ready to be drawn for battle, or the traps scattered outside the house, made based on hunting instincts, one could still see that this adventurer had not forgotten the desire engraved in an adventurer's DNA.

Therefore, after some thought, Durin slowly took out a pouch filled with gold coins from his waist and spoke, "Relax, Adventurer Saiki, I've come to discuss a trade with you."