Corpse, the Adventurer

I LOOKED OUT at the hunting party, a little unsure of what I should

do. Behind me, the rolling dunes had exploded into a sea of flame. The

adventurers might well label me a monster for causing this destruction.

Cold sweat formed underneath my skull mask.

Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, the leader broke into

a huge grin. "Incredible! I don't think I've ever met an adventurer who

could pull off something like that. How about you guys?"

The adventurers clustered behind him nodded in agreement. Their

leader continued to praise me as he approached. "I have to admit, with that

creepy skull mask, you're peak suspicious. But it's not very fair of us to

judge a book by its cover, you know?"

"Yeah," said one of the others. "Thanks for saving us back there."

"What sort of weapon is your black sword?" asked another. "Can I

see it?"

It suddenly seemed silly that I'd been so wary of these people. I guess

I'd developed a bad habit of being constantly on guard. Thus far, every

adventurer I'd met besides Lady Roxy had been no better than the selfish

trash from my village. By comparison, this hunting party valued its

members as friends, and they had even worried enough about me, a

stranger, to return to support me in battle, even if it meant their deaths.

The leader thrust out his hand. "I'm Baldo," he said. "I'm the leader

of this party. What's your name?"

My identity was hidden by the powers of my skull mask, and I aimed

to keep it that way. "Call me Corpse. How's the rest of your party? The

injured ones?"

"Thanks to you, they're all still alive. They're heading back to the

city already. A little rest with the medics, and they'll be back on their feet in

no time."

"I see."

I was glad to hear it. But now I had the sand golem core to deal with.

I had no doubt it would be worth a pretty penny…if I could haul it to

Lanchester. And I needed the money. Paying for Myne as well as myself

was eating into my savings. Fortunately, now that Corpse the adventurer

had been revealed to this party, it wasn't worth trying to slip quietly back

into hiding.

I slid the black sword back into its scabbard and tried to lift the core.

It was about as tall as me, and a pretty hefty package. Lifting it up dug my

feet deep into the sand. Not just my feet, actually; I sank in all the way to

my knees. Given my current stats, carrying the core wasn't an issue, but its

weight made shuffling through the sand a real pain.

Seeing my struggle, the leader motioned to his party, and together

they helped me lift the core.

"We'll give you a hand," said the leader, "and we won't even charge

you for it. Right, guys?"

The party's raucous cheers echoed across the desert. What was the

saying? "Many hands made light work?" Well, many hands certainly made

a light core, and I knew that together, we'd be able to carry it to the city.

"Thank you," I said.

"No, we should be thanking you!" said the leader. "This is the least

we can do."

With the adventurers' marching song bellowing through the night air,

we paraded back to the city.

This kind of solidarity was nice, every once in a while.

***

Somehow, we all got to the inn before dawn. I knew that, if I'd been

by myself, I'd still have been in the desert as the sun rose. I owed this small

victory to teamwork.

As we made our way inside the inn, the staff dashed over to our small

parade. When they saw the huge core we carried, they broke into a flurry,

calling for the manager. After a short period of chaos, he arrived.

The manager bowed politely before leading us to the inn's trading

post. "To think that somebody finally defeated the sand golem. My, oh my,

today truly is a splendid day!"

According to the manager, this particular crowned beast had been the

kingpin of the monsters causing widespread desertification. For generations

now, the holy knights in charge of Lanchester had looked for ways to bring

the golem down, but whenever they had stood on the brink of victory, the

sand golem had escaped into the depths of the desert sands. This pattern had

repeated, over and over, for hundreds of years.

When I thought about it, the sand golem had definitely seemed wellversed in the ancient art of running away. It had vanished from sight the

moment defeat was imminent. Apparently, it had polished that skill over

hundreds of years of battle.

Without Greed's First Level technique, I'd probably have ended up

following the holy knight tradition of cursing the sky and stamping my feet

in frustration at the golem's crafty escape.

The trading post reverberated with noise from the crowds that had

gathered. I couldn't avoid them, so it was impossible to keep Corpse out of

the spotlight. Luckily, having just defeated the bane of the territory's

existence, most who had gathered accepted me with open arms, despite my

mysterious skull mask. Sure, a few people glared at me suspiciously from

the edges of the crowd, but there was nothing I could do about them.

In the end, however, the trading post apologetically requested that I

return the following day.

"I'm so terribly sorry," the cashier said. "We'll need time to prepare

your reward money. We never imagined, in a million years, that someone

other than a holy knight would finally defeat the sand golem. We'll need a

little time to appraise the core's value and clear your payment with upper

management. Please, put your feet up and relax today."

"Okay," I said. "I'll be back later."

I gave my thanks to the hunting party who helped me carry the core

back, and in return they invited me out for a celebratory drink at the inn's

tavern.

"How about it? Nothing finer than a drink after a hard-fought battle!

And besides, we wanna hear all the nitty-gritty details about how you

defeated that sand golem!"

It was a tempting proposition, but I didn't actually want to talk about

my battle with the crowned beast. I'd only give away the fact I was an

amateur relying on the support of my absurdly powerful black sword. This

group of adventurers was clearly far more battle-hardened than I was, and I

didn't want to disappoint them. I politely turned down their offer.

I was glad when Baldo wasn't put off by my declination. "It's a

shame we can't buy you a drink as thanks, but we'll be staying here a while

to hunt sandmen. If you ever need anything, you call us, you hear? Rain or

shine. All the best, Corpse!"

"All the best," I said.

I headed to the inn's giant staircase and up to the third floor. As I

walked toward my room, I took a circuitous route to make sure I wasn't

being followed. I'd checked in as Fate when we first arrived, so perhaps I

was a little overcautious, but I didn't see the harm in being careful.

"Uh… What room number were we again?" I muttered.

With five hundred rooms on each floor, it was all too easy to forget

where your room was among hundreds of others. They all looked the same!

"Turn left here, and it's about fourteen rooms down," said Greed,

clearly tired of my anxiety.

"You've got a shockingly impressive memory, you know that?"

"I don't know why you're surprised. I'm an inorganic object. I'm

made of different stuff than you humans. My memory's great."

Keeping my thoughts about the memories of things without brains to

myself, I unlocked the door to my room and went inside.

Finally, I can rest…

In one of the two beds was Myne, still sound asleep. It seemed she

still hadn't noticed the cute little whiskers I'd given her. I took off my skull

mask, placed Greed against the wall, and flopped into bed. I was utterly

wiped out. I faded into sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, exhaustion

overwhelming me. I wouldn't wake up even if someone were to draw all

over my face…

Before I could really register that train of thought, I was fast asleep.

***

I woke to the rhythmic patter of falling water. I yawned as I sat up,

and I glanced around while I stretched.

Myne was gone. Her bed was empty, but Sloth still leaned against the

wall.

Then the sound of water stopped. After a brief silence, Myne

reentered the room from the shower—dressed in only her underwear?!

"What the…?! P-put some clothes on!" I shouted, overcome with

alarm.

"Why? Am I supposed to be embarrassed about being seen by a little

boy like you?"

What a statement, from someone who looked younger than me!

Undressed as she was, I could see her tattoos more clearly. I hadn't

realized before, because of her clothes, but the white tattoos covered her

chest and stomach. When she turned around, I saw that they decorated her

back as well. They were pretty much everywhere except for her face.

Myne grinned as our eyes met. "That…art…you drew on my face—I

had quite the time washing it off!"

A deep panic struck me, worse even than when I had faced the

crowned beast. "I'm sorry! I… I did it on a whim! I couldn't help myself!"

"Usually, I'd throw you out the window while you slept. But, as it

stands, you're more useful to me in good health. So, instead, I returned the

favor."

Still clad only in her underwear, Myne walked over with a pocket

mirror in her hand. It was incredibly difficult to figure out where I should

look.

"Behold, my newest masterpiece," Myne declared. "No need to thank

me!"

"What the hell?!"

The face that stared back at me from the mirror was that of a

caveman. His thick eyebrows joined in the middle, and a scribbly black

beard encircled his mouth, leading up to bushy sideburns. Across his

forehead was scrawled a single word: GLUTTON.

This was beyond cruel! And perhaps it was just my imagination, but I

was certain I could also hear Greed laughing at me, even though he was

well out of reach, resting against the wall.

"All I did was draw a couple cute cat whiskers!" I cried. "You've

turned me into an entirely different person!"

"I think it suits you. I really do."

Despite her quietly pleased tone, Myne's red eyes bored a hole into

me. It was clear she would not accept anything other than total submission.

"All right! All right, I'm sorry. I brought this on myself. Now, could

you please put on some clothes?!"

She might not have seen me as a man, but that didn't mean I wasn't

one. Didn't she know anything about young men in the prime of their

youth?!

I had to get away from her, so I escaped straight to the shower. I tried

to wash away the work of Myne's revenge. The elaborate details. The word.

The eyebrows. But it just…

Wouldn't…

Wash…

Off…

…

This was surely the true form of Myne's Wrath. For any slight done

to her, I'd have to expect ten, maybe twenty times the retribution. Now that

we would be traveling together, I needed to remember this well.