Chapter 19 - My First Quest

Basically, we're doing this dangerous quest because we're fleeing from the

wrath of the guild master. It's like saying that her anger is more dangerous

than fighting undead in a cemetery.

Initially, I had planned for just Gram, the bard and I - and obviously Kamii,

since she wouldn't leave my side - to be doing this, but now it's the whole

party again. Except for Daica, since she didn't return to the guild for Ingrid's

announcement.

I'm wearing my usual casual clothes, which look utterly unfit for combat.

Since I haven't made that much money in the past few weeks, I don't have

any gear at all, yet. I guess I can say that I'm a mage just like Luna, who only

wears robes and carries a staff.

But I don't even have that.

In either case, I'm looking forward to seeing what the undead are like in

real life. If fantasy and movies are any indication, they'll most likely just be

rotting corpses, and their bane is a headshot. However, it doesn't feel like it

would make sense if they're actually moving because of some kind of magic.

They wouldn't be reliant on their brains, then.

We walk along the main street of Hovsgaerden, through the more affluent

part of the city. This is where the lord's castle is located. A short distance to

the north of it is the church building. The cemetery lies behind it, and the

space reserved for it extends all the way up the hill, to the edge of the city.

I still haven't been inside the church itself, but I won't be able to go there as

long as Kamii is clinging to me. There are two men in ceremonial armor

standing guard in front of the massive wooden door, members of the church

rather than the city watch. They turned me away when I tried to go inside last

time because they saw that Kamii is cursed.

Rounding the building and entering through an open metal gate in the fence

that surrounds the church grounds, we make our way into the cemetery

grounds. We find that it's immaculate and well-kept, and even though the

area is quite big, you can overlook it at a glance; no unnatural mist is

gathering above the graves, and no shambling figures can be seen among the gravestones.

"The actual clearing will take place underground." Rolan replies when I ask

him what our job here is supposed to be. "There's an extensive cave system

under our feet."

He then points at the building in the center of the cemetery, the only

structure made of white marble in the entire city - as far as I can tell. Judging

by its location and lack of windows, it's safe to say that this is a mausoleum.

"That's Lord Gulbrand's mausoleum. After his death, he was interred there

alongside many of his prized weapons. Throughout the ages, most of them

have been stolen by grave robbers." The leader gives me a little background

story as we approach the small building. "The only entrance to the catacombs

is in there."

The cave system was discovered many years after Gulbrand's death.

According to the bard, it was a grave robber who accidentally released a

horde of undead, which had piled up over a century, upon the city.

Hovsgaerden was nearly overrun, so ever since, there has been an annual

clearing event in which the undead in the catacombs are destroyed.

Normally, you would think that the lord or the church would make a big

ceremony out of it or send soldiers inside. But nowadays the adventurers are

made to deal with it since it's just a hassle - even if it's a pretty dangerous

one.

Let alone the fact that they should just incinerate the bodies as they do in

Japan, instead of burying them. Much less work involved and no risk of

reanimation.

The big man pushes open the marble gates to the mausoleum. It seems that

after the incident, they rebuilt the entrance so that the two wings can only be

pushed inwards; the mindless undead don't have the ability to pull, after all.

The interior is a small room with a marble sarcophagus standing in its center.

There's a detailed statue of Gulbrand, lying on his back on top of the

sarcophagus, a hammer in his clasped hands.

We round the final resting place of the legendary lord and find a wooden

trap door on the ground behind it. I had expected that one had to push the

sarcophagus aside to reveal a hidden set of stairs, but apparently, that's only

something seen in games. It would be way too heavy and inconvenient to

make something like that.

"The first underground floor used to be catacombs, in which the mortal remains of Hovsgaerden's citizens were interred. When the religion of the

empire became more widespread, and the church was built, casket burials

became the norm, and this mausoleum became Lord Gulbrand's personal

tomb." The bard tells me while we wait for Gram to open up the trap door.

Below the door is a set of narrow and steep stairs, which lead into complete

darkness. The stench of rotting flesh wafts up from the steps, and everyone

covers their noses. Why, this smells almost like Lady Nightwane's store, after

the slavers trashed it!

Luckily, I can just close up my nostrils completely; a Crawling Chaos can

breathe through the skin. I can't even begin to imagine how that works, but

I'm grateful for that inbuilt feature of my kind.

"You sure about this?" Gram has a nervous and disgusted expression on his

face as he looks into the black depths.

"Well, we got here already, so let's just do it." Rolan doesn't look very

eager, either. "I'll take point. You be the rear guard."

Lighting a torch with Luna's fire magic, the leader tosses it down the stairs,

and we watch it bounce twice before it comes to a stop a distance away,

illuminating the steps and the stone walls around it. I can't tell whether that's

already the bottom or it goes down even deeper.

"Stay close together. If we get separated and surrounded by the undead,

only the gods can save us." Covering his nose with a scarf and lighting

another torch, Rolan takes the plunge and goes first. The bard follows closely

behind him, and then Luna, and I step in afterward. Kamii remains by my

side, her cursed arm raised as if she's prepared to strike with it.

The light behind us vanishes when Gram's big frame and his shield block

the entrance almost completely. Luna creates a flame above the tip of her

staff, and we find ourselves somewhat well lit in the darkness of the dusty

underground.

We soon reach the bottom of the stairs and find a narrow passageway with

small alcoves let into the walls on both sides. There are incomplete human

skeletons laid out in those, and coins are scattered about them. Since grave

robbers have been coming here before, it must mean that these coins aren't

worth taking. They do look rusted and green, so they must have been made

from copper or bronze.

"This is pretty cramped." Gram mutters from behind us, and I turn around.

His shoulders are too broad for him to walk normally, and his shield is too big to be carried straight. All the aisles down here are of similar width, so he

has a hard time keeping up with us.

"Don't worry. It'll open up soon." The bard comments and points forward.

There's a hole in the catacomb's crude brick walls, and the space beyond it

illuminated by the torches suggests that it's all natural from here on out.

So far, we haven't encountered any undead, yet. I assume the incomplete

skeletons means that they can't rise and just remain dead. With the new

religion and its practice to bury the bodies whole came the problem of the

undead, huh?

We walk through the opening and look around. The walls are indeed

natural, and I can feel that the air here is quite humid, since it rained only two

days ago. I assume the undead we'll be encountering down here will be

festering and putrid, rather than crumbling to dust.

When I look up, I notice moving limbs sticking down from the ceiling. The

result of those buried above this cavern turning undead and burrowing

downwards. After all, digging down into a cavity is easier than pushing dirt

upwards.

"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 shiMy chant echoes through the cave systems and a ring of white and holylooking 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 this 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 carried

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?"