The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 7 Read online

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  Chapter 1: Vistelya, The Capital

  Crowds flooded in and out of the gate to the capital. It was only natural. For as small as the Kingdom of Yaaran was, it was still a proper country; it would have to see a fair number of visitors. However, as a less advanced country, their security was sloppy in some places.

  “Where’s your identification?” one of the gate guards asked a man standing in line before us. His clothes were worn out, a straw hat sat upon his head, and he carried some vegetables wrapped in cloth. He looked like he could only have come from a small village.

  “Oh, uh, I don’t have none of those,” he said, but his accent was thick and hard to parse.

  The guard seemed used to this, however. He sighed, shook his head, and asked, “Where are you from?”

  “I’m from out in Yanga. Came to town to sell these.” The man opened the cloth to show off his vegetables, asserting that he possessed nothing suspicious.

  “I’m sure you did. Go on through,” the guard said with a nod, letting him enter the gate.

  “Do you think he should have done that?” Lorraine asked. “He could easily have been hiding illegal material inside those vegetables.” She was judging based on her perspective as a citizen of the Empire.

  “I don’t know. I’m sure it’s fine. When you enter the aristocratic district near the castle, they apparently perform a more strict inspection. Besides, the guards have dogs that’d probably smell anything illegal,” I said as I looked around, unsure as to whether I was right or not. Older adventurers always told me how lax the capital’s security was, actually. They seemed to be right.

  “I’m impressed they’ve gone so long without being destroyed by any of the surrounding nations,” Lorraine muttered.

  “It’s not like there’d be much use in destroying Yaaran. They could expand their territory, maybe, but there’s hardly any decent land around here.”

  Some of Yaaran’s cities were actually big enough that they might be worth attacking, but the other countries in the region weren’t much different in the first place. They were too laid back to engage in the sort of grandiose power struggles that took place in the center of the world. Well, maybe they weren’t that laid back, but they came across that way when compared to the strict laws and regulations of the Empire. There was a reason these countries weren’t major players on the world stage.

  “Next!” the guard said, so I stepped up. He took a look at my face. “Have any identification?” he asked, surprisingly not mentioning my mask. Plenty of people had wounded faces they wanted to hide, and this guard was evidently polite enough to not ask questions. I showed him the ID listing my name as Rentt Vivie. “I see, an adventurer? And what brings you to the capital?”

  To be honest, I had no reason to be here other than that I came along with a group that immediately split up. “I’m here to see the city,” I said, for lack of a better excuse. “I do adventuring work in another city, but I want to work in the capital eventually, so I figure I should check it out.”

  “I see. Bronze-class, are you? Once you reach Silver-class, you should be more than good enough to work in the capital. Just keep working at it. All right, you may pass!” the guard said and patted my shoulder.

  He seemed to take his job seriously, but as far as I could tell, he didn’t keep any records of who came and went. I had to assume they would for those who went to the aristocratic district, but maybe writing down the names of everyone who entered the outer city would take too long. It did seem kind of careless, but Yaaran was that kind of country.

  After I was done, Lorraine got questioned by the guard too. I was already pretty far from them, but my vampiric ears were strong enough to hear them clearly.

  “Where’s your identification?” the guard asked, so Lorraine presented an ID from the Empire. “You’re, uh, from the Empire?” the guard said very respectfully.

  The Empire was far from Yaaran, but everyone knew it to be a great and powerful nation. As a citizen of Yaaran, I could see why he would have trouble standing up to a visitor from the Empire. One wrong move could start a war.

  “Yes, but don’t mind that. I’m only here to see the sights. You don’t mind letting me through, do you?” Lorraine asked confidently.

  “Of course not. Just know that regardless of your country of origin, you’re not allowed to cause trouble,” the guard asserted, still retaining some pride.

  “I know, I’ll be good. Farewell,” Lorraine said and walked up to me. “That guard is a bit too humble for his own good.”

  “Yeah, probably. But nobody from the Empire comes to Yaaran for the most part. It’s like how Riri and Fahri felt when we visited them from Maalt.”

  “Because I come from a metropolis? I’m not even particularly a city person compared to others in the Empire, but oh well. Here we are in the capital, so we may as well take a look around. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like to go?”

  “I want to check out the guild, I guess. But maybe I shouldn’t.”

  The simple identity check at the gate was one thing, but if I went to the guild headquarters dressed like this, I had to imagine they would keep a record of it. Not that robes and masks were that uncommon, but my mask did more to put people off considering it looked like a skull.

  “What if you change the color of your robe and cover the mask with a cloth or something?” Lorraine suggested. “I can alter the color with magic. Although, your robe is highly resistant to magic, so I don’t know if even the surface will be affected.”

  At least if I visited them looking like that, they might not recognize me the next time. It was worth a try, and we could simply not visit the guild if it didn’t work out, so we headed to an empty alleyway.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  “I think that’ll do it. Not bad, right?” Lorraine said. Thankfully magic seemed to at least work on the surface of the robe, so the color was changed all over. It was as black as a void before, but now it had a purple base with a fancy, complicated pattern drawn on top.

  “I didn’t know you had a knack for designing clothes, Lorraine.” I thought she was just going to make the robe red or yellow or something, not give it a proper design.

  Lorraine shook her head. “I don’t. These kinds of clothes are just popular in the imperial capital as of late. I don’t wear them, but they seemed appropriate for the occasion.”

  If this style was big in the imperial capital, that made it the most cutting-edge style in the world. Yaaran wouldn’t be at all familiar with it yet. Maybe I could strut my stuff and act like I was hip and trendy. That didn’t sound like my kind of thing, but there was a right time for everything.

  Strange thoughts ran through my head until Lorraine said something to snap me back to reality. “Anyway, are we going to the guild headquarters or not?”

  “Oh, right. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you do something too? Unlike me, you’ve been there a few times, haven’t you?”

  Lorraine was a Silver-class adventurer, so she could take jobs escorting clients from Maalt to the capital. There were also alchemy materials that couldn’t be obtained in Maalt, so she occasionally went to the capital for those. She came to the guild headquarters during those visits, of course, so there could be issues if she went without a disguise.

  “I don’t know, how about this?” she said and cast a spell on herself. Suddenly, she gave off an entirely different vibe. Her hair was wavy, and she wore makeup that heavily emphasized her features. She also wore glasses, but they only increased her allure. Even her clothes were no longer the unfashionable robes she usually wore; they were replaced by flashy clothes
that were commonplace in big cities. These were presumably also popular in the imperial capital. I had never seen anything like this in Yaaran, but even I could tell this was refined fashion. My overall impression was that she seemed like a rich, powerful magician of unknown age who maybe had one or two quirks. It felt like if you approached her, you’d get burned down to nothing but bones, like me two or three forms ago.

  “That’s pretty, uh, different. Bewitching magic’s got some diverse applications,” I said.

  Spells intended to change one’s appearance or clothes were generally called bewitching magic or transformation magic. They were barely good for anything when you first learned them, but as you gained more proficiency in them, their uses increased. In the end, you could change everything about your appearance, including your height. It was as crucial to stage magicians as illusion magic was, but changing your entire appearance for a sustained amount of time was pretty difficult, so it was limited to tinkering with outfits for the most part. Lorraine, however, gave herself a complete makeover. Rather than a scholar or adventurer, her talents could have provided her greater opportunities as a performer, I thought.

  But Lorraine shook her head. “What are you talking about? I’m not using bewitching magic. I just changed my clothes and hair, and put makeup on,” she said.

  I didn’t see how that was possible, so I stared right into her face. “Oh, it’s true. Nothing else has changed,” I said. Her hair color hadn’t changed at all, though it was styled more extravagantly. Magic accelerated the process, but she had actually, physically changed her appearance. “An actual transformation. Amazing.”

  “Please, I know how to get dressed up if I want to.”

  “I’m not saying I think you can’t. I mean, you have a pretty face; I know you can look gorgeous if you want. I just thought you didn’t think it was worth the trouble, so I’m impressed. Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked. She had turned her back to me while I was talking for some reason. Maybe I said something wrong, but I didn’t think I said anything that problematic? I remembered adventurers from Maalt with wives or girlfriends telling me that you should never tell a woman she looks that different with or without makeup, so maybe that was it.

  “Oh, it’s nothing in particular. Let’s go to the guild,” Lorraine said and walked off.

  I guess she wasn’t especially hurt, judging from the sound of her voice. Rather, she sounded somewhat lively. I didn’t know what that was about. She said it was nothing, so I decided not to ask any questions.

  I walked by Lorraine’s side as we left the alley, and unlike when we entered, I noticed we were getting tons of looks. I thought their attention was drawn by Lorraine’s flashy beauty, but the magicians seemed to be looking at me. It probably had something to do with how we were wearing the latest fashion. We must have stood out, but if it was just our clothes they were looking at, then we were still safe. It’d be bad if we were causing some sort of problem, but I didn’t get that feeling.

  We arrived at the guild. It was much bigger than the one in Maalt, so simply standing in front of it made me shiver. After a decade of effort, I was never able to make it here. Strange circumstances brought me to the place now, but I was still happy about the chance to visit.

  “Let’s go inside,” Lorraine said and went on ahead. I followed her.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  The guild in the capital was the administrator of all guilds in Yaaran. If one were to ask where the guild headquarters in Yaaran was, you would point to this one. It also cooperated with guilds in other countries to some extent. They shared information on adventurer rankings and job completion, and the adventurers from this guild could also take jobs in other nations. Guilds couldn’t cooperate more than that due to regulation by their local governments, however. These organizations obtained and transferred information from other countries on a regular basis, but they were too big for any one country to fully control, so they seemed to have constant power struggles. That was why governments often distrusted the guilds. But because they were highly effective, they were permitted to exist. None of this meant much to a low-ranking adventurer like me, but it was always interesting to hear stories about it.

  Not only was this guild massive compared to the one in Maalt, but it was also cleaner. Even the front desk looked classy, whereas the one in Maalt’s guild was made of cheap wood. Many of the receptionists were beautiful women for some reason. Not that the ones in Maalt weren’t, but the ones here were attractive in more of a metropolitan way.

  “Hey, don’t stare,” Lorraine said.

  “I’m not staring. Just noticing how different this place is.”

  I kind of was staring, to be honest, but I was just charmed by what I saw. I’m sure Lorraine understood. She scoffed and left it at that, thankfully.

  “Anyway, I’ll show you around. Not that it’s much different from what you’d find in Maalt. Over there you have a bar and diner that’s run by the guild, there’s the front desk, there’s where you go to dissect monsters, there’s the appraisal counter, and that just leaves the job board, I believe.”

  Like she said, all of these things were in Maalt’s guild too. The tables, chairs, and interior design were a cut above Maalt’s and made it feel like an entirely different establishment, but after hearing Lorraine talk about it, it sounded exactly like what I was used to.

  I walked up to the job board, and it indeed looked just like the one in Maalt, with one exception. “There are a lot of tough jobs here,” I said. “Oh, except the one for picking herbs; that seems easy.”

  “Maybe it’d be easy for us, but it’s on the harder side as far as these jobs go. For the average adventurer in the capital, it’d be quite difficult. Look at the date it was posted.”

  “Three days ago? Personally, I would’ve taken this one right away.”

  “The adventurers in Maalt wouldn’t leave it for three days, I’m sure. Thanks to all the education you’ve offered, many of them are knowledgeable about herbs.”

  Before I became undead, I occasionally held lectures for beginners at the guild in Maalt. They weren’t about anything especially difficult because I wouldn’t know how to teach anything complicated, but most adventurers started off earning money by picking herbs. I taught them how to tell different herbs apart, how to find where they grew, and how best to traverse mountains and forests. I actually brought in herbs for them to sort and had them test what happens when you use similar but incorrect herbs. I even had the adventurers at the lectures eat the herbs personally if they would only make them a little sick. If they could potentially kill a man, though, I fed them to a puchi suri to demonstrate instead.

  When the newbie adventurers saw that, they began to take picking herbs seriously. Ever since then in Maalt, whenever herbs were in season, jobs related to picking them were immediately taken from the job board. Unfortunately, I made much of my money from those jobs, so I sort of sabotaged myself with that idea. But the new adventurers seemed to share the jobs, at least. I could still take requests to hunt goblins, slimes, and skeletons, so I could survive without that income.

  “I’d love to take the job if nobody else will, but that’s probably not a great idea,” I said. If I took a job looking the way I did, they were going to keep a record of it. I didn’t want to risk that. Lorraine also only had her own adventurer’s license with her.

  “Oh well. Are we done checking out the guild? Let’s go outside,” Lorraine suggested.

  At that moment, somebody approached us from behind. “Hi, folks. You didn’t just say that job was easy, did you?” he asked.

  I turned around to see who it was and gasped. This person was wearing insanely garish clothes with all the colors of the rainbow. A peacock feather extended from his hat, and the hilt of the sword at his side was engraved with a blindingly colorful pattern. I also happened to recognize his face, because this adventurer was active in Maalt until a short time ago.

  “Oh, uh, maybe,” I stuttered.

  “Well, I’
ve been checking that job since the day it went up, and nobody’s taken it,” the man said. “I’ve never cared for jobs as bland as picking herbs, so I avoid them as much as possible, but I feel kind of bad about how long this one’s been up there. It’s been an issue for the guild too, apparently. While picking herbs is easy, picking the right ones is tough even for an appraiser. It’s common for someone to do the job and discover they did it wrong, so most adventurers avoid these. I was wondering what to do about it. I actually knew a guy back in the day who knew a ton about this stuff, so I’ve considered asking him, but he lives in Maalt. I can’t just ask him to come all the way here, so what else can I do?”

  I had forgotten how much he liked to talk. “I think I understand the situation. Before I commit to anything, though, tell me your name,” I asked. I knew his name, but I just wanted to make him stop talking.

  “Oh, right, sorry. I’m Augurey. Augurey Ars, a Silver-class adventurer. Nice to meet you.”

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  Augurey Ars used to be an adventurer in Maalt. I knew him since way back, and we got along nicely as fellow solo adventurers. He didn’t seem to recognize me in this getup, however. He couldn’t see through Lorraine’s disguise either. We both looked more or less like different people, so thankfully for us, it was to be expected. I didn’t know he had become a Silver-class adventurer, though. Back in Maalt, he was still Bronze-class. He was always pretty talented, and a good man aside from his eccentricities, so it wasn’t that surprising, but I sort of begrudged how he had surpassed me. I wanted to become a Silver-class soon, but I still hadn’t completed enough jobs to take the exam.

  “So what do you want with me, Mr. Ars?” I asked Augurey, trying to sound as unfamiliar with him as possible.

  He waved his hand, the shining gold of his glove hurting my eyes. “Please, we’re friends. Call me Augurey. If only everyone could be so friendly with each other, the world would be at peace! What was your name, by the way?”