The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 4 Read online

  “Are you thinking of gifting Alize something as well?”

  “Verily so. If I were to teach her the ways of the mage...she would surely need a magical focus, if not several. In the first place, I had also intended to deliver some lectures on the creation of magical foci...hence the materials.”

  “I suppose this is why you asked for several of the same thing...”

  My guess was ever so slightly off though. Magic, or perhaps magecraft in general, benefits from the effects of a magical focus, which allows the mage to cast spells more easily, and amplifies the magical output as well. In some cases, certain types of spells required a magical focus to be cast in the first place, and at those times a mage was expected to be capable of crafting their own focus. This was why mages generally had a basic grasp of alchemy. It was good to gain practical experience, which was probably why Lorraine wanted to educate Alize on this particular subject.

  I was included in the lesson too, of course; materials for three people, after all. That much was clear.

  “That is the gist of it, yes. One’s first weapon is a special thing, Rentt. I thought it would be good for Alize to try her hand at the subject.”

  Judging by how Lorraine had described it, I could infer that creating one’s first focus wasn’t what a run-of-the-mill mage could do. A magical focus required a certain degree of technique and skill, so even a basic focus of average output was by no means a simple affair. For Lorraine to teach Alize how to go about it... I supposed it was also Lorraine’s wish for her student to enjoy her lessons and training. I, too, wanted Alize to have some enjoyment.

  “Are you not doing the same, Rentt?” Lorraine continued. “You claim to gather materials in the name of saving some coin, but is that really all there is to it? If you really just wanted something in your pouch, a vial of blood here and there would be more than enough to do it. You, however, decided to gather materials by your own hand, all for the sake of creating a weapon—a gift for Alize. And so the two of us end up doing the exact same thing. How very peculiar...”

  Peculiar? Was it really, now...? No, I didn’t think so.

  “Is that not something any master would do for their student? In fact, it is said that such were the traditions, a long time ago, that a student’s first weapon would be a gift from their master.”

  Nowadays, it was more common for a student to procure their own weapon. It made perfect sense, considering the practice of taking students or disciples under one’s wing was becoming increasingly uncommon. In addition, those who did have private tutors of some sort were often well-off.

  “An old practice, yes.” Lorraine nodded. “Few engage in the practice now...but I suppose there is no issue in us reviving the tradition.”

  Lorraine smiled at her own suggestion.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  And so it came to be that I found myself arriving at the Labyrinth of the New Moon. Of course, this was all for the sake of procuring materials to craft Alize’s weapon.

  Skeletons and Slimes were a common sight on the first floor, and Orcs were found on the second—such were the names of these compartmentalized areas. Since the labyrinth’s total amount of floors remained unknown, I wasn’t sure what to call its deepest level. Whatever the case, it was quite a deep labyrinth. By contrast, the Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection seemingly ended on the very first floor...discounting the unknown areas and that one strange teleporter, I supposed, but that was neither here nor there. In the general public’s knowledge, that was the only known floor of the Moon’s Reflection.

  “My time in the spotlight... Who knows when or where...” I muttered to no one in particular.

  In the past, I’d taken pains to walk long, circuitous paths around the first floor, all for the sake of filling out the Map of Akasha. Now, however, I found myself leisurely strolling through the halls. Although it was the most shallow floor of the labyrinth, monsters did appear, as par for the course. One could savagely slay some of the monsters that showed themselves, and basically impress upon this floor’s denizens that they had no chance of winning. An adventurer walking calmly along, however, would most likely be assaulted one way or another, regardless of their innate strength.

  I just found myself walking along without a care in the world, seeing as Edel was fighting Goblins and Slimes right before my eyes. As I had intended to perform a thorough search of the labyrinth today, I brought Edel along to assist in the search. His small size would help him easily locate and retrieve more minute materials in the area. Unexpectedly though, Edel chose to make himself useful in a combative capacity instead. He wasn’t exactly a huge boost to my combat potential; regardless of his large size, he was still a Puchi Suri. The fighting capabilities of a Puchi Suri were lower than that of a Goblin or Slime; even a child of about ten years of age had a reasonable chance of defeating one as long as they had a weapon of some sort. Puchi Suri were truly the absolute weakest type of monster. Even though there was quite the show of strength during our encounter with the Tarasque, my assumption was that that was the result of Edel snatching my reserves of power to strengthen himself. Basically, as long as I didn’t provide Edel with mana, there would be a limit to his capabilities.

  But reality was quite different. I was, at this point in time, noticeably restricting the amount of power I shared with Edel. While Edel had initially taken a noticeable chunk of my reserves without any indication, I discovered after the event that I was able to control and limit the flow of power from myself to my familiar. But regardless of that...I now bore witness to Edel taking on Goblins and Slimes alike without many issues.

  Edel’s small body...wasn’t all that small any more. He was, say, about the size of an average Goblin’s head. He freely darted this way and that around the monsters, scaling the walls and launching himself at the monsters, body slamming them in the process.

  As a Bronze-class adventurer, I had to infuse my single, well-placed attack with spirit to expose a Slime’s core. Slimes were troublesome buggers. Edel, on the other hand, began spinning during his body slams, using the resultant centrifugal force to disperse the Slime’s body into fine powder. The Slime’s fragments found themselves unable to reform, and were now just stationary on the ground.

  “...Gigi!”

  A Goblin sputtered, as if bewildered by the sheer destructive power of Edel’s body slam. Before it could react, however, Edel had already closed in, and the Goblin found itself unable to avoid my familiar’s attack. With a most intense, high-speed rotation, Edel’s entire body slammed straight into the Goblin’s head, pulverizing it in the process. From my angle, it was almost as if the Goblin’s head had been blown apart by an explosive force.

  ’Twas a most grotesque sight...

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  “...Linpio.”

  With a wave of my hand as the incantation left my lips, a soft, glowing light enveloped Edel for a brief moment. As soon as it appeared, the light faded, only leaving a pitch-black—well, he was pitch-black to begin with—clean Edel, with no spatterings of gore on his fur. As he was covered in Goblin blood, guts, and bits of pulverized Slime mere moments ago, it was only imperative I had him cleaned.

  Even so...cleansing him now may have been a bit of a wasted effort. We’d crossed paths with many monsters on our journey here, and we would unmistakably encounter some more as we ventured deeper; surely Edel would become filthy again soon enough.

  I was hardly concerned about some streaks of blood and monster detritus, however. It was a given—I also swung my sword here and there, and dissected the monsters we’d slain. Adventurers in the labyrinths didn’t really have high standards of hygiene.

  But in Edel’s case...the circumstances were once again slightly different. His basic form of attack was to tackle his foes while spinning at high speeds. The aim was to pulverize the enemy with his sheer speed and centrifugal force. With those considerations in mind, it was easy to conclude that Edel would dirty himself in a similar fashion again relatively easily. I sup
posed I would just have to cleanse him with Linpio each and every time then.

  Linpio was a type of Livelihood Magecraft I’d picked up recently. Offensive magic was one thing, but so long as one understood the theory, structure, and incantation of Livelihood Magecraft, one would be capable of casting it. As such, I’d learned quite a few of these spells from Lorraine, and I was now a step ahead of Alize in that department. But I’d only known these spells for a short time, so I wasn’t used to casting most of them and still had many unnecessary motions and delays in execution.

  If I had to cast Linpio over and over again, though, fighting on my own was preferable, if only because it was easier on my reserves. While I was sure the amount of mana used would decrease should I become more used to the spell itself, it wasn’t something I could master today or tomorrow.

  “Don’t you have any other means of attack, Edel?”

  Unable to think of a solution, I decided to directly ask Edel for his opinion. While fighting by myself seemed the most optimal alternative, I realized it was also imperative for me to observe Edel’s tactics on the field. The possibility of us coming up with some sort of combination attack was well worth considering. If anything, I should continue observing how Edel took on these weaker monsters, then consider what positions and attacks I could use should I enter the fray. I wanted some time to think. Edel, too, seemed to pause at my words, as if giving them some thought. Without warning, he jumped up, staring at the fallen Goblin corpse...then fired something at it. Almost instantly, a huge gash made its way across the Goblin’s corpse.

  “Magecraft...? Is this magic, Edel?”

  I received a mental affirmation. To think Edel had mastered the use of offensive magic before his master... I couldn’t help but feel some degree of annoyance.

  Is some credit for your master too much to ask, I briefly thought. There were, however, some differences between magic used by monsters and the magecraft used by humans. Broadly speaking, they were both the same: phenomena materialized with willpower and mana. But humans built magecraft up as a sort of structure, understanding it and building upon it, and basically cast spells with the aid of incantations. In the case of a monster, mana was often instinctively turned into some sort of phenomenon directly. Most monsters were like this, although the intensity of said magic did vary. More humanoid monsters, such as Goblins and Vampires, were known to use something that more closely resembled the magecraft system of humans.

  That said, most monsters were probably born with this instinctive knowledge of mana conversion. For example, the reason why a Goblin was able to fight on equal footing with a grown man despite being half his size was due to the subconscious activation of a strengthening magic reinforcing its body. Similarly, there were tales of Vampires being able to charm a weak-willed human just by looking into the human’s eyes, convincing the human to serve them. This, too, was an application of magic: a charm spell cast with its eyes.

  In other words, Edel may have picked up some of this mana-to-phenomenon ability somewhere along the line. While normal Puchi Suri were capable of nothing more than a sort of bodily reinforcement similar to that of Goblins, elemental evolutions of mice were a little different. Take, for instance, a Fire Puchi Suri, the Fuu Suri. It was capable of breathing small but functional fireballs from within its body, despite never having been taught how to use magic. Even so, these simple spells monsters were naturally capable of casting were by no means overwhelming in power. A Vampire’s Eyes of Charming, a Fuu Suri’s tiny Fireball, a dragon’s breath attack... They were all the result of certain specialized organs in the eyes or throat of the creature. It was due to the presence of these organs that said attacks were effective or powerful. Even if one were to assume a monster knew all the appropriate structures and incantations for a spell, and hence became capable of casting magecraft, it would still be best served by bodily enhancement spells.

  With Edel, the utilization of mana was of no import. Since he was a Puchi Suri with no specialized organs whatsoever, he shouldn’t have been able to do what he just did. If I had to guess, some physical changes had overcome Edel the moment I evolved into a Lesser Vampire. Strictly speaking, he was probably no longer just a simple Puchi Suri. At least, that was my educated guess. As for where exactly this change had manifested itself in Edel’s body... Well, a simple glance at him was enough for me to see it, really.

  Edel looked very much like me.

  Put plainly...Edel had grown some sort of wing-like structure.

  But of course, they weren’t shooting out of his back. If anything, he’d grown some membranes on his underside, stretching from his underbelly to his hind legs, much like a flying squirrel of sorts. I suppose he was capable of gliding should that membrane be pulled taut.

  Curious, I asked for a demonstration, and, unlike me, Edel was able to fly relatively easily. The structure of his flight membranes were strange to say the least, but Edel was capable of not only gliding, but also silently hovering in place. Compared to my hovering, violently darting, and torch-capable wings, Edel’s were clearly a cut above when it came to flying.

  I felt like I could ponder the issue for more than an hour. How could this be? That the familiar would have higher specifications than its master? Was this the intent of the Gods? Or perhaps some underlying, unexplainable logic of the world?

  I felt my faith dwindling.

  Even so, I didn’t feel that my divinity had diminished in any way. Then again, the spirits that had conferred their blessings upon me probably didn’t desire faith or worship in the first place. I could never really know, of course. It was impossible to seek confirmation, given all the time that had passed. However...I did have some thoughts as to why Edel was able to maneuver so freely through the air.

  Mainly, there was a difference in weight between Edel and myself. With my permission, Edel could even draw from the very same reserves of mana, spirit, and divinity that I possessed. If anything, Edel, who was only a sixth of my weight, most likely found it much easier to float about comparatively. This was why he was able to zip around as he pleased, without paying too much attention to energy expenditure. Plus, Edel was born a monster, so command over his powers most likely came naturally to him.

  How enviable.

  As I was currently limiting the amount of resources Edel could receive, his movements didn’t include too many aerial acrobatics. Should I increase the amount by a small percentage, however, Edel was sure to begin soaring through the air. To think that Edel, who had no tutor or lessons of any kind, was slowly becoming stronger and stronger... If anything, his growth had already hugely exceeded mine!

  How terrible...

  But, if Edel were capable of it, I, too, would be able to do the same, albeit with some practice. I would do well to make a mental note of that particular direction of self-improvement...

  Amidst my contemplations, I realized I should have Edel show me the magic he’d just used. While I would no longer have much work to do should Edel become any stronger than he already was, I couldn’t deny that he was a valuable asset, and couldn’t complain about this recent turn of events. In any case, I had to understand its raw attack power, how much mana it used, its range and spread, and if Edel was capable of using any other type of magic.

  “I suppose we should search for a Goblin or Slime...” I suggested, with the intent of conducting our experiments on the unsuspecting monster. But Edel refused, instead mentally communicating to me that he wished to demonstrate his prowess on an Orc.

  Now, Orcs weren’t weak. Judging from Edel’s movements as he fought Goblins and Slimes, I felt taking on an Orc would be a little too much for him at this point in time.

  “Would that be prudent, Edel? Orcs are nothing like Goblins or Slimes.”

  Edel responded simply, that should he ever be in danger, all I had to do was jump in and help him.

  Honestly... Who is the master here, Mister Mouse, was what I thought...but I supposed such an experiment wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
Even if Edel had grown stronger and was now capable of using offensive magic, I was still unmistakably stronger in terms of fighting strength. I supposed the fact that Edel still depended on me was something.

  Exasperated, I no longer knew what I should be saying.

  “...All right. We’ll find us an Orc, then,” I said to Edel, who was currently mounted on my head, as I continued my descent to the next floor.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  I could see the setting sun in the distance. The evening sun drowned the world in crimson. These colors of sunset would inevitably give way to a world of darkness, but this was hardly a mysterious sight. If anything, it was quite a mundane one, repeated again and again on a daily basis...

  At least, that’s what anyone would have said...assuming they weren’t deep inside a labyrinth.

  “Feels pretty strange, right...?”

  And yet here we were, on the second floor of the Labyrinth of the New Moon.

  Now, it was nowhere near the evening; in fact, the sun was probably shining bright high in the sky outside the labyrinth’s confines. It was plain to see that the passage of time within the New Moon, and perhaps labyrinths in general, didn’t align with that of the outside world. While I’d heard tales of it before, this was the first time I actually felt a labyrinth’s floor shift in time zones, seeing as the previous floor felt perfectly in sync with the world outside.

  If I had to guess, night fell upon this floor when the sun rose in the outside world, and vice versa. This was probably a normal occurrence in this particular labyrinth, though. Walking to a floor that had yet to have daylight in its hours was one thing; walking to a new floor in pitch-black darkness was quite another. To most adventurers, this would be a most troubling thing, but there were many ways to go about the situation. For example, a particularly skilled mage could easily cast a spell that granted them night vision. However, most adventurers would simply give up then and there.