The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 5 Read online

  “Still, it’s not totally impossible, but Rentt’s tree here should certainly be easier to use. So, how about it?” Lorraine asked.

  I got the feeling they wanted to use the tree I made as a divinity generator. That sounded about right.

  Clope nodded at Lorraine. “That’s all good with me. This isn’t the only tree, actually. There’s another four of them. You can have two.”

  I was surprised to hear he had that many, but at the time there were even more sprouts from the doll than that. Maybe he tried to plant them all, and that’s how so many survived. But out of five total, he was only giving up two? Not that I had any complaints, but it sounded like he was having trouble caring for them, so I would have thought he’d hand over all but one.

  With a number of concerns, I asked, “You’ll be okay with three of them?”

  “Shouldn’t be an issue. I could chop them up for firewood if it comes down to it. Might be disrespectful to use trees full of divinity for that, but that divinity came from you anyway. Not exactly blasphemous or anything,” he said.

  If you went back further, my divinity came from a divine spirit, so it was somewhat blasphemous. But I wasn’t that devout, so it was hard to care. Whether someone chose to believe in a god was up to them. To begin with, the degree to which the gods themselves were concerned with the affairs of mankind had been a subject of debate for ages. An extreme argument would suggest hey hadn’t the least interest in the actions of humans, including murder, opting instead to sit back and watch our lives unfold. By that logic, the burning of a tree wouldn’t faze them, so I didn’t see any problem. In fact, if burning trees meant anything to the gods, humanity would have perished a long time ago. Everybody used firewood.

  “Talk to me before you burn them. I’m willing to go plant them in the forest at any time.” I didn’t think it was that necessary, but these trees did grow from my divinity. They felt like my children, on some level.

  “Then I’ll do that if the time comes for it. Anyway, we’re way off topic, so let’s get back to the young lady’s equipment. First of all, what kind of equipment do you want?” Clope asked and brought out a few basic weapons.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  “Give these a try,” Clope said and tossed the weapons on the table. There was a wide variety, some of which would be absurd to recommend to a beginner. The chakram in particular.

  “Um, I don’t know where to start,” Alize murmured.

  It made sense that someone who had never bought a weapon before would be at a loss. Back when I was starting out, I learned how to fight from a hunter. My primary weapons were a bow and a knife, much like a hunter, so I never had to think about it. By the time I decided to become an adventurer, I was experienced with a knife and had taught myself to use a sword. I got most of the fundamentals down back then. In other words, I never had to make a choice, for better or worse.

  Later on, I asked an adventurer who sometimes came to town as a traveling merchant’s bodyguard to teach me common sword techniques so I could learn more. When I became decent enough at fighting, the person teaching me got more into it as well, as I recall. One day, however, he stopped coming to town, replaced by someone else. Whether he died on a mission or left for another land, I didn’t know. He wasn’t an adventurer from Maalt, so it was hopeless to try and investigate it in town. If I checked a regional guild headquarters in a bigger city, maybe I could determine his whereabouts, but that might take some time. Besides, the adventurer said at the time, “I’ll see you if I see you, I won’t if I don’t.” He was a strangely aimless man, but now I understood how he felt. That was the main reason I didn’t think more about looking for him.

  In any case, Alize wasn’t so limited by her background, but the freedom of choice made matters more difficult. It was times like these when you needed a mentor’s advice.

  Lorraine threw out some random guidance. “Hm, you can use magic, so I imagine that will be your main form of ranged attack. If your weapon will mainly be used for close combat, maybe you should pick with that in mind.”

  “Oh, you have mana? Then you won’t be needing these,” Clope said and removed the bows, chakrams, and other ranged weaponry. That left only the typical close combat weapons: swords, daggers, spears, axes, greatswords, and so forth.

  “I’m not sure I can hold that,” Alize said as she reached out to the greatsword and tried to pick it up. It wasn’t as hard as she thought. A child of twelve could hold a greatsword with some effort, but she wobbled to a dangerous degree.

  “This is a no-go too, then,” Clope said as he plucked the greatsword from the stumbling girl’s hands and set it aside. A blacksmith with no strength would have no place in the business, so his muscles were nothing to scoff at. He could handle a greatsword with no problem.

  “You use one of these, don’t you, Rentt?” Alize asked and picked up a sword.

  I didn’t have to mention it was my main weapon, but I did have something else to say about that. “It’s not like that’s all I use. I can wield all kinds of weapons,” I said and picked up spears and axes, showing her the proper stances for each of them to show off.

  “Wow! You can do anything, Rentt,” Alize complimented me. It got to my head until Clope had to say something.

  “Waste of talent, that’s what he is,” Clope said exasperatedly.

  “If anyone’s a jack of all trades and master of none, Rentt is. Every household could use one of him,” Lorraine joked.

  “I can fight pretty well now, I’ll have you know,” I objected, a bit annoyed.

  “Obviously I’m aware of that. I’m kidding. That’s all Rentt can do, though, so you don’t need to choose a weapon just because Rentt did,” Lorraine said to Alize. Lorraine had inferred that she might choose a sword because it was my main weapon and offered her own advice.

  This wasn’t something most children would have to mull over, but knowing Alize’s background, it was only natural. Alize was an orphan, one who had to satisfy others in order to survive, so when given a choice like this, she found it hard to make a decision. We knew that and joked around to help the mood. Lorraine was quick to understand, and Clope’s love of children made him surprisingly good at it.

  Her eyes opened a little wider. “Really?” Alize asked.

  “Yeah, of course. It can be a spear or bow or axe or anything. Whatever it is, I can teach you. I might not be top-class at any of that, though.” I was going to say I could make her a top-class adventurer instead, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

  Clope spoke up instead. “Well, no reason to make fun of him. This guy loves practicing his stances and fundamentals all day long. Seeing how he moves now, I doubt there’d be anyone better to teach you the basics. He’s smooth and resolute,” Clope said with praise.

  I didn’t think I was so great, though. I was still only a Bronze-class, but it did make me happy to hear that.

  “That’s more praise than I deserve. I’m decent, but don’t expect too much. I think I can turn you into a competent adventurer, but whether you become a first-rate one will depend on your effort and talent. Don’t forget that,” I lectured to Alize.

  “Okay. Don’t worry, I know,” she promptly answered.

  In the end, it seemed Alize saw me as a third-rate adventurer. I was disappointed for a moment by that, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on it before she continued.

  “I like embroidering, and that involves weaving together thin strings into a big pattern. If you’re careful about it, you can create wonderful art, but it takes a lot of time and effort. Adventurers are the same way, aren’t they? You’ve been working at this for long enough to get strong, but I haven’t done much of anything yet,” she said humbly.

  I didn’t know if I deserved such a nice, thoughtful girl as a disciple. Maybe I should have gone straight to the capital, knocked on the doors of every top-class adventurer, and begged them to take her as their disciple instead. That idea did occur to me for a second, but I couldn’t do that. I ha
d decided to teach Alize, so it was my responsibility to train her. At the very least, I had to keep at it until she had the knowledge and skills to stand on her own as an adventurer. That wasn’t why I said what I said next, but I found myself blurting it out.

  “Just the other day, you learned all the basics of magic from Lorraine, didn’t you? You’re doing the best you can. If you keep this up, you’ll surpass me in no time.” It was almost something an obsessive parent might say. Maybe something was wrong with me.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  Alize looked at two weapons, lost in thought. She had tested enough to know which wouldn’t work, thereby cutting the selection down through the process of elimination.

  “A dagger and a sword? You can’t pick which one?” I asked.

  “Yeah. The dagger is easier to carry, which sounds like a good fit for me, but the sword might be easier to use once I’m an adventurer.” In other words, she personally preferred the dagger but felt the sword would be more useful in reality.

  Her conundrum was easy to understand, and she was right to think how she did. Monsters were dangerous. Goblins could be dispatched easily enough, but Orcs had thick fat and muscle, while Slimes were gelatinous and amorphous. Daggers would have trouble against them. You needed something with a longer blade.

  However, Alize knew magic. Little more than life magic at the moment, but once she learned even the lowest level offensive spells, she would be more than capable of fighting Orcs and Slimes. If anything, Slimes were best dealt with by using magic. For Alize, a weapon would be a last resort for when an enemy got too close.

  That was the approach of many adventurers, but I did want her to fight with a weapon too. Maybe that was my mentorly ego talking. Knowing this, I didn’t offer a recommendation either way. I wanted her to pick for herself, but there was one piece of advice I could think of. When I looked at Lorraine’s face, it looked like she had the same idea. We nodded to each other.

  “Alize, I think it’s fine if you pick either, but I want to show you something that could help you decide. Lorraine.”

  When I said her name, Lorraine picked up the dagger. “Watch this,” she said, then she charged the blade with mana. Rather, she activated a spell. The tip of the dagger sprouted a transparent blade. Lorraine structured the spell to make it clear this blade had some sort of physical form despite being see-through, so it reflected the light in the room. It was about the length of the sword.

  “Lorraine,” Clope said before he set a small log on the table.

  “Alize, stand back a bit. Here goes nothing,” Lorraine warned and then struck the log with a horizontal slash. The dagger itself didn’t touch the log at all, only the transparent part. A fissure appeared in the log at a slight slant, leaving it split in two.

  The way she slashed was awe-inspiring, as it should have been, since I was the one who taught her how. She was faster than I was when I was human, I was sad to admit, but Lorraine excelled at magic, so enhancing her physical abilities was well within her grasp. She could have made it even stronger, but there was no need for that now.

  “What was that?” Alize asked.

  “Magic,” Lorraine answered. “I extended the blade of the dagger to the length of a sword. This isn’t an especially difficult spell, so you should be able to make do with a dagger.”

  Overall, it was best to pick what you liked. You would learn faster that way. If she wanted to pick the dagger but thought the blade of a sword would be better, then seeing how one weapon could fulfill both criteria might help her come to a decision. But while Lorraine said this wasn’t difficult magic, I couldn’t cast it. That was more an issue of my lack of mana, so maybe I could learn it now, but most of the adventurers who could cast it were at least Silver-class. That didn’t make it sound simple to me.

  “Lorraine, not to question you, but is this a spell Alize can learn?” I whispered.

  “If she couldn’t, I wouldn’t have shown her this. She displayed plenty of potential with life magic the other day. If she can manage that, then she can learn this with enough studying,” she whispered back.

  That settled that. I turned back toward Alize. “So what did you think? Was that helpful?” I asked.

  “Yeah. If I can do that, then I think the dagger is fine. Do you think so too?” She sounded set on it.

  I nodded. “That sounds good. I’ll just mention that if you want to learn that, you’ll have to study with both swords and daggers, giving you twice the work. Is that okay with you?” I hated to say anything that might change her mind, but I had to bring it up. If she handled her weapon poorly and died because of it, this would all be meaningless. No small number of adventurers met that fate, but I had an inkling as to how Alize would respond.

  “I don’t know how it’ll work out, but I’ll do my best. I’m going to study the best I can to become an adventurer, so teach me well, Rentt.”

  “Of course. Lorraine and I will turn you into a full-fledged adventurer,” I declared.

  “And a mage and scholar, as well,” Lorraine added.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  “So, just want me to make a dagger, then?” Clope asked, but I shook my head.

  “No, best to make a dagger and a sword. There are enough materials, right?” I said.

  Clope was quick to pick up on my intentions. “Right, she’ll have to learn to handle a sword too. And until she learns that spell, she needs to practice with the real thing.”

  “That’s the idea. And knowing her way around a sword will broaden her skill set.” A sword was the standard weapon of most adventurers. Knowing how to use one wouldn’t hurt.

  “Then I’ll make both. Which mana iron should I use?” He meant between the normal mana iron and the one with dragon mana.

  This was an obvious decision. “The normal mana iron, please.”

  “You sure? I thought you’d want to give her something nice.”

  “If Alize starts off using something too atypical, she’ll develop strange habits. I’m keeping that in mind.”

  “Oh, I get that. Alright then. But what do you want to do with this mana iron?” Clope asked and looked at the iron soaked with dragon mana.

  “How much could you make from that? One dagger, or what?”

  “Well, a little more than that, I think. Not as much as what normal mana iron could produce, but a fair amount. Enough that I’d have room for testing.”

  “In that case, can you try using one of those trees I made to create a sword out of it?”

  “Hey, I told you it’d require more materials than that. Even ignoring the Holy Tree leaves, there’s no way you’re getting Vampire blood. The crystal, too.”

  Vampire blood was something I could get. The magic crystal, on the other hand, might not be so easy.

  “I’ll do something about the Vampire blood. As for the crystal—”

  “‘Do something?’ Really, now?” Clope wanted to ask something, but I left him aside and kept talking.

  “Would a magic crystal from a Tarasque work?” That was something I’d be able to collect. Not without some effort, but it was possible. They weren’t quite Platinum-class, but they could be somewhere around Gold-class.

  Clope thought for a moment before he answered. “It might work, but it’d be a waste of this mana iron. If you got the Holy Tree leaves and a Platinum-class magic crystal, I could make one hell of a sword.”

  “But do you expect me to ever get those materials?” Maybe I could one day, but not now. Clope seemed to know that too.

  “Well, you got a point there. All right, I’ll give it a shot. There should be some left over afterward anyway. I’ll make sure there’s still some remaining for when you come to me with the Holy Tree leaves one day,” he said with a laugh.

  Chapter 2: Making a Catalyst

  In the end, we went with a sword and dagger for Alize. We told Clope and Luka we would be away from Maalt for a while, leaving them time to finish the weapons. Alize wouldn’t get to use them until after Lorraine and
I returned from Hathara anyway. That being said, we did have time for a bit of training before we left, but Alize could borrow a sword and dagger from one of us for that. We probably had some old, used equipment that would work for training but not so much for fighting monsters. That was good enough for the time being.

  I consulted Clope about armor as well, but he told me Alize would be better off with leather armor or robes. Since daggers and magic would be her primary means of combat going forward, something lighter would be better. Clope referred us to another armor shop, but since there wasn’t much time left in the day, we decided to visit another time. There was other business to attend to.

  “Now it’s time to make a magic catalyst. Ready, you two?” Lorraine asked.

  We had left Clope’s and returned to Lorraine’s living room. Lorraine set up a big table and a writing board, and she held a stick as she walked us through it. The board was a magic item upon which words and images could be repeatedly drawn and erased. Lorraine felt the process of creating a wand would be most easily understood through visuals, so she had dragged the board out from somewhere. I couldn’t imagine it was cheap, but I wondered if all scholars owned one. Not that I would know, but Lorraine had one, so I assumed so.