The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 10 Read online

Once we were inside, Nauss began explaining who we were. “Your Highness, these are the adventurers who came to our aid when we were attacked on the highway.”

  Nauss then glanced briefly in our direction, which was his way of telling us to introduce ourselves. I wondered if I should go first, but before I could say anything, Lorraine began her introduction.

  “It is an honor to be in your presence, Your Highness. My name is Lorraine Vivie, a humble scholar who makes her living in the city of Maalt.”

  Lorraine’s movements were also extremely elegant, and it reminded me once again that she was from the empire, the greatest country on the continent.

  After Lorraine had finished her introduction, the princess tilted her head quizzically. “A scholar? Are you not an adventurer?”

  “I am also an adventurer, Your Highness, but that is, technically, a secondary occupation. My proper occupation is as a scholar.”

  “I see.”

  The princess, satisfied with Lorraine’s explanation, gave Lorraine a faint nod. She then remained silent, indicating that we should continue our introductions. As I was readying myself to go next, Augurey beat me to the punch.

  “An honor to be in your presence, Your Highness. My name is Augurey, and I am an adventurer. I have a more formal name, but it is long and can be hard to pronounce without stuttering. I scarcely wish to subject you to such an embarrassing sight, so please forgive me for introducing myself so simply.”

  Augurey’s introduction was rather informal, and in some contexts, it would have come off as disrespectful, but both the princess and the marquess were smiling, which told me that they found it acceptable. How nobles drew the line between familiarity and disrespect was vague, and it differed depending on the individual and the region, but it seemed Augurey knew where the line was in Yaaran.

  The princess then addressed Augurey. “Oh my. To have such a long name... Is that a tradition of your people?”

  “Yes, it is, Your Highness. For my part, I would have preferred a shorter, easier to pronounce name, but I’m afraid I lacked the ability to communicate that to my parents before I was born, and I couldn’t simply discard my own name. That is why I chose to introduce myself with the easiest and shortest part of my name, for the sake of others. Of course, if you wish to learn my full name, I would be happy to oblige Your Highness, but in that case, I would recommend calling for tea and sweets. I will do my best to finish reciting my name before you finish your tea.”

  “He he. No, you need not trouble yourself. Nauss, it is fine, yes?”

  Nauss nodded. “If that is what you wish, Your Highness.”

  A part of me questioned if it really was fine, but the guild would have already run a background check when they made him a Silver-class adventurer. It wouldn’t reveal personal information about an adventurer just because a noble demanded it, but it would often relay background information, especially if the inquiry came from the palace.

  While the guild was technically an independent organization, it wasn’t completely free from government involvement; it couldn’t afford to ignore the government’s orders. Guilds also had connections with those located in other countries, though, and if a country tried to push the guild too far, it could put up some resistance. It was something of a balancing act. Whatever the relationship between the guild and the kingdom, it was clear that there was nothing objectionable about Augurey’s background.

  Next, Princess Jia turned her gaze toward me. Lorraine and Augurey did the same. I felt nervous as I finally began my introduction.

  “An honor to be in your presence, Your Highness. I am Rentt Vivie, a Bronze-class adventurer. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  My introduction was short and simple, partly because I was afraid of tripping over my words and partly because I was the lowest-ranking one here. I didn’t have anything I wanted to explain to her either. In addition, though I was maybe overestimating my importance, I didn’t want to draw the princess’s curiosity. After all, I was already wearing a weird mask. I figured it was best to be quiet and unassuming. My efforts, however, were for naught.

  “You’re a Bronze-class adventurer?” the princess asked. “Yet you are in a party with two Silver-class adventurers? And your mask... Is there some important reason for it? Also, you share a family name with Miss Lorraine, so perhaps you have some relationship with her?”

  Despite my best efforts, she subjected me to a barrage of questions. They were all understandable questions, though, and I’d gotten the same ones repeatedly since I’d become undead, so I figured they wouldn’t be too hard to answer.

  “Allow me to clarify, Your Highness. First, as to why a Bronze-class adventurer such as myself is partied with two Silver-class adventurers...”

  “Yes?”

  “The three of us once operated primarily from the city of Maalt. Furthermore, I have known Lorraine since we were both fledgling adventurers, and I met Augurey when he was still Bronze-class himself. When we first met, we were all peers.”

  We weren’t anymore, though. Augurey’s promotion to Silver-class had been a bit of a shock, but that wasn’t because he didn’t have the talent or because he had no future as an adventurer. I knew he would eventually earn the promotion, and I had steeled myself for that. It was just that it’d happened a lot sooner than I’d thought it would.

  I wasn’t particularly jealous of him or anything. I’d grown used to my fellow Bronze-class adventurers overtaking me the last ten years. Besides, my dream was to become Mithril-class; other people’s rank had never been my focus.

  “I see. But it is somewhat unusual that you are still in the same party, is it not?” the princess asked.

  That was definitely true. Lorraine and I were one thing, but Augurey was now operating out of the capital. It probably seemed even odder to the princess, because she wasn’t aware of those details. It wasn’t unusual for parties to disband when the party members changed ranks. It had nothing to do with adventurers being disloyal or heartless; it just tended to cause problems if there was too big of a difference in the members’ skill levels.

  It wasn’t good for the stronger members of a party to spend most of their effort protecting the weaker members in the middle of a job. It meant they couldn’t focus on the task at hand. The guild itself must have believed that mixed-level parties were an issue, because it was relatively proactive in introducing people to new parties or helping parties recruit new members. They never did that sort of thing for adventurers, though. The guild likely thought it was more efficient to let attrition thin the huge number of newbies. It was a harsh world out there.

  “I believe you are referring to the fact that we were together when we came to your aid, Your Highness,” I replied.

  “That’s right.”

  “At that time, we were only in a temporary party. Ordinarily, we work separately. Lorraine and I operate out of Maalt, while Augurey operates out of the capital. We aren’t a permanent party, Your Highness.”

  The princess nodded. It appeared that explanation had put the question to rest in her mind. She no doubt had a number of follow-up questions on the subject, but since I didn’t want her probing into our affairs, I decided to continue.

  “As for the skull mask...”

  She tastefully clapped her hands together. “Yes! I was particularly curious about that!”

  I had successfully changed the subject. I mainly wanted to avoid answering why we’d come from Maalt to the capital. I could always lie about that, but I wanted to be as truthful as possible. I didn’t want us getting in trouble if they found out we were lying.

  Still, the princess seemed awfully interested in my mask. I supposed that made sense; adventurers often wore masks, but not many would choose a creepy skull mask like this one. I couldn’t say no one would, but I was sure the vast majority wouldn’t. At most, I’d seen one or two walking around in Maalt.

  Normal masks were common, honestly—things like birds, cats, or dogs. There were odder ones, like really
abstract masks that weren’t really patterned or anything, but the adventurers who wore those were the oddballs. It was best to avoid them when possible.

  Hold on... Did that mean people looked at me in that way? There was a good chance that was the case. I wasn’t sure if I was happy to learn that about myself, but either way, I needed to continue.

  “As for my mask... I apologize, but there’s nothing particularly complicated about why I wear it.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes. When I suffered an injury to my face, I decided to conceal it until I could get it healed using healing magic or potions. I asked for an appropriate mask from an acquaintance, and this was the mask they brought me.”

  “And your injury?” the princess prompted.

  She must have been asking if it was still unhealed, but the answer to this one was also clear.

  “No, it has already healed, Your Highness.”

  She tilted her head questioningly. “Then why...”

  “There is something strange about this mask, and I cannot take it off.”

  “Are you saying it’s a cursed item?” Nauss cut in. It was clear from his expression that he wasn’t happy that I’d worn it into the palace.

  I shook my head. “No, that doesn’t appear to be the case. If it truly was cursed, I wouldn’t have been able to wear it into the palace, right?” We were in the royal palace, so there had to be a number of countermeasures in place that didn’t exist elsewhere against cursed items.

  “Yes, indeed. Nevertheless, there are no such things as absolutes. This happened quite a long time ago, but some rogues brought a powerful cursed item into the palace.”

  “I had no idea.”

  The truth was that I was a bit of a rogue here. I was a monster. The fact that I was able to enter the palace meant that exceptions could get through the protections. Even so, Nauss was simply describing an example from the past, so I went with the assumption that he was simply speaking of the rare exception.

  “However, that is not the case with me,” I explained. “And this mask... It is evidently closer to a holy item.”

  “A holy item?” Nauss inquired.

  “While it is not very much, I am imbued with divinity.”

  With that, I released a small amount of divinity and made it visible. This was something I’d just recently learned how to do, around the time I learned the vampire techniques. I felt like there were commonalities between them and divinity, but I couldn’t say what exactly they had in common.

  Nauss nodded. “That is, indeed, the glow of divinity.”

  “It was given to me because I decided on a whim to repair a shrine that had fallen into disrepair. The spirit of the shrine blessed me with divinity as thanks. That is why it’s so weak. But I was able to speak with the spirit a second time, and when I asked them about the mask, they told me it was like a holy item. Unfortunately, the spirit also said they couldn’t give me any more details about it.”

  A part of me still wanted a more detailed explanation from the spirit, but gods and spirits were fickle. There simply wasn’t anything I could do about it.

  “A holy item...” Obviously surprised by my explanation, the princess looked curiously in my direction. Wait, she was more than just curious. “Nauss, this may be...”

  Her Highness then glanced at Nauss, who caught some sort of message from her look. I could tell they were communicating with their expressions, but I couldn’t tell what exactly they were saying. I turned to Lorraine and Augurey, but they were just as lost as I was. I’d mentioned the spirit and the mask because the spirit wasn’t anything unusual and I just didn’t know all that much about the mask, but I wondered if I’d said something wrong.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  After exchanging glances with Nauss, the princess turned to us and bowed her head. “I have a request for you three. Please, will you help me?”

  Though Yaaran was a pretty informal kingdom, the class system was still as strict as anywhere else. While lower-class nobility might occasionally mingle with commoners as near equals, and an eccentric higher-class noble here and there might do things like work as a logger with his subjects in the mountains, a member of the royal family wouldn’t bow their head to some adventurers and ask them for help. Despite that fact, the princess was now doing exactly that.

  All three of us responded by mildly panicking.

  “Your Highness, please raise your head!” I exclaimed, yet the princess was determined to hold the course. It took her some time to come up from her bow.

  I was positive that this would send a whole boatload of trouble our way, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. The only thing I could do was be grateful that she wasn’t trying to use her authority to force us to do something for her.

  “While we would be happy to help, Your Highness,” Augurey began, “we certainly can’t say yes unless we know what it is that you wish to ask of us. Surely you won’t request that we find the end of a rainbow, or bring back manure from a dragon. I’m afraid that’s beyond even our abilities.”

  Augurey had attempted to defuse the tension with humor. There was no way to find the end of the rainbow, and as for dragon manure, it didn’t not exist, I guess? Technically, I might qualify as such. I didn’t know where I’d been expelled from after being eaten, so it was certainly possible that had been my exit. In any case, I shouldn’t be letting my thoughts go there.

  “Yes, I suppose you’re correct. My apologies. I let my haste get the better of me,” the princess muttered.

  “No need to apologize, Your Highness. That said, it seems that Rentt’s referring to his mask as a holy item is what drew your attention.”

  Augurey tactfully continued to guide the conversation. He was right, and it was around that time that the conversation, or rather the atmosphere, went awry.

  “I am afraid it will be a somewhat long tale. Will you listen to me recount it?” the princess asked.

  The three of us wasted no time in nodding. It wasn’t like we had any other option, and it might end up causing trouble down the line if we didn’t listen now. You could argue that listening would be the problem, but given that we were already here, we had no choice but to find out what was going on.

  “Very well,” Augurey replied.

  ◆◇◆◇◆

  “Are you all familiar with His Majesty, the current king of Yaaran?” the princess inquired.

  “Yes, His Majesty, Karsten Reshon Yaaran,” Lorraine answered. “I believe as of this year, he is sixty-five years of age.”

  “You are correct.”

  Leave it to Lorraine to know not only his name but his age as well. Still, sixty-five was relatively up there. Most kings died before they reached sixty and very rarely from natural causes. Those that died of old age were the happy few. That said, a fair proportion of Yaaran’s kings had died from either old age or real diseases—not poison disguised as a disease. Naturally, this information had been released by the government itself, so for us lonely commoners, it was impossible to tell if that really was the case.

  “He was still in good health,” the princess explained, “and he was enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as ruler. It was hoped that he would continue to do so, and it was said he would reign for another ten years.”

  Oh crap. She was about to say something that normal civilians like us weren’t supposed to know. We couldn’t do anything to stop her, though, so we resigned ourselves to the inevitable as the princess continued.

  “Recently, though, His Majesty’s health has taken a turn for the worse, and if things continue on their present course, he may not even see out the year.”

  And now we knew, which meant we couldn’t leave the palace. They would chain us up in some dungeon, and we would spend the rest of our lives crying as we were fed stale, unappetizing bread. At least, that was the image that popped into my head, but I figured we didn’t need to worry about that. If they were going to do that, it would’ve been easier to not tell us anything in the firs
t place.

  Of course, if we declined Her Highness’s request, we could end up living like that, at least until the king’s death. We’d probably be okay, though. Worst-case scenario, we would just need to get out of the palace, then use teleportation magic to flee to some other country. We already knew that a kingdom of Yaaran’s size couldn’t chase down people who fled the country. Maybe I was dismissing Yaaran’s capabilities a little too much, but I doubted we’d be valuable enough to be worth that level of effort.

  “Just what is the cause?” Lorraine asked. She did so specifically because it would help us understand the crux of the matter—what Her Highness wanted us to do. I hadn’t a clue how we might be involved, though.

  Her Highness avoided directly answering Lorraine’s question and instead said, “In this kingdom, a new ruler must inherit two objects if they are to take the throne: the crown of the kingdom and the scepter of the kingdom.”

  “Yes, I’ve seen them before,” Augurey chimed in, “when they were on display at the temple. I also recall that the crown was an exquisite piece of craftsmanship. The scepter, on the other hand, was surprisingly simple for a relic of state.”

  “Yes, that is correct. The crown was crafted by dwarves in the distant past, but the scepter was a gift from the high elves.”

  High elves ruled the Land of the Venerable Holy Tree, and they were equivalent to royalty there. However, no matter how special a human royal might be, they were just as human as your average commoner. High elves were different in that they were a distinct race considered superior to the elves they ruled. Furthermore, high elves were extraordinarily long-lived. They were living links to history, making their very existence valuable.

  Then again, if you looked back into history, you’d find that humans had fought against high elves in the past. Once was when the humans tried to enslave the elves. They’d also warred over religious disputes, which had ended in human religions declaring that high elves were inferior to humans. To put it mildly, the relationship between humans and high elves was a long and complicated one. There was no doubt, though, that they were skilled artisans of magic items, and treasured relics attributed to these artisans were scattered all over the world. The scepter of the Yaaran Kingdom must be one of those relics.