That Time a Shut-in for 300 Years Continued to Make Antiques , but All of It Turned out to Be Cheat-Level Magic Tools - Chapter 69

The Mage Guild finally began to take concrete action. With the delivery of the magic bags completed, the Adamant Forge Shop also got down to work in earnest.

After the sword showdown, I took the opportunity to introduce my father, Meik, to Benz. Deeply impressed and inspired by Benz’s skills, he now regrets the time he wasted in his drunken stupor and works tirelessly, trying to make up for it.

However, there’s been a new issue. Well, it’s more of a happy problem, really. The response has been far greater than expected, and more and more customers are visiting the Mage Guild.

Not too long ago, we were a poor guild with not a single visitor. But now, with one customer turning into two, and more joining every day, it’s gotten to the point where it’s almost like the Adventurers’ Guild in the mornings, with people coming in and increasing the number of requests.

The issue now is manpower. Up until recently, Alecto was managing the reception while also working, but now she’s swamped with creating magic tools and mana stones from morning till night. She no longer has the time to handle the reception as well.

Bura can help with the accounting a bit, but she can’t be there all the time either due to her own workload.

So, we’ve currently got Mei handling reception duties. Whether this is a good thing or not, it seems that male customers specifically coming to see Mei are increasing as well.

But we can’t leave Mei as the receptionist forever. And it’s about time we had another magic tool creator besides Alecto.

There are a lot of things to consider, but for now, we need to handle each request properly.

“Hey, brother, what are we doing in this creepy place today?”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re scared?”

“N-No way! Of course not!”

Sigh. Today, Hazan and I came to a desolate graveyard located about 10 kilometers away from town. It used to be a graveyard, but it’s long been abandoned.

Usually, Mei would be with us, but she’s tied up with her reception duties. Hazan seemed to be having some sort of excited conversation with Bura, the guard’s daughter, when it was just the two of us heading out—what was that all about?

Anyway, despite Hazan’s words, his face is looking rather pale.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?”

“N-No, I’m not! Besides, there’s no way anything would come out in broad daylight.”

His voice is really shaky. Honestly, it would be a problem if nothing showed up. Otherwise, there’d be no point in coming all the way out here.

Ah, speaking of which, it seems like our target has shown up.

“Gyaaa! It’s hereeee!”

“Yeah, it’s a skeleton. And aren’t you overreacting a bit?”

He jumps up with his arms raised, letting out a scream. Personally, I think it’s pretty foolish to scream out of fear. You’re basically telling your opponent where you are.

“Hey, it’s just a skeleton. It’s only threat level 2 or 3. You can handle it, right?”

“I-I know that. But still…”

Sigh, seriously. Skeletons can even show up in dungeons, right? You weren’t this scared there, were you?”

“Well, dungeons are fine, but…”

“Then this should be fine too. It’s basically the same thing.”

“No, it’s not! Dungeons are like something the dungeon creates, but graveyards are all about ghosts and stuff!”

“How did you even handle undead encounters…?”

“Because it’s different in an old graveyard or mansion, brother.”

You’re just scared of the atmosphere, aren’t you?

“And why are these things even out during the day? That’s not right!”

“It’s not that strange. Now, get ready. They’ve noticed us and are coming over.”

“Ugh… Fine! I’m doing it! Just don’t curse me later!”

With a war cry, he charges into the group of skeletons, wildly swinging his sword. What he says and what he does don’t match at all. At least he’s not paralyzed with fear and unable to act.

“Phew, brother, I managed to take them down. Got any holy water?”

“Holy water? Why?”

“To pour on myself. So I don’t get cursed.”

My head is starting to hurt.

“You don’t need that. Just help me collect these.”

I handed Hazan one of Alecto’s magic bags.

“We’re collecting the magic cores from the skeletons?”

“Yes, but more importantly, we need the bones.”

“Whaaaat?!”

Hazan clutched his shoulders and started trembling. A big muscular guy like him doing that is just creepy.

“H-Hey, that’s sacrilegious!”

“What’s sacrilegious about it?”

“These are grave bones, right?!”

“No, they’re not. Skeletons are created phenomena.”

“I don’t understand… And what are we using the bones for?”

“The materials we’re gathering this time are related to a construction project.”

“Construction?!”

“Yes, these skeleton bones are used as a component in concrete.”

“No way! Brother, I know you must have a reason, but isn’t that still a problem?”

“A problem? What problem?”

“I mean, these are human bones! Wouldn’t people object to using human bones in building materials?”

Haa~. I let out an exasperated sigh, causing Hazan to raise his eyebrows in confusion.

“I mean, they’re skeletons, right? Isn’t it weird to use them?”

“You’re wrong. You probably think these are the remains of people buried in this graveyard, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah…”

“That’s where you’re mistaken. This graveyard has been abandoned for over a hundred years. There’s no way bones would still be intact.”

This information, by the way, came from research I did at the library.

“Th-Then where are these skeletons coming from?”

“It’s not that complicated. They’re born from the earth.”

Hazan’s face scrunched up, not understanding.

“To put it simply, this earth contains decomposed organic matter from plants and animals. When it merges with the mana Maif, skeletons are born.”

“What?”

“The nutrients in the soil, combined with mana, create the skeletons. If you don’t get that, I give up.”

“O-Oh, I think I get it. So it’s not ghosts, then?”

“No, it’s just a phenomenon. The undead that you all fear are just events caused by mana.”

When a creature dies, the Maif in its body shifts toward chaos. Under the right conditions, this chaotic Maif can circulate, causing the body to start moving again.

“But isn’t it true that church prayers or holy water can prevent the undead from forming?”

“That’s because the holy water suppresses the cause of the undead transformation. What you see as a prayer is actually a spell that reproduces the effect of holy water.”

“R-Really?”

“By the way, what you call holy water for repelling undead is easy to make.”

“Really? How?”

“It’s not hard. Just mix a certain amount of salt into water.”

“…Isn’t that just saltwater?”

“Well, yes.”

When you pour high-concentration saltwater on a corpse, it stops the circulation of chaotic Maif. Once you understand it, it’s not that complicated. The tricky part is that salt’s value can change depending on location and time.

“So the church’s holy water is just saltwater?”

“Well… sort of.”

“Wow! I didn’t know that!”

Hazan looked up to the sky in awe. In reality, it’s slightly different, but I thought it best not to correct him.

For reference, the church’s holy water doesn’t use common salt. It’s actually sweat. The holy water is made by mixing the sweat of priests and clerics into the water.

The church’s people are skilled in preventing undead transformations. Their sweat contains the Maif that prevents undead formation, so it works similarly to high-concentration salt.

But it’s best not to tell him this directly…

“Now that I know skeletons aren’t ghosts, I’m not scared anymore! Alright, let’s hunt them down!”

What a simple-minded guy. Thanks to that, Hazan’s movements improved, and our skeleton hunt went smoothly after that.