Unwanted Undead Adventurer - Episode 33

The next day, after confirming that my physical condition has generally returned to normal, we conduct the experiments that Lorraine suggested.

We start by photographing my appearance with quite a bit of detail, though I don’t understand what a lot of it is for. Maybe it’s the nature of a scholar to not feel satisfied until they’ve investigated everything.

However, that doesn’t mean that there are no useful experiments among them. In fact, I’m glad I’m doing them, because they’re clearing up some of the questions I’ve been vaguely wondering about.

The most important things I learn are that I can eat, that recovery potions are somehow effective on my undead body, and that poisons have no effect on it. The fact that I can eat things other than human flesh and blood is another big one. To be honest, even now that I’ve become a Thrall, I still feel the urge to eat human flesh and blood. I don’t have as much of a craving for blood, maybe because it was from being Ghoul after all, but I feel a strong thirst for blood.

To be more specific, if someone’s bleeding nearby, I’ll smell it right away. I can also sort of tell the age, gender, and health condition of the person who’s bleeding, not to mention what direction they’re in. I can’t help but feel like this is a pretty big deal. Moreover, it smells delicious. The smell of blood, especially that of a young, healthy girl, is the most appetizing…

I can’t help but think that I’ve become something awful. Anyway, it’s a problem if I keep feeling this thirst. As a result, I’ve found that if I eat a certain amount of regular food, the urge will be lessened. In addition to that, I’m given some of Lorraine’s blood to drink, and it goes away quickly. A normal meal is about three servings for a normal adult male, and a drop of Lorraine’s blood quenches my thirst, so Lorraine’s blood seems to be more cost effective, but it’s hard to ask for blood on a regular basis.

While I’m thinking about that, Lorraine says, “With these results, I guess you’d better start drinking my blood on a regular basis. In the meantime, I’ll keep a bottle of it in a container with preservation magic on it, and you can tell me when it’s gone.”

She readily hands it to me. A bottle may sound like a lot, but it’s only a drop of blood to drink at a time. In other words, if I have this much, I can last for about a month. However, there’s one problem with this. After all, losing this much blood every month may cause problems for Lorraine’s health. I decide to make the blood last while eating normal meals.

…But now that I’m casually attributing such importance to drinking blood, the thought that I’ve lost too much of my humanity makes my head hurt. Instead of only drinking blood, I should also eat normal food so that I don’t lose any more of that humanity.

As for the poisons, I try the weakest and fastest-acting ones first, but even the strongest ones don’t make me sick. In the event of an emergency, Lorraine can use poison purification magic, and I have divine energy as a last resort, so I figure we can manage if the poison activates, but in the end, we don’t have to use either. We can safely assume that poison is completely ineffective.

“…Maybe it’s ineffective because you’re dead?” Lorraine mumbles, but I don’t get it either. If that is the reason, though, then the recovery potion shouldn’t work either. If anything, I might have a special constitution that makes me immune to poisons.

When she finishes her research, Lorraine says, “Well, I’m going to try to figure out some things based on the results of the experiments. And you… well, I guess that goes without saying.”

As for what goes without saying, that would be what I plan to do from now on. That certainly is obvious enough even with me saying it. All I have to do is try to at least look human. I’d like to become human if possible, but… If the essence of existential evolution is to “get closer what I want to be,” will I ever become human? I don’t know.

I ask Lorraine about this, but of course, she responds, “I don’t think we’ll ever know… but it’s not entirely impossible. Isn’t that a good goal to have?”

So I decide to try my best to work towards that. That’s my goal for now.

And in order to do so, I’ll have to go into the labyrinth, but…

“Do you think this sword… will still work?”

I pull the sword out of its scabbard and show it to Lorraine.

“…The blade is badly chipped,” she says. “You can’t use it like this. You’ll have to send it in for repair.”

“Right…?”

I just got it the other day, and now it’s already in this state. He’s definitely going to get angry.

Thinking to myself, “It’s too dangerous to fight with this,” I make up my mind and decide to go to the blacksmith.

◇◆◇◆◇

“…Hey, what’s this?” the blacksmith Clope asks me, his stern face turning even more severe.

“It’s… your sword,” I say simply.

“I can tell that just by looking at it. That’s not what I’m asking,” Clope says, sighing. I decide to stop dodging the question and tell him the truth.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been using divine energy.”

“Huh? How would that…? In that case, it wouldn’t be strange for it to get like this, but you went to Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection, right? Was there something in there that you needed to use divine energy on?”

This question must be an assumption based on the fact that I can somewhat use magic and spirit energy. In other words, the only monsters that would have appeared would be the ones that those two types of powers could have handled well enough without the use of divine energy. And that’s basically correct. However…

“It was a Giant Skeleton, so I had no choice.”

Clope’s eyes widen at my words.

“There’s no way there’s a Giant Skeleton there… No, you’re not the kind of guy who’d lie to me… Where the hell did you…?”

“I found an uncharted area…”

“What? You… hey, that’s…” Surprisingly, Clope seems to understand the importance of this information, as he immediately lowers his voice. He continues, “Are you sure…?”

I nod silently.

“I was wondering what happened to you since you were dressed so strangely. If that’s what happened, it’s not hard to understand why… Well, alright, I understand the situation. Have you finished your search yet?” Clope says like he’s figured something out, but I don’t bring it up and just answer the last question he asked.

“Not yet. So I want a sword as soon as possible…”

“I know… but the sword you ordered isn’t finished yet. Take another substitute for today. I’ll give you a better one.”

I came here in part because I thought the sword I ordered might be ready by now, but it seems like that was too much to hope for.

I nod, taking a new sword that Clope’s wife, Luka, selects for me which can withstand magic and spirit energy. Then, I leave the store.

◇◆◇◆◇

–Wham!

Just as I’m leaving the store, I bump into something. Apparently, I hit something with my face. Since it was just my mask hitting it, I’m unharmed, but when I look at what’s in front of me, I see a man there. The man is clad in silver armor and looks like a knight. I bow my head slightly and try to walk away without saying anything.

“Sorry. Are you hurt?”

I have no choice but to reply, “…No. How about you?”

“I’m fine too… By the way, I take it you’re an adventurer…?” he says, changing the subject.

I feel compelled to reply with a nod.

Then, the knightly-looking man asks me, with a serious look on his face, “If so, I have a few questions for you. Do you know a girl named Rina who’s an adventurer in this city?”