Unwanted Undead Adventurer - Episode 35

I slowly get on the teleportation circle. I don’t know what this means, but the shape of the magic circle is different from the one I came in with, which lead me to believe that it’s connected to somewhere else. I know that it’s not the same magic circle at both ends.

Now, let’s see if monsters or snakes will appear…

As I’m surrounded by the light emitted from the teleportation circle, I ready my sword.

◇◆◇◆◇

As soon as the light dies down, I quickly look around. There’s no guarantee that a monster won’t suddenly attack me, and it’s also possible that this teleportation circle was a trap in the first place.

However… As far as I can see, there don’t seem to be any monsters or traps here. Instead, what I see is just a messy room.

There are many things lying around rotting… The room looks almost like it was inhabited.

There are a number of bookshelves, desks and beds. There’s even a fallen stuffed animal that falls apart when I try touching it. I can tell that this place must have been abandoned for quite a long time. Also…

At the far end of the room, there’s something sleeping in the bed.

Not a single night’s sleep, but an eternal sleep.

In other words, it’s a corpse. There’s no light in its hollow eyes, and it’s lying on its back with its hands on its chest, which suggests that this is probably where it passed away. There’s what appears to be a withered bouquet of flowers by the bedside, but it also crumbles when touched.

What is this place…?

I know that someone used to live here, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing such a thing in the depths of a labyrinth. I mean, how is that even possible in the first place…?

I don’t know. However, if a room like this actually exists, I should assume that it was at least possible for the owner of this room. But what would be the point…? There doesn’t seem to be any kind of treasure, or anything that might be significant…

With that thought in mind, I try searching all over the place like the adventurer I am, but there’s nothing here after all. I find a lot of thick books that look like they were written in an ancient language, but there are also some thin picture books on the shelves. However, they’re ancient books. There’s a chance that I can make some money if I take them to the right place. After making that assessment, I try to pull out a book, and…

“…You. What are you doing there?” a voice asks from behind me.

From behind me. That’s crazy. I knew that there was no telling what was in this room, so I didn’t let my guard down, but it’s like her presence was undetectable. But that doesn’t mean I can’t turn around. In fact, now that she’s spoken to me, I can expect her to wait until I do. Slowly, I turn to face the direction of the voice.

And there stands a woman. In particular, an ordinary woman with soft white hair, light blue eyes, and a gentle smile. She’s wearing a jet black robe and looks like a sorceress…

“I’ll ask you again. What are you doing there?” she says. Her voice is gentle. It sounds kind, like a quiet question to a child who doesn’t understand. But for some reason, that voice makes me feel so nervous that I almost stop breathing.

In short, she’s bad news.

All of the intuition I developed in my life is telling me this loud and clear. However, the woman is standing in front of the teleportation circle, and there’s no way I can escape. I wonder what I should do and come to the conclusion that I have to answer the question.

“I was just rummaging around… to see if I could find anything. I’m an adventurer…” I say.

“Haha. Rummaging, huh…? Rummaging, he says… So you’re a thief, are you? Then, are you prepared to die here?” the woman says.

“What…?”

“You’re confused. I understand. I understand, but… there are also things I can’t allow to happen. I don’t want this place to be defiled… And for that, you have to disappear.”

Then the woman lightly raises her hand and points it at me. I briefly wonder what she intends to do, and in that short period of time, I notice that a terrifying amount of magic power has converged in front of her hand and I hurriedly put up all of my defenses before it’s released. I put up a magic shield, strengthen my body with spirit energy, and put divine energy into my sword so that no matter what kind of attack comes, I’ll be fine. Of course, I intend to avoid it if possible. However, the woman’s shooting speed is too fast and accurate for that.

A powerful flame shoots out from in front of the woman’s palm. It’s like a dragon’s breath, and the impact is so strong that it feels like I’ve been hit by a cannon. It’s much heavier and stronger than the blow from the Giant Skeleton.

I get blown away and crash into the wall with full force. I feel a pain in my back, but I’m glad it doesn’t seem to be anything more than pain, since that means I managed to survive the blow. However, right after that, I feel the same convergence of magic power in front of me, and when I hurriedly adjust my stance, the woman is about to turn her palm toward me to unleash the same magic.

–Next time, I might not be able to withstand it.

While thinking this, I start to prepare my shield again, but it don’t seem to make it in time. And then, to my surprise, the woman stops moving…

“You… that… body is…” she asks me.

Body?

While I spread my magic and spirit energy, however, I observe that there’s something wrong with my body. It seems that most of my robes were burned by the flames earlier, and most of my corpse-like body is bare. The woman is surprised to see the decayed and gouged-out flesh, which is clearly not human. Well, perhaps that’s natural. Only a monster would look like this.

“…Is it bad? …I didn’t get like this because I wanted to.”

Unless this woman is willing to let me go, I’m going to die here anyway. I said what I had to say. However, the woman is not offended by my words, but rather, she lowers the hand that was about to destroy me.

Then, she says, “I’m sure that’s true… But… if I think about how you got here, there’s only one way… Apparently, I was mistaken. My apologies.”

After apologizing, she adds, “…Ah, I burned something of yours… I’ll give you this instead. It’s a good one, if I may say so, so I don’t think it will be a loss.”

She hands me the jet black robe that she herself was wearing.

“Last but not least, this room is an important place for me. I’m sure you understand the peculiarities of this place, but if you could, can you please not talk about this room to anyone else?” she then says.

Relieved that I don’t have to die a second time, I wonder if this woman has known about this place for a while but didn’t tell anyone. First of all, even if you’re not an adventurer, finding an unexplored area of a labyrinth is a fortune. Normally, you would report it to…

“You’re telling me not to tell the Guild?”

“Yes, that’s what I want you to do… I mean, they won’t be able to get in here without you. You’ve come through the teleportation circle, haven’t you? It’s not possible to go through that without you being nearby,” she says.

The problem is that this woman’s abilities are far beyond my own. Compared to the silver class Lorraine, she’s clearly superior. It’s easy to imagine that if I answer the question incorrectly, I’ll die.

However, it’s my dream to eventually raise my rank in the Adventurer’s Guild. The right to report on this unexplored area was originally supposed to be Loris’s, but now that he earned enough magic stones to pay off his debt, he handed it back over to me. And now that I’ve managed to get close enough to a human appearance, I thought I could at least sneak a report to the Adventurer’s Guild when there are fewer people around. If I do that, my performance in the Adventurer’s Guild will improve, and I’ll be one step closer to my goal of becoming mithril-class. That’s what I was planning on. And yet, she’s telling me not to report it to…

Perhaps realizing my reluctance to do so, the woman says, “Even so, I understand that you can’t come this far and leave empty handed… Adventurers are always looking for results, aren’t they? If you want, you can take this instead. I’m sure you’ll find it useful. How about it?”

“This is…”

It’s an old, unmarked piece of parchment.

However, the woman says, “This is the Map of Acacia, a magical tool that maps out the area of the labyrinths its owner has traversed. It’s been reset so nothing’s recorded at the moment, but I think adventurers would find it useful…”

If that’s true, she’s absolutely right. I mean, it’s an amazing piece of magic. I don’t even know how much it would fetch if I were to sell it. But that’s only if it’s true. There’s no way such a dreamlike tool exists…

“If it’s true, will you do me a favor?” the woman asks me.

I nod. If what the woman is saying is true, it will make exploring the labyrinth a lot easier.

“In that case, please let your magic power flow into it…”

I do what she tells me, and…

“…This is amazing.”

When I look at it, I see that the parchment, on which there was no writing until a moment ago, does indeed contain a detailed map of the Labyrinth of Moon’s Reflections. It even has the various annotations I added to my own map.

“We have a deal, is that correct?”

“…Yeah.”

I still feel the desire to report this place, but there’s no guarantee that this woman won’t come to kill me when I do. At the very least, she was definitely going to kill me earlier, and considering that, I can’t go against her.

“Oh, that’s good. Now, let me escort you to the entrance.”

“What?” As soon as I say that, the woman seems to activate some kind of magic, and my vision suddenly becomes distorted.

The woman smiles and waves, and her face right now is different from when she said she was going to kill me at any moment.

“So, take care. Well, I don’t know if I should be telling you that, though,” she says.

And the next thing I know, I’m standing there in a daze at the entrance to the labyrinth. “Am I dreaming?” I think, but my robe has changed, and I’m holding the parchment in my hand.

“I wonder what that was all about,” I think to myself, but I don’t feel like exploring any further today. I wander back to the city, feeling bewildered.