Chapter 72 (1/2)

Volume 1

V4 Chapter 2

「The Next Journey」

On the second floor of the elder’s mansion, there was a large dining room connected to a kitchen area, and we were all seating at the wooden table in the center of that room .

Ariane and Chiome were sitting on both sides of me while Ponta was on the table, happily wagging her tail as she was buried in the meal in front of her . Ariane was petting Ponta’s head as the little fox stuffed her face .

I’d taken off my armor a while ago and was currently wearing traditional elven clothing as I ate my breakfast with relish .

I noticed that Chiome was giving me a strange look, so I took a bite from a piece of bread and turned toward her .

“Is something wrong, Chiome-dono?”

When I asked her about it, Chiome’s expression became confused .

“No, it’s just that I’ve never seen an undead eating regular food as if it’s natural, it’s just a strange sight to see……”

Chiome stared at back at me, a skeleton with a piece of bread stuffed in its mouth .

What she said was actually reasonable, considering the faint blue lights floating in my eye sockets and my lack of everything, from my skin and muscle to internal organs . However, despite all that I could still taste and swallow everything I ate .

When I came to this world in my game avatar’s body, it was it wasn’t in a human form . Instead, it was that of the special 『Skeleton』 skin I had been using at the time .

“Arc lacks the corruption of the undead…… Can’t you tell, Chiome-chan?”

Ariane stopped petting Ponta’s head for a moment and voiced a rather emotional defense of my situation to Chiome .

“The People of the Mountains and Plains have the ability to sense the 『Corruption of Death』 but I can not detect the foul scent of the undead from him……”

Chiome’s small nose twitched a little as she tilted her head to the side .

“If he were an undead, why would he have needed to take a bath after today’s training session? Do you think that mere bones could produce sweat?”

Ariane grumbled something before she gave Chiome a look that demanded her agreement .

Chiome nodded and looked up at me after mumbling something herself .

When our eyes met, I immediately looked down at my own form .

There was no way this body produced sweat, it’s just my personal habit to bathe after exercising .

Before I could start preaching the health benefits and rejuvenating effects of regular bathing had on the body and soul to Ariane, Glenys walked into the dining room with an old parchment in hand .

When she reached the table she held the parchment out to Ariane .

The parchment was made of a type of paper that wasn’t seen in human cities or villages . A map with a peculiar route plotted out was drawn on the rather thick parchment .

“This map has the route to the Dragon King’s tree drawn on it . Though you know the way through the cavern, take this just in case . ”

Ariane nodded at that explanation as she took the map and we began to look over the mapped-out route .

Chiome maintained her emotionless expression as usual, but her twitching cat ears betrayed how anxious she was as she studied the map .

The Dragon King’s tree Glenys had mentioned was a rare type of tree that grew in the presence of a Dragon King . After centuries of absorbing the dragon’s essence, the tree’s spirit had been altered .

According to the village elder Dylan, even the land around the Dragon King’s tree had acquired special properties and a certain spring had gotten the ability to remove all forms of curses .

My reward for rescuing the kidnapped elves from the humans was receiving the directions to the spring, which were drawn on the map Ariane held .

After making our preparations, we’ll be setting off on our Journey tomorrow .

Whether or not the effects of the spring were genuine, I questioned if it really was a curse that resulted in my skeletal body . Though it was still too early to rule anything out, it’s highly possible that I’d be stuck with this body for the rest of my life . I suppose any possible solution was worth a try .

“It’d take a while to get through this cavern . I never realized just how far into the mountain range it actually spread……”

Ariane made that observation as she diligently looked over the map .

Seems that she’s been through the cavern before .

“Oh, Ariane-dono have you been to the area before?”

Yes, my elder sister took me there several times when I was still an apprentice warrior . We were able to gather a lot of magic stones to power magic tools there……”

As Ariane reminisced about her past, her eyes narrowed as if she realized something . She turned towards me and began speaking in a sing-song manner .

“If you intend to bathe here regularly, then you should be the one that collects the magic stones from now on～”

Ariane’s merciless gaze focused on me as if I were a manservant .

I was being indirectly changed for the bath’s fuel expenses . Baths were a luxury in this world and they required firewood or magic stone furnaces to boil the water . If I want to enjoy baths I would have to accept her proposal .

If things went well and the curse was removed, feeling hot water on my skin again would no longer be a dream .

“Yes! I’ll be sure to collect enough magic stone to cover my bathing expenses . ”