99 Chapter 99 - All Play and no Work (2/2)

”Aren't you the former Regent?”The regent was removed from his post a while back.The reason given to the public was mismanagement that allowed the destruction of three villages under his watch so he wasn't a popular person right now.

Raymond waved his hand.”No, that's my brother, Robert.He's more into politics so you can tell us apart by our muscles.I'm the bigger one.”Gren couldn't tell how big Raymond's muscles were since he was wearing armor.

Gren could hear the side door opening up.”Hey, lunkhead, I've got the samples.If you're done then let's get going.”A short girl with a weird helmet on her head and glasses over her eyes entered the kitchen.Her body was covered in a baggy robe and she had several bags suspended from her neck and shoulders.

”Just a moment.I'm trying to get this man to give you a blood sample.”He said it.Raymond actually said that he was trying to get a blood sample.Usually people didn't admit to things like that so Gren was impressed in a weird way.”The neighbors saw him standing outside when it happened and he's the only magician in the area that we know of.”

The girl didn't agree with Raymond.”There's no way that he did it.Look at those muscles.They're more well-toned than yours.”Gren was currently wearing a t-shirt so his arms were on display.”Nobody that can use magic like that would have enough time to build muscles like his.”

”Not all magicians have a knight following them around like you do.Maybe he realized that he'd need muscles for when he ran out of magic energy.”How much longer were they going to talk about Gren like he wasn't there?”Besides, he didn't take long to build those muscles.He was even shrimpier than you when I first met him.”

”Do you want to take this outside!?I'll show you who's shrimpy!”She got hostile and started yelling towards Raymond so quickly that it startled Gren.”I'll make you and your muscles disappear into the horizon!

As much as Gren would love to see someone get sent so far away that they became a twinkle in the sky, she was being too loud.”Enough fighting.If you keep being this loud then you'll wake the dead.”The knights behind Raymond put their hands on the pommels of their swords and took a stance like they'd pull them out in a moment's notice.

The girl that was arguing with Raymond didn't seem amused by his comment either.”Why would the dead wake up?Is there a curse?”On top of her helmet were a bunch of lenses of different colors that she started looking through.

”It's just a saying.The dead aren't going to start walking around.”If Gren knew that they would react like that then he wouldn't have said anything.

”It's a stupid saying.”This girl really liked to speak her mind.”People shouldn't be joking around about things like that.The undead are a very serious threat and right now I would be very careful of using words like that if I were you.”

”She's right.These guys are specially trained to fight the undead.”Raymond spoke up in the girl's defense.”If we didn't suspect that the undead were involved then we wouldn't have brought them.”

Things were a bit awkward now in the room but at least the tension had gone away.”Sorry.I didn't realize that the undead were that touchy of a subject.I know that you said that it was illegal to use undead magic but my only interaction with any undead are the two I bought from the Genrich Company.”

”You actually have undead!?”Why did she get so loud all of a sudden?

”Calm down, Henrietta.Those two are exceptions.They're harmless.”Raymond already knew about the slaves bought by Gren.”Neither of them were created with undead magic and they both have minds of their own.”

”How do you create the undead without using undead magic?”She adjusted her glasses and brought out a notepad from one of her bags.

”I don't know all of the details but one of them was an experiment using magical devices on a corpse.”After jotting down his words, Henrietta nodded her head.”The other one was the daughter of the former high priestess.After her daughter's death, the high priestess is said to have gone insane.She got her hands on an old copy of the third volume of those Healing Light spell books and tried to use a spell to revive her daughter.It almost worked but there wasn't enough magic energy so the daughter's soul was bound to her bones.”

Gren read in the description that she had a backstory but didn't ask Albert Genrich about it.”Nobody ever found out where her spell books ended up since she got rid of them before the knights apprehended her.Some think that she burned them.”There was one person in the room that was pretty sure that they knew where they were but they weren't about to expose that information.”It's a shame since that was one of the only copies left.Only the Divine Priestess and the Goddess herself would have access to a copy now.”

Henrietta finished writing down the information given to her by Raymond and suddenly turned towards Gren.”Can I see them?”For a moment, Gren thought that she was talking about the books but realized that she meant the undead that were in his guild.Her puppy dog eyes looked kinda scary since they were enlarged through the lenses of her glasses.

She looked like she really wanted to go look at them so there was only one response that he could give her.”No.I have no idea what you plan on doing to them.”He wasn't going to let someone in that might pose a threat to the guild members.

Henrietta started pouting.”I just want to look at them.”She started looking through her bags until she found the one filled with coins.”Fine.How much do you want for them?”

”They're not for sale.”Gren turned down her offer.”They're already free individuals that get to choose where they go.There are no slaves here anymore.”Purrnina was treated like a pet even though she was legally a slave but that wouldn't matter; Gren had already forgotten that she existed since he never really saw her in the guild.

”Can you tell them that I want to meet them then?”Gren shook his head to tell her no.”How am I supposed to meet them!?”

”Henrietta, that's enough.You're not going to convince him to let you see them.He doesn't know you well enough to trust you yet.Isn't that right, Gren?”Raymond was exactly right.

”Correct.I don't want to risk the safety of my guild members.”Gren had been thinking about this for the entire day.”Even a child like you could pose a threat.When I was your size I...”Gren's words were stopped by a surprise knee to his groin.Gren applied healing magic almost immediately but needed to catch his breath.

”I'm not a child!”Henrietta ran out the side door the next instant.Gren could swear that he saw tears in her eyes.

”What's her problem?”Gren closed his legs; if he ever met her again then he'd never sit with his legs apart in front of her.His groin was healed but there was a phantom sensation that lingered.

Raymond shook his head and explained what caused Henrietta's outburst, ”You know, she's actually older than you by about five years.Henrietta had always had problems with her height since she was a kid.The doctors say that it's related to her irregular heartbeat but there's nothing they can do about it.”Raymond sighed and shook his head.

”Why don't you just take her to a healer?”If she had heart problems then the second volume of the Healing Light spell books had it covered.They weren't even that far away from the Land of Healing Light.

Raymond slouched back in the seat and looked up.”She's my sister, an Adier.No healers from the Church will even look at her and the ones outside the Church aren't skilled enough.”Gren had figured that they were related since they acted close but he didn't realize that she was the Duke's daughter.”They could easily heal her heart and eyes in their holy city but my grandfather completely ruined our relationship with the Church.”

Gren didn't like the idea of punishing the family for the actions of a relative.He couldn't control the Church's actions but he had the power to help her.”We should go after her.”Raymond seemed confused but Gren was already out the door before he could ask for an explanation.