3
“So we’re going travelling… Keno-san, do you have experience travelling, pardon me, I mean, going abroad?”
“I apologize, Satoru-sama. When I was young — younger than I am now — I think I went to various places within the country, but I can hardly remember it now.”
“I see… in that case, you won’t know what to bring.”
“We’re undead. We don’t need to eat or sleep. Surely it would be fine to not have anything, right?”
“Well, that is the case. But according to what you said, Keno-san, the undead are the enemies of all living beings, and they are to be destroyed on sight, am I wrong? Living openly in a world full of enemies… well, I’m not sure if it counts as living, but even if we’re just existing, I feel we need to disguise ourselves to some extent?”
“Disguise? You mean wearing masks like the Prince of Phenia, is that it?”
Keno’s eyes lit up. It was the first time he had seen her do that ever since meeting her.
Had she allowed herself to relax? Had she been liberated, more or less? Or was this her look of anticipation about the outside world? It was not a bad thing, so he did not comment on it, but who was this Prince of Phenia? Still, he had the feeling that she would talk his ear off if he asked about it. He could settle any questions he had during the journey; for now, he could just take things as they came. It was only later that he learned about such a short story from her.
“Ahhh, no. People will suspect we’re up to no good if we wear masks… maybe it’s not so bad… no, they’ll suspect us.”
“Is that so?”
The look of childish delight on Keno’s face fell away, which Suzuki Satoru found both strange and new, but he hid his feelings and continued speaking.
“While disguising yourself implies changing your physical appearance, it also involves not doing things that will make others suspicious of you. Don’t you think people will get suspicious if you don’t eat a single meal with them?”
There were items that could do that, of course, but if they had to explain this to each and every person they met, they might end up blowing their covers by accident. Instead, it would be better not to arouse suspicion in the first place.
“We’ll pretend to eat and sleep like other travelers, but the most important thing is taking a steam bath to cleanse ourselves of the grime of the road.”
“A steam bath? You mean a mist sauna?”
“Ahhh, they have those here too? That’s right, a sauna, or a bath.”
The undead had no metabolism, so they would not produce waste, but dirt and dust and the like could still get their skin dirty. While it did not particularly inconvenience him, it felt better to be clean than dirty.
“But will we be able to enter a city, Satoru-sama?” Suzuki Satoru touched his face.
“I’ll need to think about that part. However, I’m looking for knowledgeable people. I’m sure we’ll be able to find some way to enter a city without trespassing into it via magic, in order to make friendly contact with them.” Keno nodded several times in approval.
“Therefore… well, I guess we need something for travel expenses and tolls. Of course, I have some money of my own, as well as gems and items which can be sold.”
Suzuki Satoru casually took a gem out of his inventory. Keno gulped as she saw a ruby that was the size of her palm. A brief shadow crossed Keno’s pretty face, but the change had been so subtle that Suzuki Satoru thought that he might have been imagining things. Besides, why would such a big gemstone make her gloomy?
“Still, I don’t know if this will be enough.”
“We don’t know how long this journey will take, and we’ll probably need to give gifts when we meet these knowledgeable people, and we might also need to buy expensive items. Is that it?”
“Yes. So, if possible, can we take all the wealth in this country or this city? Of course, you’ll be managing it, Keno-san. We can pay our own way during the journey.”
“All of it?”
“Indeed. I apologize for saying this, but these people who are now undead don’t need money, do they? Who knows, some country might send in their troops to seize all their wealth too. Therefore, we should make effective use of it—” Suzuki Satoru did not miss the pained expression on Keno’s face. “—Does it displease you?”
“Ehhh? Ah! I’m very sorry. That’s not what I meant. If that is what you think, then I will go along with it, Satoru-sama.”
Keno immediately adjusted expression and put on a winning smile.
“Keno-san.”
Keno’s body trembled.
“Ah, ah, please forgive me, Satoru-sama…”
“Ahhhh, it’s fine, I’m not angry, Keno-san. We are travelling companions, and since we are companions, I think we should be honest with each other. That’s all. You can tell me if you have an opinion on the matter, you know?” However, Keno lowered her head after he said that.
This was quite vexing for Suzuki Satoru. Keno was the one who had a better sense of how the world worked, so if she did not speak up right away, it might lead to a lethal failure.
“What’s the matter, Keno-san?”
Keno hesitated for a moment, and then her face tightened up before a pained look came across her face.
And then, she spoke quietly. It was as though time had reversed itself and she was speaking in the same way she had when they had first met. However, Suzuki Satoru’s keen hearing still managed to pick it up.
“I, I’m not your equal, Satoru-sama… I don’t have any right to say anything given that I’m relying on your mercy, Satoru-sama…” Indeed, that was the case.
Learning about the world was Suzuki Satoru’s payment for destroying the undead being in the city. That could no longer serve as terms of trade. Also, after travelling for more than a year, he would have picked up enough knowledge. After that, he would have no reason to help Keno anymore, and neither would he benefit from doing so.
In other words, Keno had nothing she could offer Suzuki Satoru to buy his help. After seeing the huge gem Satoru had taken out just now, she realized that mere money would not be enough to entice Suzuki Satoru.
“Even so… I don’t want to be alone anymore. Compared to that… I’d rather not say anything at all…”
This time, it was Suzuki Satoru’s term to hold his breath.
There were times when he felt that this girl was very similar to him. But after seeing the forlorn expression she had shown just now, he realized that she felt exactly the same way as him.
Had he not felt like she had when he entered Yggdrasil by himself, staying in a Nazarick without anyone in it?
Suzuki Satoru got to one knee, so his eyes were even with Keno’s.
“Let’s make a promise. Keno-san. I will not abandon you for personal — no, for my own reasons.” Yes.
I wanted someone to say that to me.
I wanted someone to stay with me until the very end.
He could see the various emotions in Keno’s eyes.
“Can, can I really believe that?”
“Ahh, like I said before, we’re travelling companions. So… let’s travel. Yes, on a journey to uncover the unknown. We won’t need any ‘just a little more’s. Let’s go find a way to save your parents.”
Silence fell upon them, and Keno bowed her head deeply. Then, she repeated “Thank you, thank you,” over and over again.
“Now then, can you raise your head?”
Suzuki Satoru took out a gold coin and showed it to Keno, who had only looked up after her had asked her to do so three times.
“There’ll be times during our journey when neither of us are willing to give way to the other. And of course, there’ll be times when we’re unable to determine who’s right, even after we exchange opinions. At those times…”
Suzuki Satoru flipped up the coin with his finger and let it land on his palm. He was quite impressed with how he could land it so neatly on a skeletal hand. He had to keep the fact that he felt more natural this way a secret.
“—We’ll flip a coin. We’ll use the results of the coin toss to determine who we go with. What do you think?”
“How could I! If possible—”
“—It’s fine. We’re travelling together, after all… yes, we’re friends.”
As he said the word “friends,” the faces of his past guildmates suddenly appeared in front of him.
Friends. Keno turned the word over and over in her mouth.
“How about it?”
“I understand, Satoru-sama.”
“Satoru will do. In turn, I will call you Keno.”
“But as my senior…” Keno began stammering. “A-Ah, how old are you, Satoru… sama… san?”
“My age, huh…” In terms of time spent alive, Keno was undoubtedly his superior. “Ah, I think I’ll just call you Keno-san.”
She ought to understand with that. A complicated look crossed Keno’s face, and she muttered “I don’t like it,” before puffing up her cheeks and smacking them.
“It’s Satoru and Keno, then.”
“Ehhh, you mean Satoru-san’s no good?”
“Well, that works too! Still, as friends, we ought to speak more familiarly with each other. Now then, Keno. I’ll ask you again. Are you unhappy with my previous proposition?”
Keno thought about it for a bit, and then nodded.
“By all the wealth, do you mean all the money in everyone’s homes too?”
“That was what I meant, yes.”
“Could you not do that, please? Er, Satoru… san? After all, it belongs to everyone.”
Had she said that because she was considering the possibility that everyone might be restored? Or was she speaking in her capacity as a princess who stood above the common folk? Satoru did not know which was which, but truth be told, spending time to collect pocket change was definitely not worth the effort.
It would be best to leave this place as soon as possible.
“Is that so? I see. I’ll go with that, then. But how about the money in the castle?
Do you think it’s alright to take it?”
“Um… I guess…?”
She sounded like she was asking herself the question more than Suzuki Satoru. Therefore, Suzuki Satoru said nothing, but waited for Keno to reach her own conclusion. And then, a minute later—
“I think it should be fine, yes.”
Perhaps her stiff manner of speech just now had been because she could not gauge the distance between them. In truth, Suzuki Satoru also found people who immediately closed the distance and acted all chummy with him to be very annoying too.
And from Satoru’s point of view, even if the clients buying his company’s products said, “We’re friends, right?” it would not particularly endear them to him. Only time could solve that problem.
“We’ll do that, then. Let’s take all the money and items in the treasury… oh yes, what about the furniture?”
“Eh?”
“I’ve shown you a few times, but I can store items into a pocket dimension. Of course, there’s a weight limit to that, but I can easily fit cabinets and beds inside it. I don’t mind if you want to take them with you. Of course, we won’t be able to use them on our journey…”
He thought about his home base in the past.
It was a wonderful base, one which he had built with his friends, and which he had filled with all sorts of items from the stores.
He had told Keno that it was fine because he did not want her to feel the same emptiness that he had felt at its loss.
“No, there’s no need for it. Er, it’s fine. But I want to take a few small things with me, that should be okay, right?”
“It’s fine. Let’s go to the treasury, then.”
After indicating that she understood, Keno led the way to the treasury.
As they walked, Suzuki Satoru began to think.
In Yggdrasil, gold coins were always in a single stack and they had no weight. It had been like that since it was a game, but he still enjoyed that benefit now. But would the currency in this world be treated in the same way? Or would the weight of each and every piece be totaled up? That would be troublesome.
While he could take the gems and trade them for money and items, things might be different from how they were in the game, and he might need to put effort into negotiations.
The vault he was led to was tiny by Yggdrasil standards.
The coins were not piled into a big heap like in Nazarick, but separately packed into sacks. There were also paintings whose value eluded Suzuki Satoru and a great deal of silverware, ornaments, and the like. There were also many weapons which looked like they had been used before. They struck him as belonging to a museum as opposed to an art gallery.
The image Suzuki Satoru had conjured up in his head of the Treasury from Yggdrasil vanished.
“Now then, Keno. All these are yours, as a princess.”
“Eh? Don’t you need it, Satoru-sama, no, Satoru-san? They’re all the treasures of the royal family, so I don’t mind offering them, er, I mean, giving them… no…”
Suzuki Satoru smiled at Keno, who did not seem to know what to say. “You don’t need to force yourself to be polite, you know.”
“In any case, this is the wealth your family built up over time. Given the circumstances, it should be kept by you, as the only one who retained her senses, don’t you think? Put it all in this rucksack. It’s a magic item that can ignore up to 500 kilograms of weight. I’ll give you one.”
“Ehh? But isn’t this really high-end stuff? I can’t take it, Satoru-san.” Really? Suzuki Satoru began to think in earnest.
It was not a high-priced item in Yggdrasil. Rather, it was commonplace to use several of these rucksacks to organize the contents of one’s inventory.
“Don’t worry about it. No, if you’re worried about it, then treat it as a loan. If you don’t want it anymore — yes, if we have to part, then return it to me.”
“W-What if we’re together forever?”
“Then you can just use it forever, right? Alright, take it.” Suzuki Satoru forced Keno to take the rucksack.
He should probably have checked to make sure there was nothing inside it before loaning it out. It was fairly common for Yggdrasil Players to forget magic items from slain monsters inside them.
After seeing her accept it without complaint, Satoru concluded that he ought to assume that the inhabitants of this world did not have inventory spaces. However, she was not surprised by the magical effects of the rucksack, because she had been told about such items in the past.
It feels like I could become something like a salesman if I could make good use of my inventory space.
However, things could get messy very quickly if he used a power which nobody had for profit.
Even someone who knew as little as Suzuki Satoru could understand how to use it with just a little thought. Surely there were people out there who were smarter and who would want it. If he became an information broker, it was very likely that he would expose himself as one of the undead, an enemy to the world. Therefore, he should try his best to avoid using this ability to obtain things.
He watched her carefully place various objects into the bag with a gentle look in his eyes. That was because the items inside it would not bump into or damage each other even if one just chucked them in at random. But surely a child who did not know that would pack them in that way.
While he wanted to help her, those were her family’s treasures. It should not be interfered with by a third party, right? He would help if she asked for help, but that said, Keno was also undead. Her body would not tire, so it was very unlikely that she would seek help.
“Keno. What will you do with the weapons over there?”
Suzuki Satoru cast a spell to investigate to see what magic was imbued into them. All of them were mediocre and would be classified as low-class magic items in Yggdrasil. While they were practically worthless, they were magic items from this world, and to Suzuki Satoru now they were extremely rare.
Incidentally, the national-treasure level gauntlet was a middle-class magical item. However, the breadth of the middle-class was quite broad, and it was among the topmost examples of that grouping.
“Can we… take them?”
“That will be your decision. But since they possess magical power, they should be magic items. If you don’t mind, could you let me appraise them?”
After receiving Keno’s permission, he cast [Appraisal Magic Item] to perform a more in-depth analysis.
As he thought, they were all nothing much. The armor’s enchantment boosted defense, the weapons boosted attack power, and so on. They were all boring magic items.
“Keno, these items seem to contain enchantments that boost their effectiveness as battle gear. As for how much they’re worth, I regret to say I‘m not sure.”
Saying so, Suzuki Satoru grabbed a sword and essayed a swing with it. And then — the sword fell to the ground.
He saw Keno look over in shock as she heard the crashing sound of metal.
“W-What…”
“What’s the matter, Satoru-sama! Is something wrong with the sword?” Had her tone reverted to its previous stiffness because of the sword?
“It, it’s nothing, I’m sorry. It seems my hand slipped. Hahaha, my palms must be sweaty!”
How the hell do bony hands sweat? Suzuki Satoru mocked himself as he casually put the sword back on the table.
The sword slipped from my hand before I knew it. Could it be that this body of mine can’t equip swords? What’s going on?
“Ah, Keno. Can you equip — no, hold it, no, that’s not it. Could you swing this sword?”
“Huh? This sword?”
“Ah, that’s right… but it seems a bit too large for you, Keno…” Keno picked up the sword instantly.
Then, she swung it with a whoosh.
The child-sized Keno was swinging a sword that was as long as she was tall, but she did not lose her balance because of it.
“It feels really light. Is it because it’s got lightening magic inside it?”
“No… Keno, were you always very strong?”
“Huh?”
Keno’s expression told him that the answer was no, and after looking at her, Suzuki Satoru thought I see. It would seem she had gained that strength after becoming undead.
There were restrictions on how much force a human being could exert, supposedly to keep them from tearing their own muscle fibers. Had those limitations been removed after becoming undead?
That might be possible, but perhaps there was another reason behind it.
“Keno, what race did you become after turning undead? While the people in the city became low-level Zombies, you’re nothing like them. You’re intelligent and you don’t look rotted. Meanwhile, I am of the Overlord race, but you did not gain a bony body like mine.”
“I, I don’t get it…”
“Don’t you think sorting out your race might help change the present situation? To that end, would you mind answering a few questions?”
While he did not know how far his Yggdrasil knowledge could go in this world, learning Keno’s race would probably not be a bad thing.
After some questioning, he arrived at what might be the right answer.
She was a Vampire.
However—
Yggdrasil Vampires look more disgusting than this, right… or is she something like that Shalltear which Peroroncino made? Or is this a Vampire unique to this world? There’s almost no change in her appearance before and after becoming undead, so could she be a special case?
Vampires in Yggdrasil were typically frontliners — warrior types.
Perhaps that was why Keno’s strength had increased, However, the fact that her height was frozen like this was a major downside. Having a short reach was very disadvantageous.
Maybe she should aim to be a Fencer… would it be wrong to let Keno decide how she wants to develop herself?
Suzuki Satoru the backliner and Keno the frontliner. This was not a bad combination. However, it was a little embarrassing to use a child as a shield. He probably would not mind it in a game like Yggdrasil—
Honestly. I used to be the sort of person who wasn’t bothered by seeing the corpses of street orphans, since they showed up so often that they were nothing rare, but now… Had he changed, or was he particularly interested in Keno?
“…I’ll appraise this later on. Sorry to have disturbed you. You should hurry up and empty the treasury.”
Suzuki Satoru took this time to blow the dust in the treasury around so nobody could tell that anyone had entered.
“Now then, we’ve collected the contents of the Treasury — is there anything else you want to take along?”
“Yes. After this, all I need are a few small items from my room.”
She had reverted to polite speech at some point. Satoru thought, You can be more casual, you know, as he replied, “I trust you understand that we will be leaving this place soon. After that, someone might come here to take everything in the castle or to destroy everything inside it.”
Right now, he was still unsure why the people in this city had become undead. Perhaps there was some kind of plague that turned people undead. If that was the case, the people who came here might think that burning it all down would be the best way to deal with it.
While she had thought of that long ago, actually hearing Suzuki Satoru say it put a shocked look on Keno’s face.
“You wouldn’t want to be attacked by the undead either, right? Then it’s possible that they might decide that all the undead in the city should be des…”
Just as he was about to say “destroyed” Suzuki Satoru suddenly realized that his phrasing was too provocative, and so he changed his words. “…Should be eliminated. That would be the normal way of thinking, right? After all, to the living, doing so would get rid of the threat of whether or not the undead in this city would attack theirs.”
“…Mm…I get what you mean.”
“Therefore… since you’ve decided to leave, I want you to be mentally prepared for this. After all, today might be the last time you see this city. For that reason, Keno, while there’s a limit to the things you can take with you, you must make sure that you don’t regret the choices you make. Right now, I’m not sure whether the memories of the undead will fade away, but even if that happens, you must keep in mind the fact that you might forget this, and you must take good care of the things you want to preserve. As long as you preserve them… mm, it’ll become one of your unforgettable memories.” Suzuki Satoru took out a picture.
It was a memorial picture that had been taken when the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick had still been called an underground tomb — in other words, when it had first been conquered.
What he took out was a group photo of all the group’s members.
“Yes, something that will never be forgotten.”
“What’s this?”
“These are my friends. It’s a picture we took together.” Suzuki Satoru could not help but smile as he heard Keno’s question. “Oh yes, if we have time during our journeys, I’ll tell you about the adventures I had with my friends.”
“Sure!”
Suzuki Satoru chuckled as he heard her cheerful reply.
“Alright! Then go collect some things that you want to preserve as memories, Keno… unfortunately, your body will probably not grow any more now that you’re undead, unless you’re a special undead being that I’ve never seen before.
Therefore, you should be able to wear your clothes for a long time.”
“Sure! …Huh? But should I feel happy about this?”
“Isn’t eternal youth the dream of all women?”
“I’d be glad if I could grow a little more…”
“Is that so?”
“It isn’t?”
As a man, Suzuki Satoru did not quite understand. However, she might have some resistance to the idea of looking like a child and never growing again.
“Alright, then why don’t you start by picking out clothes?”
“Alright! I will!”
That said, I don’t think a princess is going to have any clothes suitable for travelling. As for me, well, I obviously don’t have any.
In Yggdrasil, it was perfectly natural for people to walk around fully armed and armored, but given her attire and the undead he had seen in the city — in other words, ordinary civilian attire — his robe stood out too much. That being the case, he would need to change into clothes that could better blend into an ordinary town, but he did not have any unassuming, ordinary garments.
Even if he did, it would be weak gear with low data capacity. It might be very dangerous once he got into a fight.
In other words, he needed something with acceptable defense and toughness, while still looking plain. And with Keno included, he would need two sets of that clothing.
After checking Keno’s HP values with [Life Essence], he could tell that they were very low. She might even end up getting killed by the splash damage from an area-of-effect spell.
That said, I don’t really want to fight in battles which are big enough that she might get caught up in them…
Unfortunately, Suzuki Satoru was not gifted at divination magic, and even if he could maintain a certain level of alertness with magic, he was not confident that he could protect against 100% of enemy sneak attacks.
It would probably be best to just directly give her items like that. However, if he gave her a high-level item and it made others target her instead, that would be the opposite of what he wanted.
There are too many things I need to think about. Maybe I should prepare two sets of gear, one for when we approach a town and one for when we’re travelling… no, if I’m not mistaken, I think I’ve got a robe of rapid gear switching… forget it, I won’t think about this for now.
“Let’s go to your room, Keno.”
“Alright… er, but… this sort of thing, ah, no, er, maybe I should just ask. At the risk of offending you, you are a man, aren’t you, Satoru-san?”
“But of course. Granted, I don’t look the part.”
I’m clearly speaking with Suzuki Satoru’s voice, why’d you ask me a weird question like that all of a sudden? Are there women in this world with voices like this?
“Ah, this is kind of rude to say to a benefactor, but my room has always been forbidden to all men except my father — ahem, that’s the rule that was laid down.”
Oh? Suzuki Satoru was somewhat surprised.
She might be a child, but she was still the princess of a country, and it would seem that these rules were quite strict.
“I see. Well, a rule is a rule. I’ll just wait outside, then… you can handle things
by yourself, right, Keno?”
He thought of the undead in maid uniforms inside the castle. There should have been a maid to help Keno with her daily tasks.
“Um, that’s not a problem either… oh yes, as my savior, it’s only natural for me to invite you into my room. No, please step inside… or would you rather not?”
Keno tugged on Suzuki Satoru’s robe as she asked him that question.
“Ah, no, I’ve got no reason to refuse.”
He had only said he would not be entering Keno’s room because she had said no strangers were allowed into it. In truth, Suzuki Satoru did not mind going inside or staying outside.
He used [Fly] to reach Keno’s room and followed her inside to take a look around. It was much classier than Suzuki Satoru’s room, but in turn it paled in comparison to Momonga’s room.
However, once she opened her cabinet, he found a great deal of dresses inside. That certainly seemed like a princess’s room. However, their colors and decorations were much simpler than those of Yggdrasil; or rather, Yggdrasil’s clothes were much more lavish.
Keno rifled through the dresses — although some had already become discolored — and then she turned her head back in Suzuki Satoru’s direction to ask him a question.
“Which do you think is more suitable?”
Who was the one who had once said, “which do you like better?” coming from a woman’s mouth was one of the hardest questions in the world? Was it Touch Me?
Suzuki Satoru very much wanted to say “I have terrible aesthetic sense, please don’t ask me.” But she had asked him because she trusted him, and he owed her a serious answer.
“While I think all of them suit you very well, taking them all will be very troublesome. For instance, if there’s an organization behind that undead being, they might send backup over, which would expose your presence. And we’ll be heading off on a journey, so I don’t think anyone’s going to walk around in outfits like that, right?”
“So that’s how it is — no, is it?”
He did not know the common practices of this world, so all Suzuki Satoru could say was “most likely.” However, he felt that it was probably not too far from the truth.
“Also, you can’t go around dressed as a member of the royal family if you want to keep a low profile — oh yes, Keno. I’m sorry, but a problem came to mind. Do people in other cities, or perhaps other countries, know your face?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe someone might have an impression of me, uh, I guess. The royals of other countries should know me. I remember there was a portrait exchange once.”
“Is that so… while you should probably be careful, it has been quite a while since you became undead. In that case, it’s not likely that you’ll run into people like that. Alright, we’ll go with that. Leaving aside the question of whether or not you should wear a dress while travelling or what we said just now, you should go collect the mementos you want to keep. In any case, if we come back after several years and nobody’s cleaned the place out, we can take everything here with us. For now, just pick a few dresses that you like best and let’s go.”
No matter what, surely they could not keep an eye on this place for so many years.
Keno took a while — slightly longer than Suzuki Satoru had expected — to pick out four dresses, and then she began tidying up the smaller things in her room.
Because moving anything would leave traces and clue people in to the fact that something had been there once, she decided to shuffle around everything in the vicinity to cover up those marks.
“Is that all you need to bring? In that case, we’ll put your parents and maids in a room in the sewer. That way, they might be able to escape the attention of anyone who comes to this city.”
“Alright… that should be… the best way.”
“If you know of any other way to avoid outsiders finding their hiding place, we can go with your suggestion.” Keno shook her head.
Then there was nothing for it. They would simply have to make do.
“Now then, Satoru-san.”
“Hm?”
“Since we’ll be heading out, could you help me cut my hair?”
“Eh?”
The change in topic had come as such a surprise that Suzuki Satoru responded in an oafish way.
“Um, it’s like this, please look at this.” Having cast [Fly], Keno glided over to one side of the room and nimbly retrieved a book from a shelf. “This is Book 3 of the Chronicles of the Prince of Phenia. In this book, when the princess set out on a journey, she cut her long hair.”
Keno looked a little embarrassed, but her eyes were shining bright.
“Ahem. Alright, I don’t mind…”
Just as Suzuki Satoru was waffling over whether it would be alright to cut her hair for that reason, Keno came back in front of Suzuki Satoru with a pair of scissors.
“Then, please do the honors!”
“I, ah… I’ve never cut anyone’s hair before, so let me get this out of the way first, I’m not confident at all in being able to give you a pretty haircut. Maybe if I had hair clippers I could do a passable job… But before that, I have something that I want to tell you.”
Suzuki Satoru took the scissors, picked up a lock of Keno’s hair and snipped off part of it. The severed hair landed in Suzuki Satoru’s hand, where it aged and degraded as though several hundred years had passed for it, until it became a puff of ash, vanishing cleanly just like the undead did when they were destroyed.
“Keno, I’m going to cast a spell on you. Don’t resist it, alright?”
“Eh? Alright. It should be fine.”
He returned the scissors to her, and while still holding the lock of Keno’s hair, he cast the offensive spell [Ray of Negative Energy]. While negative energy damaged the living, it would heal the undead instead.
Upon taking the magical “attack,” Keno’s hair — to be precise, the lock in Suzuki Satoru’s hand, which had been trimmed — regained its original length.
That was how it was.
In the moment that one became undead, one’s appearance was fixed. In that case, what would happen to people who were missing limbs or otherwise maimed when they became undead? That question flashed through his mind, but he could not think of an answer and it would have been pointless anyway, so he banished the thought from his mind.
“Keno, I think cutting your hair is considered damage to you.”
“Ehhh? Really?!”
At least he could save himself the trouble of cleaning up the cut hair.
“So even if I mess up, I can start anew over and over again… So I’m just going to do a careless job this time round.”
“Carelessly?!”
Suzuki Satoru ignored Keno’s cry of surprise and cast [Life Essence], then cut Keno’s long hair to shoulder-length.
“It’s fine. The damage is minimal, to the point where you could ignore it.”
“Eh? Ehhhhhh?!”
It was only after she felt the hair behind her that she managed to calm down.
“Satoru-san! When you said you were going to cut it carelessly I got the shock of my life!”
After hearing the reproachful tone in Keno’s voice, Suzuki Satoru began to seriously consider the matter. Eh? Should I apologize, then? Nothing good would come of ruining his relationship with a future travelling companion.
“It was my fault, Keno.”
“Ah, no, it’s alright, ahem… It’s okay now…”
Then why were you so eager to blame me just now? Suzuki Satoru barely stopped himself from saying.
Keno’s just a child… huh? A child? Don’t tell me she’s a senior lady?
Suzuki suddenly began thinking about that… but abandoned it in the end. In any event, he trimmed the rest of her hair to roughly shoulder length. Then, he used a borrowed comb — truth be told, he had no confidence in himself at all — to comb out the hair.
“It’s done. Or rather… I think it’s done.”
Keno walked in front of the changing mirror, but it was covered in dust and could not show Keno’s image. Just as she was about to wipe the mirror, her hand stopped halfway as she remembered the reason why she was sustaining a [Fly] spell. Then, she turned around to Suzuki Satoru.
“How does it look?”
“It suits you. Mm, it becomes you,” Suzuki Satoru answered.
“Really? That makes me happy.”
Keno gave him a winsome smile.
She seemed to be in good spirits. Suzuki Satoru knew nothing about what was pretty, what was not, the finer points of women’s hairstyles and the like. But it would seem what he had said had played it safe.
“N-Now then, let’s move on to the next step.”
●
After taking Keno’s parents and a maid in the room in the sewer that had been Keno’s base, he shackled the door with rusty chains so it would not open.
While mindless undead like Zombies could not open the doors on their own, it was probably best to bar it just in case.
Keno had mixed feelings as she looked at the room door, and Suzuki Satoru spoke to her.
“Alright, next up… how do you want to travel, Keno?”
“Huh?”
“We are undead. We do not tire, we don’t need to eat, and we don’t need to sleep. We can head out right now without taking anything else with us. But when that happens, people will start asking questions when we enter villages or cities.
Therefore, I’d like to do something that won’t arouse suspicion.”
“Like say, dragging lots of luggage around with us?”
“Won’t that make people suspicious?”
In truth, Suzuki Satoru had no idea how the people in this world travelled.
Therefore, he had no idea how to avoid suspicion.
Keno turned her head aside and said she did not know.
“In that case, which do you prefer, between taking a carriage or going on foot?”
“I’m not bothered by either… it’s fine. We don’t have the concept of fatigue, after all. Ah, but I walk really slowly, so…”
“It’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll match your pace, Keno.”
That said, since they were undead, could they not just run at full speed all the time? That said, surely seeing an adult run around with a little girl by his side would leave a bad impression on others.
“I’ll go get a carriage, then…”
“But what about the horses… hm — how should we get one?”
“Ah — that’s true. As for horses…”
Suzuki Satoru looked out the window. He could not see any sign of horses, but he could see Zombies. Even if there were horses, they would probably be Horse Zombies, and the other people in the city would not suffer a Zombie horse pulling a carriage through a city. That was definitely out. Suddenly, just then, Suzuki Satoru had an idea.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do something about the horses. Just relax and leave it to me. The problem is the carriage. Covered wagons, cargo wagons, box wagons, on what grounds are we going on our journey?”
“Huh?”
“Are we going to be a princess and her magic caster follower? In that case, then perhaps our country has a kind of pumpkin-shaped carriage. That might be the best scenario for us.”
Suzuki Satoru had said so in a slightly joking tone, but Keno nervously said, “…What about a kind magic caster and his follower?”
“…Just in case, I want to check but, am I the kind magic caster in question, while you are the follower?”
“Yes.”
“Then that suggestion is rejected.”
Suzuki Satoru did not think he could make full use of Keno as his follower to put on an act. “In that case,” Keno said, and then she fell into thought. After that, she absentmindedly spoke up.
“How about friends?”
“Friends, huh… so we’re travelling companions… alright, our backstory is that we’re friends?”
After taking the difference in their ages into consideration, a lot of people would probably find it strange that they were friends. However, Suzuki Satoru did not feel that way. He had often seen kids who had just graduated elementary school working alongside him, and it was very hard to tell someone’s age by their appearances in Yggdrasil.
In fact, the leader of a guild which had rivalled Ainz Ooal Gown had been a child in real life. And on the flip side, there were Players who looked like kids, but whose actual age was over double that of Suzuki Satoru’s. When he heard them talk about their grandchildren, Suzuki Satoru froze in confusion for a moment. He still looked back on those days with nostalgia.
To that Suzuki Satoru, there was nothing strange about treating Keno as his friend.
Of course, Suzuki Satoru knew that Keno was weaker than him, so the two of them were probably protector and charge. However, it was very common in Yggdrasil for experienced Players to team up with newbie Players to powerlevel them, as well as partying up with non-combatant crafter party members to run around.
“Still, we need an explanation that will convince people we’re friends when we enter towns. I guess we can take our time thinking it up during out journey.” “Alright… although, when you mentioned a pumpkin-shaped carriage, did you mean the edible kind of pumpkin? Is it a carriage that can be used as emergency rations when we’re hungry?”
“Ah, no, it’s just shaped that way…”
Suzuki Satoru felt that verbally explaining would be troublesome, and so he rummaged through his inventory.
“I wonder if I have one…”
He took out a photo album taken with his friends.
Suzuki Satoru flipped quickly through it.
The memories recalled by the many pictures filled Suzuki Satoru with nostalgia. While part of him wanted to keep staring at them, he forced himself not to do so and continued going through the pages.
The photo he was looking for was not in this album. Suzuki Satoru switched to another one, and then a third.
“This one. Keno, look at this picture. The carriage is in the same frame as one of my female friends.”
Keno pressed in from the side, and then her jaw dropped.
“A Slime in a dress… a woman? Is she a Slime Princess?”
Upon the wagon was a princess in a white dress, holding a shield aloft — Bukubukuchagama. It had been a picture to commemorate the completion of the carriage, but Bukubukuchagama had ended up becoming the subject of the photo. That also showed which of them had a more striking appearance.
“Hahaha, I’ll tell you about this during our trip. Now, slightly below is the pumpkin carriage. I heard that shape is the kind girls dream about. That’s why she’s so happy.”
Although, her brother had once muttered, “You can’t call her a girl at that age…”
“……”
Keno looked over, visibly disturbed.
“You mean, like bad dreams?”
“Hahahaha… wait, what?” Suzuki Satoru was confused.
He had laughed out of genuine mirth, but Suzuki Satoru felt a sense of discomfort as his joy was quashed.
Don’t tell me the undead emotional suppression doesn’t just apply to negative emotions… no, when I think about it, that is the case. Not needing to eat or drink isn’t bad, but that also means you can’t eat buffing food. It’s got its good and bad points…
“What’s wrong? Satoru-san?”
Perhaps it was because his worries had been suddenly quelled, but Suzuki Satoru responded to Keno’s question with a gentle “It’s fine.”
Even so, it didn’t completely suppress my happiness. There ought to be a way to live on while seeking joy.
“Right, then let’s start looking for carriage. Ideally, we want an old traveler’s carriage, the kind that doesn’t make people suspicious when you use it.”
“Yes!”
“Keno, when you told me not to take other people’s property, doesn’t that mean taking their carriage would be a bad thing?”
Keno thought about it for a while, and then answered: “It’ll be fine because we’re paying for it.” Then, she raised her rucksack.
“I see… In that case, can I borrow some money from you, Keno?”
“Huh?”
“As I showed you earlier, I have ample funds. However, all of them are gold coins that aren’t in circulation throughout this country. It seems dangerous to try and pay with them.”
“Is that so? Well, if you feel that way, then I can lend — no, I can offer… give you some.”
“No, that won’t do, Keno. To some extent, that money is your inheritance from your parents. You can’t just hand it over to others.”
“I, I see.”
“While you might not be able to agree under these circumstances, that also includes the relics of your ancestors. You mustn’t spend it blindly, okay?”
“I understand.”
Keno might have said that, but her expression suggested that she did not quite get it. Perhaps Suzuki Satoru was simply forcing his views on her.
“…Therefore, can I borrow some money? I’ll pay you back until I sell the gems
I have on hand.”
“Alright!”
“Good. Then we’ll split the cost for buying the wagon. We’re friends, so we’ll put up the same amount.”
“Of course!”
“Right! Then let’s go find a carriage!”
“Sure thing!”
Suzuki Satoru responded to Keno with great gusto, and the two of them wandered around the streets.
Along the way, Suzuki Satoru put the gold coins from this world which he had borrowed from Keno into his pocket dimension.
While it was stored in a separate location from the Yggdrasil coins, they did not seem to count against his weight limit. If they did, then he would not be able to store anything in his inventory. This was a perfectly rational design decision for a game, but he ought to be in a real world now.
It’s really handy, but it kind of ruins realism in a place like this… am I really not in a game?
Although his undead body had confirmed to Suzuki Satoru that he was not in a game, the handiness of his inventory made him feel like he was still in a game. It felt unpleasant, like the game was overwriting the real world.
Ultimately, however, Suzuki Satoru would not get an answer, no matter how much he thought.
More importantly—
There are still many other things to consider.
They had found several carriages, but all of them were heavily worn out from age and looked like they would crumble if one tried to use them. He did not want to waste too much time, but searching alone would have been dangerous, so he brought Keno with him on his search.
After a long time, they finally found a serviceable covered wagon in a small shed adjoining a large house. The strange thing was that this shed had a jail of some sort in its basement, and there were countless female Zombies inside the jail. It was an insoluble mystery, but Suzuki Satoru pretended that he had not seen it. After all, no matter what he did now, it would be too late.
Suzuki Satoru pushed the wagon with his superhuman strength to test it out. The wagon creaked, but the axles did not feel like they would break straight away. It would seem the wagon had been enchanted in its key areas.
But they didn’t enchant the whole thing. Why is that?
Still, it was pointless to think about such things. Suzuki Satoru created a [Gate] in front of the wagon and began to push. Keno went to Suzuki Satoru’s side and helped him push. The idea of summoning the Gryphon Lord had come up, but he had asked her to save her power.
While it was hard to say if Keno’s strength was of much assistance, the two of them pushed the wagon outside the city. He kept the [Gate] open, then grabbed the shirt of the guard from earlier, who was still wandering around in the vicinity, dragged him over, then pushed him through the [Gate] before ending the spell.
“Now then, I’ll prepare a substitute for a horse.”
What Suzuki Satoru took out was a majestic statue of a horse with its forelegs in the air. He placed the Statue of Animal: Warhorse on the ground, and it instantly expanded into a mighty equine.
“Wow! That’s an amazing horse! We didn’t even have anything this great in our home! You’re amazing, Satoru-san!”
The smile on Keno’s face might have been the first to match her age that he had seen to date. After seeing her honest reaction, Suzuki Satoru chuckled.
Suzuki Satoru ordered the golem horse to move to the front of the wagon, where he tied it to the wagon with ropes.
He sat on the driver’s seat and ordered it forward, and the golem horse complied.
Only then was Suzuki Satoru relieved.
This relief was because the horse conjured from an item could be used to pull a wagon.
Suzuki Satoru had never sat on a horse or even touched one before, so he should not have been able to make an ordinary horse in this world pull a wagon. But fortunately enough, that problem had been solved. Suzuki Satoru could not help but be awed by his quick thinking.
“Now then, Keno, let’s head to the neighboring city first and see how things are there. Then, we’ll solve the mystery of the zombification someday and find a way to save everyone!”
“Yes! I’m counting on you, Satoru-san!”
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